Today was Icarus' first day as a common citizen. He removed the last of his Imperial markings, and he did not recognize himself in the mirror. No more fancy clothes, no more having to act a certain way, no more being restricted by an Imperial code. He felt happy, happier than when he had first met Melena. However, this happiness also came with sadness. He was forced to abandon his parents, Helene, and Bertha, one of his dearest friends. Though he also thought of this as a learning experience. For he would get to live and work amongst the citizens of his city and country, figure out what he could do for them when he returns to his throne. Icarus was pulled away from his future planning when Atlas shouted up the stairs for him to hurry up.
Atlas stood at the bottom of the landing, waiting for the Emperor in hiding to hurry up. When Icarus finally came downstairs, the two of them said goodbye to Sydney and headed off to the coal mines. Now that it was bright out Atlas could see that Sydney's store was close to the docks, which was something he had forgotten about. They easily made their way down the cobbled road since it was so early in the morning, and eventually arrived at the mines. The other workers were also arriving and Atlas could see Icarus' shocked and/or horrified expression. There were children working in these mines. Most of them looked like walking skeletons because they were so thin and coal dust still smeared on their faces showed off the cheekbones and sunken faces from lack of food. Atlas jabbed him in the ribs and hissed, "Keep calm. If you let this faze you everyone will know something is up." Icarus gulped and closed his mouth, then they proceeded to Mine Manager. The Mine Manager was a very round looking man, with a tomato shaped nose and a ridiculous looking mustache. The Manager looked at the two and grimaced at them. "So you're the new workers, eh?" His voice was irritating and laced with self importance. Although he hated people like this (he hated most people actually), Atlas smiled and tried to be as polite as possible, although he showed with his tone that he would not be taking any shit from this man, and if this man tried to, Atlas' tone was sure to imply that he could rip this overgrown pig of a person in two. The Mine Manager introduced himself as Mr. Fergus, and asked for their names. Atlas gave his name as Kirk, and introduced the Emperor as Henry. Mr. Fergus assigned them to be miners and quickly explained the process of it. Down into the mines they went...
It was extremely hot and unbearable down there. Poor ventilating systems, and there was so much water that it came up to Icarus' thighs. Although Atlas had told him to keep calm about this, Icarus was anything but that. He hated seeing children no taller than his elbow being forced to push carts overflowing with coal and even smaller children working the ventilating shafts. There were also women workers down here, some were even pregnant. He heard of a pregnant lady down in level 9 giving birth this morning then forced to return to work. It made him sick to his stomach that he had been unaware of all of this. It broke his heart to see all of this, and it got worse when three people dropped dead from being overworked. Two of them had been children; one of twelve years, the other no more than seven. He thought that this must be what hell is like. No wonder Atlas had said "This place breaks many people." Speaking of Atlas, he seemed to be completely unfazed by any of this, which worried Icarus, until he remembered that the mercenary was most likely used to being in situations like this. When the lunch break rolled around the dead were finally brought up and put in a cart and taken away. Anyone who hadn't brought their own lunch had been given small loaves of bread, though most of it had gone stale. Icarus wasn't hungry (especially after being down in the mines), so he gave his bread to one of the children. They needed it more than he did. After about 15 minutes they went back down into the mines...
End of part 5: The Mines of Hell.
