The adjustment to Mine 4 was
harder than Morrigan initially considered. Since she has lived in Mine 16 for
so long, she assumed it would be an easy acclamation seeing as she made her
strength known to the general population of the warren. All things considered,
it did help. No one really bothered her outside of the task masters Tyrus had.

The constant sounds of whips
cracking became an irritating droning noise to her during the work hours. That
irritation along with the slow burning anger of being trapped in another mine
was a constant feeling for her. Which, according to Apollyon, had been keeping
her lucid more often than not. Whether that was a good thing or not she had yet
to decide.

Morrigan drove the
steel spike of her pick ax into the wall she had been working on. The daily
routine became therapeutic to her, almost like seeing an old friend every day;
not that she could figure how many days it had been. She has already lost track
ever since being sent down into her new home.

It was almost a blessing
that the other inmates left her alone, except during her first few cycles she
had been able to keep track of, she tried to make friends with the Eskarii and
Saurian she had found.

The Eskarii did not react
kindly to her trying to speak to them, one in the group she had found tried to
attack her as they all spit every level of anti-Terran rhetoric they could
muster. She did her best to try and reason with them while evading the moderate
effort in the assault only to find out from what she could understand was that
they blamed all Terrans for the war as well as their imprisonment, even those
who belonged to the CoU.

The Saurian were
another challenge she lost. Granted, they were not hostile to her, but she
could not decide which was worse; to be hated by the Eskarii or to be purposefully
ignored by the Saurian. That did not keep her from studying them from afar
though.

She always saw five of them.
There were three the Federation dubbed “Skinks” for their lanky bodies and
slender heads, much similar to the Terran reptile. She noticed they between
five and six feet tall excluding their long slender tails and mainly
communicated through clicks and warbles that she couldn’t make heads or tails
of.

The other two were the breed
of Saurian she read about. The so called “Lizard” breed. One seven feet tall with
a beautiful orange and yellow fin on its head. Their skin was a gorgeous nearly
pearlescent blue and their head had more in common with a snake than a lizard,
including two large fangs that hung from underneath its top jaw.

The other, was a dull white
Lizard who had a large solid crest on top of his Komodo-like head. His name was
Xol as far as she knew considering that is what Tyrus barked at him to garner
the eight foot Saurian’s attention. Xol was built like a tank, which given what
she knew about the Saurian, he was probably the leader of their little clan
within the mines.

She found it strange
whenever Tyrus gave Xol orders, he followed them through. Albeit, with blatant
disdain as each time he received orders, he bared his mouth full of deadly sharp
teeth and gave a low hiss.

It was a strange experience
especially since he was large enough both in height as well as muscle mass, to
look as if he could tear anyone within Mine 4 in half with his bare hands.

When she had tried to speak
to the Saurian, the most she got was a passive look, blank stares from two of
the Skinks, and a half lip sneer before ignoring her and continuing their
conversation in their hard chopped native language and the non-verbal language
the Skinks spoke in.

Aweee, does no one want to
play with little Mori? Apollyon poked fun at her.

She paused mid swing and
lowered the head of the pick ax to the ground, “apparently not. It really sucks
because this is the first time ever seeing them in person. All I want to do is
learn about them!” She said aggressively in her head.

Meh, what's there to learn?
They're part of this lovely trifecta of species warring for dominion of this
corner of the galaxy.

Morrigan scowled at Apollyon’s
short sightedness. “There’s plenty to learn. They're the most reclusive and
territorial of the three species. We barely know anything about them and all
attempts of diplomacy has either been ignored or met with extreme violence…”
she said aloud in aggravation before taking another swing and skipping the pick
ax off the wall which only drew more anger out of her.

Sounds like they want to be
left alone, Apollyon said in passive boredom.

“No shit, but the entire
race can't be…not curious,” she growled, “but I want to learn, I want to make
friends with them. Just like I did with Torvil and Mo’Emori…” she said her
anger taking a steep dip into melancholy as she remembered her Eskarii crush
and her emotionless, deadpan brother.

She dropped the pick ax and
let out a low pitched whine as she buried her face into her eyes to try and
stem the tidal wave of tears that threatened to spill.

Hey, hey come on, no need to
be like that. I'm sure you'll see them again… Apollyon said quickly trying to
stem a psychotic episode from her sadness.

“But what if I don’t!” she
whined as she wiped her nose with the back her hand.

You will. Eventually we’ll
break out of here and we’ll go find them. I’m sure they would be every shade of
happy to see you too, even that monotone dick that stabbed you, Apollyon
chuckled as he referred to Torvil.

Apollyon’s appraisal of Torvil
helped, causing her to let out the smallest giggle.

Without warning, Morrigan’s
right calf burned intensely followed by the sharp crack of a whip, shifting her
anger into a higher gear as she looked down to see her leg had been slashed
open by the leather cord.

“Get back to work!” the task
master yelled at her.

She gave him a steely death
glare as she felt Apollyon begin repairing her leg.

I recommend…taking that fuck’s
skull. You can turn it into a serving bowl for dinner, Apollyon mused darkly.

“I said get back to work
bitch!” the task master barked as he hauled his arm back to whip her again.
This time however, Morrigan was ready for him.

As the whip sailed towards
her, she stuck her arm out wincing as her arm took the brunt of the force
before wrapping the leather around her wrist and grabbed ahold of it with her
hand, pulling it taut.

With a flash of crimson
energy, she used her thumb and middle fingers to literally snap the whip in
half with crimson claws.

The profound look of
disbelief on the task master’s face as he looked at his newly broken whip made
Morrigan giggle as she dropped her half at her feet, a wide playful grin on her
face.

The man tossed the whip
aside and drew wooden stick that was half wrapped in a metal sheet, a crude
cudgel, and prowled towards her, “you little bitch, you’ll pay for that!” he
roared as he hauled back his melee weapon to swing at the girl who stood there and
giggled unflinching.

“Hey!” came the voice that
was worse than nails on a chalkboard for Morrigan. The task master stopped in
his tracks, both he and Morrigan turning to see Tyrus staring them down from a
vantage point farther towards the central warren.

Except, he was not looking
at Morrigan, he had been staring at his task master. “Leave the girl alone!”
his voice boomed down the length of the tunnel.

This surprised both of them,
though Morrigan hid her surprise underneath a scowl. “Boss, she broke my…” the
man started only to receive a hard glare from Tyrus.

“Ulla, you are to leave the
new girl alone. Is that clear?” he said crisply.

Ulla, which had been the
task master’s name, scoffed as he shot a glare at Morrigan. “yeah boss, I
understand,” he forced out bitterly.

Morrigan frowned when she
saw Tyrus’s face shift from aggravated to delighted. “Good! Go get another whip
and get back to work…” he stalled and leered at Morrigan, “the both of you,” he
finished with a hint of joyous amusement.

Morrigan’s frown twisted in disgust
as she reached for her pick ax. Her blood boiled at the interruption as she
drove the pick ax deep into the stone wall with enhanced force. She could hear
Tyrus’s fading chuckle over all of the sound of pick axes beating into stone.

So, when do we get to kill
that one? Apollyon asked defensively.

“I’d rather never be within 100
feet of the creep…” Morrigan growled.

One of the hardest parts of
adjusting to her new home was Tyrus. She had lost count how many times she
found him watching her. She was thankful that it was always at a distance,
however, it did not take away the creep factor.

“Trying to face him and put
him down is a rough call. We don't know how many are loyal to him, or the
backlash it would bring. We could end up needing to try and fight everyone in
the mine! Hell I haven't even explored most of it yet…” she thought to Apollyon
as she wrestled the pick ax out of the wall.

Would that be a bad thing?
I’m pretty certain you could kill everyone here!

“Yeah, until the guards got
involved. I guarantee the warden warned them about me. Chances of them taking a
kill shot is a lot higher.”

Apollyon snickered then
sighed, yeah you may have a point. Especially that fucker with that big ass
gun… not sure I could fix that!

Morrigan snorted as she
recalled the guard lugging around a portable mini-gun. If anything were to ever
happen, he would be the first one she needed to take out otherwise it would be
game over for her and many others.

She shook her head at the
ridiculous thought, she would need far more time to plan an escape. At present,
her life could be significantly worse. People left her alone, though the
loneliness was a struggle to cope with.

Mining was also a lot
simpler with the amount of inmates in the mine. Given that Mine 4 had a larger
elevator, there were six smaller rolling dumpsters that followed down the two
tunnels that were currently being dug. It also meant aside from those who had
to push the dumpsters onto the elevator, there was no ridiculous line to wait
in.

Morrigan caught a movement
of white out of the corner of her eye, looking to see Xol standing behind his small
clan as they began excavating in the tunnel she was in. He carried a massive
club that was made out of a thick metal bar and a stone head.

She assumed he was the task
master of the Saurian though she had never seemed to see him treat anyone
poorly. His group seemed to hold a great deal of respect for him.

On the contrary, one of the
Skinks started their digging too closely to a human who took offense to their
proximity. In a mad fit, the human shoved the Skink, shouting obscenities.

In a burst of speed she had
not expected, Xol bound near his Skink and the offending human and swung the
giant stone club. The result was a human with a caved in ribcage flying a good
25 feet through the air before rolling across the ground in a crumpled heap.

Morrigan gawked as she
realized Xol was more guardian than task master. She was more surprised that no
other inmate, task master or otherwise said a word about it. If she had to
hazard a guess, there was an unspoken rule that no one was to mess with the Saurian.

Xol caught her staring and
gave her a challenging glare as his orange, reptilian eyes narrowed.

Realizing she got caught
staring, she panicked and waved, giving him a kind yet nervous smile.

What, in the name of me, are
you doing? Apollyon asked incredulously.

“I don’t have a fucking
clue,” she murmured under her breath as she fought back a hysterics giggle.

Xol eyed her for a moment
before giving her a fanged sneer and returned to warding over his species.

Morrigan let out the breath
she had been holding and shook her head. “Well that went better than the other
guy…” she noted.

What? You mean having all
your bones intact and not splattered all over the ground? Yeah I guess we can
call that a win ha.

She chuffed at that and
continued working on her wall after that, pulling out small fragments of
Viridian for hours on end until the call for days end came.

ΩΩΩ

Do you feel that?! Apollyon
exclaimed in dark excitement.

Morrigan lifted her head
from the bundled-up cloth she used as a pillow that she had left over from her
arrival.

It had been some time since meal
time had passed and Morrigan spent the remainder of her day relaxing in her hovel
that she had used her powers to dig into one of the abandoned tunnels on the
second tier. It wasn’t much, a six by five hole in the wall that gave her the
space and seclusion from the rest of the warren, she was even able to use the
excess stone and dirt to create a semi-soft spot to lay.

Focus! You must feel that,
that honey laden taste in the air hehehe, Apollyon explained in sadistic
delight.

She raised off her resting
spot with intense concentration. Morrigan had no idea what had her celestial
companion so worked up but it piqued her curiosity, especially if it was
something to cure the perpetual boredom she felt.

There was something in air.
Morrigan could feel something, something tantalizing like the soft vibration of
static energy that sent the hair on the back of her neck on end.

“What is that?” she asked
aloud languidly, as if entranced in the level of ambient energy she could feel.
It wasn’t the same energy that gave her strength from the cosmos.

That my dear girl, is the
delicious smell of unbridled rage! Apollyon hissed.

She remembered the thick
feeling she felt when she first got to Mine 4, the latent ambient anger that
emanated from the residents, this however, was an entirely new feeling.

“Should we check it out?”
she inquired, not really feeling cautious about it as she got up and walked
towards the entrance of her hole in the wall.

You kidding? This is the
kinda thing that gets me hard!

“Okay…gross,” Morrigan
chuckled as she stalked her way towards the central warren.

It was confusing to see so
many inmates around casually biding their time till they decided to fall
asleep. Many lounging around their spots they called their rooms or in the
central warren socializing or gambling in relative peace. Yet the emotions she
picked up on were even stronger as she stood in the center of the massive
chamber.

Some of the inmates were giving
her questioning looks but she ignored them as she scanned the chamber.

There! Down there! Apollyon
exclaimed as her vision settled on a tunnel on the first tier of the warren.

As she scampered down one of
the ladders from the second tier, she realized it was a tunnel she had yet to
explore, it’s depth reaching into darkness.

Taking a look around at the
other inmates that seemed to care little that she had been approaching, meaning
that it was safe, theoretically.

Morrigan made her way down
the lightless tunnel,  working down its
gentle curves and pitch leading down. She took a modicum of caution knowing
full well the dangers that could lurk in the dark of Castile V.

The farther she went, the
stronger the feeling of rage radiated against her, followed by a cacophony of
faint shouting that was not discernable, which piqued her curiosity even more.

That’s it, we’re getting
closer. Get a move on girl, Apollyon ushered her forward in excitement.

Eventually, dropping the
attempted caution, Morrigan stumbled into a wall of shouting, angry inmates all
facing away from her. The wave of emotion slammed into her with a dizzying
oppression that caused her to let slip a laugh.

Woah,oh,oh,oh, this is the
good stuff baby! Ah! Apollyon rejoiced in the encompassing emotions coming from
the crowd.

Morrigan shook her head
trying to clear the nauseating euphoria swimming through her head from being that
close to the crowd all the while Apollyon reveled in the back of her mind.

This is great little
goddess… such anger, such hate and the cries for blood! It’s like going through
the Middle Ages all over again! Hahahahaha!

Her curiosity over the
commotion overtook her as soon as she got her senses in working order, allowing
her to start wedging herself through the crowd towards the front.

Delivering a few empowered
elbows to inmates refusing to let her through gave her the berth needed to find
the fighting pit the crowd encircled.

The amount of blood that was
shed hit her like a truck once she reached the proximity of the ring of fine,
loose dirt as it snaked its way under the dirt and snaked its way toward her.

This…this was a good ideaaa,
Apollyon let out in a predatory hiss.

It took every ounce of focus
for her not to make sound as her eyes fluttered in bliss.

When she refocused, her
vision was greeted by one of the most beautiful sights she could hope to
witness in a dreary hell scape like Castile V.

A woman raised her arms in
triumph, enticing a discordant of cheers and angry boos. She stood around five
foot eight, her blonde hair shaven on one side of her head, the middle loose
and long enough to flop half way over the side that was shaven while the rest
was braided rightly to her skull. Her prison uniform was torn, cut, mended and
miraculously dyed black in a sportier fashion that left every movement
unhindered and showed the underground world every inch of her lean, tone
muscles that were battered, bruised and riddled with scars.

Morrigan watched as the
woman reveled in the chaos she brought on as she sent kisses to the crowd and
hopped around the fighting pit with wildly active energy.

The woman’s silvery eyes
highlighting her bright, although bloody smile as she laughed animatedly as
Morrigan studied her battered and bloody body.

“Nora!” came the all too
familiar voice of Tyrus, who Morrigan spotted sitting in a more literal
makeshift throne of stone, bone and scrap fabric above the left side of the
fighting pit.

The woman in the ring gave
him a confused look, “what?!” she barked.

Everyone quickly silenced
themselves. “You were not supposed to kill your opponent, this was not a grudge
match,” Tyrus stated calmly with a hint of punishment.

Morrigan grit her teeth as
the desire to stand between Tyrus and Nora, the woman in the ring, urged her
muscles to react.

Nora looked down at her
opponent that lay upon the dirt, a man who normally would've looked as if he
could beat upon the woman without much effort. She cocked her head to the side
comically with an amused smile before striding over to him and crouched low.

With a hard flick in the
center of the closed eye, the man's body jerked followed by a grunt of pain in
his unconscious state.

Nora dusted her hands off
with a giggle and shrugged at Tyrus, “see, not dead,” she chirped with a cocky
smile.

Tyrus grinned at her before
dipping his head in concession before waving her off.

Nora turned back to the
crowd and spread her arms, “come on! Whose next! I know I've pissed off more
folk than this!” she roared in glee, her grin wide with anticipation.

There were whispers and
murmurs through the crowd before Xol spoke over everyone. “Huruk Arak’tarul diwaze
mirina!”

Morrigan had not noticed the
white Lizard standing off to the right of the throne. Xol nodded to a Skink
standing next to him. The Skink let out a bellow of incoherent syllables before
stepping into the ring, a blue and black forked tongue flicking rapidly as the
previous opponent was dragged out.

Tyrus laughed heartily, “it
seems Huruk wants your head Nora, do you accept a battle to the death against
the Skink?”

Xol sneered at the name
Skink, but looked firmly ahead at Nora, who clapped and squealed in delight.
Morrigan’s eyes bugged out of her head in shock at the call of the fight being
a death match.

Oh, I am really beginning to
like this place, Apollyon quipped.

“Hell yeah I do!” she
laughed as she readied herself. “Bring it lizard man!” she laughed.

Huruk let out a dangerous open
mouthed hiss, as it pulled a long jagged makeshift knife out of nowhere.

“You have it everybody! A
fight to the death between Huruk the Skink and Nora, the ice bitch herself!
Place your bets!” Tyrus announced as he looked between the two contestants, all
the while inmates roared and cheered, placing bets between the two fighters.

Morrigan’s stomach wanted to
revolt at such barbarism, her heart hammering in her chest as she was about to
witness such a beautiful woman fight one of her cosmic curiosities.

It’s not so bad, humans have
used arenas for blood sports for millennia. Just think of it as watching a show
on those stupid televisions you humans always prattle on about.

“Yeah but…” Morrigan started
only for her voice to be drown out by the spectators. She could not argue Apollyon’s
point really. Humanity has always found some violent way to entertain
themselves, some of which at the expense of the poor or incarcerated.

She also couldn’t
deny the tiny part of her that wanted it. To watch the violence and bloodshed,
and even see the damage the beautiful blonde could dish out.

Now you're getting it, let's
watch your new wet dream spill lizard guts for all to see, Apollyon joked in a
sinister tone.

Morrigan huffed indignantly
and crossed her arms, thinking all sorts of nasty things she wanted to say to
that.

Apollyon only chuckled at
her,  I know what you're thinking and
it's not nice hahahaha.

Her attention was pulled
from Apollyon as Huruk lashed out without warning, taking a wide swipe with the
shank. Nora deftly leaned back, squealing with joy before she stood up straight
and rushed the Skink.

The crowd roared as Nora
juked and dodge the furious onslaught Huruk pressed. It appeared that Skinks
were profoundly dexterous and agile with how fast Huruk moved, letting its three
clawed toes dig into the dirt as Huruk bounced left and right trying to throw
Nora off.

Nora however, was just as
chaotic in her movement and surprisingly light on her feet for someone who had
just taken a beating herself just moments ago.

Nora ducked underneath
another wide swipe and twisted to her body to avoid the left handed punch and
shifted to deliver a nasty uppercut.

Huruk slashed blindly,
catching Nora across her forearms which blocked her face before twisting and
slamming her across the side with its tail, sending her into the opposite
crowd.

She regained her bearings while
the crowd pushed her back into the ring. “I always forget about the fucking
tail!” she complained to no one in particular, her face growing more serious.

Morrigan’s eyes widened as
she watched light blue energy coalesce down Nora’s forearms, pulling moisture
from the blood, sweat and air around her.

“Holy shit, she’s a mage!”
Morrigan screamed in her head.

You don’t have to yell, I
can see it clearly with your own eyes woman!

Morrigan watched as a frosty
dagger made of solid ice formed in each of Nora’s hands, which she twirled expertly
as she rolled her shoulders, settling her weapons underhanded in a defensive
stance.

Morrigan also noticed that
the shallow cuts on her forearms frosted over, sealing the wounds.

Nora charged her opponent, launching
herself into the air and drop kicking Huruk into the crowd. She landed on her
back and adeptly rolled backwards into a defensive crouch.

“Li ser heq’ê
şwe! Şwe, rümet bïzur hakkon!” Xol roared deeply as he reached forward and
picked Huruk up by the back of the neck and shoved the Skink back into the
ring, bearing his lizard fangs in a disgusted snarl.

Huruk squawked and assaulted
Nora in a mad rush, throwing fist, blade and tail in heated fervor.

As Nora ducked and weaved
between strikes as she waited for a particular tail strike. When it finally
came, she wrapped her left arm around the Skink’s whip like tail and used her
long frosty daggers to scissor a third of Huruk’s tail clean off.

Huruk bellowed incoherently
in pain as its tail thrashed about, spraying blood all over the crowd, hitting
Morrigan in a brief, yet strong pleasurable high.

The amount of blood loss
caused Huruk to stagger and drop the prison shank, which gave Nora the perfect opportunity
to move in.

As Huruk made a grab for its
bleeding tail, Nora closed the gap between them and drove one of the icy
daggers into its stomach, causing Huruk’s bellows to cut off in a long-drawn-out
clicking noise before she drove the other long dagger down into its chest
cavity through its clavicle.

Xol shook his head in disgust
as the crowd roared.

Morrigan stood there
motionless, completely dumbfounded as the blood high wore off. She did not
realize she was staring so intently until Nora’s silver eyes met hers, the scar
that trailed down her left temple down to her cheek highlighting the slow
creeping grin spreading across her face.

Hey kiddo, you dropped
something hehehe, Apollyon said through the noise.

Morrigan’s mouth snapped
shut once she realized it had been hanging open, causing her to turn every
shade red.

Nora bat her eyelashes and
let out a soft chuckle, raising her hand only to be interrupted.

“Well done Nora!” Tyrus shouted
as he stood clapping. Nora looked at him and scoffed, shaking her head however,
when she looked back to where Morrigan had been standing, she was gone.