Welcome to "The Diary of a Miner"; a blog detailing the adventures and mysteries that I, Syeonyx, embark upon in my quest to further my mining and survival skills! It'll be tough, there will be good times and bad times, but I'll always be alive to post my adventures... probably...

That was... Unexpected...

     Myself and THEROS sat in darkness for some time... Not speaking... We were both trying to get over the shock of what had just happened... We had managed to destroy the portal, but at the cost of our own lives! The ceiling had begun to cave in, and me and THEROS had become separated from UOPETA... Unfortunately we have heard no sounds of contact from UOPETA, and to make matters worse, he was carrying all of the supplies... Including the food and pickaxe! The Solus stone sat on the floor between us, giving off a faint yellow hue...

"What now?"

I simply didn't know... Had this been a trap? Or had we simply made an error in judgement. I think we were all in a hurry to destroy the portal and get out of there that safety wasn't a high priority... I was regretting it now... I bet we both were... We had already tried to shift some of the fallen debris, but to no avail; without the pickaxe, we were stuck here... The problem was, even if we did have the pickaxe, we would still need to be careful in case we caused another cave-in... After some time of thinking, I decided to attempt to look for another way out. Sitting still wasn't getting us anywhere, and how much worse could it get? I picked up the Solus stone, and used it as a primitive torch to look around; the fallen cobblestone had fully blocked off the two sides of the room, leaving us encased on all sides... I peered into the inky blackness for some form of small passage or gap in the wall which we could exploit to get to the other side. Even if the other side was blocked as well, at least we were closer to finding out what had happened to UOPETA... I kept looking, even after scanning the wall for a good few minutes, I refused to give up!

     We'd been sitting in silence for what seemed like hours now... We had no idea how much time had elapsed... Eventually, after some time, THEROS broke the silence with an odd question:

"So... Why did you decide to join HoN Co.?"

The question really caught me off guard... I don't know why I had joined to be honest... My father had been a miner for HoN Co. and it just seemed to be the right thing to do. I enjoyed working alone in mysterious lands excavating rare and precious minerals, and I loved the whole idea of living self sufficiently...

"Not me... I wanted to see places... I wanted to go to new lands! I wanted to see sights never before seen by man! And I have. I've experienced more in the last few years than my entire lifetime... I was odd for a miner; instead of setting up a single base of operations and mining the hell out of a single area, I would make a temporary base, take the valuable ores I could, and then move on. I had itchy feet; I can't keep still for long... I suppose that's also why I love being a cartographer... You get to go to so many interesting and exciting uncharted areas!"

I did think this was odd. Everyone I knew who had taken up mining had done what I'd done; set up a single place, and lived off the land. Then again, I was one of the majority who didn't like change... If things stayed more or less the same, I was content. It was why I was having trouble adjusting to so many new things; losing my house, understanding the betrayal of HoN Co., joining the Lone 7... It was all too much... THEROS stood up for the first time in quite a while, and began pacing back and forth, wringing his hands together. I could tell from his actions he was uncomfortable, and it was getting worse...

"I'm having a hard time with this situation... I've been calm up until now, but the walls... They're creeping up on me... They're closing in on me, crushing me, suffocating me! I can't take. I WANT OUT!"

He violently punched the dividing wall with his fist, standing there a moment longer, his hand still in contact with the cobblestone. His laboured breathing slowed, and he eventually removed his hand from the wall and sat back down. A few moments later, I heard a bang... I stood bolt upright, straining my ears... I looked at the ceiling, expecting it to come crashing down once more... But it held fast. Instead, another knock... After a few moments, and a few more knocks, I realised the sound was originating from the dividing wall... What the...? Was that UOPETA? I banged as hard as I could on the wall and waited... Another knock... I banged twice in quick succession and waited... Two bangs followed, and then silence...

"It's UOPETA! It has to be..."

I backed off from the wall, as bang after bang emanated from the wall... What was he doing? Was he signalling us? After a few moments, the purpose of the banging became clear, as light streaked in through a small hole that now appeared in the wall...

"THEROS? SYEONYX? ARE YOU THERE?"

We both called back, THEROS in absolute hysterics about getting out! UOPETA continued knocking out the wall, the hole growing larger and larger with each strike. Eventually, the hole was big enough to pass through, and on the wall, stood UOPETA, diamond pickaxe in hand...

     We moved through to the other side of the wall, THEROS, a little more hurriedly than me.

"What happened to you? We though you had died?"

"I thought the same of you two! I got knocked unconscious a little after the main wall came down, and I've been trying to get through to you guys for the past hour! This cobblestone is incredibly dense, so I had to keep chipping away at it before I could ensure you could hear me knocking! At one point I thought I was going to have to knock through the entire wall to find out what had happened to you! Before I lost consciousness, I saw a lot of debris falling on your side... I thought you were dead... But that doesn't matter now. We're together, and we need to get out! I've already managed to break through the dense cobblestone on one side of the wall, and the stone behind it is very easy to chip through. Instead of of digging our way back through to the entrance, I say we find our own way out! If this was a trap, the last thing they'd expect is for us to come out another way!"

I sort of agreed with UOPETA; if we dug out the entrance and went back up the passageway to the entrance, there could be guards waiting for us... Tunneling in a separate direction would be the next logical step of getting out. UOPETA showed us over to the small hole: he had already placed a few torches inside, and he had made a few metres progress already! If we tunneled upwards, we would eventually make it back outside, and we could find our way back to the base, no matter how long it took. UOPETA stepped forward and continued digging upwards. He had given me the pack, and I was told to place the torches sparingly. He needed enough light to see by, but not so much to catch the attention of anyone looking when we emerged. It was going to be a long couple of hours until we broke the surface... But at least we knew we were safe!

     As UOPETA continued digging up, we talked of the next steps. We would need to head straight back to base and inform the others. UOPETA had already told us that the radio had been crushed in the collapse, but even if it hadn't we would have needed to make it back to the surface to send out a message. We were too deep, and the rock and stone was probably laced with heavy metals which would trap the signal. We stopped every now and again, to listen to any external noises. But nothing. We knew we had a way to go, but after only half an hour or so had passed, we heard rain. We all looked at each other quizzically... I looked back down the tunnel, and realised we hadn't made near enough progress to be near the surface yet! After a few more feet of digging, the stone began to turn to mud and dirt, and small trickles of water pooled through. A few more feet, and UOPETA broke through the surface. I instantly killed the nearest torch, and we waited as UOPETA stepped out through the hole... From where I was, I could see a small amount of light coming into the hole from the left and right, and it looked like the hole faced a small grassy hill... Where were we? UOPETA signaled us to emerge. I was the last... When I got out and peered around, I couldn't believe it... This wasn't right... Surely?

Syeonyx signing off

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