Page 24 of Fated to the Dragon Alien

Three cycles. It shouldn’t have been enough time to miss anyone like this, but she couldn’t help it.

She knew the signs of getting attached. That hollow sting in her chest when she passed the central walkway and he wasn’t there. The need she felt to look over her shoulder every time boots echoed behind her like maybe, just maybe, the sound would stop beside her. But he never stopped. Not anymore.

Still, she caught his eyes more times than she allowed herself to admit. Always a flash of something buried behind that calm, flawless mask. Regret. Hunger. Something he didn’t dare say out loud. Something that matched what twisted low in her stomach every time they locked eyes.

But feelings didn’t change facts. He still ran the mine. She still served her sentence. And wanting him—worse, missing him—didn’t make it safer to need him.

Cerani blew out a sharp breath and turned back to the wall, forcing her gaze onto the narrow crystal seam. Her tool dug in, scraping through the brittle layer that flaked too fast beneath the surface. Focus. That’s what she needed. Just finish the shift. Get the quota. Get out. She shifted her footing and leaned into the next stroke.

The rock under her boots vibrated. She paused, thinking it was just a fleeting motion she’d imagined—until the ground rolled a second time. The rock didn’t tremble so much as moan. A low sound, deep in the spine of the tunnel. Cerani froze mid-reach, the shard of basian crystal locked between her gloves.

She dropped to a crouch and braced without thinking. The mine moved again—this time harder. A snap echoed through the shaft. Dust poured from the ceiling in thick sheets, and her wrist panel blinked red as the whole tunnel groaned under the weight.

She’d felt tremors before. The kind the system flagged with a casual warning—“Seismic ripple: E-ventilation unaffected.”

This was not another tremor.

“Jorr?” she said.

He was already standing. “This feels bad.”

The floor gave another pulse. She caught herself against the wall with her palm, and her breath snagged in her chest. She didn’t have time to reply.

Then it came.

A roar, somewhere far, but close enough. The sound folded in on itself—less like thunder and more like steel snapping. Not one strike. Multiple. Long, grinding crashes like the mine was caving in from the gut out.

Cerani turned toward the shaft exit just as the platform under them dropped slightly. It jerked back into position, too fast for stabilizers to kick in. A chunk of rock cracked off from above. Dust exploded from the ceiling.

“Move!” Jorr shouted.

Cerani crouched |instinctively, covering her head as gravel and stones poured down like sharp rain. The light fixture dangling above them sparked once, then went out. A fine cloud of powdered stone swept into the narrow space, thick enough to choke on.

Her EP suit’s light system blinked on and illuminated her immediate surroundings with cold, thin light.

She dropped the scraper and pressed herself against the wall, arms over her head, pressing into a support beam like it could protect her from a mine that wanted to eat itself.

“Jorr!” she shouted, coughing hard as dust scraped down her throat. “Where are you?”

His reply was a ragged cry, somewhere behind her, but the tunnel had shifted. Sound echoed wrong now—bounced back too soon, like the walls had narrowed.

Another tremor rolled under her boots. Then a crunch. Very close.

Cerani turned fast, eyes burning behind her suit display—and then a rock came down. She didn’t even hear it land, just felt the blow.

Pain ripped through her lower leg as stone crashed beside her, pinning her from the knee down. Her helmet thunked back against the wall.

“Fek!” she hissed.

Her air filter hissed as the system compensated for the rising dust. Her entire calf throbbed, but she was still conscious. Still breathing, for now. If the tremors didn’t stop, if the whole shaft didn’t hold…

Cerani didn’t let herself look up at the ceiling just yet.

She tapped the emergency beacon on her wrist panel with shaking fingers, but her screen showed no signal. The mine collapses always took the network first. That meant she was on her own until the surface reconnected command.

“Jorr!” she yelled again.

No answer.

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