Aaron along with Dalila and Jaron had been walking for a short while in the tunnel. Dalila had impressed Aaron with her abilities to diagnose the creature from its claw marks. From the way she talked about them she must have had a deep connection with magical beasts. Jaron on the other hand, he couldn’t read him. He didn't know if he was arrogant or bad at expressing himself. Though Jaron was a follow guard member so he should at least be friendly to him. As Dalila finished talking about the inner workings of identifying creatures based on the number of their claws, Aaron faced Jaron to bring him into the conversation, an intimidating expression greeted him.

"Eek," Dalila squeaked, "Did I say something wrong?"

Instead of replying Jaron frowned in more disapproval.

.

"No, Dalila." Aaron patted her back. "You made perfect sense. Jaron, stop giving her a scary face."

"No."

"Huh, No? But she explained it very well." Aaron scrunched his face.

But Jaron simply shook his head. Why didn't Jaron understand her? Maybe her explanation was not as straightforward as Aaron thought.

" Okay, Dalila, can you explain it again to Jaron? "

"No."

Aaron crossed his arm. Jaron was being too uncooperative. Which made it hard for him to stay friendly.

" But Jaron," Dalila spoke up, " We have to work together. So we need to be on the same page."

"Right." Aaron nodded.

"I got it already."

So Jaron could be cooperative.

" Okay,” Dalila said, ” if you understand us. Then I will go back to the beginning."

Dalila repeated her explanation.

"And so, huh?" A ramble sound cut off Dalila.

Aaron focused toward the direction of the sound. In the corner of his eye a brown figure flashed out of sight. Then the shockwave hit. He lost his balance to stand as the solidness of the ground began to fade.

"Blasted it"

He needed to cast a protection spell before the rock crushed them. Gathering up his mana he programmed the runes as fast as possible. Near completion his mana construct collapsed. The out of controlled mana exploded into a force of bright light. The mana blinded his eyes and slammed him onto the floor. The ground held for a second before collapsing. The last thing he heard was “Watch Out!” before he was engulfed by darkness.

Everything was hurting, was Aaron first thought as he regained his consciousness. He opened his eyes. He could not see anything but the darkness surrounding him. Lose dirt and rocks covered the ground underneath him but luckily nothing crushed him. He tried to move but pain shot throughout his body. He laid still until the pain passed and could move his arms. He covered his eyes with his hands as his face turned hot.

How embarrassing.

His magic collapsed on him at the worst possible time. It wasn't even a complex spell, but he made such a novice mistake. If either Jaron or Dalila died from the cave in, it will be his fault.

A light then shone.

" There you are. Are you alright? " Dalila kneeled beside him. "I found a page for light runes, so now we can see."

She was dripping wet, but seemed to be in one piece. His concerned must be evidence on his face, since Dalila implied

" Ah, I was lucky. I fell into an underground spring. See, no injuries." She twirled around.

Aaron signed out of relief.

" So do you know if there is a way out?"

" Yes, over there." She moved her light sphere towards a tunnel opening.

" Good." Aaron rolled onto his knees to stand up.

" Oh, about before, um" Dalila began helping him up. " I was surprised. You were able to cast spells and such."

Aaron flinched.

" Shame it collapsed. Casting from a non-prepared rune is really,"

Aaron quickly stood up, but a sharp pain shot up in his ankle and he collapsed down to one knee.

"unstable, Huh are you okay?"

"Yeah." he rubbed his left ankle. "I think I sprained it."

" That isn’t good." Dalila rummaged through his satchel. " I have a cloth wrap that will help."

"Perfect." He grabbed the wrap and wrapped his ankle. " So, have you seen Jaron?"

"No, he didn't fall down with us." She looked up to the ceiling.

" He should be all right then." He stood up. "Let's head out. We need to find an exit before another cave in."

"Right." she nodded, flopping her hat over her face.

Aaron held back a chuckle as he took a step forward. Pain flared up his leg. Swallow the pain he wobbled his way toward the wall to use as a crutch. Honestly he should have used magic to reinforce it, but he glanced over to Dalila. She was sharper than she looks. Best for now to use magic as little as possible.

With Dalila in the lead and the wall as support, Aaron walked deeper in the cavern.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

* * *

The cave darkness faded as Aaron and Dalila wandered through the many linking tunnels.

"Dalila?"

" Yes?

" We are lost, aren't we?"

" It seemed as such."

"There also seemed to be no end to these tunnels."

"I’m afraid so"

"That means we are going to wander around endlessly until we collapse and die."

"Die! I don't want to die." Dalila panicked.

"Joking. I'm joking." Aaron brought his hands up.

Dalila raised her hand to her chest as she breathed a sigh of relief.

"Don't joke like that."

" Okay, okay I'm sorry."

" Good."

* * *

Aaron and Dalila continue to walk as the dry ground slowly turns to mud and the tunnel steeped downwards.

"Aaron, be careful. The ground is slippery."

"Got it."

Aaron nodded while he readjust his stance to help him balance on his sprained ankle.

Dalila stopped walking.

" Aaron?"

"Yes?"

He continued to walk past her.

"Are you mage or a warrior?"

"Huh?" Aaron stopped in his tracks.

" Um, I'm sorry. I'm just confused." Dalila looked down, twisting her robe.

"It, It's just that you have a sword, um, and you don't have any magic devices. So you should be a warrior. But you haven't used any Arts to reinforce your ankle. Then you," She looked into his eyes, then quickly looked down again. "you tried to cast a spell earlier. So it means you know how to craft runes."

Aaron flinched. He didn't know how to respond to her. No, that was a lie. He simply didn't want to respond to her, but he looked up. Her eyes were too clear for him to brush it off. Aaron clenched his teeth.

"I'm,"

"Plus you have purple eyes."

Aaron froze. Purple eyes? Now he was confused. She mentioned it before at the entrance of the cave. As well as Joshua and Alaina mentioned something earlier as well.

" Dalila, What do you mean by purple eyes?"

"Whoa!"

Dalila slipped forward crashing into him.

" Wait, don't grab onto me."

Aaron lost his balance as both of them began sliding down. They slide down fast reaching the end of the tunnel dropping off into a cliff. Dalila screamed as she plummeted down into the abyss.

"Not good."

Aaron slammed his feet into the mudd trying to slow his momentum. A pain shoot up his sprained ankle jerking his leg in response, allowing his body to drop off into the abyss after Dalila.

‘Splash’

He landed into a pool of shallow water. He rubbed the back of his head as a light appeared in front of his eye.

"Aaron, are you okay?" Dalila's concerned face appeared in front of him.

"I'm fine."

Taking a moment to regain his sense, he stood up. The ankle high water rushed past his leg trying to sweep him away.

" So we have fallen into an underground river?"

"It seems so," Dalila shrugged. "Let me see if there is a way out." She moved her light up higher.

The walls shoot up high into the air, with darkness making up the place of the ceiling. They have fallen quite far down from their initial trail. Aaron scanned the walls of the ravine for an opening.

"Look up there. Another path" Aaron pointed.

Dalila moved her light to where he had pointed.

" You're right. Now we need to get to it. Hold on," Dalila pulled out her spell-book. " I should have a spell here to levitate us up there."

She flipped through the spell-book's pages.

Few minutes passed by, Aaron leaned back onto the cavern wall to rest his ankle. He mindlessly stared at the water as he waited. The water level rose. The water’s current pulled stronger on his leg.

" Hey, Dalila."

" One sec."

She continued to flip her pages.

The water that was at ankle level was now at shin level.

"Dalila, you might want to go faster."

" I'm going as fast as I can."

The water was now at knee level.

" Dalila?"

" One moment. It should be right here."

Aaron turned to look up the stream. A wave of water was rushing toward them.

Aaron cursed.

" I found it. Whoa-"

Aaron scooped up Dalila as translucent lines formed on his body.

" There’s not enough time to cast it."

Aaron enforced his leg with mana, and jumped upwards on the wall. The wave crashed into the spot where they were just standing. Using his Arts for balance he used the small canvas in the wall as foot holders. He neared the tunnel but his mana collapsed. Dalila yelped as he tossed her into the tunnel. He grabbed the edge of the tunnel as his mana dispersed into the air.

"Aaron, hold on."

Dalila stood up and ran back to help him. Grabbing his arm she pulled. With her help, he scrambled up into the safety of the tunnel.

He laid on the ground to gain his bearings. That was too close. A moment later they would have been washed away. Aaron huffed. That was the second time today his mana collapsed on him. Earlier it was his spell. Now it was his arts.

" Aaron, are you alright?"

Aaron turned to Dalila. She was hovering over him with a worrying face. Right, he couldn't sulk when there were others relying on him. He sat up.

" Yeah, I'm alright." Aaron tried to keep his voice steady. “How about you?"

" I'm good. Thanks for the save." She bowed her head in gratitude.

" No problem."

He turned his head away from her. Honestly he didn't want to save her, but she took too long finding her spell.

" So you are a warrior. You just used an Arts, right? I'm so jealous of how fast warriors can wield their mana into Arts. Using mana for spells takes too much time."

Dalila stuck her tongue out

" Though It is a shame you are unstable in welding Arts as well as casting spells. I can see why you weren't using any earlier. You can't keep it up for long."

Aaron groaned.

"Eek, I'm sorry." She covered her face with her spell-book.

She was truly too sharp. A failing student of Uaithne University was still a student of Uaithne University.

" I didn't mean to say anything negative. I'm a beginner, too. Both apprentice mages and warriors have trouble with mana control. It shouldn't get you down."

Aaron simply shook his head again and stood up. There was no point dwelling on his mistakes. They needed to find Jaron and a way out.

" Here." He reached his hand out to help her up.

" Thanks." She grabbed it. " So, we should keep going forward, right?"

Aaron stared down the dark tunnel.

" It’s the best plan for now."