Holy Lands - Hell mine - ?

Moving around the mine is easier than it was before. The guards seemed to have just up and disappeared. The corridors are quiet too. At first, I was on edge about it, but since we haven't run into any trouble, I'm warming up to the idea.

"Hey, are we getting closer to where you want to be?" She shrugs her shoulders. "Then how do you know where it's at?"

She stops moving to carve words into the wall. She stops before she can get done with her sentence. Noise is coming from behind us. Footsteps? Whatever it is, it's slowly approaching us. Racheal readied her axe. I take out that Electric/knife/blunt stick that I took from the guard. The anticipation is killing me. Is it a guard, or maybe... It's just a worker. The singular one comes into view, walking with a pickaxe. I head over to the man.

"H-hey, are you okay? Are you by yourself?" The worker remains silent. I'm getting a bad feeling from this person. "Um...where did you come from?"

"Sorry," he whispers. The feelings I'm reading from it are regret, yet desperation. There's another feeling that I haven't read since I got here. It came from those monsters we first encountered. This feeling is killing intent! He lifts his axe with both his hands. I jump back before he can slam it down on my head. The axe punctures the ground.

"Crap!"

I drop to my back in my failed attempt to get away. Opening to the electric rod. I point at him.

"Back away!"

He's disregarding my warning. Instead, charging at me. "I-I s-said stay back!" This is no good, I can't do anything! I'm too scared to even move my legs. Racheal snatches the rod out of my hand, running ahead of me with it. She uses her tiny stature to her advantage by running under the worker, getting behind him. She presses the tazer against the guy's back, shocking him to the point where smoke is coming up from him. The man is about to fall face-first to the ground. I catch him before he can. Luckily, he still had a pulse and his breathing.

"Racheal, are you okay?" She gives a thumbs up. I'm glad she didn't hurt herself doing that. More footsteps make themselves heard. Several of them are coming from behind. More workers come into view, holding different sharp tools. All of them aimed at us with killing intent. "Racheal, run!"

We make a break for the other miners in this corridor. My forehead is sweating bullets from the overwhelming pressure coming from behind us. From their grunts alone, I could feel the desperation and bloodlust. It's giving me a headache. Luckily, we're outpacing them since they're tripping upon themselves in this narrow pathway. I'm being careful to not get in Racheal's way. However, she trips as she hits a rock on the ground. I quickly pick her up. She winces as she stands up. She has a bruise on her knee. Our pursuers are getting closer as we waste time here. She can't run with that injury on her leg. Shit, guess I have no alternative. I pick up Racheal and her axe. Running is a lot harder now; she's not too heavy, but she is added weight.

There is a fork road ahead of us. I take the left road without thinking it through. We lost some of them because of the split. However, there are still quite a few of them on our tail. At the end of the trail is a cold, dark, metallic door.

"You have to be kidding me!" We're stuck. Racheal kicks me with her tiny feet. "What is it?" She points to her axe, then makes a hammering gesture towards the door. Is she telling me to wedge her axe in the door? "You want me to pry open the door?" She bobs her head.

Putting her down, I take up the axe with both my hands. I aim the axe between the double door gap, making sure that I won't miss it.

"Here goes!" I jam the axe inside the door. I pushed against the axe, trying to have it open the door. My arms are getting sore from pushing this thing. I don't know if it's even working. "Come on, budge, damn it!" I feel the door moving just a tad bit. If I can move it a bit more, I'll be able to pry it open with my hands...

"I think...I almost..." The door moves significantly as the axe slides out of the door, making me tumble backward to the ground. Looking back at the door, it's slightly open, but not enough to fit through. Racheal pushed the axe with me, adding to the overall force behind the push. More and more, the axe is opening up the door. Finally, the door wedges open just enough for us to fit in.

"Racheal, let's go!"

Both of us slip through the door, barely squeezing in. I have to close the door, and fast! I found a handle on the door. Racheal put her axe on the handle and I put my hands on it. We pull with all our strength. The hinges creak as the two doors come closer to closing. With the last of my strength, I close the door shut. Banging on the door subsequently comes right when it locked behind us. My heart is beating a mile a minute, like it’s going to pop out of my body. I let out a large breath of air, laughing to myself. We did it, we actually got away!

"That was close! I can't believe we made it!" I sit against the cold door. The heat from my back is quickly being washed away. Racheal is gripping her scraped knee. She hisses as she touches it. Oddly enough, she doesn't seem like she is going to cry. "Are you alright?"

She nods her head, but she is still wincing from the pain. It doesn't look bad, but she's going to need to get it treated.

"Right, now we need to patch you up."

I get up from the door, picking up her axe as well. I walk over to the edge of the elevated platform.

"Whoa!"

There is a small town down from here, with lights illuminating it. Racheal stands herself up, trying to go down the stairs.

"Hang on, it's too dangerous for you to walk with a limp, especially downstairs." I crouch down to her level.

"Come on, I'll carry you down there."

She’s giving me a concerned look. Something tells me she thinks I can’t do this.

"I'm not that weak."

Her concerned expression turns to determination as she moves for the stairs.

"You'll fall on the stairs with that wound."

She takes the axe from beside me.

"I won't. I'm not afraid of getting hurt!"

"Well, I don't want you to get hurt."

"But why?"

"Because I would feel bad if you got hurt while I’m around. So just work with me and climb on."

Racheal looks at her feet, ignoring me. Geez, I think I came off a bit too strong. But I’m lying. I wouldn't be able to stand it if I could keep her from getting hurt. I couldn't stand it when Proxy was covered in cuts from that fight with the knight. ‌It annoyed me how powerless during all that. No matter how I think of it, there was nothing I could’ve done. It’s only logical, but that still pisses me off.

"Hm?"

A sudden weight pushes onto my back. Racheal’s arms wrap around my neck. Her breath is hitting my back. Well, at least we can go down now. I pick up her axe. Hopefully, this small town is safe.

...

Getting off the staircase, we enter the village town. The buildings seem to be built from smooth stone and finely shaved wood and other materials; even the windows are beautiful. The stone road doesn’t have potholes or gaps along the road. It's well-paved, even with my shoes on, I can tell the architects took painstaking measures when creating this road. The streets are lit with street lamps that share the same Victorian-era aesthetic as the buildings and roads.

"This is amazing! Who made this place? I should take a picture."

I take out my phone. I snap a few pictures of the building and streets, as well as the far-off structures that are connected to the walls. They’re good pics. Can't wait to show this when I get back home. Racheal is staring at my phone. Curiosity painted on her face. Makes sense why. She might not know technology like this. Hell, this world probably doesn't.

"Are you curious about this?" I ask. She bobs her head yes. I take the time to explain to her what it is in good enough detail and as to what I was doing. However, to my surprise, she seems to have understood what I said.

“You know, you’re a quick learner.” This has been nagging me, but since we’re on the subject, I think now is a good time to ask. “...How do you know how to spell? Did your dad teach you?" She happily nods. If he knew how to, that means he was educated by someone. I don't believe that if someone was born here, they would know how to speak, or would find time to learn. "How long were you guys down here, in the mine?" Racheal puts out 7 finger. "7 months?" No, was her answer. "7 years!?" She nods her head to affirm my guess. "So how old are you?" She puts out 1 finger, then 0 more on another hand. "10!?"

So for that long, her father stayed strong-willed to make sure she and everyone else would as well. That must've been hell. It’s hard to imagine that, or maybe it’s better to say I can’t. All of this is just surreal.

A tap on my shoulder brings me out of my head. Racheal points to a building on our right. I look through the window. On a shelf that I can barely see, sit medical supplies.

"Nice find, Racheal!"

She expresses her happiness with my praise with a cute smile. It’s a smile that can warm the heart. I’m glad she’s starting to smile around me. I scurry over to the door. It has a regular doorknob that is copper-colored. I turn the knob, but it won't budge.

"Of course, it's locked." Racheal tapped my arm, pointing to the axe and the window. "I can't do that, that would be rude to the masterful craftsmanship.”

Of course, if it were Proxy, he’d have no problem doing it. Then again, he might get what I’m saying since he is an artist. Thankfully, it's just a doorknob, so we don't need to force it open."

Digging into my pocket, I take out my wallet. I present a card, but it is no ordinary card. It is the best card for this situation. I slip it in the deadbolt. Good, seems as if this will work. Racheal taps me again.

"Yeah?"

She points to my card.

"This? I'm trying to put this card, which is already in, in the deadbolt for this door. If I'm doing this right, then it should be done..." A click comes from the door. Knew I had a knack for this, though, that’s something I’ll never admit out loud for obvious reasons. Opening the door with my free hand, the humid, dry air rushes against my face. I can't help but cough.

"All right, let's get you patched up." I put Racheal on the clerk's desk. I’m not too familiar with all this other stuff. But that doesn’t matter. I just need some bandages. "Here we go!" I grab the bandage on the shelf. “Okay, show me your leg.” I wrap the bandage around her leg. "It's a good thing we found this stuff. It would've been a pain if you had to walk around with this scrap. Tell me if I'm wrapping it too tightly."

As I wrap the bandage, Racheal moves her finger on the desk. My eyes glimpse at what she is doing. She wrote something with the dust.

"How do you know how to open doors like that?"

"I know because I saw my friend do it a few times. So after a while, he taught me how to."

There was a time where the key to my dorm room broke and it was a while before I got another one. Proxy would have to come over to the boy dorms just to pick the door; he eventually taught me how to open it with a card.

"Can I ask you something else?"

"Um, sure, what is it?"

"What is the outside like?"

"What, you mean the outside world? To be honest, I've seen little of it myself to give you an honest opinion about it yet."

"Why?"

"Because, and this is going to sound bizarre. I'm from another world." Racheal's facial features widen.

"Really!?"

"Yep, my friend and I come from another world, but you need to keep it a secret," I say, making a shushing sound with my finger at my lips. She nods with a small smile, doing the same gesture as me. "I might know nothing about this world. But I do know that once you get up there, you'll be able to live the way you want. Under the sun and moon."

"I will?"

"Yeah, and that wouldn't be the end."

She rocks back and forth in place, giggling with glee.

"I can't wait to get out of here with papa."

Reading that, I can feel the optimism radiating from it like a well-spring. It’s odd, but I feel a sense of unease from this type of optimism. With one last wrap around her leg, I finish bandaging it up with a little knot.

"There, all done." I lift her off the desk to the floor. She is still limping, but at least her wound isn't showing anymore. "Alright then, let's get going."

We head over to the door. As I grasp a hold of the handle, a loud thumping sound comes from the other side.

"That's strange,"

I whisper to myself. In the blink of an eye, something busts in through the door. Whatever it is hit me square in the chest, making me go flying towards the clerk's desk and crash into the wall behind it. My chest is pounding like hell, my back is in intense pain. Breathing is harder than it was a few seconds ago. My vision is also blurry.

"C-crap!"

The thing that hit me tore into the store. Getting up from the ground is an effort that takes all my strength to perform. There’s a giant overcoat with a hood covering their face. He has an opposing figure that gives off a deadly sensation that sends a dreadful sensation throughout my body. It approaches me with heavy footsteps. It grabs me by the shirt, lifting me off the ground.

"Take this!"

I hit him between the neck with the stun baton, but nothing happened. Its grip is still strong around my shirt. Racheal climbs up on the desk with her axe. She swings it to this thing's back. It stabs into the skin, yet this thing isn't fazed by it. Damn it, this thing can't be human, that's for certain.

"Racheal, get out of here!"

She swings her axe against it back again. It still didn’t hurt it. She then aims for the arm that is holding me. Again, nothing happened. This thing isn't receptive to pain.

"Get out of here, Racheal! Go find my friend, Proxy! He'll be wearing goggles!" She rejected my plea to run by continuously hitting its arm. The giant turns its head towards her. It just gazes at her for a little. It reaches out to her with its other hand.

"I SAID GO!" I tazed it again to bring its attention to me. She runs out of the store while hugging her axe. "Good, she got away." The giant looks back at me. Its fist comes speeding to my face, knocking me out in one hit.