Yulie frowned at the harrowing decision, inspecting their surroundings in search of clues on what could possibly be the safer alternative. But there was nothing to settle their fear as countless bones marked the dark mineshaft—a blatant sign of the peril that lay ahead.

Each one of them knew that no matter what they chose, both answers were going to be wrong in the end.

"What do we do?" Mika questioned anxiously.

"...What else," Yulie responded—slowly taking the left path in callous.

With no one to rebuke her choice, they all followed.

However, in the silent minutes they had trod through the darkness, a newly emerged dread immediately overtook Damian's heart.

From within his fear-ridden body, a singular voice rang in his ear as if mocking the severity of his situation:

~"Wrong way"~

Damian froze in place, struggling to register the anxiety that plagued his entire being.

"W-we…we need to go back!" Blinded by a certain guttural fear, Damian quickly gathered everyone's attention.

As curious eyes fell on his unusual demeanor, Damian attempted to force his mind to calm:

"...I think we should go back. Can we go right instead, please…I know I don't really have a reason, but I think we should go back. Now."

Eventually, Yulie nodded simply, not delving into the subject any further:

"Alright, let's go back."

As they turned around, Damian lingered briefly, glancing into the unending darkness—blind to what hid beyond, a shiver crawled up his spine in ominous premonition.

In the painfully long seconds that followed, they retraced their steps with haste. But even then, Damian couldn't shake away his anxiety—every part of his body was screaming at him to run.

It was only in the quiet moments after that he finally came to understand why.

Subtly, he could hear something approaching…

Turning back toward the unending darkness, the most bizarre sound anyone could hear in a cave was faintly approaching, and fast.

From a great distance away, the underlying voice of rushing water and crashing ocean waves loomed far beyond, narrowly brushing at Damian's perception. The peculiar sound played in his ear as an indescribable fear locked him in place.

"We need to run!" Damian voiced in straining suffocation.

In reply, the four instantly broke into a sprint, compliant to Damian's warning as a strangely familiar distant noise was quietly nearing them at an unbelievable pace.

From the darkness, a vast harrowing sound of what could only be described as rushing waves had begun to chase them.

In his stride, Damian lagged behind the others as a palpable dread pressed against his body. Before his senses, he felt as if his small insignificant self stood before an eternal ocean of death flooding in his direction.

Without looking back, he could feel the noise growing louder in volume, throwing his mind into chaos.

'I-I…I'm going to die…I'm going to die if I don't do something…what-what do I do…!'

Scanning his surroundings, Damian propelled his mind into action, barely suppressing the anxiety that had broken his brain.

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Gasping as he attempted to catch up with the others, he could see the crossroads coming into his blurry view, but he knew none of that mattered.

'...There's no escape…we have to close the path…but how?!'

In his jumbled thoughts, a certain idea quickly shot to the front of his mind.

Scrambling in a frenzy, Damian reached for the small pouch of rune marbles, nearly dropping it in the process. Without looking, he grabbed and threw one of his marbles onto the ground behind him.

Shattering as he ran, the tunnel lit up in destructive lightning, somewhat burning him from behind. But this wasn't what Damian wanted.

'It's not enough…I need more…!'

Frantically, he gathered several in his hand and prepared himself as they were finally coming up at the beginning of the crossroads. A diminutive hope ran through his mind as he called to the gods in his moment of desperation.

'Please work…'

In his fast approach, Damian eyed ahead of himself, aiming at the roof of the tunnel. In quick succession, he shot his arm forward shattering several marbles against the surface of the mineshaft ceiling. Instantly, the cave went up into a light show of ethereal destruction.

Coving his face, Damian lunged past the cloud of twisting elements as it tore against his body in the process. Past the contortions of an incredible rune magic explosion, he violently fell to the ground as a shockwave pierced his body.

At the ear-shattering explosion, everyone stumbled to a standstill in the aftermath, quickly turning around to find Damian collapsed, coughing up blood. In a cold sweat, Yulie raced to Damian's bleeding figure.

Barely keeping himself together, Damian felt his nails dig into the dirt as he dragged himself up. Forcing his quaking body into action, he slowly limped forward as large debris fell from behind, narrowly avoiding death by crushing. As the ground shook uncontrollably, Damian eventually couldn't handle the force as his legs gave in, sending him falling forward once again.

In his fall, however, Yulie caught his near-unconscious figure, dragging him out of the left tunnel. Upon exiting the left pathway, the tunnel's collapse ceased at the entrance to the left pathway—an earthquake passed through the entirety of the mineshaft, throwing the entire cave into complete disarray.

Luckily, in their desperate pleas, the severe tremors that shook the earth quickly began to subside.

Yulie, Aricin, and Mika heaved an immense sigh of relief before turning their attention to Damian's battered unconscious figure.

Aricin carefully examined Damian's condition:

"Why did Damian do that?"

"You heard it, there was something chasing us in that tunnel…something…something abnormal was hiding in that area," Mika answered, supporting Damian's posture.

"You're right, but what he did was very reckless. That kind of power could have buried us alive if he wasn't careful."

"Look."

Interrupting their talk, however, they found Yulie staring into the collapsed rubble, severely pale.

Before their eyes, the three watched in utter terror as a squirming pitch-black liquid seeped from the cracks of the debris. From the dreadful liquid, countless microscopic worms writhed around within the viscous substance.

Once again turning to the unconscious Imprinted, a grateful silence soon fell over the three.

***

"Agh…Gods am I in hell?"

Regaining his senses, Damian slowly adjusted his body in confusion.

"Don't move, you still aren't fully recovered." Mika soon came to his support.

Absentmindedly, Damian's eyes soon cleared, returning his vision. Sat nearby, Yulie was watching Mika assist in his recovery while Aricin looked to be asleep.

"Damn it! I am in hell!" Damian whispered his complaints.

"Stay still," Mika demanded.

Turning his attention, Damian found more pieces of clothing tightly bound around his body. All around, his entire body burned and ached with every motion, leaving him at the mercy of Mika's will.

"If only we had any medicine," Mika grumbled in regret.

Damian furrowed his brow at the unusual kindness:

"I hate to ask, but why do you care so much? At least you didn't get hurt right, so why does it matter?"

Mika widened her eyes at the absurd questions:

"What in God's name are you talking about? Who wouldn't take care of their friends if they were hurt like this."

'I mean…I guess? I never really thought of it that way…have I ever had friends before? I call them my companions, but it was more so as a necessity to get by if anything. If my life was truly on the line, I would absolutely trade their lives for mine.'

'Maybe back at the orphanage I lived at, but now? Other than that crazy old man, I don't think I've ever had friends before. Is there a point to it?'

Thoughtful of their short conversation, Damian's mouth unknowingly arched into a small smile.

"...Thanks."

Not long after, Aricin woke up from his slumber, allowing a discussion to take place between them on their future endeavors.

"Are we ready to keep going?" Damian calmly spoke.

"What do you mean are we? Can you even walk?" Aricin frowned.

Widening his eyes Damian smirked:

"What are you talking about? I'm good as new!"

"...Sadly, we need to keep going. We only have so much time before dehydration sets in." Yulie sighed as she voiced in brutal truth.

Everyone's expressions hardened.

"No matter what, we need to keep moving."

And with that, the four swiftly prepared to move.