Water streams from Wren’s hair and body creating miniature cascades crashing onto the smooth limestone cave floor. Wren tiredly gathers her breath in the musty, gloomy cave and breathes in contentment knowing that she is still alive. The wet pile of mossy rocks she lays on digs into her back, but she ignores the mild nuisance and concentrates on regaining her strength.
Droplets trickle down from the ceiling to a harmonious beat as they beat against the limestone floor. The trickling drops ring over and over creating a distinct roaring melody in her ears. Wren's heart slightly trembles remembering the perilous flood as her body sub-consciously digs her fingers into the damp, moss covered round stones beneath her.
When the flood swept her away, Wren thankfully managed to stay afloat due to the buoyancy of the hollow oak tree. However, as the flood became more violent she removed the dagger from the tree and was swept wildly into the current. Wren was tossed and turned in the raging waters and luckily, no foreign object impaled itself into her nor was she smashed to death by a boulder or tree.
Struggling to breath, Wren had clawed her way to the surface as her lungs screamed for air. However, the water currents continued to pull her down into their murky depths. Wren floated helplessly as water streamed past her as her eyesight began to darken with despair. Wren had even idly wondered, if this really was the end for her. Even so, an urge to live filled her blood as she clawed her way to a tree root and held on for dear life hoping to hold until the flood waters receded.
And sure, enough the roaring waters slowed but her vision began to grow dark as her lungs become on fire. Whether Wren wished to or not, her grip grew weaker and weaker until her strength disappeared, and she let go. And though her mind screamed at her, Wren’s body couldn’t cooperate as Wren was sucked into a large swirling hole in the ground and dragged into an underground cavern.
Wren was violently thrown onto a limestone floor and lay half-drowned there. Boulders and trees quickly blocked the entrance as they were sucked in after her. As Wren lay there on the verge of unconsciousness she felt her hand let go of something as she tiredly thought, “At least it’s not with me,” before losing conscious.
With great effort, Wren raises her weary, torn body to an upright position. A foreign object is felt underneath her palm and Wren glances down in shock to find her dagger. Wren gently picks up the knife by hilt and gently returns it to its sheaf at her waist. Reaching for the tangled travel bags on her neck, Wren slightly shifts her left leg. For a moment a burning white, hot light shoots up her leg. Wren holds her thigh and hisses in agony until the pain slowly dissipates. Still breathing heavily, Wren ignores the throbbing pain in her leg and untangles the travel bags from her neck.
Wren is somewhat amazed that throughout all the tumultuous events that her travel bags did not catch on anything, but most importantly that even though the travel bags were entangled around her neck, they did not choke her to death. Wren gently opens both travel bags and peers into them to find them still perfectly dry inside.
Wren tenderly reaches into her father's travel bag and pulls out a fine woven, black, long-sleeved shirt. An overwhelming lake of conflicting emotions rages inside Wren as she cradles her father's shirt in her hands. She lightly stretches her fingers to feel the shirt's collar and strokes the finely woven, long-sleeved black shirt between her forefingers. Wren tenderly raises the neatly folded shirt to her check as the lingering smell of her father's scent drifts up into the air engulfing her. The image of her father lovingly hugging her from behind drifts into her mind.
Wren's lips quiver in indescribable emotions as she shuts her eyes to keep them from tearing up. Her father is gone now, and she can't rely on his memory to protect her. Her heart strangely at peace, Wren blinks back the tears and with a bittersweet smile carefully returns his shirt back to its place.
Reaching into her own travel bags Wren pulls out several small health potions. But before she drinks the potion, Wren must remove the makeshift bandage. Cautiously lifting her leg onto the mossy stones, Wren gathers her courage, before removing the bloody, makeshift sleeve bandage and rolls up her pant leg.
Wren’s face turns pale as she has the urge to hurl as she sees the five large gouges of missing flesh. The only small comfort is that Wren does not see any visible bone. Taking a deep breath, Wren gulps down six health potions in a row and swallowing down the urge to gag. Most pointedly avoiding looking at her wound Wren studies the cave.
The cave is quite small only about ten meters wide and six meters high. What captivates her attention is that the cave has two exiting tunnels. Hopefully one of them will lead her to the surface. After some time, Wren warily glances down at her injured leg and finds that the wounds have finally closed shut, while flesh is slowly refilling in the gaps. Satisfied at the healing potions progress Wren carefully pulls down her pant leg.
Climbing onto her feet, Wren’s bone creak as she tentative steps forward with her left leg. A slight pain if felt, but that may due to the missing muscle that is healing. Pleased at being able to walk again, Wren silently thanks her father for his careful preparations. If not for him, she probably wouldn’t still be alive.
Glancing upwards, Wren creeps towards the two tunnels. The tunnels are small as the right tunnel curves up towards the surface while the left tunnel curves deeper into the ground. After some careful deliberation, Wren takes a step into the right tunnel. Mid-step she abruptly stops as her skin beings to lightly tingle. Wren scowls at the passageway, before retreating and heading towards the other tunnel.
Cautiously steeping into the next tunnel, Wren waits and doesn’t sense anything before slowly making her way down the tunnel. The winding, narrow tunnel snakes down for more than a candle mark. Trudging down the passageway, Wren’s only companions are her thoughts and the echoes of her footsteps. Time slowly passes by Wren marvels at the length of the tunnel and wonders if the tunnel will ever end.
And as if in reply a gentle blue light begins to glow ahead around the next tunnel bend. Wren's heart pounds in excitement and relief at last finding an end to the tunnel. Wren’s instincts scream at her to hurry towards the light, but her mind warns her to be careful. Wren cautiously approaches around the tunnel bend and comes to a stop.
The tunnel ends at the entrance of a colossal cavern that must at least half a league high and at least two leagues wide on either end. Astonished by the sheer size of the cave, Wren tilts her head up to gaze at the source of the blue radiating light. Wren’s mouth flops open at seeing giant blue crystals hanging from the ceiling. The largest blue crystals are the size of a large house with the smallest being the size of a boulder. The glowing crystals are layered and set in an elaborate flower petal like patterns.
Wren wonders at the powerful being, who could have created such an intricate crystal pattern? Satisfied, Wren turns her gaze away to continue to survey the cavern. To her delight, no more than a third of a league away lay a sky-blue lake in the middle of the cavern. Wren’s mouth waters at the thought of food and instantly sets off for the lake.
Wren skillfully creeps around stones and what appear to be large, ancient marble altar pillars. Sometimes, the large size of the pillars forced Wren to circumvent them rather than climb over them. After a short hike and a walk across a white sandy shoreline, Wren finally reaches the lakes edge. Darting in and around the glowing lake to Wrens great delight were glimmering and colorful fish. Wrens slit eyes fixate impatiently on the darting fish as she unconsciously licks her lips. A cat like grin appears on her face as her mouth become full of saliva, eagerly anticipating the taste of food.
Wren worn boot accidentally dips into the lake causing her skin to tingle. Wren hurriedly removes her boot and studies her surroundings as her stomach rumbles desperately trying to convince her to ignore her instincts and go into the lake filled with food. Failing to see anyone, Wren tries the same action to gain the same reaction. Annoyed Wren angrily stomps her way across the white sandy beach kicking sand as hard as she can into the air. Still very much upset, Wren returns to edge of the sandy beach.
Wren impatiently removes her travel bags and ransacks her travel bags looking for any item that could be used for a fishing hook or fishing line. After several minutes of pointless searching Wren throws her hands up in exasperation. Against her will, Wren returns her predatory gaze at the fish and gulps loudly at their sight.
Wren happily argues against her instincts by claiming without food she will starve to death. Followed up with the claim that she had hands and teeth to catch the fish, she needn’t swim in the lake. Wren’s instincts finally give up in the face of her persistent logical argument.
Wren cheerfully sits down on a nearby altar pillar and removes her scuffed boots. With interest, Wren skips across the sand, before burying her toes in the sand. Temporarily forgetting all about the fish, Wren sits down on the white sandy beach. She grabs a fistful of sand and plays with it in her hands enjoying the dry, damp sensation. Her father had told her before what sand looked like, but she had never seen or touched any other than that of hourglass sand.
Wren happily crouches in the white sand and digs a small pit into the sand. Having finished, she crumbles the white sand into a little ball and begins to build a small mound from the dugout sand. Wren spends half a candles mark playing blissfully on the white sandy beach, before her stomach interrupts her play. Wren reluctantly wipes the sand form her clothes and hands, before reaching the lake shoreline.
Wren tentatively places one foot into the sky-blue lake and to her great surprise she discovers that her skin is not tingling in warning anymore. Wren glares mutinously at her skin; her instincts must be playing tricks on her. Ignoring her skin's cruel betrayal, Wren warns her instincts that later she will have a stern talk with them in regard to giving false warnings.
The warm lake water gently sucks on her feet, bringing Wren back to reality. Wren eagerly plunges into the pool and swims around for several moments, before floating on her back. The beautiful blue crystal sun hangs over head as Wren stares in wonder and wonder how it got there in the first place. But the more she stared, Wren got the distinct feeling that the blue crystals were a giant flower the grew out of the earth.
Feeling her eyes aching, Wren takes a deep breath, before diving towards the bottom of the lake. The lake wasn’t too deep and soon Wren reaches the sandy floor as a pod of silver fish dart right towards her. Wren moves to grab them, but the silver fish scales are too slippery and easily evade her grasp as they slip through her fingers. Wren continues to try to catch them but to no avail until she is finally forced to rise to the surface and breathe air.
Wren surfaces and breathes deeply for a minute or two, before taking another large breath and heading back down again. The same scene repeats itself for over for a candle mark. After more than three dozen ineffective attempts at catching fish Wren gloomily decides to give up.
Wren pushes herself from the sandy floor and swims towards the surface, when the feeling of being watched appears as shivers run up and down her spine. Heart pounding, Wren abruptly stops swimming and floats in the lake. Wren blearily glazes through the water but is unable to see anything near her. Glancing down at her feet, Wren fails to see any fish causing her to swim for the surface.
With a loud splash Wren surfaces breathing heavily and the feeling of being watched does not go away, her skin does not tingle. Wren shrugs and decides it’s either a trick being played by her instincts or whatever is watching won’t harm her. Wren climbs onto the surface shoreline and steps onto the white sandy beach to wring her clothes dry.
Curious Wren decides to try looking one more time in the lake once more and kneels at the edge of the sandy shoreline. Taking a large breath Wren plunges head into the lake and glances around. Wren doesn’t see anything until the second time around and spots a pair of glowing yellow eyes observing her from the depths of a deep underwater cave. Startled, Wren lets out the air from her mouth and chokes.
Throwing herself onto the sand, Wren painfully coughs as water streams out of her nose and mouth. Through watery eyes Wren peeks over the edge to see the see the creature staring at her from the underwater cave. The eyes seem to be calling out to her and for a moment, Wren’s mind fuzzily tells her to go towards it. Wren’s instincts grumble at her until Wren looks away and scoots away from the edge once the creature disappears into the cavern.
Wren sighs sadly as does her stomach in in tragic agreement, before heading back to her travel bags. Wren reaches into her bag for food, when a large roaring sound is heard from behind her. Switching targets Wren reaches for the dagger at her waist and twists around. A large pointed body erupts onto the surface flinging water all over the place and leaving Wren dripping wet.
The lake creature’s large basket sized, yellow eyes stare expressionlessly at Wren. Wren watches her body being unnervingly being reflected in its abnormally large sized eyes. Sneezing loudly in response and Wren glares rather annoyed at the creature for leaving her soaking wet. On the other hand, her stomach growls happily at the creature’s large size.
The creature resembles something like a squid only much larger. The creature opens its beak and shrieks at Wren causing her hair to be blown backward at its shriek. A fishy like smell assaults her nose causing her to gag in disgust as fish scales land in her hair. Wren crossly wipes the slime off her face as she glares menacingly at the stupid squid. Wren had eaten squid once, so this giant squid wasn’t even scary in comparison to the monster of the forest.
Ice and Water magic gather around Wren as she raises an expectant eyebrow at the creature and mockingly motions with her hand for the creature to have at her. The creature raises and waves its tentacles angrily in the air. Wren sneers at the squid and licks her lips instead, “Yum, Calamari.”
The protector of the sacred lake glares at the two-legged creature in front of it. The two-legged creature had defiled the pool of the of the sacred waters in search of the golden pearl. The golden pearl could only be given to a worthy vessel and in this two-legged interlopers’ case clearly was not! Such disrespectful actions merited an instant death sentence!
However, today the protector was in a generous mood and would permit the interloper to flee with its miserable life. The protector shrieked a warning to the two-legged interloper to leave this place and never return. The protector waits for the interloper to flee in terror, but the interloper does not.
Wren waits for the creature to make its first move, but it only glares arrogantly at her. A trickle of saliva escapes her mouth as Wren races towards the squid. The squid shrieks at her, but Wren almost exhausts all her magic in one shot as she casts an ice spell all over the squid’s tentacles and main body.
The protector suddenly finds itself floating harmlessly in the water unable to move its main body nor its arms and legs due to being held down by ice. The protector roars in rage at the audacity of the two-legged interloper. How dare such a pathetic existence have the impudence to attack him? Yet the interloper did not retreat in terror. On the contrary, a large hungry smile appears on the interloper’s face. The protectors skin prickles uneasily as a strange feeling begins to swell from inside. A feeling he had not felt since the fall from grace of Fayne, the Fallen.
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Puzzled at this long-forgotten emotion it takes the protector some to time recall the forgotten emotion from nearly a millennium ago, fear. The protector’s eyes widen in disbelief and uncertainty as he struggles too free himself from his captor’s bonds. He incredulity wonders, how could he who had fought against the Fallen; and against greater and far stronger enemies, possibly be afraid of such an insignificant existence? Yet the protectors dread did not disappear at his own words and were only further augmented. The protector apprehensively watches the interloper climbs onto his leg that is currently pinned onto the white sandy shoreline. In horrifying fascination, the protector observers the two-legged interloper unwaveringly scale its way up his body.
The protector agitates his mighty body as best as he can, but the interloper steadfastly clings to him and does not fall. The two-legged interloper finally reaches the top of a leg and stares him directly in the eye as the interloper grins hungrily at him and licks its lips.
Cold waves of fear wash over the protector as he desperately tries to shift his body enough too free himself. Large swelling waves rise forth and crash onto the shoreline with great strength. Yet the interloper still firmly holds onto his skin and tenaciously climbs its way to the mid-side of his left flank. The two-legged interloper reaches for the tiny dagger at its waist. The protector laughs at the interloper’s pathetic actions as his large body creates small waves throughout the pool for a few moments. The interloper merely sneers at him from its foothold on his skin.
The protector glares arrogantly at the two-legged interloper and swears that once he can free himself from his icy bonds, he will with great relish tear the interloper limb from limb. Just this once he will cry his triumph over his enemies fallen corpse. Afterwards, the protector will feed the interlopers dead corpse to the sacred water's fish and the protector will leisurely savor the desecration of the interloper’s body. And once the fish have finished their task of consuming the interloper’s flesh, the protector will place the interloper’s skeleton on shore as a warning to others. The protector sneers at the interloper and waits in eager anticipation to see the next foolish antic of the interloper.
Wren had eaten squid in the house of the Madam and the cooks had even show her how to dissect squids and kill them. A large portly cook even showed her how to cut out a squid’s brain by starting at the left side, mid-way up the squid’s flank, and just below the left eye. Wren ignores the squids shaking and focus on the task at hand. Using the last of her magic, Wren prepares the last spell as she plunges her dagger as hard as she can into the creature’s flesh. The water spell Wren cast was to guide her dagger into the squid’s brain. Using her last bit of power, Wren sends her dagger deep into its brain effortlessly shattering it into hundreds of pieces.
A great wrack of pain passes through the protector. In disbelief, the protector feels all of his strength vanish in an instant as his great and powerful body begins to topple over.
The squid begins to topple forward and Wren unfortunate also finds herself sliding forward. If she fell from this height and if the fall didn't kill her, then being crushed by the creature’s body would. Wren desperately tries to find any sort of foothold on the creature’s smooth skin. Even digging her nails into the creature’s skin doesn't work as her nails merely become covered in moist muck. Wren desperately slides forward until she bumps into the creature’s eyelid. Holding on to dear life, Wren clings to the squid’s gooey eyelid.
The squids enormous body slams into the ground with a deafening thud sending a mist of sand into the air. The large blue crystals overhead quiver hazardously for a few moments before settling back down. The layer of sand that was thrown into the air gently trickles back down to earth. The protector futilely attempts to move, but he can't feel or sense any of his limbs or body parts. He still can't understand, how such a weak existence could possibly harm him. Slowly, his big yellow eyes close like a large moon waning in the night sky until he fades away into complete and utter darkness.
Wren's ears still ring from the crash as she carefully lifts her head. Shaking the sand from body Wren pulls herself off the gooey eyelid and rushes towards the lake. Wren washes herself until she doesn’t smell like squid eyelid.
Finished, not even with a second to spare Wren’s second set of teeth emerges. Despite being raw and unwashed, Wren goes into an eating frenzy as she tears off large chunks of raw flesh. Several hours later, after her feeding frenzy is complete Wren rests on the sand with a round belly. Wren lets out a satisfied burp as she admires her eating feat. Against all impossible and humanly odds, she somehow had managed to eat a third of the creature’s body. Too full to crawl back to her travel bags Wren falls sound asleep on the sand.
In the following days, Wren would explore the cavern and find many strange pictures and writings on the pillars. There was even a large complicated magic circle that looked down on six broken like thrones. Perhaps to some other person this would have been an incredible find of great value. However, Wren thought the pillars and writing were uninteresting and useless to her since she couldn't eat them much less understand them. Therefore, Wren promptly placed them out of her mind and forgot about them.
Alas all too soon, Wren finished the last of the squid and after careful deliberation once more tried her luck at catching fish. However, this time around to her shock, Wren can clearly see the underwater caverns to the sandy pebbled floor and even the small coral reefs. It was like seeing clearly during a sunlit day or being able to see clearly at night with her night vision.
In shock Wren opens her mouth opens in the shape of an O. Instantly air goes out as Wren frantically clamps her mouth shut and swims towards the surface. Panicking Wren swallows water causing her to swallow more water until Wren clutched her throat in bewilderment. Swallowing again, Wren finds that she is breathing perfectly fine.
Confused at the situation, Wren swims to the surface and heaves herself onto the sand. Breathing the cave air, Wren stares in confusion at the blue crystal as she tries to understand the situation. Wren recalls that her father explained that clan heads such as her could absorb an enemy’s ability upon consumption of their flesh. In that case, could be that she had gained the ability to see and breathe underwater? But if that was the case, some sort of condition must be met which she still wasn’t sure of, but probably required the enemy to be stronger than her.
Sighing, Wren decides to ignore the ability for now and enjoy herself. Wren sits on the sand and begins to build a sand castle and happily does so until her stomach rumbles. Her stomach most pointedly reminds her, that it is a most important priority that must be regularly fed.
Wren shakes her head and walks back to the lake, before easily diving into the depths. Upon spotting a school of fish among seaweed, Wren darts forward hoping that now that she can see she can catch the fish. With some careful effort and practice not before long Wren successfully makes her first catch of the day. Wren spends a few more days like this before finally deciding its time to go and packs up. Wren uses her old torn shirt as a makeshift sack to hold freshly caught fish to carry away. Wren wasn’t too worried that the fish would spoil as the cave cool would keep them largely fresh for a few days.
Wren heads towards to a south tunnel as it was the only tunnel leading out since she had entered via the north tunnel. As Wren turns to leave a distracting golden beam begins to shine across her face. Wren peers in the direction of the lake and amid the lake on a small ledge lay a beautiful large pearl the size of her head at least. Wren narrows her eyes apprehensively at the pool as she had swum past that same ledge countless of times and yet had somehow managed to miss the glowing golden pearl. Ignoring that fact, why did the golden pearl appear before her now?
The golden pearl gleams mesmerizingly at her from the depths of the glowing pool. Entranced by the golden pearl, Wren hypnotically takes a step towards the beautiful gold pearl that shines amid the lake causing the pearl to glow even brighter. The golden pearl whispers unspoken promises to fulfill all her dreams including taken vengeance upon those that wronged her and wielding unimaginable powers that the world had never seen. But most of all would unite the human realms to become the world's greatest hero and be forever remembered as the hero who brought peace and prosperity to all the human realms.
Wren’s skin gently tingles in response causing Wren to awaken and blink rather dazed. Wren recalls the promises made by the golden pearl and snorts, “No one tells an ogre, what to do much less a magical object?!” Wren purses her lips and spits in the direction of the golden pearl, “Keep your magical powers to yourself!”
Wren wasn't looking to become a hero as she was already an ogre clan head. And according to most human legends, an ogre was the evil villain of the story. Turning on her heels with zero regrets Wren walks away and ignores the golden twinkles of light desperately calling out to her.
After half a candles mark, Wren finally reaches the south entrance. The south tunnel is damp and quite large, large enough that even her father would have been able to walk comfortably. Wren tentatively takes a step into the tunnel, before continuing forth. The tunnel seems do dip and go up and then down again but mostly goes up leading her to believe she is heading in the right direction.
After several candle marks with no end in sight, Wren’s stomach growls anew and Wren reaches for the raw fish in the sack to munch on. This continues for several more candle marks as Wren shudders at the thought at being forced to rest in the dark tunnel. It would be a foolish action at she would not only be open to attack from both ends, but there was no telling what dwelt in the tunnel.
Wren sets her shoulders in a firm resolute fashion and steadfastly presses forward until more candle marks later, Wren finally feels a change of air pressure. Wren hurries forward until the sound of a large waterfall cascading nearby can be heard echoing throughout the tunnel. The closer Wren approaches the end of the tunnel the the walls of the tunnel become exceedingly damp and humid. Small puddles form on the ground as water drips from the ceiling until the very tunnel begins to vibrate with the force from the water gushing down at rapid speeds.
The roar of the waterfall filling Wrens ears and only grows louder with each step until she is unable to hear herself think. After what seems an eternity Wren emerges from behind the waterfall as a heavy mist descends on her and the surrounding rock walls. Wrens eyes widen in amazement at the glorious sight as thousands of gallons of water pour over dizzying heights and plunge down belong.
Captivated by the sight, Wren marvels and forlornly thinks about how her father would have loved to see such a sight. Shaking such thoughts from her mind, Wren diverts her attention into searching for a safe manner down from her high up location. After a very careful search, Wren finally spots an old worn trail that leads horizontally across the rock cliff and finally down into the valley below.
Wren clings to the damp rock wall as she treads carefully down the slick path. Several times, she almost slips due to the path being too wet. However, each time Wren would determinedly cling to the moist rock wall and dig her fingernails into the small rock wall fractures preventing her fall. A quarter candle mark later, the mists part for a moment and allow Wren to glimpse the basin floor that has a roaring river and a rocky riverbed.
All to soon the mists settle back down but filled with a glimpse of the basin floor Wren presses forward. As time goes on Wren’s arms begin to ache from the strain of clinging the rock wall. From the cold chill or her strong grip on the rock wall, but Wren can’t feel her numb fingers. Despite being tired, Wren continues persistently onward.
Further down the path Wren encounters a small area of the pathway covered in round pebbles. Wren only takes s small step across the pebble patch, but the pebbles were quite sodden with water and with added weight Wren slides forward. Losing her grip on the rock wall Wren’s heart leaps into her throat as she desperately throws her weight against the rock wall. Digging her fingers into the gritty rock wall to regain her balance Wrens finger nails begin to bleed from the pressure until she comes to a stop.
Wren trembles with exhaustion and shock as she clings to the rock wall. Taking deep breaths Wren reprimands herself for her carelessness and cautiously tests the next step before placing her weight on the path. Wren begins to laugh at her own nagging as she finds that it resembles that of her father. Her twinkling laugh echoes throughout the cavern as Wren laughs until tears begin to stream down her face. Gasping for air Wren tries to one handily hold her aching stomach as she is amazed at finding herself laughing despite the precarious situation she was still in.
“Always laugh even if you’re in trouble,” that was her father’s philosophy.
“Having a good sense of humor is important, Wren, because sometime that’s all that keeps you going in a bad situation,” Zarris said.
Back then the younger Wren didn’t believe her father’s words but the next moment would swiftly prove true as her father sing at her and his fist connected with her face. Wren’s eyes had watered with pain as she kept herself from crying out and glared at him. Zarris had actually laughed at Wren’s bruised eye as Wren sulked and turned her back on him.
Still laughing Zarris took Wren into his arms and wisely said, "Wren, I know that you are still mad at me. However, in a real fight, your opponent would have taken that chance to attack you and kill you. Now that being said, it's precisely in the worst of times, when you should laugh at your awful situation. If you can make light of your situation then that proves that you are still alive. And if you are still alive, then you still have plenty of fight left in you.” After a brief pause, Zarris hastily added, "Not to mention it actually throws your opponent off their pace and pleas you relax your tense body and mind. So, remember to always laugh."
Her father's words were true Wren causally observed her body as her heart and body were no longer trembling and had relaxed. Wren even felt reenergized as she picked up her pace and went forward. As the trail becomes more wet there are puddles Wren must jump over. Another candle mark later Wren’s foot abruptly stands in empty air. Wren hops back a step and places her foot on the edge as she peers over her shoulder at the pathway.
About a meter or so of the of the pathway has crumbled away due to the moisture. Ordinarily, this would have been an easy leap for Wren but given the mist Wren was unable to verify the state of the rest of the pathway. Wren could potentially clear the hole to only find the rest of the pathway was weak and crumbling away to have her plunging into the valley.
Wren bits her lips in aggravation as she considers alternative options but finds none. Left with no other choice, Wren back up as for as possible and stills herself. Clearing all needless thoughts from her mind, Wren crouches on her feet and tucks her arms as close to her body as possible. Taking a running step forward, Wren leaps forward and leans forward to gain more depth to her jump.
Wren floats a moment in the air a she crosses the chasm to only find herself falling. Kicking forward Wren tries to gain altitude and leans forward barely landing on the edge. Trying to keep her balance, Wren swings her hands wildly in the air and digs her nails into the wall. Feeling a slight pain, Wren pulls her full weight forward and rams her body into the coarse rock wall.
Mentally exhausted Wren rests her face against the damp rock wall as she feels the sweat on her brow cool against the cool rock. Wren’s heart eases as her hand cease to tremble at the thought of being that close to falling. Refusing to look back nor much less down, Wren goes forth again in hopes of finally reaching the floor.
And so, Wren’s wishes were granted as less than a quarter of a candle mark later Wren sees the valley floor meters away. Rather than walking the rest of the way, Wren impatiently leapt off the trail onto the river bed. The rock floor is moist causing Wren to skid to a stop as she keeps her arms outstretched to keep her balance.
Wren turns around to glance behind her and marvels at the sheer height of the rock wall. From her current standing point, she wasn’t even able to see the halfway point. Having gawked enough at her climbing feat, Wren studies the river. White churning waters violently toss each other from side to side as the winding river that separates the rock wall from the rest of the cavern. Wren sighs at another feat to challenged as she sighs to herself, “I just finished climbing a giant rock wall, please give me a break!”
Wren walks the stretch of the river bed to find a safe crossing point but doesn’t see any bridge type structure. And though Wren could breathe and see underwater it would be useless given the fierce river currents that would carry her away. Instead Wren turns her sight to the line of evenly spaced, large obsidian stones that span across the river and back.
Not seeing any other choice, Wren scrambles across the river bank and stops at the edge of the swirling white waters. The river purposefully splashes a mouthful of icy cold water into Wren’s face as the river rumbles happily at the sight of her dripping wet face. Wiping her face with her sleeve, Wren ignores the rivers antics and accepts the rivers challenges. They would see which one would be laughing in the end.
With a determined gaze Wren tests her weight against the river bank and leaps forward much like a jump frog. Wren slippery lands onto the stone and clings to it in order not to fall. Herat in her mouth Wren carefully totters to her feet as the violent rive sprays water mist into the air making the round stones very slippery.
Taking a gulp of air, Wren braces herself as best as she can before leaping again. This continued for the rest of the way and even though Wren came close to falling several times, she didn’t. Wren almost worshipfully leaps from the last stone to the cavern's basin floor. Thankfully Wren lands firmly on her two feet and almost kisses the solid ground in pure joy at its lovely non-moving sight.
Wren rests her hands against her hips, breathing tiredly as she wearily studies her nails that are scuffed and broken from clinging onto the rock wall and the river stones. Glancing back at the river stones Wren smiles in victory as river gurgles in displeasure. Finished catching her breath, Wren studies the large cave that seems to stretch in every direction. To her delight Wren spots small vegetation and shrubbery that seemly grows without any visible light source.
Wren only pauses to readjust her travel bags before treading across the rocky, dirt floor. Wren heads south and with a few minutes the smell of roasting meat fills her nose. Wren’s mouth unconsciously begins to water at the scent despite having eaten an entire sack of raw fish. Wrens stomach innocently counters that this was cooked, mouthwatering food and that the source must be investigated. Tring not to lick her lips, Wren thinks it can’t hurt to take a look. Besides she can always run away, Wren consoled herself, before heading towards the source of the scent.