Xaliber City part 1

Xaliber City part 1

Scuffed, dirty gloves sifted through chunks of dirt and concrete. Another gem pocketed, another anxious breath. A turn of the lantern revealed several more glittering shards scattered across the cavern. Hushed voices hissed orders to one another in the darkness, their bodies hunched away from the low ceiling. For every cracked crystal that peeked out from the dirt, a pair of hands rushed to pick it up. They worked in groups of three, sometimes four, each pushing ahead of the other to secure precious bounty first.

“We’ll make a haul if we turn in a dozen,” shouted a greasy-faced man with ragged, unkempt hair. He scraped the dirt off a gem the size of his thumb and wiped his hands on his overalls, gingerly pocketing his find. He smirked and glanced back to his accomplices, all of which were digging at a back-breaking pace. As he had suspected, they hadn't found much. The earth had very little left to give, especially compared to the early days of the crystal hunt.

The man reached up to scratch his head with the back of his wrist. He and his men had been scavenging for spare parts ever since they could walk, and ever since the end of the war, they had only done more of it. In a ruined city, finding and selling scrap metal was second nature. Everyone and their brother knew to do it, so it didn't give much of a payout. No, the big money was with these crystals. Tiny fragments worked just as well as larger shards, and the demand was intense.

The man lowered his lantern back to the ground and let out a huff. He didn't even want to know what the government did with them.

Several meters back, the burning light of day shone through the broken entrance of the passage. It reached the first room and some of the second, but faded away towards the third chamber. Standing outside was a pair of young scavengers, their faces and clothes covered in dust and scrapes. They each clutched a small bag, their eyes curious and hopeful.

Three men pushed their way out of the dark hole with their packs crumpled in their hands. They threw a look at the two kids, shook their heads, and walked away. The kids heaved a sigh and resigned themselves to scanning the ground for crumbs.

They had barely covered three yards when an excited cry rang out through the air. At the bottom of the deep ravine below them, a dirt-covered man burst out of the lowest cavern entrance with a sizeable chunk of rock in his hands. He held it up to the sky and shouted, “I got one! I got a crystal!” With a breathless grin, he tipped and swayed side to side as he admired the transparent rock's gleam against the sun.

A few people turned to glance at him, most with scowls on their sunburned faces. The pair of kids squinted their eyes against the searing light that beamed up from the white rocks at their feet, unable to see much at their distance. The man marveled and bragged some more, which agitated the other diggers. Though they still chattered, they began digging faster, all in hopes of finding a crystal of their own.

One of the guys standing atop the ravine jammed his shovel between a few rocks and spat on the ground. "I think the cocky bastard wants someone to take it from him,” he sneered. A few men around him chuckled and added their agreement, their voices slowly melting into strained, uneasy silence. The man jerked his shovel out of the ground and shrugged.

"C’mon, I'm not that despera--" His words stopped short as a dull roar snaked through the ground beneath them. Pebbles and tiny rock shards began vibrating at their feet.

Immediately, one of the other scavengers ripped the radio out of his vest pocket and shouted into it. “Earthquake! Get out, NOW!” Frantic screams echoed the same phrase all across the dig site as mud-men scrambled out of any available exit. Tools were tossed and broken, people tripped and were tripped on as the concrete and rock bed beneath them groaned and creaked. The ground eventually buckled from the intense pressure, busting large sprays of heavy rocks loose from the walls of the ravine.

At the bottom, the lucky man with the crystal struggled to stay on his feet. All around him, frantic people shoved and fell against him, knocking him to the ground more than a few times. A sharp tug on his shirt collar and he was on his feet again. Wide eyes stared him in the face and a hand slapped his back.

"Go! The place is caving in!"

The soot-faced scavenger nodded, but fell to his knees and frantically searched the ground beneath him. He raised his head up and waved the other man on. "I dropped the crystal," he shouted. “Can’t leave it.” The other man made a face.

"Shit, man, forget the rock," he shouted, "just MOVE!"

The taller man grabbed the other by his arm and jerked him forward. They avoided a chunk of falling rock and fell in line behind the other scrambling diggers, but in a moment, everyone stopped running. They couldn't feel the shaking anymore. The walls of the ravine were ravaged, but not falling in huge clusters like before. Nervous eyes darted left and right, knees bent and kept hunched low to the ground. Slowly, people started taking small steps up the steep, rocky incline, no one daring to say a word. It looked like their luck had finally turned up. As a few men began lifting the fallen from the ground and onto their feet again, hesitant smiles flashed here and there. Then, a sickening groan erupted from the center of the large depression. Stress surged through the air. The caverns underneath the ravine thundered, shrieked, and collapsed, sending everything on the surface sinking into a sea of jagged, dusty rock.

Twenty-two seconds. That’s all it took to flatten the ravine.

Several days passed. The area was quarantined, closed off by the government itself. Several men in suits stood around the deep, earthen bowl, tiny phones in their hands and dark glasses over their eyes. One man casually flipped his phone open, pressed a single button, and began talking.

“Finish caving this place in," he said, "no, there's no need for a rescue. No one survived. I know very well how much work it is, but we don’t want to leave it accessible to outland thugs. The last thing we need in this city is another Hollows.”

The person on the other end of the call spoke his agreement and hung up. The suited man lowered his phone, flicking it closed with a swivel of his wrist. He then folded his arms behind his back, slowly turned, and walked away. In the distance, dark-colored military vehicles hummed along cracked roads. His soldiers would do as they were told. However unfortunate, it was still a disaster, and if he had learned anything about disasters during his time in power, it was that when disasters happened, the public needed quick resolution. He would give a speech later. Calm everyone down. Let them know that their city still loved them.

Of course, he thought, we love our ignorant masses. His job wouldn't have been half as frustrating if he didn't always have to kiss someone's ass. Yesterday, the minister. Today, everyone else.

He finished his inner monologue when a heavily-armored vehicle clamored to a stop beside him. A couple of uniformed guards hopped out and rushed to open his door for him, also ushering the other suited men into separate compartments in the vehicle. The first man lifted himself inside the steel carriage and sat down. The soldiers fastened the door securely after him, then checked the other doors before they jumped back in and started to pull away. As he watched scenes of destruction slowly become intact, liveable buildings, he flicked his wrist again. Out of his suit sleeve slid a decently-sized chunk of quartz, its milky color gleaming translucent in the sun.