A blow of wind had startled him, and he backed up a little before looking inside the ravine. They had been walking around it for a while now, investigating every possibility of exploring it and carefully noting which places were more dangerous than others. A6d exchanged a distraught look with Sapnap, who was walking toward him. They stood next to each other, facing the pit.
The ravine was incredibly deeply dug. It was so profound they could barely see the ground from where they were. In the faint light of beginning fall and in the thick fog of the biome, they had been unable to evaluate how deep the pit actually was. At least, from the surface, they could see many levels of depth, and many tunnels that were in the open and were leading to the undergrounds. On one of the lowest levels, they could clearly see a difference in the materials.
Between all the dirt, gravel, and stone, there was a part distinctively different that looked like a dungeon. The pretended dungeon walls, well combined with the stone from the ravine walls, were made of stone bricks and there were some broken stairs there and there. While at first, it looked like a building that could be built by the hands of humans, the more they would observe it, the more they would be certain the construction seemed way too unorganized to be designed by an architect. For example, some leftovers stairs were going in circles to a dead-end corridor, or they could see little rooms where the roof had fallen into scraps with three or four doors that were leading nowhere in particular.
It was a monsters dungeon for sure. After two days of investigation, there was no doubt about it.
“Last night, I dreamt I was home,” Sapnap said in a dreamy voice. “I was sleeping in my comfy, warm bed, tucked up in my blankets when my faithful dog entered the room and suddenly jumped on my tummy. He started to lick my face all over and over. I told him to stop, but he was so happy to see me again that I couldn’t push him away.”
A6d glanced at him. “And then?”
“Then I woke up.” Sapnap was staring at the ravine with an emotionless expression. “And here we are. Since two days, stuck here.”
“I still can’t believe we actually found something. I was ready to head back home.”
“I don’t get it. It’s not even related to Technoblade anymore, is it?” Sapnap shrugged, frowning. “What’s the point?”
“I mean, Inspector Bad is way too invested now. He wouldn’t want to let this discovery go,” A6d said in a mockery, and he looked around, hoping his glare would land on BadBoyHalo who was probably writing notes about the ravine somewhere near.
The two Knights heard the piercing shriek of the falcon and the swift rustle of its wings on their right. The bird had just departed, once again. The correspondence between the two groups was back. George had replied. He had replied two days ago, the day they had found the ravine. Since that moment, Bad had been spending his whole time whether exchanging info with him or taking notes about the ravine.
Skeppy, on his side, after being incredibly cocky and insufferable the first day bragging about the discovery, had started to investigate more seriously about it. He would use his magic water to get down on the different levels of the ravine to explore the surroundings, but not getting too far in the tunnels. He would come back and tell the other three what he had found inside – his discoveries were the same, some rails, no carts and some chests with scrap inside. There was definitely a human trace in this place, but it was unsure why they were here. It could have been miners, or eventually explorers, such as archeologists. That was the only logical possibility.
Sapnap and A6d could barely help the Mages in their tasks; their armors were too heavy to move around a lot, Skeppy was more suited to explore the caves with his magic water, and as they were Knights, they hadn’t been instructed to investigate places like Bad had learned as a strategist Mage. The Knights were more suited to fight, and Mages were more suited to explore. All they could do since the very first day was patrolling around, even though there was a very low possibility of anyone being here, and killing wild animals in order to bring food when it was time to eat. It was really no fun for them.
It was the third day and they still hadn’t explored the dungeon yet. The Knights were getting impatient. It was getting colder and more difficult to live in this biome with such poor resources, and both of them felt like they hadn’t made any progress. They had both agreed they would tell Bad today. They would tell him they have enough of being useless, that Skeppy is suspicious, that they should go back, and that they don’t have enough resources anymore. It’s time to leave now.
“Hey Bad,” Sapnap approached the Fire Mage. The two Knights faced him with each a very dissatisfied expression painted on their face. “When are we going to explore this dungeon? And if it has nothing to do with Techno, why do we even care?”
“There is something to do with Technoblade,” Bad interrupted the man immediately. He wasn’t smiling, and was talking in a very unfamiliar cold tone. That surprised them. Sapnap didn’t dare to talk back, giving a glance to his teammate hoping he would talk instead. They had so many things planned to say and yet they no longer dared to say anything, suddenly piqued with curiosity.
“If there’s a link, then you never told us,” A6d ended up saying. “Speak your mind.”
“Well, listen guys.” Bad handed the notebook to A6d, who took it and started to read. “I’ve been analyzing this place for two days now, and I’ve listed the things that seem very suspicious to me. You would probably say, it’s the ravine and the dungeon! But there’s also the fog and the fact that there are no monsters.”
Sapnap tilted his head to the side, taking his chin between his metallic fingers, seemingly thinking. “No monsters? But we’ve put down torches, that’s why.”
“No, I meant that there are no monsters in the ravine.”
“But there’s no torches down there. Monsters should spawn. Skeppy would have told us if there were torches, he would have noticed smoke from the fire. And there’s no light at night either, otherwise we would have noticed,” A6d said after he glanced at what Bad had written down.
“Yes, exactly! That’s my point,” Bad said. He put back his glasses in place and he looked at the two men in front of him very seriously. “If there are no monsters, there’s only two possibilities – either the places are secured with torches, or the monsters are focused on something, or someone.”
“…Someone?” A6d asked.
“I still don’t get your point,” Sapnap groaned. “Technoblade has nothing to do with this. George told you he met up with him, right? So there’s no way. There’s no reason that would be linked to him.”
“Yes, Sapnap, he did meet with George, but that’s not it. Look, Skeppy said the pearls belonged to Technoblade, right? That means that Technoblade had these pearls with him for a reason. That means he had planned on coming here at some point for whatever reason. Otherwise he wouldn’t have these pearls that give him a certain direction to follow, right? And these pearls led us to this certain ravine, right?” Bad explained.
“You’re looking too deep into this, Bad. That’s just a stupid goddamn coincidence,” A6d said, progressively starting to get upset. His voice tone was getting more and more aggressive. “I mean, yeah, it shows us this direction. And then what? I bet it’s all part of Skeppy’s plan.”
The Fire Mage stayed silent for a couple seconds, and raised his eyes to A6d in confusion. “What are you talking about?... Skeppy’s plan?”
“Huh? Don’t tell me you still believe these pearls came out of nowhere! It’s fucking obvious he’s Technoblade’s ally.”
“Hey, language! No, Skeppy wouldn’t do that.”
“Bad, listen, you’re a good strategist, and you’re trying very hard, thank you, but I think you’re obviously blinded by Skeppy. He’s the bad guy. He lured all of us to go into this dungeon to kidnap us, or something like that. If it’s related to Technoblade, then it’s just dangerous,” Sapnap insisted.
“No…! Sapnap! That’s not true, Skeppy would never do that! Plus, George and Dream…”
“Who cares?! Either we go down this ravine, or we go home! We’re supposed to track down Technoblade, remember?” A6d harshly interrupted. “If going down this ravine means falling in Skeppy’s trap, then we’re heading back to the capital! We need to inform the Army about it, and that’s all our job is about!”
“But, A6d,” Bad had started to stutter. “It’s, it’s actually about Technoblade! The pearls, and the ravine… They’re connected for sure! I’m certain he…”
“We’re coming back to the Army.”
“But, A6d. Listen…”
“NO!! Bad, can you stop acting so dumb?!”
“What?!” The Mage frowned suddenly and started to yell, seemingly angered. “Hey! That’s really not nice! I am NOT acting dumb!! I get that you guys are frustrated, and bored, and cold. We are ALL tired, okay?! And I’m just trying, to think, about this situation, logically!! But if you guys do not listen…”
“We don’t listen because that’s just nonsense!!” A6d started to shout as loud as Bad. “You’re thinking about this logically?! You forgot the part where Skeppy put out these pearls out of nowhere claiming they were Technoblade’s! That’s the MOST suspicious part!”
“Okay, no, why do we have to bring Skeppy all the time? Okay, you know what? Listen, let’s go back to the ravine. I haven’t talked about…”
“BAD!! TECHNOBLADE IS FUCKING COLLABORATING WITH HIM!”
“OH MY GOSH, LANGUAGE! CAN YOU TALK WITHOUT SWEARING?”
“YOU’RE A FUCKING IDIOT!”
“STOP! A6D!!”
“YOU GUYS SHUT UUPPP!!!”
Sapnap screamed even louder than the two men, making Bad startle and look at him, dazed. For a couple of seconds, silence reigned in the field, the three men looking at each other with frustration and visible confusion. Sapnap backed A6d away from Bad and patted the man’s shoulder with compassion like he was trying to cool him down before giving a reassuring smile at the Mage.
“You guys chill, okay?” Sapnap ordered.
Bad sighed silently. A6d rubbed his forehead with his fingers to calm himself down, and gave the notebook to Sapnap to not express his anger on it.
“Listen, Bad. I’m so done with you. And Skeppy”, A6d grumbled.
“No, Please! A6d! Listen to me. I haven’t talked about the fog yet,” Bad desperately tried to convince him to stay. “I… Alright, you know what, you can go back to the Army. But I want to talk about the fog first. Let me tell you why that makes this place an even more suspicious place, so you can tell them after. Okay?”
“…Okay.”
“Thank you.”
Sapnap tried to read the notes on the notebooks, but they were incomprehensible because of the amount of info and crossed out words. He understood why A6d gave up right away on reading them. “Anyway, what’s the big deal about that fog?” He closed the book.
“Well,” Bad started, and he tapped softly on his glasses. “You see that? They are magic glasses. They help us to concentrate when it comes to using magic and to read magic language.”
“And what about it?”
“The other day, I asked Skeppy to get me down with him. I wanted to see the fog closer. My intuition was good. It’s not any fog. It’s a magic fog.”
“I mean,” A6d shrugged, “it’s not surprising anymore, since this ravine and dungeon do not seem natural at all. It wouldn’t be surprising that a curse had been cast to protect the dungeon, or something like that, right? Or to make it harder to find?”
“That’s a good thought, but you’re wrong.”
“But you said it’s a magic fog.”
“That’s right, I did say that. But it’s not a natural magic fog; it’s been created by a Water Mage.”
“…Huh?”
“Ooooh. So that’s what all that part of your notes was about.” Sapnap gave back the notebook to Bad.
“Hold on, hold on. If it’s been created by a Mage, then are you saying there’s someone down there? Like, a Mage has been here this whole time, holding the magic, and they managed to somehow live without getting out? It can’t be possible. We barely can find any rabbit around. How could they survive for so long?”
“Or,” Sapnap interrupted, “that’s true, and that’s what Bad meant by someone is attracting the mobs’ attention so they do not spawn down there. Or rather, we do not see them spawn down there, since there’s the fog.”
Bad started to smile again. He nodded with delight, happy that the Knights were getting more investing in his sayings.
“That’s absolutely right. But, even if there’s no one down in the ravine, I can confirm a Mage definitely coded this fog. I read the coding lines through it. It’s an opaque, constant, but harmless fog made of water, and they’ve written down the length and the width along with the area measures very precisely. I couldn’t read it all, because of the distance, but I can tell it was clearly planned.”
“The area?? Is it required to include so many technical numbers when you code a spell?” Sapnap wondered, surprised.
“Oh, no! It’s not,” Bad explained. “That’s why it shows how elaborated it is. To make it simple, when you code a magic spell, you need to insert lines or orders that will give directions to your magic flux. For example, in case of a fog, “spread” for the water would be enough. You can add characteristics such as “transparent”, for example, and managing the intensity of the magic. The more intense it is, the shorter it will last. But for that fog, they wouldn’t need a large amount of magic anyway.”
A6d has started to sweat from the anxiousness. His body was heating up from the stress. He passed his hand through his hair, thinking out loud.
“Then, it’s worse than what we expected. We should not go in the dungeon at all. We should just leave right now,” he whispered.
“Skeppy wanted to explore it this afternoon,” Bad informed them.
“Wow, what? No, no! Stop! Bad, Bad, come here. Listen.” Sapnap approached the man and grabbed his shoulders firmly, yet not abruptly. He leaned down a little to look at him right eye to eye. The Mage glanced back at him, surprised.
“Y… Yes?”
“Skeppy is your best friend, am I right? You trust him.”
“Yes, I do…”
“But you also understand that everything that you just analyzed leads us to the conclusion that Skeppy had made us come here for a reason. To discover this place and make us explore this dungeon. This place shown by the pearls. And that these pearls are directly related to Technoblade. That’s what you said! Right?”
“…Yeah.”
“Then, you understand that Skeppy is trying to make us fall into a trap, right?”
“…”
“And Skeppy is probably related to all that mysterious thingy. The ravine, the dungeon, all that stuff, and even Technoblade. These pearls that like, came out of nowhere. You can admit it’s weird?”
“Yes, that…” Bad looked down. Defeated. He couldn’t pretend any longer about it. He always knew Skeppy was acting weird. “You’re right. That was weird…”
“So, what we are going to do,” A6d cut off the conversation between the two, “is that we are all three going to head back to the closest city and convoke the Army for an important meeting. We need to inform them right away. Reporting Skeppy as a traitor and telling them about Technoblade wanting to build a Nation.”
“No! I’m staying with Skeppy!” Bad struggled.
“BAAD!” Sapnap shouted.
“No!” Bad shook his head when he saw A6d’s accuser eyes. “No, I’m not coming back. You just said that Skeppy is suspicious! Are we really going to let him in the wild then? I’m staying. To have an eye on him.”
“You can’t! Bad, are you insane? We can’t let you alone with him! You’re really cool as a Mage, and you even enchanted my sword twice and all, but we can’t… We’re not going to let you behind like that!”
“I’ll be fine,” Bad assured calmly. He tried to smile in order to reassure his teammates, but neither of them managed to give his smile back, staring at him with distressed eyes. “Skeppy is my best friend. He wouldn’t hurt me. And I’m sure he has a good reason for doing all this.”
A6d clicked his tongue. “My god…”
“Bad, you can’t stay here! There’s not even resources! It’s fall, but it’s already snowing in this biome! Do you realize the situation you’re in? We will not be here to hunt stupid rabbits anymore!”
“It’s gonna be alright, Sapnap.”
“No! Bad…”
“If something bad happens, I’ll tell you right away.”
“How?!” Sapnap frowned.
“The falcon, of course!”
“Bad, I… We’re partners. We’re not supposed to be apart. We’re meant to work on this mission together, and you’re just wandering on your own!”
“The falcon will always fly over your head, don’t worry. I’ll always be by your side.”
“Let’s… Let’s see each other soon, partner, alright? You promise?”
He handed his hand to the Mage. Somehow, he had a bad feeling about this. He had wanted to leave this biome and this frightening forest for a while now. It had been cold, it had been difficult and it had been boring. But now he was being overwhelmed by emotions, emotions he couldn’t control nor understand, but what he knew was that his chest was aching with concern. Like his whole body was telling him he was making a bad decision. They barely knew each other, but his presence and his behavior were so comforting he was holding a dear place in the man’s heart. Sapnap was suddenly scared he would never see this adorable muffiny face and these rounded glasses anymore.
“You promise?” He asked again.
Without a word, Bad went to him and simply held his hand with his own. He raised his head and grinned, tightening gently his grip. When he saw that look on his face, Sapnap’s heart dropped. He suddenly felt the urge to give in and to hold him in his arms so tightly he couldn’t separate from them.
“Don’t worry. We’ll be reunited soon.”