Dio El

Enemies

Undisclosed location

It was a sunny day among the snow capped mountains many mining workers were mining from morning to night, they had been working in this area for a long time.

This area was special because it had a story so fantasy-like that people believed it and travelled all over to find out if it was true.

What I speak of is Shangri la City between India and China which had magical powers and the people who lived there were immortal & unkillable it was believed that the secret to eternal life was among these mountains yet throughout history they were unable to find it.

During the 1960 two people a man and a woman where found travelling no one knows what happened how how they were discovered but ultimately the people realised that they belong to the mythical City of Shangri-La and after that the people chased them relentlessly but the man and women ran and ran to the foothills of Himalayas and disappeared.

No one knew where they went but that was enough for a story to be passed down. Many years passed by but the story remained of the immortal man and the immortal woman the people who were sure of it through their descendants send many expeditions over the years yet they found nothing as as the years rolled forward and a deposit of coal was found which renewed interest in this area yet unknown to them that was only the beginning something truly enormous and unfathomable.

But all this history was meaningless to the people who were mining. For them it was a job as it provided food on the table and that was enough.

A mining worker in brown work clothes with a brown cap used a pickaxe to hit the stones carving out a little bit every time inside a cave.

" Hey section c needs more people, how is the progress here?"

" Not good, the stones are tightly packed I can't find a fault to exploit"

" Keep working on it, we still need to meet our days quota"

" Yes, I understand but I don't think it is possible here"

" Alright then I am advising you to assign it to someone else you are not young anymore the consequences not meeting your quota are not something that you can deal with at your age"

" I know but Xiao Wei is too young to face it I can't make him accept it on my behalf"

" Don't think like that, this is not good thought to have sooner or later he will have to face it this is a minor infraction and being his first error they might even be lenient to him. "

" But,..."

" No buts, you have your parents and children to take care of. Your parents now are extremely old you need to be filial to them"

" Yes, I will send him here after the lunch break "

" Good, we are no longer young don't forget it"

-----

Xiao Wei looked at the stone wall.

It was too hard.

He had left his village in order to earn a living.

Being an orphan everything he had had been scr.a.p.ed by his own hands.

He had thought that today would be the same, he would be mining the mountain, fill the cart, collect his dues and go to the inn where he stayed.

Yet today his location had been reassigned in the middle of the day.

He knew that he was being bullied.

Yet there was nothing he could do.

The work was harsh, the environment made it unbearable.

As his hands gripped the pickaxe and his arms bent.

The cave was suddenly filled with the noise of the axe hitting stone.

As the day went by he stood at the collection desk.

A cart half filled with stones.

The other miners looked at him with pity.

Xiao Wei felt sad he had been told that not meeting his targets would lead to punishment.

As the collection officer saw him approach his desk.

A smirk graced his face.

" So Xiao Wei you failed to meet your target. Hehehe"

Xiao Wei spoke " Officer Zhang, I profusely apologize the stone could not be broken, even my axe has been damaged. Please spare me"

" How dare you, raise your voice against me. Hold him"

Xiao Wei pailing at the rapidly deteriorating circ.u.mstance dropped to his knees and knocked his head against the stone floor.

" Please forgive me. Please forgive me. Please forgive me"

" Little Wei I am a very generous man and this being your first mistake I was going to go easy on you. But you dared to talk back so I will teach you manners"

" Officer Zhang please forgive me." He kept begging.

" Hold him" Two strong men by the side came and held Xiao Wei by his arms.

Officer Zhang looked around a cruel smile stretched across his face.

" Does anyone want to speak for him?" He shouted.

His eyes and smile stretched further on observing the remaining miner's reaction. They were shuffling in place and all of them looking down.

" As I thought. No one is here for you. Take him to his mine and let him spend the night there"

Xiao Wei's eyes widened. " No not that. Anything else but that."

" Ah! I forgot that you are a local, you do know the stories. Don't you? Keep mining if you wish through the night. If you don't I am sure that another night here or maybe you might actually be fine tomorrow. Take him"

As the two men dragged Xiao Wei by his arms. He struggled.

" No No Noooooooo"

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