The sunrises accompanied by the sounds of the roosters crowing.

Saiph is awakened by the morning sounds.

He looked at his rundown shed and got up to get ready to go to his work.

Saiph lives in a small village called Yellowrock Village. The village is named after the Yellow rock mined in the city.

As far as Saiph knows, it’s a relatively precious material and can be used to build stronger buildings.

The majority of the villagers that live here work in the mining shaft and Saiph is not an exception.

Once Saiph gets to the mining site he greets his fellow miners.

The mining is done by teams of miners, excavating into yellow rock mountain.

Saiph goes with his fellow team members to excavate an area they found earlier this month that had a considerable amount of yellowrocks.

“Micah, how is your mother?” asked Saiph. Micah's mother helped and took care of him when he lost his parents. Micah didn't get along with him back then but they slowly got along, especially since they started to work together and there were not many in his age bracket to be friends with.

“Unfortunately she’s gotten worse; I don’t think she’ll be able to make it past the month.”

Hearing the news, Saiph felt downcast, he knew of Micah’s mother condition for a while now and how much it has affected Micah.

When he lost his parents, Micah’s family was one of the pillars that helped him get through that tough time.

Saiph tried to comfort Micah as much as he could and hoped that today’s labor, though exhausting, could take Micah’s mind off of the depressing topic for a while.

When the team got to their mining destination they immediately began work.

This mountain is owned by a big family in the nearby town and the salary is given out by the stewards of the family. Those stewards are notoriously frugal when it comes to giving out money and will find any reason to deduct pay, so if the team doesn’t get enough yellowrocks or its not high quality, the entire team will be penalized.

So Saiph’s team has been working hard in the dim light of the mining cave, but the few torches that light the mining cave are weak and don’t illuminate the shadows allowing cover for anything to lurk unseen.

…

A few hours have passed and the team is taking a break to feed their empty bellies.

Suddenly, a gust of wind passes through and the torches that held off the darkness were snuffed out.

The team was immediately were alerted.

“Darn, the torches went out.”

One of the team members exclaimed and got up to go relight the flames.

The rest of the team was a little startled but thought nothing of it.

However, Saiph felt something was wrong.

Ever since he lost his parents to the beast attacks, he's been having nightmares ever since. From his young years till now, he became a very panicky person. the night he lost his parents has been stuck in his memories and he's had guilt from the night ever since. That day, had he not separated from the traveling caravan, his parents would still be here. This reminded him of the situation he was in right now.

Saiph felt that as soon as the lights go out and the team members begin to split one by one is when a terrible tragedy would occur., but tried to suppress his fears since they were in the mines, where it should be safe from the wild beasts.

This idea put him on alert which made him realize something. How were all the torches put out?

Sure, every now and then a few lights would be put out from a gust of wind, but all of them at the same time?

All the torches are far apart and on different corners. So what’s going on?

The more Saiph thought the more scared he became.

He went immediately for his pickaxe and held it tightly to give himself a sense of comfort.

The other members, who don’t seem to have thought as much or not as afraid, looked at the vague silhouette of Saiph moving frantically, with the help of the dim light coming off of the yellow rocks and dust in the mine shaft, with confusion.

They all have dealt with torches going out and gotten somewhat used to it, so what’s wrong now?

“Hey Saiph what’s going on?” said Micah asked with a slight tension in his voice. Saiph’s actions have caused everyone to be anxious.

Before Saiph could respond, the team member that went to relight the torches started yelling.

“HEY! WHO’S THERE?”

“What is it?!” being the most nervous in the group, Saiph asked first.

“I…I thought I saw a face.”

‘Face? Why did he say a face and not a silhouette?’

Before Saiph could continue to think the man continued.

“I must be imagining thin--- AHHH!”