I open my eyes, but the darkness is dense. The only proof of my survival is the sound of breath surrounding me. I can easily identify my own, but it takes a moment to recall who the others belong to. My eyes start to adjust to the dark. I say it adjusts; but really, all I can make out is the faint illusion of a person sitting across from me.
“Are you awake?” a voice pulls me back to earth. It’s Gareth.
“Uh-I... Ahem.” I strain but my dry throat refuses to speak.
“Shhh.... It’s fine.” He replies.
I feel someone shift next to me. Elara’s soft voice whispers into my left ear.
“Here, drink some water.”
I turn towards her voice and open my mouth. Her finger gently pokes and draws a line along my cheek, guiding the mouth of a water-skin to my lips. The water pours out, as I desperately swallow. I didn’t realize how parched I had been. I focus desperately on not choking; the last thing we need is for a cough to shatter this silence.
“Do you need some time to rest?” Gareth asks.
“Yes. I’m sorry.” I reply. “If even for a little while. My Spirit... it's almost over." The admission is a weight lifted off my shoulders.
“Alright we’ll stay put for an hour or so. I would like to give you more time but this tiny alcove offers little protection.”
The fresh cloth bandages wrapped around my head offer some cushion against the uneven wall. My body relaxes as my vision starts to return. Gareth’s outline, once flickering in and out of existence becomes somewhat tangible. I hear Elara’s breathing, ragged in contrast to his, whose breath is barely audible even in this silence.
Once settled, I try seeking answers. Thankfully my voice has returned, even if just a little.
“Can you tell me everything you know about these creatures? What we face and... how you feel about continuing."
I try to mask the exhaustion in my voice, focusing on the task of gathering information. The silence that follows is heavy with concern but I accept it. If they do not know, then it's no use pushing further.
I feel Elara shivering beside me. The cave isn’t particularly cold, leaving fear as the only explanation. I reach out for her hand. A soft outline of her fingers being the only indication of it’s location as I gently take it in mine. If I were more experienced, I would’ve spoken some words of comfort and reassurance. But all I could do was mimic the voice of the cavern. The tremoring of her hand eventually clams to the steady pulse of her heartbeat as we sit in silence.
The seconds pass into minutes, and the minutes turn into an hour.
“It’s time.” Gareth whispers.
He rises silently and peeks through the exit, peering from the cover of the stalagmite and taps his sword on the rocks twice, signalling us to come out behind him. I clutch my staff and whisper a Light spell. It illuminates the wall, casting dark shadows that eclipse the ambient light of a distant torch.
Confirming our safety for the moment, Gareth turn to us. His lips stammer for a moment but his eyes lock into a resolute glare. “Do we continue on?” He asks. I struggle to reply, instead turning to the remaining companion in hopes of finding the answer there.
Elara is a little taller than me. Her light blonde hair fails to touch her shoulder, cut short as to not impede in a swordsman’s dance on the battlefield. Her blue tunic, ruffled beneath the light armour pads that are unevenly strewn across her frame. She carries a wooden spear, tied to the holster on her back. Her now hidden blue eyes, gazing away from my staff in contemplation. The leather straps and pads line her armour down to her boots that swivel on the gravel in apprehension.
“Let us continue onward.” I couldn’t take the suspense I suppose, so I answered.
I reckoned that there was nothing waiting for me if we went back anyway.
“Then let’s make haste.” he replies.
Elara doesn’t react. We proceed away from the path to home. A distant clink of metal reminding us of the inhabitants that haunt the cave.
“Gareth sir. I think-” Elara stops us.
We look back to see her grasping for words.
She continues, “I think we should head-”
Her sentence is cut short by a loud crack that lingers with a creak, before it crescendos into a bone shaking snap. The floor beneath Gareth collapses as he slips into a harsh slope, sliding into an abyss.
“GARETH!!” Ours voices meld into one. I amplify the light to reveal an extended fissure that runs across the bottom corner of the path; the result of mother nature’s movements. Elara drops to the ground, peering into the chasm we’ve stumbled upon. The sound of excited goblins in the distance make their way to us from both sides of the path.
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“I can’t see him. How do we get back to him?” Her voice trembling. I wrack my brain but the situation seems hopeless. The ambient lights on either sides of the tunnel seem to be getting brighter, as the edges of my Light spell begin a grapple for power against their torches.
“We have no choice. We’ll have to crawl down to him!” I yell joining her belly down on the ground.
I quickly tie my hair into a bundle against my body. Elara retrieves the spear from her back and we squeeze our equipment and ourselves into the fissure.
The descent is difficult. Rows of jagged edged stone and hardened silt nick our softer cloth and skin. Our hafted weapons anchor us against the steep slope, using them as leverage to avoid slipping into to the unknown. Pushing one elbow at a time, we maneuver through the varying angles of the slope as the roof begins to taper down, closing in on us. Elara lifts her head, the roof of the fissure barely allows her to lift it high enough to look over her shoulder.
“I see the light from their torches, but they don’t seem to be following us in.” She says.
“And judging by how many legs have gathered, they definitely know where we are.”
The unintelligible chatter of goblins bounce through the narrow space. My body shudders, too afraid to look back. The last thing I want to see is a goblin’s vile face crawling towards us.
We keep our pace, slowly descending the closing mouth of the crevice. occasionally moving closer and further away from each other. Our paths are dictated by protrusions, mere inches in height. The kind we simply would’ve ignored above, were now the insurmountable barrier between freedom and being stuck for eternity. Although some seem to have been freshly chipped off, probably by Gareth and the sheer force of his fall.
My mind races into oblivion with thoughts of getting stuck, finding Gareth’s lifeless body or even worse, finding him at a narrowing dead-end. My breathing grows heavier, each inhale hurting my chest as it presses against the uneven floor. The oppressive walls tighten around my skull as I fail to notice my panting start to echo in the silence.
“Meer.” I turn to see Elara watching me, fraught with worry, but managing to smile.
“Everything will be alright.” Her words are kind. My heartbeat relaxes as I summon all the determination I can muster into my face.
“Yes it will. Thank you.” I reply.
Descending a few dozen feet, the Light emitting from my staff eventually reveals a bundle of silver hair.
“Gareth!” Elara shouts. The tone of her wavering voice match the tears on her cheeks.
“Gareth?” She repeats.
“What are you two doing here?” His voice is weak but authority still rings through.
“Don’t tell me you came down to save me.”
He lets out a cough but it is cut off by a wince of pain. I crawl down closer towards him, approaching from his side. He had stopped his fall by wedging himself, his elbows and knees pushing against the wall above. The metal plate protecting his elbow crooked, and cracked from the sheer force required to stop himself.
I pin one end of my staff on the floor and the other against the palate, leaning against it to stop my body from free falling. I chant a nervous spell as Elara crawls closer towards him from across.
“Heal.” I cast a weak spell that reduce the gashes around his face and exposed skin. In this moment, I really wished I were more adept at Void magic.
“Thank you. I feel much better.” Gareth’s voice seems firmer but the bleeding from a larger gash continues.
“We need to figure out how much deeper this goes. I can’t turn around or climb up in this position so...” He turns towards his subordinate and adds with a gentle concern.
“Elara dear, I know you don’t like the dark, but we’ll have to wait for Meer to check the bottom before I can let go.”
“M-hmm.’ She agrees.
I reach into my satchel and pull out a torch that is passed on to her.
“Alright, I’ll call out when I reach the bottom. You can tie that to the far end of your spear and light it when you start to descend. If there’s no news for ten minutes after my light vanishes, you can make your way down regardless.”
I unhook my staff from the pocket, my body slipping slightly while I anchor myself again.
“Be careful Meer.” Her voice peeks out from behind Gareth.
I look back as best as I can and reassure them, “We’ll take a long break once we’re out of here.”
My voice isn’t exactly the pinnacle of confidence, but Gareth lets out a soft chuckle and says, “See you then.”
I commence the solitary descent. The chasm now darker than it was before. A rush of pressure builds up in my head, growing worse every second. The quiet conversation behind me fades away as I cover several more feet. The left side of my vision starts to blur and a slight movement in my stomach causes it to churn. I need to get out of here quick.
The mouth of the crevice begins to tighten as I fear I won’t make it through the next section; yet somehow, I do. The only sounds I hear are the pitter-patter of tiny pebbles dislodged by my movements as a warm breeze half-heartedly brushes against my face.
Suddenly, the ground underneath my staff vanishes. My shoulders buckle and lose balance from the sudden sensation and I slide down, being greeted by a drop that gently places me on soft, bumpy ground. I jump to my feet and stick my staff back up into the crevice on the wall, pushing inside as far I can before shouting with all that I have.
“IT’S SAFE! COME ON DOWN!” and then there’s silence.
“YOU CAN COME DOWN NOW!” I repeat.
My heart beats erratically, yet I know they will make their descent regardless. I focus my ears to the wind, listening intently for any signs of movement. Nothing. I consider shouting for them again, before my ears catch a rattling in the distance. A tiny pebble strikes me gently on the back of my hand. There is a moment of stillness before I feel another one, this time on my chest, and then another. The drizzle of pebbles continue, the time between each growing shorter. Eventually I see the unsteady light of a torch peer over a hump in the slope.
I let out a sigh of relief. I can barely contain my happiness and probably wouldn’t be able to if my throat weren’t so dry. As they near the exit, I reach up to gently help Gareth down first. He plants his feet on the ground; surprisingly quiet. I move to catch Elara, taking her spear and saving her from falling face first as I had.
“I’m so glad you’re alright.” She runs to Gareth.
It looks like she wants to rush forward and embrace him, but is holding herself back. I walk over to them and hand over the spear to Elara when I noticed my Light against the torch, it’s lost almost all of it’s power. I had not realize it, but that last Heal must’ve really burnt my Spirit down.
“Here.” My concern is pushed aside by Elara who hands me a water skin. “It’s the last of our water. Gareth and I had some before descending.” I grab it and fling it to my face, just now realizing how thirsty I’ve been. I swallow the final bit of water from the pouch.
“Uhh... Didn’t you tell us that it was safe here?” Gareth asks looking down at the ground. My gaze chases his.
“Yes I didn’t see or hea-” My answer is cut short by the uneven bumps beneath us. As I glance past the layers of dust and pebbles, I realize we’re standing on the corpses of goblins. He points to a farther section of the ledge where one had seemingly tried to climb back up the crevice, its lower half torn away. It’s innards dangle to the ground.