The dim hue of the sun stone lanterns casted ghastly shadows on the rock walls. There were no soft echoing chinking of pickaxes at this late hour. Instead there was a nerve wracking silence that swamped our ears between each slow echoing step. Fei stalked closely behind me, shivers ran up and down her spine. I figured she would be scared, I mean she has a right to be, but she does have super strength.

I halted at the corner of a crossing hallway, and slowly peered around the corner. The adjacent hallways were clear and we quickly continued forward. Our shadows flew swiftly along the walls as we gradually made our way closer to our destination. I scouted the path ahead as far as the light can penetrate the darkness. Such a tricky complex we have to maneuver through, the winding pathways were like what one would see in a maze.

I heard something shift slightly just up ahead. I quickly sealed off the light from the lantern. There were adjustable metal plates to allow the light to be dim or bright. We pressed up against the wall and shimmered forward.

"What is it? Why did we put out the lights?" Fei questioned in a hoarse whisper.

She was answered by a mechanical buzzing noise like the TV was left on. It became louder and clearer, and was heading this way. Fei began to flail around in the dark in a panic. I blindly reached out and pulled her back.

"Shush. Step one: figure out the guards' movements," I reminded her. She numbly nodded and silenced her panic ridden breaths. We crept forward slowly as the buzzing got louder. A faint light appeared from around a corner a few yards down. I quickened my pace towing Fei roughly behind me. My foot stubbed against a large rock and the rest of me crashed into it seconds later. The light grew brighter illuminating the hallway before me. I crouched down behind the rock and dragged Fei down with me. The buzzing noise increased to an almost deafening high pitch. I pressed my hands hard against my head to dull it.

Moments later a blue line scanned the hallway; the rock protecting us by a few inches. The blue light scanned the other way and the light began to fade as did the noise. Five minutes later the light had disappeared into the abyss completely and the noise was a minor ring far quieter then the TV. I opened the lantern slightly and head out again.

We met no more interference for a while. My heart ached from anticipation, a rapid pulse in my chest that never seems to cease nowadays. Once or twice I thought about turning back, but these explosive may prove vital in later plans, quitting was no longer an option.

I turned around another corner and nearly was spotted by a Solarite guard. I ushered Fei back and pressed up against the wall. A silent prayer formed on my lips with high hopes it didn't spot me. I waited for it to shout something at me or more likely a sound of shots being fired. Neither rung in my ears, only silence as usual.
There was a sigh of boredom for the guard as it shuffled its feet and checked its ammo. It then knocked on a door. I peeked around and saw it was the door from before. I could barely make out the wording but the Solarite guard blocked a good portion. It wasn't paying any attention to anything but the door. I nodded for Fei to keep going.

"What about you?" she whispered.

"Step two: find out what that door is." I murmured back. She hesitantly nodded but didn't move.

"I'll stick with you."

I sighed and let it go. She could be quite stubborn at the wrong times. We turned our attention back to the guard. He had the door open and talking to someone on the inside.

"Hurry up! We haven't got all night." It hissed.

"Then you can explain to Cain how we missed something because we rushed. We can't damage the skimmer, or it's our social life for the next three cycles!" A hidden one complained. The first groaned and kicked a pebble with its armored boot. The second then came out of the room and set the pass code into lock.

"Finally!" The one exclaimed. I ushered Fei over to the other side of the hallway. The Solarites turned and came in our direction. They turned down the hallway where we just were and disappeared into the caverns beyond.

Fei and I simultaneously let our breaths out. We tiptoed to the door. My eye adjusted to the dim light and looked at the door.

'Control room'

I read the label out loud for Fei. "Well, it seems logical…" I muttered and inspected the combination lock. A nine combination lock from 36 symbols, the odds were against me. I looked warily at my friend. She was on the look out for any more signs of trouble. I scratched my head, my mind drawing up a blank.

My left eye felt a sharp sting and dully ached in the back. Confused I glanced around for help or an answer. I found myself staring at the lock as ghostly symbols revealed themselves to me. I began to press the symbols one by one. The door opened after the last one locked in place. Fei looked at me surprised.

"Wow, your eye is amazing! It's not just reading the language… it's decoding it!" I glanced at her peculiarly, letting the thought sink in. It would explain why the Solarites language deciphered before my eye all the time.

We then curiously looked at the door, now slightly cracked open. I pushed it open swiftly; it swung silently on its hinges. Inside was a wall with several monitors, all constantly shifting between assorted images. The images were different sections of the mines, and it apparently was huge according to this room. There was a large chair in front of the screens but no desk, or keyboard. Other than that the room was bare like the rest of the mine.

I strolled over to the screens to get a better look at the tunnels. I scanned each image briefly, searching for the explosives or anything out of place. Suddenly the screens changed and no longer of the mines. Fei had sat down in the chair.

"Fei!" I whispered harshly. She flinched and gave me a guilty smile. I sighed, "how do we turn it back?" She gave a small shrug. In the corner of my eye I saw movement. I stared at a screen, and nearly screamed.

There in the screen was a child strapped to a table. She was constantly stirring around like she was under the influence of a drug. She had snow white hair that faded into dark blue tips. Two pointy ears stuck out of her hair; she was an elf. Hovering over her was a Solarite. It poked a needle into her arm and injected a silver liquid into her blood. She groaned a little in response, but that was all. The Solarite then grabbed one of those hand-held computer devices they have and pressed a few buttons. The girl then seized up, her body tense as she silently screamed out.

I watched horrified until she relaxed again. My mind began to wonder, 'did I go through a similar process?' The Solarite unstrapped the girl and carried her out of the room. Frantically I skimmed the rest of the screens for them and my eyes landed on the girl laying on the floor of a mirror room. My heart froze. What did they do to her?

Fei rose up and the screens changed back to the original ones. I couldn't find the words to say. Fei placed her hand on my shoulder and lead me out. After the door silently clicked shut, I sharply ordered, "Fei… Let go find those explosives." She nodded and handed me a lantern.

Briskly, we walked to where the new tunnels were. The walls held traces of a silvery substance. It must be what their mining up; the rest of the mine was stripped clean of the stuff. We scoured the mine in a rush, searching desperately for those explosives.

We couldn't find anything.

Fei and I searched every crevasse possible but still no signs of the explosives. I paced back and forth, eyeing every suspicious area that could hold explosives. This was exhausting and it was starting to get extremely late. I thought back to that machine; the 'skimmer' that the Solarites used. Maybe it had found the explosives before we even got here.

I shook the dreadful thought away. That would spell disaster and the Solarites would be tipped off as to something is up. I could just imagine the next 'role call' with all the Solarites on a special look out for signs of trouble. Then there would be no way Raven would let us go through with the plan. Those explosives has to be here.

Fei skimmed the walls peering into the cracks left behind from the minors. After a moment, I join her. We scoured the whole tunnel from top to bottom and still no explosives. I sighed and pulled Fei away. We needed what little time of sleep we have left in the night. Fei irritably kicked the wall and a chunk of rock fell.

I looked at her for reassurance that it actually happened and I wasn't having a bizarre hallucination. She was looking at my questioning herself too. I stepped forward and knocked on the rock. A dull echo was heard and it shifted slightly with each knock. Fei the. Grabbed the rock and pulled it off the wall. Behind it was a small cubby hole containing a couple small devices.

They were a small honey yellow crystalline figures about 20mm in diameter. Attached to them were copper wires that were wounded around the crystals, and connected to a metal dial with exoctic symbols on it. I don't see how these could possibly be the explosives, but they were the only things here and they were carefully concealed. I shrugged; we have a sun stone that produces heat and light, crystalline plants that glow and some are dangerous, and I have to carry four buckets of sapphire blue water that weighs 40x the amount then it should… Crystal explosives, why should I suspect anything different.

I snatched the explosives and stuffed them into Fei's arms. I picked up both lanterns and hand one over to her. She grabbed one and smiled.

"Don't trip," I joked and hurriedly rush to the entrance to the mines. Fei kept pace with me and then some. She was more desperate to get out without being spotted. Once we arrived at the mouth of the mine we closed the lanterns and set them silently down where we found them. We briskly walked out of the work site and into the forest, to the clearing I met Ace in.

Once we arrived, Raven was there delicately handling some crystal plants; willing them to bend into the desired shape. I got a closer look at the colors. Shell pink and mint green, the poisonous plants. Fei grimacing face revealed her displeasure towards the plants.

Raven looked up from what she was doing. The dark circles under her eyes showed she hadn't slept either.
"Got the explosives?" she asked sternly. Fei tossed the crystals to her. She reflectively caught them with one hand. She inspected the condition they were in and set them aside. She got up and gathered all the objects, being extremely careful with the poisonous stuff. She dissapeared into the wood line and came back without them.

"There's a hollow tree right over there. It will serve to keep those hidden." We nodded and headed back to town. Tomorrow will be yet another busy day, and no doubt staying up this late will take its toll.

Fei and I bid Raven goodnight just outside our door and silently crept inside. We tiptoed into bed and fell asleep instantly. No dreams, no nightmares, just blissful nothingness.

The next morning, I was brutally shaken awake by someone with a strong grip. My eyes slowly fluttered open to see a blurred outline of Fei on top of me. She was shouting at me but my mind was slow to process the words.

"The bell just went off!" My mind snapped into attention and flung off the bed. We were still in our clothes from yesterday and just grabbed the equipment and flew out the door. We're late and missed breakfast, this was going to be one long day.

We made it to the work site with the rest of the group and did our best to keep up with the workload. We secretly anticipated the time the first shift would end and hoped that it would be over soon.

Finally the bell rang and we smiled exhausted. We started to head to the town but then a large explosion went off in the mine shaking the ground from beneath us. We tumbled to the ground.

Pandemonium erupted throughout the work site as workers panicked and Solarites tried to figure out what just happened. Black ominous smoke flowed out of the mines as the miners charged out gasping for air between coughing fits. Fei jumped up and ran to the mine entrance.

"Raven!" She frantically searched the crowd and pushed past them into the mine. I ran after her to stop her, but I tripped and fell again. She disappeared into the smoke.

"Fei! Fei, wait up!" It was too late and screaming was useless. I ran to the mine and tried my best to find her. My lungs filled with the black ashes of dust and fell into a coughing fit. "Fei…" I hoarsely called again. She emerged from the cloud carrying Raven and dragged me away from the mine. She stopped a good distance away and set Raven down. She coughed and sat down herself.

Raven took in deep breaths and eventually stopped coughing.

"What happened?" I asked. She shook her head loosely. She had no clue as to what happened.

"I think one of the explosives went off and caused a chain reaction."

"Well that was obvious. I meant how!" I told her war sarcastically. I sat back and focused on breathing also. No longer was I hungry, or tired.

I heard someone's footsteps coming closer at an alarming rate. Gun shots followed as something else pursued the first. A man burst into sight, Solarites right behind him. Fei jumped up, suspecting the man to be the cause of the explosion. She ran to stop him but paid no mind to the crossfire she willed herself into.

"Fei, no!" She grabbed the man, but he swiveled around her and used her as a shield. He then bolted as Fei sank to the ground in a crumpled heap. I crawled to her to avoid the gunshots of the Solarites. They ran past without so much as a side glance. I took Fei into my lap stroking her hair. Raven crawled over and grabbed her hand.

"You stupid idiot..." Raven murmured. I remained silent; she wasn't talking to Fei... Not anymore.