Good One

"Look Micah, I found a stone."

The mic crackled a little and he said back, in a cautiously optimistic tone peculiar to this kind of situation, "Is it... a good one?"

"Um yep, I think so. It's got the right color to it and it has a decent weight to it."

The voice at the other end seemed to mutter a quiet prayer of thanksgiving. They'd been searching so long, they'd mined so deep, peering and prodding, breaking and blasting the stones far below the surface. They needed a Brightstone, and a good one. The city far above them was besieged by a force far greater than they could ever have hoped to defeat, and the city had long ago run out of power for its larger weaponry. The strong walls would hold off the attackers as long as the men had the strength to man the battlements. But they knew they were fighting a losing battle against a force that knows neither rest nor abatement, time itself.

The miners of the city were as hungry as the rest, but unlike the others they had a plan. With enough power the city would blaze again, its weapons would be able to unleash an unexpected and possibly unprecedented barrage upon their foes. The attackers grew weary, and their boldness under the eyes of the watchmen was galling. Their weapons were next to useless, knives and pitchforks, and a few archaic gunpowder weapons. Many a citizen cursed the day they had discarded their old arms in favor of the new energy weapons. But curse was all they could do.

At first the miners had manned the walls along with the rest, but they quickly saw the fruitlessness of the task. They knew that there was still a chance of salvation, but they dared not breathe it to the hopeless people. The miners had little hope themselves, but occupation took its place.

But here, far underground, not in the deepest but in one of the old, shallower tunnels, a stone had been found. And it was a good one.

The miner held it in his hand, its bluish light twinkling over the rough walls. That light would soon sear the very air it passed through, and their enemies would feel their vengeance.