The labyrinth and fury of the Black Flame

Benjamin had learned much at the Academy, but no books or lectures could truly capture the scale of what lay beneath the surface of Khial.

The Black Flame did not function like a simple syndicate.

They were not a loose collection of criminals that could be rooted out with military might.

They were a parasite. A cancer.

They burrowed into the earth, setting up hidden tunnels, subterranean cities, and underground trading routes that stretched for kilometers beneath the surface. They had entrances hidden across the continent, disguised in forests, mountains, even beneath cities—shadow networks so vast that even the Sages, for all their power, could not destroy them entirely.

For every hideout uncovered, for every mine collapsed, more existed. More thrived.

Even the Forest of Hukuma, near the Academy, bore a name whispered in the underground—the "Black Flame Forest", not because it belonged to the Black Flame, but because so many of their tunnels riddled the earth beneath it.

The place they had stumbled into was not a main base. It was a vein of a far greater body, an artery of the criminal empire.

And now, Benjamin and Dab were trapped inside it.

---

The air was thick with damp earth and dust, the lingering scent of metal and something more rancid, something that reeked of sweat, blood, and toil.

Benjamin ran his fingers lightly across the stone wall, feeling the rough grooves where tools had once chipped away, carving out pathways long before they arrived.

Dab crouched beside him, her fur barely visible in the dim torchlight, her golden eyes narrowed in thought.

"We need to move fast," she whispered. "They'll be checking the collapse soon."

Benjamin nodded. "Agreed. But we can't just run blind. This place is a maze."

The passage ahead split into two tunnels, one sloping downward in a natural cavern formation, the other lined with man-made reinforcements, stone supports holding up the ceiling.

Benjamin frowned. "This was once a cave. Then they built into it."

"Means the lower we go," Dab muttered, "the closer we get to their real infrastructure."

Atty's voice flickered faintly in Benjamin's mind, still distant. "Still… trying to reach you. Some kind of interference here. Be careful."

Benjamin exhaled. The connection was weak.

They were on their own for now.

Dab nodded toward the stone-built path. "That way. If they have a proper base here, it'll be deeper in."

They moved carefully, keeping to the shadows, their steps silent against the stone.

---

As they moved deeper, voices echoed from above.

Benjamin and Dab pressed themselves against the rock, listening.

Footsteps. Multiple. At least five or six.

A gruff voice spoke first. "The collapse came from here. Check the entrance. If there's anything left of them, I want to see it."

A second voice scoffed. "If they're alive, they're dead soon anyway. No one survives long down here."

Dab shot Benjamin a look. They couldn't fight them head-on.

Benjamin glanced around, eyes landing on a tight opening in the rock, just wide enough to squeeze into.

He motioned toward it. Dab understood immediately.

They moved into the crevice, holding their breath as the men passed just beyond the stone.

Benjamin counted their footsteps—six in total.

One of the men spat. "Kasul should've just let the mine collapse further. Now we have to waste time checking for bodies."

Another voice muttered, "You complain too much. If they are alive, we'll make good sport of them."

The men laughed cruelly, before their footsteps faded away.

Benjamin exhaled slowly.

Dab's claws twitched against the stone. "This isn't a camp," she whispered. "It's a fortress."

---

They kept moving, deeper, deeper, until the cave opened into something vast.

Benjamin stopped in his tracks, breath hitching at the sight before him.

A colossal chasm stretched downward, a massive mining pit, its walls riddled with tunnels, stairways, and scaffolding, leading into darkness below. Hundreds of torches flickered in the depths, illuminating the hazy smoke that curled through the air.

And on the ground, they saw them.

Slaves.

Dozens, perhaps hundreds—bent over, breaking stone, moving carts of Kad ore. Their bodies were thin, bruised, exhausted, their shackled legs rattling with each movement.

And standing above them, overseeing the work, were armed guards.

Dab's ears flattened against her head. "...This is bigger than I thought."

Benjamin's jaw tightened. This wasn't just a hideout.

This was industry.

Slavery had been outlawed in most of Khial, but the Black Flame clearly didn't care for laws. Slavery was only kept as a type of indentured servitude or for prisoners of war that not considered too dangerous could work for an owner to pay their way to a second chance and freedom. The slaves that the syndicate used were mostly free men and women and children capture during raids. They were running Kad mines with captives, hidden deep enough that even Sages had trouble rooting them out.

Benjamin's fists clenched.

"We need more information," he whispered. "Someone with rank. Someone who knows how this place operates."

Dab nodded. "That means we need to find an officer. A lieutenant. Someone valuable."

They stepped back into the shadows, scanning the layout of the mine.

On the far side of the pit, past a network of narrow bridges and carved pathways, was a stone building carved into the rock itself.

That had to be it.

Atty's mental voice flickered through the weak telepathic link. "...Hearing you... clearer... danger nearby."

Benjamin grimaced. They already knew.

---

They moved back into a small niche in the rock, a natural hollow just large enough to rest unseen.

Dab sat cross-legged, eyes closed, slowing her breathing. Preparing.

Benjamin unslung his crossbow, checking the energy charge. Two-thirds full. Enough.

They would have to move carefully.

Find an officer. Interrogate them. Then escape.

It sounded simple.

It wouldn't be.

As Benjamin rested against the stone, he closed his eyes, forcing himself to review everything he had learned about the Black Flame—their ranks, their structures, their weaknesses.

Then, softly, he whispered, "Atty, keep watching from above. We're going in."

Dab opened her eyes, yellow irises gleaming.

"Be right back."

--

Dab's breath came shallow and slow as she crouched in the shadows, her fur blending seamlessly with the dimly lit tunnels. She had returned only moments ago, her voice hushed but urgent.

"There's a control station," she whispered. "I saw it. A small outpost built into the rock, just above the main operation. It's where they monitor this entire section of the mine."

Benjamin wiped the sweat from his brow, exhaling sharply. "That's our target."

Dab nodded. "We move now, while the rotations are in our favor. Most of the sentries are watching the mining pit, not the side corridors."

They didn't hesitate.

Moving like shadows, they advanced through the labyrinthine tunnels, sticking to the edges where the flickering torches didn't quite reach. The air smelled of sweat, rust, and damp stone, the scent of human suffering woven into the very earth beneath them.

Benjamin's crossbow was ready, his mind racing through contingencies.

This was it. The stealth phase of the mission.

They just needed to get in, find an officer, and escape.

Simple.

Except nothing was ever simple.

---

The moment the woman saw them, Benjamin knew something was wrong.

She was frail, her arms wrapped in the grime of years of labor, her face hollowed by malnutrition and exhaustion. Her eyes locked onto Benjamin's, and for a fleeting second, he felt pity.

He thought—she'll help us. She'll stay silent.

But her expression never changed.

And then—

She screamed.

A wretched, ragged shriek tore through the cavern, raw with fear, despair, and something else Benjamin hadn't expected.

Loyalty.

Loyalty to her captors.

His stomach turned cold as realization hit.

The other slaves joined in immediately, their voices rising in panic and rage, as if some unseen force had ignited them into a frenzy.

"They're here!" the woman howled. "Kill them!"

The guards snapped to attention. Torches swung toward them. Boots scraped against stone. Metal rang as weapons were drawn.

Benjamin cursed.

Dab hissed, baring her fangs in shock. "They—they're fighting for them?"

"They're broken," Benjamin muttered, heart hammering. "They don't see us as hope. They see us as disruptors."

The realization came too late.

The guards charged.

---

The first came fast, a broad-shouldered brute with scarred knuckles, swinging a short axe toward Benjamin's chest.

Benjamin stepped inside the arc of the attack, letting the blade pass harmlessly behind him before slamming the butt of his crossbow into the man's temple.

The guard staggered, dazed, and Benjamin wasted no time—he drove a boot into his knee, forcing him to collapse. One down.

Another rushed in, a long dagger glinting in the dim light. Benjamin barely had time to twist away before the blade grazed his ribs, slicing fabric and flesh alike. He gritted his teeth, bringing his crossbow up and slamming it into the attacker's throat.

The man choked, hands flying to his neck—a fatal mistake.

Benjamin grabbed him by the collar and flung him against the cavern wall with a sickening crack. Two down.

But they weren't stopping.

A third lunged at him, a hammer arcing toward his skull. Benjamin threw himself backward, his foot catching on loose gravel, nearly toppling.

Dab was pinned by four slaves, their hands grabbing at her fur, their nails digging into her flesh.

One of them—a wild-eyed man with sunken cheeks—was biting into her shoulder, his teeth ripping through fur and muscle alike.

Blood poured down her arm.

She snarled, but she wasn't fighting back.

She didn't want to kill them.

Benjamin saw it in her face—she could snap their spines if she wanted. She could tear them apart with precision so clean it would look surgical.

But they were slaves. Victims.

And that hesitation was going to get her killed.

Benjamin moved.

With no Atty nearby, he had no enhancements, no extra strength—just his own mind and muscle. But in that moment, his body moved like it was catching up to what his mind already knew.

He struck the first man's jaw with the back of his crossbow. The second, he swept his leg out from under him. The third, he drove his elbow into their spine, sending them sprawling.

Dab's amber eyes widened as he freed her.

He barely had time to breathe before arrows rained down on them.

---

The archers were stationed on a wooden scaffolding, high above the pit.

Benjamin barely managed to dodge behind cover as arrows embedded themselves in the stone where he had stood seconds before.

"Not Law users," he panted, pressing his back against the cavern wall. "Just too many of them."

Dab wiped blood from her lips. "If we stay here, we're dead."

Benjamin's mind raced.

They couldn't fight their way through all of this. Not while injured, outnumbered, and separated from Yu and Atty.

They needed to escape.

His gaze snapped to the center of the pit.

The elevator.

A massive wooden platform suspended by thick iron chains, built to lower massive shipments of Kad ore deeper into the mine.

And it went down into the unknown.

Benjamin's heart pounded.

"Dab. We're jumping."

Her head whipped toward him. "What?!"

He grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her toward the platform.

"Their arrows can't reach us down there. It's our only shot!"

The guards shouted, realizing what they were doing.

"Stop them!"

Too late.

Benjamin and Dab leapt onto the elevator, the platform creaking beneath their weight.

One of the guards above snarled. "They think that's their escape? They just sealed their fates."

---

Benjamin raised his crossbow.

A single precise shot.

He aimed not at the guards, not at the archers—but at one of the massive chains holding the elevator up.

He fired.

The bolt struck true, severing the chain with a snap of energy.

The elevator lurched.

Then—it plunged downward, the chains groaning, the platform rattling as it plummeted into the abyss.

Darkness rushed up to meet them.

Benjamin gritted his teeth, gripping the wooden railing, his breath shaking with adrenaline.

Dab, beside him, exhaled sharply.

The last thing they heard before the light above vanished completely was the voice of the archer above, his words filled with cold amusement—

"Now? Now they're truly dead."