Our caravan passed the fortress and followed the lovely signs towards Mountainheart. Being underground felt odd, but not uncomfortable. Interestingly, night elves lived on the surface in this world. Unlike the game, where they dwelled in the deep. Then again, I was an archfey now anyway.

The villagers seemed surprisingly undisturbed by the absence of sunlight. Perhaps it was due to the dwarven lights, which were pretty good. And the tunnels were rather large. After a while we came to a natural cavern. It was breathtaking and not something that existed in my old world.

I could see different kinds of plants and mushrooms. Some glowed in a soft blue light. There was even a bit of a breeze. If I concentrated, I could hear a stream somewhere below us. The road was on the left side of the cavern. It was about three quarters to the top of the open area we were in. I could see stone paths, like massive branches, connecting the different plateaus. A bit further ahead was a nice area next to the road. It was at the edge of the cavern and the ground was covered with dirt. It seemed like a good place to camp.

“It’s still a bit early but I think we should stop there.” I said.

“You just want to explore this cavern.” Lucy accused me. “Which I approve of, I want that too.” She added with a smile.

“It's a good thing that we are in charge.” I answered. “Lily, take care of the caravan. We are going to ensure the surrounding area is safe.”

“Yes, my lady.”

I tried and failed to hide my eagerness as I approached the edge of the road and stared at the area below. This was so cool, exploring the undermountain! We could take the winding paths, or we could just fly.

“Shall we take the long path, or the short one?” I asked Lucy.

“The short one!”

We both used the fly spell. Then we jumped.

This cavern must have been at least 200 metres high. On the bottom was a small lake, well… more like a pond, fed by a waterfall. The water emerged about 10 metres above the surface from a hole in the rock. A small stream left the pond and led into a dark tunnel. The area was surrounded by a sort of blue-purplish grass. It was good that both of us could see in the dark. Only a few glowing mushrooms provided a bit of light.

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“This looks nice.” I said.

“So, you have lured me towards an isolated pond. What are you going to do now?” Lucy asked.

“Seduce you, obviously.” I answered.

“Mhm. And how are you going to do that?”

I stored my clothes in my amulet. Then I walked into the water, naked. The pond was not that deep. The water was only shoulder height. Slightly cold, but I did not mind. The water was very clear, you could see the bottom easily. It was stone, but surprisingly smooth. Lucy watched me from the shore.

I turned around and unveiled my secret weapon. “Join me, I have cookies!” I announced, while holding a cookie.

Lucy laughed. She did join me afterwards though.

Some time later we were both lying in the grass, cuddling. It was nice and peaceful. Until we saw a flash of lightning, followed by thunder. It was above us somewhere. Immediately we got up and equipped our gear.

“Do you think the caravan is in trouble?” Lucy asked.

“We have a lot of strong people there. And the fighting is coming from somewhere else. I can hear combat. Hm, no screaming though. Wait… is that laughter?” I wondered.

We used our flight magic to find the source. It was on a higher level, about half way towards the camp. The battle happened at the edge of the cavern, where a tunnel led deeper into the mountain.

“AHAHAHAH. BLEED FOR ME! BLEED FOR THE COURT!”

Shani was slaughtering worms. They were about six metres long and maybe half a metre wide. Their head was just a hole with teeth. She used lightning to stun them, then chopped their heads off. Afterwards she used magic to gather the blood from their bodies into a hovering sphere.

“What is she doing?” Lucy asked.

I shrugged. “Shani, what is going on?” I shouted.

“Oh, hi! I am exterminating potential threats to the camp.” She replied, cheerfully.

“And the blood?” I pointed at the sphere.

“It’s for my bath!”

“Ok… carry on.” I said.

“We should have stayed at the pond.” Lucy concluded.

“She does seem to have things under control.”

The worms did not make much noise. They were likely incapable of verbal communication. They also stood no chance against the elemental. Shani switched from laughing maniacally to humming a cheerful tune.

“Why is a storm elemental so obsessed with blood?” Lucy asked, as we flew away from the slaughter.

“No idea.” I answered. “You could ask her.”

“I have actually, her answer was: it’s awesome!” Lucy stated.

“See, a perfectly reasonable explanation.”

Lucy hit me in the shoulder.

“Ok, so I am no expert on elementals.” I admitted. “I know that storm is a subtype of wind. And Shani is from the plane of wind. Sometimes wind is also called air. I don’t know much about the place. It could be that not much lives there, except elementals. So blood could be something rather new for her. It also contains water, something she has limited control over, as a storm elemental. Or maybe there is no logic here, it's just something she likes.” I shrugged. “Anyway, let’s do some more exploring!”