Ch. 1: Not the end, just the beginning

4E 194

A group of teens are using their heavy pickaxes to slowly chip away at an iron vein somewhere in a dark and cold mine

*Clink*

Most are wearing stoic, but exhausted expressions, their eyes being the only part betraying their fury for the damned situation they found themselves in

*Clank*

But they continue swinging the tools they were forced to equip, for if they don't - a worse time and fate awaits them

*Ding*

A boy not older than 14 lost consciousness, dropping the pickaxe, but the rest paid no heed and continued their work

A grim reality of life in the North of Tamriel... Those that are stronger, rule those that are weaker. There's little politics among the common folk, this type of entertainment is entailed only for those with power

Now then, power is strength AND another quality combined, in Skyrim, the powerful rule through personal strength and wealth of their combined assets

And mining, oh mining... Is very profitable indeed... But permits are limited even for wealthy families, that's why those families use different means to get even more wealthy. The job is very dangerous, that's why there are never enough miners, especially those that are expendable and don't require payment

The use of bandits by covertly sponsoring them in turn for large profit is just one of those different means, albeit the most commonly used

*Clink*

*Clank*

The depressing symphony of pickaxes hitting the iron vein could be heard throughout the cave, the symphony is answered in the equally depressing rhythm of hits in other places in the cave, probably other miners doing their jobs

"Why is this rat unconscious and not working?" a menacing voice of a middle aged man filled the space around the vein

"We don't know Lord overseer, we didn't notice him since our focus was on working" answered one of the older looking teens, none of the boys stopped swinging though

"Hmph, what a waste of time" the man mumbled while raising a leg before stomping on the unconscious kid's head, crushing it completely under the heavy iron boot

*Splatter*

"Continue working if you don't wish to die... milk drinkers, no food for all of you because of this bloody stain on the ground" said the man and promptly made his leave from the scene, leaving most teens frozen in fear and on the verge of tears, having dropped their tools after witnessing the grim scene

"Imperial bastard, only the divines know what I would do to make him regret making my life miserable" muttered a blonde kid under his nose after the overseer couldn't be seen anymore

"Shut up Volfir, just continue swinging if you don't want to die" snapped an older and bigger boy close to him

"Follow your own advice stupid musclebrain" cut back Volfir

"I'll make you swallow your words for dinner since we won't be getting it"

"You can try-"

"Silence, you two will make it worse for us due to your bickering" interrupted the most healthy looking of the kids

"What's it to you Jisaad, your redguard ass is going to be fucked back to perfect health in no time" changed targets the musclebrain

"Don't act like you wouldn't take the deal if you were offered to be taken into bed in exchange for food" chimed in another healthy looking teen

"The only reason you get food is so that you look at least presentable while getting rammed"

A chaotic argument quickly ensued and the boys quickly forgot about work while starting to get physical

'This new batch will die out quickly' thought Volfir

The two instigators to the chaotic conflict were the only two to quickly get back to work while paying no mind to their surroundings

'Volfir is so annoying, did he use me to teach them a lesson..?' thought the musclebrain, a sour expression adorning his dirty face 'this will be their end-'

"This is just the beginning" whispered Volfir, interrupting the musclebrain's train of thought

*Whiplash*

A loud, reverberating sound put a stop to the altercation between the conflicting teens

"So... you all have a deathwish then..?" a new face made his presence known, immediately putting most boys on edge

A rather intimidating argonian stood resting against a wall, close to the vein, playfully swinging a leather strap in his right hand

"You two..." pointed the lizardman to Volfir and the musclebrain "...you can leave, unless you want to experience the same treatment as the rest..?" a wicked smile bloomed on his face by the end of the sentence, sending shivers down everybody's spine

Volfir and the musclebrain quickly stopped mining, letting their pickaxes rest on their shoulders. Slightly bowing to the argonian they quickly left the scene, not looking back, but knowing exactly what is about to play out

"Let's go to the skeever hole, I'm very hungry and the fucker decided to take away our dinner" suggested Volfir in a voice audible enough only for musclebrain to hear

"Even if he didn't take it away for the collapsed kid, he would have taken it away for the scene back there" countered the musclebrain tiredly "so stop whining"

"Whatever man, let's go" ignored Volfir, making his way towards less and less lighted area of the cave

-Scene Break-

"You know, I heard some of the fuckers talk about the walking dead among the halls somewhere in this cave system" not being able to bear the silence, musclebrain decided to start a conversation after a few minutes of walking along the shadows

"You mean the draugr? Apparently they are old nords from a time when Necromancy was the most used magic art in the lands of Skyrim" feeling bored, Volfir decided to humor his companion and continued the conversation

"...Really? I don't believe it, why would anyone use necromancy?"

"Perhaps it was so long ago, we can't even picture the differences in culture anymore"

"What's culture?"

"...Eh... Ehm, I think it means how different we are from another race"

"Huh? Aren't ancient nords just old nords?"

"I don't know, never asked this question, perhaps once we become free and I learn how to read... I will find the answer to this question and tell you"

"It's a promise then"

"Un..."

Volfir didn't say anything, just a made a noise of affirmation

Both boys lost their interest in conversing, each of them deep in their own thoughts while making way towards their destination

-Scene break-

After a while the boys stopped in front of a hole big enough to fit a small body

"You go first this time, I'm not getting my face nearly bitten off again" joked musclebrain while pointing to his slightly disfigured and dirty face, a testament to the harsh life the young teenager has been living upto now

"At least you didn't lose an eye, like Todir"

countered Volfir while crouching down and starting to crawl through the hole

"May he find peace in his death" prayed the musclebrain while entering after his companion

*Sigh*

"Can't believe we've been here for long enough to be one of the older members of the gang-" mused musclebrain

"Shush, do you hear that?" Volfir stopped moving, both of them becoming silent

"No, I hear nothing, must have been the wind or something" whispered musclebrain

"Exactly, where are the skeevers..?" grim expression appeared on musclebrain's face

"Maybe the gang members got rid of all of them?" he tried to reason with hope

"Are you serious? Once you get skeevers, you can't get rid of them, they are-"

"They are like a disease. I know the saying Volfir" the two became silent and started moving again

-Scene break-

"We've been crawling for ages, I'm tired and hungry, let's just get back before we get killed for being missing" complained musclebrain

"And lose out only steady source of food? You must be dumber than I thought. No. We have to find out where the skeevers are, maybe our feeding made them move to a different place

"How is crawling through their shitty tunnels going to help finding them?"

"Shut your trap and just follow my lead, I doubt the skeevers migrated via the cave system dug out by people, so they have to be somewhere in these tunnels"

"But we've hit so many dead ends already... And the stench of crap! Oh this stench will kill me before hunger does!" musclebrain continued whining

"I have good memory, so if we don't find anything we'll just return"

"And get killed, don't forget about that part"

"Then we won't return and become those crazies who live with skeevers"

"If we find them"

"Just shut up and let me focu- Ugh"

*Crack*

""UUAAAAH""

The tunnel ground they were walking on came undone, while the two flapping bodies came crashing down, screaming

*Thud*

"Ugh"

"OH MARA PRESERVE US! I THOUGHT I WAS DEAD!"

"Stop shouting musclebrain, my head already hurts enough as it is"

"HOW IN THE OBLIVION DID THE FLOOR CAVE IN?!"

"STOP SHOUTING!" snapped Volfir

*Tsk*

"It was a hole, I didn't notice because it was dark and it blended in with the corner perfectly... Think I put my foot through it, tripped and the impact from my head made it crack" Volfir started thinking aloud staring at musclebrain

"Then your heavy ass must have made it cave in" he concluded

"Divines preserve us, that was so scary" confessed musclebrain, conveniently ignoring the remark about him being the one to cave in the ground

"How did you even gain so much weight while we've been nothing but starved?" Volfir couldn't help but get off topic

"It's cause of my da, I look a lot like him"

"Whatever, let's go..."

"Do you even know where we are?"

"No idea, at least there are a lot of torches"

"Doesn't look like anywhere we've been in the cave" the boys took in their surroundings

"Sure doesn't, more like a tomb or something"

"More like a lot of tombs, are these embalmed dead..?" asked musclebrain

"They look almost alive..." Volfir didn't affirm nor deny

"Could these be the draugr we were talking about earlier..?"

"No way, I thought it was more myth or legend more than anything" stated Volfir

After some time the wonderous gazes stopped, the adrenaline from the fall wore off and the boys understood they were very

""Fucking hungry"" both companions said aloud

*Tummy rumbles*

And their stomachs confirmed the statements

"I think the skeevers should be somewhere around here..?" said musclebrain, unsure with his statement

"Mhm" nodded Volfir and the boys started moving

The torches provides enough light to see where they were, but not enough to feel comfortable or safe

"It feels like something is constantly crawling all over my skin" mumbled Volfir

"That's just you shivering from fear" joked musclebrain

"It's the thought of us being stuck here forever actually..."

"Think positively, we will have some torch-roasted skeevers and then... "

The conversation came to a silence as a realisation kicked in for the musclebrain who quickly snapped his head to Volfir's direction, only to find the boy looking at him with a sad smile

"So you have realised it then? If we are found by the gang members, we are most probably dead"

"...I think they will make the punishment so painful we will wish we died instead..."

"Hmm, true, either way - we are obliviounly fucked"

The duo continued to converse while quietly moving through the thin corridors. None of them scared be it of the dark, dangers lurking in the shadows or their fate with the slavers

-Scene Break-

The boys were sitting down on the cold hard floor torching some dead skeevers they found along the way

"How long do you think we have been here?"

"A couple seasons for sure, maybe more, I even started growing hair around my groin"

"Really? I had them before I was taken here I miss the times where I could have a proper clean, I always stink nowadays"

"You must be older than me then and yes, the stink makes it unbearable sometimes" said Volfir, his eyes darting around the area, taking in the surroundings, what he could see of them at least

"There were so many skeevers dead along the way, what do you think happened to them?" asked musclebrain

*Clink*

Both boys stopped talking immediately

*Woosh*

*BANG*

A distant sound of a wooden gate hitting it's connecting point echoed through the tunnels in an eerie and foreboding way

The boys quietly stood up, exchanging questioning glances

"What in Oblivion was that?" asked musclebrain

"How do you expect me to answer that question you musclebrain..." clapped back Volfir, taking it upon himself to start moving towards the noise with his friend moving closely behind him

*Grrr*

As they came closer towards the approximate place of the noise origin they began hearing multiple growling noises along with a lot of shuffling, all moving at a fast pace towards their direction

*GRRR*

As the noises became loud enough to hear with an untrained ear, the boys saw a large number of red feral eyes, sprinting their way down the tunnel

*Gasps*

The teenagers each took a big gasp of air before freezing while hugging the closest wall

*Sounds of skattering*

The skeevers didn't notice them, or perhaps they did but paid them no mind, much to the boys' relief

"We were this close to dying right now, right..?" asked musclebrain, indicating a very small small space between his thumb and point finger

"Indeed, I felt my soul leave my body along with the flock when they passed right in front of me" answered Volfir, none of the boys have moved since the incident

"Are you still hungry?"

"Not really, if my stomach didn't feel empty, I would have soiled myself, that's for sure"

"Pffft... Hahahahah" musclebrain started laughing

"Hahahahah" Volfir joined him not a second later, easing the built up tension

"Phew, hahahahah, that was a good one"

"Hahaha, yeah, let's continue moving"

Having calmed down, both of them resumed their movement, this time naively looking out for what set off that wave of fleeing skeevers

*Groan*

Musclebrain was the first to hear beast noises, so he made a gesture to move quietly and stop speaking, Volfir nodded and they separated into two. One moving along a wall on each side of the tunnel

*Grrr*

*Clink*

*Swish*

Volfir signaled to musclebrain for a stop, a confused expression evident on his face

'That sounds like a sword or an axe being swung around, what in oblivion is going on?'

After listening for a few seconds Volfir made a gesture for possible gang members up ahead

'Fuck, I don't remember that one... Is he saying he needs to take a crap or is he saying there are fuckers up ahead?' brainstormed musclebrain, concluding his train of thoughts with a nod to his companion

Both of them moved very quietly up to their respective closest corners on a tunnel intersection, before slightly peaking out

*Groan*

Three moving skeletons with basically no muscles or fat were swinging ancient looking war axes and swords, while being dressed in ancient looking armour that both of them have recently seen on other corpses in passing

"What in oblivion... is that thing..?" Volfir couldn't help but speak out in a low, but evidently surprised voice

"Are the draugrs actually real..?" mumbled out musclebrain with a tremble in his voice

*Groans*

The duo immediately turned around

*Fire cracking*

Different sounds started filling up the tunnel, all moving towards their direction with more sounds of battle

*Say... Ravund... Didn't we pass a lot of those things?"

*Gulp*

"...We did, are you saying they woke up or something..?" answered the previously known musclebrain

"That's exactly what I'm thinking"

Sounds of blood splatter and bones shattering filled the tunnel, prompting the duo to turn back to the first draugr they saw

"And there a lot of dead skeevers in front of that guy, no?" Ravund asked this time

"There are, so... even if we are stronger than a single skeever and those things stronger than a dozen of them, that means we are fucked, no?"

"That's right..." the boys stared into each other's eyes... eyes filled with hopelessness

'We could try to run, those draugr that are coming from where we were before are countless, maybe we should continue forward? Past the bloody walking corpses?'

It wasn't the first time the boys found themselves in a bind, their quick wits have saved them numerous times before, perhaps they could do it again

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" asked Volfir

"Make a run for it?"

"Yeah, no way we can sneak past them, so we should go forward, no looking back or stopping"

Ravund nodded, agreeing with the plan, not like he had anything better in his mind

*Groan*

"Go! Go! Go!" shouted Volfir, a rush of adrenaline filling his blood as he started sprinting forward, locking eyes with the walking monstrosity filled with blood and guts of recently massacred skeevers

"AAARGH, I'VE SURVIVED WORSE SITUATIONS!" shouted Ravund as he rammed the draugr right when it was about to swing at them

'No you fucking haven't!!!' screamed Volfir in his mind

"MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!" continued shouting Ravund while sprinting down one of the three ways of the intersection with Volfir moving lightly on his feet close behind him