The group has been stumbling through the woods for days now, and the lack of a proper food source was draining their strength rapidly. They had access to this healthy river, but they made the poor decision of following the wrong split in the river, and wound up in a rather dimly lit part of the woods with no sign of any apple trees or rabbits.
Vim had decided they should just push through as there was likely a lake at the end of this river's offshoot, however they have been walking for hours to find nothing but more forest. The group's morale is rapidly dropping, and everyone just wants to rest at this point.
"Alright, we need to stop. Everyone rest up and-" Vim starts to say.
"Cave! There's a huge cave!" Someone shouts.
Vim and the others all walk toward the shouting, and find themselves in awe of a massive cavern. The huge space houses a small crystal clear lake, while the river's offshoot flows into the cave's maw to create a beautiful waterfall. Purple mushrooms glow in patches on the cave floor, and the occasional squeak of a bat as it flies around makes the place seem mystically inclined.
"Wow... I've never seen anything like this!" Zain exclaims.
Zain's voice fades as he quickly descends into the cave; He clambers down a steep slope of rock before walking into the mushroom patches. His surprised yelp draws everyone's attention, but he quickly waves them off as if it was nothing.
"T-There are some big bugs down here... But they left me alone." Zain says nervously.
The rest of the group climbs down after Zain, and start looking around the dimly lit space. They find the squirming centipedes Zain mentioned, and decide its best to leave the unsettling creatures alone. Several of the hungrier group members eye the glowing fungus as if looking at a potential meal. Vim decides its time to take charge of the situation, and clears his throat.
"Tonn and Lif, you two go start up a fire and see about cooking these mushrooms." Vim orders firmly.
"On it!" Lif replies quickly.
The two of them get to work while Vim turns his attention to the lake and the dark tunnels at the edge of this underground space.
"Lily and Tir will light torches throughout the cave, but don't stray too far from the central cavern. Got it?" Vim orders again.
"We got it, Vim." Lily nods as she replies.
With the orders made and everyone in motion, Vim joins Zain in his investigating. They light torches and begin their descent into the tunnels leading out of the cavern; Meanwhile the others are quickly preparing a fire pit, and posting free standing torches throughout the cave.
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"Isn't Vim is a bit much sometimes?" Lily says quietly to Tir.
Tir brushes some of her lengthy dark hair aside as she ties a ball of tree sap to the end of a mostly straight branch. She places the prepared torch into the cave floor, and ties a few smaller sticks around the base to keep it stable.
"He's doing his best as leader." Tir replies flatly.
"Well he could be a bit more polite about it..." Lily mutters bitterly.
Orange torchlight competes with violet mushroom light in illuminating the expansive cavern. There's a fire burning near the back wall of the cave beside the mushroom patches, and both Tonn and Lif are casually roasting hunks of mushroom over the fire using sticks they've stripped of bark; The smell is getting tantalizing as it wafts through the cave.
"Th' stuff sure smells e'ble, don't it?" Tonn says with a sniff.
"We can't be sure, but cooking it should help get rid of some poison." Lif imparts his knowledge.
God taught Lif many things, and almost all of them have been useful on the group's journey through the forest. The group discussed differences in knowledge and skill many times, however they couldn't come to a consensus on why God gives them differing abilities.
"Should be fine to eat now, it's going to burn if we cook it any longer." Lif says quickly.
The two of them pull their crude skewers out of the fire before taking big bites out of the piping hot mushroom flesh; Quick panting breaths leave their mouths as they chew the burning hot food. It tastes delicious, albeit they're busy trying not to give themselves second degree burns on their tongues.
"Wow that smells good... is it safe to eat?" Lily asks.
Tir steps up from behind Lily and the two of them look expectantly at Tonn and Lif. Lif manages to choke down his much too hot meal before nodding his head, and wiping away a few tears from his eyes.
"Y-Yeah its safe, but you have to let it cool off first!" Lif explains.
The four of them gather around the fire with skewered mushrooms held over the fire. Mouth watering aromas swirl throughout the cavern as the fungal flesh is cooked by the heat radiating from the burgeoning flames. The perils of the day fade as the sun begins to set outside, albeit they keep a worried eye out for Vim and Zain.
~
"Go fetch me a bit of that. Any size counts, even a grain of sand for all I care!" The soul keeper shouts at a soul seeker.
The unthinking skeleton creature floats over the edge of the citadel's balcony, and is bathed in a brilliant golden light. The soul keeper is directing this particular soul seeker to go try and retrieve a miniscule fraction of Ben's power.
"Hopefully this works. If not, I'll have to get a little creative."
Energy beyond that of the mortal realm is radiating off of Ben's unmoving body even in his sleep. The heat, light, and other energies wafting off the ethereal golden orb are degrading the soul seeker's body rapidly. Each meter closer is another bone turned to dust, or another chunk of bone evaporated.
The soul keeper watches in grim fascination as the soul seeker slows to a halt nearly one hundred meters away from Ben's body, and is eviscerated into dust. The process leaves motes of ash floating into the abyss.
"I'll just have to do this the hard way, then!"
Eerie multicolored flames manifest in front of the soul keeper as he uses his god given powers to create something new. White bone plates and dense ribs form a wide creature, one who doesn't resemble a human in the slightest. These thing's more closely resemble a tailless horseshoe crab, and their eye sockets erupt into red ghostly flames.
"Perfect. It's time to take what's mine!"