Velmont—a city drowned in corruption and greed. The richest and most ruthless humans rule here, shaping cruel laws that serve only themselves. Towers of gold pierce the sky, but beneath the glamour lies rot.
On the outskirts of Velmont lies Blightvale, a mining town suffocated by despair. As its name grimly suggests, poverty festers in every corner, even though it provides the world's entire supply of the rarest metal: Durnium.
The town's citizens—mockingly called "Blights" by the elite—are nothing more than slaves, forced to toil endlessly beneath the Earth's crust. They mine Durnium by hand, paid only in scraps—just enough to keep them alive, never enough to let them dream.
-Blightvale, beneath the Earth's crust
Tink.Tink.Tink.
A girl-no smaller than twelve-struck the wall with trembling arms.Her name was Zera, though no one ever really used it.The overseers called her "Rat",a name they dubbed all the mine workers.
Her fingernails were chipped black and her once-blonde hair was now the colour of coal.A thin scarf wrapped around her mouth to block the dust but her pale,starved face was gaunt-her eyes far too hollow for a child.
Though children are mostly used to transport the metal to the surface,Zera's striking the wall was punishment.Punishment for fighting back an overseer who touched her inappropriately.She could only stop if she found some Durnium by herself.
Her pickaxe slipped,the shaft splintered and she stumbled backwards.
"Get up,Rat!",hissed the foreman who blinded her with a flashlight when she looked his way."That wall won't break itself."
She got up, biting her lip to stifle a cry,her ribs arched,her stomach screamed.But her legs obeyed -out of fear more than strength.
She raised the broken tool again -
CRACK!
Then the wall came crashing down—but it wasn't by her doing. As the dust settled, a tall figure emerged from the collapse. A man in a long black coat stepped forward and extended a hand to help the girl he'd startled.
The warning bells rang like death knells above. The foreman screamed for reinforcements—the overseers were already storming in.
The man was Castiel. And he didn't have time. He scooped up a chunk of Durnium—what he came for—and vanished into the shadows as the Velmont guards gave chase.
-Oakreach Woods
Castiel finally stopped, miles away, beneath the cloak of gnarled trees and starlight. He pulled the shimmering chunk of Durnium from his coat to admire it—dense, glowing faintly, unimaginably rare.
"Give that back," a quiet voice came from behind.
He whirled around, sword drawn. But it wasn't a soldier. It was the little girl from the mine.
"Give it back. I need it to save myself."
Castiel blinked. "How did you find me? We're miles from the mine."
"I tracked your scent."
A beat. Castiel stared. "You're... human, right?"
The girl nodded slowly.
"Listen, kid—"
"Zera."
He stopped. She looked him in the eye, not pleading—expecting.
"My name is Zera."
"Zera… Listen to me—"
But her lip trembled. Her knees gave. And she broke.
Tears poured from her eyes like a dam undone. "It's been so long since anyone said my name. I forgot how it sounds. They call us rats. We don't get names…"
Castiel, unsure and awkward, stepped forward—and hugged her. She was light as paper, trembling in his arms. He didn't say a word.
Eventually, she cried herself into sleep. He laid her down gently, wrapped her in his coat, and let her rest.
She woke to the smell of roasted meat.
A fire crackled. A skewered deer rotated above the flames.
"Help yourself," Castiel said from the other side of the fire.
Zera didn't hesitate. She tore into the meat, tearing chunk after chunk with animal desperation.
He watched her silently.
After a while, he asked, "Why are there children in the mines?"
She didn't look up. "We work or starve. Most of us are orphans. I needed that metal to get paid… so I can live another day."
Castiel frowned. "You shouldn't have to go back there."
"They're probably already hunting me. With dogs."
As if summoned, barking erupted around them.
Six Velmont soldiers emerged from the brush.
Castiel rose and unsheathed his sword. The soldiers closed in.
The fight was brutal. Outnumbered, Castiel tried to hold his ground, but a soldier drove a blade through his back.
He dropped. Lifeless.
"Just one idiot," a soldier muttered, stepping over the body to retrieve the Durnium.
FWOOSH.
He froze.
"What was that?"
"Where's the body?"
Castiel's corpse was gone.
Then—slash—the soldier's neck opened like a zipper.
FWOOSH.
Another disappeared. Then another.
One by one, the soldiers vanished in flickers of darkness and speed until only one remained.
Castiel appeared before him, hovering, his hair a floating veil of black, eyes shadowed like eclipses.
"You were dead," the soldier trembled in terror. "This… isn't possible."
Castiel said nothing. With a blur, his hand chopped clean through the soldier's neck. The head rolled. The dogs bolted.
Castiel dropped to his knees again.
"Agh… I hate when this happens," he groaned, voice rasping.
Zera watched, frozen in place. Her breath caught. She couldn't move.
"Listen,Zera,I know a place where kids do not have to work or starve and just be kids.I can take you there."
Zera glanced back at the mine.
"Let me save you, I'll come back and save the others.I promise."
Castiel's words were sincere.Zera grabbed his extended hand, similarly to earlier when he startled her.
"My name is Castiel by the way."
They walked deeper into the woods and the darkness swallowed them.
Unbeknownst to Zera, Castiel has just stirred a hornet's nest.