Aetherworld

Where is the cave? - Chapter 7

My new camp was daring fate to come at me; the torture room held the last vestige of hope in escaping this hellscape. Two new corpses had appeared in the water, likely from Hendrick's altercation the other day. One appeared half eaten; another grim reminder of the kind of monster I'd invited into camp. The corpses had to go before I could bunker down here and begin digging again. Scratches and scrapes littered my body and with only ointment they were too dangerous to let fester in the water. Not to mention the smell. That's how the wolf found me; naked, dragging corpses out of the water.

"You think you could help with this?" Joking was the only way I could control my nerves. Every time he passed through boiling anxiety followed. He sought the light, nothing more, but the nagging fear that he'd turn on me never left.

Like every other time I'd attempted to talk to him he just stared at me. "Could get this done faster if you did." I called, dragging the corpse over the rubble and along the hall. Far outside the lights reach, down another corridor that lead to a dead end, was where it met its final resting place. The thing was bloated, foul smelling and oozing out of places I never wanted to see again. Thankfully there was no food in my belly to retch, though my body tried hard. Now I had to move the half eaten one.

It was a welcome surprise to find the other corpse, and the wolf, gone when I returned. Knowing the wolf wasn't a threat meant making camp here was possible. It seemed the dungeon had been cleared of any remaining prisoners leaving just me, the beast, and the lamp. The lamp was the only reason I was still alive now and I made sure it stayed on as long as possible. In the dark the wolf took on a different demeanour; watching me with a crazed sense to kill and an insane spark in his eyes.

Already wet and naked, I waded through the water stopping just before the wall. The hole I'd created seemed much smaller now that the light of the lamp filled the room instead of the flashlight. It was time for a new strategy. Back at camp I had called spikes from the earth to kill Hendrick; that hadn't been a hazy dream born of a concussion. The Aether, and all the creatures whispering to me from it was real, and the power I'd called there was too. The spikes proved it. Now it was just a matter of controlling it again.

My quickly numbing hand touched the wall and hesitated, unsure of what to do. Pushing mana into the wall just resulted in beautiful swirls of blue light emanating from my hand, visible even under the light of the lamp; but nothing more. Frustrated, I raked my brain trying to remember what it felt like the first time I'd done it, but memories from the Aether, especially when you're body-less don't stick well; one wasn't supposed to remember what it was like to be dead after-all. I tried visualizing the wall moving aside for me, really holding the image in my mind but reality didn't conform with it. In witchcraft it was will over body, so knowing that I focused on infusing the wall with my intent. Willing it to move. The swirls of mana reacted and seemed to fuse with the wall but beyond that nothing happened.

"Abra-kadabra!" Sighing, I pounded my first against the wall instigating another of my recurrent headaches. No inspiration was coming to me and the sneaking feeling of helplessness peeked out again. No, I wasn't letting this defeat me. At some point the wolf had re-entered the room and seeing him looming at the edge of the water, tracking my every move sent me tumbling into the water.

"My god do you even know how to make a sound? You're going to kill me just showing up like that." I cursed. Determined to at least make some lasting effect on the wall I retrieved the spade from the netting on my pack and set about digging my way out. His eyes never left me. "You going to help or just gawk?" Of course, no answer.

When I felt I'd left a dent on the damned wall it was time to focus on eating. The concussion had caused me to sleep god only knows how long, top that with having to half my rations for the past two weeks and you got yourself a get slim fast diet. My hip bones now poked out, and my ribs were nearly visible now. With all the rations to myself I could afford to prepare a full meal now, to the great entertainment of the wolf. It was hard to ignore the gigantic man eater towering over my shoulder watching everything I did, but somehow, I managed. Today was one of the breakfast menus, Spicy Southwest Breakfast Hash. It tasted worse than the Chicken Vindaloo without someone to enjoy it with. The wolf didn't count. He snaked his head over my shoulder to get a better sniff at what I was eating and in a split second my fear turned into annoyance.