Knock! Knock!

"Hmm?" Lith turned to look at the door when he saw someone knock it. He tried to sense who it was that might be knocking but only to realize that he didn't have such powers here.

Lith opened the door and saw a young girl with a cute face covered in dust and wearing ragged clothes. She seemed to be in her early teens and though Lith had never seen her before, he apparently had a faint idea who she was.

The young girl, as soon as she saw Lith, tugged his clothes and said with a cute smile, "big brother, come show me the stars again."

Lith looked at her and memories he didn't even have started pouring in about this girl.

She was also a slave like him but as she was young, she wasn't made to do hard labour but was being trained to become a sex worker. She was safe for now from others as the authorities were keeping her a virgin and knew that she would be sold at a very high price.

But at the end of the day, she was still kept like a slave and lived in these slums with everyone else.

Lith was once gazing at the stars while sitting on the nearby hill and this girl found him by accident. They had a chance encounter and after learning the things she was going through, Lith gave her company and watched the stars together.

He also supported her mentally and apparently, Lith was acting like a hero and had an ambition in his mind that he would definitely save this girl from such a predicament.

Few weeks passed and after spending so much time with her, Lith had gotten closer to her and thought of her as his little sister.

He also felt that this girl was really innocent and she had done nothing wrong.

A while later, he got to know from others that her parents were murdered and she was taken by these vile people from here, eventually being prepared to be sold off for a huge sum. This boiled Lith's blood and he definitely swore to punish the people who did that to her.

As the current Lith walked with the girl, he could feel all the emotions of the past that he never had and a warm feeling crept in his heart for the girl in front.

He felt all emotions there were and they were so strong, the current Lith eventually forgot that he had just met her and started acting as if he knew her for ages.

The two went and saw the stars again and after that was done, Lith went to get his daily ration.

In the line, Lith met a new guy. It was a boy, the same age as Lith, and apparently, he was really good friends with Lith and would always save a spot for Lith in the line.

As if knowing everything, Lith blended well and started talking with the boy as they stood in the queue to get their rations.

The two joked and had fun together momentarily until the guards lashed Lith's back with a whip and yelled,

"How dare you waste time with idle chit chat! Fucking take the food and get the fuck lost!"

Lith's mood turned for the worse and he simply nodded emotionlessly and left.

After he was away, his friend from the queue came to him and the two went to a secluded area to have their dinner.

Coming to a private area, the boy said with a sad expression, "I am so sorry, you got hit because of me. I am really very sorry."

He started apologizing.

Lith ate a piece of bread and said waving his head, "don't fret."

The boy then said looking in the direction of the guards, "I'll really fucking beat them when I have the chance and burn this place to the ground. I'll fucking take revenge for everything they've done one day for sure!"

Lith didn't reply and simply ate his food.

The boy then went to tell his ambitions of wanting to take both him and Lith out of this hellhole and get some place far away.

Lith could tell that he cared for him a lot. He understood that this guy was probably his best friend.

Once again, a warm feeling crept in his heart as he found someone who thought in such interests of him.

After a bit more of talking, Lith left the place.

He spent the night in his cold run down shack. It was as uncomfortable as always as he didn't have anything soft to lay upon but simply the ground.

The next day, he repeated the same things and nothing much happened on a day to day basis.

Lith was careful to not make mistakes so that he didn't get hit and he also ensured to lay low and blend with the crowd. He did nothing extraordinary that may catch anyone's attention.

One day, as he was in the queue waiting to get ration, he did end up laughing a bit at his best friend's joke and was about to get hit by a whip when the best friend jumped in and took the hit himself.

The crowd gasped as this happened because they knew this guy fucked up. Begging to not punish someone or becoming a hindrance for someone's punishment was a serious crime.

Lith also knew about it.

The guy was really cursed by the guards and they beat him half to death for committing such a low level crime.

Lith watched it and he felt pained. But he also felt really warm in his heart because of such a gesture from this dude.

Lith swore to bring justice to him and just like that, the days continued to pass.

As it was a dream, time passed without Lith feeling much stuff or having to do monotonous stuff.

Soon, Lith ended up collecting information that there was apparently said to be a treasure hidden inside the mine that many were searching for. It couldn't be removed with magic and needed manual labour, thus everyone's cultivation was sealed and they were made to be like mortals and mine slowly.

Knowing about this made Lith get a hint that this might be the key to end this dream. Though he now cared for two people and hated one person in this place.

The little girl and his best friend were someone he cared about and the young kid that was hitting Lith was someone he didn't like.

No matter what Lith did, he would get hit by the little kid everyday for some or the other reason.

Lith also got to learn that the kid was some officer's child. The officer abused the child by sending him to the ladies in the higher ups and making him a toy of theirs during the night. And at the day, he would send the boy to the mines to make him keep an eye out on the slaves.

The officer would simply enjoy himself all day and night long with the money he got from his child and that was about it for him.

The child would take all his frustration out on Lith and the other slaves and that was the story of him.

That aside, Lith didn't care much about the kid and just bore the brunt of his lashes.

Days passed with him continuing with this monotonous life.

Finally, Lith ended up finishing with a plan he was formulating for so long.

He was working in silence since day one to get out of this dream and was finding a way to crack the code to the exit.

Although he was swayed a lot by emotions and felt great attachments to this place, with the little girl and his best friend, he knew he had to part ways with them and get out of here.

The miners were really close to getting to the so-called treasure and Lith came to the conclusion that the way out must be related to this place.

He infiltrated the scouting batch through many hardships and once he was there, he lay low and silently worked. They mined everyday and Lith knew that once any hint of the treasure was there, the officials would arrive and the scouting batch may get killed.

Lith thus hurried and soon when he found the trace of the treasure's path, he hopped in it silently and left the other scouts behind.

Lith soon hurried to the treasure and in his path, he found many riddles, puzzles, and codes that needed to get cracked.

But thanks to him having a high intelligence, he worked hard and preserved.

He made his way towards the treasure and as he got closer, things were becoming more difficult. But then the young girl and his best friend's faces popped in his head and he realised how much they would suffer if Lith didn't find this treasure.

He also was aware that this was a dream but his heart made him want to get those people justice, even if it might be in a dream.

Lith also wanted to take revenge. He wanted to kill those guards who hit his best friend and the officer who was making his child work like this and had him hit Lith everyday.

He wanted to annihilate the whole organization and get himself and the people he was close with justice.

Finally, after much perseverance, Lith cracked all codes, solved all puzzles and riddles and got to the treasure.

As he was there, he got hit by a will of an old man and from him, he understood that this treasure was an inheritance of some strong cultivator.

He rejoiced and took the inheritance. He finally had the power to annihilate the whole organization.

As he went out of the mines and was now about to do just that, the space around him turned dark and a divine fairy-like being stood in front of him and said softly,

"Child"

.....

A/N: Happy New Year's Eve everyone and I hope you all end the year with a banger!