“Is everyone alright?” Maria asked. Though she couldn’t see anyone, the voices all confirmed they were. “Chariot, can you give us some light?”

“Forgive me, but I lost my sword in the blast.”

Maria sighed. “Everyone, tip-toe backwards until you hit a wall.” Shuffling feet echoed through the tunnel. Maria backed up until she found the wall. “Everyone found one?” Again, the voices confirmed. “Give me one moment. I’ll try to find the middle of the cave and create a flame.” Maria crept forward holding her hands out. She tried feeling around for the adjacent wall. The mouth of the cave was wide, but just how wide was hard to tell. Maria pressed her hand against something hard.

“Please, remove your hand from my breast,” Chariot stuttered.

“Sorry.” Maria felt beside Chariot until she found the wall. Recounting how many steps it took to reach the other side, she crept back until she was in the middle of the cave. At least she thought she was. Maria held her hand up and cast {Flames} at the ceiling. Fire roared from her palm, illuminating the cavern in bright reds and oranges. Everyone shielded their eyes from the sudden, bright light. Chariot saw her sword, grabbed it, and turned on the illumination. Maria relinquished her spell and relaxed.

The cave looked no different than the others–winding with wide walls, a low ceiling, and stalagmites and stalactites. Maria leaned against the wall, sighing and rubbing her brow with her forearm. It was hot and wearing a cloak and big hat certainly wasn’t helping. Matteo and Silke stood by their father, while the two guards looked as though they were trying to regain their bearings.

“What madness overtook you?” Chariot asked Tanalia. “Igniting an explosive barrel. Are you daft?”

“It was a distraction.”

“You alerted them to our presence and brought down the entire ravine. Now we’re lost!”

“So? It’s just another cave. It connects somewhere.”

“We don’t know that!”

“All the caves so far have connected to somewhere.”

“That doesn’t mean that this one will!”

“You’re too stuck up. My plan worked, just like it did last time in the Emerald Forest.”

“You don’t have plans! You rush into every situation blindly and hope for the best.”

“I have parts of a plan.”

“That's no excuse! We all could have died!”

“Guys!” Maria said. “Now isn’t the time. We can talk about this later, let’s just focus on finding a way out of here.”

“Excuse me,” Kylian said.

Maria looked back at him.

“If you don’t mind me asking, who are you people?”

“I’m Maria. That one’s Chariot and the elf is Tanalia.”

“I’m Kylian,” he said, reaching out to shake her hand. “You have my deepest thanks for rescuing us.” The light from Chariot’s sword cast a shadow on his face, partially obscuring it, but Maria made out a scruff, unkept beard, a scar just under his left eye, and a set of crooked teeth. The lighting did little to reassure her he wasn’t a threat.

“Don’t thank us yet, we still need to find a way out of here.”

“You saved my children. For that, I’m grateful. Even if we’re in no better position, I feel safer knowing we have more people here to protect them.”

Tanalia scoffed. “What kind of moron takes their kids into this danger?”

“You sound like my wife,” he chuckled.

“Tanalia, now is not the time,” Maria said. “Let’s all just take a moment to catch our breaths and think of a way out of this.”

“A wise decision,” said Jor. “How in the bloody hell did you find us?”

“We found a crashed cart, and Matteo in the bushes, so we figured something went wrong. He told us what happened, and it sounded like you needed help.”

“That dosen’t explain how you fuckin’ found us in this maze.”

Tanalia puffed out her chest and pointed at herself. “It’s thanks to me.”

Jor glanced over at Tanalia. “Ah, an elf. Thank you. I don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t shown up.”

“Probably die,” Tanalia said.

Pieter chuckled. “It’s quite possible.”

The group sat in the light of Chariot’s sword. She stood guard, staring off into the darkness with her sword at the ready. Maria sat against the stone wall, resting up and catching her breath. Silke waddled over and poked at the brim of her witch cap. She looked to be as old as Matteo, wearing only a tunic and loose trousers. Her hair was cut short unevenly and she had several cuts and scrapes on her hand.

“Oh, hello there,” Maria said.

“Hello. I wanted to say thank you for helping us,” she said, trying to sound optimistic.

“Your family likes to say that a lot, huh.”

“Well, we mean it. Thank you.”

Maria glanced at Silke’s hands. “Are you hurt?”

“Eh, a little. I’ve had worse injuries working on the farm though. I’m more of a pin cushion than Matteo.”

“Oh, well, give me your hands anyway,” Maria took Silke’s hands and cast {Basic Heal}. A warm, golden light shimmered from Maria’s hands, and the scratches on Silkes palm began to patch. When they were gone, Maria let go. Her MP had dropped to {48/103}.

Silke smiled. “Thank you.”

Maria nodded and stood. “Everyone’s alright then?” Maria looked to Matteo. He was still on the ground, curled up. To her surprise, he had managed to hold onto his sword despite everything that had happened. His grip was so iron clasped around the handle there would be no chance in hell of prying it away from him. “What about you, Matteo?”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I’m fine,” he muttered.

“We’re lucky you stayed hidden,” Kylian said. “Good work, son.”

Matteo simply glanced up at his father, then back to the cave floor.

“Speaking of,” Maria said, “What happened to you guys?”

“Ambushed,” Jor said.

“We figured that,” Tanalia replied.

Kylian sighed. “Things were business, as usual. I usually venture with Jor, and Pieter on my own every month, but Silke wanted to know more about the business. So, I took her along and didn’t want to leave Matteo out of the family business. In hindsight, we were ill-prepared, but we hadn't run-ins with Pythors for months. I thought it would be safe.”

“They attacked us from above,” Pieter said. “Dropped down in front of our horse, and scared the thing half to death. It broke free of its reins and fled. Jor and I tried fighting back, but two sprung from the bushes and attacked us from behind.”

Jor pointed at Matteo. “The boy was the only one to hide.“If he wasn’t a fuckin’ coward, he could’ve covered our rear.”

Maria winced and glanced back at Matteo. He shriveled up a bit, glancing away from everyone as he remained curled up into a ball.

“We thought they were going to kill us,” said Jor. “Luckily, these things enjoy eating their victims alive.”

“Let’s not think about that,” Kylian said. “We made it out, that’s what’s important.”

“We ain’t out yet,” Tanalia said.

Maria nodded in agreement. “I think we’ve rested long enough. We need to hurry. There’s no telling if the Pythors will find us again or not.”

“I’ll lead the way,” Chariot said.

The light from her sword cast eerie shadows as the group traversed the cave. The air grew cooler and damp, and the sound of everyone's footsteps echoed off the rock formations. The cave coiled like a spring, ascending higher and higher. Eventually, the path branched off in different directions. It was hard to see what was down either path. The fork just led to darkness no matter where they went.

Maria couldn’t tell which path was better. “Tanalia, which way?”

Tanalia looked down the two paths. She shrugged. “Can’t tell. My sight’s amazing, but I ain’t a bat.”

“We have to be close to the surface, right?” Kylian asked.

“Maybe,” Maria said. “The ravine was deep, and we were pretty far down.” She checked her map. It was only an aerial view of the mountainous ravines. Not helpful.

Chariot took the lead. “Let's just try the left. We can retrace our steps, if need be.”

They went left. After a bit, the group emerged into a wide, open cavern. The ceiling soared high, disappearing into the darkness. A small stream trickled along the floor, glistening in the light of Chariot's sword. Dripping water echoed through the chamber, creating a haunting melody that seemed to emanate from the walls themselves. They walked deeper into the chamber. Nothing paths forward. Just more odd rock formations, uneven surfaces, and towering natural pillars.

“Curses… We must try the other way,” Chariot said.

The cavern shook.

“What was that?” Kylian asked.

Chariot scanned the cave, waving her sword around before the light caught the glint of something above them. A low, deep hiss echoed through the chamber, sending a chill up Maria’s spine. She searched for the sound’s origin but found nothing. It echoed around.

Chariot urged everyone to stay where they were while she took a step forward. She stretched her sword out, illuminating a little more of the path ahead of her.

A scaly, white surface was just visible. Maria’s eyes widened as the light of Chariot’s sword highlighted… something else. The tip of something. A long, red tongue flicked out. Whatever it was rose slowly, looming just over the group.

A large, red health bar appeared at the top of Maria’s vision.

Pythor King - Lvl 25

The light from Chariot’s sword barely illuminated the monster. All Maria could see was that it was big. Really, really big.

The serpent snapped its jaw open, and its fangs reflected in the light. It lunged at Chariot.

Maria cast {Lightning Bolt} in rapid succession, striking the Pythor King three times. For a brief moment, they got a glimpse of the beast as the spell illuminated the chamber in bright blue flashes. It veered its head to the side, crashing into the cavern wall.

“Run!” Chariot screamed. “Back into the tunnel!”

The group ran back the way they came. The Pythor King hissed and thrashed behind them, rocking the cavern. From the mouth of the tunnel, another wave of Pythors came. They hissed, elongating their necks and taking up arms. Jor and Pieter slashed at the Pythors.

“Shit!” Jor yelled. “Everyone stay back!”

Kylian grabbed both Matteo and Silke. “What do we do?”

The Pythor King hissed violently. A burning glow rose from beneath its scales, trailing up its entire body, from the tip of its tail to its eye sockets. The creature illuminated the entire cavern in scorching red light. It’s mouth gaped open once more and smoke trailed out.

“Get behind something!” Maria said. She darted for a wide stalagmite. Chariot took cover with her, while the others got behind another one. It fired balls of bright, red light. As they collided with the stone pillars, explosions of magma blew out in a wide arc. Bubbling heat filled the air. Maria's arm hairs singed from the heat.

Tanalia dashed out from behind her stalagmite and fired an arrow. It struck the Pythor King's underbelly. It hissed, and its health dropped by a hair. The monster turned its attention to Tanalia and launched several balls of magma at her. She darted away as the magma struck the walls behind her, raining onto the cavern floor as they exploded.

Jor and Pieter kept up their defense, fending off the growing horde of approaching Pythors.

“Find another way out!” Pieter yelled.

Maria downed a mana potion, bringing her MP back up to {58/103}, then jumped out from behind the stalagmite. “Stay with them!” she yelled to Chariot, then ran deeper into the cavern.

With Tanalia distracting the Pythor King, Maria was able to sneak around behind its back, leaping from stalagmite to stalagmite for cover. As the Pythor King lunged for Tanalia, its whole body shifted, nearly crushing Maria against the cavern wall as it slithered by. She staggered back to her feet. There had to be a way out of here.

As she rounded an off-rock formation, a Pythor leaped out. It slashed Maria’s arm. Searing pain shot through. She stumbled away. Blood trickled down to her wrist as she drew her sword and parried a follow-up attack. The snake thrust its head, attempting to bite at Marial. She swung, cutting into its neck. It staggered, giving her an opening to hack at its neck until it died. As the creature disintegrated, an opening to another tunnel came into view. A way out! A few more Pythors approached from the darkness. Maria retreated, dodging the Pythor King’s body as it slammed into the wall.

“I found a way out!” she screamed.

Jor turned to look at Maria, and was struck in the side by an ax. The Pythor extended its neck, opened its jaw wide, and clamped around Jor’s head. He dropped his weapon and grabbed at the Pythor, trying to free himself.

Chariot dashed over, and slashed the Pythor. It released Jor as it squirted blood from its neck. Jor fell to his knees, gasping as wet strands of saliva dripped from his face.

“Come on!” Kylian hurried to Maria with Matteo and Silke in tow. Before they could reach her, Tanalia was hurled between them and into a wall. She groaned. Her health had dropped to nearly half. Maria helped her back to her feet.

The Pythor King turned its attention to the group and blew out another flurry of magma balls. The cavern grew hotter.

“Run!” Tanalia limped towards the exit. Maria ushered the others after Tanalia, then cast {Lightning Bolt}, striking the inside of the Pythor King’s mouth. It recoiled, slamming into the walls, and hissing as it thrashed. Its health had barely gone down.

Chariot, Jor, and Pieter sprinted past Maria. The Pythors weren’t far behind, hissing and swinging their swords wildly. Maria hurried after the group. As the Pythor King recovered, it lunged for the exit and smashed into the wall above it. The cavern shook again as Matteo and Silke screamed. They stumbled and fell as a boulder crashed down beside them, shooting up dust and debris. Tanalia reached the exit and ran as far as the red light of the Pythor King illuminated the tunnel ahead. Chariot reached the exit next. She helped Kylian and Silke as they stumbled in. The two guards ran in as Maria followed them. She knelt and tried helping Matteo back to his feet. Another boulder came crashing down. Maria pulled Matteo away just as it crashed into the ground. The Pythor King twisted around the cavern, and slithered over the exit.

Maria and Matteo were trapped.