Chapter 3 The light

Gray’s perspective

Where am I? It's so dark in here I can't even see before me.

Over there is some light.

Gray: ‘’Ahh, blood?.’’

My leg is bleeding from that fall. How far did I fall down? Must have been at least 50 meters. I'm lucky that I had enhanced my body with a zen coating while falling or this would have been lethal. Lucky me, well also smart me, hehe.

Grrrrowl!

Oh no. Don't tell me that this is what I think it is. Must be a fermon right? If so I shouldn't move, since they have those enhanced senses that grandpa was talking about. I kept on standing still while the huge mabeast came towards me. Yepp that’s a fermon, seeing that long and slimy like body made me wanna throw up. That is so disgusting.

Why is it still coming toward me? I’m not moving… MY SMELL OF COURSE. What do I do!? What do I do!? Run right? No, I can't, I'm in a cave. I have to do something! But then I stood eye in eye with a fermon that was way bigger than I could have ever imagined. I’ve never been in the presence of such a strong mabeast before. I can’t help but shiver.

Stop shivering! Or it will notice my presence. As I tried to make my shivering go away I unconsciously backed up.

Thud!

Gray: ‘’Oops.’’

Of course, I trip on a rock.

In the blink of an eye, it dashed towards me!

Murky’s perspective

Dammed kid why did he run away, I won’t bother going after him, maybe that will teach him. Well, he is still a kid after all.

Murky: ‘’Don’t look so down Jet, he will definitely come back, so don’t worry too much.’’

Jet: ‘’I hope so.’’

Murky: ‘’We could play ball to distract from what’s going on.’’

Jet: ‘’Ehh, I guess.’

Murky: ‘’Come on it will be fun.’’

Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!

Murky: ‘’Oh no…’’

That one was way louder, have they awakened? Must be it. I should go and look for him, this is too dangerous.

The fermons have awakened…

–Fermons go out of the ground once every 100 years, to get fresh air. This air is needed for their body to stay intact. If they don't, their body would decay.

I’ll try my surround scan technique to find Gray.

Zing…. Zing… Zing… Zing…

I can’t find him, but fermons are already on their way here? But where is Gray? I should be able to see him as I can see every living entity in this cave. This shouldn't be possible. Wait, no. It is possible, but there is no way that he is deeper underground? Did he fall into a crack???? That must be it, there is no way that my technique wouldn't work properly. But there is nothing that we can do about it now.

We could go out of the cave to the open world, but there is no way that I'm doing that, out there it is even more dangerous, and I'm not abandoning Gray. So let’s protect ourselves.

Murky: ‘’Jet! come here, we have to hide now!’’

Jet: ‘’Huh? What’s going on?’’

Murky: ‘’No time to explain, we got to hide they are coming!’’

Jet: ‘’What do you mean? They are coming?’’

Murky: ‘’Jet! Listen to me! I’m not fooling around!’’

Jet: ‘’Okay, if you say so.’’

We should hide, but there is no place to do so. All we can do is stay as still as possible.

Murky: ‘’Jet come here and sit as still as possible. Don’t talk. Don’t move, and breathe as slowly as possible.’’

Jet could notice that Murky wasn’t fooling around, so he did as he said.

I’ll try my surround scan technique again.

Zing…. Zing… Zing… Zing…

No sign of Gray, Shit!

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Again!

Zing…. Zing… Zing… Zing…

Oh no. How many is that? 4? No. 5 fermons have already breached the surface of the cave.

Since they have breached I should stop using zen, they will notice us otherwise. All we can do is hope for Gray to come to us or wait it out.

I took Jet’s paw in my hand and prayed for Gray’s and our safety.

Gray's perspective

At that moment I didn't feel anything. I felt so calm as if I was floating in nothingness. Wait, wasn't I just at the Fermon nest, what is this?

I couldn't move, I couldn't open my eyes, it felt like I was stuck but at the same time, I felt free to do anything as I pleased. But then a breeze hit me, it kept getting stronger, It felt so wonderful, so comfortable.

I was finally able to open my eyes.

What’s happening? I can see the cave clearly now!

I’m flying?!

What?!

Did I actually awaken?

It must be wind since I’m flying.

I… I… feel strong. It feels like I actually have a chance at beating this fermon, although the wind isn't the best for offense. Maybe I should trap it instead of fighting it, I don't know how I'm doing this after all. Better not push my luck.

Well he has its claws at the bottom, and I don’t see anything elsewhere he could attack me with, so I should try getting it on its back, by using my wind element, I could swirl it around and make it turn.

Let's do that!

By using my wind element, it will only take a couple of minutes before he can get up, then I will take my leave.

Gray: ‘’Here we go!’’

Immediately I flew to the right while dodging his attacks that he had made by jumping up and using his claw.

I GOT AN IDEA! If I were to make him jump up, then I'd swirl him around and he'll be on his back.

Let’s try that!

Again I flew towards him, trying to bait him to jump up, and yes it jumped. Stupid mabeast! Behh! As it extended its claws towards me just enough to scratch my belly open, and rip up my clothing, I tried to somehow make a swirl with my element. As I swung my arms from bottom to top as in making an actual swirl I couldn’t help but notice feeling fatigued. Must be my zen being overused.

Boom!!

Gray: ‘’IT WORKED… KINDA!!!’’

He fell on his side! He can easily get back up. Let’s just make a run for it, no, I mean, Let’s make a fly for it! Now we go!! Don’t look back, it would only slow me down!

At that time I didn't think about the situation on their side, as I flew closer and closer to the treehouse, I saw fermons covered in blood going back towards the one I came from. These fermons also look smaller, maybe I was fighting against their king or leader? Wait! Those fermons came directly from the treehouse! Don’t tell me that they… Wait, no. Don’t think like that. Grandpa can defend himself of course. He is way stronger than me or anyone I know. Even though I only know grandpa and Jet.

Finally getting to the point where the treehouse would come to vision…

I arrived and looked down upon this disturbing sight.

Blood is everywhere, the treehouse is broken.

How…?

How could this have happened? This is my fault. Stop it! You don’t know if they are dead yet!

That’s right! Grandpa is strong!

While quickly rushing down to the treehouse I looked between the broken treehouse and noticed a heartbeat coming from underneath the planks. Jet!?

Gray: ‘’...’’

Gray: ‘’Jet… you look awful, what do I do? I can’t use healing magic… Wha…what can I do anyway!!?’’

Jet: ‘’Gray…’’

Gray: ‘’Yes.’’

Jet: ‘’Murky has died.’’

Gray: ‘’Huh… What do you mean, he is dead?’’ That’s not funny, he is the strongest, he wouldn’t die from these stupid mabeasts… Right?’’

Jet: ‘’He died while saving me. He fought off all 5 fermons at once and managed to survive until one fermon came towards me trying to end me. I couldn’t move since I was scared, and he… he… died saving me.’’

Gray: ‘’Where is his body?’’

Jet: ‘’Right underneath you.’’

As fast as I could, I grabbed the planks and shove them away.

Gray: ‘’Grandpa.’’

His whole body was covered in blood while organs were hanging out of his body.

Barff!

Gray: ‘’No..! No..! No.! No.! No.! NO!! He didn’t die. He didn’t die.’’

Gray: ‘’Haha! Hahahaha!’’

Jet started tearing up at this sight. I must look so pathetic.

Jet stood up with his broken legs and bloody body to give me a good slap on my face.

Slap!!

Gray: ‘’Huh..’’

Jet: ‘’Snap out of it! Murky died. Okay! Look before you. He is dead…’’

That’s right. Grandpa is dead because of me.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

There is no choice, It’s die here by the fermons or live and make the best out of it. I know that Grandpa would want me to keep on pushing. So I’ll set my emotions to the side for now, and keep on pushing.

Jet: ‘’Oh no. Gray, we have to get out of here!’’

Gray: ‘’Right.’’

Where to? Where do we go from here? Outside!? We have to, staying here is suicide. We will need some stuff to survive.

Gray: ‘’We have to gather some stuff to survive, stay here Jet. I'll look for some stuff.’’

Jet: ‘’It’s not like I can move.’’

Gray: ‘’Right.’’

What do we need in the first place? A weapon most definitely, food, water, a bag, and some clothing since I'm still wearing my combat clothes. That should be plenty to survive, if I find more useful stuff I'll grab it along the way.

Kongo! Where is the kongo egg!

Quickly I looked around to see if the egg had survived. Here it is! Thank god it is still okay.

I found a bag! Ooh and some food and water. Where could a knife be? You can’t figure out where anything is in this mess.

Rope! That could be useful, and a compass. These are some really useful items.

What’s that? A notebook. I’ll take it, you never know when that could be useful.

Where the hell is a knife?

That … that’s grandpa’s dagger, I'll definitely take it.

I can’t find any clothes though.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr!

Gray: ‘’We have no time to spare, we have to go Jet. Here I’ll take you on my shoulder.’’

Jet: ‘’...’’

He must be unconscious, I completely forgot to take care of his wounds. There might be some bandages in this bag. Please!

Gray: ‘’Yes!’’

As I finished wrapping the bandages around his wounds, I took him and put him in my bag.

Gray: ‘’Here we go!’’

Sorry grandpa, I won’t be able to bury your body.

As I ran away from our home I left with a sad but calm.

Gray: ‘’Goodbye.’’

While running I thought about how I wished for myself to go to the outside world. If I had known that it would happen in a way like this, then I would have never wished so. If I could take it back then I would, but it’s too late for that…

This is what I wanted…

I asked for this, therefore it’s my fault.

Suddenly trees started to collapse while the ground was ripping open. That must have been done by the fermons, they are probably coming after us, since we are moving, they can sense us easily.

Grrrrowl!

Here it comes. While looking at the compass to see if we are going in the right direction(west).

It kept on getting closer and closer, but we were also getting closer to the exit.

There it is! The exit is here.

Suddenly the ground started to shake.

Boom!!

It jumped over us. Oh no. I’ll use my wind magic again, and fly over him.

As I jumped up trying to fly again, nothing happened.

Huh… Why isn’t anything happening.. no, no, no, no? This can’t be happening right now. Well, It makes sense that I can’t control my powers yet, although I was confident to fly.

Let’s make a run for it... No, I can't, I'm not faster than him. Well, I won’t die now. I’ll make it for sure.

Gray: ‘’Ahh!!!’’

Quickly I dashed towards the fermon using my quick step technique that grandpa had taught me, trying to outplay it by faking my direction. As I went from right to left baiting it.

Gray: ‘’Huh.’’

As I passed it the fermon dashed towards the other side, where I baited him. But It immediately stood up and let out a big roar. Quickly I ran towards the exit, but the fermon dashed towards me from behind, while I jumped In front of me going towards the exit that is too small for the fermon.

Oh no, It’s faster than me... I guess that this is as far as I will make it.

But in a blink of an eye, it was gone, flashed away from existence. How?? There is no time to think about that. We have to get out of here.

As I ran further out of the cave true this tunnel-like space, I felt like a strain slowly came off me. The light slowly started to shine brighter and brighter. There it is, is this freedom?