The days in the cavern blurred together, each one indistinguishable from the last.
Mika knew perhaps better than anyone what isolation and fear could do to a mind.
And Anya, despite her brave face, was still just a six-year-old girl.
A timid, quiet girl who had never known true hardship or terror until the earth had opened up and swallowed her whole.
If he let her sit idle in this cold, dark place, surrounded by incompetent adults who offered nothing but disappointment, her mind would break.
She would spiral into despair. She would lose herself.
So Mika made certain that never happened from the very beginning.
---
"Anya, look what I found."
It was their third day in the cavern. Anya had been sitting with her knees pulled to her chest, staring at the glowing crystals with an expression that was far too distant for a child her age.
But at the sound of Mika's voice, she looked up, and some of the light returned to her eyes.
"What is it?"
