Deborah's POV
I stood alone at the entrance of the Quarry. The entire scene before me was a hive of activity—workers bustling around, and carts brimming with Falshi rolling steadily along the rough pathways.
Not far from where I stood, a heavily pregnant woman was sobbing uncontrollably in front of the quarry manager.
Her voice was thick with despair, and each word seemed weighed down by heavy sadness.
She cried about her husband, who had been buried alive during the earthquake a few days ago.
With her child due to be born any day now, the small flicker of hope that was keeping her going seemed to be on the verge of being extinguished, like a candle flickering in a strong wind.
And yet, I remained a helpless observer, unable to intervene.
It was as if some invisible force had anchored my feet in place, preventing me from stopping to comfort her or even speaking a word.
All I could do was keep moving forward, compelled to witness the misery unfolding around me.
As I walked further in, I saw a group of miners loading Falshi onto a truck.
One particularly large chunk of Falshi was placed precariously at the top, and it suddenly slipped, nearly crushing a miner below who was busy hauling the load.
The man jumped out of the way just in time, but my heart leapt in my chest, and I felt my entire body tense, mirroring the weight of the falling stone.
But I kept walking, unable to stop.
Further ahead, I noticed a small boy, no older than twelve or thirteen, struggling to push a heavily loaded cart. His hands, still too small and weak, trembled under the weight.
His steps were uneven, and when one of the cart's wheels hit a jagged stone, the entire cart veered off course and crashed straight into a burly miner.
The man spun around, his face flushed with rage. "Are you blind, brat? Get lost!" he bellowed, his voice laced with irritation.
I kept walking, but the feeling of helplessness clung to me like a second skin.
Why was I moving forward, unable to intervene?
Was I running away from something, or was I being pulled towards something I needed to confront?
Finally, I saw Matthew. He stood right in front of me, but I couldn't utter a single word.
I wanted to explain what happened at the Praying Mantis bar, to tell him that it wasn't because I liked Ryan that I was getting close to him—it was just to gather information.
But it was as if my throat had closed up; no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't make a sound.
Suddenly, the ground began to tremble violently.
A low rumble reverberated through the Quarry's ceiling, and my eyes widened in shock—another earthquake!
But this time, it was much stronger than the last.
The entire quarry shook, and loose rocks began to rain down from above.
Shouts and screams filled the air, echoing off the stone walls in a chaotic symphony of fear.
I saw Matthew standing there, staring upward in confusion.
And in the next instant, a massive chunk of Falshi broke loose from the ledge high above his head and came crashing down, hurtling straight toward him.
"No—!" I screamed with all my might, but no sound came out.
It was like I had become a ghost, a helpless specter condemned to watch everything unfold without the power to change anything.
I jolted awake, my body drenched in cold sweat.
My heart hammered wildly, as if trying to escape my chest, and my breath came in short, ragged gasps.
Every detail of the dream had felt so real—the helplessness and fear still clung to me like a heavy shroud.
My hand shook as I reached up to touch the stone pendant hanging around my neck, as if its cool, solid weight could somehow calm the frantic beating of my heart.
Just then, the shrill sound of my alarm clock pierced through the room, snapping me out of my thoughts.
I took a deep breath, forcing myself to calm down, and quickly got ready for the day.
Today, Mark was scheduled to conduct a new set of Falshi experiments in the lab, while I had been assigned to visit the Quarry for a routine inspection.
"Inspection" was a fancy term for wandering around aimlessly and then drafting a pointless report to be filed away by the Erius Institute (EI).
Both Mark and I knew that no one at EI really cared about these reports, and they certainly weren't scrutinizing them closely.
With a mix of anxiety and resolve, I headed out and stepped into the Quarry.
This was probably the busiest place in the entire Murias underground city.
The roar of machinery, the screech of cart wheels grinding against metal rails, and the din of countless voices filled the air.
Every corner seemed to buzz with restless energy, as if the entire population was packed into this single, chaotic hive of activity.
I picked my way along the uneven path, heading deeper into the Quarry.
Suddenly, a familiar sound caught my ear—someone crying.
I turned my head and saw a pregnant woman desperately clinging to a man in a foreman's uniform, her face streaked with tears.
"What am I supposed to do? I'm about to give birth… How will I feed us?" Her voice was raw and desperate, breaking as she spoke.
Finally, her legs gave out and she collapsed to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably as tears streamed down her face.
This scene… It was exactly like what I had seen in my dream.
A wave of unease washed over me, but I tried to convince myself it was just a coincidence.
I kept walking deeper into the Quarry.
The surrounding sights seemed to mirror my dream more and more—the paths taken by the carts, the shouts of the miners, and even the faint scent of stone dust hanging in the air.
Abruptly, a miner loading Falshi shouted, "Watch it! Are you trying to get me killed?"
I froze in my tracks, heart hammering wildly.
Could it be… was this scene really playing out just as it had in my dream?
A nameless fear spread through my chest.
Forcing myself to stay calm, I continued walking.
That's when I heard a coarse voice yell out, "Are you blind, brat? Get lost!"
My mind immediately conjured up the image of the young boy from my dream—the same boy pushing the heavy cart.
No… I have to find Matthew. Now.
Frantically, I tried to remember where he had been standing in the dream, then sprinted towards that spot.
And there he was, standing amidst a pile of rocks and machinery.
Matthew stood still, looking at me with a complicated expression, part surprise, part… something else. Maybe relief? Or joy?
"What are you doing here?" he asked, his voice filled with restrained excitement and confusion.
I didn't have time to pay attention to the swirl of emotions I was picking up through Telepathy.
"Come with me!" I grabbed his hand without further explanation, my only thought being to get him out of here as quickly as possible.
"Deborah, you—"
"No time to explain," I cut him off, my voice leaving no room for argument as I dragged him toward the Quarry's exit.
Suddenly, the ground beneath us shuddered violently.
I whipped around just in time to see the roof of the Quarry cave in, huge chunks of rock mixed with Falshi raining down in a deadly cascade.
The air filled with screams and shouts of panic.
It was exactly like my dream.
I tightened my grip on Matthew's hand and ran, my heart pounding so hard it felt like it would leap out of my chest.
Just as we burst out of the Quarry's entrance, a deafening crash echoed behind us—the entire Quarry collapsed in a massive explosion of dust and rubble, the falling debris swallowing up the last image I saw: the enormous piece of Falshi from my dream, plummeting straight down to where Matthew had been standing…