1.1

 Dungeon heart started brightening up. Steadily and slowly silver light pierced through thousands of caves and layers 10s of thousands of kilometers underground. Woken up by silver shining more and more shadows started slowly leaving the caves. Soon almost every job was full of silent emptiness.

"Pipkin! Pipikin!"

The little silver-haired boy screamed at the top of his voice into the sleeping bald man's ear.

"Pipkin! Wake uup!"

 The echoes of the cave drowned out the boy's screams. After a few minutes of restless trying, the man moved his finger. The boy began to shake him even harder. The man slowly began to wake up: yawned, rolled over once or twice and finally sat up in a sleepy state.

"Rubin, why did you wake me up"

 said the bald man bluntly

"you know too, if we are late, we will be beaten to death"

 Pipkin lazily stood up. He started scratching First his bald head and then his shaggy gray beard

"Rubin, didn’t I tell you? If the guard approaches you, just run on all fours"

"what a smart idea"

 Rub smiled

"I am sure You will be glad to do the work of two people when they catch and beat me to death"

 The sleepy man immediately lost his sullen expression and began to prepare to leave with sad face. Rub watched and could barely contain his laughter. If the boy knew anything about his friend for sure, it was that he hated work like the plague, despite having spent more than half his life breaking stones in the mines. After a short time of little fuss and preparation, the bald man and the boy followed the path leading to the 8th mine.

1.2

Birka's mine system was more than 500 years old. As former dungeon now it was house for both vicious mythical creatures and the lowest among the mortals, the emperor's pride and shame at the same time. The Birka's mines were a symbol of the empire's power and influence. These intricately twisted semi-wild richest deposits were the backbone of the empire, which emperor Justinian conquered after subjugating the father of dragons Lertrorm and planting his heart in his own dungeon. However, this spine of empire was pierced with blood. All citizens of the empire stood equal under the emperor and nobles. All except Birka's so called residents. Birka was a place of work for slaves. Every year, thousands of lives were lost to the mining of ores or to the brutality of the overseers. Perhaps the most cruel of all were the giant salt deposits that were the personal property of the Crown Prince, successor of the throne. However, the Crown Prince couldn’t care less. After all, victims weren’t even humans, they were just mere slaves

1.3

Pipkin and Rubin were assigned as slaves in one of those salt mines. Pipkin was sent there at the age of 23. In the official documents, some merchant's daughter accused him of violence and rape, although he himself constantly swore that he had not laid a finger on her. In the end, he was faced with a choice: either to be castrated and get both of his arms cut off, or to go to the 8th mine, the ill-known "nest of death", as a slave. Pipkin did not realy wish to part with his manhood and his arms and chose slavery. However, fate deceived him here too. The woman's father did not forgive the shame of the family. He bribed the jailer for one night, and Pipkin got quickly turned into pitiful eunuch. This is how the 23-year-old castrated alleged rapist was sent to the "nest of death". No one knews how, but somehow he survived 25 years in the clutches of death, which he barely escaped there numerous times. In the end, he even made a friend.

1.4

Pipkin was about 34 or 35 years old when the Miners got a new member. At that time, half of the hair on Pipkin's head had already fallen out. He heard this rumor for the first time while swimming in a blackened spring. While washing the pitiful tangles of his hair, he heard his new mate Barney telling a strange story to the neighbor bathing. It was about the ghost of a dead woman that crept into the mines to haunt all the sinful souls.

" Last night I heard a woman moaning and groaning. It’s a witch, attracted by the stench of our sins "

The bathing neighbor listened to Barney with a grave face, but Pipkin could see clearly how some foreign liquid had mixed with the blackened spring water between man’s legs. Warned by the unspeakable tales of his partner, Pipkin got out of the spring, put his finger on his eye and spat on his shoulder to scare away evil spirits and devils.

The rumor soon spread throughout the mine. Some of them even swore that they could hear witch's roar every night. However, the truth hidden behind the rumor was revealed in a few days. In the morning, as usual, everyone gathered to quench their thirst at the spring. In the noisy greetings of the newly awakened people, an old man came out of a cave. Rakshi was a silent man. No one knew his age, where he was from, what he was punished for. They brought him 10 years ago, and since that day, he spent the day and night in a salt mine, quietly isolated from everyone. The supervisor jokingly named him Rakshi, which means donkey. Indeed, Rakshi was a quiet and hardworking just like a donkey.

The old man went to the spring like everyone else that day. No one paid attention to him either. He quietly went down to the water, bringing weird bag with him. He slowly began to open the bag and then gently began to wash the creature in it, first one person saw him, then the second, then the third, so at the end, whoever could reach the eyes towards the rakshi was staring at him with dropped jaw. Old Rakshi was holding a tiny baby in his hands. Rakshi continued to bathe the baby with a smiling face and mumbled something while singing along. The rumor was finally put to rest when the corpse of a still warm pregnant woman was found in his cave. Then Rakshi was also asked questions and everything became clear.

It turns out that old Rakshi had a family in the world above. The family who loved him, especially his daughter, who greatly missed seeing her beloved father. Her love for her father was so strong that she made the impossible possible and by some miracle managed to sneak into the mines disguised as a male slave. However, misfortune did not avoid Rakshi's daughter here either. Most of the slaves are beasts. Animal like life made them forget honor and dignity. And exactly such beastmen discovered a poor woman in a dark cave one night, and when she reached her father's abode, the Rakshi's daughter was already 2 months pregnant, carrying a baby of a beast in her womb. The dark story could not overshadow the happy meeting of father and daughter. However, this happiness did not last long either. The closer the time of delivery approached, the more the poor woman suffered. She spent the nights crying in pain and drenched in sweat. Rakshi tried his best to ease his daughter’s pain, but he was powerless against the laws of Mother Nature. In the end, she had her last breath exactly when the child was born.

"The gods took one life in order to sacrifice another one for eternal suffering"

Rakshi cried pitifully, holding his daughter's body

"I obeyed all the laws, Oh Rufia, I kept all your commandments, I did not kill, I did not drink, I did not commit adultery, with your faith I left for these swamps and abandoned the land and water of my anscestors. Why did you take my only daughter Rufiav? Why her and not me? Why her"

The helplessly folded old man cried for a long time holding the hand of the woman who was slowly losing the warmth of the living. In the dark corner of the cave, a newborn baby covered in its mother's blood was screaming.

1.5

The old man named his grandson Rubin, after the seven-legged elephant, AviaRubheen, the god of misfortune. Born in a mine, he was now the property of the mine, the crown prince, and the empire. Rubin became a slave. The overseer didn't hesitate and branded little Rubin with the mark of Birka's slaves: hot and cold sun, simple circle with two little circles in it. Some with a smile, some indifferently observed how the iron was burning the arm of a crying baby. One or two disdainful looks appeared out of a thousand, but they soon changed to cold indifference. Little Rubin was all alone. Even his grandfather didn't like him. Rubin was 9 years old when his grandfather died. While working, the fallen boulders squashed him. Rubin did not have many memories from his grandfather. He always came to the cave late at night. Then he got up and threw the leftovers to his grandson. While Rubin was eating, the old man would get on his knees and start humming strangely. Probably praying, concluded Rubin after some time. However, which gods he worshiped or why the boy did not understand and did not care. The old man never raised his voice against Rubin, but he never talked warmly either. When the 7-year-old started going to work, they were not even together. Rubin was alone, but the boy's loneliness ended with the death of the old man. Rubin was transferred to a man called Pipkin, whose partner had been drowned in a spring by the overseer the night before for fun. Rubin was less worried about his new mate, leaving his native cave and grandpa’s death than the fact that he would have to drink bloody water again for the next few days. Overseer This recent pastime had really been interfering with many people's lives.

1.6

Pipkin was fast asleep when a guard kicked him. He knew these kicks very well, that's why he immediately jumped up. His mate had drowned in the spring the night before and he didn't want to share the same fate today.

"Your new mate Pipkin!"

The guard looked at Pipkin with a grimace and threw raggy bag that he had been dragging all this time. Pipkin failed to catch the bag properly and fell to the ground with it. As the guard left the cave with a sinister smile, a small dusted devil jumped on the bewildered Pipkin's head.

"Uuurgh the bag was so uncomfyy"

The little devil sighed and began to massage his knees while also gazing at surroundings. He was looking at the cave with curious eyes. Pipkin looked at him tiredly and went to sleep again. However, he could clearly feel the two annoying eyes of the devilchild staring at his back. Pipkin thought bitterly,

"Now they want me to babysit this bastard..my fate is absolute shit"

Deep in his unpleasant thoughts, he gradually fell asleep.

Pipkin and Rubin soon began to get used to it. One was lazy, the other was restless, one liked to sleep, the other actively robbed the guards, one hated working in the mine like the plague, for the other it was a way to discover new places of the mine. They didn't look like each other at all. But both were equally alone. They talked to each other for the first time on the 3rd day of Rubin’s arrival

"are you hungry?"

"Yes"

The fried rat meat from the guard was the first step towards their friendship. Rub and Pip spent 5 years together. They were one who nicknamed each other Rub and Pip. Neither of them noticed it, but both Rub and Pip by that time looked nothing like the lonely Ruby and the depressed Pipkin of the past.

1.6

"Pip, we are friends right?"

"Listen, Rub, do we eat and drink together? Do we work together? After all, we two gossip about others together. Of course, we are friends hehe"

"I love you so much, Pip"

Rub was lying on the ground and happily staring at the ceiling of the cave

"I love you too, dumb brat, after all, if not you, who will feed me such delicious food?"

Pipkin was enthusiastically chewing on meat that Rub snatched that evening from guard’s pocket

That night, in spite of the bloody bottomless mines, the cruel empire, the superintendent whip of the guards, the dirty water and many other saddening misfortunes of their lives, the boy and the man slept with happy smiles, because in this dark world both of them had at least one person who sincerely cared for them.

“Beep beep…New achievement…data registration 7%”

1.7

"In a row!"

The overseer's unpleasant scream made Rube cringe again. He had been hearing this snake-like hissing sound for so many years, but he still couldn't get used to it. The overseer was a fat red-haired man. The faded straw-colored uniform was barely holding on him, and his belly was moving up and down in a funny way. However, he was not really a fun man. In cruelty, he was not inferior even to the most heart wrenching criminals in whole empire. As per usual he trimmed his thick mustache on his cheekbones and began to walk up and down heavily in a military manner. Disappointed, he looked at the stretched lines of slaves. Even lazy bums like Pipkin stood in front of the overseer’s gaze like exemplary soldiers. The overseer sighed, as if he hoped for the appearance of at least one lawbreaker.

"I think he is in a good mood"

Rub quickly whispered to his partner. Pipkin pretended like he didn’t hear anything and continued standing like a frozen stick. But he also knew perfectly well that if the overseer was in a good mood he would not kill anyone for no reason that day. However, Pip's heart still felt that something bad was approaching

. The guards started preparing the platform. The overseer paced thoughtfully and sometimes sent one or two furious glances at the slave rows. Everything was going smoothly. The guards were dragging the boxes. Out of boredom, the overseer was already counting flies, and the slaves stood in silence. After all, the longer they stayed here, the less working time they expected in the mine. This ideal course of time was broken by one giggle. First they heard a strange sound, then a clear giggle, and finally the poor thing couldn't stand it anymore and laughed at the top of its voice. The idiot who started laughing was called silent Gibbs. He arrived there 5 months ago, and since then he had been the subject of everyone's ridicule and bullying. The hunchbacked weak Gibbs was patient with all this, although it was obvious that he was slowly losing his mind. However, the idiot chose a very bad moment to lose his mind.

"Was his put under laughing spell ,Pip?"

Rub had heard that some people in the mines knew magic, and if they didn't like someone, they would cast a spells or curses on them. Pip grabbed Rube's arm to shut him up. Then he pulled him by the arm and along with the others they slowly passed the poor madman. In the 8th mine The overseer was the empire, the emperor, and all the gods gathered together. Even the slightest thing could make him angry. Even the most superstitious slaves feared the overseer's whip, stained with the blood of countless slaves, they feared this whip more than the curses of the gods and the relics of witches. It was rumored that with this whip he casually beheaded thousands of barbarians during the 30-year war. Whether it was a rumor or the truth no one knew, but one thing was clear. Slaves saw the crushing power of this whip and overseer's arm every cursed day.

1.8

Flies were flying around a corpse split in half. Later other slaves threw the corpse of the culprit into a deep abyss. Everyone had an indifferent expression on their face. After all, they also no longer saw themselves as human beings.

1.9

Lying on one shoulder in the dark corner, Pipkin stared at the group gathered in the cave with obvious displeasure. Rubin was talking to the 7 men around the campfire. Pipkin tried his best to sleep. He turned over at least 10 times, tried to cover his ears with mud, but in the end he surrendered to his cruel fate. He wasn’t destined to sleep peacefully that evening. He got up lazily and slowly approached the group. He was really interested in what the masses were constantly buzzing about that made him have such a headache. If such a strange crowd had gathered near anyone, they would think of one of two things: either the circus clowns or the most furious mobs of the continent. Pipkin somehow favored the second opinion. He especially didn't like the young man with the red tattoos, who was quietly licking his stone ax. He slowly approached the group around the bonfire and sat down nearby. dry man who had fingers on his right hand and one ear cut off, was breathing in smoke of a burnt leaf and talking calmly.

"I am telling you man, nothing is dangerous. Perhaps the leadership just wants to bring rich boys to show them how the real world is arranged"

"The real world"

The old man sitting on the opposite side, was covered with rotten bandages, snorted. Then he looked seriously at the dry guy.

"you see these real-world of yours! These rich bastards taste it every day, when servants clean their asses, or little boys get their hands cut off for an accidental collision!"

Rubin interrupted the old man's angry speech

"I think they are coming here to kill us all"

The boy's sudden words first silenced everyone, and then they started laughing like crazy. Confused, Rub looked around rudely. He obviously said something stupid, but he still couldn't understand what it was. Dry guy barely stopped laughing and wiped away his tears.

"Brat, maybe if you were born in the upper world and not this hellhole and didn’t see only our overseer day and night, you would know that our leadership is really not as crazy as him"

"Yaa these bastard cant cut down us so easily. After all who else will dig sault for their breakfasts"

The toothless, half-blind barbarian old man added with a chuckle.

"No, the boy is not completely wrong"

The red-tattooed man smiled and continued too diligently polish the ax.

"When I was same age as those rich boys, I also loved playing with a knife on human flesh"

"It's already obvious that one or two of us will be put on a swords for fun"

One of two wins, the one with the tongue cut off, started shaking his head to his armless brother’s words.

"Rapkin, after all our leadership was not as kind as ya said"

smiled Rubin.

 “I didn't even say that"

The dry man carefully looked around so that someone wouldn't misunderstand the boy's words. Now Rubin and others burst out laughing. Rapkin sighed calmly. He certainly wouldn't want to be thought of as a leadership’s dog.

"What do you think baldy?"

called the old man in bandages to Pipkin, who was sitting nearby.

"I don’t know.  it's not like I really care"

Pip looked clearly uninterested.

"However"

here Pip looked slyly at Ruby.

"I am very interested what the faces of these rich boys will look like when Rub’s smell reaches their noses"

The walls of the cave began to shake because of group’s crazy laughter.

"Piiiip!"

the laughing boy rushed to friend's feet and puled him to the ground.

"here comes the cat fight! "

Joyfully screamed old barbarian. Until late at night, whistling, cheers and the grunts of high men could be heard from the cave. As Ruby, Pipkin , and their little weird group went to sleep , at the exactly same time on another side of the mine system from upper world

12 Battalions of the Birkdanc Academy set on their expedition towards the "Death Nest".

“Beep..data registration 13%”