P47 - Ashes From Below The Stone

Location: Petra Dungeon Complex B - Dungeon Main Entrance:

The steady rhythm of boots crunching over shale echoed across the cracked mountain trail leading toward the Quartz Maw, a long-sealed mine-turned-dungeon just outside the eastern border of Petra City. The Petra sun shimmered off iron-plated shoulders, picks and staves glinting with raw Earth Magic residue as a twenty-person expedition team, composed of advanced students and hired scouts, approached the ravine gate.

Among them walked Eden Corestone, her crystal-polearm holstered across her back, a visor of carved amethyst shaded over her eyes, her face unreadable. The only thing louder than the sound of her steps was the silence she wore like armor.

"--Eden." A voice broke through the ambient hum.

She turned. An older man, rough-bearded with a mage's tunic tied over plated gauntlets, approached her with slow care. She recognized him as Master Rolven, one of the instructors aiding with the field mission.

He scratched the back of his neck before speaking. "I just wanted to say... I knew your brother. Elias was a hell of a miner, and a good man. I'm sorry."

Eden held her gaze for a moment. Her fingers instinctively curled around the crystal pendant that hung from her collar.

"...Thank you," she replied softly, her voice dry like wind over stone.

Rolven offered a faint smile and moved on, joining a few scouts as they checked seismic stabilizers and core detectors at the tunnel's entrance.

The briefing was simple: clear the upper three layers of the Quartz Maw and mark new crystal deposits. The Petra Council promised reward, recognition, and future ranking in the Arena Games for those who performed well.

But the Maw always hungered for more than just ore.

Once inside, the cavern welcomed them with false serenity. The walls pulsed with a dim, soft amber glow--mana-rich quartz, still breathing energy after thousands of years. The descent was stable at first. The squad split into smaller groups to canvas more efficiently, each assigned a quadrant and a support mage.

Eden was placed with three strangers:

Braska Moltir - A tall, wide-shouldered bruiser with molten gauntlets strapped to each fist, magma magic leaking from the seams of his sleeveless tunic.

Juno Earthrend - Small-framed, hooded, and quiet. Metallic shards orbited her like pointed-fireflies, occasionally pulsing as if listening to the earth itself.

Zein Obsideon - Broadsword slung over his back, one red eye and one black. He leaned against a stone column, unbothered, aloof. Most gave him a weird stare.

"Name's Braska!" the magma-user grinned, punching his fists together with a light spark. "Guess we're the wrecking crew for Sector D, yeah?"

Juno didn't respond.

Zein didn't even glance.

Eden simply nodded, pulling her visor down and starting forward. "Keep up."

Deeper into the Maw...

The tunnels snaked and narrowed, forcing them into single file. Their communication was minimal, yet professional. Eden marked new veins of crystal on her map; Juno muttered updates on pressure shifts; Braska occasionally whistled.

Then the floor trembled.

"Did you feel--" Eden began, just as the ceiling gave a guttural groan.

A roar of collapsing rock surged behind them.

"A TRAP!" Zein shouted, unsheathing his sword in one swift motion.

A split-second later, the earth below the main party shattered, and chaos swallowed the mine.

Crushing stone and screams. Flares of light and magic trying to hold back death and darkness. Then... silence.

Dust choked the air.

Eden coughed hard, crystal shards flickering defensively around her. She couldn't see more than a few feet, but she could hear heavy breathing... not her own.

She turned.

Zein was leaning on his blade, shoulder bleeding but alive. Braska crawled out from behind a collapsed beam, singed but intact. Juno emerged from the dust like a wraith, shards swirling rapidly around her head like sensor drones.

Around them... nothing but wreckage. No sounds of the others. No instructor. No emergency lights. Nothing.

"...They're gone," Juno said flatly.

Braska didn't respond. He knelt down and pressed a hand to the floor. "No heat trails. No movement... They didn't make it."

Eden closed her eyes for a long moment. Her mind flashed to Elias--trapped, calling for help, the mine sealing around him.

Not again.

"We'll find a way out," she said coldly, standing.

Zein raised a brow. "Or we die down here."

Eden pointed toward a half-buried hallway carved into quartz and stone. "Then let's try the first option."

The four walked deeper into the darkness, unaware that something was already watching them--eyes formed of molten glass and teeth of fractured obsidian, stirring in the chamber below.