Hide and Seek

"Ready or not, here I come!" A young girl with black hair, fair skin with a small amount of freckles, and green eyes called out as she turned around to find that no one was around. Her eyes peeled left and right looking for any signs that someone might have left somewhere. She walked around and searched the nearby bushes and trees. Looking for any place her friends might be hiding.

Calling out the names of her friends trying to get them to reveal themselves. This yielded some results as those that couldn't help but snicker and giggle were caught instantly. They complained but as per the name of the game they were to help the seeker find the rest of the children. One of the kids looked at the girl and crossed his arms.

"I bet Kora cheated, using her power of foresight to find us." He was a sore loser when it came to games and training. This was Roran, a child from the city of Willowcrest. The child of a known hero in that area as his title was Bronze Bull. A large man with muscles on his muscles. Physically strong and hard to take down, as his legend tells. But Kora, didn't like the fact he blamed her getting caught on something she didn't do.

"Your pot belly snickering is what got you caught Roran. You can't hide the fact your late night eating is going to your head and blaming others is so childish." Kora turned around and continued to search for the last few kids they were playing with. This only made Roran's face turn red with anger. He picked up a rock and was about to throw it when his hand was stopped by another boy.

"Enough," a tall boy with copper hair and hazel eyes stood over Roran by four inches. "We don't hurt one another, friends don't do that. Heroes, don't do that." His grip was strong but it was mostly due to where he held Roran's arm. Just below the elbow to prevent any leverage or power to throw the rock. Huffing and getting loose, Roran dropped the rock and left.

"I am done playing with you guys." He left back towards their home, embarrassed and frustrated with everything. That is when Kora walked up to the tall boy and smiled.

"Thanks Bran," she said before running off and returning to look for the last few children. Bran smiled and nodded, joining in the search. Having walked around the back woods of their home, Kora seemed to be out of luck. But Bran and a few others managed to find two more. Which left one more, the others groaned as they knew who it was.

"We are not going to find him," one child complained. The others seemed to agree.

"Yeah, he like knows we're coming even if we are silent." They all turned to Kora, "Please Kora, use your gift to find him. We don't want to be out here till supper." She sighed and agreed. The one they had to look for was a slippery one. Even if she used her gift of foresight, it only showed where he was, not where he would go. For her gift was still underdeveloped, though for her age, it was still a rare gift.

Closing her eyes and focusing on the one she needed to find. Her eyes glossed over white as she opened them, her vision rushed through the leaves of the forest. Around bends and turns until she saw where the child was. He was up in a tree close to 20 feet off the ground. For a moment her sight continued to look at him. His brown hair of his helped keep a low profile in the trees, he smothered dirt on himself to hide his features well. But the blue eyes were a distinct feature that seemed to radiate the most.

Then his head turned to look at her personal sight, as if he could see her. His eyes locked onto hers as she let go of the feeling. Panting and sweating from the use of her gift she shook her head. "He saw me, I don't know how, but he saw me." They all groaned again and called out into the forest.

"We give up! We are going back to the guild!" As the others left, Bran waved goodbye to Kora who stood there and crossed her arms. She didn't know how he could see her through her gift. But he did, but she got to see his pretty eyes again. The intense stare he gave her made feel goosebumps on her arms and up her back.

"I'm giving up, you win again!" She started walking towards the boy. Who now was climbing down to a lower rung of the tree. Kora saw leaves fall from his hiding place as he then sat on a branch a couple feet off the ground. Placing her hands on her hips she squinted at him. "You know you could make the game more fun by being caught Taliyn."

He blinked and rubbed the back of his head, "I don't think so, it would be over too quickly." His smile gave way to laughter as they both laughed. They were good friends since they grew up here at the Guild. They were two unique cases, Kora being a gifted Seer, while Taliyn was just an odd individual. He was known around the guild's children as someone who talks to himself at times. Just an odd person who didn't really attract people.

But Kora was also strange in her own way as even having the gift of Foresight, she couldn't help but peer into the pasts of others at random times. She didn't tell Taliyn this as she had seen fires, death, and something else. Though she couldn't make heads or tails of it. So she decided to stick to him like sap from a maple tree.

"So why don't you come down from there? We should head back before Master Pard gets worried again." Kora turned to take a step back as the ground beneath her feet softened and gave way. She let out a scream as she fell. Taliyn saw this and leapt from the tree branch and tired to catch her. With both her arms up as she saw Taliyn reaching for her, it all happened in slow motion.

His hand managed to grab hold of hers as his body crashed to the edge of the hole. Kora called up as she felt her body stop, "Taliyn," her eyes started to water, "don't let me fall." He had gripped her tight, he turned behind him and started to plead with someone she couldn't see. He grunted and begged for whoever else was out of the hole that she couldn't see. But the ground beneath Taliyn was starting to crumble.

"Taliyn! Hurry!" She watched as the hole was slowly getting bigger, but before he could get her all the way up the hole broke open. Causing both Kora and Taliyn to fall through the earth and plummet into darkness. Their screams echoed in the hole that if anyone was around, would have heard them slowly disappear.

Their fall was quick as Taliyn brought his body to wrap around Kora. He couldn't believe that this was happening as he used his own body as a shield for the fall. What he didn't expect, was the cold plunge as they crashed into a pool water. His back ached but he knew they needed to surface and find any land in the darkness. Letting Kora go except for her hand, he led her to shore.

He followed the sound of the water rippling across stone, finding some surface to pull himself and Kora onto. They panted, out of breath and were happy to be alive. As Taliyn sat up, Kora hugged him, their wet clothes making it even colder to one another. But he knew she was scared.

Looking up he saw the hole they fell out of, it was way up that made it look like a speck of light. Taliyn believed that their stroke of luck was due to pure chance. As normally that wouldn't be survivable, but somehow they did. His eyes began to adjust to the darkness allowing him to see rough shapes and structures inside the cavern they were in. The light was giving just enough illumination that he was able to see some sort of steps in front of him.

Kora looked about coughing a little as she let go of Taliyn, "Where are we?" Rubbing her arms as she began shivering. Taliyn stood up from the cavern floor feeling the soaked clothing on him reaching deep into his bones.

"I...I will try to find us some warmth and light. Stay right here," he moved forward towards the steps. Unsure where they led or what awaited him at the top of the stairs. His legs began to shake, he wasn't sure if it was from fear or from the cold water that soaked him. Swallowing hard, he advanced up each step. Leaving Kora by the lake as he knew it was safe in her area as long as she remained quiet.

While Kora herself was getting scared of being alone she wanted to scream for help, cry her eyes out, but she did none of these things. Knowing the possible danger that could exist in the darkness. With no way to easily defend themselves, she knew silence was the best way to survive. Although she could hear Taliyn's footsteps on stone as he ascended up the flight of stairs.

Upon reaching the top, Taliyn saw a pedestal sitting in the very center of this two stacked monument. Though he was curious as to what it was doing there or who it belonged to. When he got closer he could see a torch unlit just sitting there by itself. He thought it was a weird place to leave a torch as there were no others that looked like it. Not even the ones in the guild looked like this torch.

Approaching on the pedestal, he saw an inscription under the torch. 'Here lies the... Bare his torch as a test of Will.' He read the words in his head and was confused. 'What's so special about this torch?' Climbing up the pedestal as his height wasn't enough to reach it. He went to reach for the torch just as he could hear cold whispers.

"Born from darkness... I shall shine brightest... Bathed in Will, I shall aid thee... Falter and I shall take... what is owed..." It made him hesitate for a moment. Even as a child, Taliyn knew what not to mess with when he knew that he wasn't strong enough to take it on. He looked around and sighed for not seeing other torches, though broken, would still work as a light source for their way out.

'Maybe when I am stronger will I make that choice.' Just as he returned to the ground the whispers stopped. But they left behind a presence on him like a tick. Walking over and grabbing the broken torches he walked back down to the water's edge to find Kora there with a happy look on her face. He guessed that she was happy to see him and not be alone.

"I found us some torches, but I don't think they will last too long." They were old and it would a stroke of luck if they even lit. His hands weren't damp as the air dried them so he touched the top of the torches and found it was still moist. Smelling his fingers he discovered oil had been used on them but never lit. Which made him concerned now more than ever.

The look on Kora's face brightened as she held a torch tightly. They both sat there for a bit trying to get them to light. But no stone they could find would help light the torches. Kora then came up with an idea.

"Why don't we try to use Will?" The idea was to conjure a flame or a spark to light the torches.

"We don't have any focuses, no way to easily control Will on our own." Taliyn said, looking at his hands. But Kora huffed, chopping the top of his head with her hand. "Ow, what was that for?"

She crossed her arms and stuck out her tongue, "You being stupid, we need to do something or we could end up... no... we will get out of here back to Master Pard. We have to," she closed her eyes and tried to focus on making a flame. Tried to feel a warmth between her hands but nothing was coming up. She knew he was right, but it didn't hurt to try. For Seers were an abstract Will user, as their foresight didn't require a focus as in a material, though holding an object to see its past and future were possible. But they didn't require extra help as they could do it mostly on their own. The only thing was that their other uses of Will weren't accessible unless they used an Arch Stone shard.

She looked up at Taliyn who had yet to try anything or do anything but stare at his hands. "Come on, try, better now than ever as our lives depend on it." Taliyn knew she was right, but he wasn't sure if he could do it. Not by himself anyway, for when he fell into the hole, he hadn't seen his friend at all. The one who had helped him out in some things in his life. Though he needed to put some reliance on himself too.

Putting his hands close together he took a deep breath like Master Dirk taught them. He recalled him saying, "To master your Will, you must first feel it deep within yourself. Some will have an easier time than others with this process. Close your eyes, take a deep breath, and feel the energy drip from your well. Imagine tiny sparks flying off in your hands as a hammer hits hot iron."

It was difficult to feel it out at first. For having to find his inner Will was like he was searching for something that couldn't possibly be there. Just then, a sudden jolt went through his body. He could feel deep within him like someone pierced through metal armor as he felt his hands get warm.

He opened his eyes and moved his hands over the torch as a small sound emanated from his hands.

*Pop*

Sparks flew from between his hands and scattered across the oil soaked cloth. The sparks caused the cloth to ignite and come to life. Both Kora and Taliyn's eyes were near bursting with excitement as the fire gave them warmth and light. They cheered and jumped for joy though quickly went quiet as they realized that it wasn't time to do that.

Setting the other torch ablaze, they scouted the room and Kora saw the pedestal with the unlit torch on it. She asked about it, but Taliyn told her that it didn't have any cloth or oil in it so there was no point. A lie for he didn't want someone like her going near it. She would potentially see something that may deter him from returning to this place. Not that he doubted it or her, just that it felt like it called out to him somewhat. As if his friend was there with him, reaching for it yet wasn't there at all.

They continued to search the area until Kora discovered a carved pathway out of the large chamber. Walking passed piles of bones that seemed decayed beyond their years. Rusted weapons that could cut their hands by just holding them. Finally the smell of fresh air coming from deeper down the pathway.

They hurried along to reach the exit, allowing Taliyn to lead as his nose was sharper than most. Allowing him to lead them out towards the exit. It didn't take long and luckily didn't come across any beasts that could have occupied the tunnels at some point. This was their lucky day as they finally reached where the smell was coming from. A door with the symbol of the guild on it.

Kora looked at it and tilted her head, "Wait, that can't be right, we can't be near the guild yet. We... all these twists and turns got me confused." Taliyn had to agree, there shouldn't be a guild door down here, but here it was staring at them. Figuring it had to lead to where they could return he went to open the door. It wasn't locked, he tried pushing but it didn't budge. Though pulling on the door as Kora suggested allowed it to open.

Revealing the inside of a stack of barrels in front of them. Pushing one aside with all their might, they realized they were in the cellar storage for food and drink. It was odd as there never were many secret entrances they could find. But this, made even more confusion as they left the door it closed on its own and the pathway was covered by a wall suddenly. It had an illusion cast on it that made it appear as if it were a wall and felt like a wall. Taliyn figured that out as he pressed his hand against where he knew where the door was and how far back it was from the wall corner. He just pressed himself against a thick wall of wood and stone.

"Well looks like we can't get back unless we go through the hole in the cave again." Taliyn said, but they both knew it would be stupid to do so again. Deciding to keep it a secret between them they hurried up the stairs after dousing their torches and stashing them behind the barrels. It was a quick run through the guild's kitchen and down the hallways and up the stairs to their respective rooms.

Taliyn waved goodbye to Kora as he closed his door. Changing out his clothes for fresh new ones were nice and warm. He was afraid any longer in the wet clothes he would have frozen in place down there. Slumping on his bed, he lay on his back and held his arm over his face. That is when he heard his friend had returned.

"Where have you been this whole time?" He asked, feeling grumpy at his friend.

The voice replied, a gentle voice like the wind with a long dark finger over its non-existent lips, "Can't tell you, you aren't ready." Taliyn was a little agitated at his friend. Wanting to yell at her and call her horrible names. But his friend had returned and was there for Taliyn.

"Let me just get some rest, I am just glad to see you again Dusk." The four eyed shadow hovering over him nodded and then returned to his shadow. Reunited since the day he was old enough to recall his earliest memory. Closing his eyes and falling asleep for Taliyn was tired and exhausted.