In The Mines: A Tale of Aven

All she knew was the mines. The never ending, dark and dusty, muscle fatiguing tunnels where no light shined that wasn't made by a candle. She was born in the mines, raised with the rock, her friends were the shadows and the explosives that her father showed her how to use. She heard the never ending ringing of the picks on the stone, echoing throughout the tunnels of the city being built, it sang her to sleep, and it was her music throughout the day.1

Her mother had died when she was younger, succumbing to the dust and fumes of the deep mines. Her father was left to raise her, and so raise her he did. It was his job to set the explosives that laid bare the way for the miners, destroying entire caverns if need be. He had acquired the job from his father, who had gotten the job from his father, and so on. For 200 years her family had been in the mines working on the Under-City of Uniciv, the gnomes, their slave masters, grand vision for the world. 2

"Alright Moira." Her father whispered through a blacked beard, the occasional strand of actual white hair poking through here and there. "Remember what I said." His voice was thick in the accent of the Gaul, the kingdom that had stood before the gnomes and the War of Steam. So isolated were the humans of the mines, that after 200 years they still held their accents, passed down from generation to generation. "Too little explosive, and you make it far too dangerous to venture back, lest the cave collapse on you. And t-"3

"Too much and you save the cave the trouble by collapsing the entire cave system. I know father." Moira sighed, reciting the lesson so often hammered into her head.4

"Aye, thats my girl." her father said, stopping to let out a cough. 5

Together they laid down the black sticks of explosive, the gnomes clever devices that allowed for grand explosions that leveled earth and destroyed rock. With a matchstick, they lit the fuse and together ran to the safety of the barrier they set up at the mouth of the cave.6

3...2...1... Moira counted, her zero being punctuated by the thunderous explosion of the Black Sticks. The sound of stones settling continued for a long while, stopping only once all the energy of the mountain was spent. 7

"Atta girl." Her father blinked, trying to get the oppressive black dust of the mines out of his eyes. 8

"Listen up!" Came the bellow of Taskmaster Barrelbottom, the dwarf in charge of the demo teams. "President 'imself will be down for a 'spection of the mines." The dwarf said in his peculiar high pitched voice. "Supposedly, this is the end of the major work for you humans." There was an unenthusiastic cheer from the ranks. "But not the end period. There is still a lot of work to be done. But for now, back to the city."9

And so they began their march, close to seven miles of underground tunnels leading back to the city proper, the vast and massive underground cavern that had been the first hundred years of work for the humans. Moira marched alongside her father, helping him along at the points where his age became too apparent and his knees could not lift any more. 10

Finally they arrived, the vast domed cavern that was Under-Civ. Lines and lines of humans marched through the streets. Hundreds of thousands. And as they marched, a peculiar thing was happening, something that had never happened before. The dwarfs separated the humans, marking each with red, blue, or yellow paint. But no human questioned it, it was not their right to ask questions of their dwarf masters. 11

They assembled along the streets, and in the tower of the Vice President, the gnome President Metalseer stood and looked over them.12

"Two hundred years, you have toiled." He began, his deceivingly small stature giving way to a deep booming voice. "Two hundred years, and you have an entire world to show for it." he said, gesturing to the city. Cheers erupted from the workers. "And now is a time of celebration, and combination." Confusion settled on the last word.13

"Each of you has been given a color. Red, blue, or yellow. Those marked with red..." Moira looked down at her own crimson stain. "Will continue the work in the mines. Those marked with blue are to be released to the surface and work in the factories, and those with yellow are to be taken into the wilds where they will help to colonize the new frontier."14

Cheers ran through the ranks, coupled with moans. Tears ran down Moira's father's cheeks as touched the yellow mark on his chest.15

"You will be separated now, and tomorrow brings a new day." The president finished, stepping back into the tower. 16

"Moira..." Her father began, only to be cut off by her upraised hand.17

"No, you've earned it." She said through tears.18

"Move it along, yellow to the surface, red back to your housing!" Barrelbottom yelled. Moira clung to her father's hand as best she could, but soon the press of the crowd grew too great and her fingers were torn from his. She followed his head, bobbing among the crowd, until it became lost in the masses. 19

She moved back to the small room that had served as her family's house for the past two hundred years, the simple stone room serving her purposes well enough. Her eyes welled up at the sight of her father's cot, and she choked back the tears. Moira was only seventeen years old, having been born late into her parents' lives. She was alone now, but she was not helpless. For years she had explored Under-Civ, the massive cavern hiding numerous passages, and she knew many of them.20

She crawled along the rooftops and rock lines, moving and shuffling up the walls and through cracks and crevices that no other human being knew of. The path ran along the vast ramp that led to the surface world, the ramp itself was off limits to humans. The ramp, Metal Path, as it was known, was surrounded on two sides by the Vastness, a chasm that knew no end.21

She clung to the rock surface of the wall, a hundred feet above the Vastness and the Metal Path, below her was only darkness. Thousands upon thousands of yellow marked humans marched along the Metal Path, skirting the edges of the Vastness. She had only risked the treacherous path for the barest chance of seeing her father. And among the many heads below, she could make out no faces, but took relief in the sight alone.22

As she was turning back, the first crack reached her ears. She looked and saw a body fall into the Vastness. Then it was a massive rolling storm of thunder. Puffs of smoke along the ranks of the dwarfs escorting the humans, rifles spitting hot lead into the unarmed humans. Moira bit back the cry begging to escape her mouth, and struggled to hold her grip on the stone wall, tears running down her cheeks. She watched as the humans realized what was happening and tried to resist, but were knocked back into the dark shadows of the endless Vastness.23

Moira moved back along the wall, through her secret passages, and back to her little stone room. She reached it and curled up on her fathers cot, clutching his blanket and crying, hot tears of injustice burning her eyes. And when the morning bells were ringing, Moira was still awake, her eyes red and dry, and her soul burning for revenge. 24