Fire Emblem: Breaking Point

Chapter 1.5: Through the Darkness

There was no light natural light in the tunnel at all. The only source of it came from a torch the jittery Washingberg had fashioned from a branch found in the corner and some flint and steel Erinn carried around. His flaming lifeline illuminated the grimy walls, water dripping down the sides. The only color around was a dull, dark grey, and the seemingly endless walls stretched on and on. Their feet stepped in shallow puddles, kicking up water and making them all cold.

The only sound was the clank, clank, clank of armor, and chattering teeth. No one spoke. And there was no reason to. Callisto didn't even talk, pointing them in the direction they needed to go. But suddenly he held up his hand to stop the party of four, holding a finger up to his lips as if they had been talking in the first place.

Washingberg sneezed.

Callisto looked in his direction and jerked his finger to his lips again, this time making the shhh! sound. After a few moments he motioned for them to gather closer.

"Do you hear that?" he whispered, looking expectantly at them all. They shook their heads, and he motioned for them to listen again. This time they heard it.

'It' was a very slight squeaking and scratching quite some distance away.

"See?" Callisto breathed, raising his eyebrows.

They all nodded this time, and Roman looked over his shoulder.

"What do you think it is?" he said a little louder than he should have.

"SHHH!" everyone reprimanded, fingers to their mouths.

"I think it might be rats," Washingberg ventured.

"That seems most likely," Callisto nodded.

"So do we just keep going?" Erinn asked.

"No reason not to," Callisto said, shivering. "Either we meet them or they meet us."

The rest of the group agreed, and they set off again, clank, clank, clank.

After about thirty minutes Erinn felt something brush up against her leg. She shivered and made a face of disgust.

"That was a lot bigger than a normal rat. It touched my knee!" Erinn's voice had risen to a panicked whisper and her eyes were wide.

"What do you mean?" Callisto said.

"That rat was over a foot tall!" Erinn was freaking out.

Roman drew his rapier.

"No need to lose your cool," Washingberg had abandoned the whisper completely.

"Does anyone have any food on them? We don't want to get torn apart," Callisto asked.

Roman grabbed a raw potato out of his pocket and threw it away.

"You eat raw potatoes?" Erinn raised one eyebrow.

"I really, really like them! Don't make fun of me!" Roman was getting defensive.

"Ok, ok! That just...isn't normal. That's all," Erinn responded.

"Focus! How many mega-rats do you think are coming our way?" Callisto was getting edgy.

"He hates rats," Erinn said to Washingberg, who chuckled.

"Oh, right, well excuse me for not sleeping with a nightlight!" Callisto fired back.

Washingberg's laugh changed to a glare.

"I'd rather be scared of the symbol of death itself than the small creatures who feed off of it!" he fired back.