Part 37: Enter the Cave

Jake's POVThe cave's entrance couldn't have been more than a meter tall and wide, large enough for them, but I would need to get on my hands and knees to squeeze through. I've never been afraid of tight spaces, but this wasn't exactly the same thing."Quit dawdling, go." Von-Pac said perching on his familiar's saddle and heading into the cave."I think I may have to ride on your familiar's saddle Vindicta, Jake is too tall for this." Suma said examining the cave."Of course," Vindicta answered. Suma fluttered over and landed on the side of the saddle because there wasn't a second proper perch for her to use. They made their way into the cave behind Von-Pac, and I was left outside."Oh joy…" I mumbled and got on my hands and knees to begin crawling. The cave was tight, or at least it felt that way. In reality, I wasn't touching the sides or top of the cave, but that didn't mean I wasn't feeling the pressure. Thankfully, Von-Pac knew how to create fire, so he lit the way for us. I was grateful for it; I know I wouldn't have been able to handle the cave if it were pitch-black. "Just close your eyes and keep moving." I quietly whispered to myself. As we went along, the cave grew more and more narrow, eventually there was no more than an inch of space between me and the sides of the cave… I was not handling it well.------------------------------------------------------------------------Suma's POVThe cave we were walking through started out wide enough, but as we moved along it became less so. Vindicta's and Von-Pac's familiars were having no issues as far as I could tell, but Jake grew increasingly distressed with each passing moment. I could hear his breathing getting heavier and more frequent."Is Jake going to be okay?" Vindicta asked me too quietly for the others to hear."I do not know," I answered honestly, "I have never seen him like this.""Stop." Von-Pac announced from the front."What's wrong?" Jake called out, slightly panicking."There is a fork up ahead, left or right?" Von-Pac answered."Which one is bigger?" I asked trying to make it easier on Jake."Left," he called back after a brief moment of silence. I heard Jake let out an audible sigh. We continued on for a while through the left path, and while Von-Pac was right about it being wider, that did not mean it was wide enough. "I cannot fit Paxus any longer, we either need to turn back or send our familiars away until we are out of this cave." He announced."Argosa is having trouble too," Vindicta agreed."Jake?" I asked."Send me back…" He said simple, but urgently. His eyes were wide, and he was almost on his stomach by this point. Without another word, I unsummoned Jake, and he disappeared back to his world. Vindicta and Von-Pac followed suit, and soon it was just we three Neame standing in a dimly lit cave. Without our familiars, the cave felt far less cramped, but certainly not wide open.------------------------------------------------------------------------Von-Pac's POVI and my team, two lesser Neame, stood in a cave that I was keeping lit with a fire spell. I was creating a ball of fire that hung in the air a few feet away, illuminating us enough to see."I guess this means we fly." The unnamed Neame stated. Earlier, she received a name from a familiar, but I refuse to acknowledge such a manner of receiving a name on principle."We will have to be careful; the tunnel is getting even more narrow the further we travel. If we fly too fast we might be injured." The one named Suma said stating the obvious. Of course, I had already known to fly carefully and did not need her to remind me of such trivial things. She was another one who had been named by that annoying familiar, but since the Grand Duke had already acknowledged her name, it was illegal for any Neame to refuse to use it, so I had no choice in the matter."Just try not to get left behind," I told them and began flying down the tunnel. They followed suit. My fire spell produces light, but its range is limited, so if they fall behind then they would either need to create their own spell, or they will be lost in the dark. I graciously flew slower than I wanted to so as not to outpace them, but of course I received no thanks."Von-Pac, slow down! You are flying too fast!" The unnamed one called out. I should have known, even holding back I far outclass any commoner. Unfortunately, listening to that commoner distracted me, and I was unable to see and react to the end of the tunnel as it approached from the darkness outside of the effects of my spell."AHHH!" I cried out before trying to slow down, but colliding into the wall nonetheless.------------------------------------------------------------------------Lauric Isbala's POVMy team and I had been scaling the mountain for three hours at this point, but now we stood at the top. "We should spread out and search for those bands." I suggested. The others agreed and we began looking for them. The mountain top was beautiful, the trees and forested area had been left behind some time ago, but it was replaced by snow and ice. Loyalty was having trouble with the cold, so I unsummoned him and rode on the back of one of the other familiars. While we were searching, I decided to simply fly low to the ground so we could cover as much area as possible."Found them!" One of the others called out. We all converged on the area and saw four silver bands hanging from metal poles."Four of them, that means we are the first to arrive." One of the other two noticed."Perhaps, but that does not mean we will be the first back to camp, we should get moving." I said. We took one and strapped it to the saddle of one of our familiars, then began heading down the mountain.------------------------------------------------------------------------Vindicta's POV*Thwak* The sound resonated through the tunnel as Von-Pac slammed into the end of the tunnel and fell to the floor."Ha!" I laughed briefly, before catching myself and landing safely on the ground by Von-Pac, who was completely unconscious. "Well, if you have to be knocked out, best to do it with two healers in the room." I said and began treating Von-Pac's injuries. Suma cast her own fire spell as Von-Pac's disappeared as soon as he fell unconscious."What was he thinking?" Suma complained."Probably something like: HA, I'm the best flyer in the world! I don't need to wait on these commoners!" I mocked."Uhhh," Von-Pac groaned as he began to wake up. "What happened?""You hit the wall and got knocked out." I told him. "Now stop moving, I'm not finished healing you." For a moment, I thought he was going to protest, but instead he stayed still and remained quiet."Dead end," Suma said examining the end of the tunnel. "We need to turn back.""Not necessarily," Von-Pac said standing up after I ended the healing spell. "I have an affinity for Nature Magic, I can move the dirt and extend the tunnels.""I thought you were a healer?" I asked."I am," he replied. "Not everyone who becomes a healer has to have an affinity for healing magic.""I suppose that's true," I realized."I do not know, we may just want to go back and take the other tunnel." Suma stated."That would take time, and if we want to win then time is not something we have to spare." Von-Pac reasoned."Digging out the tunnel will take time too, and there is no guarantee it will be faster." I pointed out. He seemed annoyed by my response, but instead of snapping, he relented and agreed to go back. We came to the conclusion that if the right was a dead end too, then we would dig rather than go all the way back and lose all the progress we have made.------------------------------------------------------------------------Suma's POV"Digging out the tunnel will take time too, and there is no guarantee it will be faster." Vindicta pointed out. Von-Pac seemed annoyed by her response, but instead of snapping, he relented and agreed to go back. We concluded that if the right was a dead end too, then we would dig rather than go all the way back and lose the progress we made.We flew for a few minutes, eventually we arrived at the turn and took the other path. This time we each took the precaution of having our own light source so that if we did get split up again, we would not be left in the dark. Von-Pac was still in the front and was going much slower this time, he was also being careful to stick close to us. "A turn ahead," Von-Pac announced. "It goes left." We all slowed down and took the turn one at a time. "Now right," he announced again after a bit more flying. Once again, we slowed and turned. "UP!" He shouted suddenly and flew upwards. I slowed again and saw there was a sharp turn upwards."AH," Vindicta yelped and came almost to a complete stop just before hitting the tunnel wall."Are you okay?" I asked coming to a stop behind her."Yes," she replied. Von-Pac landed softly on the ground, and we Vindicta and I joined him."The tunnel gets too narrow to fly up ahead, it is barely a body-length wide in less than ten seconds of flight." Von-Pac explained.------------------------------------------------------------------------Jake's POV"Send me back…" I told her while trying not to let my panic show. I was absolutely freaking out; I was crawling along the tunnel floor on my belly. The only reason I was able to go that far was by telling myself over and over again that I could get out just by asking Suma to send me back. Which is what I did the exact moment I had the chance. It was dark, so I couldn't see myself disappear, but I did notice once the darkness became fully engulfing and swallowed me up."Ever closer, never as close as he was now." I heard a distant, but familiar, voice say."COME, STEP INTO MY MAW!" Said another familiar voice. "YOU ALREADY STAND UPON MY HEAD.""No, he's gone now, far away again." The calm one said. While all this was happening, I felt like I was floating in darkness. There was no light, no falling sensation, and I didn't see the source of the voices. "No longer within my reach." As soon as he said that, I opened my eyes to see a dimly lit bathroom at the gym, the one I was summoned from earlier. The panic from being stuck in that cave finally caught up with me and I rushed to an open stall and threw up. I spent several minutes in the bathroom trying to hold back a panic attack."I'm… never… doing… that … again." I panted quietly to myself in the stall. Once the attack passed, my mind began to clear up and I was able to focus on what happened with those voices. "Why do they keep showing up?" I wondered. There didn't seem to be any common denominator between the times I had seen them. "First was when I became Suma's familiar, next was when Suma summoned me a few months ago, and now. The only common factor is Suma, and she didn't know anything about it." I thought about what that thing said, "You already stand upon my head… that's what he said, what does that mean?" I pondered it for a few minutes, and came up with several disturbing theories, but that's all they were… theories. Until I had more information I decided to just go home and wait for Suma to call me back, hopefully not in that cave again."Is someone in here?" I heard a voice call from the bathroom door. "The gym is closed, how long have you been in here?" The voice, a man, asked me. I walked out of the stall and saw what looked to be a staff member."Um sorry, I haven't been here long." I told him."We've been closed for over an hour; how did you get in?" He asked confused."Oh, I guess I have been in here longer than I thought." I lied."Well… you gotta go man," he told me."Right, of course." I said and he walked me out."Could've sworn that that bathroom was empty." I heard him mumble.------------------------------------------------------------------------Vindicta's POVWe were going along at a steady, albeit slow, pace as Von-Pac moved mounds of dirt with each second. "Left… right… left… right," he chanted as he used his magic and slide the dirt aside. He would chant, the dirt would move, he would fly forwards, then the cycle world repeat. We were moving forwards at an incline so that we could reach the top faster."I don't suppose anyone has magic that will allow us to know how much farther we have to go?" I wondered."No," Suma said."Busy," Von-Pac replied. "Left…""If this really is a dragon hoard, then there should be hundreds of tunnels running through the mountain. Meaning we do not have to go all the way up; we just have to find an intersecting tunnel." Suma told me."Speaking of which, I think there might be one of those tunnels coming up. The dirt is becoming much looser, which might mean an exit." Von-Pac announced. "We better all hope that is what it means anyway, because I am running out of mana. Performing one spell after the other is taking a greater toll on me than I assumed it would." He explained."How much longer can you kee-," I was going to ask, but as I did, the tunnel in front of us collapsed and revealed an opening to a new tunnel. "Oh, good.""Thank the dragons," Von-Pac said and laid on the ground exhausted."Quite literally," Suma remarked, "but I think I will thank you too Von-Pac... just this once." Von‑Pac seemed caught off guard by this, he looked like he wanted to say something, but remained quiet."He's speechless, it's a miracle." I joked. Von-Pac stuttered and scoffed for a moment, probably offended, but just shook his head and sighed.------------------------------------------------------------------------Von-Pac's POV"He's speechless, it's a miracle." The nameless… Vindicta said, most likely in an attempt to tease me. I was caught off guard, I tried to say some kind of retort, but fumbled over my words and resigned to remain silent instead. I had been injured earlier, badly. I was rendered unconscious, but rather than leave me behind for slowing them down, they healed me. I thought them foolish, why would they risk not winning for anyone? Why sacrifice victory for a fool who made arrogant mistakes? I would not have…"This place is enormous." The one called Suma said after inspecting the new tunnel I had unveiled. "It is as wide open as the Grand Temple." I was still weak, but I managed to stand and fly over to the opening. She was right, the area was huge, it was not only tall, but it also stretched farther than the light of our flames could reach. The darkness made the area feel endless in every direction. The dark rock that made up the walls also seemed to absorb the light that somehow managed to reach it, creating what appeared to be a void where nothing existed."This place is incredible!" Vindicta loudly exclaimed. The room filled with something that shook us to our core."Incredible!""Incredible!""Incredible!"We were not alone within this cave.