Pickaxe

Chapter 1-Creeper

  Lyell leaned against the cold, rock wall behind him, gripping the handle of his pickaxe tightly. He held his breath trying to listen for the slightest noise. He began to mentally count to ten over and over again in the dead silence until he was positive the creeper was finally gone.

Lyell scolded himself for being so careless, mining so close to the abandoned shafts. One of the number one rules for mining was stay away from abandoned shafts Since many strange animals liked to make their homes inside of them.

He thanked his guardian angel, that he had seen the creeper coming otherwise he might have gotten caught by it. Regaining confidence, he lifted up the head and on his forehead which was slipped down light and he began fumbling for some matches in his pocket. When his fingers grabbed the small packet, he began to light the candle on his helmet.

After lighting his candle, he threw away the still lit match and began to look around. He recognised he had climbed down into the least explored area of the mine. Now the mine wasn't a classic man-made mine but was actually rather a very large deep cave. So when he looked up he could make out small beam of sunlight coming from the main entrance. He could also make out one of the lights from one of his fellow miners. Using his pickaxe, he began to climb up. He had only gone up a few feet when he heard a noise from above him.

"Oh save me." he said.

Turns out the creeper hadn't gone too far and was now looking down at its victim, mouth hanging open. The moment Lyell had looked up, the creeper realised it had been spotted and leap down. Lyell tried using his pickaxe to evade the creature but missed and felt its large clammy front arms around his neck and shoulders.

He let out a shout off pain as he and the creeper fell onto a cliff hanger. The creeper having very rubbery bones was unaffected and began squeezing Lyell, who kicked around wildly trying to free himself.

Just then, right when felt his shoulder bones begin to crack, a loud cry echoed in the air. A  small, black figure leaped out of the shadows onto the back of the creeper.

"Oleo!" Lyle exclaimed as the small black demon-pixie struck the creeper with his pickaxe. The monster released Lyell to focus on the new threat. However the creeper didn't last long against its new opponent. In a matter of a few moments the demon pixie had managed to get his pickaxe into the eye of the creature leaving it lifeless on the ground.

"Didn't think you were so good at dramatic entrances." Lyell said wincing as he got up.

"You really think so? Glad you liked it." Oleo smiled. He was around the size of a 14-year-old human, his skin was a dark shade of grey his eyes were pure white with a thin black slit in the middle. Unlike Lyell, who wore simple work shirt, and brown trousers, Oleo wore a black shirt with a hoodie over his head. The rest of his clothing was blacks well, making his form of fashion stand out a lot.

"What is going on? Are you two okay?" A thickly accented. accented voice asked. A large burly man climb down to Lyell and Oleo.

"We're alright, Paul." Lyell said rubbing shoulders" Just had a little creeper problem but nothing we couldn't handle."

"Alright then." Paul said scratching his sideburns "You two better get back to the exit. Sun is going down."

"Alright." Oleo said. As Paul began to leave Oleo turn to Lyle "Why was there a creeper chasing you in the first place?"

"I guess I went a little too close to one of the old shafts."Lyell rubbed the back of his neck feeling a little stupid at the moment.

"We're getting that desperate huh?" Oleo patted his friend on the back. "Murk-stone really seems to be getting harder to find on here."

Lyell nodded, Murk stone was a special black gem that they were mining for. The gem's popularity has skyrocketed after some blacksmith discovered when made into a sword it was one of the strongest and sharpest weapons on the battlefield. So when Edward, a friend of Lyell's father, discovered murk stone in a cave up in the mountains, he stacked a claim on the land. Then gathered a small group of men to help in mine the gem.

"Well we better go."Oleo said sliding his pickaxe into a sheet on his back "Hey, what do you think Edward will think of the fact, I killed a creeper?" He asked.

However before Lyell could respond the demon-pixie had, at a unnatural speed, scaled up the rock wall into the shadows

Lyell rolled his eyes "I'm sure Ol' Ed will be very happy." Relighting his candle, he began to climb.