Golden Slumbers

Chapter 3

Hunter sighed through his mask, the cold wind of Latissa piercing through his uniform. He glanced down at the map Belos had given him. The Emperor had made his instructions clear. Find the circled location, capture the mystical bird residing there, and return. Simple, impossible to mess up.

Terrace Cavern. Previously used for mining fuel, it was infamous in Latissa for the countless deaths and injuries that the steep, tumbling cliffs had caused.

He folded the map and sauntered towards the scouts he had taken with him to the cavern.

"Scouts," he addressed the group. "The cavern's walls are too steep to climb down. The plan is for me to fly ahead and find a safe place to get the rest of you down."

The scouts nodded, a few of them peering timidly into the cavern's opening they were situated next to.

"I'll try to be quick, but if you don't hear from me in 15 minutes, send one of you in."

They nodded again as Hunter stood at the edge of Terrace Cavern.

You can do this, Hunter. You have to. Just... don't die! You've made it this far so you can't quit now, Hunter thought to himself.

He counted down in his head, sitting on his artificial staff. He closed his eyes and flew into the cavern.

Almost immediately, the entrance fell away and Hunter was met with a pitch black cliff instead. Using the light from his staff, he lowered himself into the cavern, passing abandoned mining supplies and, more unsettlingly, skeletons as he went.

He eventually reached the bottom of the cavern and, still, it was nearly impossible to see anything outside of the dim red light his staff produced.

So much for only needing 15 minutes.

He listened to the stone walls surrounding him. Dripping water, the faint conversations of the scouts above, and... talking. Hunter was sure this talking was closer and more high pitched than the scouts.

Keeping his footsteps light and soundless, he maneuvered his way through the musty cavern and towards the voices.

"Do you hear something?" A voice said, suddenly much closer than Hunter thought they were. He heard a group of people stopping to listen, their feet scuffing the dust on the floor.

He stopped and covered his staff with his cloak. Hunter peered around the corner and saw none other than the Owl Lady, her rat, and the youngest Blight, illuminated by the human and her light glyphs.

Dammit, Hunter thought, why are they always trying to ruin my missions.

"I think you're going crazy, kid," the Owl Lady laughed, ruffling the Blight's lavender hair.

"I'm serious, Eda! We have to be careful, we don't know what could be living down here."

"Cool it, Boots. If something goes wrong we have Harpy Eda to protect us!"

Hunter rolled his eyes as the Owl Lady held her staff up in triumph.

"Luuuuuuz," the rat groaned. "How much further? My tiny legs can't take this much longer!"

The human laughed. "Shouldn't be too much further according the Philip's handy dandy map." She let the rat crawl up onto her shoulders.

Hunter was relieved his palisman wasn't on this mission. Now he would be able to follow the group and snatch the bird before they did! Though, the Blight still seemed suspicious. He retreated back behind the cavern wall.

Hunter continued to follow them, hoping the scouts would be too cowardly to follow him into the cavern. He kept a close eye on the Blight who was still glancing around every few seconds as if she expected something (or someone) to attack them at any moment.