I don’t know how I got here. Or even where here even is. All I know is this place, the difference between the rocks I mine up and the rocks I ignore, and the men who crackle their whips upon those who don’t fulfill their mining quota for that day. Where do those men come from? Why am I or the rest of us here? Why are we being so brutally punished for becoming so weak some days that we physically can’t motion through the day with enough to fulfill our quota. According to the elders who are stuck here with us, the world was once a lovely place where everyone was equal. Then some large thing know as the world economy collapsed overnight for unknown reasons, and suddenly, the some large entity known as the government used their powers to maintain order, and part of maintaining order was supplying the resources necessary for the upper society to function or something like that. Many words fly around for what we are, Slaves, Servants, Worthless pawns, it’s all the same to me.
[[Who am I?]] Who am I? I don’t even know myself. Apparently the people above us are born with names and identities. I was born as number 117, grouped up with 100 others in our area. I know the numbers 100 - 199, but as far as I’m aware, that’s all there is. It makes no difference either way. More important to me is the blazing cuts and bruises along my back that burn even a week after my failure to fulfill my quota for that day. Seems coughing more than usual wasn’t a good enough reason for them. My body is really thin with an exception for my upper arms, which is likely because of my job in the mines being the only thing I ever do. I’m starving, but fed scraps each and every day, what feels like the minimum necessary to keep going, pointlessly. I hate my life, but whenever I think of running away, or fighting back, a sharp shiver goes down my back when looking at the big bulky guy with that nightmare of a weapon around his waist. One shot and the person hit is dead, though thankfully, it seems to be last resort only.
[[There's hope]] I live with my roomie and only friend, 116. He calls me Rocky because my skin skin and hair is rough as a rock's surface according to him. Anyways, me and him have been friends since I can remember, and we have been working on something special. A few months ago, we struck two differently colored rocks together, and this clash created a small flash of light that seems to hurt when touched directly … alot. We had an idea, what if we can create this thing that we the elders call “a spark” and throw it at the bulky men? We think that maybe we can make something that flicks these sparks at the bulky men and hopefully hurt them enough to allow us to escape … or die trying. There is a problem, and that is that I’ve been designated as the one to use this weapon, and I don’t know about anyone else, but when I even think about doing some that could be simply seen as unfortunate to the bulky men, so many shivers go down my spine and throughout my body that I freeze in place. This issue of mine seems like it can cause problems when the time comes for the rebellion to begin.
[[It's Time]]Well the day has come. We got the weapon tested and it’s only a matter of time before they notice we have a weapon, so it’s now or never. I launch a “spark blast” against the cave wall to test. It seems small but effective, though each blast wears away at the rocks use to charge the blast just a little each time. The only problem is that I can’t seem to stop shivering. For my own sake, I better get a handle on this or everyone is done for.
[[Attack]]I walk outside with the gauntlet on with a shot charged. I take a deep breath and release a shot … Instant Hit! Not only that, it seemed to have so much of a punch that it knocked one of the guys out cold. SUCCESS!!! I charge up another one and ready my shot when in front of me are 12 bulky men with their weapons aimed at me. 4 start walking forward with their lethal weapons sheathed and their whips in their hands. This should be easy, just fire off the shot and find cover, no sweat. *Shivers* “Oh no, not now.” My body suddenly freezes in place, it seems like their power trip over us did a number of affects on my mind. I know I have a slight advantage here, but I won’t move … “and there goes my charged shot.” Upon the thought leaving my body, the big guys are right on top of me and swinging their whips and big sticks. Against my own will, just out of habit or something, my body curls into a fetal position as I prepare for my punishment, as though there were nothing I could do. Turns out the guys didn’t end our rebellion, my own ingrained fear and cowardice did. As I shed my first tear of the day from my own failure, I feel a hard bang on my head before getting knocked out.
[[Awakening]]I awaken in a dark and run down prison cell. It’s like the cells we slept in back at the mining camp, but with slightly more comfortable beds and less comfortable everything else. On top of that, the rooms reeks of odors of feces, vomit, blood and other things that I didn’t know a fellow human being could produce. There is multiple cracks in the walls that are quite small in size but large enough to allow sunlight and fresh air into the room. Fresh Air, something I haven’t ever experienced back in the camp … it cool and clear, and better, my lungs aren’t struggling to keep the air in. If I wasn’t stuck in an uncleaned room, from the feeling of it I’d never have to cough again. If this is what the outside is like, I have to get everyone there, asap. Focus 117! I have to get out of here… hmm …. It seems like with how run down the room is the bolts keeping each bar in place aren’t greatly connected. I can break that small side door near the ceiling or break down the bars to the cell.
[[Open the cell door]]
[[Open the air duct]]Hmm… even with these bars weakened, it appears I’m not strong enough to make a dent, let’s try that small door.
[[Open the air duct]] I pull, and pull, and pull, and it budges. “Just a little more now … and it’s open. Let’s go!” I just manage to fit through the square hole, and begin crawling through. While moving forward, looking down every now and again for any chests that could hold what was taken from me or guards listening for any weird noises or other activity. I eventually come across another choice. Should I go right or left?
[[Left]]
[[Right]]
Heading left I crawl past a few empty cells and a room where the bulky men are apparently eating a large feast. “That’s more than we get in a month!” *Shivers* “Geez, even thinking negatively about them scares me to near death. Whelp, then I shouldn’t think on it now, I have to get to my gauntlet.” After a little more crawling I find myself at the end of the tunnel next to another small door. Upon pulling that out and leaving the small tunnel, I now find myself in an empty room lit up with green lights and a chest with a box next to it. The chest has a long word that I can only read the letters to, “C .. o .. n .. f .. i .. s .. c .. a .. t .. e .. d …. Hmm what does that say, oh well, it looks promising so let’s take a look. Huh, can’t open the chest, maybe this box has something to do with it.” I open the box and notice a gray switch and two pairs of buttons, 1 red and 1 green each. Upon further inspection and testing, it appears that only one button can be lit in each pair as a time, and the grey switch turns off all the lights. “Now what’s the code to this puzzle?”
[[Green Green]]
[[Red Green]]
[[Green Red]]
[[Red Red]] I crawl right. Right is always right, right? Well I was wrong. I find myself near a spinning metal object. The breeze feels nice but this isn’t where I wanted to go. I should go left.
[[Left]]Nothing happens, I flip the gray switch to reset. “Well that failed, I was sure the room coloring was the solution, well what could it be?”
[[Red Green]]
[[Green Red]]
[[Red Red]] Nothing happens, I flip the gray switch to reset. “What else?”
[[Green Red]]
[[Red Red]]
[[Green Green]]Nothing happens, I flip the gray switch to reset. “What else?”
[[Red Red]]
[[Green Green]]
[[Red Green]] “What if the Green room is meant as a decoy, and the code is the opposite?” I press the red buttons … and the chest opens. “Score! Now to find out what’s inside.”
[[Inside the Chest]] Upon opening the chest I see my gauntlet and a my stomach and chest starts to tingle around. It’s almost as though my body has become the most free it’s ever been, which is pretty funny considering the circumstances. On top of this, my body feels 3 times lighter, as though I’ve been tethered to something dragging me downwards, and that weight finally disappeared. “I can finally give me and my friends freedom…” Those words fled my mouth too quickly and forcefully, I was worried that I’d get swarmed by guards, but thankfully they’re all occupied in the lunch room or outside.
After deciding to look further in the chest I found the rocks used to create the charge that the gauntlet needs to be effective, however the rocks themselves were twice as big and 5 times as numerous. I have enough charge to take on an army. My body suddenly went from 3 times lighter to 10 times lighter, I swear if I wanted I could walk on air, yet there was no need because heaven itself was already running its finger up and down my chest as I breathed more confidently and ecstatically than all the breaths throughout my entire life put together.
After that high ended I decided to look further in the chest and ended up finding a picture book. The picture book had two elders and a smaller looking version of me. Putting two and two together I figured these were the people that brought me into this world. The more pages I turned, the warmer it felt around me, not in a burning coals sense, but in way so comforting it cannot even be described, I only saw pictures but ended up still loving these two strangers more than the world itself.
Then I got to the last page, and the world crumbled down. That weight was back and that comfort ended but with it came something else, something tense and hot. The pictures on the final page showed the guard smiling while taking me away and killing the two greatest souls I had just met. There was no care at all in it, just looked like it was a small game of how horrid can we be while not caring, and they went way beyond the goalpost. The heat got hotter, my body tightened as though it was transforming into a turtles shell, and despite my nails being long and sharp, I couldn’t open up my hand, even though there was some stinging as a red liquid dripped from my hands. My face turned completely to stone, and my two layers of teeth were having a competition of who is stronger or more durable, or both. I thought the worst of things towards these men, then towards all that wore their uniform, and suddenly, that spine shivering sensation that previously would cause me to curl up completely disappeared, instead turned into an intense heat that would make those smelters back at camp jealous. With that, everything was clear, it’s time to end this, once and for all!
[[Let's Go!]]Double-click this passage to edit it.Seething with rage from head to toe, I quickly move towards the room I saw the guards having lunch and slam it open. 5 guards are completely shocked while 1 runs for his weapon, of course he’s the first one that gets shocked. The other’s quickly drop like flies within seconds. As it turns out, my anger and lack of fear is boosting my reaction speed by quite a lot, that was super easy, and I got plenty more ammo to unleash on those back at camp. After the last one falls I grab one of the pieces of food on the table. “This tastes so good! How dare they keep all this beauty and flavor from us!” I then leave the room and find myself in a bit of a maze. Which way should I go?
[[Go Left]]
[[Go Forward]]
[[Go Right]] I bolt my way down the dark hallway to my left, locked room after locked room which eventually leads to a dead end. “Well that was a waste of my time.”
[[Go Forward]]
[[Go Right]]I decide to go down the long hallway that’s straight in from of me. Progressing down for about a half minute I come across a cutoff in the hallway, should I make a sharp right turn or continue straight.
[[Sharp Right Turn]]
[[Continue Forward]]I head right which leads right to an open white room, everything's white, the bed, tables, walls, ceiling … everything. I notice a lot of small sharp objects and a bunch of papers and liquids. “Best to leave this place alone, don’t know what any of this is.”
[[Go Left]]
[[Go Forward]] I make a sharp turn right and immediately see a bright light. “That must be it!” Running towards the light I find myself outside a large and dark building. In front of me is two soldiers guarding a cave. “That must be where my companions are!” I move towards the cave, shock the guards when I get in distance before they see me. “Their fault for guarding the wrong way. Now, time to save everyone!”
[[Go in Cave]]Moving forward for another 30 seconds and I run into a wall with what seems to be a lot of random assortments of letters on it. “Well this is not it.”
[[Sharp Right Turn]]I go down what seems like a hundred steps into the tunnels below when I see the crevice with an orange dim light that is all too familiar. I shock the one guard in front of the entrance and move inside. Everyone turns their heads, including the guards. “117! You’ve caused enough trouble! Prepare to die!” Their guns turn sharply onto me. Two spots make themselves obvious to me for cover. One is behind a large boulder, the other is under a heavy stone table. Quickly, which should I go to?
[[Under Table]]
[[Behind Boulder]]I duck under the stone table as a shot flies over me. A problem immediately points itself out, the table is right side up. A few shots hit the top of the table as I desperately try to flip it on it’s side, but it’s so heavy I can’t budge it. A few seconds later a shot flies under the table and hits my right through the head, and it appears to have made its way down into my stomach. I drop to the ground, motionless. “Is this really how it ends? After so much effort, is this how I was destined to fade?” Then a flash of light, as well as a fury of emotions rush over me right before everything fades to nothing.
Game Over!!!
[[Beginning]] I quickly jump behind the large boulder. It seems to be holding out pretty effectively. I prepare a speech to try to boost the morale of my fellow servants, however it seems like that is unnecessary. Noticing the guards are all distracted with me, the bigger guys jump the soldiers while the smaller guys go for multiple sneak attacks. The elders guide the servants in an impressively quick attack formation considering they were all beaten as much if not more than I was. 116 runs towards me. “See that 117? Everyone was worried that you died that day. However, seeing you alive and capable of taking down our oppressors inspired all of us to battle for the freedom that we so deserve. It’s all thanks to you!” I try my best not to shed a tear, now is not the time. I hear a couple of my own fall and snap out of my awe. “It ends now!” I jump out of my cover and fire off two more electric shocks simultaneously at the remaining soldiers. Even I’m impressed I managed to do that.
After the battle we count out 5 of us, 109, 113, 167, 179, and 182, have died in battle, and at least 20 of us are injured in some way. Yet that seems to dissuade no one, as freedom is finally, after years of brutal servitude finally, in reach. 116 looks to everyone. “Now everyone, let’s get the hell out of this hellscape of a prison!” He then turns to me. “Ready to go chief?” I smile, flattered that I was given a leadership role. “Yeah lets get the hell out of here. Also, while we’re at it. We need to give ourselves actual names.”
The End