The Unified Soul

Search for Zane

The group went down the secret passage that they found in the walls of the lodge, following he footprints lit up from Lucinda's spell, and hopefully would lead to Zane. Airis clutched onto her father's hand tightly, worried by a strange chill that continued to run down her spine. She didn't know whether it was from the cold of the cave or something else. Either way, she didn't like it one bit.

"Wait!" Aphmau shouted stopping everyone as she looked at something, "What's this?"

Aphmau gestured to a mine cart on a rickety old set of tracks. When she went to touch it, rocks from the top of the tunnel fell, causing Kim's scream to echo throughout the area.

"Oh, Sorry! I didn't mean to scare you, Kim." Aphmau apologized.

"Tha--- That wasn't me." Kim said as Garroth began to whimper in fright. Airis, wanting to comfort her uncle, quickly ran to his side and clutched his hand.

"Don't worry, Uncle Garroth, everything's gonna be okay." She reassured.

"Y.. Yeah. I mean, like, look at this place! It's incredible. It's a very complex cave system!" Kim added to try and calm Garroth down.

"How is it complex?" Lucinda asked, "It's just a long tunnel."

"I mean, geographically this cave shouldn't even exist here. Whoever took Zane planned this out. I mean, this place is..."

Kim stopped talking when she heard Aphmau whimpering and Airis was shaking enough that her tail was fluffing up while her ears were flopped down puppy style.

"Kim, I get that you're excited about... this cave, but I think you're forgetting about why we're here." Aaron said.

"Oh... Oh my Irene! I am so sorry, Aphmau, Garroth, Airis! I was just trying to lighten the mood." Kim apologized, "Oh, nice going Kim."

"Oh, Zane..." Aphmau cried.

"Aph, don't worry, we'll find him." Aaron comforted.

"Yeah, Mama, I'm sure Uncle Zane's okay. He's pretty smart and he doesn't go down so easily." Airis cheered, smiling as brightly as she could.

"Yeah, what Airis said!" Garroth said his mood slightly better than a moment ago, "There are footprints we can follow. We'll definitely find him."

Lucinda groaned, "Then we'd better find him soon."

"Why's that?"

Lucinda gestured to the ground where the footprints were, only to see that they were slowly disappearing to everyone's surprise.

"What the--!"

"Quick, follow them!" Lucinda shouted and everyone ran to see where the footprints went before they could disappear. However, not even a minute later, the glowing footprints were disappearing faster and faster.

"Lucinda, what's going on!" Aphmau shouted.

"Why are the footprints disappearing?" Garroth asked.

"My spell is wearing off."

Airis looked back behind them and saw the footprints they had just followed were gone as well.

"The footprints behind us are gone!" She shouted.

"Darn it!"

"Lucinda, cast the spell again."

Lucinda grabbed her wand and tried to cast the tracking spell one more time, but sadly, she couldn't do it.

"I... I can't."

"Why not?!" Aphmau asked.

"Witch's magic doesn't work like that. I have to recharge. I have... limitations. I can't just re-cast."