Chapter 2

Escape?

“Whew.” Deeply breathing out, Knight emptied his torn lungs. Intense labour, panic and a harsh beating had caused him to wring the sparse oxygen out of his body. This was the limit; of course, this meant Knight felt stifled inside his chest. Meaning plan B - bolting it - probably wouldn’t work.

A sudden rasp turned Knights head to the one responsible for his small beating – the guard. Judging by its body language it was time to crawl back to the stony cell that Knight could now call home. This realisation resulted in an exasperated sigh from Knight, “Escape failed…I guess.”

Dropping to one knee he rested his hands on the handle of the clunky pickaxe, allowing his arms to cushion his grimy head, “What a pain...”

Knight’s perfect plan was in fact, very flawed; this ultimately led to its failure. With the time to return now here, he had no other plan to escape.

The girl’s hope was to be trampled on, the one small light that could brighten her life, was to be extinguished. The unusual saviour that had given her freedom, was but a fraud. If the light were to avoid the cage’s cold breath, another saviour would have to appear and protect her hope. However, she had waited for her saviour to appear, and the one time it did, the hope that saviour lit, was futility. There would be no saviour.

As the bony creature hoisted Knight up, a cold rasp coursed through the dull mine. It came from a different guard than the one about to grab the innocent girl.

The new creature called the guard over; from the looks of it, something had happened. Knight wondering what was up, examined the monster’s state.

It was wheezing as it struggled to rasp the situation to the other creature. Knight instantly knew something had happened when the informee smashed the wall.

As the two creatures talked Knight realised something, ‘now’s our chance!’

He tapped the young girl on the shoulder, gesturing her to follow. He then started walking toward an offshoot on the right, the two creatures at one on the left further down. However...

“Shit”

The creatures had noticed instantly and bolted over, slamming Knight into the wall. They weren’t playing around.

‘Damn it!’ he cursed to himself as the creature grabbed the girl’s arm, letting out ear-piercing rasps. What had happened to have them in a frenzy like this?

Knight was cursing his luck. He was cursing his luck until a serene girlish voice entered his thoughts, "It is alright; use the light."

“…?!”

"You just have to take out that light and it’ll all be good"

“What the hell?” He muttered, placing a hand to his head. "The light? Why would I need the light?"

"To escape," the voice replied. It wasn’t like the voice Knight heard in the caves the day before. It was coming from inside his head.

His eyes darted across the tunnel. One creature lay staring at him whilst the other lifted the girl, both rasping to each other in a frenzy. ‘How in the world? There’s actually a voice in my head, who would have thought-’

"Please, just take out the ball of light. Trust me"

"…Trust you? I don’t even know what you look like, never mind who you are. For all I know you could be plotting something against me. My luck has been shit ever since I landed in this world."

"Does it really matter what I look like, or what my intentions are? Look at your situation, idio- look at your situation, mister, what other option do you have?"

The voice was right, if he didn’t take a chance now, he wouldn’t escape. Especially considering that his ‘masterplan’ had failed.

‘Was she about to call me an idiot? If it is a she any-’

"No, no, no I called you mister. Now, are you going to do what I tell you or not."

The look on Knight’s face suggested he didn’t want to but he couldn't argue with the voice’s earlier statement and with a sigh, he said, "I guess."

So, he pulled out the wiry ball. Like before, it was dim. He couldn’t even tell if the crystal was even showing light at all.

“Turn on then-!” The light was snatched right from his hand as he was slamming it against his thigh.

"Fuck…what a good idea" he murmured as the creature examined it.

"Just watch." The voice sounded like the creature getting the light was a part of her plan, but what would that do?

However, something took Knight’s eyes off the creature examining the crystal ball. A new, familiar guard had appeared. Before he could notice the familiarity, it let out a booming rasp.

Immediately, the light dropped. The creature jumped back, smashing into the wall before scrambling to the others.

As soon as the crystal fell, it finally unleashed the light stored within. Strangely, the light was blinding, even with other lights in the area.

“What?” Knight had no idea why it was so bright, and why the creature was so scared of it. Surely, they would have known it’s a light; it was found in one of the tunnels after all.

"Grab it, now." The voice spared no expense in its hasty reply to the development. It was as if her very life would be ruined if the huge creature got it.

Knight noticed that the new giant was walking towards the bright light.

‘Shit, that’s the huge creature from before!’, belatedly realising the familiarity, knight dashed towards the light.

The creature was about to get to it, yet, for some reason it stopped; the black mark on it lighting up, “Shit! It’s doing something” Knight spat, coming to a halt.

"NO! It’s only protecting itself from it, hurry up and get it before its finished!"

Knight didn’t like this but it was his only chance to escape. He gulped down his apprehensions and dove for the light.

Yet, as one hand was on the light, a slab of concrete entered his vision. No, it wasn’t concrete. It was the creature's foot crashing down.

"Quick move," the voice warned him.

“You think I don’t know that!” He spat as he rolled out of the way as the foot came crashing down.

Despite avoiding direct contact, he didn’t get away unscathed. The attack had so much raw power that cracked the tunnel floor, with shards of rock flying everywhere. Knight had taken a lump of rock to the head. He was disorientated and dazed, scrambling as far away as he could.

"USE THE LIGHT AND RUN!" The voice shouted, thrusting Knight back to his senses. He was back to his senses but only for him to realise that he had been scrambling towards the other giants.

“SHIT! (What does she mean use the light?)”

"I mean shove it in their face or something!"

Knight wondered how that would do anything, before noticing that the creatures in front were readying some sort of attack.

“Argh, fuck it then! He muttered as he charged at the creatures, sticking the light in front.

As Knight did this the creatures started to clamber backwards, hoping to avoid the crystal’s rays.

‘It’s working!’ he stated and he was right. He was right but not for long; he had forgotten about the other giant.

Knight slowed down, relishing the opportunity to rest with the power to deter these creatures. However, his body was forcefully turned from behind, squashing the opportunity.

“Argh!” he screamed as the giant’s huge hand grabbed his head, lifting him off the floor.

Knight was not going to have this; he could not die. He let out a flurry of kicks to the giant’s body, hoping it would drop him. Yet, after a few powerful kicks, it had all but strengthened its grip, slowly crushing the cranium.

"THE LIGHT!" the voice reminded Knight as he desperately kicked the creature.

Knight shoved the light in front of the giant's face covered by hair. Nothing happened. The only thing that changed was that the slit on its obscured face had morphed into a smug smile.