(Warning: in this chapter there is content that is homophobic and racist. I apologise if I offend any readers, I do not condone this behaviour in real life, I just wanted to incorporate it in my story to illustrate how a certain character behaves. If this content is too offensive, I can change it at a later date. Thank you for reading.)
Like a tear in the fabric of space, a bright blue pillar of energy hovered as an entrance to a cave. The Portal crackled intensely, sparks of light flickered and illuminated the dusty black cavern.
Shadows casting into the darkness, shapes of crescent tools hitting the hard crusty walls scattered across the ground.
The sounds of pickaxes crunching reverberating in the air, as a team of Miners toiled under the intense light.
With a firm grasp onto the pickaxe and an overarching reach over her head, Carin brought the steel tip crashing down into the black wall. A loud crunch ripped from the impact as small pieces of Zafrite sprayed off, tapping her dusty black laced boots.
Carin paused to catch her breath. Her cheeks flushed red and warm as a cold sweat dripped from her brow. Even with her heavy breathing she could barely hear a slight hum from the portal and the odd random spark, it wasn’t distracting but it did feel unnerving hearing it over the sounds of picks clashing into the walls. Such a silent hum could overpower all other sounds was disturbing.
Her mind slowly moved back to the task at hand, with a light tug Carin could feel the tip of her pick laid wedged behind a large chunk of Zafrite in the wall. “Come on, please...” she wheezed as she pulled hard on the wooden handle.
Her hands sweaty and aching, Carin placed a boot against the wall and she used what little strength she had left to dislodge the rock from the surface, she almost lost her balance as a football sized piece of Zafrite tumbled away from her.
With a satisfied grin, Carin turned to the wall to inspect her results.
Casually tossing her pickaxe to the ground Carin gripped her hand to the wall for support, leaning in closer she reached for her pocket torch and shone it against the wall. Lightly blowing away the dust she darted the torch in all directions as the eyes surveyed for anything that shined.
“Sigh...Shit” Carin grumbled as she pushed herself from the wall “Fuck”.
Carin had been digging away at this wall since daybreak this morning, chipping away pieces of Zafrite and piling them up ready for collection. But it wasn’t Zafrite she was looking for, She was looking for something much smaller and much more rewarding.
Just one Spirit Stone is all I need, then Mrs Moss can’t throw me out she thought as she reached for a handkerchief from her breast pocket. After wiping the dirty sweat from her brow and smearing the gritty dust away from her lips, Carin checked her handkerchief and noticed a bit of blue mixed in with the black grit shit, the dyes coming out she thought annoyed as she tucked it back into her breast pocket.
Carin stared at the hole in the wall, her gut told her to dig here, and why did she listen to her gut. Did it lie to her, just to get back at skipping out on breakfast this morning?
Her belly grumbled as if to confirm her suspicion. Well, now we won’t be eating breakfast tomorrow either she thought to herself annoyed.
“Didn’t find anything you liked did ya Blue Bird?” a gruff voice asked cheerfully as a hand tapped lightly on Carin’s shoulder.
Carin slightly flinched almost startled by the sudden realisation that someone was around her. She was so engrossed in her work she had actually forgotten where she was for a moment.
Turning around to see who it was, Carin gave a weak defeated smile to the buff but chubby older man behind her.
It was Andy, her boss and close friend. She almost didn’t recognise him at first as his face was covered in black dust. She only knew it was him due to the thick black moustache under his big round nose and that happy but cheeky grin plastered over his face.
“No Andy...it’s just rocks... and more rocks and, well you know”
“Not more rocks?” Andy laughed as Carin awkwardly chuckled “yeah...” while rubbing her left arm.
She knew Andy means well, but times are hard on her and she didn’t need someone laughing at her misfortune.
Andy slowly stopped laughing as he noticed Carin looked glum staring at her feet, gently kicking the pile of Zafrite next to her spot.
Feeling guilty Andy placed his hand on Carin’s shoulder. He knew Carin was having a hard time with the bills, they all were in fact. Andy had built his team of Miners from the dwindling community of Greendenn, and each member lived off the Portals that appeared in their area. But the numbers of Portals have also dwindled and the need for Miners decreased as a result.
“Look Blue Bird, I know I promised ya this venture was going to be good and I did promise ya a good wage this time, but-” Andy paused as Carin reached for Andy’s hand on her shoulder and gently removed it, grasping it lightly in her hands.
She knew what he was going to say. Carin held his hand softly and mumbled “I know Andy, I know”.
She couldn’t fault Andy for cutting her wages again. The company Soul Industries who hired them to mine for Zafrite was under paying them as it is, and in order for Andy to pay all his team members, sacrifices had to be made.
Andy lightly squeezed Carin’s hand and let out a small grin as he pulled his hand away and reached into his pocket, with his other hand he placed a finger to his lips “shhhh” he shushed as he pulled his fist from his pocket, clenching hold of something small.
Carin turned from a defeated sulk to a puzzled expression as Andy slowly opened his big hand. Inside his palm was a shiny rhombus shaped yellow crystal.
Carin’s eyes lit up with shock a spirit stone! She thought amazed. It was the first one she had seen in ages.
Andy chuckled lightly in hopes that his other Miners couldn’t hear him “I was going to say that, I might not pay you a proper wage in Units today but-” he whispered quietly as he placed the Spirit stone in Carin’s small hand “I hope that this should make up for it” he grinned as he noticed a small tear in Carin’s eye.
“Oh Andy” Carin croaked holding back the tears as she reached for a hug, but Andy quickly halted her as he gestured over to his other Miners “shhhh” he winked “don’t let them know okay Blue”.
Carin let out a light chuckle as she stuffed the Spirit stone in her breast pocket, hiding it under her handkerchief Andy’s the best she happily thought as she gave him a thumbs up “thanks old man”.
Andy always looked after his team but he had a soft spot for his little Blue Bird.
Suddenly Carin face scrunched up in revolt as a fowl stench filled the cave. The other Miners stopped working as they dropped their picks and choked up the air, grasping her mouths as the smell got closer and stronger.
Carin turned inwards to the cave where the foul stench emanated, she gagged and covered her mouth as a wooded cart inched closer to them.
A tall thin man pushed the cart towards them, his blue overalls covered in deep red patches of dried blood and black dust, his face in a protective air filtered mask and his head covered in a hard helmet. He was a Collector, one of many whose job is to gather up the resources such as Zafrite and Monster corpses ready to be transported.
The fact that Collectors were provided protective gear and not the miners really pissed off Carin. They had it easy, unlike the Warriors who have to risk their lives or the Miners who risk their health, the Collectors risked absolutely nothing.
As the cart squeaked by, Carin became curious to see what the smell was, she knew it was a Monster that was making that putrid smell but didn’t know what type. The Collectors where often busy most of the day carting at least two types of Monsters past the Miners. Carin knew what they were; a small low class bat like creature, quite common for caves or the more uncommon middle class Blind Hounds, vicious brutes. But neither smelled or at least this bad.
She peeked into the cart to see what it was. She wished she hadn’t as she lurched to the side and puked up onto Andy’s boots.
Inside the cart was a couple of mangled up green and brown humanoid corpse’s dressed in a soiled brown loincloth.
“Yer those fuckers are Goblins alright” Andy coughed holding back from the smell “you okay kid?” he asked softly and patted Carin’s back gently, “Haven’t seen one before have ya Blue” he grinned as Carin gagged.
The cart finally left the portal and the air became dusty and dull again.
Spitting to the floor Carin weakly groaned “...feeling better now... sniff, sorry about your boots”. Andy looked at the tips of his boots, his belly obscured most of the horrid mess “oh its fine, they’ve probably stepped in worse” he chuckled.
Andy could hear light snickering coming from the other Miners as they pointed, giggling to each other about his boots, but he didn’t mind it.
They were all family to him anyway.
In fact he would often encourage any antics his team would start. It helped to drive away any unwanted stress from a long tiring day’s work.
Andy casually walked past Carin, patting her shoulder gently while passing by. He reached over for Carin’s pickaxe and picked it up.
With Carin’s pickaxe in his hands, Andy noticed his team looked very tired and haggard. After gagging the air from that Goblin Andy believed it was time for a break and some fresh clean air. He nodded knowingly to his workers as they watched in anticipation.
“Now come on, let’s gets some fresh air” he announced with his cheeky grin twirling the pick in his hands.
His team fist pumped the air in affirmation, full of vigour they cheered and clapped over the great news. They have all worked hard and they felt like they could use a break and a nice fresh bottle of water.
Mandy was the first to reach the portal with her pickaxe in hand, she was a tall well built black woman, taller than most men in their team and bigger muscles too.
With a mischievous smile plastered on her face she reached for the Portal and turned to Andy and Carin “hey kid, thanks for the vomit, the air in here smells so much better now” she jokingly laughed. Carin smiled as she weakly raised her arm flipping her off.
Mandy burst into a boisterous roar over the gesture, tears of amusement welled in her eyes as she touched the blue crackling Portal. Suddenly she was engulfed in a white light, her whole body shined before completely disappearing in balls of electricity.
Carin could never get used to seeing a person suddenly disappear before her eyes, it was like a part of her brain fought against her over how ridiculous it was.
Next were Dylan and Scott, two of the oldest members of the team and the only pair of siblings amongst them. They reached out for the Portal and zapped in an instant as Oscar, the youngest member followed suit.
With the four other members of the team safely making it through the Portal, Andy gently grabbed Carin’s shoulder as he reached for the bright surface “let’s get going Blue” he smiled as they both glowed.
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A bright sunset greeted Carin as she exited the crackling Portal, beams of orange light peeked over the tall rundown buildings catching her eyes. The sudden fresh light hurt as she tried to adjust to her surroundings.
“Cough, cough....agh shit” she croaked as the fresh air filled her lungs. Carin hated cave biomes, breathing in the gritty dust all day always gave her a dry throat afterwards and in the fresh air it almost sounded like she had a smokers cough.
Andy didn’t mind it though; he’d been at this type of job almost all of his life. Day in and day out toiling in different Portal biomes, it wasn’t much in pay but it was a living.
Andy leaded a hobbling Carin over to a nearby street bench, her stomach light as a feather but heavy in the pain. Her fellow Miners excluding Andy were already over at the refreshments table near a large black and red fortified truck. They laughed and played as they grabbed bottles of water and sprayed it over each other. The cool water hitting their dry dirty skin looked refreshing and fun Carin thought as Andy leaned against the bench.
“Any better now Blue?” Andy asked with a heartfelt expression.
“Do you want some water?”
“Please” she croaked as Andy handed back her pickaxe, she smiled gratefully at him as her lips revealed a set of pearly white teeth.
Andy chuckled as the sight of her white smile, creeping out from the black grit on her face looked quite amusing. “Ya know kid, I may have said this before but-” Carin grinned shaking her head as Andy tried his best not to laugh “ya look like shit”.
Carin gave out a cheeky smile and shook her head as Andy burst out laughing. He was always like this, laughing at his co-workers and telling terrible crude jokes and the one thing he liked to joke about more than anything was Carin’s appearance.
She knew he wasn’t being mean or anything, even she thought it was funny.
Thinking back to the first night she worked with Andy, he mocked her looks all day. Carin couldn’t understand why and she he was annoyed and pissed off about it. It wasn’t until she got home and looked in the mirror that she saw the funny side.
Before work that morning on the first day of her new job she wanted to look her best. Applying a light amount of make-up to look good, her long blue dyed hair brushed and straightened and finally her best yellow shirt and blue jeans.
She was ready to show off her best self to her Boss that day.
What a mistake that was.
Looking back at her from the mirror was a blacked gritty face with two bright green eyes staring back, her blue elegant hair, completely blackened from the dust and splitting off all over the place. She looked like a complete mess.
It was after that day that Carin cut her hair to a neat shoulder length, shaving a bit more on the sides and wore tacky easily replaceable cheap clothes. She’d still wore a little make-up at first but didn’t see the point after awhile.
“Ya getting me that drink or not old man” Carin croaked with a cheeky grin gently punching Andy’s bulbous belly.
Andy nodded as his laughing subsided to a chuckle. Carin watched as he waddled towards Mandy and the others and the stack of water bottles packed near armoured truck.
Carin glanced over to the truck and recognised it as the vehicle that brought the team of Warriors over to the site this morning. On the side of the truck was a dark red image of a savage Monster claw, the truck belonged to the Crimson Claws.
Surveying the street that they were on, Carin noticed the Crimson Claws were nowhere to be seen. She could only see the Collectors getting into their own truck and a few homeless people but that was it.
Glancing back to the other truck she thought nervously must be resting inside the truck. The Crimson Claws had earlier that day cleared out the Portal of all Monsters, only leaving the strongest safely for last.
They had to wait until the Collectors and Miners had finished their jobs before closing the Portal for good.
Carin hated the Crimson Claw, they had a bad reputation in the public eye with members acting like brutes, throwing their weight around and acting without order even in the face of the law. But they were the Guild the client hired so Carin had to bare with it for now.
Andy grabbed two bottles of water from an open six pack and tried to go back to Carin, but his team kept getting in his way with their playful roughhousing and loud horseplay. Despite his large size, Andy easily moved around his team with a wide happy smile plastered over his face, he liked it when his team got into a playful rowdiness, it showed to him that they can relax and enjoy the moment.
“Here kid” he beamed as he handed Carin the plastic bottle “thanks” she replied quickly as she cracked open the plastic seal and took a big gulp.
Carin slowly tilted the bottle higher as she drank more and more, her dry lips moistened as the liquid ran down her chin and crept down her neck revealing streaks of soft skin under the black grit.
As the last drop of water left the rim of the bottle Carin heaved a mighty gasp “gah...hah...huff...gah, thank you” she said lightly as her right hand wiped the excess water from her moist lips.
Andy took a small sip from his bottle before placing it on the bench, he watched his team with pride as they played “it’s good to see them like this”.
Carin gently nodded while clutching the empty bottle in both of her hands, lightly tapping it with her small finger. Andy reached for his bottle again, Carin glanced as he did and noticed he seemed nervous, as if something was on his mind.
“You okay old man?” she asked concerned.
Andy stared at his bottle trying to find his words, he needed to tell her, and he needed to tell them.
“Carin-” he began as she noticed the seriousness in his voice.
Suddenly Carin’s right ear twitched as she heard the armoured trucks squeaky door opened and a retractable set of steps formed under the frame.
A smartly dressed short man with receding black hair stepped out of the truck looking puzzled, clutching an expensive black coloured Tablet. Following this man were three other individuals, a woman and two men all wearing matching protective highly special gear, and on their chest adorn the Crimson Claw logo.
The red headed man in front leading the other two was holding onto a coloured bottle. Carin could smell the booze even from the bench, but was astonished that none of them seemed to be drunk or tipsy.
Great, while we toil away in the caves, you guys are drinking and getting wasted Carin thought annoyed.
Andy rested his bottle back onto the bench, put on his classic work smile and walked quickly over towards the man in the black suit.
“ANDY BERKINS” the man in a strict voice boomed as if he was trying to get everyone’s attention, and it worked too. Mandy and the team stopped their roughhousing and stared at the man with a collective annoyed look.
Andy stood his ground, casually looking at the man in front of him, clearly towering over the fat businessman who tried to sound intimidating.
“What are you and your team doing out here? Get back into that Portal and finish up your quota. My tablet here tells me that you are your “team” (he said mockingly) are several hours behind schedule” the man angrily declared as he practically shoved the tablet into Andy’s face.
Andy just smiled, he knew how to deal with “suits” he calls them.
“Look Mr, err...um-“
“Waters” the man corrected with a scowl.
“Look Mr Waters, my team and I just needed five minutes to take a break and we’ll carry on for maybe one or two more hours, but we’ve been at it since the early hours and” he gestures over to the sinking sun “the sun’s already coming down, can’t we just call it quits for today and start again tomorrow?” he asked nicely.
Mr Waters tapped his tablet with his fingers in rhythm, he did not like what he was hearing.
“Mr Berkins” Waters began as he did a short pace left and right in front of Andy.
“My client, my big client, wants their shipment of Zafrite by week’s end, today. They bought the rights to this Portal and paid my Guild allot of Units to ensure they get their demand on time and on schedule. So, they (pointing to the Crimson Claws) need to kill the Boss Monster and clear this Portal by the early hours of tomorrow, as it says on “their” schedule. And on “your” schedule it says that you are well behind on mining Zafrite, so no” he snapped as he jabs his stubby finger into Andy’s gut.
“You can’t have five minutes, your five minutes just cost us, by which I mean you, allot of Units”
“Yeah, get back to work... ya blackies” the red headed Crimson Claws bellowed as he hurled his bottle of beer at their feet.
Only one member of the team was black and that was Mandy, but this racist targeted the group as a whole because of their black dust faced appearance.
Mandy was quickly held back by her fellow team members as her temper boiled. Andy continued to smile at Mr Waters, hiding back his own temper as he held out his hand in a gesture to stop Mandy.
Mandy reluctantly complied as Carin quickly left the bench and rushed to her side. Carin held Mandy’s hand with a firm grip, trying to give her comfort and support.
The racist snickered with his group as they watched Carin comfort her friend.
“Aww look at that guys, a couple of carpet munchers” he smirked as his crew laughed.
“Enough Bastion” Mr Waters demanded, but Carin noticed a glimmer of a smile form from his creepy face and it pissed her off so we have a homophobe and a racist in our midst she thought angrily.
Andy must have noticed it too as his hands trembled and clenched in a fist. But he couldn’t do anything to stop the verbal abuse being thrown at his team. He wished he could but he was just a man, a man standing before giants who could crush him like an ant.
And to make it worse, they were the Crimson Claws. Even in a back water town like Greendenn, Andy knew who they were. Stories and whispers circulated about their teams causing chaos in other small towns and villages had already reached his ear months ago. The sooner they were gone the better.
After thinking it through, Andy’s body seemed to relax as the realisation of how dangerous engaging the Crimson Claws in a fist fight or verbal argument would be. His fists unclenched and his tense smile collapsed, he wanted to hit him, he wanted to punch Mr Waters and the smug assholes behind him, but he knew if he did he would endanger his entire team.
With a heavy sigh Andy waved his team to head into the Portal “come on guys, let’s get back to it” he said with a heavy heart.
Carin couldn’t believe it and neither could the rest of the team, Andy just gave up like that and expected them to carry on like nothing had happened.
With his head down low, Andy walked without purpose to the shimmering blue Portal. Carin looked worriedly to her team and Mandy who tried to swallow her pride “fucking Andy” Mandy cursed as she pushed past Mr Waters with attitude.
Mr Waters brushed of the intentional assault with amusement “even wild beasts can be tamed” he smirked as Mandy entered the Portal.
Oscar, Scott and Dylan soon followed, their picks heavy in their hands and heads held low.
Carin was left alone standing awkwardly with the Crimson Claws and Mr Waters.
Darkness crept throughout the street and the lights adorning the paths flickered on one by one.
Carin stared at Mr Waters, her heart beating faster and her blood boiling as the man smiled an ugly smirk.
“Well... aren’t you going in?” he gestured towards the Portal.
Silence filled the air, the only sounds came from the street lamps humming and flickering in the background.
“Fuck you” Carin retorted as she flipped off Mr Waters and hurried off towards the bench.
Bastion tried to go after her for disrespecting Mr Waters, but Waters just chuckled and held up his hand stopping Bastion in his tracks.
“Mr Waters? Why not teach her a lesson, show the others not to disrespect the Crimson Claws” Bastion questioned with a puzzled look.
Mr Waters watched Carin pick up her tool and marched into the Portal, glaring at Mr Waters and the Crimson Claws until she dematerialised.
“All in due time Bastion, all in due time”
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Trivia section:
Units: the common accepted universal currency in the world. Each Unit is the value of 1 and is stored on electronical devices like phones and tablets. Trade with the currency is done wirelessly and each transaction is monitored and protected by the Bit Bank.
1 Unit is equivalent to 1 British Pound. So one cup of coffee ranging from £1 to £2 is worth 1 or 2 Units. If the value of an item is £1.30 then it will be rounded to the nearest hundred in Units, in this case 1 Unit.
Zafrite: Is an organic material with many qualities similar to coal but it burns hotter and longer, and can be found in almost any Portal. Quantities in each Portal vary but cave biomes are usually lined with the mineral.
The mineral is created from years of decomposing dead Monsters and their essence or Souls are still inside the minerals itself.
Spirit Stone: a crystal like rhombus shaped crystal. The stone can be found in every Monster and can be harvested from their corpses. Another less common method of obtaining the stone in within Zafrite mines, the stone can be found in rare occasions within the Zafrite material itself.
It can be sold for Units. Prices range’s between qualities of Spirit Stone but the less valuable variants can be sold upwards to 300 Units.
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Authors note:
First time in ages since I’ve written a story and I remember why I stopped. The final quarter of the chapter got rewritten at least five times, each time never satisfied me because it felt like I escalated things too quickly in the first chapter.
For example, I originally wanted a fight scene between the Crimson Claws and the Miners. The Miners would get creamed because their naturally inferior strength and the Crimson Claws would boast how great they were.
This scene didn’t sit right at all, so after many changes, heavy edits and allot cut back... I’m okay with the current result, not happy but okay.
If anyone is wondering what Mrs Waters sounds like in my head, listen to videos on the actor Wallace Shawn in either his role as Zek in Star Trek DS9 or his role as Vizzini in The Princess Bride. I just can’t stop hearing it.
One last note. I only added Authors notes as a method of giving you backstory of my thought proccess when making each chapter. Consider it as a Behind the Scenes.
Thank you for reading.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
