Another roar then came echoing through the tunnel at us. The roar was followed by a loud bang, then another, and another. Each sound was progressively getting louder and I knew that whatever was in there was heading toward us. I was too afraid to move as the monster showed itself through the darkness of the tunnel. It was a huge minotaur. I knew they were big, but this one couldn't even stand up fully in the massive tunnel it came out of.
It had long black horns coming out of its head, brown fur, yellow eyes, and sharp teeth. It let out another roar and made all of us fall back and drop our torches. Cienar then sat up slowly and whispered to us. "Arine and Silvera. You two find a way around the monster while Ikko and I distract it. Once you have the book, I will make the cavern flood just enough for us to escape." I was afraid after the word flood came onto the table, but I still nodded alongside Arine at his plan. Ikko then cracked his knuckles as he got to his feet in one movement. "This ought to be fun." Cienar stood up next to him with less than a smirk on his face. "You said it."
The minotaur then swung its fist down at us. Arine quickly pulled me out of the way before the huge hand smashed the ground where we were standing. The minotaur stepped fully out of the tunnel and turned its attention to try and smash Cienar. He quickly moved out of the way and pulled some water out of the ground to use to attack the minotaur. The water moved through the air fast enough to draw blood from the minotaur's arm, which invoked another roar from the beast. Cienar wasn't fast enough to dodge the monster's retaliation and he was struck against the nearest cave wall.
I called to him in panic at seeing him hurt. "Cienar!" Ikko yelled after me to distract the minotaur from focusing on us. "Hey! Over here!" He then shot white lightning out of his fingers at the minotaur. The damage Ikko did only seemed to annoy the creature, and it came running for Ikko. Ikko was able to move away from its charge and shoot at it again.
I was caught up in the fight until Arine tapped me on the shoulder and whispered, "The minotaur is away from the tunnel. Let's go." I nodded and we both ran to the entrance. However, we only got halfway there before the minotaur's hand slammed against the ground in front of us. It then lifted out of the rubble it created on impact and headed straight at Arine. "Arine lookout!" I screamed. I tackled him to the ground and the hand missed by a hair. Ikko then shot more lightning, distracting the beast over toward him and Cienar again.
It moved away from us, and I got to my feet while taking Arine's hand. We ran to the tunnel and were finally able to go inside but I didn't stop running after we entered. At the end of the tunnel, I stumbled over where it ended and Arine caught me. I gasped. The Book of Souls was on a pedestal in the middle of the chamber, however, it had at least a fifty-foot drop below it with the ground covered in lava. "Oh come on!!" I shouted.
Arine then nervously looked behind him. I followed his gaze and saw that his wings were shriveling from the heat. I turned around again and noticed some tall rocks coming out of the lava, leading to the book in a line. "Stay here. I'll get the book." I was about to jump when Arine grabbed me. "No! It's too dangerous! You stay, I'll get the book!" I looked at him with my face serious. "No. You can't get any closer or your wings will be permanently ruined. I'll be fine! I promise!"
He hesitated and slowly let me go. "You better be." I moved to step to the edge of the tunnel before jumping onto the first rock. 'This is some serious do-or-die parkour right now. Why did the rocks have to be rounded?!' I shakily stood up and saw that the second rock was higher and farther away. 'I can do this. Man, we should've made Ikko get the book or something," I thought, even though I knew he was the only one powerful enough to distract the minotaur and live.
I got a hold of my balance and jumped, barely grabbing the top of the second rock once I landed. I could tell Arine was on edge and so was I. I took a deep breath and pulled myself up with all I had. I rested on the top once I was able to get my knees under me. I was sweating from the heat and my hands were beginning to lose their grip. I was so worried. But I only had one more rock to go.
I stood up and lost my balance, quickly catching myself. Arine jumped after almost seeing me fall but relaxed slightly after I stopped myself. I caught my heavy breath and then focused. I jumped to the third stone and made it, but the rock hit me hard in the stomach. I shook off the pain I felt and made my body stand up and jump to the platform.
I had made it and felt proud of myself. I just hoped by some miracle I'd be able to jump back the way I came while carrying the book. Arine congratulated me from across the chamber as I glanced at The Book of Souls. Its cover was covered in ancient writing and designs that dated back centuries. Despite how surprisingly intact the beautiful book was, I was mortified to find out that it was not the size of a regular book. 'How am I going to get this back? It's almost as big as my torso!' I moved to pick it up, but to my surprise, it wasn't as heavy as I thought it would be. That small detail was a relief, but it would still be impossible to get it back to the tunnel.
In the next second, the room began to shake and the pedestal began to sink into the lava. I gasped and Arine called for me. Then all of a sudden, the minotaur smashed through the wall beside Arine with a boom of a lightning strike. I gasped and lost my footing on the pedestal which led to me slipping off of it. "Ahhh!" I expected to meet a burning death but I was caught by a large bubble of water surrounding me and pulling me back to the entrance.
I held my breath until it popped inside the tunnel and sent water falling to the ground and letting me go. Arine pulled me to my feet and hugged me even though I was sopping wet. I realized that Cienar was standing next to him and had taken the last of the water in the air to catch me. It evaporated off of the floor as I realized the minotaur hadn't perished in the lava. It had caught itself with its claws on the opposite wall of the chamber. It then used its hooves to launch itself back at us before I could thank Cienar for saving me. Arine took my hand and I held the book in my other arm as we ran away from the monster. After a moment, my wet hand slipped out of Arine's, and Ikko then pushed me out of the way. "Lookout!" I rolled across the cavern floor and stopped myself in time to see the minotaur smash the ground where I used to be and crush Ikko.
"NO!" I screamed. The hand lifted and I saw that Ikko was still alive and had blocked its hand with his wings. I rushed over to him, helped him up, and ran away before the minotaur struck again. Once we caught up to the others, I saw that Cienar was using his water magic to break the pillars that were holding the cavern together. I then heard the sound of running waves and panicked as we were swept away with water. The minotaur was nowhere to be seen now and I held my breath again as we were shot out of the entrance to the cavern. We all landed in different places on the grass, and it took a moment before I could come to grips with the fact that I was still alive.
I opened my eyes and spit out some water. I sat up even though every part of me was sore and saw that the ruins we came from were destroyed. Water continued to blast out of it like a geyser and provided a light rain over my head. I sighed in relief and looked down to see that The Book of Souls was still tightly held in my arms. I shakily rose to my feet and began looking for where everyone else had landed. Cienar was sitting up a short distance from me, looking as fine as if the flood we just experienced was a children's water slide. Ikko was lying down on his stomach farther away, but I couldn't tell whether he was okay from where I was standing.
"Where's Arine?" I asked as I continued to look around me. I couldn't see him anywhere until I heard a voice coming from over my head. "Up here!" I looked up and saw he was stuck in the tree above me. Cienar noticed as well and used his water magic to push him out. He landed next to me with a splash of the soaked grass as well as the water ball Cienar had hit him with. "Oof! Aw, man! My wings are wet! I won't be able to fly for days now!" Hearing what he said reminded me of Ikko.
I then quickly ran to him. As I got closer, I saw that his eyes were closed and his wings were soaked. They were also broken. I remembered how Ikko had saved me. "Oh no..." I whispered. Cienar and Arine then came up to us and Cienar was the one to speak first. "What happened to him?" I was trying hard not to cry as I responded. "I-It was because of me..."
Cienar kneeled next to me and raised his hand to pull all the water out of his wings into a ball in front of him. Arine's mouth dropped. "That is amazing! Can you do that to mine?!" Cienar sighed and moved his hand to Arine and did the same. Arine smiled. "Wow! I guess you're not completely useless after all!" Cienar then used the water to slap him in the face. "Ow!!"