The screaming stopped as fast as it had started. Nil kicked himself for not paying more attention. Then again, there had been a giant turtle Thaeon riding a wave trying to crush him. He shook away the thoughts of pity and frustration to start focusing on which way she had gone; or rather, which way she had been taken. At first, he thought the sounds had come from the right, but the echoes also rang out from the middle. The left was out, then?

“What do you think, Phantom?” Perhaps Thaeons had better sight or possibly an intuition for tracking down people. In his Bond, Nil felt the equivalent of a shrug.

“Let’s go right first. Well, come on.” Phantom was still standing, looking back at the way they came. Stuck in place. Another shrug and he ran after to follow. The tunnel itself, bigger than the others before, sloped downwards at a low angle. Nil checked his watch–there was no signal so calling for help was out of the question–and noticed a flashlight button. Once pressed, a beam of light shot out in a cone to illuminate the area in front of them.

“That’s nifty.”

The walk was boring, with nothing to speak of; the tunnel spat them out into a small room of more stalagmites and the occasional dripping of water from above the only sound in the area. Also, no other way through. Dead end. Nil turned to leave but stopped when his wrist light glinted against something in the corner. Phantom dashed there and back with a box in hand. Curious, he opened it up to find a stack of silver coins and a bottle that read “Healing salve.” It was identical to the ones he had seen at the general store before entering the cave. Maybe someone had dropped it? There was no name on the generic-looking box.

“Or maybe we can expect to find random items as we explore. Who knows?” He stashed the box away in his backpack and retreated back to try another way through. The silence in these caves was eerie. Unsettling. The constant background dripping from the ceiling added to the twisted idea that he was walking around inside the body of some mountain-sized Thaeon. That didn’t sit well with him and, combined with the narrow middle passage, brought on a new feeling of claustrophobia. Adventuring across Specter never sounded easy, however traversing narrow passageways in search of his captured friend wasn’t what he signed up for. The beam of light spotted another item on the ground, this time a shoe.

“That’s Lyn’s. We’re on the right track this time. Come on Phantom, we need to hurry up.” The feeling in his Bond was similar to someone scoffing. There was some tension there, between him and Phantom. Both were upset at their negligence at not caring for their partner. We can’t start getting mad at each other. If we fall apart we’ll never make it out of here.

Agreement. Calmer now. Sort of. Until they found out what was going on in this stupid place, nothing would be okay.

This path, as all the others, opened into a large chamber. This chamber, though, was bigger than the others combined and mostly clear save for a few rocks that shone with a metallic sheen when the light passed over it. A few holes in the ceiling allowed a bit of light in.

“Lyn?”

Then, tension again as Phantom prepared for attack. Many of the metallic rocks were moving, rolling into a heap. Each chunk slammed together and stuck into the general shape of a body with thick arms ending to spiked fists, legs and a rock tail that swung behind the body with a mind of its own.

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“Ah, I see.” Behind the newly formed Thaeon, on top of a series of raised ledges, he spotted some movement through dim light. The Thaeon in front of him stood a big taller than he did, and took heavy steps towards Phantom. It looks solid. We need to find a weak spot. This is usually where Lyn’s Ether Beam would weaken a spot to allow Phantom to attack. Now, he’d have to fend for himself.

During the six years of Demiurge’s weeding out applicants, all of them had received basic education on aspect theory and battle strategies, all of which became useless in the heat of battle when there was little time to speculate. Now, he thought back to draw on something that would help him win here. Every Thaeon had a weakness, a counter of some sort. Based on appearance, this walking pile of rocks was most like [Iron] aspect given that there was a metallic sheen, brighter now that it was charging up a punch. It missed Phantom as he dodge to the side only to be hit by a spray of rocks from where the massive fist scraped the ground.

Focus.

During simulated battles, Nil had done well with most of the weaknesses though those were meant to be easy and virtual battles were always limited. He couldn’t dodge around and make up techniques on the fly on the computer. [Iron] aspect was physically tough, obviously, which was an issue for Phantom. A major issue. Another punch and spray of rocks that Phantom worked around before unleashing a series of kicks to the thing’s body. They hit with solid thuds.

It wasn’t enough. No, it wasn’t anything.

This was the importance, he remembered, of not putting all of your techniques into one category. Phantom was strong and could punch from afar, but all his specialty was physical. Another punch, this time with an added spin for a tail swipe. The tail smashed into a nearby rock and clobbered it into small pieces.

Wait. I got it.

Their Bond resonated with a mutual concept that may or may not work. Nil imagined running out screaming like Pic did. If he abandoned Lyn he couldn’t live with himself. First, Phantom would have to bait another tail swipe–easy enough. The Thaeon was glowing again for another spin. The timing would have to be perfect. Here came the tail. Instead of dodging, Phantom ran straight for it. At the exact moment it was to strike his body, he phased; instead of moving across the room, though, he flipped out of the way to allow the attack to phase instead. A huge crash then groan echoed in the chamber: the tail strike had been redirected into the opponent’s back and knocked it forward with splinters of rock.

Nil’s breathing hastened, his heart galloped along. He still wasn’t strong enough for multiple techniques like that. Phantom ran in an arc to where the blow had landed and hit a jump kick. Bullseye. The [Iron] Thaeon spun around–Nil backed up to avoid getting plastered by the tail–and started swinging wildly. One more of those should do it…if I can handle it.

Another shining fist swung through the air, a raging growl behind it. Phantom pivoted and caught the fist mid-air and redirected it back to the thing’s face. It fell back like a tree, slowly creaking as it did, and slammed with a tremble that shook the room.

Nil was bent over catching his breath, sweat dripping down his face. He began to realize that the energy it took to send strings of techniques in the heat of battle, not to mention the rapid thinking, wouldn’t be as easy as he thought.

“Just a second, Phantom. Here”–he rummaged in the pack and grabbed the Healing salve–”let me apply this to you. Not having Haven sucks, right?”

A slow clap rang out. Both prepared for battle again as they saw a tall figure appear on the top ledge.

“I’m impressed,” said the voice. “No one has yet to defeat that Thaeon. I brought it up from deep inside the mountain. You found a way through its [Iron] defenses. Kudos to you.”