Cataphon - Fierce Nomads: Arc I

Chapter III - The earth's people

Chapter III - The earth's people

In the mountains there are huge buildings which are called "rock factories". They house multiple slaves for working. These slaves are special in the fact that they can almost sense where there are valuable rescources in the earth. They started being made around 20 years ago and haven't stopped.

These were the only thoughts that filled Ruke's mind as he started to walk out to the outside before working. Ruke had never really been punished as hard as he was two days ago.

He walked by the adult section and saw how huge and muscular their arms and hands were when they picked up their pickaxes to start working. The pickaxes were old but effective. Ruke would wonder if he would ever be as big as them. If he could ever truly make Yashik proud.

When he got to the 12-16 section and grabbed his pickaxe, some of the other kids looked at him with a curious look in their eyes. Ruke still had bandages around his face and back but the curious eyes of the kids were mainly focusing on his face.

Everybody there was wearing the same attire, white sleeveless shirts and brown shorts. All of them were hacking away at the rocks that were near them, some were even in the cracks working. Ruke decided to jump down with some of them in the cracks. They were used to the sharp and intimidating stares from the guards. That was mainly their motivation, if they stopped, they would be punished.

Ruke had his cheek torn open just because he was awake when he shouldn't, what would happen if he didn't obey them?

Ruke tried to ignore these thoughts by working.

"Hey!" shouted one of the boys in the cracks with Ruke. The boy had long black hair and multiple rock scar near his neck and arms. "What happened to your face, man?". Ruke turned his head to the voice. He already knew who it was.

"Hi, Jike," responded Ruke with a meek voice. "I was out late two days ago and a guard saw me". Ruke had known Jike for a very long time, probably for mabye ten years. Jike was always someone who tried to help as much as he could without getting in any real trouble.

"Those guards really are cruel without reason," said Jike in an angry voice perpetuated from his past of getting in trouble when he was younger. It was true that Jike didn't want to get into any trouble however before when we were maybe around 6 to 9, he would always help, despite the consequences. But repeated abuse for years from the guards changed him. He still liked to help but more quietly.

"Well, at least I'll get a cool scar, right? replied Ruke

"I just kinda... want to get out of here" continued Jike without really listening to Ruke. Ruke replied with a tired and annoyed facial expression.

As they continued to work, hacking and hacking at the hard rocky walls, the shine of the sun was able to illuminate the dust in the air in the crevices of the cracks that they were in. Their job was to find and collect precious minerals and metals in these rocks. Ruke and Jike were able to vaguely sense them out in the rocks. This facility was built upon a place that was rich with minerals and metals. After a couple hours, they were sent to the cafeteria where they would all eat together.

The cafeteria had around 13 long tables. The floor was made out of something that was shiny and orange, probably copper or bronze? Ruke didn't really care.

The walls were green and had an over section where the guards would stand and observe.

Ruke went and took some of the porridge that they were serving and he wanted to sit with Yashik but wasn't even in the area. While Ruke was looking for a place to sit, he noticed that a pair of eyes were staring at him. He realized that the eyes belonged to Jike and he saw that the table that Jike sat at had a couple open spots. Ruke was pretty used to this. Jike would often just stare at him when Ruke was searching for a spot to sit at because Jike didn't want to bring any attention to him.