Rough breathing drowned out the sound of fleet boots splashing shallow puddles. Together they all three fled the monstrous battle behind them. They were sprinting deeper into the cave.

After nearly a minute of fear-fueled sprinting, Samuel slowed to a stop. His heavy boots clanked and pounded against the ground as his exhausted body leaned against the wall. Samuel leaned over with an arm supporting himself, trying to recover his breathing.

Slower than Samuel, the two men crumbled to the floor next to Samuel. They rolled and sat at the base of the opposing wall. Their journey-ridden bodies were too tired to stand.

“What ah…. What happened to there being nothing to fear?” Samuel poked. Samuel felt entitled to a bit of anger and expressed his mind.

Struggling to his feet, the smaller of the two men rose from the ground. His dreary body wobbled before he shrugged his shoulders.

“I’ll admit, I’m surprised. It’s unnatural for such large creatures to be here in this cave.” The man spoke between ragged breaths.

Samuel, not truly happy with the response, asked another question.

“What kind of monsters were you expecting?”

“Ah… Well, you know, bugs, rats, maybe some lizards. Nothing close to that!”

Samuel closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Samuel’s patience had run dry. He was in this situation and just wanted it to be over. Samuel pressed further, looking down at the man sitting on the ground.

“So, now what? Do we just continue deeper? What if there are more monsters further inside?”

The man was still struggling to control his breathing but met Samuel’s gaze. After a moment of contemplation, the man responded roughly.

“We continue. We’ve come too far to back out now.” Then, with the help of his companion, the man rose to his feet and stared further into the cave.

Looking into the dimly lit distance, Samuel felt uneasy. However, it was his only option. With no choice but to move forward, he joined the men and walked deeper into the cave.

There was a growing tension. The brewing emotions Samuel had felt since meeting the duo was growing. However, Samuel struggled to understand his feelings. Despite being dragged into the cave against his will, it was almost exciting. Finally, Samuel decided it was too late to back out now and decided it was best to stick together, not to mention he was very curious about what the men had traveled so far to see.

“You two said you’ve been traveling for days. Why travel so far to this cave?” Samuel remembered them mentioning something about him being a ‘fellow initiate’. Samuel wanted to see if the men would reveal more information if he stayed vague.

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In unison, the two men turned to face Samuel. Their judgmental looks sent a shiver down Samuel’s spine. Finally, the more prominent man grunted, expressing his frustration.

“I swear everyone’s too secretive nowadays. It was just like the thing with the map. If we hadn’t scrounged around for information, we would have never found this stupid cave.” The man’s aggressive tone echoed over the stone walls.

“It doesn’t matter now. We made it here, and now we just need to reach the ritual.” The man’s companion attempted to comfort his anger. However, this only caused the man to enter a spiraling rant about the journey to the cave.

Samuel perked up hearing the word ritual. The term felt almost out of place. Confused, Samuel pried deeper.

“What do you guys know about this ritual? Does it have something to do with us being initiated?” Samuel was trying to be careful, not revealing how little information he honestly had. He wasn’t sure what would happen if they found out he knew nothing.

Luckily for Samuel, the two men weren’t that sharp. The man ceased his rant and clicked his tongue. He assumed Samuel had been left in the dark just as they were and answered his question.

“Being initiates, we don’t know much about the ritual. All we know is that it’s happening in this cave and that we are to meet a senior member. After the ritual, we’ll become full-fledged Necromancers and become members of the Raven Guild, or at least that’s what we were told.”

Like a stenographer, Samuel paid close attention to the man’s words. Although Samuel’s mind suddenly stopped. Necromancer? Samuel thought the man was mistaken.

“Necromancers?” A tone of disbelief slipped through into Samuel’s voice.

“Yes, Necromancers. Pretty exciting, eh?”

“Very! Samuel nervously laughed.

The two men dismissed Samuel and continued their conversation about the difficulty of their journey. The two enjoyed ranting to one another as they quickly fell into a deep discussion. Samuel, on the other hand, started contemplating his current predicament.

Samuel was no stranger to the concept of a Necromancer. Several videogames, movies, and books had varying versions of Necromancers. However, they all followed similar themes. Necromancers were usually mages that focused on dark magic, i.e., summoning, hexes, or demonology.

Samuel was conflicted. When answering Samuel's questions, the man’s sincerity was too convincing, which caused him to start connecting the dots. Samuel woke up in dark fantasy style clothes, he saw two monstrous creatures fighting, and now he was being led to a ritual for fledgling Necromancers.

Samuel started to panic as the reality of the situation seeped in. It had been challenging to focus with all the things happening to him since he woke up. His racing mind tried to recollect all that had happened before he appeared on the coast.

His memory was murky as if it was incomplete. Thankfully between the dark moments, there were vivid emotions. These powerful emotions acted as guides, almost paving a path. However, the powerful memory was incomplete. No matter how hard he tried to focus, he couldn’t remember that far back.

Not after a few more attempts, Samuel gave up. Despite not being able to remember the past, he could still focus on the present. Samuel took a deep breath to reset his mental, then took a symbolic step back to look at his current situation.

Unfortunately, despite Samuel's determination, he felt a hand settle on his shoulder, breaking his concentration. Samuel turned his head but saw no one. Confused, Samuel could still feel the hand on his shoulder. It wasn’t until a second past that Samuel fearfully realized the two men were walking ahead of Samuel.

Samuel whipped around with a scared yip. Bewildered, Samuel scanned the dark and empty cave behind himself with wide eyes. Then, after a few moments of cautious staring, he returned forward. The two men had vanished, leaving Samuel alone in the eerie cave.