Stepping on bones

Woosh.

The light around Hex dimmed as he fell into the darkness. He could feel the draft against his face. But his brains failed to register the things occurring.

'I killed Vitor.'

'Aran betrayed us.'

'I killed Vitor.'

.

.

.

Visions of Vitor's pained expression and Aran's maniacal laughter looped inside his mind. He didn't blink nor did he move for a while.

He didn't notice the fall.

He didn't notice the darkness.

He didn't notice the spikes on the floor getting closer.

Luckily for him the years spent in crevices and chasm had conditioned his subconscious. It caused his body to jerk suddenly.

'Wait. Shit!'

The sudden, involuntary movement of his body pulled him out of his shock. He became aware of his surroundings.

With a thought he activated the glyph on his arm. A faint, red colored bear-shaped cloak appeared around his body.

The spikes came closer.

The cloak formed around him.

Hex was already on the spikes.

CRASH!

He fell on the spikes just as the cloak finished forming. The impact of the fall shattered the spike. But it also shattered the cloak.

"Argh!"

The cloak absorbed the majority of the damage, but Hex still felt his body slam against the floor littered with debris of the shattered spikes.

The pain assaulted each part of his body. Hex groaned and whimpered. As he tried to turn around he was glad to notice that he hadn't broken any bones. But it still did hurt.

After a few tries and pauses he managed to land on his back. He gasped, trying to increase the flow of oxygen.

He had to remain on his back for a while before he tried to stand. It still did hurt but his body seemed to be adapting to the pain. With a bit of struggle he managed to stand.

"I need to get back up." Looking upwards he saw the thin strip of faint light above, which represented the sky.

Everything else around him was hidden in darkness. He waited for his eyes to adjust to it.

His guilt and shock had subsided a bit. 'It shouldn't be so shocking. We expected traitors, but I guess my mind overlooked people I am good with.'

This experience made Hex realize the true horrors of traitors. They were often people you knew, the ones you trusted.

It was hard to remain cautious in their midst. And right when you dropped your guard, they would stab you. Silently and painfully.

Gradually, his vision adjusted to the darkness around him. He was standing amidst spikes. The floor was filled with them.

He could see the outline of the walls on both sides. They were not far apart. Hex estimated the floor to be around fifteen meters wide.

The first challenge was to traverse the spike-filled floor towards either wall. The cloak made of faint light encased around Hex.

It didn't help with the footing, but it helped to create a path by breaking the spikes.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

Dull sounds of kicks and rocks breaking apart, echoed through the space. Even with his excellent energy control Hex felt fatigued by the time he reached one of the walls.

He put his hands on the wall to feel around. His expression turned sour as things weren't going as he hoped.

He even broke the tip of a few spikes so he could use them as an elevated step. But even then he didn't find what he was looking for.

'Dammit. There is no grip. How is it so smooth?'

Hex could climb walls almost as well as the mountain goats. He didn't require a lot of roughness to latch onto. But even he couldn't find the slightest protrusion or indent to climb.

He turned towards the other wall. He hesitated, doubting whether the other would be any better.

Finally he gritted his teeth and decided to give it a try. It couldn't get any worse. It didn't. It remained equally worse. The other wall was equally smooth.

'I guess I have to do it the hard way,' he shrugged with a sigh. He looked both sides of the chasm. He had to choose one direction and search for a solution.

He deactivated the cloak. Keeping it wrapped around him started to drain his energy. He had never used the cloak so long and back to back like today.

'I should take proper rest now and then. Who knows what dangers might lurk in this dark pit.' Hex didn't wish to encounter something when he was too tired to fight.

He used his sword to nip the sharp points of the spikes, and walked on the stumps of them. It was slow and hard. He was sweating like crazy, but Hex didn't give up.

'My first priority is getting out. Who knows how much damage that bastard might unleash if not checked.' Hex mumbled.

He still held hope that the Knight near him had discovered something. According to the plan, each Knight would keep an eye out on areas with Squires. They were supposed to rush in as soon as they heard the sounds of battle.

'The fucking problem in this case is that I walked through a damn cave,' sighed Hex. Then it struck him. "How the fuck did that bastard know I would be there? Or was he trying to focus on Vitor and something went wrong?"

He knew there was no way to clear his doubts immediately so he focused on going forward.

After a few hundreds meters of slashing rocks, he finally noticed the spikes becoming spare. At some point he could even walk between them, until they vanished completely.

He had reached the end of the open area. He found himself staring at a wall with a narrow opening. It was very faint but he could sense the air flow into the opening.

'Is this a cave? Or something else?' Every hole and crack in the mountains represented an opportunity as well as a risk. It was up to the Hunter to decide what he would do.

'We will see what happens. It's not like I have any other option.'

With no other option available, Hex crouched and entered the opening in the wall. As soon as he entered he found himself on a narrow passage.

He held his sword pointed outward and crawled slowly over the passage.

His pants, in the areas of the knees, tore open after a while. It was graded gear, yet failed to remain intact on the rough terrain.

He kept going. After a while the passage widened. He stood on his knees and elbows and crawled further. The passage widened even more. By the end of the passage, Hex could stand again.

The passage ended in a cavern. Hex estimated he was deep under the cave of the wolves. The cavern was dark and the air smelled turbid.

Hex carefully took a step forward.

Crunch!

The sound beneath his sole made him freeze. He knew that sound. It was the sound of bones.