Three days and ten explosions later, I worry how long Grímr is taking to join me. It shouldn’t be hard for the little blind lizard to follow my trail; his nose is good enough to pick out the burning remains of my… exuberance, from hours away.

It shouldn’t be a challenge for him to find the scorched base of the tunnels that have been detonated. And yet, he’s late.

I continue forward, looking for more fungi tubes to blow up. The energy I’ve gained from the glow-worms so far hasn’t been enough to leave a visible change to my flame, but I can feel the incremental growth with each firestorm.

Without Grímr by my side, I’ve felt far more lonely than I expected. The knot suppresses my emotions from influencing my actions, but walking toward the unknown alone leaves me with a tension in my chest that I can’t ignore. It won’t stop me from advancing, but I still feel uncomfortable. The only time the feeling recedes is when I’m enjoying the intense heat. If only it lasted longer.

As I continue forward, toward what I think is the other side of the Alps, I spot a strange dimming in the wall of lights before me. The density of glow-bugs decreases. Curious but wary, I approach slowly. It’s not a shadow like I’m used to seeing, just a gradual decrease in their number the further forward I travel. I’ve seen too many dangerous things in this cavern, so I approach with as much care as I can.

Beyond the lights, there is nothing. A vast expanse of darkness that expands as far as I can see. Not a single glow-bug moves toward the darkness. It’s almost like an invisible wall prevents them from passing a certain point.

A well of dread rises in my chest as peer into the darkness. Is there something in there? Another massive creature that the glow-bugs know to avoid?

I stumble backward before catching myself. Not panicking, I ever so slowly back into the embracing swathes of lights. That monstrous centipede could hide amongst the lights somehow, despite its size. I don’t want to know what doesn’t even bother hiding.

I return to the last tube I exploded. The darkness expands so far in each direction, it will take days to move around it. Probably. I also want to be near my hiding hole in case it moves. The arachnids above react incredibly predictably and that centipede hasn’t shown itself other than that one time, but who knows how this third giant might react?

For now, I’m just going to wait right here until Grímr is back.

❖❖❖

I wait hours, hoping for Grímr’s return. He specified no time to expect him, just that he’ll meet in a couple days, not that there is any day-night cycle down here to use as a reference. I’ve been going off a feeling. Nothing measurable. Maybe it’s the same for him, and he just doesn’t realise that it was time for him to come back.

I’m not sure what I’d do if he doesn’t come back, if he was caught or killed down in those tight tunnels. His body lets him hide, but there’s little he can do in an actual fight. Maybe it would have been better to look for another host. I still haven’t searched the other shadow patches. The only one we’ve checked so far hid a creature that was easily manageable. What’s to say they won’t all be as easy?

Of course, the fact that I’ve already come across three giant monstrosities does not give me confidence in the likelihood of a safe search. It doesn’t help that whatever is in those shadows is more likely to notice me before I do it.

The longer Grímr takes, the more agitated I feel. I don’t enjoy doing nothing. I want to get out there and continue my growth, or progress through the Alps. Anything to make it feel like what I’m doing actually has worth.

I’ve been practising my spear, but I’ve hit a wall. No matter how hard I try, I can’t push my control any further. My swings refuse to hit harder. What I really need now, is something to practice on. I can’t do much more just swinging at nothing.

As much as I dislike the idea, I’ll have to approach one of those shadows eventually. If there are creatures I can handle in them, it will be an incredible help to my improvement. I still have fought no one other than Bunny with my spear. Before I’m forced into an encounter with those merminea, I want to be comfortable with my weapon. As it is, I’m not even confident I’d be able to scratch them.

“Solvei.”

I jump to my feet and point my spear toward the voice, before realising my mistake and lowering it. The black mist disperses around Grímr’s body.

“Don’t do that. I could have stabbed you,” I grouch.

“You haven’t moved as far as I expected.” He brushes off my gripes. “Why’d you stop moving?” he asks as he tilts his head toward the massive shadow.

“There’s something ahead. Something huge. I wanted to wait for you before trying to move around it. What took so long?”

“Ah. I found another of those tunnels you’ve been exploding. I was hoping to catch you after you blew the one I found. Anyway, come. There’s a path to the next one with no scent of the merminea.” He drops into the vertical shaft.

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I follow close behind. I’m glad to see he’s still okay and hasn’t been discovered by those merminea.

“You’ve been loud lately. I’m surprised the merminea haven’t been able to hear you. I can almost feel the ground shaking from your explosions.” He says as crawls into the tunnel below. “You’ll be careful, won’t you? Don’t do anything reckless.”

“Grímr, look where we are. Simply being here is reckless. Anything could be hiding where we can’t see.” While my mind jumps to the immense centipede I’d seen, there’s no reason to worry him further.

“I still don’t want anything to happen. I’ve been able to overhear much of what the merminea has been saying. There’s a good couple of months before they’ll reach their destination. Promise me you won’t take any rash actions.”

I nod seriously to him before realising the pointlessness of the action. “I’ll be careful,” I say. “But you have to promise the same.”

He lets out an amused breath. “Of course.”

I know I should get used to it, but I don’t like being alone. It’s only been a few days and yet I’m already feeling incredibly relieved to have Grímr at my side again. I have my own task to accomplish. If I can’t handle a bit of time by myself, how am I going to handle the next couple of months?

“We’ll probably have to keep our meetings as sparse as possible from now on,” Grímr says after a moment of silence.

I expected it. Having Grímr run between me and those he’s following would be nothing if not time consuming. If he fell too far behind the merminea, we might lose them. I knew it was coming, but it’s still disappointing to hear.

Well, at least without him around, there’s no chance the knot will force me to betray him. It’s something, right?

Really, I just don’t want to experience that same isolation as in that oven. There are more important things going on than my own issues. The rest of the team probably are in a far worse situation than my solitude.

“How are they being treated?” I ask, trying to distract myself. I care about them, even if I still struggle to forgive or forget what they did.

Grímr stumbles, tripping over his own feet. He hesitates before responding. “They are being treated fine. Nothing to concern yourself with.”

Grímr is as bad a liar as he’s ever been. It’s obvious that they’re not being treated well. I don’t ask any further. I don’t want to feel guilty for considering this their punishment for betraying my trust.

I follow him through the winding tunnels. Not a single scratch mark to show the past travel of mermineae. How Grímr can remember his way, I have no idea, but he leads me to the familiar sight of a tunnel filled with roots.

No, not roots. Now that I don’t have to run for my life, I see they are a whitish-brown fungi that hangs from a hundred points in the tight tunnel. A very slight blue glows from the hole in the ceiling. I’m surprised the glow-bugs come down this far. The tubes are at least a few hundred metres deep.

“Don’t worry about waiting for me. I’ll find you when I get the opportunity. The merminea have been travelling that way almost consistently.” I note the direction he points his head. “Take care of yourself. I’ll see you in a few weeks or if they change their course.”

The black mist shrouds him once more and I can barely give a “goodbye” before he’s gone.

A sigh escapes my lips. Well, I might as well get back into it. I ignite the fungi tendrils around me and watch as they burn into the ceiling, leaving small holes in their place. The flames continue through the earth until they reach the tube that contains all that explosive jelly. As in the many times prior, I let the comfortable heat wash over me.

I watch in curiosity as the jets of flame travel through the deep tunnels. They bend and follow the branching caves for quite the distance, charring stone as they blow their way past.

It doesn’t take long for a giant arachnid to attempt to dig for my flame. Really, I’m so thankful it’s as dumb as it is. If it didn’t give up, it would get to me in no time. If it was smart, it might even wait in ambush.

Even though I’ve experienced it so many times now, the thrum as its legs smash through the earth still unnerves me.

As always, it gives up before it even reaches half way down the tube. It returns to the darkness of the cavern and opens the way for my exit. Again, I wait a good half an hour to begin my climb. Just in case.

As I breach the tunnel into the cavern, I’m welcomed by the sight of glow-bugs… on only one side. This tunnel has only led me to the very edge of the massive shadow.

No. As I look around, I realise that I’m well within the expansive darkness.

I’m sprinting for the safety of the swarm of lights before I even realise my legs are moving. Ten metres, thirty, fifty. After running over a hundred metres, I finally reach the safety of blue bugs. It’s only after I’m within that I remember the bugs don’t offer any true safety by themselves. Only the awareness it gives of the other creatures in this cavern.

I twist on the spot, expecting something unthinkable to be bearing down on me. Nothing. It’s all in my imagination.

I shake my head at my impulsive actions. I’d already seen the shadow, so why did I react so panicked? Why didn’t my knot suppress my instinctual terror?

Whatever. I’m out now and there’s nothing coming for me.

I remember Grímr’s directions and immediately set out. I don’t want to stay around here regardless if something is chasing me or not. It is behind me now. As long as I keep moving, I don’t need to worry.

In my haste to move away from the extensive field of darkness behind me, I almost stumble straight into a comparatively tiny shadow in front of me. Not so close that whatever is hiding can see me — I hope — but close enough that I can see it isn’t the shrouding mist of darkness. Instead, I can make out the silhouette of some beast ahead of me.

It’s big, but not the same scale as the Arachnids, especially not that giant Centipede. It’s about the same size as the panther body Grímr used to have. Definitely not the same shape, though. While the silhouette isn’t exactly clear, there are two large shapes at the side of a smaller central body.

Slowly, I back up. I don’t want to deal with this now. Not while the massive shadow still looms behind. I take another step back and try to circle around the creature, losing sight of the silhouette.

I may not see it anymore, but the loud snap that rings out halts my next step. Before I even realise why I’m doing so, I throw myself out of the way of something snapping toward me.

I spring to my feet before the creature can attack me again. As I take another step away and ready my spear, I finally get a good look at what attacked me. A pincer about the size of my body opens to reveal two lines of jagged teeth. It must have clamped closed as it sprung toward me.

The pincer hovering in the air moves back as the arm and body it connects to come into view. Considering the size of its claws, the body is rather small. About equal to the creature’s oversize pedipalps. The only reason the thing can even keep its balance is the long, thin legs that stretch wide off its body.

Looks like I’ll be practising my spear earlier than anticipated.