Morning all. I hope you enjoyed a fabulous three day weekend. It was nice to recalibrate and settle in. It was also the last of the winter holidays. From here it always seems like a long while until another holiday. But that could also be because January always seems to drag on. But I’m feeling good and rested to day, so timers at the ready and let’s see what comes out of the brain.
I now want to know how he ended up in the mines.
Tuesday, January 21st: The sunrise was glorious.
The sunrise was glorious. Calvin didn’t realize how much he missed the sun until it crested the horizon. After months in the tunnels, the sun felt like a miracle. When he emerged from the tunnels it was night. The darkness didn’t bother him. The tunnels were always dim. Fuel for the lamps had to pe purchased and those that owned the mines were loath to spend money on anything that did not have a high return. There was light when they were working and then for the most part it was dark.
Calvin shuttered thinking of the mines.
He would never go back. If they came after him to drag him back, they would have to kill him.
Calvin spared a thought for the others, wondering if they managed to survive or if they were recaptured. When the cavern collapsed they were split. The rocks crushed many. Calvin found himself in the back portion of the tunnels, an unexplored section, at least unexplored by his team. As it was a new section and his was the first team sent to work, he doubted anyone else had fully mapped them. In the collapse the chains binding him to the others broke.
The release was unexpected and he tumbled back. He slipped on some scree and ended up skliding into an off shoot. He hit the ground and the ground collapsed underneath him. He fell through the hole and hit water. He was washed away from the others.
Luckily he grew up swimming and managed to keep his head above water a the underground current swept him along. He was lucky. The tunnels the river flowed through never completely flooded. There were marks on the wall showing that in the past water levels were higher. Later he thought there might be some sort of drought. At the time, all he could do was work to keep himself from sinking to the bottom.
In time he found himself on an underground shore. He pulled himself from the water and removed the broken leg iron from his ankle. He threw it in the water and looked for a way out. He took a series of tunnels, eventually emerging on the far side of the mountain. It was night but he wanted distance between himself and the mines.
He kept going and walked through the night. Now, his clothing dried out in the mountain winds he sat looking at the sunrise. The world started out gray and washed of color. For a moment he wondered if his time in the tunnels robbed him of colors. Then there was a tipping point. The sun lifted high enough that rose and gold streaked the world. Where the light hit, color blazed into being as though newly born.They grew brighter and more intense with every breath.
He could do nothing but watch. Eventually the sun was high enough that the colors seemed to stabilize. They no longer intensified. Calvin stayed sitting for a moment. Soon he would have to figure out his next steps.
Ten til Midnight 