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"Reckless Abandon" by XingTian
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It was a day just like any other. The square sun rose over the extreme hills in the distance bathing the land in light and burning away the monsters foolish enough to stand out in the open as it made its daily debut. Little about today seemed
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especially unusual. Steve was running low on iron and so it was time for another trip down into the mines to extract the relatively common, but immensely useful resource from its long entombment in the dirt and stone that seemed so prevalent down
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there. Steve needed the iron for a massive overhaul of the mining operation itself. He wanted to make it as automated as it could possibly be, but of course that meant a great deal of manual labor up front to get the materials needed to set up the system.
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"Those hoppers sure do use a lot of iron," Steve said to himself as he gathered up a few pick-axes and shovels for the long day ahead. He paused for a moment and stared at the armory considering a sword, bow, and some arrows, but after a moments
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consideration he decided against them. Because the automated system wasn't set up yet he'd have to carry all the gathered materials back himself and he decided he just couldn't spare the room in his pack for the extra gear. Little did he know that
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this one decision would end up making this day a potentially fatal one. Armed with picks and shovels and nothing else Steve made his way down into the mines dug out near his little home. The first couple levels had been completely dug out already so he
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headed for level three only 9 or so layers down from the surface, but far enough that natural light didn't ever touch the blocks at this level, at least not without help from Steve. Making his way down the ladder Steve could hear the soft drip of water
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leaking through shallow tunnel roofs and the occasional crackle of the flame at the top of the torches evenly spaced throughout the mine tunnels. He reached level three quickly and found his way to the next area ready to be mined, pulled out a fresh pick,
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and started digging. On and on he went, burrowing through dirt and rock stopping only to gather coal or iron encountered along the way or to switch out a broken tool. It must have been at least an hour into his work when the tunnel he'd been digging
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suddenly opened up on another, somewhat wider tunnel, one Steve hadn't dug. It was quite dark and led off to the left for quite a ways before it hit a wall of any sort, however it seemed to not go very far to the right leading Steve to believe that he'd
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hit the very end of a tunnel. Strangely there was a bit of iron just to the right. Steve had to wonder why anyone who made a tunnel like this would leave behind an iron vein. Wood braces held up the roof of the tunnel and cobwebs had affixed themselves to
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the corners formed by these braces. Sections of mine cart track were visible on the floor, though several sections were missing and though this portion of the tunnel was dark, Steve could see light from torches a ways down the tunnel to the left. Steve
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pulled a torch out of his pack and affixed it to the wall immediately in front of him, jamming the grip into a crack he found there. "If whoever dug out these tunnels left this iron, then they probably left even more further down," Steve said thinking
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outloud. One thing was for sure, his tunnel hadn't been giving him nearly as much iron as he'd been hoping for and exploring these pre-dug tunnels would be much easier than continuing to dig his own. With that thought Steve made up his mind to take a
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look around and see if he might not be able to improve his fortunes somewhat by mining what had been left behind. Having made his decision he pulled out his pick and made short work of the iron vein to the right and then set off down the left tunnel. As
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he went Steve continued to place torches making sure the path back to his own tunnel was clearly marked. The last thing he needed was to get lost down here. As Steve rounded the left corner at the end of the hall he saw another iron vein and made
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straight for it. Greedily he hacked away at the iron rejoicing in his lucky find of these tunnels. Steve quickly gathered the iron visible on the surface, but there was more beneath it and he needed only take a step in to reach it. Steve ducked in to the
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small opening in the wall realizing too late that the place he'd intended to put his foot was actually a hole to a vertical drop deeper into the tunnels! Steve tried to catch himself, but it was no use and he fell for a terrifying moment that seemed to
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extend to encompass several eternities until he landed with a sickening thud on a hard wood platform. Steve was reasonably sure he'd cracked a bone in his leg, but he was still able to stand on it with only minor discomfort. "Oh, well that's just great
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Steve!" he yelled at himself, feeling foolish for having made such a rookie mistake. As Steve picked himself up he took a look around at his new surroundings. He was on a wooden platform that crossed the gap over a huge underground ravine. Steve took one
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look back up the hole he'd fallen through and knew there wouldn't be any way to climb back up that way and so it seemed he'd have to find another way out. He placed a torch right below the hole to mark where he'd come from and started hobbling up a long
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wide tunnel that seemed to lead back under where he'd been. If he was lucky he'd be able to find a tunnel that went back up and connected with the system he'd been in right before he fell. If he could find those tunnels, he'd be able to find his way back
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from there. The tunnel seemed to go on forever and it wasn't too long before Steve placed his last torch. "Oh, no," he said out loud, "I don't have any torches left!" He finished, his voice taking on a hint of panic. If he wanted to get out of here, he'd
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have no choice but to continue through the dark of the tunnel ahead. Steve began to feel his way further down the dark tunnel being extra careful to make sure each step placed him firmly on solid ground before committing. After several tense minutes that
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seemed more like hours Steve found his way to the end of the tunnel which turned left and thankfully began to ascend. A wave of relief washed over Steve as he felt the path start going upward toward a now not so distant light source. Unfortuntely his
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relief was cut short by the sound he heard from behind him. There was an eerie hiss of a sort accompanied by the skittering of multiple legs over the cold stone surface of the tunnel. The sound instantly turned the wave of relief into an icy chill that
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ran down Steve's spine temporarily immobilizing him. If that sound was what he thought it was, he could be in very big trouble. He fought through the paralyzing fear and managed to look back over his shoulder to see a set of beady red eyes staring back at
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him from the tunnel ceiling. This is what he'd been afraid of. This was a cave spider; a small blue spider with a deadly poison bite that could end the already injured Steve if he played this wrong. Realizing how truly desperate his situation had become
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Steve felt the overwhelming urge to run for the light up ahead. Steve took off up the sloping tunnel praying there were no holes along the way. The spider leapt after him looking to poison him and live off of his corpse for several days at least. Steve
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Pressed on, his injured leg throbbing painfully as he sprinted down the tunnel. If he could just reach the light any other spiders he encountered wouldn't attack him, or so the stories had always said. Something about bright light made them lethargic
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and passive. The light wouldn't save him from this one though. The adrenaline from the chase would keep it focused enough to continue attacking him, even in the light. Steve pulled out his last pick as he ran. It was almost dead, but it's the closest
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thing he had to a weapon. "Oh, why did I leave the sword behind?" he asked himself full of regret about the ill-fated decision. There was no time to dwell on his mistake however. The light was just ahead and Steve skidded to a halt in its comforting glow
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as he turned to face the pursing spider. The cave spider leapt up aiming for Steve's head, but Steve with a desperate swing of his pick caught the spider in mid-air sending it flying back. Undeterred the spider made another leap, this time dodging the
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frantic flailing of Steve's pick and managed to sink his fangs into Steve's already injured leg causing it to explode with a rapidly spreading burning pain that felt like molten iron scorching a path through his veins. Steve gave the pick a final solid
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swing knocking the cave spider off him and flinging the head off the handle. The spider landed a few feet away clearly dead with the shattered remains of the pick sticking out of its abdomen. With the immediate threat having been dealt with Steve, using
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his good leg pushed himself up against the wall with the torch on it, where he sat cringing in pain from the spiders bite. He could feel the poison spreading, drawing ever closer to his vital organs where it would do some serious damage, potentially
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killing him if he didn't do something quickly to stop it. A quick look around confirmed that this was indeed the system of tunnels that led back to the one he'd been digging and as such it was already quite well lit. From this angle he could see a
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chest sitting flush with the wall across from him that he hadn't noticed before. He crawled over to it with his last ounce of strength just barely able to lift the lid as he felt his life slipping away from him. Inside was some iron, a pick, and...
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bread! "Oh, thank goodness!" Steve exclaimed grabbing the bread and greedily gobbling it down, hoping that it would give him the strength to overcome the effects of the poison before it finished him off. Steve ate his fill and waited, hoping against hope
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that this lucky break would somehow ultimately save his life. Minutes passed as he sat there feeling like death itself, but as suddenly as it had come on, Steve could feel the turning point in his bodies fight against the effects of the poison. The
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searing pain began to subside and Steve could actually feel his strength returning. After several more minutes of thankful rest Steve slowly tried to stand and found that even his injured leg felt better. He took a couple careful steps to make sure he
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was ready to travel once more and having been satisfied that he was feeling better he ate one more bit of bread leaving him one last piece and began a slow, but steady walk back up the tunnel and to his home. The ladder back to the surface was challenging
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to put it mildly, but he made it back to the surface where thankfully it was day time still, though the sun was making its way down toward the horizon. Steve made the short walk from the mine to his house crawling up the stairs and practically kissing the
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threshold of this safe haven. Closing the door behind him Steve went to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of glowing liquid which he then drank, setting the bottle aside for later use, and then hopped into bed, ready to put the events of the day behind
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him. His sleep that night was so deep that he didn't even dream and the eight hours of night passed by in the mere blink of an eye. Steve awoke feeling one-hundred percent better and decided that he needed to create a reminder for himself, to never go out
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unprepared again, even if it meant making a few more trips back and forth. Steve gathered up some materials and the last remaining piece of bread from the abandoned mineshaft and created a frame, which he placed the bread into. He then took this and
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hung it on the wall above the door to the armory as a reminder of the previous dayâs events. From then on any time Steve thought about going out without weapons to save room in his pack he would see that bread and remember that such a decision almost cost
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him his life. That was a mistake he was going to make sure he never, ever made again.
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The End
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