As he continued cursing, his mind became exhausted.
'I should find some way out of this place...', Eric finally got his priorities straight.
He tried extremely hard to feel his limbs or at least see something, but it was futile.
Nothing was possible in this dark abyss.
Any normal person might have gone insane staying in this place for so long, but not Eric.
Eric had endured countless hours of mental training as well as physical training.
His patience was immense and his reflexes were superhuman.
Although he was much above average in terms of mental fortitude, he was still only human.
The lack of control over his environment and the isolation had started to take a toll on his psyche.
Just when he was about to lose all hope, however, something unbelievable happened.
'Is that... A light?!', Eric was astonished to finally see something in the abyss.
Before he could fully grasp the situation, he 'felt' his body being violently pulled towards the light.
'W-wait! WAIITT!!', he tried to yell, but to no avail.
The light became so bright that he had to instinctively close his eyes to not go blind.
But then, Eric finally felt his long-lost senses slowly return to him one at a time.
"Urgh...", he let out a struggled groan.
His back was being stabbed by countless tiny stones and his legs and hands hurt like hell. Although the pain was nothing compared to what Eric felt while in his burning car.
Confused and disoriented, Eric rose from the ground and stood up.
He was in some sort of tunnel. There was a rail in the middle of the tunnel and small lights lit it up.
'Is this... a mine...?', Eric wondered.
As he was about to take a step, he suddenly heard the sound of metal rolling. The sound came from behind him and approached him quickly.
Jolting around, he saw what seemed to be a minecart heralding toward him at great speeds.
On top of the minecart, a few men.
Eric instinctively jolted away from his place and backed away from the track of the minecart.
To his surprise, the minecart slowed its speed and came to a complete halt in front of Eric.
3 men, two of them wore some kind of leather armour with leather boots, with sheathed swords hanging from their belts.
The one in the middle was a fat man wearing a luxurious purple robe. He had a full head of perfectly combed brown hair and his brown moustache was well-maintained. He looked like your usual wealthy merchant stereotype.
Eric was taken aback at the imposing fat man. Especially the two men behind him, who looked to be his guards.
'Swords? What is this, some kind of movie shoot?', Eric thought. He was confused as to what had just happened...
"Excuse me, sir... May I-", Eric wanted to ask his whereabouts to the fat man but was met with a stinging pain in his left cheek.
*SLAP!*
"You filthy slave... You have wasted my time and dare speak to me in that tone? How dare you desert the mining field? Shall I educate you again on the ways of loyalty?", the fat man spoke. His voice was filled with malice.
'Did he just slap me? If this was a movie shoot, it shouldn't have hurt though... but it does...? quite a lot too...', Eric wondered.
Before he could talk again, he felt another throbbing pain in his head.
*WHACK!*
And another one on his stomach this time.
*PUNCH!*
And another-
*WHAM!*
The beating continued until Eric's body hurt all over. He felt as if he had become a punching bag for the twisted fat man.
Eric couldn't speak up anymore. He realised that if he did, he would get beat.
Still, Eric's mind was composed. Even though it hurt, it was still nothing compared to being burned alive and having your limbs mangled and destroyed.
"Pick him up. Make sure he gets less food than the others from now. If he disobeys again, kill him.", the fat man ordered the two armed men.
"Yes, sir.", both of them spoke in unison.
The two of them picked up Eric's battered body, dumped it in the minecart and sped towards some destination.
Even though Eric looked to be unconscious, he was anything but.
He was constantly trying to figure out what exactly had happened to him after the crash. Where he was and what he did to deserve the harsh treatment.
After a few minutes of minecart riding, the men all arrived at some sort of station.
They got out of the minecart and Eric finally opened his eyes.
What he saw was something otherworldly.
A whole city. An underground city. They exited the station that was made mostly of stones, clay, terracotta and wood and entered into a main hub of sorts.
There was a fountain in the middle with a giant pickaxe and a shovel in the middle put in a cross position.
The surroundings of the fountain were exactly like those of fantasy stories where the city centre is a fountain and there are several different roads leading to different places.
Eric turned around to see the station he just came out of and noticed the words written on top in mammoth wooden letters.
'Mines of Rotville.', the sign said.
'Mines? Where exactly am I?!', Eric exclaimed internally.
"Move it bitch!", one of the armoured men violently pushed Eric, gesturing him to hurry up.
Eric had no choice but to comply if he didn't want to get beat again.
The fat man left them at the station and went towards something that seemed to be a mansion of sorts.
Seeing the mansion, Eric got the impression that this underground settlement was quite rich.
He couldn't have been more wrong.
The minute they went away from the fountain, everything fell apart.
The houses were made of stones and mud. The roofs were made of rotting wood.
There were mice and other small animals running across the unmaintained and ragged streets.
The place looked like one of those refugee camps that came into existence right after a war, the only difference being that this camp was underground.
There were people on the streets too, but all of them looked rough, malnourished and overall sad.
A few of them looked towards Eric with an expression of pity but nothing more than that.
There were stalls selling fruits and vegetables, but nothing looked particularly appetizing. Maybe if you were starving for a few days, it would look tasty to you.
'This place looks miserable... Don't tell me I have to live here?!', Eric thought with dread.
"Oi! What are you zoning out about?! Get in your house!", one of the men shouted.
In front of them was a broken, heavily weathered house. A small hut with a door made of rotting wood and barred windows.
'Is this some kind of prison cell?!', Eric wondered before getting hit behind him again.
"OI! GET THE FUCK IN! FUCKIN' SLAVE!", the other man kicked Eric's back and sent him flying into the wall of the house.
Eric said nothing as he got up, dusted himself off and entered the 'house' after opening the creaking door.
The interior of the house was bare bones, to say the least. Just a bed made of clay with no pillow and a toilet made of clay that seemingly drained into some sort of canal.
'Just where the hell am I?', Eric asked.