The elevator rose like a bullet.
WHOOSH.
The wind screamed down the shaft. It tore at Kaelen's clothes. The miners huddled in the center of the platform, covering their heads.
"We are going too fast!" Jory yelled over the noise. "If we stop suddenly, we will turn to jelly!"
Kaelen stood at the edge. He looked down. The mines were a tiny black hole beneath them. He looked up. The light was getting brighter.
"We won't stop," Kaelen shouted back. "We will crash through."
BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.
Red lasers scanned the elevator from above.
"Unauthorized cargo detected," a mechanical voice echoed in the shaft. "Deploying Swarm."
Dark shapes detached from the walls above them. They looked like giant metal wasps. Their wings were spinning blades. Their eyes were gun barrels.
Drone Swarm.
"Get down!" Kaelen kicked Jory to the floor.
RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT.
Bullets rained down. They pinged off the metal floor of the elevator. Sparks flew everywhere. One miner screamed as a bullet grazed his arm.
There were ten drones. They buzzed around the elevator like angry flies.
Kaelen had no gun. He had no shield. He only had his madness.
He looked at a drone diving toward him.
"You think you can fly?" Kaelen yelled at it. "I don't think so."
He didn't have a weapon to throw. So, he looked at the air around the drone.
Usually, air is thin. It moves out of the way. But Kaelen focused his mind. He imagined the air was as thick as syrup. He imagined the air was solid concrete.
[SKILL ACTIVATED: LOGIC BREAKER]
[REALITY MODIFICATION: AIR DENSITY]
The drone flew into the "solid" air.
CRUNCH.
It looked like the drone hit an invisible wall. Its wings snapped. It spun out of control and smashed into the wall of the shaft.
BOOM.
One down. Nine to go.
But using his power made Kaelen stumble. Blood dripped from his nose again. He felt a sharp pain behind his eyes. He couldn't do that for every drone. He would die from brain damage first.
He needed a weapon.
He looked at the unconscious officer lying on the floor. The officer had a belt. On the belt were grenades.
Kaelen smiled. A wild, dangerous smile.
He grabbed two grenades. He didn't know how to use them properly. He just pulled the pins with his teeth.
"Catch!" Kaelen laughed.
He threw the grenades straight up into the air.
The drones were smart. Their computers calculated the path of the grenades. They moved to dodge.
"Oh no," Kaelen whispered. "You don't get to dodge."
He reached out his hand. He didn't touch the grenades. He touched the probability.
They will not miss, he told the universe. They cannot miss.
The grenades defied physics. They curved in mid-air. They followed the drones like magnets.
KA-BOOM!
A massive fireball filled the shaft. The explosion shook the elevator. Flaming pieces of metal rained down on them.
Kaelen stood in the fire rain. He didn't flinch. He felt the heat on his face, and it made him feel alive.
The elevator rushed through the smoke.
"Look!" Jory pointed up.
The shaft was ending. There was a giant metal grate covering the exit to the surface. It was thick and heavy.
"We are going to crash!" the miners screamed.
The elevator didn't slow down. It was going 100 miles per hour.
Kaelen looked at the metal grate rushing toward them.
"Break," Kaelen commanded.
He didn't punch it. He screamed at it. He poured all his rage, all his pain, and all his madness into a single shout.
"MOVE!"
The sheer force of his will hit the grate before the elevator did. The metal twisted. It groaned in fear.
CRASH.
The elevator smashed through the weakened grate. Metal flew into the sky.
They burst out of the ground.
Sunlight hit them.
But it wasn't the beautiful, warm sun Kaelen had dreamed of.
The sky was gray. The sun was a pale, sick yellow ball behind thick smog. Giant factories stretched as far as the eye could see. Smoke stacks poured black poison into the air. Flying cars zoomed on highways in the sky.
It was ugly. It was dirty. It was loud.
The elevator slammed to a halt at the surface level.
Kaelen breathed in the smoggy air. It tasted like ash. But it was free air.
[QUEST COMPLETE: ESCAPE THE UNDERGROUND]
[REWARD: LEVEL UP!]
[LEVEL: 2]
[NEW STAT POINTS AVAILABLE: 5]
Sirens wailed in the distance. Flying police cars were turning toward them.
Kaelen stepped off the platform onto the dirty concrete of the city. He looked at the endless city of steel and smoke.
"Welcome to the real world, kid," Jory whispered, looking terrified.
Kaelen cracked his knuckles.
"It's ugly," Kaelen said. "I'm going to burn it down."