Solum: Arise from Dirt and Ashes

Oh, today is the day! I've waited for so long, and now it's here! I raced down the hall, my pace slowed when I got to my objective. My run was now a steady walk. Today is finally the day I turn twelve and get to see the outside world! I've only heard talk of the surface from the warriors who guard our cave's entrance. They talked about the wind and sun, the grass and the trees, and how every once in awhile the sun would go away and another cooler, dimmer one would show its face. They also would talk about the dangers of surface, dragons, hydras, lions with wings, tigers with three heads, the list gets bigger each day. I don't know exactly what these monsters are, I haven't been to the outside world yet.

        I opened my parents' bedroom just enough to let me peak into the room. I slid my body past the doorway sliver I made for my self. I crept closer to the bed where two bodies slept. I called to one of them from a distance.

"Dad..." I whispered,"Dad, wake up!"

I watched him stir in his sleep, groaning, and then shifting into yet another slumber. I tip-toed closer carefully, so I wouldn't wake my mother whom slept next to him. I reached out and grabbed his shoulder that was covered by the blanket and shook him. This time he responded.

"Whaddyawant?" he mumbled, still half asleep.

"Don't you remember?" I asked,"Today's the day you promised that you would show me the surface!"

"Shh..." He sat up in his bed, his beard still noticeably jet black, even in the darkened room. His grey eyes skimmed the room and stopped on the side of the granite bed that belonged to his soul-mate. His eyes found their way back to me, he gave me a look signaling his concern of my mother's rest.

"Alright" he continued in a hushed, but friendly tone,"I'll be ready in a minute. Get breakfast going."

I turned and left him to get dressed, closing the door and starting for the kitchen.

Making breakfast wasn't hard, easy enough for me, considering that all I had to open the front door to our dorm-cave and receive the family's daily rations. The food in our tribe's cave low, most due to the fact that there where many families who had to share the space in it. I opened the door and found a bag of nuts, a half loaf of bread, and a small bag of berries of all shapes and sizes. Since we had only a family of three, me, my father, and my mother, we got less food than the others. My dad told me that we had less mouths to feed that the others, so it was only fair. That was a reasonable answer, so I didn't question it further. I plucked a raspberry from the bag and chewed it while I carried the rest supplies into our home.

The air was feeling a little chilly this morning so I decided to wear heavier attire. I wore my worn-out leather boots, baggy leather pants, one of my dad's old work jackets, and my lucky bandanna that I hung around my neck. The reason why we had so much leather clothing was because our tribe had a hard time find anything else. Every once in awhile the surface guards would spot a traveling trader and buy some materials like cotton and silk with the jewels they dig up at the mines. Then when the guards had the materials they would turn around and jack up the prices, so only the rich families would have comfy cloths... but I really didn't mind the duds I had on.

My train of thought was interrupted by the closing of a door behind me. I turned my body toward a stocky, elderly man. His fur was a smoky metallic dye, his underbelly fur opposed both his beard and his primary coat color; stunning white with almost a shiny affect to it. He stood a below average height of five and a half paws, just a paw taller than me... I'm not far from my growth spurts though, I'll pass him. He is only forty-two, but the mines have taken their toll on him, giving him a more wrinkled look to his dirty face, all the miners had this look to them but nopup had wore it better than my dad, he is the oldest of the miners. He wore his usual working overalls with his diamond-tipped glove, to protected his over-worked paw.

"What did they give us today?" he asked while smiling at the food.

"The same thing we get everyday, dad." I stated. I've heard this joke a hundred times before but the old man never seem to get tired of his own joke.

"Haha, That's just great, I never cared for change." He chuckled a little then took a chair next to me,"Are you excited to see the outside world, pup?"

"You kidding me? I've been counting down the days!" I replied lifting myself from my seat a tad.

He laughed again and then reached into his pocket,"I've got something for you." he said with a smile.

"Huh?" He had caught my interest, making me lean forward to get a better look at what he had.

"Happy birthday, Solum." with that he retracted his paw and showed a glimpse of the dark object. He set the present down on the stone table and pushed it closer to me. I picked it up and examined it closer. It was a knife, it's round handle poking out from it's holster. I grabbed for the handle, my paw still a little small to grab the whole thing, and pulled it from it's case. The blade stood at around six inches, the double edged masterpiece shimmered in my paw.

"W-wow!" I choked out.

"You like it?" He gave a smirk, already knowing the answer.

"Of course! But how did you get something like this?" I said, still looking at the blade in awe.

"I won it from a guard in a poker game," he paused to laugh,"He was not the happiest dog in the world."

"This is too much, thank you, dad." I leaned toward him and gave the old man a hug.

"Aww, it's nothing. Here, you can strap it right a crossed your leg." He stood me up and started to tie the straps of the knife's holster around my leg,"Now remember, this isn't a toy. It's very sharp and can hurt you or someone else very easily. I don't want to hear anything about you attacking any of our pack-mates with this, okay?"

"I understand, dad." I puffed up my chest a bit, my chin followed.

"Good." He replied in a low growl.

With that we finished our meals in a peaceful silence. When we were done, we cleaned up the mess of our scrapes and met up by the front door of our dorm-cave.

"Ready?" My dad asked.

"Yep." I replied quickly.

He opened the door and stepped out. I follow after him, shifting my body inward so I could close the door behind us. With a click of the door's handle, we were off.