Regal |Fantasy Ryden AU| DISCONTINUED

-15-

Carefully shuffling through the uneven terrain and narrow passages of the baleful cavern was something straight out of a claustrophobe's worst nightmare.  Suffocating darkness surrounded them on every side; the distressing silence was even worse.  The shadowy passageways were a vacuum, one that threatened to suck away the life force of any sorry soul who happened to wander inside, and it only seemed to exacerbate as they went on.

The lone sounds that bounced between the tight rocky passages were that of their cautious footsteps and the occasional dripping of water from distant stalactites.  They seemed to be amplified, echoing through the cave and ringing in their skulls.  Not once did they hear any signs of another soul.

Ryan slid his hands along the cold rocks as he shambled forward, squinting his eyes in a feeble attempt to see the back of Spencer's head.  His heart hammered inside his chest like a booming drum. His blood roared in his ears, and he couldn't help but feel as if his heavy breaths were bellowing through the cavern like a clap of ominous thunder.

He could sense that Brendon was right behind him.  He couldn't see him, but he knew the prince was there.  His breaths were just as strained and shallow, and they gently tickled the back of Ryan's neck like a drifting feather.  Others might have found that aggravating, but in the frightening void they were currently stuck in, Ryan couldn't have named a more comforting sensation.

After what felt like an agonizing eternity, the faint glow of Mikey's torch sliced through the dense darkness.  He wasn't very far ahead, but with the jagged rocks seeming to close in on them with every step, he couldn't have appeared to be further away.

The younger of the two brothers suddenly stopped in his tracks, lifting his hand as a signal for the others to do the same.  Stifling silence fueled the heavy atmosphere as he and Gerard waited for the quartet to catch up.

The confined passageway quickly opened up into a spacious and magnificent hollow, one that seemed to stretch upwards for miles.  The roof of the cavern was littered with dripping stalactites and bulbous mounds of speckled limestone.  A low and opaque mist hung above the ground, and there were torches on the walls that illuminated the hollow with an eerie and haunting auburn glow.

If this cave wasn't the home of bloodthirsty monsters, they would have called the sight beautiful.

"Those beasts are down here somewhere,"  Gerard murmured, his eyes narrowed as he scanned the misty floor.  There was an opening into another passage on the far side of the capacious cavern, completely lit by flickering torches.  If that didn't lead to the center of the nest, they didn't know what would.

Mikey motioned for the others to follow him as he set off toward the disquieting passage, every step parting the frigid mist and sending it swirling past his legs.  A gust of wind howled through the cavern, and from where exactly, nobody knew.

This passage was far less narrow and much shorter than the last.  After merely a brief moment of claustrophobic fear, it opened up into a small hollow.  The damp, bitter air reeked of saturated fur and, much to their horror, the sharp metallic tang of blood.

A flash of shadowy movement caught their attention.  It disappeared behind a large rock in the blink of an eye, but its sudden and spasmodic maneuver had been impossible to miss.

Mikey's expression grew darker than ever before.  His gaze dimmed and his jaw tightened as he handed the torch to Jon without a single word, all the while his older brother cautiously pulled his blade from its sheath and dared to step toward the rock.  No one uttered a peep.

The temperature had dropped significantly upon their arrival to the cramped hollow.  The hanging mist clung to their clothes like frigid ice crystals, seeping through the fabric and chilling them to the bone; the sheer dread that clutched their hearts as Gerard inched toward the large rock didn't help in the slightest.