Escape

Blocking memories. It never crossed my mind that a world would have that trait. Maybe because I did not have that knowledge or in another term, 'memory,' of The Mine. Not even a speck.

"The longer you remain here, the harder it will be for you to remember where you come from," Master explained.

So the longer I stay in The Mine, I will think more of it as my original world.

"That's some messed up system," I knitted my brows.

"By now, you must have known the nature of The Mine's system," Master asked as walked towards the monolith.

"A slave system…"

"Yes. This monolith right here is leash. Trapped in a dead world, the only way for these people to sustain their own lives was to pick up their pickaxe and mine away for their entire lives," Master said as he caressed the monolith.

"..."

"The Mine in its purest form is just that, a mine. And in ancient times, mining had always been the vocation of slaves. They dig for others' riches. That was what The Mine is. A mine for slaves."

Master said them with so much somberness that I didn't dare to interrupt him.

"You must have noticed that you are different from them," he looked my way.

"Well, they have been making it obvious enough that I am an Outlander."

"That is one. Don't you ever think that people here are weak? Like you could even contend with the adults given a one on one fight?"

"Well, I do sometimes have that weird feeling."

"That is no mere feeling because they are true. This world's inhabitants couldn't connect with the World's System. The Mine's system is a stand alone one where it works on its own without other interference. That's why they are weak. Someone who had been nurtured by the World's System would naturally have the upper hand in terms of strength and power."

Then by Master's logic, doesn't that mean that Outlanders are a threat to them.

Is that why they were so hostile towards Outlander?

"Bingo! You got that right!"

"Master."

"Yes, Aero."

"Could you stop reading other people's minds? It is rude."

"Sorry, bad habit!" he winked.

Then, again, why am I in this world?

"That's probably because this world should be the safest one out there. Who would expect the mastermind to be the god-like existence, the Administrator."

Since The Mine's system was stand alone, almost nobody should be able to interfere with it. The Administrator must have been a big deal if he could even bypass The Mine's solitary system.

"I have no comment on that. And enough about this world. Look, they are coming…" Master pointed forward.

In the distance shadows of people could be seen, approaching us ever so slowly. They were in a lump. Maybe afraid to separate from the flock even for a second. There are strength in numbers after all.

"Shall we 'escape' The Mine?" Master asked, holding his hand out for me.

"Yeah. there is no one here to say goodbye to after all."

I looked at the monolith once more. The manager. The one who put The Mine's slave in line. I glanced back to their approaching silhouette.

'Let's go.'

As soon as I grabbed Master's hand, our scenery changed.

Master may have known that the deepest desire would relate to the quest. Since I desired for my memory back and The Mine system was the one holding me back from it, my quest asked me to escape The Mine.

The part I didn't get was, how did he guess it right? The escape part. I mean, there are many other words out there to describe the getting-out-of-The-Mine process.

Now I know why.

The person who had his way in would naturally have his way out. Heck, we may even be using the same route Master used to get in. Only the person who had had his way into The Mine would know the trouble waiting for us along the way.

After our scenery changed, what replaced it was a dim lit tunnel. No, maybe it was a cavern. They were still made out of The Mine's black hard ground. They were stairs leading to who knows where. Some pointing up while others pointing down. If I don't know my way, I might get lost here in the first five minute.

Surprisingly, you could see ores poking out here and there as if asking to be mined themselves.

These ores, they glowed green. This was the third kind of ores I had seen. The normal white ores of The Mine. Blue ore of Jack body. And now the green ores akin to mosses on tree barks.

They were really like mosses. You could find some patch here and another there.

Once I had taken the view into my mind, I knew this was no longer The Mine. Although the surrounding ground was still the same black thing, the vibe was different here.

Somewhere in this cavern, I could hear the sound of dripping water. Plop, plop, it sounded.

'There is life here.'

Wherever there was water, life would naturally be there.

I just didn't consider that life to hold animosity against us.

"Stand behind me, Aero. Stay put and if anything happens, just shout in your mind," Master instructed me. He took a couple of steps forward.

I could feel the air becoming heavy. The plopping sound of water in the distance got more muffled as seconds passed by. This was a new sensation for me.

Since I had just battled a couple of minutes ago, I knew that this was a tell-tale sign of it.

Out of nowhere, a figure appeared before us, moulding out of the shadow. He too, was clad in black. But there was no light in his eyes. There was no face under his black tattered hood.

Only shadow.

When I looked at where the eyes should be, the only response I got was this silence. An emptiness as if everything of this guy was the void itself.

"You again, huh?" Master just crossed his arms in front of him.

Maybe 'something' did chase Master to The Mine. and maybe that something was this thing.

There was no wind or anything. It just happened in a flash.

One moment, we three were standing still, eying each other. One blink later, that thing was already in front of Master.

This battle was out of my understanding. From standing still to clashing in a blink of an eye. Maybe I'm the weak one here.

Master drew a dark green sword from god knows where and parried that void guy's shadow scythe.

"We already had this conversation before. You can't beat me," Master said with a grin.

This 'conversation' he mentioned must mean battle. You know like warriors talk through their blade or something. Master had fought this guy before and he managed to come out unscathed.

'But does that mean he couldn't mean either.'

The void guy hood tilted sideways, as if eying me.

As soon as I had that thought, he vanished in front of my eyes.

The next thing I knew was I had this suffocating feeling coming from my back. I barely turned my head to look back when I saw his shadow scythe coming at me soundlessly.

There was no wind resistance or such. Only the motion. And then the effect. I had no power in me to evade this attack. Time stop miracle? Who am I kidding, I just expended my luck of the day coming out on top of Jack.

I could not even blink my eyes. That was just how fast the attack came.

Once again, a ringing sound.

"Hey, hey, come on now. He's under my protection now. Unless you could kill me, not a single scratch will fall on him!" Master said from behind my back.

'Since when did Master move? This guy too. As expected of Master, I guess…'

"I was on time constraint earlier, so I just sped up this guy. Now, we have all the time in the world to get out of here in one piece," Master explained.

Though they were only a few words, several clashes already passed with me as the person in between. Still, Master never failed to fend that guy off.

"Aero, listen up. Heed my instruction and ran towards the exit. I will follow you from behind."

Although he could contend head to head with this void guy, I was just being a liability now. Sure he could defend me but in a face paced battle like this one, any slip up would spell doom for me.

"Okay!"

"Nice! Go ahead and take the stairs up to your left…" he said all the while grinning.

I rushed off as soon as I got the instruction.

It was a smooth journey for me. The clinging sound frequency increased a notch when I started moving. This showed how difficult it is to move while still doing battle.

"Took the straight one next. Left stair leading downstairs. Just walked through that tunnel," Master keep the instruction coming as I sprint myself towards the exit.

Master's strategy was simple.

Escaping!