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Abby, 12.03PM
"Please?"
Lily, 12.03PM
"You really wanna go?"
Abby, 12.08PM
"Already texted Seb. He'll see us there."
Lily, 12.09PM
"K."
Abby had been bugging me about the caves ever since she learned what I had been doing there. I had bought my own sword from some shady guy Abby had directed me to and now that there were two swords we could both go. Or so she said.
I was more hesitant. While the caves did provide a rather generous income on the side while I waited for the crops to grow on the farm, they were also incredibly dangerous. On most times that I could count I've spent my nights there lost, unable to find my way out.
I told her all this, but it did little to hinder her excitement.
From the porch the view of the plot had begun to actually look decent. If things kept going as it had been for the last month or so, I could get a rather decent price for it when fall finally arrived. And if things went even better than expected I may be able to even upgrade to a bigger flat in the city.
The next step would be to clear an area for a coop and a barn. Livestock was rather pricey, but I had heard that Pierre pays well for animal products. But that all was a task for another day, for the whole yard was absolutely drenched at that moment.
Koda scampered inside to escape the rain. His muddy paws made their way from the kitchen all the way to the bedroom. I had been planning on spending the day cleaning, but guess I had better things to do.
Picking up the new sword I actually felt rather eager to try it out. On the other side of the belt, I attached the pickaxe and then threw the emptied backpack over my shoulder.
It wasn't until I stepped outside that I realized I could've taken an umbrella with me. But then it was already too late. At the General Store Pierre let out a small wince when I entered, even the little doorbell quivered. Maybe it was the rain that made everything sound so odd.
"Don't worry, I'm here for your daughter." I sighed.
"That's even worse!"
I faintly realized I was still holding onto the sword. To that extent Pierre's reaction was fairly reasonable. I quickly put the sword to hang off the belt and showed the slightly shaking man my empty hands.
"Look," I told him, waving my hands around a bit while making my way backdoors. "Absolutely nothing suspicious."
There, Abigail had already been waiting for me. For the looks of it she had been entirely ready to climb off the second story window of her room to sneak out but seeing me she quickly decided against it.
She had had enough sense to put on a lilac raincoat. She had stuffed her pockets with stones and daggers. We were just leaving when Pierre stepped to block our way back to the store.
"Where'd ya going?"
"To Sam's." Abigail said, her expression gave away nothing. What did not help was the sword obviously sticking out of her jacket. "A bit rougher DnD session."
Pierre raised his eyebrow and I tried to smile innocently.
"Wanna join? Jodi's making pancakes." How effortlessly she lied straight to his face. After a small silence from Pierre, she simply pushed his hand away and walked off. "Don't worry, I'll be back for supper."
I shrugged at him like most of this wasn't my fault and followed after her. Outside I pulled the hood of my jacket deeper over my head. The rain had just gotten worse, and the raindrops felt like daggers hitting against the head.
I saw Abigail trying to say something, but even shouting got lost under the storm.
"What?" I shouted.
"Let's go- ...way." Only bits and pieces of her speech were comprehensible even when she said them right next to me. The cool water ran down my shirt and set shivers down my spine.
She apparently gave up trying and just took a hold of my sleeve. She began to drag me up south. We passed the Old Community Center and continued up past the Carpenter's shop.
We raced up the mountain. I had to follow Abigail because she could navigate the area miles better than me. And as she had texted, Sebastian stood there under the covers waiting for us.
I hadn't been able to decide how I felt about it yet. When I had asked him to go, I had to basically drag him there, but Abby only had to ask him once. Although, I had been basically a stranger to him while he'd known Abigail for years.
I pulled the hood of the jacket over my head and took the whole thing off. Even with having the hood on for the whole time my hair was soaking wet. Abigail too had thrown the coat out and was now squeezing water off her hair.
Sebastian tried to dry his as well. The water ran down from the strands, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference. He hadn't had anything but his usual hoodie, which had absorbed itself full like the rest of our clothes.
"Whoa, they really listened." I had complained to the shady guys about the broken-down elevator, since they had proudly claimed to be experts at that sort of thing. Caves, not elevators. But maybe they had hired someone to do it, because now there was a bright light lit in the thing.
"They had seemed rather offended so they might have rigged it." I continued, while the other two still struggled to gather themselves. "But I hate the ladders more so it can't be that bad."
The elevator had buttons for every 5 levels and there must have been over 50 buttons. I pressed one and it lit up. "Whoa, we weren't even close to the bottom."
"Let's go, Quick." Abby sniffed. Already sneaking into the lift. "I've already got water in my shoes."
The thing buckled and bent under our weight but managed to let us lower underground. I still wasn't quite sure how we managed to fit in such a tiny space, and it did feel quite crowded pushed against moving walls and two other people.
Once we left the ground level the air grew cooler, and the only light source flickered and showed worsening signs of dying out. Of course they would cheap out on these kinds of things. Eventually the lift came to an end and with a loud rattle sound it let its slightly nauseous passengers out.
Sebastian had acquired a slight shade of green onto his face. And while I was still trying to hold onto my lunch, Abigail was already creating a plan.
"We seem to be safe for now, but it's too dark to be sure. Lily, watch my back while I-" A loud blast echoed back and forth through the dark cave. The sword drawn I tried to look for the threat, but there was none. Not at least any visible ones.
We had gone lower than ever before and seemed to be reaching some kind of Nethery scenery. Who knew what kind of monsters there were.
But the noise hadn't come from the front. It actually hadn't come from anything living at all. Sebastian had let go of the elevator's door and it had slammed shut. With it broke our only good light source.
"Seb, really?" Abigail whisper shouted. "Now they all know we're here!"
"Calm down! It was just a door-"
"Ugh, hold this." Abby pushed her backpack on to me. With little vision I could mostly hear some light shuffling as something was being dug up from the bag.
"I swear I packed it. I really thought- Seb, give me your lighter."
Abigail lit a small flame and returned it to me. With it she found what she had been looking for in no time. She had packed a flashlight that held a power of seven. It was enough to light most of the level.
She shone the light against the elevator, which at first seemed unnecessary. The lift seemed to be fine excluding the broken light, so she must have been looking for something else. "Okay, so. We're now at level 85. There should be some way to get even lower."
"Here." Sebastian had already found a ladder down a few feet away. What was interesting was how intensely he stared down at it.
Gazing down into it I only saw darkness and thought that was what creeped him out. But then I saw it too. A figure, nothing more, but it was undoubtedly shaped like a human. It wasn't one, surely. It didn't move like humans usually did, but it eerily reminded me of one.
What was even more worrying was how quick Abigail was to head directly towards the danger with just her sword to her name.
She couldn't hold the flashlight and her sword at the same time, so once she got to the bottom of the ladder, she hurled the light at the thing and started swinging.
The light went out with the impact and for a moment there were only the noises of her sword swinging in the air. Something ruffled next to me and the ladder clattered as Sebastian made his way down. I jumped down behind him and crawled out for the lighter.
There was screaming, and then a loud clank of metal. After blindly combing through the ground, I got a hold of something round and flicked it on.
This layer was much larger than the one above. It seemed to go on endlessly with some stone walls here and there trapping us in. Abigail stood a bit to my left, her body still intact, although her sword had fallen in the battle, and it laid a few feet away. Only the dark dust on her feet showed any signs of battle.
"What was-"
Someone shushed and I fell silent. I couldn't see Sebastian from where I sat but the stern look on Abby's face couldn't mean any good.
My fears were confirmed when I followed her narrowed gaze. It stood there, in the corner with its tiny eyes pointed directly at us. It owned the body of a human covered in dust. But there was something odd about it. And we had just killed its buddy.
I glanced up at Abigail and she had completely frozen in place.
Remaining eye contact with the monster, I slowly stood up and tried to remain as calm as I could with my heart desperately trying to rip through my ribs. That thing wouldn't be too hard to kill, right? I mean, Abigail already did it and it happened in complete darkness.
Things changed once I saw the whole picture. The monster had friends. Loads of them.
"Slow movements." Abigail whispered as she slowly bent down for her weapon. "Don't attract any attention."
For a few seconds the cave went dead silent. Like a moment before the storm, or in this case, slaughter. Abigail picked the sword up and while rising the blade jolted against the stone floor.
I had time to wonder if she really was just suicidal, before getting under the fire myself. Abby's move was the only sign they needed. I could barely remember anything. The odd dust flew everywhere and blacked out everything.
I heard something fly past my ear. "Watch-!"
And out of nowhere the floor fell under my feet.
No. No, no, no. The fighting part was fun, but now I was alone. I could still hear the muffled sounds falling from above, but I had no way up. I hadn't fallen through a ladder, this time.
I tried to move closer to the walls because they emitted at least some light. It wasn't enough but if I kept on telling myself it was, I thought it would be. I kept the sword drawn and my back against the wall.
What sounds came towards me and what were just echoing from above? I couldn't tell. I couldn't tell before something warm and thick stuck to my side.
It held onto the shirt, they tried to eat through flesh. I couldn't fight it off. I knew how to fight. I'd never lost. But this one refused to let go. It refused to die. It only held on tighter the more I panicked and screamed. After there was nothing stopping it entering the skin its tiny razor-sharp teeth sunk into my stomach.
Something happened. Someone else screamed and the caves above lit up. There was a tight grip on my shoulder, and I got dragged up. The warmth came closer, so close I could smell the smoke.
Smoke?
"Kill it! Kill it!" I screamed and something sharp hit my stomach again. The pain nearly cut me in two, but the thing let me go. It was replaced by a different kind of warmth.
"Hold your shirt over your mouth, like that. Good." Abigail raised the ragged hem of my shirt over my face and showed how she had done the same with hers. "Go find Sebastian. Meet me at the ladder. We need to get out"
It had occurred to me too. We were being burned alive in an airtight space with no idea where the third of our group was.
I tried to scream his name, but it got no answer. Wherever I went I could only find more boulders and dust. With stabbing pain in the stomach, I crawled on and on. The smoke began to only grow thicker, when I heard a small mumble.
I scanned the blazing room, but he was nowhere to be seen. I screamed and it echoed again. And again. It repeated one single word.
"Down."
My gaze shot to the floor and maybe the smoke had already started to fog my brain, but I knew what it meant. Sebastian hadn't been eaten or turned to dust. He had fallen just like me.
Holding onto my chest the best I could, I climbed down.
"You're an idiot." He whisper shouted. He was lying down with his back against some large boulder which he rested his head against.
"Well, I found you!" I whispered back. "Are you okay? Can you move?"
Even in the dark I could see his furrowing brows. "I'm fine as in 'not dying', but I can't put any weight on my leg."
"Can you climb the ladder?"
"I don't think so." He shook his head. "I already fell once trying."
"Okay." I told him to lie back down and peeked my head up to scream for Abigail. There was a familiar figure standing by the ladder and I howled her over here.
We didn't have much time to think, and with the increasing amount of smoke in the caves we decided that I would wait down at the lower levels with Sebastian while Abigail ran out for help. She left us the lighter but needed the flashlight more than us.
I watched her climb up and run out. Once she disappeared, I slid back down and knelt over Sebastian. On closer inspection his leg was badly bruised and twisted, but not relentlessly out of place like I had feared.
"You fell legs first?"
"Ya think so?"
I couldn't dare to touch the bruise in fear of hurting him and only making it worse. Once I had made sure there was no visible bleeding, I laid down next to him and held my head down low. Another attack was the last thing needed right now.
"You think we can survive this?" I laid my head against the damp fabric of his hoodie and whispered into the silence. I could feel him move under my head; his shoulders rose up to a small shrug.
The smoke in the upper level could be easily smelled down where we were located, and I suddenly grew anxious of any toxins lowering down the entrance.
"Sure we can." Sebastian quietly answered. "But only if you promise not to bleed dry on me."
A single, "What?" was all I could get out.
Sebastian swooped the tiny lighter up and brought its flame close to my chest. And really, he had been right. I hadn't noticed the warm liquid running through my stomach with all the goo and dirt around it. The pain had remained, but I had pushed it away to keep myself calm.
It looked worse than it felt. The shirt had gotten so wet you'd have thought it would have never even seen anything close to white.
"It won't stop bleeding." No amount of pressure seemed to put it to ease. It didn't seem to do much else but create excruciating pain and red palms.
"Hold on." Sebastian muttered. The light went out and there was some shuffling heard next to me. Sebastian dragged himself higher and sat up. After some more unrecognizable shuffling I could once again feel him next to me.
"Here." He pushed something damp and soft on my lap. "Tie it around the wound."
I brought the cloth around my back and tightened it with a knot. It didn't do much to the blood flow, I had been creating a worryingly largening puddle around me, but it soaked up most of it.
So that's how we laid there. Quiet not to attract whatever happened to live there, close together to keep warmth in. As the hours dragged the stone underneath grew colder and the blood cooled.
"Oh, Lily." Sebastian whispered. I jerked my head thinking Abigail had finally returned, but there were no signs of her.
"What?" Now growing more annoyed, I snapped. What took her so bloody long? Didn't she know we were both potentially dying?
"You're covered in sweat." Sebastian swept gently my forehead. I let him press the wound, which seemed to momentarily help, but even he couldn't end it fully. The thick cloth around me had fully soaked about an hour ago and I had begun to feel more and more lightheaded.
Somewhere far I could recognize faint stomping. Maybe the monsters had returned to finally end this. Pain had colored this dark room red. Maybe, no matter how hard I had tried to escape it before, unconsciousness would be at least some kind of release.
I let my head fall back and concentrated on the uneven echoes becoming louder and louder. I could hear his voice again and again, but none of it reached my ears.
More voices, more inconveniences. Why were these people so bad at leaving me alone? I could feel my feet rising off the warm stone. Something cold and wet fell on my face in little droplets and the last thing I could remember was the weak cold breeze against my skin.
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