Aelwyn clung to my side as we pressed forward, leaving the previous chamber behind. The corridor we entered mirrored the one before it—starry ceiling looming above, cold air seeping from stone walls, and torches flickering against the darkness. However, this hallway was narrower, stretching into the unknown.
As we continued, our chorus footsteps echoed, reverberating through the hallway. After a short walk, the narrow passageway opened into a vast, square room. I extended my aetheric sense outward and detected four chimeras, each more menacing than the one we had faced earlier. The chimeras looked up as if sensing an intrusion, our eyes locked on.
Aelwyn flinched, her brow furrowed in a mixture of fear and fatigue. She still hadn’t fully recovered. I thought, as the tremor of her grip on my arm was evident.
The temperature began to drop, cold breath escaped my mouth, as I Conjured an icy sword, stepping protectively in front of her. “Stay close,” I whispered.
She nodded, clutching onto me like a freighted child. I couldn’t help but chuckle, I lay in wait for the two chimeras to draw near. When they were only just a few feet away, I unleashed a volley of icy spears, piercing through air and striking the lead chimera dead-on. “Snow petals.” I murmured.
The two remaining chimeras halted on their track exchanging a glance before altering their approach. Instead of charging head-on, they split up—one coming straight for me, the other circling around Aelwyn flanking from the left side.
A smile tugged at my lips. I raised my resting hand, focusing on the flank and conjured ascending pillars of ice from the ground. Quickly rotating my torso, with a clean strike my sword met the other chimera. A screech tore from their throats, as my icy spikes impaled the chimera from the left, and another’s head rolled down the floor, jet of purple blood oozed from its lifeless body, and it fell with a thud.
“Frigid thorn,” I mused to myself, deciding on a name for my new technique.
Turning to Aelwyn, I checked for injuries. Her eyes were wide, reflecting a mixture of awe and horror at the scene before her. “I-uh…don’t worry –I am fine, really”, Aelwyn’s shaky voice attempted to reassure me.
Her eyes flickered away before coming to meet mine. “…Um –we can take a short break if you want.”, she suggested hesitantly, as her lips curled into a nervous smile.
I nodded, starting to turn away when—
“Please, don’t leave me”, Aelwyn pleaded her voice already trembling. Her eyes brimming with unshed tears. “I –I am scared… just a little though.”
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I starred at her for a moment, offering a reassuring and short smile. “I wasn’t planning too.”, I replied softly. “I just need to do my business you know.”
“Business?” Aelwyn tilted her head with a puzzled look, a strand of her hair falling over her childlike face, the flickering torch glinting her eyes full of innocence. I sighed, wondering how to explain. “The thing we all have to do when we drink too much water”, I said with a dead-pan expression.
It took her a moment, before it dawned it to her, but when she did her face turned a brilliant shade of red. I conjured a small, purple flame, making it hover beside her, and then went away, my footsteps breaking the dead silence, apart from the constant crackling noise of the dancing flaming-torch.
With my aether-enwrap eye, I scanned the entire room. Everything was same, but something caught up my eye. There, in the distance, was a painting. The gears in my mind began to whirl, my heart raced as memories of the ominous painting in the first room resurfaced. Taking a moment to calm my heart, I cautiously moved forward
The purple flame pushed back the shrouding darkness as I examined the painting. –It was a depiction of majestic dragons soaring through the sky, a stark contrast to the ordeals. I exhaled slowly, relieved.
After spending a minute or few, I decided to return back to where Aelwyn’s had settled. She must be of noble birth, but a noble who doesn’t even know how to defend is exploring a dungeon? But then again, there wasn’t any trace of lies or deceives from her, only vulnerability reflects her eye. baffling it is.
As I approached, I found her fast asleep, knees drawn to her. I paused, hesitating to wake her up. exhaustion weighted on me as well. Conjuring a platform of rock, I sat down, letting the fatigue wash over me. Everything happened so fast since that day, like a stream of waterfall, I –no we were swept in its relentless flow.
Flashes of memory flooded my mind, the bittersweet memories, but I didn’t push it away. Feeling a wet sensation across my cheeks, I closed my eye, as I let my thought drift me along the memory lane.
“Elsiya, wait up!” I called after her, watching her sprinting figure grow smaller in the distance. She glanced back, a teasing grin on her face before she sped up.
The sun was barely over the horizon, streaming its everlasting rays over us, while a gentle breeze blew, grasses swaying in its rhythm. Panting, I slowed down, feeling my heart pound in my chest. Taking a moment, I let my body embrace the ethereal moment.
“…I’ll catch up, just you wait”, I muttered. Reaching within my Archon’s lineage, I felt the weight on my back shift as my wing unfolded, scattering dust around me with a powerful leap, I soared into the sky, the wind rushing past as I flew.
The world blurred around me as I picked up speed, wind rushed past my aether encased body. It truly is otherworldly experience.
Soon, Elsiya’s figure came into view, I dived low, sweeping above her. she looked up, giving me a frustrated look, then she too unfurled her wings. With a final push, I rocketed ahead.
“Wait You –cheater”, she called out, her voicing cutting through the air. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“You can’t catch me El”, I taunted–
“CALADREL!!”
Aelwyn voice jolted me awake from the dream. I opened my eye, to find her hovering above me, concerned was etched at her face “I thought you were in pain”, she said. “And you kept muttering someone name…Um it was Eil no El?—"
“I am fine,” I replied curtly. wiping out my tear I stood up, turning my back on her. “Let’s go”
Without another word, she followed me into the veil of shadows.