Our Soul Nexus

Chapter Fifteen

Stop.

Ayben clenched his jaw as his instincts kicked in. He shot out a spell as fast as his hands would allow, the sigil only half complete just before impact.

While it didn't stop Ayben from smacking into the ground, it stopped him from dying. And if it weren't for the speed of Rizel sending Soul-Bound magic into the sigil, it would've still left him with fatal wounds.

With a loud thud, Ayben's right side slapped the ground, knocking the wind from him completely. He groaned and coughed, finding it hard to move for a moment.

"Ayben, are you okay? Are you badly injured?" Rizel asked quickly, his eyes scanning for anything he could fix.

Ayben winced as he tried to sit up, his ribs aching with the slightest move. "I-I'm alive...at least."

The ground he had hit was smooth, like polished stone floors. The cave he had fallen into was barely lit by the tiny hole of light from where he had just fallen, illuminating only a few bits of greenery nearby. It cast ominous shadows on places that seemed to have tunnels and passages connected.

Pushing on his arm to get up, he hissed in pain as he felt a sharp stabbing into his shoulder.

"I need to heal myself." Ayben stated, more for himself than Rizel.

"Use Soul-Bound magic, you'll heal faster." Rizel told him.

Ayben couldn't agree more, so he nodded slowly and cast the sigil needed for basic healing, with the proper adjustments for Soul-Bound magic infusion.

It was a slow process, and the magic didn't completely fix the sharp pain in his shoulder or the ache in his ribs, but for a basic healing spell, it did enough.

As Ayben started to breathe easier, he looked to Rizel, who was pouring his silvery strands of Effervescence into the portal, which contributed to the spell. The concentration on the prince's face was almost painful. He couldn't quite place it, but it seemed to Ayben like Rizel was more scared than worried. But maybe the two went hand in hand?

Impossible to tell, that was always the case with Rizel's thoughts and emotions.

Ayben slowly stood up after the spell had run its course.

"Take it easy." Rizel warned him.

Ayben stumbled slightly, finding his footing in the dark cave before him.

"How the hell do we get out of here?" Ayben said, looking around with squinted eyes, using his peripheral vision to gain a better sense of what was hidden.

There were flapping noises in the distant tunnels, like birds or some sort of winged beast lay lurking close by.

"Up is out. We just need to get back out the way we came." Rizel stated simply and somewhat in a hurry.

Ayben thought for a moment. If up was out, then how did those other creatures get into this cave? Surely there was an easier way out than somehow trekking to the top of precarious cave walls.

There were more wild shrieks and flapping noises in the tunnels, and Ayben felt his skin prickle with anticipation.

"I think something knows we're here." He whispered to Rizel.

Rizel turned his gaze to the dark.

Those furious noises were a jumble of high-pitched screeches, flapping noises, like rabid birds, and guttural shrieks, like swine squealing for food.

Ayben raised a hand, base sigil at the ready. From there, he could cast whatever he needed within milliseconds.

Those noises seemed to get closer until Ayben could swear they knew to hide just beyond the light, keeping themselves stowed away in the hungry darkness.