A short tremor originating from his right shocked Sett out of his surveying. He looked behind him only to notice multiple starships like the one that brought him here, all belonging Salsai, had landed next to his own.

  Only then did he realise a larger crowd of slaves had already been here when he had exited the vessel, he had just been too enamoured by the scenery to notice. His habit of scanning new faces began its work, and soon bore fruit.

  Sett pushed his way towards the new arrivals filing out of their ship, nearly tripping over someone else’s chains in the process. He hurried back to his feet, the pain in his leg easily forgotten, and wrapped his own manacles around his arms for better mobility.

  “Bone! Bone Throh!”

  A gaunt, lifeless face looked up at him through a curtain of unkempt, wavy hair. A flicker of recognition passed through Bone’s eyes and they widened.

  “Sett?”

  Sett replied with a hug that contained all the pent up emotions over the past month. Bone hesitated but raised his own hands and returned the embrace.

  “Fuck man. I never thought I’d see you again,” Sett exclaimed through tears. He could feel a wetness on his shoulder from Bone’s muffled sobs.

  “Stick to me man, we’ll make it out of here.”

  Bone barely nodded, snot and tears running down his cracked skin. The young boy looked like he aged a hundred years, his features haggard and hollow. He had a scar running an inch down from his lip. Sett nearly trembled in rage at how his friend had changed, but he held it in. Now was not the time.

  “Have you met anyone else? Where’s Brec?”

  “I don’t know. We were together until they took us to these ships. We got split up when we got here.” Bone replied with a raspy voice. His tone had always been closer to mumbling, but now he sounded like he could barely speak.

  “Okay. We’ll find him. He’s strong as a Bullbeast, he’ll survive. You’ll get back to him when we’re done with this shithole. Your parents?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t seen them since Mupnal.”

  Sett opened his mouth to ask about his own family, but held his tongue. That could wait until they were settled in.

  His decision was justified immediately, when a loud crack rang across the area, demanding the attention of the slaves. Three E grade auras descended and Sett noticed Bone trembling next to him. The boy’s breathing became increasingly heavy, and his eyes were glued to the ground.

  Ten circular disks hovered above them, each carrying a person. They looked humanoid but Sett quickly noticed that their ears were long and pointed, and their fingers seemed disproportionately large. They had frost-like complexions, and silver hair. He thought he noticed a faint glow emanating from them, but that could well be tricks his eyes were playing.

  Two of the E grades were geared in pure white plate armour not too different from the gear of the Krakarian Military Corps, and armed with curved swords resting on their hips. Five of the remaining seven F grades were also guards, though they wore white cloth like armor that resembled chalky leather and were armed with rifles not too different from Karkar’s own.

  The person who seemed like their leader, one of the E grades who’s hovering disc was at the very front, spoke in a melodic voice, “You are now our property. The Etherstone mines and this asteroid will be your new home. Work hard, and you will be rewarded with survival by the benevolence of the Za’ard Grand Duke. Neglect your labour, and you will be met with His fury. You are fortunate to have been graced by my presence as his vassal, do not abuse that grace.”

  Sett would’ve thought it to be a joke if not for his current position. The man’s words were amplified by the gradual release of his aura, and the sight of his glowing white robe that covered his entire body, fluttering in the non-existent wind only magnified his presence. He stared at them with cold indifference, as if he were talking to ants. Sett’s hate and disdain for such noble figures flared at the display as he clenched his fists until they turned white.

  The vassal and the other two E grade guards began moving forward, their levitating discs picking up speed as they disappeared into the distance. The action left Sett confused, he did not expect there to be no E grades supervising them.

  His hopes were crushed a moment later, when two powerful auras permeated their beings, originating from the top of two spires. A warning that there would always be a stronger power above them. Sett’s heart didn’t falter as he glared at the guards hovering over their heads. I can take them. Away from the E grades.

  Maybe not directly, definitely not all at once, but they were his own grade. They were at his level, and he would punish them for it when he got that chance.

  “Your unworthy eyes actually got to glimpse one of the Hands of Za’ard. You are lucky. We will use that luck in the mines. Move towards the crater!”

  One of the two men who were not guards spoke up. They, too, wore robes, though not as majestic as the being who just left. Theirs were shorter and a tighter fit, probably to allow ease of movement. Their faces weren't too dissimilar to the “Hand”, though the one who just spoke wore a contemptuous sneer, and the other looked tired. They both held what looked like the handle of a sword, though there was no blade at the end.

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  The crowd had been trained to obey during their time in the slaver ship, and they promptly began their march. Sett held Bone’s bicep and dragged him along. The boy barely flinched, never once lifting his eyes from the ground.

  Without transport chains to drag them along, a lot of the long manacles placed on their hands clashed against one another, often getting tangled up. Sett wound his own around his arms, leaving just enough length for mobility. He helped Bone do the same, though he barely noticed.

  The supervisors and their guards followed above them in their floating discs, shouting out instructions. They would be living in chambers carved into the walls of the crater, and mining for Etherstone in the drifts and stopes of the mine.

  The giant shard floating above the crater was a drill used to tunnel through the rock, and loosen the Etherstone ores. As he expected, it was powered by slaves.

  Sweat poured out of him in buckets as he walked, the heat gradually increasing as he approached the rim. The crowd abruptly stopped, the members in the front gazing down into the crater.

  Sett shoved his way to the front to look, and was greeted with a wide, roughly cut staircase that wouldn’t be able to hold a thousand slaves marching through it at once. There would be a stampede and many would die.

  The stairs went down for many kilometers, to the very base of the crater. There were periodic terraces with adits that ran deep into the walls. He could barely make out walking figures along the terraces cut onto the crater walls. He assumed the majority of the slaves would be underground.

  In the very center, right under the tip of the giant drill, was an abyssal hole where no light seemed to penetrate.

  The cohort’s hesitation in descending the staircase was not taken lightly, as the supervisor began screaming at them. A few brave souls slowly began making their way downwards, but the majority, including Sett, stayed behind.

  A crack and a shout resounded to his left, and one of the slaves collapsed in pain. Sett saw a prismatic whip made of energy snake back into the device the supervisor was holding. The clothing on the victim’s back was singed, an acrid smell reaching Sett’s nose.

  Even Bone, who had been walking lifelessly alongside him, looked up in horror. The crowd was knocked out of their shock by another swing of the overseer’s arm, a cord of multicolored Ether shooting out and striking another helpless target. The woman managed to put an arm up to defend, but the pain where it struck caused her to bend over, a painful, crimson welt forming at the impact point.

  Sett took the hint and guided Bone down the staircase, dreading the pain his injured leg would be in after this ordeal. The others followed at a frantic pace, leading to many tripping stumbling. Chains tangled with each other, shoulders bumped into another, and Sett had to struggle to keep both himself and his friend on their feet.

  An hour of minor stampedes, stumbling, and tripping later, they were told to stop at the third terrace. Sett and Bone had fallen over twice, and Sett’s leg was screaming at this point. They were told to spread out and enter one of five adits, and he was met with an oppressive heat as soon as he stepped in. The hallway was carved out of the dark rock that formed the asteroid, and illuminated by the same yellow light strips that were beginning to define Sett’s life.

  The humid air clung to Sett’s skin, but that meant there was water. The hallway gave way to a cavern that felt a bit cooler than the adit. Five guards waited inside, wearing the same leather armour as the ones outside, but armed with only energy whips. They stood in front of a pile of lamps attached to what seemed like headbands.

  “This is where you will be living from now on. Carve it into your memories. Wear these lights on your heads and go into the drift. You will get time to rest when the labour is done.”

  The duo picked up their torches and approached an entryway that led to the drift. From the wall next to the entryway, a small stream of muddy water flowed through to a pond. The water looked murky but he was glad to have something to drink. Many had the same idea, and a crowd began piling up beside the pond. Sett was glad he didn’t join them, as five streaks of energy shot out from the guards, followed by pained screams.

  “I said rest after labour! Get moving or I’ll kill you!”

  The crowd quickly hurried out of the chamber and into the drift. They followed it into a massive stope with a labyrinth of earthen pillars holding a low ceiling in place. The walls thrummed with energy that Sett could feel in his veins. Lodes of bluish brown ore snaked along the rock walls, and Sett immediately understood what they were. Etherstone ore. Concentrated, crystalline Ether hid within these walls, the most precious mineral in the universe.

  In the centre of the cavern lay a train of carts filled with pickaxes. A group of overseers armed with rifles and energy whips stood nearby, waiting impatiently for the crowd to enter.

  The oppressive heat and exhaustion from the long trek here had drained Sett, the pain in his leg becoming increasingly noticeable. He glanced at Bone and saw the kid in a worse condition than himself, swaying precariously from exhaustion.

  “Hey, listen. We’ll need to work before we can rest. Come with me and pick up an axe, and stick close. Just act like you’re working. I’ll mine your share, just stay on your feet till we’re done, okay?”

  Bone barely nodded, his eyes drifting in and out of focus. Sett cursed to himself, but approached the carts anyway.

  Another group of slaves, seemingly also from the Salsai ship, piled in from another drift. He gave them a quick glance as he picked up his pickaxe, when a voice made him look up in shock.

  “Sett? BONE?!”

  “Brec?! My god man, you’re here?”

  Brec Throh ran up to them from the other group, grinning like an idiot. Before he could approach Sett and his brother, a whip cracked the ground between them.

  “No talking! Get to work, lazy wretches!”

  Sett threw Brec another glance and mouthed, “Later. Follow us.”

  They picked up their tools, and waited. Bone looked like he got a second wind at life, his eyes welling up with tears. The twins were staring at each other, and Sett cracked a smile.

  “Listen up! Pick a spot to mine, pry out the ore, and pile them into these carts. Spread out across the stope, don’t stick too close to each other. No resting, no stopping, no talking until we tell you! Now move!”

  Sett subtly gestured towards a particularly dense vein of ore deep into the chamber, and the three moved over. The guard who stopped them from speaking followed, and Sett sighed in frustration.

  He faced the wall with the ore, the lamp on his head illuminating the stone. He drew a deep breath and struck his pickaxe into the seam. The force of the impact travelled down his body, and his right leg stung but he ignored it. The reunion had to wait. For now, he had some rage to vent.