Braun: Work to Survive

We were devastated by Kryterius’ sudden death.

While we cried over his body, we kept on thinking about how we didn’t notice anything was off earlier. His overwork coupled with insufficient nourishment, made his build resemble that of a skeleton.

There was barely any fat on his body…

We could have prevented everything… yet we remained clueless until the end.

The next day, Lord Xax and I buried him in a peaceful meadow under an old oak tree. Far away from the noisy city and where people rarely tread.

If afterlife does exist, we wanted him to spend it in a halcyon place like this.

To mark his grave, we gathered some rocks and put them in a circle. In the middle, we put the nicest wooden plank we could find and chiseled out the letter K.

As we finished, Lord Xax started making an oath.

“I promise to protect Braun… no matter what, so please rest in peace and don’t worry about us… father,” he said.

That was the first time either of us had ever called Kryterius our father.

Tears flowing down my eyes, I mumbled, “…rest in peace, father… thank you for saving me… I promise to take care of Xax, too.”

We left the meadow, and unfortunately our small hut. We no longer had any means to pay for it, nor for anything else.

We began living in the streets. We weren’t eating, drinking, or sleeping.

At night, we were chased around by guards, saying we couldn’t stay outside on the sidewalks.

Despite everything that has happened, the bond between me and Lord Xax grew stronger than ever. We weren’t related by blood, but we thought of each other as brothers.

While exploring the city for possible places to stay, we gradually memorized its every corner. Eventually, we stumbled upon a small alleyway in between two buildings that was never being used – we could tell by all the garbage.

“Do you remember those long wooden planks we saw the carpenters throw out earlier? The ones by the city exit?” asked Lord Xax.

“Those rotting ones?” I asked.

“Yes, we will place them here at an angle and use this place as our new home. This way we will even get some protection from the rain.”

“…you are a genius, brother!”

It was tough to stay unnoticed, but we somehow managed to do it. It worked extremely well and we finally had a roof over our heads.

With that, we took care of our shelter problem, but we still didn’t have anything to eat.

“What if we go to the forest and try to find something there?” I asked.

“No, that’s too far of a trip, it will take a couple hours just to travel there and back. Looking for something to eat might take even longer. There are also guards near the entrance, if we do go out, there’s no guarantee they won’t have the urge to stop us from reentering the city just because of our looks…”

I couldn’t come up with any retorts. All he said was true, because it had already happened before.

“I will try to find a job,” said Xax abruptly, “It is our second day without food, I don’t want us to starve to death.”

“Let me try as well…” I said, squinting from a very bad stomachache.

“Stay here, please... leave it to your older brother,” he said, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back.”

He left and started looking all over the city.

Naturally, no one was interested.

His age was one problem, and then there were the filthy clothes he wore. These were both seen as unreliable, so paired together, rejection was guaranteed.

“Get out of here kid… crawl back to the sewer you came from.”

“What? You? Is this a joke? Go play somewhere else buddy.”

None of them even paused to think about giving him an opportunity.

Eventually, he arrived at the mining job father was working at.

“My name is Xax, I am Kryterius’ son. Please, let me work for you…” he begged.

“Oh, what do we have here… the Slacker’s son? Where is your father, ugh?” the man yelled, “You know he skipped these past two days right? You can tell that slug that he’s no longer needed here,” he added disdainfully.

“He… died…” said Lord Xax, with lumps in his throat, clenching his fists.

There was a short pause while the man lowered his newspaper, and looked at Lord Xax from above it.

“Is that so? He did look like a weakling. I suppose you can take his place then. AGE?”

“Fourteen years old.”

“Alright kid, you start now. Go down this hall and ask Benk to give you your father’s gear. You are going down to the deepest active mine.”

As he went deep below the ground, he started having difficulty breathing.

He didn’t even start working, but his body felt heavy and his head was becoming dizzier the longer he spent inside the underground tunnel.

“Hello, are you Benk?”

“Agh?! Who are you kid? Who the fuck let you in?” the man asked enraged.

“I am a new worker, I will be replacing my father, Kryterius.”

“You’re replacing that skeleton? Good luck to us both… Don’t get us all killed in there kid, or I will haunt you and your relatives in the afterlife.”

Lord Xax had a fierce look in his eyes.

These people didn’t respect father and insulted him every chance they got… what did he ever do to them?

Lord Xax took Kryterius’ gear and went deeper inside the mines.

There were a couple of people working there already; a boy around his age and a few older individuals.

The boy had a strong build for his age.

‘He must’ve been doing this for a long time’ Lord Xax thought to himself.

For hours, Lord Xax hacked away at the mine with his battered pickaxe. His whole body was screaming in pain, and there was no end in sight.

He decided to ask the boy some questions.

“Hey, can you tell me, how long does this usually go on for?” he whispered.

“Are you the new guy?” the boy asked, examining Lord Xax, “Every day, 12 hours. We have 8 more to go.”

“…”

“Have you been doing this for a long time?”

“What does it look like?” he asked calmly, as he swung the tool with ease.

The boy was incredibly efficient; he was digging faster and deeper than anyone.

Suddenly, he broke his pickaxe which startled Lord Xax.

“Is that ok? Will you get in trouble?” Lord Xax asked worryingly.

“It’s fine, I break 3 of them per day. BOSS, GET ME A NEW ONE!” he yelled to a man that was supervising them.

“What, AGAIN? We let you get away with it because you work well, but we will run out of them eventually!” said the man.

“OK!” he yelled back, before turning to face Lord Xax. “I’ve been working in these mines for as long as I can remember,” said the boy, “it’s unusual to see young ones like you and me in here, but it does happen from time to time.”

Lord Xax pitied him, it must have been a hard childhood to be brought up in the mines.

At that moment, his stomach growled.

“You didn’t eat before coming here?” said the boy, “Bad decision. You can’t work on an empty stomach.”

“When are we going to have lunch?” asked Xax hungrily.

“Lunch? Does this look like a tavern to you?” asked the boy, laughing. “You work, get paid some scrap, leave, buy something, eat, sleep. Then you return to this shithole and the cycle starts again.”

Lord Xax couldn’t believe his ears, Kryterius lied to them. Such an implausible lie, yet they fell for it and never even questioned it.

“You okay, buddy?” asked the boy. “C’mon, no time to rest. The old man will get on your ass.”

Lord Xax continued swinging.

He should’ve known. No one gets fed in mines – the work rivaling slavery.

He took a big swing to release his anger and disappointment at himself and quickly regretted it. His hands numbed, vibrating painfully.

The clacking of the pickaxes was ringing loudly in his ears.

After an eternity, and his hands covered in deep, ugly calluses, he could barely swing the pickaxe. It was impossible to breathe, too.

“ALRIGHT, WE’RE DONE HERE FOR TODAY. GET YOUR ASSES HERE TOMORROW BY 6 IN THE MORNING. DISMISSED”

They were finished for the day, yet the ringing noise remained. Lord Xax’s arms continued to pulsate as if he was still down there, digging with his pickaxe.

He exited the premises and before he could forget, he asked the boy for his name.

“My name?” the boy asked, “It’s …”

Darkness filled the town.

By the time Lord Xax returned all worn out and tired, the city was quiet and asleep. It was the dead of night.

“Brother! Are you okay? You were gone so long, what happened?” I said as I saw Lord Xax, pale and fatigued.

“I am okay… I found one, Braun… I got a job where father was working at…” he said happily.

“Is everything okay? Was it hard?”

“Yeah, it was…” he said as he sat down. “Here you go, Braun. I bought you some food from today’s earnings. Sorry, it’s not much.”

“What about you, brother?” I asked worryingly.

“I got fed at the mine,” he smiled. “Go on, eat.”

“…thank you, brother... but at least eat some of it,” I said as I handed him a portion of the bread.

He took it, and ate it carefully, savoring the taste.

“By the way, I found this jug! Look!” I said, showing him my impressive find.

“Good job. Fill it with water tomorrow. But be careful,” he said cautiously.

“Also, guess what, Braun? There’s another boy around my age working in the mines.”

“Really?”

“Yeah, a strong boy that has worked there for a long time.”

“What’s his name?”

“Gyorn.”