Clang!
Sparks flared as Alexander slammed the axe down on the black ore. The reverberation stung his wrists, and a jolt ran up his arms.
He stared at the stubborn chunk of metal, a deep frown carving into his face. Not a dent. Just a mocking shimmer under the faint morning light.
"This is pointless," he muttered, breath fogging in the chill.
He glanced at the nearby guard, slouched across the ground, his sword carelessly placed to his side.
A little further was Elandor Veyne, chipping away patiently at her piece of ore, her soul sea still sealed, without the ability to channel essence, her body felt the physical burden, and the cold chills of the dark cloudy gorge chilled her bones.
Even moving her limbs was a sort of torture, Alexander's fist locked, he looked away with a dark gleam in his eye.
The chains on their ankles restricted channeling to a certain extent, but Elandor was different, she also had another more powerful seal on her soul sea.
"This can't go on, we need to find a way out of here, Elandor's body might give out at any moment…If only I was strong enough, Elandor said a rank one has a single core, but I'm pretty sure I don't have one yet, I'm only supposed to be a Caller after beating my first mystery… Elandor doesn't know I don't have a core in my soul sea, it's best to keep it that way, or she might stop using my essence to keep herself warm in the caves".
Alexander ran a thumb over the bracelet on his arm. Black, like ash that refused to wash off.
Clang!
He continued to chip away diligently, there was no point hoping, no use wishing. He knew all he needed was strength, if there was a god out there, he never paid any attention to him.
So Alexander knew the only god he needed was himself.
The morning slowly left and it was late afternoon.
Time for them to bring in their mined ore, in-exchange. They're given food, the system was too perfect, designed to keep them always needing and never strong enough to rebel.
The guards gradually led the thousands of slaves to line up in different exchange points; it was chaotic, but nothing the guards weren't used to.
"Hey, that's mine". A young man yelled as his bread was ripped from his hands by a pair of muscular bald men.
The bread tasted bad, but he still needed it to survive.
"Back off kid". One of the bald muscular men kicked the young man's chest, not doing enough damage since their essence has been limited by the chains on their legs, but still did enough to throw the young man to the ground, clutching his chest in agony.
The men didn't stop there, they kicked him even while he was down, cursing and spitting on him.
"Damn brat, don't you know we are the green snake gang, you wanna die?".
The guards chuckled darkly, but didn't make an attempt to stop the fight, the other slaves quickly scrambled away from the young man.
Alexander watched silently, he wasn't planning to help out, he was never fond of charity work, but unexpectedly, a man walked out from the retreating slaves.
"We can't let this go on, the only way to survive and be treated as people is if we start treating one another as such, we should jointly condemn these types of barbarism. And fight back against local oppressors".
He called out loudly to the surrounding slaves, but only a few paid any attention, most smiled in derision and kept their distance.
Alexander scoffed darkly, he was telling others to fight back, while he himself was staying a safe distance away, only the fools will actually step forward.
Elandor was beside him, her eyes sunken, her back slightly bent and shivering from the cold, her dishevelled hair flowed freely down her pale face, unlike the other slaves that only have their essence slightly restricted by the chains on their ankles.
She on the other hand, was completely sealed, she was no different from an ordinary human, especially after the fact that Alexander's essence is also restricted by the chain, and to make matters worse, he still havent had enough time to completely recover from their previous battles.
She was completely helpless as a sorceress, but still, she muttered with a distant gaze.
"There's something you must understand about we humans, Alex. Even in the depths of suffering, even while being chained and beaten and dragged through the dirt by our fellow man… we humans will still find a way to place ourselves above someone else…
"Strip us of everything, wealth… titles… homes, pride. Reduce us to rags, silence our thoughts. And yet, we will still claw and scratch to find a rung higher than the one beside us. One will pretend strength, another will hoard favors, and a third will declare himself the voice of the oppressed. It's not because we're cruel, not exactly. It's because we are terrified of being nothing."
"Power, even the illusion of it, feels safer than weakness. It feels like hope. And so, slaves build hierarchies among slaves, soldiers enforce the rules of mad men , and peasants curse their kings only to become tyrants the moment they hold a blade…
"That's the truth... Humanity's so called way of life... Rules to justify our suffering. Chains to call justice. Someone to point at and say, 'at least I'm not them.' You'll find it in every corner of this world, from the lowest mines to the highest Thrones. You think the Monarchs are monsters? But they didn't create this world alone. People helped them…
Because it is easier to kneel beneath a crown than to stand free and wonder what comes next."
Alexander breathed in the cold air, he held Elandor's hand, freely allowing bits and pieces of his scattered essence to flow towards her.
But she couldn't make use of it with the chain around her ankle further restricting her ability to channel, it was pointless, but he still didn't stop.
The only way to keep her warm was to wait till nightfall, when the chains were removed and the slaves returned to the caves to sleep.