Brown crept along the ridgy surface of the cave’s wall, and was at a safe distance from the edge which gave onto the forest. Wünder was right beside him, illuminating the threat which they thought they have escaped with his torch; it was a golden creature - one which had taken on a humanoid shape. And it spoke.

“You…. Whaattt do… you… desirrrrrrre?”

The monster slowly pointed a long finger in Wünder’s direction, and waited for a reply.

“What are you?”

“...”

Brown’s question was greeted with silence. The creature closed upon Brown’s face, peering deep into his eyes. Brown stared back into the bottomless eyes gazing at him.

“It would be cool if you gave a reply, you know?”

The creature transmuted his hand into a trident, and closed his eyes abruptly. “You ask this of me, human?” Its slur was gone.

“Yeah!.. I do.”

“I am the Orgon seer. And right now, I am the servant of Oregon.”

“I am his servant,” resounded another voice behind him, and Wünder jerked the torch to the right, shedding light on the source of the voice; a lugubrious face reflected back to his eyes. The newcomer walked towards his peer, and scrutinised Brown, much like the other creature had.

“We are the Orgon seer,” said the two golden monsters. “So tell us what your desire is.”

Brown sighed, closing his trembling fists, and smiled. “I want you to leave us alone.”

The trident came crashing besides Brown’s face. “Make a wish! Make a wish and you’ll be able to leave this place unscathed.”

Brown felt so giddy with dark humor at that moment, that he found it hard not to smirk. “You should choose someone else for your bloody wish-granting, Mr. Orgon.”

The creatures blinked. “Why? Do you not want to see yourself rich?”

“Why would I want to see that? I wish that I could make more important things come true rather than something plain like that?”

The trident drew a line away from Brown’s head. “What would those important things be?”

Brown smiled. “Be able to protect my brother as long as I live, and show him all kinds of places.”

The trident swung back across the line.

Brown ducked, kicking the creature in the chest; it remained rooted in place, while the second creature continued:

“You could wish for glory, for greatness. We would find no difficulty granting you that. Are you certain you don’t need to state a different wish.”

Brown breathed raggedly, as he got to his feet. He looked at the creatures with wide eyes, and gasped. “You know, you need not ask this thing again. I don’t need your help.”

“Very well, I shall grant you that you have nerves of steel,” the creature turned its face downwards, inclining it at an odd angle, almost snapping off the neck. “I shall protect your brother for you. Are you prepared to make a contract with me for it? I can tell that you won’t live long enough to protect your brother all his life.”

“Ah, well, I can’t. Nah. What are you exactly?”

“Do you wish to know what I’m made of?”

“Not really,” Brown walked away from them, Wünder right beside him.

The creatures kept looking at Brown at each movement he made. “Get rid of these two, I’m heading out,” said the creature with the trident-hand, and jumped idly on the cave, stomping a small crater onto the cave’s floor, and it stretched its hands forward. They started transforming. “Here I was, giving you the opportunity to be king, to have the best concubines, and you rejected it so thoughtlessly.”

The creature grew wings, and his upper body sleeked forward, his hands fully turning into claws. Brown edged back carefully, looking intently at the humanoid which remained behind. “Too bad for you! Repent and envy the person who will get the privileges I offered you!” The creature’s voice reverberated throughout the cave, growing raucous as it said it.

The next instant, it flung itself into the chasm outside the cave, before rising up in the sky, its feet transformed into those of a lizard, and his wings made a vibrating sound as they carried it onward.

“...”

“...” × 2

Brown felt cold sweat breaking on his forehead. He hissed air out of his lungs, and observed the remaining monster warily.

“You lot are going to die here,” it said.

“Now! Let’s run for it, Wünder!”

“Roger!”

Brown started for the exit, followed by his brother. The creature laughed, pursued them, and right as they were about to enter the narrow passageway, extended his hand to form a long pole, and barred their path.

The creature formed a visor over his face, vambraces and gauntlets over his arms, and came charging towards Brown. The latter flung himself back against the cave’s wall. His body slammed hard against its surface, and Brown gasped at the shock, his back feeling worn out.

Wünder kept the torch upon the glittering profile of the creature, as it gave a hideous smile. It retracted its arm, and stampeded towards Wünder in turn. The whole cave gave groans and grunts, while Wünder ducked and ran towards the left, before throwing his body to the floor, the monster’s hand breezing just over his head.

The monster marched onward, its sabaton clinking against the ground, and it held its hand loosely like its companion had its head when talking to Brown - the gauntlet was at its loose end, much like a rock at the end of a sling, and the creature flung it at Wünder anew.

It caught Brown on his forearms, as the latter shielded his brother.

“I see you humans are most foolish!” exclaimed the humanoid, stomping towards Brown, and crashed his hand into the latter’s stomach, before vying for Wünder.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Wünder took up the flickering torch on the ground and headed towards the left of the cave. “Come catch me if you dare, you piece of monstrosity!”

The creature trampled the ground with a few backward steps, and said. “Oh, but I can capture you just fine!”

It came charging towards Wünder, blazing through the air, as the latter raced along the wall, and went down the steep slope hazardously. Wünder ran on, and on, saying, “I bet even a wolf could run faster than you.”

The creature accelerated towards Wünder’s silhouette, and chided. “You poor soul! Oh, but I can run! And faster than even the fastest animal I can!”

Wünder weaved onward, past the point where his brother had told him to stop, and then made for the right. His feet got dragged downward, but he persisted, his knees scrapping on the floor, as he slipped down, and then went cripplingly for the higher grounds.

The monster looked at him with puzzlement, and tried forcing itself to a stop, successfully decelerating, but then Brown slammed against him from behind, forcing it to plummet down the cave’s slope, as the latter ran back to his brother, catching his hand, and tried giving him a pull, whereas the monster screamed furiously while sliding down the cave, and finally came out into the air.

Brown hurriedly pulled his brother back to safety, and said. “Now, let’s bail out of here, Wünder! God knows what will happen to us if that monster comes flying back!”

Wünder nodded, getting to his feet, and they made for the narrow passageway. Once past it, they limply ran along the tunnel, hardly making out the way through the darkness; the torch had gone down the slope, so they were blind as they paved through the walls of the cave.

Brown ran on silently, heaving and puffing, hardly catching on his breath as he proceeded through the cold air rampant in the cave.

***

Elysia looked about herself as she walked alongside Reynolds.

“We’ll reach our destination soon,” murmured the stoic, yellow-eyed man, as he tugged at his shirt, rustling his finger along its front.

‘Where?’ thought Elysia, as she hung upon these words of his.

The cacophony of pickaxes and spades at work came in subdued snippets to her ears. As they advanced further in the cave, it became her impression that the walls of the cave were much more smooth, and the ceiling seemed to become higher.

The cave become grand; the walls parted to reveal monolithic statues of gold. At the far end of the cave, stood a few men.

Elysia walked slowly towards them, reproachful towards Reynolds for not having conducted her to her father as yet. The people gathered there seemed sinister, and wore hoods. As she walked towards them, she felt out of place - more so than she had earlier - and her legs trembled.

“Who goes there?” cried a guard on the left side, by one of the golden statues, which represented a deer being hunted by a lion.

“It’s me! It’s me, Reynolds.”

The guard looks at Elysia with golden eyes, much like Reynolds. “And who is that girl accompanying you?”

“It’s a new toy for Master Oregon.”

“Toy? What are you sayi-?!” started Elysia in outrage.

“Oh, I see. It’s perfectly fine to leave her to me and take your leave then.”

“Never mind that. I want to bring something to master Oregon’s attention. I want this little girl to remain with me for a little longer while I’m at it. Do you mind?”

The guard raised an eyebrow, stomping his spear on the ground. “That’s rather unusual. You are a very unusual person. Perhaps the master needs to personally reshape your behavior. You may pass.”

Reynolds nodded at the guard, and grabbed Elysia’s hand, practically dragging her along. Much like Elysia had guessed, they were now in a room which no longer resembled the interiors of a cave, looking well-polished, and lit in all nooks and corners. The room had an air of majesty.

“I’m not a little girl, you know?” chided Elysia sulkily.

“I wouldn’t know about that. You are too trusting. Well, here’s to hoping your father does not mind this naive attitude of yours.”

“What’s it to you? You know nothing of my father.”

“Indeed, I may perhaps know nothing at all of your father. Nothing at all,” iterated Reynolds, and they soon reached the end of the room - or rather, hall. Bats flew overhead, and Elysia looked inquiringly at the people standing beside her, only to find a cold look from the first person she met eyes with.

At this end of the hall, there seemed to be a huge part of the wall protruding to form a giant seat. Elysia wondered about what this part of the room served for, and checked for stairs and dawdled towards the right, finding some shadows by the side of the wall. These turned out to be mushrooms, and they were about her height.

She found them in a patch, and they seemed warm when she touched them. Above all, the color of their stalks were purplish and their caps were either green or blue, but mostly they all had azure warts.

As she wondered about what these strange things were doing here, a big hand suddenly grabbed a chunk of them, and it went up, going to a crater which chomped on them ravenously.

Elysia screamed out in terror, and ran for protection by Reynolds’s side. The latter found it ironic and smirked, before gazing up at the monster which showed itself, getting out of an aperture by the right.

“Greetings to your highness!”

“Greetings to you, master Oregon!”

The red thing nodded, and lumbered its feet ahead, making the very ground tremble. It was a creature about fifteen feet high, and its legs, its arms, its belly were all bulging. Its under-belly was covered with a gilded, yellow cloth, and its upper body was covered with only what appeared to be a waistcoat, equally yellow in color.

Oregon kept on munching the mushrooms, and trudged along the room, before taking his place on top of the protrusion in the cave, seating down there. The air grew heavy, and everyone waited for a while, until the giant cleared his throat.

Reynolds took it as a sign to present his case. “Master Oregon. Here’s the girl you have asked me to bring to you. She hopes to meet her father.”

Oregon peered at Elysia with wizened, yellow eyes, and then smiled, almost like a feline animal. “I see. You want to see your father, girl.”

Elysia apprehensively peeked from behind Reynolds. “Yes, that’s why I came here. He’s very ill, isn’t he?”

“Did you know that I live here?”

Elysia shook her head uncertainly.

“Indeed! Well, tell me your name, and that of your father, little girl, so that I can bring you to him.”

Elysia felt relieved. “My name is Elysia! And my father’s name is David. Ah, he's also called Router!”

“I see…” stated the giant in a deep voice, “can you tell me your family name, if you could be so gentle as to do so?”

“My family name is Minsworth,” Elysia said, looking at Oregon with wide eyes, as he scrutinized her from above.

Oregon brought his hand down in front of Elysia, and said a few words in a sepulchral tone; a statue of gold materialised in front of his palm. “Well then, here is your father. You should approach him now.”

Elysia found herself confounded, and didn’t move for a while, before Reynolds softly pushed her forward. She hesitantly took a few steps forward, before finding the statue floating towards her. She observed the statue perfunctorily, before its face caught her attention; without a doubt, it was the rugged, lean face of her father, and she could trace out his body with her eyes, right along the contours of the statue.

“Why is he a statue?” Elysia blinked.

The giant coughed, cleared his throat, and said. “By the gods, I feel so famished! Well, girl? What do you say? Touch him. He’ll be warm to your touch.”

Elysia did as she was told, helpless. “He’s certainly warm,” she said in a desolate voice.

“Well, you should be grateful. I cured the man of his illness.”

Elysia let go of the pouch she had been holding. “And what should be done for him to get back to normal? Should I wait?”

“Of course not, my dear. All you have to do is work for me until I call for you again.”

Elysia now knew why Reynolds had been so fishy. She also considered whether the statue standing in front of her was really her father or perhaps the latter had been dead all along.

“I see. I’ll work,” she said.

Reynolds patted her on the back. “You’ve done well.”

She did not understand why he had said that. She did not understand the abrupt way in which he had pronounced his judgement on Wünder and Brown when they had encountered those unknown creatures at the other side of the cave. Reynolds was a vexing person - his ambiguity in character had led her till here.

All she knew was that she was trapped.

“You liar,” she whispered under her breath.

Reynolds looked at her in silence, before approaching the giant. “Master Oregon, I come bearing news. I’ve found one lizardman in the cave.”

“...” Oregon scoffed at his words, “Is that all?”

“Yes,” conferred Reynolds, gulping back a lump of emotion in his throat. “I’ve neutralized it. However, I fear that it may pose a danger to the miners if more reptiles came from the place this one did.”

“I see. How mystifying! You should see yourself to an empty cell in the dungeon. Do yourself the pleasure of locking yourself there on your own.”

Reynolds looked at him in surprise.

“Guard! Bring this girl to the chamber of the mythril statue.”

Elysia looked at Reynolds inanely, finding him in a crestfallen state, and then looked on, as she was led through the left side of the hall, and into another tunnel.

Behind her, she thought she heard Reynolds speak up to the giant.