Please survive...

There was something in the abyss, it was screaming as it emerged from the darkness. Its head was like a lizard, an overgrown lizard to be accurate.

Liam was stoned in place when he saw the beast while Leo kept shouting at him to run. He did hear Leo's call but he was stuck in place, his legs were too weak to walk due to the fear. His whole body was trembling as he could hear his heart beating loudly in his chest.

The beast's scaly head had now fully emerged from the abyss, its scales were colored with brown, all different kinds of brown. But even with such a plain colour, it looked majestic and frightening.

It then opened its eyes, it was looking at the cave's rocky ceiling at first but suddenly its attention switched to Liam. Its golden slit eyes stared at his as if it was looking into his soul but then a huge rock fell between them and blocked both their sight of one another. (the place was collapsing)

Seeing the monster's glare was no longer there, Liam felt his body gaining back its energy to move again. He turned to look at Leo and saw his face was paler than usual as his blood kept leaking out of his wound. He was placing his hand on his forehead and he seemed like he was about to pass out due to blood loss.

"Leo!"Liam yelled as he quickly dashed to him."Are you alright?! Can you stand?"

"Yes... I'm fine..."Leo replied in a low tone as he tried to stand up.

He lifted himself from the ground a little but then immediately fell back down. His legs were too weak to carry his weight and Liam didn't know what to do.

"Why are you trying to act strong even at a time like this?! Come on, grab my hand! I'll help you!"

Leo stared at him, uncertain before deciding to grab his hand as he pushed his body up since he knew Liam couldn't lift him. After some time, he stood on his feet but he was limping and lost his balance. He landed on Liam but both of them didn't fall instead Liam urged him to walk.

"Let's go! The place is about to fall!"Liam warned and both of them began to walk.

The place where they attacked the goblins, was slowly breaking apart and they knew they needed to get out of there, quick! Liam was already tired from carrying Leo's half-body weight since Leo was still able to walk so that's a good thing or else Liam couldn't help him at all.

Liam wanted to just give up since it was obvious they had no hope, the ground behind them was breaking apart pretty efficiently and they were going really slowly so it was only a matter of time before they got consumed by the darkness. But he didn't give up, especially after what his friend did for him, he was willing to block an attack for him, using his life for the likes of him, a new and useless adventurer.

They were walking,unstablely and as quickly as they could but suddenly a shout came again from that giant lizard and the ground rumbled again. They were standing there, trying hard not to fall, it was cutting their progress and they couldn't do anything about it.

"Leave me..."Liam suddenly heard Leo say.

"What?!"Liam yelled, shocked.

"I said leave me...I'm only slowing you down. Look..."He pointed up to something above them and in a distance.

Liam followed his gesture and his eyes landed on the only exit from this cave. The rocks on the ceiling were crumbling and about to fall. Liam was scared, he knew the moment it dropped they would be devoured by death but even so he was not going to abandon him.

"Never!"He yelled so loudly that it echoed through the cave."I will never leave you behind!... Even at a time like this, you're still caring about other stuff! Why not care about yourself a little, dumbass!"

Even though Leo's waist was throbbing painfully, which was killing him with the amount of pain he was feeling(worse than just now)but hearing Liam's sweet words, he couldn't help but smile. Both of them continued to walk, the moment the beast's cries stopped and the ground was stable again.

They kept walking without stopping, a rest for a second could end both of their life right now. Liam kept looking up at the entrance's ceiling with each step they took, the rocks seemed like they were about to fall. The cracks became bigger and bigger and Liam didn't know what to do, it seemed like their exit was moving further and further away from them, which made Liam worried about not being able to reach in time. But even so, they kept going without fail as the whole place crumbled down around them. As they were really closed, their hearts began to beat faster, their hearts and minds were filled with hope until...

Until a pile of rocks fell down in front of them and blocked their only exit. Liam and Leo immediately fell to the ground in defeat. Leo was in a ton of pain and Liam was devastated about wasting their effort on nothing. They were going to die here even after coming a long way.

"We're going to die here...We're going to die here!"Liam yelled in distress as he switched his gaze to Leo.

His eyes were filled with fear and tears began to cover his sight. Leo silently looked at him, he felt a stabbed in his heart.

"Since we're going to die here..."Leo finally spoke out."I might as well say how I felt about our adventures together..."

He coughed and gave Liam a smile, his blood was dripping along the ground as they walked, which a bloodline was formed behind him.

"I'm really grateful, that you decided to join me on this adventure...even knowing it could be dangerous but now...I'm really sorry for leading you to this fate..."Leo apologized, his face was covered in sweat and his face was obviously in pain even though he tried to hide it with a smile.

"I- I never regret following you till now even if we are in a situation like this!"Liam yelled out his feelings in his final moment, he couldn't help it after hearing Leo's apology." I'm grateful, you found me! I'm grateful, you decided to take me on this journey with you! I bet I would still be in my village, being a useless and depressed person if it was not for-"

The rocks in front of them suddenly disappeared as a long and huge scaly tail appeared and brushed them away. Freedom was in front of them, they couldn't believe it, there was still hope.

Liam quickly pulled Leo up again and Leo used all his might to push through his limit. As they were about to exit the cave, Liam turned to see where the scaly tail came from and met eyes with the beast. It was staring at him, right into his eyes but it didn't move nor attack him. Even with its enormous size, something about it made it seem harmless.

They walked out of the place and the rocks collapsed behind them. They looked back, then switched back to their front and they were back to the endless way that they came from. But for some reason, the moment they took a few steps, they were back at their camp, the entrance. Their bags were lying there and Leo's shirt was still on a rock.

Liam didn't stop to take their stuff first instead he guided Leo out of the place and placed him down next to a rock. Leo sat on the grassy plains and lay on the rock, tiredly, his eyes were barely open and he was panting, heavily with pain.

Liam then quickly dashed back to their camp and dragged the bags out with Leo's dried shirt hung on his shoulder. He placed all the bags next to the rock, Leo was lying on.

"What should I do?! You're bleeding a ton! Are you going to be alright?!"Liam asked, panickly as he proceeded to rummage through his own bag.

Leo suddenly stopped him by placing his hand on Liam's shoulder. Liam was staring at him with shock and Leo pointed to his bag.

"My bag has healing potions..."He said, weakly as Liam immediately switched to searching through Leo's bag.

"Is it this one?"

He pulled out a bottle with red, bloody liquid inside.

"Yes...You just have to pour it on my wound...and it will do its magic..."

Liam understood and gave him a nod as his response, he opened the lid. An unfamiliar and weird smell came out of the bottle but Liam didn't give much thought to it since the important situation now is to heal Leo. As he was about to pour the potion onto his wound, the ground unexpectedly shook almost causing Liam to fall and spill the whole thing on the ground but luckily he didn't.

Liam thought it was an earthquake at first but there were sounds coming from the cave they just escaped. Is it the beast?

The sounds sounded like a giant or something huge stomping on the ground, it was growing louder and louder.

Then, cracks suddenly formed from a corner of the mountain and the beast, they saw just now crashed out from there. It then spread its bat-like wings and flew off into the sky. Immense wind blew at them as they tried to withstand the pressure and soon the pressure was gone.

Liam was looking in the direction of the beast as Leo spoke out.

"That's a-"He was about to tell Liam about the creature but Liam shockingly joined him.

"A dragon..."Both of them mentioned it at the same time.

"You know what it is?"Leo asked, dumbfoundedly.

"Ya...My mom told me how they look like, a lizard feature with bat-like wings..."He said, dazedly as he looked at the dragon flying further away and soon disappeared into the clouds.

He was in his thoughts again as he remembered his past, the last words before his mother passed away.

"Promise me, you will find her...Find Lilith..."

Those words echoed in his head as he sat there, staring at the sky.

Suddenly, a cough disrupted him and he realized what he was doing before the dragon interrupted them. He hastily turned back to Leo and as he was about to pour the potion, a hand stopped him.

"You have to pull out the arrow first..."Leo mumbled, he didn't have the strength to speak, normally.

"What?!"Liam shouted in fright."I know, I need to pull it out first but you would be in so much pain!"

"I know...but it must be done, right?"

Liam's heart felt like it was stabbed by a needle as he grabbed onto the arrow with both his hands. He was breathing, heavily so badly that Leo noticed. He placed his hand on Liam's and gave a smile.

"It's alright, I'll try to withstand the pain..."

Liam felt like his heart was about to break into pieces as he gripped, tightly onto the arrow.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! If it weren't for my uselessness none of this would have happened! You wouldn't have to be shot and you wouldn't have to be injured!....If...If you die...I would never forgive myself..."Tears were filling up his sight as he said all that, all that nonsense. (To Leo it was all nonsense)

"Don't say that and quit blaming yourself! I was the one that decided to jump in and defend you...so the one that made me hurt is myself..."

Tears rolled down his face as he looked at Leo's wound, then, he placed all his strength on the arrow and pulled it out. Blood splattered all around them followed by a painful groan, Leo's hands were scratching the rock he was lying on as he tried to endure the pain.

Liam didn't hesitate to throw the blood-stained arrow to the side and snatched the health potion. He poured it on Leo's wound and his body immediately relaxed, the pain was dulled by the potion but it didn't help him much with the blood he lost.

His sight was blurry and his eyelids were heavy. His head was spinning as he was about to close his eyes and rest. He heard Liam's panicked voice.

"You're going to be alright, right?"He asked as he stared at Leo in the eye."I did what you said so you'll be fine, right?"

"Ya..."Leo used his last strength to speak."I just need a little rest..."

He said those final words before fainting into a long, deep slumber.