The next few days on the trail to the mountain pass were uneventful. The most exciting thing we encountered was a slitherfang skin. The eight legs protruding from the rest of its long slender body near the head. Creepy little things. It was getting late on the third day of travel when we arrived at the cave mouth, the entrance delving down into darkness. We treaded into the cave until we could no longer see. "Uhm Kaine, a little light?" Aloura asked from behind me. "Right" I responded. I stopped to concentrate for a moment before the top of my head bursted into flames, the orange light flickering around on the cave walls. "When you all need to rest let me know and I'll set up camp." I said to the group. "But remember to stay close and keep your head on a swivel. I haven't been here in a while but I remember that it wasn't exactly a safe passageway" I could almost feel the rest of their mood change as they became more aware of their surroundings. Footsteps became lighter and breathing became quiet. We kept walking for a few hours before I heard something moving ahead of us. I held up my hand to stop the rest of them and took my knife from its sheath. "What is it?" Hadar asked. "Not sure. Something scuttling around up ahead." "I don't hear anything" he replied. "No no" Nyx said, also unsheathing her blade, "I hear it too." Suddenly I heard a hissing noise ahead and a dark shape lunged from the shadows, aiming directly for my face. My body moved on its own out of reflex. I sidestepped to my right and slashed upwards with my knife, the edge of the blade connected right behind a bundle of spindly legs. Seeing it now in the light I knew what it was. A slitherfang. Its reptilian body writhed around of the floor while the spider like head flopped about as the snake jaws snapped open and closed. I listened some more for anymore sound up ahead but heard nothing. I kept my blade out while walking forward. After about another hour of walking Aloura asked "Do you all smell that?" Smell something? I hadn't noticed. I'd been so focused on listening for more of them to notice on anything else. "Yeah" Nyx said. "Smells like oil. Kaine, you might want to douse those flames." "How are we going to see then" I asked. Mr Hadar pulled a small cylindrical object from his bag and flipped a switch on its side, the metal ringing a bit as it grinded against itself. Atop the contraption a lid flipped back and a small orb of white light grew to about the size of a cherry, illuminating the cave around us. I released the concentration I had on my flames and they sputtered out, the warm orange glow fading to a cold white as Mr Hadars light took over. We trudged on through the cave until we saw a film of liquid covering the floor of the cave, its sheen black surface and pungent odor made it clear this was the source of the oil. Bubbles could be seen and heard gurgling up randomly throughout the pool. "Well hopefully it's not too deep" I said, taking a step towards the pool. I felt a hand grab me by my shoulder and pull back. I then heard aloura say, "Maybe there's another way. Give me a moment" She knelt down right in front of the oil and closed her eyes, the circle of markings around her wrist and the arrow again glowed a bright green as the stone underneath her hand cracked, small vines snaking their way forwards. After a few seconds the vines became larger and more numerous, forming a sort of bridge over the black liquid. "Thank the gods that worked. This pendant really is something" she whispered to herself. She walked forward along the vines, her left hand holding the pendant and her right outstretched forwards. We followed closely behind, the vines behind us receding just a few feet behind us, the vines out front clinging to the walls or even sinking down into the oil for stability. After a bit of walking I noticed the others getting tired, Aloura was sweating profusely and began to shake a bit, the apparent strain of keeping the spell up for so long was beginning to show. Hadar and Nyx trudged heavily behind me, Hadar fairing much worse. Then a scratching sound etched its way into my ears, scraping ever closer from behind us. It started out quiet, like the soft ambient ticks of a cave. After a few moments it became louder and sounded much closer. The sound of a thousand spindly legs scraping at the walls. "Uhm Aloura you might need to hurry it up, I hear something behind us." Aloura groaned and answered, "I'm going as fast I can Kaine. Whatever it is can wait." Just as she finished her sentence a slitherfang leapt from the darkness and almost caught Mr Hadar with its nasty bite, but Nyx swiftly slashed upwards and cut the thing in two, its back half landed, writhing around, on top of the chest in Hadars hands before slinking off into the oil. "Shit I guess it can't wait" Aloura said under her breath. She gripped hard on the amulet and clenched her jaw hard. Her markings glowed bright enough to outshine the illuminator Hadar had brought, her hair floating as if she were underwater again. The vines rumbled beneath us and started picking up speed, eventually forcing us into a dead sprint to keep up. I was paying attention behind us just in case any more sprang from the shadows. Before long the pool grew shallow and eventually disappeared. The vines snaked their way into the ground and submerged below the surface as we all stepped off. Aloura dropped the spell, her glowing marks faded to darkness and her hair returning to normal. She knelt over, hands on her knees and breathing heavily, sweat dripping down her face. "We need to keep moving" I said. Aloura nodded and began moving forward before stumbling and catching herself on the wall. In shaking breaths Aloura said, "I-I can't move. Too... tired." I grabbed her arm and threw it over my left shoulder, my right arm around her midsection, half carrying her through the tunnel. We continued through at a steady pace before seeing light just ahead. It was dim a good ways out but I knew it was the exit. The cold wind howling outside made that clear. But I should've known it wouldn't be that easy. As we were making our way towards the exit a sound from all directions stopped us in our tracks. Thousands of scuttling legs clawing and scraping at the walls closed in around us. I saw the walls ahead and behind churn and shake as hundreds of slitherfang bodies writhed towards us. "Shiiiiit" I heard Nyx say, drawing the word out. Quick. Think of something. I can't use my flames with them in the tunnel, the oil might ignite and cause an explosion. Wait. I thought. "Nyx you can teleport with your knife right? Can you do it with other people?" I asked quickly "I've never tried but possibly. But even if I could there's no way I could throw it far enough to get out of the cave." I held my hand out, "Give it to me" quickly she handed it to me. I grabbed the handle tightly, wound back, feeling every muscle tightening, and threw her blade with all my strength. It rocketed outside and away from sight. "NOW" I yelled. She nodded and put her hands on both Alouras and Hadars shoulders. I could see her focusing. Both of their forms began to morph into black smoke, being pulled into Nyx's arms through her hands. After a few moments they were gone and Nyx vanished instantly. Finally. Now I can let loose. I gathered energy into my hands and formed them into a cone of sorts, fingers splayed out wide, my hands connected at the thumbs and pinky. Thin golden films of fire spanning the gaps between my fingers. In the few moments it took my to charge up, the creatures swarmed me, crawling and clawing all over my body, fangs trying to sink into my skin. It was repulsive, I wanted nothing more than to shake and thrash out but I held myself back. Then, using all the power I had gathered, a let out a blast of flame that engulfed the entire tunnel, scorching the walls and incinerating all of the disgusting animals in front of me. The ones on my body fell, charred down to the bone, to the cave floor. Then I felt a wave of pressure as a blast came back towards me, the oil igniting and sending me shooting out of the tunnel like a cannon ball, still on fire, through the air. Stunned, I tried to reorient myself to no avail, my body smacking against a tree trunk with a painful thud, before I fell to the ground about twenty yards from the others. Mr Hadar came rushing up to me, frantic. He began checking me for injuries before I waved him off and began to stand. As I fully stood up I felt a stabbing pain in my left side. I hunched over grabbing it with my right hand, sinking back down to one knee. "Damn. Broken rib it looks like to me boy. That's not good" Hadar said, reaching in his bag for what I assumed to be medical supplies. He didn't have a chance though because my injury flared up with light and began to steam, a familiar visceral snap let me know my rib had healed. I stood and moved around a bit just to be sure. Hadars eyes narrowed inquisitively, his head tilting slightly to the side. "Your abilities are quite interesting young man." "Thanks, I guess." I answered. We walked back over to the girls who were sprawled out on the ground. "Teleporting with both me and Aloura took a lot out of Nyx. I've already checked both of them, merely unconscious." Hadar said. I pulled the pack off my shoulders and bagan to set up the tent we brought, making a simple overhang structure with a nearby tree as a base. "I'll set the rest of this up. We can't exactly travel with both of them out of commission so we should set up camp for the night. It's getting dark anyway. Can you try and find some firewood?" I asked Hadar, twisting some twine around the ends of support sticks on one corner of the tent. "Of course" he responded, walking off. After a few minutes the tent was finished and Hadar returned dragging a few branches. He dropped the branches and dumped some pinecones and a few small precut logs out of his bag. "I usually keep a few of these on me just in case." He said. We broke down the branches and set them up log cabin style around a nest of pine cones, the precut logs set off to the side for when the fire grew a bit more. I reached my hand towards the bottom of the pile and let out some soft rolling flames until the pine cones could sustain themselves. Hadar had already rolled out the mats so we set Aloura and Nyx down and covered them with blankets. We sat there beside the fire silent for a while before I finally spoke up. "So about that name I saw back in the caverns, Klaus, Nyx said that was her brother right? Your son?" Hadar went stiff and his face hollow. Eyes sank back into his face. He let out a shaking breath before saying, "Yes. I suppose you want to know what happened." I nodded. "I know it's none of my business but I was just curious. If you don't want to share I won't pry, sir" I said. He nodded, "Very well. Years ago, when both of them were about thirteen, we were travelling back from the capital city to Anchoraad. As we took our carriage down the main road, a gang of bandits rushed us, restraining me before I could react and breaking into the carriage where the two were sleeping. "Run" I screamed to them. I thought they were there for me. You make a lot of enemies in my business you see. But I was wrong. I heard the whirling sound of Nyx's dagger flying off but I saw no burst of light. They dragged Klaus out of the back of the carriage by his legs. He was kicking and screaming the whole time, beams of light shooting off wildly. I, a father, had to watch helplessly as my son was dragged off into the night. I'm still haunted nightly by nightmares replaying the event. I've spent these last few years trying to find him but all my leads have wound up dead ends. I fear I may never see him again, if he's even still.... If he's still alive that is." I took a deep breath before saying, "I'm... sorry, sir. I can't imagine" I didn't know what else to say. "Don't worry boy. This old man will be fine. I just hope I can see him again, to apologize for my failure." I put a hand on his shoulder and said "Why don't you get some rest? I'll take watch." He simply rolled over and began to snore not long after. I sat there for a while, listening to the crackling of the fire and the distant sounds of the forest. On our way here it felt alive. Birds singing from the trees and small creatures scurrying in the underbrush. But now all that remained was the cold wind rustling the branches, and the feeling we were completely alone. Yet in this void there was a presence, a feeling I couldn't shake. Growing up I became accustomed to the wilds around me, the ins and outs of the world away from civilisation. I found solace there, a place where I could be myself and feel free, far away from the walls that held me for so long. But here I did not have that comforting feeling. There were eyes on us. Somewhere. I thought I saw a speck of whiteish blue light in the distance before Nyx sat up quickly and gasped. "How long have we been here?" She asked. "A while. Your father fell asleep about two hours ago." She seemed uneasy. Scanning above us. "You feel it too?" I asked. She nodded, "Yes. We aren't alone here are we?" "No." I said back. "I'll take watch. You can get some sleep." She told me. I thanked her and layed down on my bedroll, though it was a while before I could calm my mind long enough to sleep.
