Arkus looked behind him at the pale dirty, mud-covered face of Andre as he dragged the child behind him. The thin child seemed to be scared, but was doing well keeping all emotion under control, he just hoped that that would remain the case till they made it to their hideout.

  They were running towards the backside of the island while keeping close to the ground. He made sure not to use any of the known roads or paths, he knew their end wouldn't be pretty if they were caught.

  Dragging the child behind a huge boulder, he allowed themselves a few seconds to breathe as some of the doubt he had buried deep in his heart tried to rear its head again; was he really doing the right thing? He might have been overreacting and looking too much into this. He steadied his heart as he remembered what he had seen the last time those monstrous bugs had attacked.

  The guards called it building fortifications and strengthening defences, but Arkus knew better. There were no fortifications to build nor did they have any defences worth mentioning. They were there as a distraction, pushed to the frontlines of the battlefield so the bugs could target them, giving the guards time to attack, or just so those bugs would get their fill and retreat, buying time so reinforcements could arrive. Whatever it was that they were going for, it was for the good of the guards first and foremost, their safety wasn't even considered.

  Looking at the child, Andre, behind him, Arkus gritted his teeth as he thought of all the other kids he had to leave, he couldn't get all of them, even getting just Andre was too much of a risk. At least, he was comforted by the fact that it seemed that he wasn't the only one who noticed the guards' scheme, the other slaves saw through it too after the last attack, and they were putting themselves first and letting the other kids stay back.

  Honestly, if not for the other slaves, he would have wished for the bugs' attack to be even stronger this time, enough to kill all the guards while he and Andre were hiding.

  "The coast is clear," he whispered to Andre after a glance ahead of them, "Let's move."

  Andre just nodded forcefully, breathing hard. Arkus returned the nod and moved again.

  He knew that there was no escaping the island, where would you run to? It was in the middle of the ocean with monsters that wouldn't even leave your bones behind, it was a death trap no one could escape, a hell on earth made by the greed of one man. That's the thing though, he wasn't going for an escape, he only wanted to hide till those monsters left, hopefully return before anyone realised that they were missing. If it was found that they were missing, the best-case scenario would be that they would get a whipping, something he was more than ready for. While the worst-case scenario would be them being forced to be at the forefront of the fortifications efforts the next time those bugs attacked.

  It didn't take them long to reach the location he had already marked at the back of the island, it was a crack that could barely be called a small hole, but it would have to be enough, plus he still had his skills to fall back into. Ironically, he was a miner before he was even brought to the island, one day a man came to him and said that he had a well-paying job for him, it was just a bit far from home and he would have to leave the next day. Being quite young, naive and tempted by the generous pay, he agreed without much thought and ended up on an island in the middle of the ocean, a forever slave with no hope of escape.

  Chasing those thoughts away, he put his hands on the cracked stone wall and willed it to open up. It was taxing, especially with how he was pushing himself hard to finish it fast, but as he completed it, a space barely big enough for the both of them, he felt some satisfaction.

  "Go in." He pushed Andre inside before following after.

  Once he was inside too, he put his hands on the walls on his sides as he willed them to close off. That was even harder than before as he tried to keep the space he and Andre occupied empty, while only closing the outer layer. He of course didn't forget to keep a few openings here and there for ventilation. He didn't have to worry about that as he had a skill to deal with that problem, but he couldn't say the same thing for Andre, the child didn't even have a Class yet after all.

  Arkus had thought about it before, the reason why they had brought kids as young as Andre to the island, and he had come up with two possible answers. The first was that they were cheap and easier to kidnap, and second, if they got them young enough, and after spending years mining, they would end up with a similar Class in the end, essentially growing their own miners.

  "It's alright, don't worry," Arkus calmed Andre next to him, "We will hide here for a while before heading back once the bugs have retreated, if we time it well enough, they wouldn't even notice that we were missing."

  "Thank you," Andre whispered.

  "We will get through this," Arkus said as he allowed himself to lie on the wall behind him.

  Arkus closed his eyes as he did his best to ignore thinking of what must have been happening at the defensive line at that moment. That of course meant that his mind also went to the other kids who might have been pushed there too.

  Chasing that thought away, he unconsciously glanced at Andre next to him. He felt sorry for the other kids on the island, but he felt even worse for Andre. Ever since he found out about the child's secret, he had been under some huge pressure, he couldn't even begin to imagine how much pressure the child was feeling.

  "Come out," a voice suddenly sounded from outside, making Arkus' heart jump.

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  Arkus could feel his heart thundering in his ears, it was too early, they weren't supposed to be found yet. He did everything right, took a deserted path and made sure no one was looking as he retreated, didn't leave any traces behind as he made his way to the cave, he even made sure that it wasn't known that he came to this area before, he chose it because no one would link him to it, so how were they found that fast?

  Glancing at Andre next to him, whose eyes were so wide that they were mostly white, he put his finger to his lips as he listened to any sound coming from outside. He didn't hear a thing though, no matter how much he tried to, no matter how he pushed himself, he heard nothing. He would have thought he was hallucinating, of course, Andre's reaction was all the proof he needed that what he had heard wasn't a hallucination.

  Thud! Thud! Thud!

  A few deep thuds sounded from the wall as the voice sounded again,

  "I know you are there, come out."

  Arkus took deep breaths as he considered what to do. His mind moved faster than it ever did before he breathed out and hung his head, there was no other choice, they were found and now, they needed to face the consequences.

  Turning to Andre, he forced a gentle smile as he patted the frightened child on the head, with that, he put his hands on the walls and willed them to open up.

  As the wall separated slowly, Arkus fixed his eyes on the opening, awaiting who he was going to see, he just hoped it wouldn't be one of those sadistic guards, he didn't care much for himself, but he didn't want Andre to suffer for this. What awaited him outside was something he would have never expected.

  A hugely built man covered in a weird black piece of clothing was standing there, he even had some weird type of shining helmet with what seemed to be dark glass covering the eye portion.

  Arkus had been on the island for years, he didn't know exactly how long because there was no way to count, and he was sure there was no one like that on the island. The first thought that came to his mind was that some kind of reinforcement had arrived for the island, but even that felt far-fetched somehow.

  "Come out slowly," the man said in his deep voice, moving the weird device he was holding towards him.

  Arkus didn't know what that device might be, but he had a guess, it looked like one of those muskets and flintlocks he had seen ages ago, just way slicker.

  Arkus held Andre's hand as he came out. He noticed the man's head turn towards Andre, he didn't know what expression the man was making because of the helmet, but he noticed that he looked a bit longer than would have been normal.

  "Are you one of the slaves?" the man asked. Arkus would have sworn his voice was a bit gentler.

  "Yes." Answering fast when asked directly was a lesson you learned fast as a slave, and Arkus wasn't going to start forgetting it now.

  "Okay, walk ahead of me," the man said, "To the shore."

  Taking a deep breath and steadying his heart for the coming punishment, Arkus turned around as he made his way to the defensive line.

  "Not that way." The man stopped him. "This side of the shore."

  Pausing for a second, Arkus looked back at the man as his mind started moving fast once again. The man had ordered him to head to the shore opposite the defensive line, the place where almost everyone else was at that moment, fighting against those bugs. He didn't know why things weren't going as he expected them to, but some almost impossible possibilities were starting to collide in his heart, making sparks that tried to ignite the hope he had extinguished ages ago.

  Not wanting to keep him waiting, and not having much of another choice, Arkus went down the mountain as they closed in on the shore. Weirdly enough though, even though it was just him, Andre and the man, he couldn't help but feel that other eyes were on him, it was truly creepy and he found himself walking faster unconsciously.

  "Stop," the man said once they were almost at the open part of the beach.

  Arkus stopped as he added that as proof of what he had noticed while going down, the man seemed to be avoiding being seen. He didn't believe it at first; when the man had them take a path that made the journey longer but was unseen from most areas of the island, but after such instances happened again and again, Arkus had to.

  "Well done." Arkus jumped as an aged voice came from his left.

  Hiding Andre behind him and looking there, he saw another man who was wearing the same clothes as the first standing there, except that he was sure no one was there just a second ago! Then, in a manner that made him question his eyesight, he saw a third one appear as if from thin air.

  "Move, follow me," the first man said, and Arkus found himself looking between the three with his mouth half open.

  No matter how outlandish it was, at that moment, he had to consider a certain possibility, these men might not have been part of the guards! With his heart beating fast and hope almost igniting in his dark hopeless heart, he followed after the first man as the other two tailed behind them.

  Not long after, they made it to a secluded part of the beach and Arkus followed in confusion, watching as the leading man walked into the open waters where nothing seemed to be. Or that what it should have been, but as the man put his hand on the empty air, a weird enclosed boat came into view. Arkus stared with an open mouth at it, his mind blank.

  What was even scarier was that even after seeing the boat, he found that he had to force himself to keep his eyes fixed on it, it was as if his eyes and mind were telling him that there was nothing there, as if he didn't need to care for the weird boat and to ignore it.

  "Get in," the aged voice ordered from behind him.

  Arkus looked between the three men, Andre, then the island before taking a deep breath and stepping into the weird boat. He didn't know what was happening, but he felt that this might as well be his only chance to get out of that hellish place.

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