The Strange Cave

I head through the forest without care. After a few minutes of walking I hear a loud shouting coming from behind me. "My Lord, please accept your prophets help on this dangerous mission." Skylar shouted loudly. Why is this guy so annoying? I don't care if I have help or not all I want is speed in recovering this dang ingredient so I can get back to doubles side. "Hop on then." I offer the Prophet a seat on my back to get him to shut up.

After bowing slightly he hastily hops on and we continue. I already cast Storm Boost, I arrive at the center of the forest after about an hour of speedful movement. After we arive I look for the massive cave entrance as I hastily enter. Skylar takes out a torch from a bag on his back and lights it. The cave continues much deeper than the Wretch kings throne room. It winds at an almost uncontrollable pace. After awhile I feel almost lost in this maze like cave.

After a few hours of digging deeper into the cave I finally begin to see the semblances of a mine. Long forgotten support beams appear everywhere, many tunnels blocked off from the wearing and tearing of time. I fine subtle places for lanterns to be placed as well as lost mine tools. Pickaxes and shovels are plentifully in stock here. I make my way further down and see strange ores become prominent on the ceiling of the mine, almost abandoned for something else.

The strange maze of tunnels felt like it was leading to something, something big. After awhile I began to see large warning symbols, or at least that is what skylar said they where. Many words seemed to be scrawled across the walls, getting more and more frantic the deeper you get into the mine. After awhile I saw the first corpse. A small skeleton appearing to belong to a young child rests on the ground with nothing on him other than rags and a lightweight pickaxe. A sick feeling enters my stomache as I look at the sight. Skylar seems to have gone completely silent after seeing the sight. I suppose children don't have the same rules to protect them as I had back on earth.

I almost feel like vomiting from the sight of the small corpse. It is horrible that this happened but I can't change the past. I mutter my prayers and continue forward looking for my goal The Dragons Fiery. Though he didn't give me a description I suppose I should be able to figure it out from the name. I go down the quickly narrowing passages as I see more numerous ores sprouting the ceiling of the mine. Who would start a mine in the middle of such dangerous forest? I mean seriously where they that desperate?

More corpses littered the floor, all corroded to a large amount. I finally see a small chunk of loose ore. I quickly ask shell to examine it to see what exactly these people where mining for.

{No problem master....}

{Bright Ore}

Rarity: Rare

Price: 50 Gold per bar

Properties: This bar can be used to make magical items. Fairly rare in this world though not as rare as you would think.

This doesn't even seem that important. Only 50 Gold per bar, though I guess from the sheer amount of it they could become very rich easily. Though sending kids to mine it? Thats just horrible. I put it into my void inventory mabey for use later on. I keep moving foreward, I can't move at the same pace as in the forest because of the strange winding tunnels, it requires thought and constantly going back on dead ends. After some time I find what seems to be some sort of central tunnel. A large open space is finally made. A glowing gem seems to fill the ceiling of the small rest room, it lights it up very well. A few cabinets line a wall, on closer inspection I see much more mining materials as well as clothing. I see a few more bodies littering the floor of the room.

I knock one of the crystals loose to examine it as well.

{Bright Crystal}

Rarity: Very Rare

Price: 250 Gold Per Gem

Properties: this Gem can be used to make magical items. Very rare in this world, it is used to make items more powerful as well as working as an item to empower ones magic.

Well this seems much more profitable, but this seems strange. They leave these gems here as well as the ore back through the mines. After some thought it seems that the people didn't even want these things. What happened if there was something much more valuable than these things. It would definitely be a plausable answer to why these people seemed so desperate. The mines are hazardly created, almost rushed, and that doesn't bode well with me.

I continue down and start to feel heat eminating from the stones of the cave. Though some hours have passed it feels like this cave is just endless, and no matter how long you travel through it you won't make any progress. I then notice something. No more ores or gems are showing up on the walls, instead the light comes from cracks in the ceiling. This just doesn't feel right to me. Another hour of travel and I finally find it.

A vast cave appears before me. A large strange crystal beating in the center of the room. A few plants litter the ground that I believe to be the Dragons Fiery. It feels wierd, they almost seem to have a connection to me. But then I feel it. A vibration coming from the ground. A large metal creature appears before me. The creature is very tall, roughtly 15 meters by estimate. The creature looks vaugly human with a dull mechanical gaze about it. Strange arcane runes cover the hulking behemoth as he stomps around the room. The Runes light up seemingly at random, he seems to be guarding the flowers.

I realize this is going to be a tough fight. Though my fangs have half decent piercing power I don't think there ready for this kind of heavy duty work. I suppose my magic will be the only way to rock this, and from what I can see the being has magical runes on it, so I suppose it might have resistance of some sort to it.

I guess I should go all out. Skylar drops off my body as he preps his large scimitars. The blades crackle with a dark lightning as he uses it, his muscles also twitch slightly almost as if an electric current is going through his body. I look at skylar then warn him to back down for a little. I prep my Storm Spike, something much stronger than anything else I have in my arsenal right now. I prep this dark aura spike as it zaps out of my control directly towards the golem.

The creature reacts with intense speed, locking on to the bolt and moving one hand at an intense speed to block the blow. The spike strikes an almost invisible barrier as it makes a deadly collision. A strange energy seems to deflect about half of the energy as the runes on the Golems body light up intensly, after that the spike makes it's way about half way through the arm before becoming ineffective. It did way less damage then it did previously. Though it disabled an arm it doesn't seem to bother the golem in any way as he sprints towards me with an insane speed.

The creature releases a familiar aura as storm energy leaks from his hand creating a spike almost like mine, but launched by his fist. With my boost active I dodge the creature quickly. Skylar takes this time to jump in the fight. His Scimitars slice into the creature leaving small dents. Skylar continues trying to deal some tangable damage to the Golem but is to no avail. Dang this is going to be a tough fight.

I activate the Star Marks power for the first time. A glow comes from my forehead as I feel an almost primal energy fill my body, an intense burning sensation fills my body as it seems to almost forge my body. Though I feel painful from this release of energy I quickly continue the fight. Skylar seems to also gained a boost, his body covered in lightning as he moves faster than before. My body becomes covered in a deathly black storm aura as I feel my boost become much more potent. My body seems to grow stronger by the second this ability is activated, but with each second comes intense pain that gets more and more hurtful.

My mana replenished nearly instantly as I activated this skill, I cast another storm bolt readying it in around 30 seconds, but I feel my mana almost instantly replenish. I cast around 3 Spikes before I give up trying to release my mana. The spikes zip through the air piercing the golem in three seperate places on his body. Though the damage seems to have been mitigated the damage was by no means little. A large chunk of his torso was pierced as well as a leg. Not only was he severly damaged but his speed should start diminishing.

The creature looks at me and releases a strange amount of energy. The power of this many times powerfuler than the other strike. This strike seems many times more quick as it is strong. The remaining fist zips forward with deadly precision striking me on the end of my body. A feeling of pain roars throughout me as I see the fist seems to have demolished a portion of my body. This is dangerous.

<User us below 50% percent of users health, please end the fight quickly.>

I feel the energy in me speed up, almost enraged from the damage. I feel a large amount of pain overtake my body as I feel it move without my command. My damaged body speeds up beyond recongnition as I see it strike the creature on it's head. The bite is filled with rage as I decapitate the metal Golem.

<Warning user is at 10% of users health. You will die if you do not stop>

{Master stop the Star Mark, if this continues you will die. Shell will be lonely with out you Master please don't die}

I deactivate the Mark almost without a second thought. I don't think I have been this close to death and really cared. All my responsibilities flash in my mind. I have people to save. I have things to do. I have friends to meet. I have to live up to who I was supposed to be. The person who melody wanted me to be.

The pain doesn't disapear. It continues, though the golem is dead, I am wounded. I suppose this is my own kind of backlash. In return for saving double I suffer this pain. I would do this either way, he is my friend. I would suffer for him, I would feel pain, I would die, as I know he would for me.

I feel the pain fade as I fall unconcious. Skylar screams at me but I can't hear him. not even a little.