" Aqiel Aqiel Aqiel!!!"
' A familiar voice was calling out to me, a voice of a friend that I have known for a very long time.'
" Stop mining right now and come with me."
" What is it Zelach?"
" The guards are handing out bread in front of the cave entrance, if were late there might not be any bread left for us to eat."
Not wasting a single breath, Aqiel immediately put his pickaxe down and ran with Zelach to the cave entrance.
Aqiel has lived and worked in the mines for over a decade and has already adapted to the harsh environment he's subjected to; he knows even a single grain of rice, or a crumb of bread can be the difference maker between waking up and living another day or being by hunger and dying.
Aqiel and Zelach were at the caves front entrance within 3 minutes of running, but when they arrived the line for the bread was already pretty long.
The two boys sighed in disappointment knowing had they ran faster they would have been a bit earlier and would have had a shorter line to sit through.
Still, they muster up the remaining strength they have for the day to wait in line.
" Wow the line is already this long, it hasn't even been 10 minutes before they announced that they were handing out bread."
" It is what it is Zelach, everyone in here knows how tough these mines are and will always want an advantage over the other slaves, be it status or a fuller stomach."
While waiting for their turn to get the bread Aqiel overheard two people talking behind him and Zelach.
" Why are they handing out our rations this early? it's only 5pm and were normally supposed to get our rations in 7pm."
" I heard it's because the daughter of the noble who owns us are rewarding us for our hard work."
" Tskk, you call this a reward? Bread that won't even be enough to satiate our hunger for these past few days, I say if she really wanted to reward us, she would have granted us our freedom, hell a full meal would have been enough."
" Lower your voice, if the guards were to hear you saying that you would get the whipping of a century."
' I don't blame them for thinking that way, the living conditions that we are being subjected to are terrible, one full meal and 14 hours of work a day.'
Aqiel and Zelach chatted until it was their turn to receive the bread.
It was Zelach's turn to receive the bread but the guard handing out the bread was a particularly annoying and ungenerous one.
" Hey kid your next."
" Ah, yes sir."
The guard unprovokedly broke the bread in half and threw it into the ground and stepped on the bread.
Zelach's tried to hide his anger and annoyance the best he can, but it still appeared on his face.
" Here's your part of the bread, Huh? What's with that face kid, are you angry hah?"
Although Zelach wanted to speak up about the guards unwarranted behavior he knows if he did it would only bring him trouble.
" No sir."
" Then get out of the line you ungrateful brat, you're lucky to even get bread in the first place."
" Next!"
' It seems it's my turn to receive the bread.'
The guard treated Aqiel the same as Zelach and broke his bread in half, threw it to the ground and then stepped on it.
' And as expected the guard broke the bread that is supposed to given to me in half and stepped on the other half.'
' I only just noticed but there seems to be a lot of dirty halved bread on the ground, it seems he's doing this to everyone, what a waste of perfectly good bread.'
" Here's your part of the bread."
" Sir may I ask a question?"
" Huh? What is it?"
" Can I still take my other half of the bread?"
" Heh sure, suit yourself."
Aqiel promptly takes the dirty half of his bread on the ground and got out of the line.
Aqiel knows that his pride won't save him from this place and has completely abandoned it to survive.
" Hey Aqiel, eat your bread quickly before someone takes it from you, also I already ate mine."
" Alright"
After they ate their bread, they quickly went back to work, they worked until it was 7pm and it was time to take a break and eat their daily rations.
Zelach and Aqiel went into the break room and waited in line for their daily rations, and when they got their food, they sat in the corner of the room far from everyone else.
The break room was nothing more than a hollow part the cave they work at
" Hey Aqiel when do you think till, we can leave this place?"
" Never"
" Why do you think so?"
" Unless some miracle happens, we will never get out of here, the guards make sure that we are weak enough to not be a threat to them but strong enough to work, even trying to escape is next to impossible, as it seems the noble who owns us is wealthy enough to fill this place to the brim with guards."
" Huh, well I think I'll be out of here in a few weeks."
" Why?"
" I'm planning to break out of here and I'm already planning my escape, some of the items I need to break out are already prepared."
" Goodluck on that."
" Heh thanks, Welp this is my stop, goodnight Aqiel."
" Goodnight"
Aqiel arrived at his bed and as soon as he laid down all of the exhaustion and pain in his body seemed to dissipate.
Aqiel tried to sleep immediately after he laid down but what Zelach said is in the back of his mind.
' Planning? I didn't care or think much of it because I was too tired but he's planning to escape from this place?'
' How will he do that?'
' And the items he said he had already prepared what are they? And what kind of item can help him get out of this hellhole?'
' Is he just too optimistic or does he really have something planned?'
' Zelach has been my best and only friend that I made in this place for almost a decade, but he is still too enigmatic to me.'
Aqiel had many questions he wanted to ask Zelach but he still knew that rest was more important than thinking about what Zelach said.
Aqiel slept through the night even with so many thoughts inside his head.