Rumerra - The Journey Begins

Chapter 4 - Let's Graduate Together (part V)

"It's go time!" Velvet jumped up from her makeshift bed on the ground as if something stung her. She turned to her right, where her friend was still sleeping soundly, and gently shook her.

"Hey, Arianna!" she yelled out excitedly. "It's morning! Time to get this task done!"

"Just...five more...minutes..." she mumbled and turned to the side, curling into a ball.

Velvet leaned down and quietly whispered into her ear: "I'm going to cast 'Illuminus'..."

"I'm up! I'm up!" Arianna's eyes suddenly shot wide open and she jumped up. "Don't do it!"

Her friend laughed at her reaction. "I knew this would wake you up! Good morning, sleepy!"

"Very funny." The rudely awakened girl crossed her arms.

"Come on! It's time to kick some cave goblin's asses and recover a treasure!"

Within half an hour they packed up the tent and were standing in front of the cave entrance, each holding her own staff in hand. Arianna wore a worried expression while Velvet grinned from ear to ear as she handed her one of the teleportation tablets and kept the other one for herself.

"Remember," she said, "if you find yourself in serious trouble, just break it!"

"What about you? Will you be alright?"

"I have my own! You don't have to worry about me! Besides, we won't need them anyway! Alrighty then...let the fun begin!" Velvet yelled and ran in without a second thought.

"Wait! Shouldn't we make a plan first?!" the other girl called after her in vain. She sighed.
"I swear if she doesn't stop being so reckless..."

Suddenly, a loud crack was heard from behind her and she jumped up, turning around. Was she just imagining this?

"H-hello?" she called at the bushes meekly. "I-is anybody there?"

There was no answer. She got a really unpleasant feeling that they were being followed. And she wasn't ready to find out who or what it was that followed them. Taking a deep breath, Arianna stepped into the cave and was immediately swallowed up by the darkness inside. It was much deeper than she expected.

"Velvet? Velvet, where are you?"

"I'm over here!" She heard a barely audible voice from far ahead and saw a faint light in the distance. Reluctantly, she followed it, dreading to stay in place any longer in case whatever was outside of the cave decided to come inside as well.

As she descended deeper, a pungent scent of moisture and mushrooms filled her nostrils and she felt her clothes and hair getting caught in cobwebs that hung from the ceiling. Arianna decided she did not like this place one bit.

Despite her steps being unsure and unsteady, she knew her friend was down there and counting on her. She steeled herself and pressed onward, pushing the spiderwebs away with her staff and keeping her eyes on the light that was getting ever brighter with each step. Just a little bit more and she would reach the end of the tunnel. Just a little more and she would see her friend.

"Ah, there you are!" Velvet said happily when Arianna's face finally appeared from the tunnel. She was standing in a cavern of some sort, lighting it up with the tip of her glowing staff. The walls were wet and covered in fungus, as the girls already expected from the smell. From there, several tunnels similar to the one they just came from lead onward. They had to make a choice.

But before that, Arianna decided to scold her friend. "Why did you run in like that?! That was super careless of you!"

"Relax." Velvet waved her hand. "Look, there's nobody even here!"

The blonde girl looked around. "That's exactly what worries me. Where are they?"

"Maybe they abandoned the cave and moved to another one!"

"Something tells me that just isn't the case." Arianna started to feel increasingly uneasy again.

Velvet was too preoccupied to worry, though. "Which tunnel should we go down? I like left!"

"This isn't about what you like." Her friend shook her head. "Let's take the one that looks less like it has a horde of cave goblins hiding in it. And keep your voice down," she whispered.

"But they all look the same!" Velvet complained loudly.

"I said be quiet!" Arianna hissed through clenched teeth. "We are in enemy territory here."

A growling sound was heard and both girls turned in the direction it came from. There was just an empty tunnel. Without hesitation, the fearless adventurer quickly darted into it.

"No!" the other girl tried keeping her voice down as much as possible. "Come back!"

"Let's check it out!" Velvet yelled. "Follow me, Ari!"

Sighing loudly, the air mage clenched her staff tighter and ran after her daring friend, praying that this whole thing would be over without them even meeting any cave goblins. A wish that would naturally go ungranted.

"I swear I am going to strangle that old man one day," Ralph muttered to himself while hidden outside the cave in a bush. The assistant has been following Arianna and Velvet unbeknownst to them this entire time, just as Argus had instructed him. He waited a bit to make sure that Arianna was sufficiently deep in the cave to not notice him, before reluctantly making his way in as well. This is such a waste of my time...I can't believe I'm even doing this...

Inside the cave, Velvet was hastily making her way towards the source of the sound, lighting her way with an illumination spell, while Arianna was stumbling in the dark and struggling to keep up with her.

The curious witch came to a stop in yet another cavern. This one was much larger and to her great delight, full of cave goblins. The girl laid down on the floor and crawled to the edge of the platform she found herself on, trying to see what was happening underneath. There were a lot of cave goblins gathered below and one of them seemed to be holding a speech of some sort.

Cave goblins were primitive creatures, but they did have their own language and basic hierarchy. Velvet read about them in her book about the various creatures of Rumerra. Apparently, there was always one leading goblin selected, similar to how wolves had a pack leader. Usually, that was physically the strongest one that fought its way to dominance. This certainly seemed to hold true for the goblin that was speaking. It was bulky and at least a head taller than the others.

As she was observing quietly, Arianna ran out of the tunnel, finally catching up with her. "Velvet, you're an idiot!"

Both Velvet and all the creatures below them turned around and looked at the blonde girl, who only then realized that in fact, she was the real idiot for yelling. "Oh..."

"Well, we had to fight them eventually anyways!" Her friend jumped to her feet and cracked her knuckles, before picking up her staff and turning to the goblins below.

"We come in peace!" she announced, hurling a Light Nova directly into their midst. It exploded and lit up the entire cavern, making the creatures scatter and shield their eyes.

"Let's show them what we got!" Velvet smiled back at her friend, before jumping down from the platform and landing on a goblin's head, flattening it to the ground in the process. The small creature yelped as it was being squished beneath her feet. She looked down. "Whoops!"

"What are you doing?!" Arianna yelled with a concerned voice as she watched her being circled by the goblins. "Are you insane?!"

"No, I'm Velvet!" She laughed and raised her staff in the air. "Close your eyes! Illuminus!"

Her friend turned away at the last second before a flash of light would blind her and loud screeching filled her ears. When she opened them she saw the goblins running around in disarray, frantically rubbing their eyes, while Velvet was picking them off one by one.

"This is fun!" she exclaimed with a big smile as she was casting spells at them. "Come, Ari!"

Arianna took a deep breath and aimed her staff down at them. Before she could cast a spell, she heard footsteps from behind and turned around, only to see more goblins running at her from the tunnel.