Chapter 2 - The Discovery Beneath Gildspire

The mine trembled as the last explosion faded, dust swirling through the air in thick, choking waves. The force of the blast had rocked the tunnels to their core, sending a violent shockwave through the stone. As the dust began to settle, the miners saw it—the floor had given way. A gaping hole now yawned at the bottom of the shaft, its jagged edges crumbling, revealing an eerie magenta glow pulsing from the depths below. The strange light flickered and twisted, casting restless shadows along the mineshaft walls.

Aeval was the first to speak, her sharp eyes locked on the unnatural light.

"What the hell did we just find?" she muttered, taking a cautious step forward.

The rest of the group stood frozen, their breath caught in their throats as they stared into the abyss. The glow seemed alive, its pulsations rhythmic, almost like a heartbeat.

Hydro studied the glow with his usual detached calm, running a hand through his dust-covered hair. "Whatever this is," he said, "it’s not natural."

“Which means it might be valuable!,” Spoon interjected, eyes gleaming. Ever the businessman, his mind was already turning over the potential worth of whatever lay beyond that light.

“We need to get back before the guards realize we’re gone,” Aeval said, her voice low but urgent.

“Fuck ‘em,” Bwompy growled, cracking his knuckles. The fresh bruises on his arms from earlier still burned, a reminder of the guard who had shoved him into the dirt like he was nothing. "I’m tired of working for these bastards. They treat us like animals. I say we go down there and find out what this is."

Aeval thought quickly. “Nick, Huzz, head back to camp. Tell them we’re still setting up the detonators. That should buy us some time.”

Nick and Huzz nodded and disappeared into the tunnels, leaving the rest of them alone with the eerie glow.

“Someone’s gotta go down there,” Spoon said, glancing around the group.

Bwompy didn’t hesitate. “I’ll go.”

 The Descent

They secured a rope to the wooden supports of the mineshaft, tightening the knot around Bwompy’s thick frame. He gave it a sharp tug, testing its strength, then took a steady breath before beginning his descent into the unknown.

The glow grew stronger as he lowered himself deeper, the shadows around him twisting and stretching like living things. The air was… different down here. Thicker. Charged with something he didn’t understand.

He dropped onto solid ground and untied the rope, cautiously making his way toward the pulsing light. His boots crunched over ancient stone, the cavern widening into a massive underground chamber. The walls shimmered with veins of strange, luminous material, etched with patterns too precise to be natural.

And then—a shadow moved.

Bwompy froze.

The figure was small, its gait strange—not quite a walk, not quite a hop. It bobbed unnaturally, casting a warped silhouette against the glowing walls. A low, guttural muttering echoed through the chamber, something not human.

His pulse pounded in his ears.

“The fuck is that?!”

The shadow stopped.

The voice—inhuman, chattering, almost rhythmic—grew louder. The words were foreign, twisted, like a language never meant to be spoken by human tongues.

That was enough for Bwompy. He turned and ran, his breath sharp and ragged as he reached for the rope. He yanked hard.

"PULL ME UP! NOW!"

The team scrambled to haul him back up, his boots scraping against the rocky walls as he climbed. The second he reached the top, he was already pulling at the ropes.

“I don’t know what the fuck is down there,” he panted, “but I’m not sticking around to find out. Something was moving down there, and it was speaking in tongues or some shit.” He shook his head. “I ain’t fucking with that.”

Before anyone could respond, Nick and Huzz burst back into the mine, out of breath, wide-eyed with fear.

“They’re coming!” Huzz gasped. 

 Confrontation

A voice bellowed from the distance—sharp, angry.

“YOU LAZY FUCKS BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR BEING LATE!”

Bwompy clenched his fists, his face darkening.

“This motherfucker…” he muttered.

Two guards stormed into the cavern, their boots slamming against the stone. One of them—the same one who had shoved Bwompy into the dirt earlier—smirked as he spotted them standing by the strange opening.

“Why the hell haven’t you reported back? It doesn’t take this long to set up detonators.”

Aeval stepped forward, trying to defuse the situation. “We just had a problem with the

detona—”

The guard cut her off, his gaze snapping to the magenta glow seeping from the cave’s depths. His face twisted in suspicion.

“What the hell is that?”

“It's, uh, nothing!” Aeval tried. “We’ll head back now—”

The guards weren’t listening. They shoved past the group, moving toward the strange light.

One of them let out a low whistle, running a gloved hand along the edges of the blasted rock. “I don’t know what this is, but the Warden’s gonna want to hear about it.” He laughed, his voice thick with greed. “Thanks to you degenerates, I’ll be getting a promotion for—whatever the hell this is.”

And then Bwompy snapped.

With a snarl, he lunged, ripping the rifle from the nearest guard’s hands and driving a fist into his jaw. The guard staggered back, cursing as blood sprayed from his mouth.

The second guard barely had time to react before Nick and Huzz tackled him, slamming him into the ground. The cavern erupted into chaos—grunts, curses, the crunch of fists meeting flesh.

Bwompy drove another punch into the first guard’s gut, then slammed the butt of the rifle into his temple, sending him crumpling to the ground.

The second guard struggled, but Nick and Huzz were relentless, beating him down until he stopped resisting.

Then, silence.

The only sound was their own ragged breathing and the low hum of the magenta glow behind them.

Bwompy wiped the sweat from his brow, looking down at the unconscious guards.

They had protected their discovery.

But now, they faced another problem – the guards absence would be noticed.

 No Turning Back

The cave was silent except for the ragged breathing of the group, their minds racing in the aftermath of what they had just done. The unconscious guards lay sprawled at their feet, their blood seeping into the dust-covered stone.

"What should we do?!" Aeval’s voice cracked, panic creeping into her usually steady tone. She turned sharply toward Bwompy, eyes blazing. “Why did you have to kill them?!”

Bwompy’s fury drained from his face, replaced by something else—regret, maybe, or just the sinking weight of reality crashing down on him. He ran a hand over his face, exhaling sharply.

"I... I don’t know. I just snapped." His voice was quieter now, almost ashamed. "They treat us like fucking dogs!"

A heavy silence fell over the group, the weight of the situation pressing down on them.

Spoon, always thinking, scanned the cavern, his mind already shifting to survival mode. “We need to hide these bodies,” he muttered, his voice level. His eyes locked onto Nick and Huzz. “Did anyone see them leave camp with you?”

Huzz hesitated, then shook his head. “I don’t think so.”

Nick nodded in agreement. "Everyone was inside the mess hall. These guys stopped us before we reached camp. I don’t think anyone saw."

That was something. A sliver of hope.

Hydro, ever composed, crossed his arms, surveying the situation with unsettling calm. “There’s no going back from this,” he said, as if commenting on the weather. “We need to decide our next moves carefully.”

Bwompy, still rattled but shaking it off, took a deep breath. “Let’s toss these motherfuckers into the hole.” He gestured toward the glowing opening. "Then we go back to camp, act normal, get some food, and sleep on it. Just don’t say a fucking word to no one."

He said it with such certainty that, for a moment, it almost sounded like a foolproof plan.

Almost.

Aeval looked like she wanted to argue, but she knew there was no time. The longer they stood here, the higher the risk of someone coming to check on them.

Spoon nodded. "Sounds like a plan. No talking. No slipping up. We handle this tomorrow."

Then, without hesitation, he crouched down and grabbed one of the guard’s limp arms. He looked up at the others.

“Someone give me a hand.”

Bwompy stepped forward first, grabbing the guard’s legs. Hydro and Nick moved to the second body, lifting it together. The weight of the dead men felt different now—not just heavy in their arms, but heavy in their souls.

No one spoke as they carried the bodies toward the abyss. The magenta light pulsed softly, almost welcoming. And then, one by one, they threw the guards into the unknown. The darkness swallowed them whole. No one knew what lay beyond that eerie glow, but the bodies were gone now. Hidden.

The problem wasn’t solved.

It had only just begun.

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