Sarah woke before everyone else. She turned onto her back and propped her head up against the wall behind her. It was a time of day where she could feel alone and unwatched. The other members of the cabin were in a deep sleep and the guards wouldn’t be in to wake them for at least another hour.
Sarah had been spending the past several days using the time to practice her water magic. The time had paid off. She was getting better at manipulating the water, especially if the volume of water remained small. She’d managed to level her Water Manipulation skill up twice, getting it to level 3.
The bucket of drinking water was on the narrow bench that ran the length of the room. It was a little further away than yesterday morning, but she was confident it wouldn’t affect her ability. Sarah concentrated on the water and slowly began swirling it, without allowing any of the water to splash over the sides. When she had good control of the swirling, she started to lift a small amount of the water out of the bucket. She watched, with a smile on her face as the blob of water came towards her. As it came over her head, she opened her mouth and let the cool water pour down her throat. She swallowed and started again.
After the third mouthful, Sarah got creative and instead of bringing the water to her mouth she started testing how far she could move the water through the air. She pretended to take mouthfuls of water to all the sleeping forms within the cabin. Pleased with her magic practice, she returned the water to the bucket and lay back down to rest.
The light was brighter outside. Sarah anticipated the guard coming in to wake them shortly. She looked over at Daphne and shook her head. She was a deep sleeper and hard to wake in the morning. She hoped she wouldn’t draw any extra attention to herself this morning. Sarah was counting on being able to position herself and Daphne away from the main guard, so she could work on her magic while gold panning. If Daphne made him mad, he would be more likely to give them a hard time and want them to stay close.
Sarah decided to risk an angry Daphne for an awake one. She focused on the water in the bucket and brought a small handful over Daphne’s face. Sarah tried not to laugh as she started dripping water onto her face. She was brushing the water off and starting to roll around. There was no escaping the dripping though. Sarah continued to drip the water on her face until her eyes flew up and she sat up in bed. Sarah stifled a giggle as her friend tried to figure out what had woken her.
The door banged open and Benton walked in, letting the fresh morning air filter into the stale cabin.
“Up and at ‘em,” he yelled as he banged his dirty boots at the foot of the beds, rattling the rusty metal legs.
Sarah jumped out of bed and stood in the line to exit out of the cabin. A quick glance behind her confirmed that Daphne was also up, and in line. So far so good, thought Sarah. They filed out of the stinky cabin and then lined up again to use the latrines. Girls in one line and boys in another. Sarah paused as she noticed a girl being led over to the line. She was obviously a new recruit. She was glancing around into the tree line as if she expected someone to rescue her at any minute. Sarah snorted; a rescue was unlikely. She had been under the thumb of the Black Wolf Guild long enough to know that escape was not only unlikely, but downright dangerous. It was better to wait out your contract and get stronger while you worked. The new girl renewed Sarah’s anger towards the guild and strengthened her resolve to get more powerful with her magic. She couldn’t complete any quests while here, but that didn’t mean she was without opportunities.
“Hey, you two!” Benton called, motioning to Sarah and Daphne. “Teach this one what you know today,” he said as he pushed the new girl towards them.
Sarah nodded to Benton and held her hand out to the girl. “Hi, I’m Sarah and this is Daphne.”
“Hello, I’m Betty.”
“Have you ever panned for gold before?” Sarah asked as they waited in the line.
“No, but I’ve learned lots of other interesting things.”
“When we get to the creek, we can show you how to do it. You need to make a quota every day if you want to stay out of trouble,” Daphne said.
“I don’t plan on being here for long, my friends will come for me,” Betty remarked with confidence.
“Oh yeah? Well let’s hope they have better luck breaking you out than the last players who tried,” Daphne said as she walked forward for her turn in the washroom.
“Don’t mind her, she isn’t exactly a morning person. I hope your friends come for you. I wish I had someone to help me,” Sarah said with a genuine smile.
“Thanks, Sarah.”
After the washroom and a quick bowl of oats, the gold panners were led to the creek. Benton spread them out along the river, allowing Daphne and Sarah to be the farthest away. Sarah made sure that Benton saw her and Daphne showing Betty how to, and where to, pan for the gold. Sarah even slipped a few pieces into her pan so she could get Benton’s attention.
“She is a natural, already finding gold!”
“Let’s see how you three do at the end of the day,” Benton scowled.
“Ok, let's continue to work the creek and slowly ease our way beyond this bend, I need to practice,” Sarah said to Daphne.
“No problem, as long as you slip me what I need to get ‘you-know-who’ off my back. I’m going to keep working on my strength,” Daphne said as she angled herself so Benton couldn’t see Sarah as well.
The water was colder than usual. Sarah wondered if she could make the water warmer with her magic. She scooped up some of the cold water in her pan and started to think about the water being warm. She thought back to a trip she had taken with her Mom. They had flown to the south of France and spent a week laying in the sun and swimming in the warm Mediterranean Sea. With the memory of the warm water, Sarah tried to warm the water in her pan. It took several tries, but it did feel warmer. Sarah emptied the pan and tried again. After the fifth pan of cold water turned warm, she put a little more energy into it and eventually made the pan hot.
“Ha!” Sarah said as she saw the message.
Congratulations! You have learned the skill of water temperature manipulation.
Feeling confident, Sarah moved to a shallow part of the creek and focused on the water swirling past her cold feet. With concentration, she was able to warm the water. It felt so good to have her feet warm, she wiggled her toes and sighed.
“Sarah, did you pee in the water?” Daphne said from behind her. “That’s gross, not cool.”
“I didn’t pee. Come over here and I’ll show you,” Sarah said excitedly.
Daphne came beside Sarah and leaned over to scoop up another pan of sand and silt.
“Ok wait for it,” Sarah said with a smile as she warmed the water around their feet.
Daphne groaned. “Are you doing this with magic? I forgot what it felt like to have warm feet. This is heaven, don’t stop.”
Sarah giggled, it was fun to learn something new, especially if it made their time more enjoyable.
“Your mana is getting stronger, Sarah. Good job, soon we will be able to drown the guards and get out of here,” Daphne said with a laugh.
“I better get some gold. I don’t want you or Betty to be short. We need to keep Benton away from us,” Sarah said as she used her magic to find a good area to pan.
The morning passed and the whistle was blown for the lunch break. Sarah, Daphne and Betty were the last ones into the food line up, since they were the farthest away. It wouldn’t make a difference. Lunch was usually a scoop of soup and a bun. With any luck today the soup would have something hearty and filling in it like beans or meat, but more likely it would be a watery tasteless mess of bland cabbage. Sarah moaned as the guard scooped up her share. Even worse than the day before, the watery soup was devoid of any color or flavor. The bun was dry and tasteless too. Daphne rolled her eyes as she sat down on the grass to eat.
“They have to try pretty hard to make this so awful. The food in this game is usually better than anything in real life.
Sarah nodded her agreement. “Mmmm. I remember my first few meals here; they were so delicious.”
Betty smiled, “I could really go for a big cheese pizza right now, from the game or from reality.”
The three girls finished their meager lunch in silence, each lost in thoughts of previous meals. When the whistle blew, the girls went back to their position on the creek. Sarah had found a good deposit of gold and was distributing it between herself, Daphne and Betty.
“Keep it in your container until it’s weigh-in time. There is enough for all of us to meet quota so we can spend the rest of our time working on our strength or magic.”
“Thanks, Sarah, you are the best,” Daphne said as she put her gold away and started doing a series of squats and lunges while pretending to pan.
“Thanks for your help. I hope I will be able to return the favor someday,” Betty seconded.
Sarah smiled. It was the second time that day that she got the warm feeling from being able to help others. She believed in the law of Karma and knew it would bring her good fortune.
The sun went behind a cloud and Sarah felt a chill run through her. She had a bad feeling. She stood up to stretch her back and looked around. Everyone else seemed to be focused on their tasks. Benton looked over and saw Sarah.
“Get back to work,” he yelled from his post along the creek.
“Yup, just needed a stretch,” Sarah replied.
As Sarah bent back over to scoop up some sand, she felt something trembling. She looked over at Daphne to see if she had noticed.
“Do you feel that?” Sarah asked.
“Huh? What?” Daphne asked as she looked around.
The creek they were standing in ran along the side of the mountain. On one side of the creek was a steep back leading up to the top of the mountain. Somewhere inside the mountain was the mine where the other workers spent their days working for the Black Wolf Guild.
Another tremble and Sarah could have sworn she felt the water shift and rise around her. A small rock rolled down the mountain and plopped into the water beside Betty. She didn’t seem to notice.
“Betty, come closer to us, there is a good spot here,” Sarah encouraged as she saw a few more rocks roll down the steep bank.
“Ok, coming,” Betty said as she walked slowly against the current towards Daphne and Sarah.
Just as Betty reached their position in the creek, a loud roar was heard above them. Suddenly, a blast of fire and rock opened a hole in the side of the mountain, sending a cascade of rocks, dust and dirt down onto the gold panners.
“Run!” Sarah shouted as she tried to move out of the creek and away from the rockslide. She grabbed Betty’s hand, who was closer and pulled her along. Daphne was lifting her legs high and running as fast as she could away from the danger. Sarah and Betty reached the creek bank and started pulling themselves up with branches, desperate to get away from the deadly boulders and rocks raining down behind them.
Sarah was just about to the top when she heard a sickening sound behind her, like a watermelon being hit with a hammer. She turned to see Daphne fall face down in the creek, blood flowing from her head.
“No!” Sarah screamed as she watched the falling rocks cover her friend. She turned and slid back down into the creek and began moving the rocks off her friend so she could clear her head of the water. The rocks were piled on her legs and back, but her upper body and head were clear. Betty came down and started moving rocks too.
“We need to get her head out of the water or she will drown,” Sarah said desperately.
“Grab her arms, we are going to pull her out,” Betty ordered, taking charge of the situation.
The two girls found Daphne’s arms and started pulling her free of the rocks. Sarah winced as she imagined the damage the rocks were doing to Daphne’s skin. They pulled until she started to emerge from under the rocks, her skin red and bleeding.
“Roll her onto her back and sit her against the bank,” Betty said as she looked at the back of Daphne’s head.
“Is she breathing?” Sarah asked.
“She would have swallowed a lot of water, we need to get it out,” Betty said as she leaned Daphne forward and tried hitting her on her back.
“Be careful of her head and neck,” Sarah said as she tried to support her.
“It’s not working,” Betty said close to tears.
Sarah sat back on her heels and thought for a moment.
“I can do it,” she whispered to herself. She focused her energy and imagined the water sitting in Daphne’s lungs, she then began pulling the water out of her lungs and finally out of her mouth.
A dribble of water came out and gave Sarah the encouragement she needed to keep going. The next time, a big mouthful of water came out and Daphne started choking and spitting.
“Quick, roll her on her side. I have her head,” Betty said.
Sarah and Betty supported Daphne as she cleared her lungs and lay gasping on the creek bank. She moaned and passed out.
“It’s ok, she is breathing. That knock on her head will need some time to heal. It’s better if she rests. Help me get her more comfortable.”
Sarah helped pull Daphne out of the cold water. Sarah had tears running down her face as she looked at the bruises and cuts all over her friend’s legs and back.
“We need to keep her warm,” Betty said in frustration.
“I’ll use my magic,” Sarah said as she used her magic to warm the creek water and gently pour it over Daphne’s legs and arms. She imagined the warm water healing her friend and soothing her wounds.
Sarah and Betty sat by Daphne and finally turned their attention to the rest of the gold panners. They could hear yelling and cries for help down the creek from them. The landslide had come down over top of the creek and parts of it were blocked with rocks and settlement.
“We should go help, others might be trapped,” Sarah said as she looked down at Daphne.
“You stay. Keep her warm and roll her on her side if she starts to throw up. It’s common for head injuries.”
Sarah looked at Betty. “How do you know so much?”
“I needed extra credits at school and took a first aid course. I guess some of it stuck,” Betty said with a smile as she stood up and looked down the creek. “Do you think anyone has made a run for it? The guards might be injured or dead.”
Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess we will find out eventually.”
Betty went downstream to help the others and Sarah continued to use her magic to run warm water over Daphne’s cuts and bruises.
Congratulations! You have unlocked a new skill. Water healing.
Sarah was thrilled. She kept running water over Daphne’s wounds and the back of her head and watched as the bruises faded and the cuts closed. Even the bump and cut on the back of her head started to heal.
This is a game changer, Sarah thought. She watched as her mana was drained, but it was worth it to heal Daphne. She was her only friend in the game, and she needed her to be ok.