Tan took a quick moment to wipe what could only be described as sludge off his leather vest. There really didn’t seem to be a point in doing this, as he would quickly go back to rummaging through the loot-heap, but it was habit by this point. A trasher had to take pride in his work after all.

The dark, viscous material hung on to his fingertips for dear life as he violently flicked his hand. Sometimes, the sight of the slime would remind him of his mother. As a child, Tan was frequently chided for coming home covered in the sludge. Somehow, exploring the caverns had been a lot more fun when he didn’t have to do it to survive.

Despite her lectures, his mother had been a kind lady, barring that troublesome habit of lying.

“Dream big, Tan, and the world grow large enough to match.” she would say, right after one of her infamous scoldings. The tone of the words would always lead Tan to believe that mother wasn’t half as angry as she wanted him to believe.

She was filled with saccharine gems like that, constantly trying to rouse him to reach for greater heights than the life of a trasher. Unfortunately, that was all there was in the Outer Rings.

Tan let out a deep exhale as he shrugged off the tendrils of reminiscence, as well as further droplets of sludge that had dripped onto him. It was best to avoid thinking about his childhood, especially regarding his mother. After all she was gone now. He squatted down and pulled out a frayed brown pouch to tally the day’s earnings. He flipped the open pouch onto his hand and three small metal discs fell into his hand.

Two of them were a metallic silver and the third a lustrous brown. The silver discs were small, one more so than the other, and both easily fit in his hand. The smaller silver disc, a slice, was worth at least a few meals, while the larger one, a moon, was worth at least a drink or two. The brown disc, aptly called a browning, was smallest of all, and it brought an elated grin to Tan’s face. Not a fortune, but the browning would see Tan well taken care of at least till the month’s end.

The discs all had strange symbols on the front and back, along with pictures. And words that no scholar had been able to translate. The “front” depicted different faces, depending on the type of disc, and the “back” showed buildings of some sort. It was a little strange how the smallest disc, the one made of the least metal, was worth heaps more than the rest. However, moneymen insisted that the use of a different metal signified its importance in the Ancients’ money system. Who was Tan to argue? After all, he was just a trasher.

“Guess it’s time to go cash these in. No use testing my luck more.” Tan thought, as he slid the discs back into his pouch and began a trek back towards hole that he came down, his path illuminated by the light that leaded through various cracks in the cavern. The caverns were Ancient-made, and it was harder and harder to find ones that hadn’t caved in completely. He headed towards the stairway he had come down and a noise made him freeze.

“Che, Che, Che, Che…” Chittering noises backed by scampering echoed through the walls. Tan’s blood froze.

“I knew this was going too damn well. Ancients damn it.”

For a brief second, he pondered a course of action. His first instinct was to break into a full sprint, but that would’ve been far too loud. The noise wasn’t earsplittingly loud, so they couldn’t be that close. Right? Tan swallowed down his panic and decided it was probably best to just keep going at the pace he was. No use in making noise and giving the damned things a fleeing target.

Despite this decision, it was hard to keep his stride from quickening from a walk to jog. A nervous energy filled each step, nipping at his heels and making him move more and more quickly. This fact was made painfully clearer by the pole strapped to his back giving him a thwack to the back of the calf with each step.

Just yesterday, Mira had told him the caverns were as quiet as a bad minstrel show. Then again, Mira had also told him she once scared off an entire Pack with a single glance. Of course, he didn’t believe her. He also didn’t think it a lie. If anyone could do it, it would be her. Mira was just that type of person.

“Lying Chit…”

For a brief moment, Tan had actually let himself believe that he would get out with his treasure, unscathed. He was just five minutes walking away from the exit. Then the scampering footsteps suddenly stopped…

That’s when Tan broke into the aforementioned full sprint.

Two towering Chits crashed through the walls right behind him. The damned things had been stalking him the whole time. At least a few heads taller than him, the Chits sank to all fours and loped after him. Their stubby limbs weren’t the best for a chase, but this was more than offset by the weedsprout-thick cords of muscle they contained. Their elongated faces ended with fine, lengthy whiskers. Their white fur was interrupted by patches of bare flesh, brown and hide-like in appearance. Tan knew from experience that the hide would shrug off most blows from a pole. Most terrifyingly, beady red eyes glinted greedily at him. With their long tails lashing violently from anticipation, they continued their dogged pursuit of Tan.

Tan’s senses were kicked into full throttle. He turned back to gauge his distance from his pursuers, shocked to find the gap had already closed slightly. His feet thundered against the stone beneath, but, no matter how hard he propelled himself off the ground, he just couldn’t create more distance.

The stairway came into view moments later. The creatures had made some progress in the chase, but there was still a healthy gap between them and Tan. Thankfully, their pursuit had stayed on the ground.

“Just some grubs. Guess, it could’ve been worse.” Tan thought, with as much relief as a man chased by lumbering demons could have.

It was just as he had that thought- that cursed, traitorous thought- that Tan heard a wet, squelching sound from behind him. Tan turned to see the creatures had halved the distance since he last looked. Still frothing furiously, the Chits had unfurled yellow, chitinous wings and were rapidly flying at him.