“Who the hell are you?” Nil yelled back to the man who, in typical fashion, chuckled softly to himself. He wore a long, black coat that made him almost invisible in the low light where he stood. Nil added, “And where is Lyn?”
“Lyn? The girl with the [Ether] Thaeon? Oh what a treasure that one is… You don’t see that aspect often. Nor the [Void] which I see beside you now. It’s true what they say: you always find treasure when you’re not looking.”
Nil had never heard anyone say that.
“Lyn is right this way. Please, follow me.”
It was a trap. It had to be a trap. What other option did he have, though? Phantom agreed. They were battered from their multiple battles but despite this they scaled the series of ledges to follow through yet another corridor–Nil vowed to never return here after he made it out of this stupid cave–that led to a room where the man was standing, hands behind his back, staring off into the distance away from Nil.
“I commend you, boy, for making it this far. It isn’t often that newbie Trainers have the guts to charge after someone who is clearly stronger than they are. But, I’m afraid you are interfering with some very important business of mine. Same with the others.”
“What others?”
The man looked back and smiled.
“No worries. You’ll see them in a minute. Come on out, Clod, this one doesn’t want to run.”
Through the gloom, Nil and Phantom saw the ground beneath this man begin rippling and undulating into small waves, pause, then retract into a towering mass of mud with two angry eyes staring at them. It expanded then solidified its form into a dripping serpent with its brown body oozing mud in clumps from its body. The serpent shot towards both of them, its wide mouth open. They lunged out of the way and Clod crashed into the wall and plastered its body flat. Using that momentum, the wall of mud moved up to a steep incline on the ceiling, its body becoming a giant drop that splashed onto the ground, retracting again into a shape similar to the one they just fought… Except its arms were now massive hammers.
With renewed force, it sprinted towards Phantom to slam a hammer onto the ground in front of him. The resulting shockwave of mud covered him as he tried to escape the blast. The other arm, now molding into a gigantic hand, shot out towards Nil and wrapped around him, hardening into rock. Had he been fresh, Nil may have stood a chance. On second thought, probably not. Clod drew them to his body and walked after the man towards a far wall where three others were encased in hardened mud.
“Nil!” Lyn yelled out before her cocoon moved up to mask her mouth. Nil squinted to look at the other two. The first he didn’t recognize; it was a normal looking guy, terrified looking to be sure, who watched with wide eyes as Nil was set to the wall. The third–Nil gasped–was Dave.
“Dave? Raven said you were in the forest, training.”
“That’s what I told him to tell you all.” From the light Nil could see mats of mud stuck to Dave’s hair and mustache. “I’ve been in the cave since almost day one. I wanted to get to Pol City before anyone else.”
“That figures. Where are all your Thaeons?”
“Next room,” Dave said. Lyn let out a strained mumble behind her mud mouth cover.
Nil looked at the other man. “Ah, then you must be the cave guide.”
The mystery man entered the room, smiling. Behind him Clod had resumed its place as a floor covering. “You all have made my work here difficult and I hate that.”
“What work?” Nil strained against the binding to no avail.
“Nosey, nosey.” The man winked. “But, there are legends that something sleeps at the lower depths of these mountains. Something powerful. I came here to investigate, but these stupid Trainers kept interrupting me. I disposed of the guide in hopes that would deter you lot, but you kept coming. So I put a powerful Thaeon in the way, and that did work. Until you knocked it out, you stupid boy. Now, I have to figure something else out.”
“You call him stupid, but you could’ve just blocked off the entrance with a wall of mud or rocks,” Dave remarked at him.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
“Anyone could’ve cleared that out, you moron. I’m really tired of your smart mouth.” A layer of hard mud covered his mouth, too. “Anyone else?”
He walked around to inspect them closer. “It’ll be over soon. Once I find what I’m looking for I can leave your bodies torn apart through the various chambers. No one will think twice about a few weak trainers.” Another chuckle and he walked off.
“Guide,” Nil whispered, “is it true what he says? Is there something powerful in these caves?”
“There are always legends, yeah? I’ve been all through these chambers and corridors and have never seen or heard anything to support them.”
Nil leaned his head back against the wall, straining one more time to try and crack the mud. His Bond was still strong, which meant Phantom was okay. If he could just phase out and escape, they could get the others out and find help. The response was pessimistic–they were both simply too exhausted to perform anything else at the moment. What was meant to be a long journey full of new adventure and meteoric growth was now about to come to a screeching halt. He just hoped all of his body parts would go in the same coffin.
It was impossible to tell time in the gloom. A few times he nodded off, only to be jolted awake by his Bond; Phantom was telling him to stay aware. Did it matter, really? Yes, yes it did. What if an opportunity presented itself? He was doubtful. With Dave and Lyn’s mouths sealed shut, he and the guide chatted some instead.
“Any idea who it is?” Nil asked, leaning his head back against the cool wall.
“I’m not certain. There are people around Specter called Hunters who travel around in search of treasure or other rarities. They have a reputation for being cuckoo. Those are the ones that usually think the central government is hiding the truth about our region behind bureaucratic red tape.”
“What truth?” Nil didn’t really care; he just wanted to pass the time.
“No clue. It’s always vague. This guy seems to think there’s some powerful entity under the mountain.” The guide scoffed. “Capturing newbie Trainers will get him in trouble. What an idiot.”
Nill mulled this over for another indeterminate amount of time until he heard their captor speak.
“Who’s there?” the man yelled out towards the entrance.
“That’s the third time today he’s said that,” the guide said. “I told you these Hunters are bonkers. Spooked by some water drops and moving rocks.”
Clod had reformed into a mound in preparation.
The next sequence of events were hard for Nil to believe. If he hadn’t seen it himself, he may have laughed it off as an embellished tale. A fun story that Trainers like to tell others from their wayward adventures on the road.
He took a few measured steps forward to peer into the distant darkness, Clod at his side molding into another mud serpent. Then, silence. A complete silence followed by an artificial darkness creeping out from the opening of the room. Clod, looking from side to side, didn’t notice–no, he couldn’t have. It happened too fast to react–two thick and twisted vines, wrapped in smoky shadows, shot down from above and started wrapping it up in a constricting vice. Clod let out a panicked roar as it attempted to morph and slide out; every time a part moved, the vines tightened with a squeak. The man, terrified now, turned to run and stumble away. With Clod incapacitated, the hard cocoons encasing the four prisoners melted away.
“What the hell is going on?” Lyn said. She ran to stand beside Nil as their Thaeons emerged from a side room, ready to right. The man skidded to a stop upon seeing them with a wild terror in his blanched face. In a blink, another shadow emerged like a clawed hand and tightened around the man until he was red in the face, his eyes popping out in a feral fear.
“No please,” he screamed breathlessly, “I was planning anything harmful–ergh.” Both he and his Thaeon were bound in tight lines of bark and leaves, a veil of shadow floating around their bodies. Once everything settled, another man appeared. He was dressed in all black, his face covered in an equally black mask.
“Is this everyone?” His voice was deep, serious. A small patch over his breast, sewn in tiny letters, read TEA. Nil took a step back. A dark presence emanated from around the man that had made everyone in the group trembling as he inspected them. “Good. We received word from Raven that there was a missing guide and potentially more.” The presence disappeared and everyone took a deep breath.
Rising from the shadows beside him stood a Thaeon formed from a mass of razor leaves and dark, twisted branches intertwining into the general shape of a person that stood a foot taller than his Trainer. Its red eyes opened to inspect the group and their Thaeons.
“Who are you?” Lyn said, her voice still tremulous.
“Your way out. Guide, head back to the outpost and start bringing the others through.”
“Y-Yes sir.” He made a mock salute and scurried off with his Thaeon, a lithe looking cat with two tails, scampering after him.
“A [Void] and an [Ether] in one place. That’s interesting. What are your names?”
“Yours first. How do we know you’re here to help us and not working with him?” Dave spit out. If not for a slight voice crack he may have seemed tough. This was the first time since their battle in Fan Town that Nil had a chance to see Dave’s Thaeon. He, too, had gotten to Evo1: Sky still floated like a ghost with a tail, but its body, far from the soft looking round thing that it was, had changed into a solid shape that shone with a slight white gleam. Its head was no longer a raindrop, instead the pointed part was elongated back that extended over two small wings that didn’t move. The head and tail points almost touched, giving it a crescent moon shape.
The TEA agent laughed, much to their surprise.
“I love this new generation of spunky Trainers. I’m agent two-two-three, co-captain of extraction squad four. Let’s go. You can tell your names as we head for the exit.”
His Thaeon, motionless, melted straight down into the shadows.