Shifters

Rescue Operation

Separate clods of earth continuously bathed the heads of the underground travelers as they hurriedly made their way through the freshly carved tunnel. Cassandra, who maintained her position as lead excavator, pushed her aura to its absolute limit as she too hastened the creation of their current passageway. With neither member of their party daring to speak after entering beneath enemy territory, they followed along in silence as their destination swiftly approached. Just as Josh thought that their journey would never come to an end, Cassandra's movements suddenly altered drastically as she deviated from their usual straight path. Making a hard right, the red-haired girl continued to displace the earth ahead of her, gradually inclining the tunnel until she arrived at a black-stained brick floor. 

"Is this it?" Elle whispered softly, earning a nod from Cassandra. 

Before she could ask any questions, Cassandra waved an aura-covered hand immediately resulting in the flooring being torn asunder. Needing no further invitation,  Samuel produced a wickedly sharp-looking knife almost as long as Herman's before pushing past the others towards the opening. A few seconds after he disappeared from sight, the others lingered in the tunnel with bated breaths as they awaited his return. Anxiety mounting as time ticked on with no sign of their vanguard, Elle, who was already prepared for such an occurrence, drew her own blade as she prepared to investigate their companion's whereabouts. Just as she was about to exit the hole however, Samuel suddenly popped into view, slightly startling the entire group. 

"Everything okay up there?" Elle asked softly. 

"A few patrolmen were in the way so I had no choice but to avoid them until they went past," Samuel replied in a voice much softer than Josh would've expected. 

"What do you think?" Elle asked, turning to Cassandra, as Samuel retreated from the opening.

"It seems like we've gone undetected this time," she replied, staring at the darkness beyond the hole, "Will you even be able to see without the light emitted from your aura?"

"We'll manage," Elle said confidently, motioning to both Patricia and Josh as she stepped aside, "Let's get a move on. The sooner we finish what needs to be done is the sooner we can get out of here."

Taking her words to heart, Patricia made her way out of the tunnel followed closely by Josh. As they exited, both walked swiftly yet silently over to Samuel, mimicking his crouched form as they neared his position. Waiting patiently for Elle, who lingered in the tunnel as she exchanged some last minute words with Cassandra, Josh scoped out the room they were currently in. After hearing multiple descriptions of what to expect, Josh was somewhat disappointed by the sheer blandness of the room. Aside from the silhouettes of a few large, overturned, rotting barrels and a partially chilly atmosphere, his surroundings didn't exactly scream 'dungeon' to him. To the left of what he assumed to be the cell's exit lay a heavy wooden door complete with thick iron bars at the topmost section. No light shone from beyond the door, granting him the assumption that the entire dungeon itself had not felt the presence of light in a long time. 

Shifting his gaze to the hole once more, his mind switched to thoughts of the ongoing mission as he failed to spot Elle's form. Sizing up his new companion Samuel a bit more, he noted that the man, though of average height, possessed a muscular build similar to that of Herman's. Aside from his still drawn knife, he wore a pair of twin daggers on either side of his waist. Strapped to his back was a slender blade a tad bit longer than the knife he currently held. Josh's eyes lingered on the blade, envious that his own blade was not in his hands. Previously excited for a chance to wield the blade, Saivar, which he'd procured from the giant skeleton warrior after it had lodged itself into a massive tree in the Silent Forest, Josh was most disappointed after he was told to leave it behind. Although he understood their concern with respects to the blade's connection as well as his inadequate skills in terms of combat ability, he still remained a bit sore at their request. Instead, both he and Patricia was given a standard knife in the event of their unlikely separation.