I heard the sound of foot steps approaching from in front of me. I became alert.

My eyes shot open, as I pushed my body up, and pulled it into a stance. But my body ached with pain, my muscles felt stiff, as my eyes felt like lead.

“Oy, would you calm down, its just me,” Neil said taking a step backwards, startled by my sudden actions right after waking up.

I released the stance, and looked at my companion. He was holding some kind of wild buds of grass in his right palm as he approached near me.

I sat back down on the ground and leaned against the wall of this small cave. Then I began to rub the back of my head. It was swollen. Something must have hit the back of my head, when I had rolled in this place, just as I had teleported with Neil.

But taking that moment, I snapped my head around—looking through the cave which we had appeared inside. The place where we both had been teleported—where the pathways had brought us.

This cave was wide, but not as much as the ones before. There was a calming sky-blue glow emanating from the sapphire pond a few meters away, from where I was seated inside this cave. There were sharp stone carves sprouting beside the pond of the almost still and clear sapphire pond. I heard a low dripping noise coming from a few feet away, but didn’t pour much mind to it.

My entire body was covered in mud, from head to toe. As I took a moment to relax myself and understand what had happened to me.

I could still feel the aching sensation in my head, but not as strongly as before. What was that? How did I do that? These thoughts coursed through my mind, as I tried to form an answer for that mysterious phenomenon. I didn’t withdrew the information for making a leap, rather allowed the motes—pathways—to feed me the information themselves

This was a sudden and new development. Every time I had used leap, I always had to take time to empower a location before hand, then allowing the pathways to help me teleport. But...for something like this to be possible, I was left flabbergasted.

I couldn’t just come to comprehend this!

It felt like a new door, which had been closed before, had opened itself for me. I had lacked the insight for utilising the pathways like that in the past, and I had never tried to access them the way I had today. Rather making the pathways help me.

What if I had used them like this?

Extracting the information from them, making the pathways do the entire work, for me to teleport. But I couldn’t come to perfectly understand this phenomenon. And the information which the pathways had provided me had been extreme, almost too extreme. Unlike the amount of stress which the skill puts over my mind, the head splitting pain I had felt, felt unlike anything I had experienced before, when utilising my ability.

“How long was I out for, Neil?” I asked my companion, as I turned to look at him, rubbing the back of my head gently.

“Almost for two hours,” he responded, as he extended his arm and gave me some of the buds he held in his palm

I raised a brow and asked. “What’s this? Some kind of antidote or something?”

Neil nodded his head, as he explained, taking a bud and chewing on it. “This is an antidote, which has the detoxification effect to neutralise the effects of the paralysis poison.”

I nodded at my companion with a deep exhale, and took a bud and placed it inside my mouth, then began to chew on it. I was expecting a terrible grassy vegetable like taste, but it had a slight minty flavour.

“It doesn’t taste as bad as I thought,” I voiced, looking up at Neil. And he responded with a thin smile.

The buds looked just like any random leaf or plant, but had distinct azure spots on them.

I took all of the buds in my palm and put them inside my mouth at once. Then I began to chew on all of them, as I saw Neil also chewing on the grass buds.

“You just have to chew on them, and the essence released from them would automatically detoxify the paralysis effect,” my companion said, making some distance from me and taking his shirt off. His back facing me.

He had pulled some kind of medicine out of the golden dimensional ring he wore, and was trying to apply it on the wound on his back. But he clumsily put it on the wrong area on his back.

He earnestly tried to apply the medicine on his back but couldn’t seem to accurately reach the area where the wound was. He clicked his tongue as he kept trying to apply the medicine, this time more assertively.

I walked closer to him, and extended my hand, asking him to hand me the medicine. “Its alright, I can do it on my own, Shun,” he was hesitant for a moment, but soon enough gave in when he couldn’t apply it at all on his own.

“Give that to me!”

I took the medicine on two fingers, and began to apply it on the wound over his back. Just as my fingers touched Neil’s back, he lightly moaned and squealed, like a little girl.

“Come on, be a man,” I joked, applying the medicine on my companion’s back. Neil’s skin was soft and plum to the touch, and his pure milky skin didn’t have any imperfections. It looked as charming and perfect like the cherry petals.

But for some reason his ears were a little red. Which I found quite amusing.

“Thanks,” he said pulling an inch away.

“Your welcome,” I replied as I soon covered the entire wound with medicine. “I don’t think it will leave a scar," I added getting up to my feet and walking closer to the pond.

Neil hurriedly wore his shirt back on, and walked closer to me. “Have you figured what where this place is?” I asked looking around the cave.

I saw my reflection in the sapphire liquid and saw I was a mess. My hair were soiled with mud and my clothes the same.

Seriously, when I get back, I’m going to take a long comfortable bath. I think the Inn had an open air hotspring bath.

“After we got here, I had been searching for a way out, but there isn’t one in this place, unfortunately.

I splashed water over my face and cleared the mud. My body had become more responsive after taking that antidote. But the soreness in my muscles was still there, it might take a while for the poison to completely detoxify.

Now what to do?

It will take at least another hour for the cool down to end, if we have to teleport out of here. But that was my last option. But come to think of it, Neil hadn’t questioned me even once since waking up, about how we had gotten here. I had remembered as we fell down that pit, that Neil was still conscious, barely.

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But unbeknownst to me, I had turned to look back at him.

Neil raised a brow as he asked. “What? Something wrong?”

“No, I was just thinking about how can we get out of this place,” I voiced, as I shook my head, then turned to look around the cave once again.

But there really were no exits, like Neil had mentioned earlier.

I activated Mind’s Eye. The cave lit up, as the particles of mana and demonic energy became bare to my eyes. Then I looked around trying to finding something, anything, which could help us escape.

The most prominent particles floating in this cave were those of earth and water, fire and wind less.

No, there was little to no amount of wind particles present here. Barely having any fire particles of mana.

Now that I think about, it has been hard to breathe inside this cave since I woke up. So there is only a scarce amount of oxygen present here.

We needed to find a way out of here and as quickly as possible. But I whipped backwards, keenly observing the sapphire coloured pond, and the water particles around and inside it.

They were moving, to some drift in the pond. I took a deep breath, and dived into the pond. The frigid cold bit away at my skin, as I heard a voice muffled by the water around me as I dived—Neil calling out to me—,but I ignored him and reached for the depth.

I paddled through the water, as I kept on observing the movement of the water particles, they were being pushed somewhere inside here. As I reached for the depth of this deep pond, I saw there were some little sapphire crystals embedded in the ground, brightening the area around me. My eyes laid on a small opening through the sapphire coloured waters. The particles of blue were being drawn to and fro from here and on to the other side.

I hurriedly resurfaced, and took a deep breath, as I walked out of the deep pond.

“Did you find something, Shun?” Neil asked, moving closer to me. A concerned expression over his face, as he saw me heaving heavily for breath.

I nodded my head at him, sequentially taking another deep breath.

“There is a small...opening in the deepest part of this pond, but...,” I took a moment, unsure how to say it. “But, it might just be leading to another dead end.”

What if we entered another cave which led to another dead-end. I wasn’t sure. The oxygen levels were depleting here, fast. And we needed to escape as quickly as possible. I don’t think there would be enough oxygen for us to breathe in the next five minutes.

“But it could be a way out from here, right?” Neil commented, determined, looking into the pond, his eyes peering down into the depth.

I nodded back at him. “Do you still have some of those explosives left?” I asked, moving closer to the edge of the water.

Neil withdrew an amethyst crystal from his dimensional ring and shoved it in my direction. “This is the last one I have,” my companion added. I took it from him and looked above my shoulder as I spoke.

“Be ready, the moment I pour mana into this explosive we need to rush out of this place, quick.”

Then I once again dived into the pond. I reached for its depth and placed the crystal just between the very narrow gab. Like Neil had explained before, just pour some of my mana inside this crystal, and it will explode within three seconds.

So I have three seconds to create some distance.

I shoved my finger forward, and pressed it against the hard surface of the crystal.

Circulating my mana, I began to channel it toward my arm and at my finger. So enough, my mana poured inside the amethyst crystal, it hummed once as it threateningly began to shine with a deep reddish-violet glow.

My mana swirled, as a thin glow began to emanate my body. I shot upwards, hurriedly swimming upwards, but just as I was about to reach the surface, the crystal exploded. The entire cave violently shook, as I tried to reach for the surface, I was running out of oxygen in my lungs.

I shot my hand upwards, but Neil who had been waiting for me held on to my hand and pushed me upwards. I heaved for breath as I coughed a few times laying on the muddy ground. The cave kept trembling, but soon enough stopped.

I looked at Neill, as the water level of this cave kept rising. It was beginning to flood. Neil followed me from behind as I dived back into the water once again, taking a final deep breath, we swam our way toward the gapping hole, which was now big enough for an individual to cross.

I nodded at him, and passed through, Neil followed me from behind. With Mind’s Eye still active, I observed the peculiar movements of the water particles, where they were being drawn, being led to.

But the speed and strength of the stream had increased. It swept us, as we tried to fight against the current. We had entered a much bigger cave underwater, but I couldn’t focus my eyes at my surroundings.

Right now the only thing harbouring my mind was to find a way for me and Neil to escape.

Neil was running our of air and so was I.

But there didn’t seem to be any way out. I couldn’t find a way. It was a dead end for us. We were in a real predicament now.

The air began to snuff out of my lungs as I tried to reach my companion. He looked to be barely holding on. But then his body began to gave out, he grabbed on to his throat with both hands, clenching it hard, as bubbles burst from his lips, as he gasped in desperation.

But my mana surged inside me, I began swimming and soon took Neil by his arm. I dragged him by his arm, as I was swept by the strong current of the water. But soon enough, we came to a halt, against a wall.

Death...that familiar sensation loomed over my head, as I tried to think of anything. I searched for my skills, I thought of using acausality.

But what could that skill even do in this situation. All it would do is make the world around me static—frozen—, until my body gives out under the stress and I wait for my death by drowning.

I whipped my body around under the sharp current, the deep cold sweeping into my skin. I was close to running out of breath, but same couldn’t be said for my companion.

His face looked pale, as the veins over his forehead bugled outward. Another fierce wave smashed us into the wall behind us, but, right as I was pressed against the wall, it felt thin.

Thin enough that I could smash a hole open into it, with a blow strong enough. Maybe there was an open area on the other side. I reassured myself, as desperation bit away at my sanity.

My eyes closed shut, as I searched for the inborn confidence which always assured me I could do anything I attempted. But shackled—kept at bay—by desperation. So I reached for rage instead, which had always been a better fuel for me than any other.

I surged all the mana I had left in my body, and reinforced my arm, as I cocked it back ready to launch it into the thin wall.

My fist connected with the wall, and it trembled, barely nudging. Again I tired to do the same.

But from my side, Neil had pushed both of his hands forward, fighting the fierce current. I didn’t know what kind of ability or magic he had used, but a bright greenish glow began to emanate from his hands, as the water around us swirled.

I saw the same glow attaching itself around my arm, as I observed through Mind’s Eye, the particles of blue being pushed away and snuffed around my arm. Neil’s mana rolled out of his hands, conjuring some kind of wind-attribute spell, which erected a small barrier around my arm, creating a vacuum, which had forced all the water out around my arm.

Neil struggled to hold the shape of his spell, as he looked desperate for a single breath. His eyes shut into sharp slits.

I surged all the mana I could at once toward my arm, and smashed my fist against the thin wall. The wind-attribute spell sweeping the water away from in front of my arm as I thrust it forward. I didn’t have time to be amazed by Neil’s display of magic, as the only thing I focused on was the wall, the only obstacle in our way now. But what if it was also another dead end? Pessimistic thoughts began to form inside my mind, as I grounded my teeth and pushed them at the back of my head.

The wall shook terribly, as cracks began to from around the area my fist had landed, tiny fissures stretching all around the wall. The skin around my knuckle tore open, as blood began to sweep out from my hand. But soon enough it began to regenerate.

With another swift push from the current, the thin wall collapsed, making a gaping wall, for us and the water to escape through.

I grabbed Neil and pulled him close this time. We rolled several times, but soon enough came to a stop, as I realized I was laying over hard soil.

Relief washed over me, as I took a deep, refreshing and long breath. Invigorating my lungs with oxygen, coughing several times as I did.

But I snapped my head around, trying to search for Neil. He was laying on the ground, motionless. I panicked, as I reached for my companion, I dragged my body toward him and placed my ear against his chest, but he didn’t have a heartbeat.

I placed both hands over his chest and began to pump his heart. His heart had began to stop pumping, there was no pulse coming from it.

“Damn it, don’t go dying on me like this, you bastard ” I mumbled, as I pumped his chest with my arms. I kept on repeating the process, but there was no motion—pulse—coming from his body, his heart.

I kept at it, but after an entire minute, I slowly stopped. He was gone. I couldn’t...

But in that moment, water gushed out of his mouth, as he pushed his body upright, coughing and taking several deep breaths.

I supported him, wrapping my arm around him, and gently rubbing his back. Neil kept on coughing as he hungrily breathed air, like there was no tomorrow.

He weakly turned to look at me, as his lips were pulled into a weak thin smile. “Thanks for not...letting me die...Shun.”

I chuckled looking at Neil, for some reason, after a near death experience, laughing felt the right think to do, to wash off the stress off of my body.

“I really thought you were a goner right then and there,” I muttered, sitting down on the ground, as Neil looked at me with a weak, but bright smile.

“Yeah, you’re right!”