“He felt the sunlight. All at once, it came. The light burst forth from the skies. His fingers thawed. His face regained colour. His breath flowed freely. And yet, he never moved. His core melted. The blood flowed. His heart started beating. His mind was active. He was alive.”

==========================================================================

John felt something gently but repeatedly prod his face, making him sneeze.

“Go away Cary, it’s Saturday.” He mumbled, not really ready to wake up yet.

Something sharp scratched his forehead, causing him to jump up from his bed.

“Ow! What the hell, man, that hur-.” He wasn’t on his bed. It took a moment. He froze when it occurred to him, but eventually he accepted it. He was still in the mine.

Suddenly all the sensations the leave you when you fall asleep came back, and he immediately winced from soreness, having sleep on the hard ground.

“Ow, ow, ow, why does it never get better? Every time I wake up, I’m sore as fuck.” He groaned to himself.

He abruptly fell on his ass when something jumped and kicked him on the chest.

“Ow.” He said, for the fifth time in the span of 15 seconds. Finally, becoming entirely lucid.

His eyes immediately landed on the furry thing in front of him. His companion. A stoat shaped silhouette stood tall in the dim light.

It was quite dark; he realised the lights that had still been on before he went to sleep had turned off sometime during the night.

That’s when everything that had happened finally rushed into his attention.

The jewel, the empty mine, being left behind, the slaves. The slaves! He scampered over to the nearest slave, checking to see if he was still alive. Sighing in relief when he heard a slow heartbeat.

“Still alive.”

His relief was short-lived.

He heard a loud rumble followed by an earth-shaking explosion.

He rushed out of the mine. Momentarily blinded by the sunlight, trying to locate the source of the noise.

Coming out just in time to see a massive boulder fall from the sky, shattering with a noise like thunder when it hit the ground.

He became pale as a ghost. The mine could collapse! He had to save the slaves!

As quickly as his little legs could carry him, he sprinted down the mine to drag the slaves out of a terrible death.

Quickly dragging the smallest slaves first, he saddled the girl in a pack-strap carry and slowly but determinedly beginning the walk up the mine again.

During his days in the mine, he’d recovered some of his strength, as he hadn’t been brainwashed like all the others. He was still skinny by every measure, and he’d simply done his best to recover as quickly as possible, stretching and meditating whenever he wasn’t moving collapsed slaves out of the way.

Now, he was pulling on his energy reserve relentlessly, and practically stomped all the way to the exit.

He couldn’t ignore the toll it took on his body. When he was only halfway up the mine with the first slave out of more than 50, he was breathing harshly, his throat burning and his legs quivering from the exertion.

“Come on John. Come on! YOU GOT THIS! EASY! EASY WORK EASY WORK.” He shouted with all his might, feeling the refreshing adrenaline flood his veins.

Another rumble.

He paused slightly, waiting for the following explosion, holding tightly onto his determination, not letting it slip away.

The explosion was louder this time. Closer.

“John, you got this, easy, not even close baby. It’s just loud, a bit larger than the other one.” Again, shouting to himself.

Made it!

He made the extra effort to carry her all the way over to the edge of the clearing, lest she be hit by any rogue boulders.

“51 to go.” He mumbled to himself and hurried down the mine again.

Again, dragged the smallest slave. Another child, amongst the 3 that were there at the beginning, only 2 had made it.

He was getting dizzy from the effort. His legs wanted to shut down, purely moving forward through desperation.

Made it!

Another rumble.

And began the long walk over to the edge of the clearing.

He put the boy down. Looking up just in time to see another boulder explode as it hit the ground.

It wasn’t larger. It was closer.

“It’s just louder than normal, only 50 to go!”

Scampering over to the entrance, he almost fell in a mildly controlled manner down the slope of the mine. Hanging onto the adrenaline as much as he could.

“Okay, who’s the lightest, I need to warm up properly to carry all of you, you see.”

“There, you look the lightest, you’re next, you’re gonna be just fine.” He said as he took the nearest teenager, only perhaps 13 years old.

The teenager was too large to carry the same way, so he dragged her rather than carried her.

He obviously knew what it felt like when you’d overexerted your muscles, and he was way past that point. He’d felt more than one ligament tear, but resolutely ignored the pain, despite it being so bad it muddled his thoughts and made him dizzy.

“You ate a bit too much, so I’ll have to drag you like this instead. But that’s a good thing! It just means that I’m closer to getting all of you out here. Trust me, you’re all gonna be just fine.”

Made it!

It took a lot longer than with the children, but he dragged her all the way over to the other 2.

“See told you, you’re going to be just fine, enjoy the sunshine, I reckon the sun will be up all day.”

Another rumble, louder this time, and different.

He ignored it; it wouldn’t help him in his current situation.

Turning around to pick up another slave, he quickly started limping over to the entrance, the pain finally having caught up with some parts of him.

He was knocked over.

A screeching animal loomed over him. His companion.

He’d forgotten it in the commotion.

He smiled brightly: “Hey! I forgot about you, let’s go, we need to save all of them, I think the mine might be collapsing. I need your help to carry them out of there.”

He picked himself back up and didn’t take a step before he was knocked over again by his companion.

“Oi, stop that. We don’t have time to play, we need to go save them. They’re possibly in danger. I need to save them, you can help me.” Pushing himself off the ground yet again.

His companion knocked him over again.

“Stop! I don’t wanna play, I don’t have time, I’ve got to save them!” shakingly, pushing himself up again.

Again, he was pushed off his feet and fell to his side.

“Stop it! Why are you interrupting me, can’t you see! Boulders are falling from the top of the mountain!” He desperately tried to convince his companion, but in his blurred vision, it was looking more like a rabid animal than a companion.

This time he didn’t even get on his feet before he fell on his side for the 5th time.

“Fine! I’ll just crawl then. You can’t knock me over!”

It was in part because of his companion, but also in part because he couldn’t stand up. His companion hadn’t pushed him. He’d fallen on his own.

He ignored the weakness he felt. Ignored it with all his might, desperately making his way over to the mine entrance in the distance.

“One leg at a time. I got this. Easy work. See! I don’t even need to walk. Maybe that’s why you knocked me over, because it’s more efficient?”

For the 5th time, his companion charged at him, and for the 6th time, he fell.

“Don’t stop me. Please. I need to-.“ His eyes started tearing up. “I need to save them; they’re depending on me.”

His entire body was shaking from the cold. Even in the warm sunlight, he’d spent every last drop he’d saved up.

“No, I’m not done yet, I have plenty of energy.” He clenched his fists, feeling his nails being torn off, and the dirt clumped together in his palm. Gathering his will, and with single-minded determination, he got back up into a crawl.

Barely making it half a meter before being knocked over once again.

“Stop it!” He screamed, begging for his companion to let him move. “I can’t let them die! Please let me get up!” tears streamed down his face, his body faltering despite the rest of his being wishing otherwise.

“Please, let me get them. I need to get them out of there, it could collapse.” His voice barely louder than a whisper.

He was squirming, sending whatever signal he could to his body to get up, a body long past the point of breaking.

He stilled, his hope finally breaking when he finally looked at the mine.

It had collapsed.

The entire entrance was nothing but rubble.

Trapping almost 50 people inside.

“No….” He whispered. “Someone… Anyone… Please. Help me. Save them. I ca-.” He choked; his voice no more audible than a newly born kitten.

“I ca-. I can’t ge-. I can’t get up. I can’t get up. I need to save them.” He said, defeated.

His eyes were tearing up, blurring his vision even further.

“Someone. Anyone. Help them.” He repeated, not even able to muster the force to put those words into sound.

There he lay. Unable to move. Hearing approaching explosions of shattering boulders, as the mountain was collapsing.

He drifted in and out of consciousness, not knowing how long he’d been there on the ground. His body had spent every drop of energy in his desperate attempt to save the slaves.

A memory he’d from long ago surfaced during this time. It was when John and Cary were children. Their mother was out of town, and they were left with their father for the weekend. He knew Cary had forgotten this particular memory. He couldn’t even remember that they’d had 2 fathers. Only remembering the second one.

John remembered it, though. It was the only time in his life he’d felt helpless.

He suspected it was why they’d drifted apart. The core memory that John cherished of Cary, Cary didn’t remember. He’d repressed it. Hidden it away as if it never existed.

They still didn’t know why their father did what he did, but John knew one thing about that weekend. It was that Cary stood up for him, on the grounds that he was the older brother he took all of it. Cary was only older than John by less than a year. He never allowed a single thing to reach John. Cary promised their father he wouldn’t tell a soul what had happened if he didn't touch John.

He supposed it was why he sent that one bully to the hospital. He’d threatened Cary to help him with his homework. Cary had easily done it for him and complained about it to John. Not expecting him to do anything about it. John was certain he could never repay his brother for what he’d done for him, but he would damn well try.

He remembered clearly how calm Cary was, the entire time with their father and when their mother finally came home. He’d not cried a single time and didn’t cry until John was well out of sight, or so he was told. He’d smiled reassuringly, telling John that he should talk to the nice adults.

He never saw his biological father again, neither did Cary. They were 5 and 6 years old when it happened, and he was told the bastard had gotten 14 years in prison for what he did. That meant he was about to be released or was already released when they entered this world.

John knew he wasn’t the smartest person around, but he knew one thing. It’s that feeling powerless is the worst thing anyone could ever experience. Nothing came close to it.

The memory played on repeat like a broken record. John lying on his stomach grey from the dust the boulders had kicked up. He could count himself lucky, although he’d no doubt not see it as such.

There were documented instances of the body killing itself during particularly strenuous exertion, although it was significantly more likely to simply pass out rather than die under extreme duress.

John, however, in his desperation, had truly spent all the energy available to him and then some. Normally he would’ve died, but as weak as he was, his body wasn’t strong enough to even overexert itself enough. It was like having a heart that could easily reach 200 beats per minute, but only a body strong enough to reach 160. The inherent strength of his organs outlasted the rest of his body. His organs hadn’t deteriorated as quickly as his muscles had, so they hung on with little trouble.

He’d survived despite his best efforts.

During his days in the mine, he’d gotten a tiny layer of fat on his body. A depot of energy that was now keeping him alive, giving his body the precious nutrients they needed.

At some point, the boulders had stopped dropping, and an eerie silence enveloped the area.

John once again felt something gently prodding his face. At the same time, the smell of earth and dust was replaced with something that smelled of flowers and sweetness.

Something touched his lips; John instinctually opened his mouth to take a bite out of it.

A bittersweet juice entered his mouth, and he weakly but greedily started chewing whatever he’d taken a bite out of. A berry perhaps?

It was the first thing he’d tasted in however many days he’d been here. All the food given to him was as bland as could be.

It was nice.

In fact, the more he chewed, the more relaxed he felt. Every single drop that went down his throat seemed to melt whatever stress was knocking at his mind. A sort of serenity enveloped his mind. He felt normal.

‘That doesn’t make sense, does it? Why wouldn’t I feel normal?’

He felt the berry touch his lips again and took another bite out of it. Feeling the juice smoothly flow down into his stomach whenever he chewed and swallowed.

‘It can’t be that important if I don’t remember it.’

In his state of half-consciousness, when he couldn’t remember the terrible things he’d experienced, he had a pleasant moment. One he’d remember.

He gently opened his eyes. The silence seemed welcoming. Peaceful.

He sat up. Petting the large stoat that was standing beside him, it looked cute. It even accepted his hand as he caressed it.

A small heap of red berries stood beside him, and he reached over and took one.

Biting it gave the same bittersweet juice he’d tasted just a moment earlier, and his worries melted away.

“Did you place those berries here for me? How nice of you.” He said, smiling gently at the large stoat.

He looked at his surroundings. The grey landscape that almost seemed like ash was beautiful. It was almost as if the grey colours were shining.

Looking around, even the trees were covered in dust. It was still in the process of settling on the ground.

Had the world ever been this beautiful?

A relaxed sigh escaped him; it was just too peaceful.