Published in Lindenwood University's Arrow Rock Literary Journal, 16th Edition (View Here)
It was hard to try and make a living here, and Avia knew this well. Even being named a mastra at birth, it served her no better than performing parlor tricks on the street for gold. So, like most residents of Miredge, she faced an arduous job in the mines.
Miredge has seen tough times as of late, at least here in the town of Sellas, where Avia had lived her whole life. The streets were always crowded here, either with beggars or those damned to work in the mines alongside her. Smoke billowed out from towering buildings, painting the sky in a constant dull orange hue. Horse-drawn carts sent vibrations through the ground as they rushed past, either carrying shipments of minerals or those who had fallen terribly ill. She had heard stories of different countries, where people sang in the street and mastras performed miracles on the sick and wounded. It seemed like everywhere else had it figured out, and Miredge was slowly slipping behind. Soon, Avia thought, Miredge will finally crumble, and swallow us whole when it dies.
“Whatever you’re thinking, knock it off!” Renwick waved a hand vigorously in front of her eyes. “I may not have magic powers, but that doesn’t mean I can’t tell you’re getting lost in those vicious thoughts of yours.”
“I can’t read minds, Ren,” Avia sighed. “Even if I could, I bet I’d still be stuck here with you.” She punched him playfully in the shoulder, careful not to strike the metal that made up the rest of his amputated arm.
“Oh, I’d make sure you’re stuck with me in every lifetime. You can’t escape me even if you wanted to!” Renwick puffed out his chest, his metallic arm ruffling up Avia’s short black hair.
“Cut it out!” He was a good foot or so taller than her, so as much as she tried to fight back, she inevitably ended up with freshly matted hair.
Their discussion continued until the two finally made it to their post, where their pickaxes were awaiting them. Renwick looked at Avia and smiled before grabbing one for himself and handing her the other. Together they lugged their equipment to the mouth of a looming cave, which was gated off for the safety of other civilians. Renwick held a round metal pin up to the guard stationed there. He nodded, letting Renwick pass. Avia did the same, following closely behind. Each of their pins began to glow faintly, until they lit up the cavern tunnels as the two of them walked. In the distance, Avia could hear the sharp clanging of metal striking rock, and shouts directing where to bring harvested minerals. The air hung heavy with the scent of burning oil and dust stirred from the mine. As the two continued deeper into the mines, those sounds slowly faded, merely echoes etched into the cave walls.
“We can leave some of our things here while we work.” Renwick unhooked the bag he secured at his side carrying various tools for mining and first aid.
“You think we’ll find any dragon bones?” Avia slid her bag off her shoulder and set it next to Renwicks.
“I seriously doubt Joffrey was being truthful about that whole thing.” Renwick laughed.
“But maybe not! I mean they lived at some point, right? So, their bones must be somewhere!” Avia snickered with him.
“Well, if we do find any, we’ll be rich enough to never have to set foot in this hell hole again.”
“Here’s to hoping.”
Renwick headed first into the narrow tunnel, Avia just two steps behind him. They had been working this tunnel for the past week, so the walk was a long one. There were a few small break points adorned with small lamps, but other than that it was a straight shot to where they last left off. The tunnel was just barely taller than Renwick, but about as wide as five or six people. Finally, they reached the end of the tunnel and lowered their pickaxes.
“So, dragon bones are the goal then?” Renwick’s eyes traced the wall and then looked back down at Avia.
“For sure. Just watch where you swing that thing. Could get caught on the ceiling, with your luck. And your weird long limbs.”
“Just because you’re tiny doesn’t make me a giant.” Renwick shot Avia a mischievous grin before they both turned to get to work.
The two chipped away at the stone walls, removing chunks of iron and coal and placing them into the barrels they had left here from days prior. They hummed to the tunes of different songs and between breaks would speak about the stagnant weather that shrouded Sellas. They discussed what they would do if they lived anywhere else, if dragons still roamed the world, if their king decided to forgo all the mining efforts. Avia swung her pickaxe opposite to Renwick, when suddenly she struck something that sent a shock up her arms and down her back.
“What the hell...” Avia dropped her pickaxe and massaged her shoulders.
“Are you okay?” Renwick stopped what he was doing to check on her.
“Yeah, I must have caught something hard.” Avia picked up her pickaxe and inspected the head.
“It’s cracked?” Renwick looked over her and traced her pickaxe with his solid metal hand. “What the heck did you hit, Avia?”
“I’ve got no clue...”
“Well, let's find out.” Renwick turned back to the wall to investigate.
Avia tried her best to look over his shoulder at a large crack that ran up the wall and down through the floor. Avia’s chest tightened as her eyes followed the stone gash when something caught her eye—a faint orange glow, almost like the orange sky had crawled its way into the mine. Avia stepped in front of Renwick, holding her arm out to signal he should stay back.
“Avia, be careful. Mastra or not, you don’t know what that is. Or what it could do.” Despite his warnings, Renwick stopped dead in his tracks.
Avia stayed silent, just nodding in acknowledgement. She could hear him inhale sharply as she took another step closer. Her eyes focused more onto the source of the glow—A rock? Avia brought up her now damaged pickaxe and began to carefully chip away at the surrounding stone wall. The strange stone seemed to be giving off some faint heat, the same pleasant feeling she would get from lying outside on a particularly warm day. Avia reached out her hand to touch it.
“Step back Ren, I’m going to try to get it out.”
“Please be careful.” He took two slow steps backwards, his sharp gray eyes still trained cautiously on Avia and the mysterious glowing stone in the wall.
Avia turned back to face the stone, her hand still extended to grab it. Then, she shot her hand forward, as if to try and catch it by surprise, and ripped it out of the stone wall. She stood there for a moment, waiting for something to happen. The stone felt alive in her hand, the warmth permeating up her arms and around her chest. The faint glow lit up her pale face and dark eyes.
“Well, it doesn’t look like dragon bones to me...” Renwick took a deep breath before stepping back towards Avia. “What do you think it is?”
“I don't know... it’s beautiful, though.”
“I bet it’s expensive, too.” Renwick lightly ran his good hand across the stone to feel its warmth for himself. It was a perfect sphere with a glassy exterior, the inside of the stone twisting and churning like a fiery storm.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them shook in a violent tremor, rocks and dust falling from the cavern ceiling. The crack that was born from Avia’s pickaxe now stretched out further across the floor and splintered across the walls. The two of them staggered backwards and frantically scanned their surroundings.
“It’s collapsing!” Renwick shouted over the crashing of rocks and cracking of stone. “Avia, we have to get out of here!”
Avia looked in horror as the tight tunnel began to close in on them. The wide cracks in the wall began to glow the same faint orange as the very stone she still held close to her chest.
“Ren, look! There’s more of them!” The cave revealed larger veins of the warm glowing stones, groaning and cracking as if retaliating against her for stealing one of their brothers.
“They won’t be much use to us if we’re dead. We can come back, for now let's just get out of here!” Renwick lunged forward and grabbed Avia’s arm, yanking her away from the growing crevasse in the floor. Avia, back to her senses, began to run alongside Renwick.
They ducked between falling stones and lamps, the debris piling up larger and larger behind them, until Avia swore she could feel her heels being clipped by the collapsing mine. Before she realized it, her foot caught the fracturing ground and sent her face first onto the floor.
“Avia!” Renwick cried out behind him when he realized she was no longer by his side. But it was too late, almost immediately as she fell, she was completely covered in fallen stones and debris.
“Just run, Ren! Get out of here!” She didn’t know if he even heard her, or if he was still alive. All she could feel was a searing pain shooting up her left leg, and the warmth from the stone, still clutched carefully underneath her. She was lucky she hadn’t been crushed in an instant, though she wasn’t sure how long the large stone shielding her head would hold.
Please, she thought, this is not what I meant by swallowed whole. Please just let me get out of here and see Ren again. Just let me know that he is okay.
Despite her prayers, there was nothing. Minutes, perhaps even hours must have passed like this, where Avia was silently praying to herself that she would somehow get out of this, and that Renwick had made it out unscathed. Please, she repeated to herself, just let me out. Over and over, and then over again, a hundred times. The thought occurred to her that she may die here. She would die, crushed by the earth that she cursed every day for as long as she could remember. She would die without seeing a blue sky, white fluffy clouds, or bright twinkling stars. Those were fantasies, meant for children’s stories and fairy tales.
And yet, she still hoped. She held that warm stone closer, embracing its energy in a last-ditch effort to survive. Or at least, die a less painful death.
Suddenly, a shrill noise emanated from the rock and began to surround her, the stone itself beginning to glow brighter. It felt like the debris that was crushing her into the floor was slowly being lifted off her back. Then, in a brilliant flash, the entire tunnel was erased from her vision, and she felt herself land on soft ground.
When she stirred, Avia’s head was still pounding, and her vision was blurry. She could faintly hear the muffled voices of other people shouting and the rustling of footsteps around her. She could feel the cool grass beneath her and the same sharp pain in her leg from when she fell. She tried to lift her head from the ground but was only met with the vague figures of concerned onlookers and fellow workers—some of which stood frozen in shock, and others frantically ducked through the twisting crowd of people. Through the chaos, Avia heard a familiar voice reach out to her.
“Avia?! Avia wake up, come on!” She felt a pair of hands shaking her awake—one flesh, and the other distinctly metal.
“Ugh... five more minutes...” She slowly sat up before realizing who was looking back at her, tears flowing down his face.
“I thought you were dead, y’know! Why did you have to scare me like that?!” Renwick pulled her into his arms for a tight embrace.
“Agh--watch the leg, man!” She winced as he brought her closer, “I didn’t think you made it either!” She couldn’t help but let out a relieved sigh, tears welling in her eyes.
“How did you make it out?” Renwick held her back out in front of him, searching for answers in her expression.
“I... I really don’t know. I just thought about how badly I didn’t want to be crushed to death by rocks, and then...” Avia trailed off as she took in her surroundings. She was just outside of the mineshaft; she recognized the gate from when they had entered just hours before, except now it was completely buried under rubble. And, still in her arms, was the glowing orange orb she had excavated from the mine’s wall. “I guess it got me out?” She held out the orb in between them.
“Great... A broken leg and a magic orb. What am I going to do with you?” Renwick chuckled softly and lifted her off the ground, the orb still tightly clutched in her hands. The spectators surrounding them began to speak hurriedly amongst each other as the two tried to leave, the wreckage of the mineshaft spilling out behind them. They were stopped by a lone towering figure that appeared from the crowd, wearing the emblem of the royal guard across his chest.
“I’m sorry to come at such a dire time it seems, but I’m afraid I will need to confiscate that magic item and its user. By the King’s request.”
