Ava is an object lesson in why most slavers deal in creatures that are weaker than themselves.

Taken at a young age from the survivors of a raid on her hometown, Ava's childhood was one of pain, of objectification, and woe as she was dragged halfway across the continent to be auctioned off, eventually sold to a mining company hoping to make use of her tremendous strength once she matured.

The child was receptive, taking to the manual labor like a fish to water. For many years, she worked dilligently, clearing debris, moving boulders, setting the foundations for deeper mining. With no one to guide her but her masters and fellow slaves, she developed little ambition, little direction, and learned to keep her woes to herself.

Then one day, while working late, she broke through a wall and found herself in the middle of a gigantic cavern. Exploration of this cavern revealed a network of tunnels that had not been on the plans for this mineshaft.
Ava was transfixed. She'd seen exactly one place like this in her life, in the form of the home she had been taken from.

This cavern lacked any traces of civilization, but it felt natural, homey. She suddenly felt as though leaving this place would have been painful, and so she decided to just stay for a while.

It wasn't long before her masters grew wary of their missing slave, and soon sent a party to find her. Her path was easy to follow, but when they made it into her tunnels, she was gone, having vanished into the network. It took hours to track the girl down, and when they did, they found her sleeping, blending into the stone, virtually undetectable to the human eye.

The master's punishment for runaways was harsh, and they weren't interested in Ava's excuses, drawing their weapons and preparing to maim her.

As their blades pierced her flesh, however, Ava was hit by a wave of perspective. The years of mistreatment could only beat so much reason out of her. The simple fact was, she was no longer a child, and these tiny creatures no longer held any power over her.

With a few violent blows, she crushed her pursuers and dragged their remains deeper into the tunnels she now resolved to call home.

Perspective, however, was not a one time thing. She had taken the first steps of rebellion. She had power - she'd always had it. And now she had an opportunity. The tunnels, she found, stretched all over the township. If she could only find where the masters called home, she could bring their entire world crashing down beneath them...

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