remnants of the ___

Zane’s poor behind took a beating far beyond anything he’d experienced before. Not even all the whipping and torturing and whatever the Watchers got up to compared. He grunted, sitting up in total darkness.

A light pierced the haze—the gentle white light of Calm radiated from the tip of Lucian’s staff, just enough for Zane to see him, and Shay—and Shay.

“Woah, woah, quit it!”

Zane grabbed Shay by the collar and shook him. “What the fuck—were you born without ears?” He gestured to the open space before them. “Hah, look at that! Genius miner in the making! We’re stuck, underground, probably in a Spark’s nest you decided to mess with because you think you know better than you dad—”

Lucian cleared his throat. “Aha… um, guys?”

“…” Zane coughed and dropped a terrified Shay. “Uh. So. Now what?”

He scratched his cheek, gripping his staff tight. “I sort of see it now… why they called you God’s Rage.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’m just a calm, normal guy.”

“In these circumstances, I can’t blame you…” Lucian bowed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have—I needed to… like you said, I had to—but I—”

Zane clamped a hand on Lucian’s shoulders. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s just focus on finding out where we are. We’re gonna need your light for that, so try and pace yourself, all right?”

Lucian smiled. Good, done and dusted. Except for Shay.

“I gotta sue you once we’re outta here! Emotional damages! Assault! Attempt on my life!”

Zane laughed. “What’re you, a fragile maiden?”

“At heart and in a court of law? Maybe I am!”

“Then you’ll do just fine getting out of here yourself.”

Turning around, Zane walked ahead, and after some uncertain mumbling, Lucian followed him. It didn’t take long for Shay to yelp in protest, just as Zane planned.

“Hey, wait, wait wait wait, you’re not leaving me here.”

And, of course… “Why not?” Zane probed, waiting to get a damn good reason to keep the guy around. So far, Shay had proven to be selfish, cowardly, a liar—and to be fair, Zane understood. He’d been all those things before, but he stopped being like that a long time ago.

…Sort of. Zane still judged Shay for it. So the Dwim had to go, even if he screamed, cried, clung to Zane’s ankle like a pissy little baby—

“So please don’t leave me here!” Snot blew out Shay’s nose as his body dragged behind Zane, pebbles biting into his skin. His own fault. He just had to let go of Zane’s ankle, and he’d be fine, but noooo.

Zane groaned, walking faster. He almost got away with it too, until Lucian put an arm out, blocking his path.

“We’re not taking him along,” Zane said.

Lucian’s bottom lip quivered. “But—look at him.”

“I’m trying really hard not to, man.”

“Please?”

“Nope.”

“Zane, it might be better to take him along. If his father is someone influential, rescuing his son would leave a good impression, no? Plus—even if he made a horrible choice before, he’s promising he’ll be good. Shouldn’t we allow him a chance to change?”

Zane sighed. “Does it count if the horrible choice happened several minutes ago?”

“Even so!” Lucian huffed.

Shay shook Zane’s leg. “You heard the guy! Plus, I grew up around these parts. If we’re lucky, this cavern’s connected to other tunnels, and there’s no way you’re getting through the shitty layout without me. Unless you love starving to death.”

“I don’t.” Zane grumbled, groaned, and griped, but he couldn’t refute Lucian’s points. And with an eager nod and the most polite smile the Dwim could muster, Shay got to his feet and took the lead. They had a simple arrangement—Shay led the way, and the pair readied themselves for evasive maneuvers.

Because, in Lucian’s words: “Unnecessary violence will only encourage the Sparks to further encroach on Dwim territory. So let’s not make things harder for them!”

“Kind of hard when my strength isn’t for peacekeeping,” Zane said. While talking, he took stock of his surroundings. Plenty of stalactite to knock down for a distraction. And the longer they walked, the moister the air got, a cold sticky kind of damp with little puddles of glowing water around them. Maybe that’d be useful to wash their tracks away.

Sometimes Zane thought he saw a Spark. Something crawling on walls or a chattering noise from far away. But Lucian’s light only reached so far.

“It looks like this place’s abandoned,” Shay sniffed, deep and long (weirdly so). “Those little grubs release a lotta moisture. You’re breathing in baby sweat right now.”

Lucian gagged. Zane tried not to laugh, but it was too tall of a task.

“But this much in a big place, with no Sparks messing around? It’s probably fine.”

Shay crossed his arms, seeming proud of himself. “I accept some meaty ol’ tips for my fine services. Just in case it hasn’t occurred to you.”

Many things about Shay have occurred to Zane, none of which were tip related. But, for the sake of group harmony, he opted for silence. Lucian moved next to Shay, casting his light around, but the cavern seemed to stretch endlessly.

A bit large for a bunch of babies. A bit humid, too.

“Um—” Lucian swallowed, then continued, “Shay, sir, how much do you know about Sparks?”

“I know they eat my ore like ravenous parasites.”

“Actually know…?”

Shay coughed. “They nest in pockets, they carve out spaces to burrow in and sweat a bunch after eating. Anything else?”

Lucian stuck a finger up, smiling, the light giving his chipper mood an ominous flare. As if he thought of the best horror story and he had to share it right now. “One more thing—each colony of Sparks in a given radius have a queen they serve. Bringing her food and nourishment, she births eggs the Sparks implant in the ground. Often the areas they live in take years to dig, and are nearly quadruple the space of an average Sparks burrow.”

“Oh, cool,” Zane said, relaxed as he did his best to process another entomology lecture. “The queen isn’t moody, right?”

“Only after the young leave their burrows—that’s when she has to prepare herself to carry more eggs.”

“…So, right now.”

Zane felt his heart stop. Deep breathing didn’t do shit—not when a loud, terrified shriek pierced the air, as Lucian stopped seconds before ramming into a glittering shell with eight hairy legs sprouting from it, several beady eyes trained on the hapless group.