Hell's Glitch (initial draft)

2:22 Into the Pit p.1

"There you are," Ji yelled down from the incline above. She leapt down to the tiny platform Sam was lying and landed as silent as a cat, glowing from the same light creating spellcrafte from before. "How did you survive the fall?"

Sam's body was still wrapped in Merl's magick string. He'd been trying to cut through it for the last two and a half minutes with little to show for it. "Well, good to see you too. I'm also glad you're alive. I used Merl to cushion my fall."

"A good strategy," she said as she knelt down in front of him and covered her naginata in a heated aura. "Did you plan it from the start?"

"I figured it out as I was running. I knew I could get him to attack me if it looked I was trying to leave the cavern so I climbed up. He attacked me right up there where we were ambushed by the snakes. It dawned on me up there that ..." He looked at her and his mouth tightened. She looked back at him knowingly as she cut the string around his legs. "... that's where I'd bumped into you earlier. So I followed your footsteps and sent us over the edge where I figured this platform would be."

"Effective, though risky. You could've easily missed this platform. Did he die from the fall?"

"No, I had to slit his throat afterwards. He covered me in all this crap right before that."

She freed his other arm and now he could move each of his limbs freely.

"How did you get loose by the way?"

"This magick string weakens over time, even moreso when the caster isn't in proximity. It feeds off of its caster's Soul Power. I used my strength to struggle against it and eventually cut myself out."

"Your strength must be higher than mine."

"Perhaps, but Merl's soul still hovers nearby which is why the string covering you is still abnormally strong."

A black orb hovered where Merl's body had been. Sam sat up and used his description vision on it. It was a set of gear that belonged to Merl including a technique scroll. It was all sealed and all the items except for the scroll were nondescript. He picked his torch up first and slid it into its hip holder.

Sealed Spellcrafte Scroll:

Arachne's Thread

After reading the name of the spell, Sam called Melbern and handed it and the gear to the servant.

"Those servants of yours make the journey a lot less arduous. I think I should've sought one out myself."

"I'll introduce you to a guy I know and he'll find one for you. Anyways, where do we go next? I don't see how you were able to get off of this platform."

"I had to climb," Ji said as she pointed to a funky formation of stones inlayed into the wall. "There are stones over there that you can only traverse using your hands. You can climb those until you are across from that ledge over there." She pointed to a cliff that came out of the landbridge. The cliff stretched over to the cave wall, under the handholds Ji had pointed to.

"Okay, let's go," Sam said, taking the lead. He climbed across the unnatural handholds, which seemed to be carved into the wall. The climbing produced a slow but steady drain on his stamina. Luckily, the climb didn't take as long as he thought it would. At the end of the handholds Sam stopped and looked around to see where to go next. The cliff was below him, across from his current position. "I'll survive that, right?"

"You'll be fine."

Sam planted his feet against the wall and kicked off of it with great strength. He briefly soared through the air before touching solid ground. He moved out of the way as Ji followed suit. He took out his torch and looked at Ji expectantly.