The journey to the drop off point took Soren about twenty five minutes. It was slow going in the dark, particularly when he was underneath the canopy of trees which blocked the moonlight. The lack of light and his tiredness had caused him to stumble more than once.

Soren gave his wing letter and his name to the woman who approached him as he placed down the carts. “Soren, wing c” he wheezed.

“I make that 6 carts for your team so far, nice work”, she replied. “Grab one of those empty ones” she said, gesturing to the collection of carts to the right of the clearing.

Soren traipsed over, his feet feeling heavy, and leaned against one of the empty carts, pausing to catch his breath.

“Sorry but I gotta keep you moving”, the woman who had checked him in said, as she wandered over. “With all the top dogs hovering around today I don’t want to get into any trouble”

Sighing, Soren stood. “No worries, I understand”, he said, gesturing to the dried blood still crusting his face and clothes.

“Ah, they did that to you? Sucks. Something really has got them all worked up, I’ve seen a few other guys come down today with some bumps and scrapes”

Nodding, Soren decided not to set the rumour mill churning by mentioning what he, Finn and Alissa had discussed early. “Yeah, something really has”

“Right then, I best get moving”, he said, as he grabbed hold of the empty cart handles and lifted.

Soren set off in the direction he had come, dreading the journey. It had been mostly downhill on the way here, which meant it would be mostly uphill on the way back. To make maters harder, Soren couldn’t quite make out the mountain in the distance that was his baring. He had come mostly in a straight line so he was reasonably confident he could find his way.

He was wrong. About fifteen minutes into his walk back, Soren was convinced that he was climbing a steeper hill than the one he had descended. Maybe it's just because i’m tired, he thought. Hills always feel steeper on the way up.

Soren continued on, trying to convince himself he was going the right way, unwilling to accept the fact that he may have walked all this way up hill only to have to turn around again.

The trees were denser up here, Soren realised. The moonline was barely making its way through the canopy. The ground underneath his feet had changed from a mossy carpet to clean, smooth rock. He realised he could hear nothing around him but for the blowing of a gentle breeze that wrestled the trees and bushes.

Soren was just about ready to turn back when he came across a hole in the ground. Putting down his cart, Soren stepped up to the edge, crouched, and peered into the darkness. The hole was large, about ten paces across. The edges were rocky and damp, sprawling vines flowing over them into the darkness below. Squinting, Soren tried to see what was in the hole, but he couldn’t make out a single thing. I wonder what's down there he thought.

Staring at the hole for a moment longer. Soren sighed, finally accepting that he had indeed gone the wrong way. Rising from his crouch, Soren went to turn away, ready to pick up his cart and start retracing his steps, when a sudden wave of dizziness washed over him.

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Soren's skin went clammy, his legs went weak and his eyesight went blurry. Before he knew what was happening, Soren was falling, having taken a step sideways to steady himself, his foot had caught the edge of the hole and in his bleary state he had tilted sideways straight into the dark pit.

“Shit!” he called, and then he hit the ground hard, his breath driven out of his lungs. Spluttering, Soren tried to draw in breath but found that he couldn’t. His eyesight was still blurry, the black edges in his vision either the dark interior of the hole, or the arms of unconsciousness trying to wrestle him in, he couldn’t tell.

His mind racing, Soren fumbled around and tried to stand. Unable to see anything and in a frenzied panic, he tripped over what must have been a boulder on the floor and smashed his head against something solid. Sprawled out on the floor, his back to the cold hard rock, Soren just made out the fading light of the moon before he lost consciousness completely.

Soren awoke to the light of day shining on his face. Despite the throbbing on the side of his head, Soren felt well rested and wide awake. He sat up, taking in the small cavern in which he now sat. On one side, a rocky ramp led up to the opening above, the one he had just fallen through. Looking up, he realised the other edges of the hole overhung the empty space below, so he must have fallen off one of those.

Within the cavern itself was a space about thirty paces across. The ground was smooth damp rock and green vines with branching leaves were hanging down to touch the floor. Besides the ramp leading back to the forest, the other sides of the cavern terminated in smooth walls of a rustic blue hue. The floor was littered with dead leaves that had fallen from above and filled with boulders of all shapes and sizes.

In the farthest corner of the cavern, Soren could see an opening that appeared to lead to an adjoining space. Standing up and stretching, Soren walked over to the opening to peer through. As he approached, Soren felt a fuzzy feeling in his chest that grew stronger with every step he took.

Frowning, he stopped and took a few steps back. The fuzzy feeling abated a little.

“What the…” he said aloud.

Cautiously, weary about feeling unwell again, Soren slowly approached. The fuzzy feeling in his chest, there was no other way he could describe it, grew as he approached but it never felt overwhelming. It almost felt warm, like that glowing feeling you get when you settle into a hot bath.

Soren realised that the entry wasn’t an entryway at all, but a passageway that descended downward. Crouching, he noticed that there were steps carved into the rock, each with a circular symbol with a flame in the centre engraved down each outer edge.

Intrigued, Soren descended down the first few steps. The fuzzy feeling didn’t change, apparently it had settled into a comfortable rhythm. He edged further down but soon the light from above was not enough and he could no longer see where he was placing his feet.

Frustrated, Soren decided that he could go no further. Even though he felt rested, he had fallen over too much over the past twenty four hours to want to do it again. Sighing, he turned around and ascended the fifteen or so steps back into the cavern.

As he expected, the fuzzy feeling in his chest abated as he stepped into the cavern and made his way to the centre of the room. Strangely, he found that he missed it. He couldn’t explain it but he wanted that feeling to embrace his chest again.

In that moment Soren decided that he would come back and he would see where those steps went. He had to go now, the sun beating down through the hole in the ceiling a sure sign that he was still supposed to be at work. He wasn’t sure how much time had passed since he had fallen down the hole. He hoped it hadn’t been longer than a day, that would be really bad.

Soren made his way over to the ramp leading up and out and scrambled his way up. The sun was well risen, but not yet at its peak. Morning then, he thought. He just hoped that Alaric hadn’t been by to check on them again and realised that he was missing.

Before departing he took in his surroundings and tried to store in his memory the trees all around him, the shape and size of the hole and his position relative to the mountain that towered above. Satisfied with his location, and with daylight on his side, Soren found the empty cart, hoisted it off the ground and set a path back down the hillside to retrace his steps and find his wing-mates again. All the while, the feeling he had felt in his chest lingered on his mind. I’ll go back he thought, i’ll go back.