Catacomb

The cave was really dark. It was hard to see inside, even with the torches the hunters were using.

Loui, the leader of the hunters, said, "Zerin, you can stay by the entrance with your kids in case the deer ran away from us. This cave is probably small and has no other way out."

Zerin saw no problem with that. In fact, he preferred to wait by the entrance to make sure his kids were okay. He wasn't that concerned with Hugh because the boy was older, but Kai was only six.

The hunters went inside the cave while Zerin and his sons waited. Hugh complained, "I wanted to go with them to hunt."

"You are too young for this. Also, use this as a fuel to learn more spells. Once you are capable of protecting yourself, then we can adventure together without much worries," Zerin said to Hugh, igniting a flame in his eyes.

"Yes father, I will work hard."

Kai wasn't crying like Hugh was. He took the opportunity to keep meditating by the cave's entrance, trying to visualize his sea of consciousness.

'I thought this would be easy, like I was destined to be the best mage because of the whole reincarnation thing, but apparently, that's not the case. At least this is humbling me,' thought Kai as he closed his eyes to start his meditation.

Hugh wanted to say something but restrained himself after noticing how concentrated Kai was. Zerin gestured for him to keep his attention on the surrounding area just in case anything happened, and the boy followed his father's command.

Ten minutes passed, and Zerin was starting to worry. It wasn't supposed to take that long to explore the cave. It was certainly a small place. He was already thinking of entering, and a scream coming from the inside made him sure that it was the right decision.

"Help!!!!"

The voice belonged to Loui. Zerin could tell that. He looked at his two kids and said, "Stay here. Only come toward me if something dangerous appears."

Zerin had no idea what was inside the cave with the hunters. It shouldn't be that dangerous because they still had the time to scream for help. Hugh and Kai stood there, staring at each other, not knowing what to do.

Kai was curious as to what was happening inside, "We should go there to take a look."

"No," Hugh protested, "Father told us to stay here, and this is what we will do. It is not safe inside."

Despite feeling curious about it, Kai did not go there alone. That would only make his father get angry at him, and that was not what he wanted.

'If only I had the power to protect myself. Damn it.'

The situation only grew Kai's urge to get older. He wanted to be a teenager soon, someone capable of protecting himself. It would still take time, though.

*

Zerin dashed toward the cave after ordering his kids to stay behind. He had a wand in his hand made of fine materials, ready to attack anything that might appear on his way. It didn't take long for him to reach the hunters, who were shooting arrows at what looked like a corpse.

"Zerin! Help us! There's a zombie in here!" Loui yelled.

There were lots of arrows on the zombie's body — the hunters were shooting at it non-stop in hopes to kill the undead creature, but it was not working.

Zerin aimed his wand at the zombie, and although no one else could see it, he drew a sequence of glyphs inside his sea of consciousness, and the spell materialized through his wand.

An ice spear appeared in thin air, flying toward the undead so fast it was hard to spot it with naked eyes. It pierced the undead as if it was nothing, and the creature died.

"Only magic can kill this type of magical creature," Zerin said as he moved toward the hunters, "Is everyone okay?"

The hunters looked scared after seeing such a terrific undead creature, but none of them were hurt or anything like that.

"Just scared, nothing else. I am glad you were here to help us, Zerin. We also found the deer," Loui said.

Loui and the other hunters worked together to bring the deer back to the village while Zerin stayed inside the cave for a while, making sure the zombie would not do anything.

"Where is my father?" Kai asked when he saw the hunters coming out of the cave.

"He is inside. It's safe for now, so you can go. Also, there is a zombie inside, but your father killed it," Loui explained.

When Kai heard the word zombie, he got instantly excited to see it in person, so he dashed toward the cave, leaving Hugh behind. Hugh caught up with him though, not needing too much to catch a six year old kid.

"Don't run or else you can fall and hurt yourself," Hugh warned. It was nice of him, but Kai kept going as fast as he could.

Zerin was examining the undead when he heard movements coming from behind him, and he was surprised, "What are you doing here? I told you to stay at the entrance."

Kai gave him a cute smile, "Uncle Loui told us to come here."

That was not quite what Loui had said, but Zerin just accepted it as it was, "Fine, fine. Look, they found a zombie inside this place. A zombie is a magical creature."

"Does it mean there is a mage around here that created this zombie?" Kai asked as he kneeled close to his father to see the zombie.

Hugh and Zerin were surprised to see that. Hugh was a kid so he disliked seeing dead animals or people, and the zombie gave him a similar feeling. In fact, Zerin made sure Hugh did not see anything that might disturb him while he was too young.

But Kai looked excited to see the zombie, and there was no trace of fear in his eyes.

"Uh, not at all. This type of zombie is normal inside catacombs, etc. I just don't remember a catacomb being in here," Zerin said as he looked ahead.

An entrance was at the end of the cave, a structure of stone. A catacomb.

"Will we explore this catacomb, father?" Kai asked, excitement taking over him.

"Of course not," Zerin said, "this is dangerous. Now, let's go back to the village. Come, come."

They left the cave, but all Kai could think of was the catacomb, and what was inside that place. He hoped that one day he would have the power to explore it.