Jared Mandani [Mandani - Factory Core

Factory Core

The Dwarven Secret Weapon

By Jared Mandani

Factory Core is 2019 by Jared Mandani

This book is a work of fiction, and any similarity to persons, institutions, or places living, dead, or otherwise still shambling is entirely coincidental.

Thanks for purchasing this book. Happy reading!

We shouldnt have mined this deep, muttered Dombur, pushing his brass-rimmed goggles up onto his forehead and wiping the dripping mud from his chubby jowls. He shut down his steam-powered rock-blaster drill. Theres something beyond this wall of rock something that I have a very bad feeling about.

Ambrekwho at the tender age of thirty-eight was far younger than the eighty-seven-year-old foreman Domburglared at the older dwarf through his own brass-rimmed goggles. Those were double glazed, with the space between layers of glass laced with a type of phosphorous that provided illumination and allowed the dwarves to see in the inky blackness of the darkest spaces beneath the earth.

Whats beyond the wall is mithril! said Ambrek, his eyes aflame inside the bubbles of the gogglesand not just from the green glow of the phosphorous. All that other stuff is just superstition. Stop worrying about made-up monsters; theres nothing but rock and minerals this far down! And do I need to remind you just how valuable those minerals are and how much gold were going to have when we retrieve them from the depths? Now come on, lets get back to drilling!

Like Dombur, Ambrek was covered in dust from pulverizing the rocks with their rock-blasterssteam-powered drills and jackhammers with mithril tips that could smash through any rock or stone. Domburs mining company had bought the rights to mine this shaftwhich had been abandoned for over a thousand yearsfrom the Dwarven King, Odok-Kram, an ambitious ruler who had overturned a number of laws that had banned the mining of certain ancient shafts. The oldest dwarves, those old hands who had lived past the age of two hundred, had warned the mining companies against tunneling this deep. Their great-great-great grandfathers had passed down tales of terrifying, unnamed things that dwelled in the deepest depths of the earth but over time these stories had passed from fact to fiction, and were now regarded by mostespecially young dwarves like Ambrekas pure myth and superstition.

Even so, over the last few days of drilling and tunneling, the team of miners had started to hear things in the dark; they had begun to feel as if there was a presence in the shadows A malevolent presence. Aside from the intense heat and the claustrophobic nature of the space, there was something else, something they couldnt put their fingers on Something that scared them, and had them waking up from terrifying nightmares in cold sweats.

A few of the older hands, like Dombur, had started to get pretty shaken-up, jumping at the slightest noises, and grumbling about stories their great-grandfathers had told them. And ever since the day before last, Dombur and a handful of other older dwarves had started to suggest cutting their losses and abandoning the project altogether.

The driving ambition of the younger dwarves like Ambrek, however, pushed them on. Ambrek could smell that mithril was near he could almost taste it. And he wasnt about to let any superstitious old-timer prevent him from making his fortune.

We should stop, muttered Dombur, shaking his head. Through the darkness, Ambrek could see Domburs face quite clearly with his phosphorous-enhanced goggles. And there was an unmistakable look of fear on that pudgy, heavily-bearded face. I dont want to go on. This was this was all a mistake, Ambrek. We should just stop and go home.

No, snarled Ambrek, driven by the potency of his greed.

While Ambrek was younger than Dombur, his father owned the mining company, and this gave the younger dwarf the kind of authority that would usually be reserved for senior dwarves. Whatever he said was what the others had to follow.

Put your goggles back on, and turn your rock-blaster back on, he said coldly to Dombur. Now.

Dombur winced and slowly shook his head, but he knew he had no choice. He pulled his goggles back down over his eyes, and was about to start up his rock-blaster, when a strange, unearthly sound echoed through the tunnel. It was like a scream, a howl, a shriek and a roar all rolled into one and it scared the heck out of the miners.

What the hell was that? yelled one of the older dwarves from the back.

Nothing! roared Ambrek. It was nothing! Now turn on your rock-blasters and go!

Before fear and panic could gain momentum, Ambrek turned his own rock-blaster on and gritted his teeth as he started jackhammering the wall of rock in front of him. Bits of rock and stone flew out in clouds of debris as the steam-powered rock-blaster tore through the earth. Reluctantly, the other miners also started up their tools and began pulverizing the rock, tunneling deeper and deeper into the ground.

The heat was beginning to become unbearable now; all of them were drenched with sweat, and the air itself felt as if it was becoming difficult to breathe in. There was a strange smell that seemed to permeate the atmosphere as well sulfurous. And the scent of smoke, and fire.

Inside his chest, Domburs heart was pounding. Not from exertion, but from a deep, debilitating fear. He couldnt explain it, but it was getting more and more intense, to the point where it felt as if it would paralyze him completely. Panting and gasping and shaking, he dropped his rock-blaster onto the dirt.

I cant go on, he gasped. We have to stop this is a mistake.

I said no! roared Ambrek from the front as he continued to pulverize the rock wall. We arent going to

Suddenly a sheet of rock gave way in front of him, and Ambrek disappeared with a scream into the thick cloud of smoke that billowed out of the hole. All of the dwarves froze, rooted to the spot with shock. And then, from inside the smoke-belching hole, they heard Ambrek scream again but this time it was a howl of intense agony.

Blood sprayed out of the hole, and then Ambreks severed head came hurtling through it.

As the head bounced along the rock floor, the other miners watched it roll to a stop in pure shock and terror.

Run, Dombur managed to gasp through his paralyzing fear. Run you fools, RUN!

As the miners threw down their tools and tried to scramble for the exit, though, the smoke from the hole started to clear, and light blazed into the mining shaftan evil orange and red glow, the glow of inferno. And then something else emerged from the hole.

Dombur stared in sheer horror at the demon as it pulled its body through the gap in the rock. Its skin was scaly and blood-red; its potently-muscular body four times that of a large dwarf, and easily twice the size of a human warrior. Its face was like that of a mans, but twisted and distorted in proportion, with a huge hinged jaw that opened up like a snakes, to reveal a long black worm-like tongue, and a mouth full of black, shiny, dagger-sized teeth. On its back were two leathery red wings, like those of a dragon, and on its hands were long, sickle-shaped claws.

The most terrifying thing about the creature, however, was its eyes: they were pure black, darker than any darkness Dombur had ever witnessed, even in the deepest mining shafts, miles below the surface of the earth.

The demon stared at Dombur for a few moments as the other dwarves ran screaming up the shaft. Then, with a terrifying roar, the demon was on him.

It had been fourteen months since the demons had broken through into the Dwarven Realm. Or, rather, since the greed of the dwarves had unleashed the demons from their subterranean prison. During that time, the Dwarven Clans of the Northern Below World had united to fight the scourge of the Demonic Horde, but the war had been going badly; the Dwarves had been beaten back by the seemingly unstoppable might of the demons, who had both numbers and strength on their side.