Chapter 38

Shadow let out a deep sigh as he dropped himself onto the fluffy couch in the lounge. It was now midnight. He had spent the entire rest of the day deep cleaning the cabin. He replaced floor boards, scrubbed mold out of bathroom tiles, polished mirrors and windows, organized the library and kitchen, trimmed the garden, swept the floors and patio, soaped and vacuumed the carpets, washed the laundry and hung it to dry, dusted everything. Finally, after all that unnecessary work, he felt like the place was decently livable.

Solaris and Eclipse had vacated the premises while he was cleaning and finally reentered after he finished. They quickly toured themselves around the place before finally stopping by the lounge. Shadow had passed out on the couch, after changing back into normal clothes. They stared at him for a moment.

"I know the cleaning had backed up a little but jeez. I didn't realize he had ataxophobia." Solaris sighed.

"Ataxo-what?"

"It's the irrational fear of disorganization."

"I wouldn't say it's an irrational fear but more an intense desire for cleanliness."

"I could argue that there isn't a difference."

"Go ahead, if you want to argue." Silence. "Might as well leave him be until tomorrow morning." Solaris nodded in agreement.

"He's had a hard pre-first day of work."

~ * ~

Shadow blinked his eye open to the smell of eggs frying in a pan. He was still sitting on the couch in the lounge. A blanket had appeared on his lap, which he assumed either Solaris or Eclipse had given him. He stood up, leaving the blanket on the couch, and wandered sleepily over to the kitchen. As he walked, he basked in the glory of how clean and tidy the halls were. He froze when he saw someone he didn't recognize. She had shoulder length black hair tied back in a ponytail. Her body was well built and obviously trained. She was wearing a pair of black sweat pants and white t-shirt with a hollow, pink heart printed on the front. She turned her dark blue eyes towards him when he walked in. They stared at each other for a long while, both trying to figure out who the hell the other person was. The girl only paused their staring competition to remove the eggs from the burner, even though Shadow could tell they were obviously over cooked and over seasoned. She put the eggs on a clean plate and then cracked another egg into the now open frying pan before turning to look back at Shadow, who was still staring at her. He held himself back from commenting on her meager cooking skills until he watched as she, again, over cooked and over seasoned another egg. At last, his cooking instincts kicked in.

"Can I?" He started towards her and held his hands open for her to give him the pan and spatula.

"What, you think girls can't cook?" she growled.

"No, but I do think you can't cook." he stated pointedly. "Just let me give it a try." She growled at him again but gave him the pan. He proceeded to skillfully crack the egg open into the frying pan, add just enough pepper and salt before sliding it gracefully out of the pan and onto a clean plate provided by the girl. He then held the egg out to the girl. She cautiously took a fork from out of nowhere and poked at the egg before taking a bite. Shadow watched with satisfaction as her face lit up.

"How do you even make an egg taste so good?" Shadow put on a smirk.

"I'm just a master of the craft!"

"It's like you made a masterpiece out of the most simple thing!" 

"Who even are you?"

"I'm Fia. I live here. Who are you?" There was a small, awkward pause.

"My code name is Shadow." Shadow held out his hand. "I'm an apprentice under Solaris so I guess we'll be working together from now on!" Fia shook his hand firmly.

"Great to see we finally hired a chef!"

"I said apprentice." Shadow chuckled. They talked for a little while as Shadow made the rest of breakfast and they took it out to the tables in the garden. Solaris and Eclipse were already waiting at the table with another girl that Shadow didn't recognize. She had much longer brunette hair that was left to dangle wherever and sun gold eyes. She was wearing a green t-shirt and tan shorts. She looked up at Shadow as he and Fia walked over to the table holding their plates of breakfast. Shadow greeted Solaris and Eclipse and sat down next to them while Fia sat down next to the other girl.

"Shadow, this is Rolla. She's another squad member of mine." Solaris introduced. Rolla raised a hand.

"Sup." Shadow nodded with a smile.

"And I see you already met Fia."

"Yup." They dug into breakfast.

"Bro, you won't believe how long it took for me to clean this entire place." Shadow started. "Like, the library itself was a pain in the ass to clean up and organize. There was like a centimeter thick layer of dust on everything and books all over the floor. And have you seen how expansive that library is? How does it even fit in that small room?"

"I used spatial magic." Solaris stated.

"I figure. Still, it's like you guys never cleaned a day in your life!"

"I was surprised to see how clean and tidy everything was when I got back from my mission." Rolla stated, a bite of egg in her mouth. "Like, when did this happen?"

"Well, now that I'm going to be living here, this place will never get obnoxiously dirty again!"

"A cook and a cleaning maid." Fia laughed.

"Oh, I'm not the one that's gonna keep this house maintained. I'm making you all clean it with me." Dead silence over the table. 

"Ha! Good luck getting me to help." Rolla scoffed.

"Oh don't worry." A dark look came over Shadow's face. "I have my ways."

"Anyways, are you two excited for your first day as part of my squad?" Solaris changed the subject nervously.

"Yes!!" Shadow's and Eclipse's eyes lit up instantly.

"Then let me introduce you to our workout schedule! 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, 100 squats, 10 minute plank and a 2 mile sprint! After the warm up, we'll do some light sparring and magic practice." Solaris watched the color drain from their faces. "What?"

"And I thought Shadow was training obsessed." Eclipse muttered to himself as he took another bite of his eggs.

"What do you do after training?" Shadow asked, putting aside the dreaded thought of his inevitable death called their workout.

"We have lunch, do some more training, have dinner, and go to bed." Solaris received some weirded out looks. "What?"

"Soooo… all you do in your free time is train." Eclipse stated.

"Yes?"

"But… what's the fun in that?"

"Jobs aren't supposed to be fun." Shadow mentioned.

"But training isn't necessarily part of the job, is it?"

"How else would you stay in shape?"

"There are other ways."

"But training is the most efficient."

"Everyday, multiple times a day, is excessive- oh wait I forgot I'm talking to a workaholic." Shadow shrugged.

"Just saying, what's the worst that could happen?" 

~ 10 Minutes Later ~

Shadow and Eclipse were laying on the soft grass outside of the lodge completely drained. Shadow could feel his spirit drifting out of his body. He was sore, sweaty and covered in dirt but too exhausted at the same time to get up and do something about it. Beside him, Eclipse was feeling the same way. Solaris leaned over them.

"What are you guys doing? We've only done our warm up. Now's not the time to rest!" Eclipse stared at him like he'd gone crazy. Shadow lifted himself up on shaky arms.

"Yes sir…" Once Shadow managed to stand up, he helped Eclipse get to his feet as well. They hobbled over to where Solaris was standing in front of Fia and Rolla.

"Next is sparing. For now, Shadow and Eclipse will pair up. Fia and Rolla will pair up like usual and I'll watch you all and give you pointers." A dark smile came across Shadow's face as he snapped his head towards Eclipse, making Eclipse flinch at his sudden burst of energy. "Go ahead and pick a spot on the field and just start fighting. This is just sparring so no magic for now. We'll do magic practice after the sparring." Shadow and Eclipse picked a spot a good few feet from Fia and Rolla while Solaris hovered in the air above them, monitoring them. As they were called to start, Shadow immediately sped at Eclipse, startling him. Shadow threw a flurry of punches at him as he pressed towards him, easily pushing him back. Eclipse was clearly flustered, unable to break out of Shadow's ferocious attacks. He was quickly knocked down, both of them breathing heavily, an Eclipse staring at Shadow with wide eyes. Shadow wordlessly helped Eclipse to his feet and they continued to look at each other in silence again. Solaris jumped down next to them. "I'm starting to think that the pairing is a bit off."

"You don't say…" Eclipse replied, still half stunned.

"Eclipse, I'll have you go take turns fighting with Fia and Rolla. They'll be easier to manage than Shadow, apparently." Eclipse nodded and ran over to Fia and Rolla. Solaris turned to Shadow, who was just staring at him, quietly. Solaris held a challenging hand up. "Shall we?" A big smile crossed Shadow's face.

"Bring it on!"

~ * ~

Shadow and Eclipse both gave out sighs as they flopped onto their beds. It was late at night now and the end of their seventh day as Solaris' apprentices.

"I'm beeeaaat." Eclipse breathed.

"You said it." Shadow agreed.

"You'd think we'd do more than just training throughout the day, but no it's just wake up, eat, train, sleep."

"Yeah, no free time whatsoever." Shadow huffed. A short knock on the doorframe made them both lift their heads. Solaris stepped into the room.

"A mission has just been issued out to my squad so I won't be able to train you guys until me and the others get back." He announced. "Until then, just wait here and don't burn the place down."

"Can we come with?" Shadow asked, sparkles in his eyes.

"No. You have to wait until the end of your training to go on missions." 

"Awwww, please?" Shadow lifted himself up into a sitting position. "We won't get in the way! I promise!" Solaris narrowed his eyes at him. Shadow returned his stare with a puppy dog face. After a moment of staring, Solaris let out a sigh.

"Fine."

"Yes!" Shadow threw his arms into the air. Eclipse just looked at them with a tired yet impressed expression.

"The mission is to investigate the disappearances of some workers over at some mines." Solaris crossed his arms. "Workers have started going missing with no explanation. It's speculated that whatever is contributing to the magic crystal production in the cave is also responsible for the disappearances. The game plan at the moment is to head down into the cave, find whatever is causing the disappearances and neutralize it if it's a threat. We'll head over to the cave tomorrow morning." Shadow and Eclipse nodded firmly.

"This is the cave?" Eclipse looked at it with disgust. They were standing in front of a cave with a wide open entrance. Glittering clear crystals were littered all over the wall, ceiling and floor of the cave. The cave stretched in a long straight tunnel all the way into the deep dark and out of sight.

"What, are you scared of the dark?" Shadow teased with a smile. 

"Of course not! I just don't like the look of caves." Eclipse glared lightly back.

"Why'd you come then?" Shadow tilted his head slightly.

"Because you signed me up without me asking!" Eclipse hissed through gritted teeth.

"Are you two ready?" Solaris turned to look at them.

"Yes!" They said in unison.

"We're heading in." Solaris turned and led the way into the cave. Rolla and Fia walked side by side after him, followed by Shadow and Eclipse. As the light from the entrance trailed off slowly behind them, Solaris and Eclipse lit little fires in the palms of their hands for light. Together, they all walked in silence, each alert to the darkness around them. For a long while, there was nothing. No sounds, scents or sights. It was all just the same endless darkness. The only thing telling them that they had made progress was the steadily increasing number of crystals jutting out of the walls. As Shadow walked, trailing slightly behind the group as he had decided to take up the rear, he felt a small prick on his left hand, and turned in confusion. In the dim lighting, he could see the faintest outline of an itty bitty black spider, no bigger than a centimeter in all. His eyes widened in horror.

"This is such a long tunnel…" Eclipse muttered. "Is there even an en-" Eclipse was cut off by a sharp light that flashed quickly behind them. The whole squad stopped and turned to look at Shadow, who was standing with a big, awkward smile and both hands hidden behind his back, hiding the small trail of smoke rising from the back of his left hand. They all gave him questioning looks, but before long carried on. Shadow raised his hand to look at it again. There were faint traces of first degree burns and two small red dots where the spider had pricked him. All traces of the spider itself had been annihilated. Shadow let out a small, weary sigh before continuing after his squad. After another long silence of walking, cobwebs started appearing on the crystals. At first, they were few and thin, but they slowly became thicker and more apparent. Finally, the tunnel opened up into a room. The crystals in the room were huge compared to the ones in the tunnel. Solaris signaled to the squad and they each split up to search the room. Cobwebs were so abundant in the room that they almost became a hindrance. Once they had finished looking around the room, they all met back up in the center.

"There's no other tunnels leading in or out of the room and yet we haven't come across the missing miners…" Solaris muttered to himself in thought. 

"About how many went missing?" Shadow inquired.

"At least 10." Solaris looked up from his thoughts. "If this is all there is to this cave, we should've come across them by now."

"Maybe there was another tunnel that we missed?" Fia suggested. "The walls are all covered in cobwebs so, it wouldn't be strange if we missed something."

"Hmm." Solaris nodded and brought his chin down in thought once again.

"U-Uhh… Guys…" Eclipse's voice shook. The squad turned towards him to see him staring up with a terrified look on his face. "I-I think I found the missing miners." He pointed with a shaky finger. They all looked up to see thread woven cocoons hanging from the ceiling, 13 in total. Shadow swallowed. Threads.

"That's not a good sign." Solaris murmured. He unfolded his wings and flew up towards the cocoons, a small fire in his hands. He stared at them for a short moment before he gingerly tapped one. A sticky substance on the cocoon stuck to his finger and peeled off when he brought his hand back. He leaned close to the cocoon, making sure to not touch it, and listened. He flew back down to his squad. "I'm not 100% sure, but I think some of them might still be alive. However, if we want to keep them alive, we need to remove them from the cocoons as soon as possible. However, if we're too hasty, that could endanger their lives just as much as dawdling and if we try to free them here, whatever trapped them might find us before we can leave." He informed them. "Let's try to get the cocoons down and take them back outside before freeing them. Be careful not to drop them or make too much noise." His squad nodded. They each took to the air and flew to their own cocoons. Using different kinds of magic, they started to break the threads tying the cocoons to the ceiling. Quietly and carefully, they started to bring the cocoons down one by one. The silence did nothing but add to their suspense. Shadow could feel his heart beating out of his chest. He knew what threads and cocoons meant. He had met a tiny version of the ferocious killer on their way inside. But the tinier version wasn't capable of tying up anything larger than a fly. To wrap up whole grown people… Shadow shook his head at the thought, clearing his head as much as he could. Shadow sliced the thread of one of the cocoons, but in all his anxiety, failed to grab it before it started plummeting towards the cavern floors.

"Shit!" Shadow quickly cast a wind spell to slow the cocoon's descent until it was safely laid on the ground. Everyone in the squad let out a collective sigh of relief. Seven cocoons down, five left to go. The rest of the cocoons were retrieved without incident. Once all thirteen cocoons were on the floor and lined up, the squad gathered again for their next orders.

"It'll probably take multiple trips to carry them all out. Even if we each take two, that leaves three left." Solaris turned his head down in thought.

"I think we should just do the multiple trips and try to be quick." Shadow said after a short pause. "The longer we wait to try and decide how to transport them, the higher the chance that they die or whatever tied them up comes back." The squad nodded in understanding.

"Ok, we each take two and round trip as fast as we can from here to the cave entrance." Solaris decided. The squad nodded. They each took turns picking up two cocoons and took towards the tunnel as soon as they had their load in hand. Just as Solaris, Fia and Rolla neared the tunnels, a huge figure fell from the ceiling and crashed into the floor, sending a wave of dust across the entire room. They all turned in horror as the giant Spider let out a hideous roar.