Chapter 8: The Twisted Corridor

Aine and Abaddon walked back to the area where the cave entrance was. The snow that fell on Abaddon's log storage destroyed it. The entrance to the cave was nowhere to be found.

"Oh god, I hope the cave didn't cave in," said Abaddon.

Abaddon began holding a fireball in his palm and slowly thawing through the snow. Abaddon launched a consistent stream of fire at the snow. The blizzard began to pick up again, and it was beginning to get really chilly. Aine looked at how slowly Abaddon was thawing the snow.

"What's taking so long?" asked Aine.

"It's Obice snow; it takes longer to melt," said Abaddon.

Aine remembered that if they were to stay out for too long, it would cause permanent damage to their equipment. Aine tried to summon a fireball again in hopes of helping Abaddon. She raised her right hand and began focusing.

"Come on, fireball, one more time," she said to herself.

To her surprise, a blue flame appeared inside her palms. Abaddon looked behind him in shock to see Aine recreating the fireball.

"Woah, woah, woah, Aine, wait, don't blow it up," said Abaddon in a panicked tone.

The blue fireball then blasted ahead without Aine even throwing it. It headed directly for the snowpile and blew up. After the smoke from the explosion cleared, it revealed part of the entrance to the cave. The snow wasn't completely thawed out, but I made a hole just big enough to slip inside.

They both slipped in through the hole; the cave inside was dark.

"Gremlin? Are you there?" Said Abaddon into the dark void.

They continued walking deeper, seeing that the room with the campfire had collapsed into a pit down below. They couldn't tell how deep the drop went, but they knew for sure that this was their base.

Some buckets that were used to fill them with water were still there.

"So, you want to go check down there and find the gremlin?" Asked Aine.

"Nope, we're going out, and I'm finishing our escape plan," said Abaddon nonchalantly.

"What about the gremlin?" She asked.

"Replaceable," said Abaddon as he slipped through the hole again.

Aine looks at the pit; she wants to save the gremlin but remembers that it is only a slave. But Aine could save it. It could be dead, but if it is alive, it is worth saving.

Aine looked at the floor to see an unlit torch resting. She picked it up and began focusing her powers on her index finger. A little blue flame burned on top of her index finger, and she lit the torch with it. Now the problem is that she can't seem to get the fire on her fingertip to extinguish.

She began flailing her hand around, and it seemed it did the trick. The fire was extinguished, and her finger had no burn marks. She felt proud of herself for being able to consistently summon fire.

She took the blue-flamed torch and threw it down the pit. The torch illuminated the ground below. The pit that was before her wasn't a pit; it was a whole new cave system.

She saw that she could comfortably slide down to the new cave system since there was an inclined cliff. She readied herself and slid down the cliff face. She used her feet to regulate her speed and safely made it to the bottom, where her torch was.

Her heels stood the test of strength and remained unharmed. She picked up the torch again and continued walking deeper into the cave.

Meanwhile, Abaddon was outside the cave, trying to salvage what was left of the wood supply. He then continued building outside. He thinks Aine is inside for shelter from the snow. In reality, she was not only taking shelter but also exploring the cave.

Back inside the cave, Aine saw a few pieces of recently burned firewood, most likely from her old campfire. She also found the snow boar hide she slept on.

She walked in deeper while calling out for the gremlin. As she kept going down the cave, it began looking less and less natural. Some of the caves looked too blocky to be natural, and there were also some old, broken wooden planks on the floor.

The cave eventually diverged into three other paths, shaped like perfect crossroads. She now had three ways to go and more of a chance to get lost in this labyrinth-like cave.

The left path dove deeper underground, while the other two stayed pretty level. She looked around some more, now confused about what decision to make. She called out for the gremlin once more, to no response.

She then went back to the path she came from, gathered all the broken wooden planks, and decided to build a form of marker to tell her the right way out. It was just a few wooden plants stuck upright on the ground.

She then proceeded down the path that led lower down in the cave. She carefully watched her step and walked down.

Minutes of walking later, the cave looked like it had no end. It just kept on going until eventually she found a tiny hole in the floor. She had almost just thrust one of her legs through, but did not.

She looked at the hole and saw that it led to another location in the cave. The hole is not nearly big enough to fit through. She looked around to find a few sizable stone bricks off to the side.

She poked her torch into the ground, placing it upright. She then took one of the bricks and began hitting around the hole in hopes of collapsing the hole into a bigger one.

After a few hits, the floor around the hole lost its structural integrity and fell through. She then dropped her torch down first to check how deep the drop was.

It did not fall that far; it landed on stone bricks. There was no slope to help her slide down; she would just have to jump down. She noticed that the roof of that new cave was also made of stone bricks, so she thinks she can use it to hang over the new cave.

She put her legs through the hole while she was sitting down and began slowly lowering herself with her arms. She got to a position where she was basically hanging and then dropped herself down.

She landed on all fours to avoid injuries when landing. She grabbed her torch and investigated the new cave. In reality, this was not a cave; it was a room.

The walls of the room had things written on them. It was indecipherable; it looked old, and it looks like time has reclaimed another piece of history.

She kept looking around until she found something that looked like a stone door. The door was stuck; it couldn't be moved out of the way. So Aine decided to blow it up. She charged up her fireball and blasted through the rock.

After the smoke from the explosion cleared, she proceeded to walk through the door. There was a set of stairs that went up after the door.

Beyond that door were destroyed buildings in a style she had never seen before. The road was black and chopped up, with white lines in the middle. The side of the road was made of paving blocks.

There were poles that jetted out of the paving blocks; the pole was black and had a sign that said 'Crossing'. However, the pole was curved sideways. The buildings were made of a shiny and durable-looking material that looked like the same material as a sword.

She continued walking down the peculiar road. She looked up to see the buildings reaching all the way up to the cave ceiling. She looked behind her to see where she came from; the set of stairs she climbed was labeled 'Subway' over it.

Behind the entrance to the "Subway" was just rubble. It looks like the cave caved in there.

She continued walking ahead and saw a four-way crossing that led nowhere. Only one road, the right one, led somewhere. She walked down the right path while calling out for the gremlin.

As she kept on walking, the place kept getting more and more nonsensical. Poles curving more, the path cracked and elevated unevenly, and one of the weird buildings leaning at a perfect 45-degree angle in the direction of the path.

There was a peculiar object in her way; it was large. There were four wheels keeping it standing; however, one of the wheels was larger than the others. It was made of the same material as the building, and there were also transparent planks covering its hole. Inside were what appeared to be seats and another wheel.

She went around it; she was right under the tilted building at this point. She kept on walking, calling out for the gremlin.

While most of the buildings were in terrible condition, there was one that was pristine. It was located down the path and had a small tower with a bell inside. There was a sign outside the pristine building that said, 'Central Street Church'.

Aine believed that this must be some form of religious building, as she saw something similar back in Moon Village. She walked up the steps to the entrance and entered.

The door opened without a hitch. Inside, she saw rows of seats arranged to look at the main stage in front. There was a huge cross on stage. Weirdest of all, the place was completely lit up, so she extinguished her torch by flailing it around.

She investigated the place carefully. The place was too clean for it to be underground. There were black boxes hung everywhere in the room. She walked up to the main stage, only for someone to call out her name from a distance.

"Mistress Aine!" It shouted.

Aine turned to see the gremlin running in her direction.

"Gremlin? Is that you?" Asked Aine.

"Yes, it's me; why are you here?" It asked.

"I came looking for you," answered Aine.

The gremlin was shocked. "But why?" Asked the Gremlin.

"Because I care about you, you've been nothing but nice to me. I couldn't bear the thought of leaving you to die," answered Aine.

The gremlin was touched by Aine's words.

"But I am a slave," it said.

"It doesn't matter to me; I'll always come searching for you, even if Abaddon tells me otherwise," said Aine.

"But this is not right; I should be replaceable."

"You are not; you've been very kind to me," said Aine.

"But every slave is supposed to be kind to their master," it said.

The gremlin couldn't wrap his head around Aine's logic but began crying tears of joy nonetheless and tried to hide it.

"Mistress Aine, you made me the happiest gremlin in this world," it said.

Aine smiled, "Now, let's get out of here," said Aine.

"Wait, I found something that I think might interest you; follow me!"

The gremlin was leading Aine somewhere. There was a door behind the main stage. The door was already slightly open. The gremlin pushed open the door even more and walked in. It was quite dark inside, with only a few light sources on the walls.

They both walked into the dimly lit corridor. As they walked, Aine noticed weird things. The walls were distorted, the backdrop on the walls was changing every few seconds, and so was the floor.

As they walked deeper into the twisted corridor, the distortion got more and more violent. The wall began to shift around like jelly. The steps they took left a sort of water splashing effect on the floor, like they were walking on water. The lights also began occasionally flickering.

"I made it this far before running back," said the gremlin.

"I don't really know if I want to investigate this place; it makes me feel uneasy," said Aine.

"We can turn back, mistress, if you'd like," it said.

Aine nodded. Just when Aine was about to turn around, a faded figure appeared. Aine looked at the figure; it was deeper in the corridor. It was very hard to see; its lower half was invisible.

Aine approached it out of curiosity. The figure was dragging someone; it looked like a girl. The figure was clearly male, and it began running. The figure stopped for a few seconds and looked very panicked. It then threw the girl into a room, and the figure continued to run, then faded away.

Aine walked to where the girl was thrown. It was a room, and the distortion around it was especially violent; it looked like the source of the distortion.

Aine opened the door; it was a closet. There was a tombstone inside it, and it said, 'Here lies Her True Self'. Both of them looked at it with confusion.

"What happened here?" Wondered Aine.

"Mistress Aine, I think it's best we leave it alone," said the worried gremlin.

Aine agreed and they both decided to go back to the main hall. As they were walking back, sirens could be heard in the distance.

"Police! The burglar! He went over there!" A voice echoed.

"Do you hear that?" Asked Aine.

"It's best if we leave; I don't want to find out, to be honest," Said the gremlin.

"Yeah..." said Aine.

They both left the crazy corridor and went back to the main hall.

"Let's go back to the surface, shall we?" Said Aine.

"Of course!" The gremlin replied.

They began walking out of the church and through the weird ruins, then headed back to the cave system. When they were going back to the 'subway', Abaddon was wandering the ruins.

"Aine? Is that you?" He shouted.

He ran towards Aine and asked, "What were you thinking?" He said.

"I came to find the gremlin," she replied.

"H-Hello, Master," said the gremlin awkwardly to Abaddon.

Abaddon was scratching his head.

"Aine, why?" Asked Abaddon.

"I couldn't leave it to die," replied Aine.

"You didn't know if it was alive down here," said Abaddon.

"That's true, but it was guaranteed that it was dead," she replied.

Abaddon rubbed his eyes.

"You know what? Let's just go. At least you were okay," said the frustrated Abaddon.

They all walked back up the cave system and back to their former base. Abaddon ran up the slope that led to the cave entrance while carrying Aine. The gremlin struggled to get up but eventually did.

Abaddon made the hole at the cave entrance larger. Abaddon walked out of the cave to reveal a sleigh.

"What is this?" Asked Aine.

"Our escape plan," said Abaddon.

"A sleigh?" Asked Aine.

"We'll slide down this mountain when the blizzard calms down a bit."

"It calms down?"

"It occasionally calms down for some reason; I guess it can't keep being so violent for months on end. You've experienced this before, remember?"

Aine recalled that the blizzard was indeed thinner on the day of her first magic training, and it looks like they had to wait for another one of those.

"How long does the calm last?" Asked Aine.

"Maybe a few hours?" Presumed Abaddon.

"Will those few hours be enough?" Asked Aine,

"Mathematically speaking, no, but it is our best shot. We're also running really low on snow boar; there are almost no more nearby snow boar herds," said Abaddon.

"How long do we have?" Asked Aine.

"With two meals a day, maybe three more weeks. But the blizzard should last for a few more months.

It looks like the odds were against them; if there isn't a window of opportunity in the coming weeks, then their fates are as good as sealed.

"So, how does this sleigh work? Who's pulling?" Asked Aine.

"What's pulling?" Asked Abaddon back.

"No, that's my line; what's pulling the sleigh?"

"Why would we need something to pull it? We'll just slide."

Aine could not believe what Abaddon had just said.

"We need something to pull it, Abaddon," said Aine.

"No, we don't; I can just use my fire magic as a thruster," said Abaddon.

"Can you?" asked Aine in disbelief.

"I've tried it, once," said Abaddon unconvincedly.

"And? What happened?" asked Aine, trying to force out an answer from Abaddon.

"Let's just say a dog died in the process," said Abaddon.

"What...?!"