Does It Matter

12

  Qiling awoke with a slight groan, looking around blearily in an attempt to remember where he was, but all he saw was dark, in all directions, he rubbed his eyes in confusion, had he gone blind?

He felt around for his sword, not finding it anywhere on his person, he grew desperate and began crawling to feel for it along the ground. Stone, the ground was all stone, with what felt like carvings of runes. A sacrificial ground? Finally his anxious hands found his sword, and he attempted to yank it back to himself, only to find it resisting as if it was attached to something. He felt further along the length of the sword and found it was tied to something soft.

Did I have a bag with me perhaps?

He felt further and found that it was breathing, ever so slightly, and he flinched back.

What?

He heard a moan of pain and the thing sounded like it was attempting to move around a bit. 

  A quiet click was heard and then the area was illuminated. "Qiling?"

  He looked at the thing attached to his sword and saw a face just behind the light.

  Perfect features looked back at him, bright brown eyes glazed over with pain and the confusion of waking up in a strange place.

The person attempted to push himself into a sitting position and cried out, collapsing back to the floor.
 
   Memories flashed through Qilings mind, giving him a headache. An older man, bald with spectacles, offering him a deal. A target being mentioned, or someone to look after? The man hadn't been clear on that. A jungle, a fire, a younger man, clumsy, no he was actually really capable, he lead the older man into a trap. He followed the younger man. The tunnel collapsed. A knife being pointed at him. Did he throw one at him too? Yes it almost hit him. Tree roots? He carried the younger. He ran. He used his sword as a splint. Ah. That's why his sword was attached to this guy. Bugs? Too many bugs. Running. Falling. Ah, they fell.

   "What the fuck happened." The younger groaned between clenched teeth, and Qiling returned to the present.

    "We fell."

   Wu Xie gave him the most deadpan look he had ever seen. "Never would've guessed." He rolled his eyes. " Anyway, what I really wanted to ask was where the fuck are we. This floor is definitely not just dirt, and there seems to be runes inscribed......" He paused in contemplation as he studied said runes. "Ah, of course, it's a sacrificial pit. Why do I always run into these places?" He sighed and forced himself to sit up enough to get a better look around. He looked back with a sheepish expression, smiling slightly at Qiling, "Sorry, it seems you've been dragged into my bad luck." He sighed and shook his head, his hair briefly falling into his eyes in the process. He then began to lift himself on his hands and one good knee, then shoved off the ground so that he was kinda standing, barely.

He steadied himself and squared his shoulders, beginning to walk away, relying solely on the sword to keep him steady on his bad leg.

  He walked the perimeter of the small space they found themselves in, searching for a way back up or out.

  His efforts lead him nowhere but exhaustion and he soon returned to sit opposite Qiling, carefully yet not so carefully dropping himself to the ground.

"It's useless at the moment, I'm sure there must be a way out, since there are no bones in this area at least, but I haven't the energy to find it.

Qiling contemplated for a few moments, gazing around them at the walls of the pit, searching for a weakness or a sign of something being covered up, his gaze eventually traveled back to Wu Xie, studying the same face that he had thought to be perfect a few minutes before, and noticing now the shadows beneath his eyes, there was a scratch traveling the length of his cheek, still bleeding small trails down to his chin, and his skin had become unnaturally pale. He was clearly not ok, especially after he had pushed himself to walk in circles on a broken leg. And not to mention falling... He looked up in an attempt to see the top of the hole they had fallen down.... Maybe three stories? And they had been running before that.

   "Take a picture it'll last longer." Wu Xie gasped out between breaths.

  Qiling stood up without another word, they needed to find a way out, preferably soon.