The Seven Guardians

Chapter 15

- Hey! Second part of the last chapter here, let's get right into this!

Warning: Blood, violence, swearing

Enjoy!

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What Lies Beneath
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Once his body was fiercely shoved into the weightless sensation of free fall, another terrified scream tore from Seto's throat as the darkness below completely swallowed him. The dim daylight above was nothing more than a dot, quickly shrinking. Darkness growing. Oh god, he was falling, he was falling, he was falling!

True terror ignited like a striking match to a river of gasoline, Seto could only watch with wide eyes and a frozen heart as he continued to plummet toward the endless bottom of the abyss. A thousand thoughts were whirling through his mind, spinning, raging.
He was going to die.

Fortunately, fate thought otherwise.

Seto's echoing scream suddenly ended with a breathless gasp as his body fiercely lurched in midair, a strong force clamping tightly around his form. Seto felt his head press against a hard chest, the cold armor sharp against his skin as Sky's arms wrapped firmly around his back and knees with the solidity of iron.

Grunting and heaving, Sky rebounded off the wall of rock beside them, using his legs as a spring board as he jumped off each surrounding wall, redistributing their momentum into his jumps to hopefully gain a softer landing. After a few seconds of nothing but wind and Sky's grunts of intense movement filling his ears, Seto felt himself crash onto the hard ground as Sky lost his balance upon impact and sent both of them tumbling into stone.

Groaning, Sky slowly pushed himself up off the ground and rolled his shoulder, his back taking the brunt of the impact once he had turned while midair so that Seto wouldn't take the hit. Ignoring the aching pain blooming in his upper back, the Guardian turned around, his eyes resting on the dark silhouette of Seto lying on the ground. A ball of soft yellow light sparking to life in his hand, Sky kneeled down beside the sorcerer who hadn't moved.

"Seto?" he concernedly asked, gently setting a hand on the boy's shoulder. He leaned closer. "Are you alright?"

"Hnngh," came the simple muffled response.

Lightly frowning, Sky quickly checked over the sorcerer's body for any sight or sign of injury. His limbs were fine, his head was fine, his back was fine, no visible blood or sight of pain. The man gently grabbed his wrist, and besides a rapid pulse and a slight shake that was probably induced by a sudden surge of adrenaline, Seto looked okay.

"Are you sure?"

Turning his head to the side, still lying on his stomach, Seto let out a small whine. "Give me a minute."

Knowing all too well the feeling of glancing too closely at death, Sky pursed his lips and nodded. "Of course."

A glint catching in the corner of his eye, Sky turned and bent down, grabbing the thin silver crown that had fallen off of its owner. Raising his other hand closer, Sky eyed the small, intricate lines engraved in the base of the shining silver.

"Sorcerer's crown," he muttered, squinting his eyes. He blinked as he spotted a peculiar symbol in between the braided rope lining the bottom. An oddly familiar symbol that couldn't quite click in his head yet. "This...this is a crest? Hm..."