The Great Mana Ascent

{My WSA 2024 entry. Please support me}

EARTH

1923

"Boss, you sent for me," muttered a young, tall, and muscular man dressed in a tank top over khaki shorts. His head was bowed to the ground as he stood behind an older man dressed in an expensive red suit.

The young man could tell by the tone of the one who called him that the boss wasn't in a good mood. To see him smoking now confirmed his thoughts.

"That I did," the older man replied, standing and looking up at the dense canopy of trees that blocked out most of the light from the moon.

A midnight stroll out of the camp wasn't as relaxing as he thought it would be. The air was heavy with the smell of moist earth and vegetation, and the sounds of the jungle were heightened in the darkness. Crickets and frogs chirped and croaked, and the occasional howl of a distant animal could be heard. The old man could barely tolerate the discomfort the forest was giving him.

He brought the cigarette held between two fingers in his left hand to his mouth and dragged a long puff before letting out the smoke. "Tell me, Warden Kent. For how long have those goddamn slaves been digging the mines in this bloody forest?"

"Three weeks, Sir," the warden replied, slowly raising his searching eyes.

"And how many Carats of Diamonds have been gathered?" he asked again, this time his voice carried the undeniable aura of anger and disgust.

"None, Sir," the warden answered yet again.

The older man turned and fixed his black eyes on Kent. He walked over to him and seized him by the neck, although he lacked the strength to lift him from the ground as he desired.

"None? But yet you deem it fit for those lazy dogs to eat my food, drink my water and sleep in my fucking cells???" he shouted, tightening his grip on the warden's neck as he spoke. His chest continued to fall and rise as he breathed heavily.

"Sir, they are tired and need rest. I pushed them to their limits the entire week. Any more and I'm afraid they won't be as productive as you need them to be. Perhaps this field has no diamonds beneath it," the warden replied, trying his best to speak very carefully.

The man in power had bought this portion of the forest for a very huge sum after he was assured of the diamond mines beneath it. There was no way he was going to believe he had been swindled. He had the sure conviction in his heart that the land indeed possessed diamonds. All he had to do was make his slaves dig until it was found. He released the warden from his hold.

"You have no idea what I had to do to acquire this land so don't you dare tell me it has no diamonds," he said, darting a warning look to the warden. With both hands, he combed his blonde hair back and took in a deep breath. "Go to their fucking cells and wake them the fuck up! I don't give a shit how tired they are. Their arms can fall off for all I care; no one sleeps until a diamond cavern has been found! Am I understood?"

"Yes Boss," Kent replied, with his right hand on his neck.

"Now Leave!"

With gritted teeth and hands balled into solid fists, Kent hurried to the underground cell where the slaves were held. The instant he got into the tunnel, he turned on the light bulbs and then brought out his keys to open the locks.

The slaves' cell was cramped and squalid. It had only a thin mat for each to sleep on and a bucket for waste. The hot air was thick with the smell of sweat, and the only light came from a flickering bulb at the center. Except during work time, the cell was always sealed, destroying any hope of escape the slaves had.

Kenr picked up the big bell on the ground and began ringing it. In a few minutes, everyone had woken up. At the sound of the bell, the slaves quickly stood up from the ground, recognizing the warden's presence.

"Sleep time is over. Get your asses back in those mines," Kent said with his arms over his chest. His firm tone made it clear he wasn't in for a debate but the slaves couldn't help but grumble at his words that seemed to annoy them. "What's with the noise?"

"Warden, with all due respect, I think it's best you turn the light off and fuck off. We've been digging since sunrise. I'm damn sure we deserve a good night's sleep." the spokesman of the group voiced out from the ground where he lay. "The food didn't even go round so the least you can do is grant us the comfort of sleep."

Kent chuckled lightly on hearing those words. What a brave slave. He hated it when the slaves who were beneath him had the courage to think they could exchange words with him. He dropped his hands and placed them in the front pockets of his black khaki shorts. With his brown orbs fixed on the slave, he strutted to him with an intimidating aura all around him that sent the other slaves some steps back.

"Slave, what's your name?"

"Dan."

"Well, Dan I thought I made it very clear that whenever I come in, you all should be on your feet?" he asked the slave with an arched brow.

Before the slave could respond, Kent brought out a gun from his right pocket and sent a bullet between his eyes.

"Is anyone else still feeling fucking sleepy?" Kent yelled, sending warning glares around. The deafening silence brought a smile to his face. I"Good. Now get dressed and go dig me some bloody diamonds!"

Just as he was about to exit the cell, an idea popped up in his head.

"The first person to find a diamond cavern will earn himself his freedom."

With this new incentive, the slaves did as they were told and got back into the underground diamond mines. The mines had dark tunnels, but the line of electric bulbs fixed at both sides illuminated them. The tunnels were saturated with air heavy with dust and the sound of pickaxes striking rocks.

The slaves were dressed in rags, their faces streaked with dirt and sweat. They took turns hacking away at the rocks, but never once unearthing anything precious. Despite the grueling work, there was a sense of hope and determination in the air, as the workers searched for the glittering treasures that lie hidden beneath the earth. Although, just by how slow and weak their strikes on the rocks were, one could easily tell that they were weak and tired. Nonetheless, they kept swinging their pickaxes at the hardened rocks. No one wanted to be the next Dan and they all craved freedom from their cruel master.

After a half hour passed, something interesting happened.

A young boy barely seventeen years of age was digging with all the force his frail body could gather. His palm had scars and wounds leaking blood but he did not stop. Once again, he raised the pickaxe and swung it at the rock in front of him, but this time it wasn't a piece of the rock that broke out and fell to the ground.

It was the entire wall.

He looked at the crystal cavern before him and his heart was full of joy. He was determined to be the one to find the diamond cavern and earn his freedom and he had. Luckily for him, he was the only one assigned to work in this part of the mines.

The boy walked in with a lantern to explore the vast space filled with shiny diamond crystals. The walls of the diamond cavern were lined with glittering crystal formations. The largest of these was a magnificent diamond crystal, rising high above the cavern floor. Its facets reflected the light from the boy's lantern, sending dazzling rainbows dancing across the walls.

The cavern was filled with the sound of dripping water. As he looked around the cavern, he felt a sense of awe and wonder at this beautiful and mysterious place.

His curiosity drew him closer to the giant diamond at the center of the aisle. He was strangely drawn to it. The instant his bloody palms hugged the diamond, the bright shiny white color turned red and it began to vibrate. It shot out a powerful beam of light upwards which drilled its way to the surface, disintegrating everything in its path.

It kept ascending till it touched the night sky, turning the once-black sky to a striking red. As if in some sort of a trance, the boy stood motionless unable to let go of the crystal. As if something in them was activated, all the others in the cavern also released beams of light and they all united with that of the giant crystal. This held out for a few minutes.

Everyone on the premises could hear the loud eerie sounds produced by the beams and see the determined streak of light it sent toward the night sky. They all rushed to the scene, but by the time everyone had gathered, it was all over. At first, no one dared to approach the boy holding the red diamond.

But after all the diamonds lost their otherworldly luster and began to shatter into grains of sand, Kent summoned the courage to walk up to him. He shook the boy roughly by his left shoulder.

"What did you do?" Kent roared at the top of his voice.

For a few seconds, the boy was startled and unaware of what was going on, but it didn't take long for him to piece everything together.

"I find a cavern. Me free, right?" the young boy asked with innocent blue eyes, slowly gathering tears. He was one of the unfortunate kids who had been kidnapped at a young age and sold into slavery. Hence, his faulty English.

"Found it?! You fucking destroyed it!!"

Kent gripped him by the neck and pushed him to the ground. He brought out his gun and cocked it. He was raising it to the poor kid when he felt a tap on his shoulder.

"Give me the gun."

It was the old man in charge. Without a word, Kent gave the gun to him and in a split second, a bullet blasted out of it straight into Kent's head. The kid screamed as the warden's dead body dropped to the ground, slowly forming a pool of blood around him.

"Demon, we can either do this the easy way or the bloody way," the man threatened, pointing the gun at the boy. A signal from him and all his security guards in the mines did the same. "I don't care what you did to the sky. I want my diamonds and I want them back now. You have five seconds. One!"

Demon? The boy was no demon. He had no memory of what happened after he touched the crystal. Despite how weak he was, he continued to push the limits of his body just so he could find this diamond cavern and win his freedom. He didn't deserve this.

"Three!"

"I didn't done nothing. I sweared," the boy cried out on his knees. "Priz, I find cavern. Me no more slave."

Annoyed by the kid's words, the old man pulled the trigger, aiming for his right thigh. The gun gave out a roar as the bullet shot out heading for the kid, but a few centimeters from him, it began to slow down as it was getting heated up by a strange force surrounding the kid. With an incredible speed, the bullet was heated to the point it practically became a whiff of smoke.

"Kill the demon child!" the old man shouted with widened eyes full of shock.

Immediately, all the guards began to shoot at the boy, but just like the first bullet, none made it to his skin. His body was radiating heat on a volcanic level. He raised his eyes to the old man and his once blue eyes were now blazing golden. The kid gathered all the pain built up within him and let out a piercing cry. As a result, the burning force surrounding him started to spread out, covering a hundred-meter radius in golden flames within an instant.

The entire camp was reduced to ash, leaving no one but the boy alive. After the massive release of energy, the boy lost consciousness there on the ground. The boy had no idea that he had just activated the Origin Mana Crystal which by default, would activate every other Mana Crystal in multiple locations beneath the Earth as well. In unity, they all released Mana, the divine force of Magic into the world.

This young slave had singlehandedly opened the gate to a new era.

The Era of Mana and Magic…