The demon leapt for us, and I pulled Lavender into the water. Both of us plunged into the cool water as the beast sailed over our heads. We swam into the middle of the pool as the demon tiger began to pace around the water edge.
"Where did that thing come from?" Lavender asked as we tread water.
"I think it has been following us. Didn't you feel like someone watched us as we traveled?" I questioned as the tiger kept all of its six eyes on us.
"I did feel something, but I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me."
"Well, I don't think we can get out of the water to fight it, and your fire magic isn't going to work well from the water. How deep do you think this is?"
In response to my question, Lavender took a deep breath and then slid below the surface. I watched the tiger pace with a look of hunger in its eyes. Soon, Lavender broke the surface of the water, gasping for air.
"Follow me," was all she said before taking another breath and diving back underwater.
I took a deep breath and then followed. The water was clear, and I could see a tunnel five meters from the surface. Lavender swam into the tunnel, and I followed. My breath was starting to run out, but the tunnel went up after two meters.
When I broke through the water, clearing my eyes. Lavender was already out of the water and offering me a hand out. I gladly took the offered hand, and soon, Lavender pulled me into a small cave area. Luminescent moss grew along the cave walls and shed some light for us to see.
The cave wasn't large, but at the end of it was an opening. We could see more moss lighting it, and we both walked towards it. Neither of us spoke as we walked into the dimly lit tunnel.
After twenty minutes of walking, the tunnel opened up to a large and more well-lit cave. As we walked in, we both gasped when we noticed the ceiling.
What we had started calling Lumimoss covered the entire roof of the dome-shaped cave. Both of us wondered in, still amazed at the display above. When we reached the center of the room, I noticed something.
There was a design rising in stone from the floor. On closer inspection, it looked to be a magic circle of some kind. As I examine it, I start to remember something. I had seen things similar before, but nothing identical. I turned to Lavender to ask her, but she had already been opening her mouth to talk.
"This is a spell that was stored; depending on what kind of magic it is, one of us could learn it."
"How do we know what type of spell it is, and how do you learn it?" I asked as I was still studying the elaborate miniature monoliths and patterns inside the circle.
"I don't know much myself, but I think you stand in the middle and then put your hands down on the two starting points," Lavender pointed to the two ends near the center, as she explained.
"You should try it," I prompted her.
"No, No, No, you try first. You don't have any actual magic, just skills."
Lavender wasn't wrong, but I still felt like she would better use it as the mage. Still hesitant, I stepped forward to the center of the strange circle. Instead of being marked in the ground like the traditional ones I had memories of, the line raised and made thin stone lines.
"So, I just touch these to the point, and that's all? None of that, I implore the spirits to lend their power, mumbo jumbo?" I joke as I weave my way to the center.
Lavender nods her head but gives me a good eye roll for my rudeness. Combined with her soaking... wait a minute. I almost tripped because of Lavender's perfectly dry dress. I put my hand down on something to stabilize myself. I looked down to see my hands on the two ends of the circle.
Nothing happened.
"Phewph, well, I'm not the mage, so this is a good thing if you can get it," I breathed as I stepped out and over the circle.
I walked over to Lavender and put my hand to her side, feeling her dress. She almost jumped back, but I smiled at her, and she relaxed. Then I realized I wasn't wet either. I must be starting to get tired. I wasn't sure how long we took to get here from the beach or how long we were there.
"Your turn, beautiful."
Lavender leaned in and kissed me on the cheek before turning to weave her way to the center. Her lips left a warm and bubbly feeling with me as I watched her go. When Lavender stepped into the center, she turned to me and smiled, putting both hands down on the ends of the spell circle.
The rock line all shifted slightly, sending small chips of stone and dust falling. Then it started moving towards her, the end looking like her hands sucked the whole thing up. Soon, the entire magical stone circle had absorbed into Lavender, and she stood up straight, smiling even brighter.
Her gaze went blank, and for a short moment, she stood like a beautiful expressionless statue. Her eyes returned to normal, and she ran to me, throwing her arms around my neck. I wrapped her up in my embrace, then pulled back, staring down into Lavender's eyes.
"So, how was it?"
"It's hard to describe the feeling of the magic pouring into me. I gained EARTH MANIPULATION. It says I can now mold and control earth."
I let out a long yawn above Lavender's head.
"That's amazing, but I'm starting to get tired. Maybe try to close up the two cave entrances, and we can take a nap. I don't have any idea how long we have been here."
Lavender looked up to me, nodding, seeing the exhaustion in my eyes, so we walked to the supposed way out. She put her hands out, and Lavender took on a strained look. The grating sound of stone on stone filled the chamber, the grinding noise bouncing around the dome.
It didn't take that long, but I held my fingers in Lavender's ears right away so she could finish. That damn sound cut through me, and I dreaded the next one. After we finished blocking the other entrance, we found an excellent place to sit down.
It was a concave part of one of the outside dome walls, and I leaned back enough to be comfortable on the smooth stone. Lavender lay on her side, with her head and purple hair covering her face. I stared at her, wondering why I didn't sense her right away. Soon, that thought became lost as my eyes became heavy, and I drifted off under the weight of them.
"Dave!"
Lavender shook me awake, and I could hear the reason for my abrupt awakening. Loud scratching was coming from the exit we had blocked off. The same one we had planned on using to escape out.
"Shit," I cursed, standing up. "We should get ready to fight this thing, grab your gauntlet out and go hide behind a rock you can move around easily and stay out of sight."
"But what about you?"
"I'll be fine. I have DEMON BRINGER, and the demon, not knowing where you are, will keep it on guard. If you blast it away when it gets close to your spot and then run to another spot, you should be safe while I draw its attention."
Lavender agreed with me, and the scratching was getting more clear to hear. She ran to a large rock as I went to the middle. I activated the LIGHT BLADE, and the white light blade formed in my hand.
I turned towards the now chipping door, and I couldn't see Lavender, which was good. As a claw broke through the stone barrier, the blade of light in my hand grew to two meters long and tripled its blade size. The demon tiger smashed the wall down and stepped out, glaring at me.
Saliva dripped from the open mouth of the orange tiger, covered in black stripes that crawled on its back. It's three tails swished as four angry eyes stared me down, and the other two seemed to be looking for something. I wasn't going to give it time to think.
"DEMON HUNTER," I spoke, and three golden rings appeared on my forearms.
Those rings lit up bright, and then Golden flames licked up my massive white sword. I took one step, swinging my sword. The demon roared at me, but halfway through my arc, I disappeared. In the same moment, I was bringing my flaming DEMON BRINGER down towards its neck.
All it could do was try to turn, but it was too late. DEMON BRINGER slid through the demonic tiger's neck like smoke. Its body erupted into smoke but didn't disperse like normal. Instead, it started to suck into my sword, and I felt a wave of mental stress burn through my head.
I dropped to my knees, clutching my head, and started to wretch on the ground in front of me. Lavender rushed over, put her hand on my back, and asked what was wrong. I couldn't tell her because agony and despair gripped my mind, but mostly I couldn't stop dry heaving now.
After ten soul-crushing minutes and a burning feeling in my cheek, and it all went away. Lavender held me as I panted in her arms while she used the bottom of her skit to dab my sweaty face. I looked up to her, but Lavender's eyes were filled with terror and tears.
"Hey," I said in a small strained voice, the kind you get from a ten-minute dry heave, you know.
"What the hell was that? And now that black mark on your face, how did you kill it so fast?"
I reached up to my face and felt the area that was burning. It felt like a small triangle, but it also felt engraved into my skin, not just some mark. It must be from that black mist from the demon, and something to do with DEMON HUNTER. That was the first time I had used it, and maybe that was a good thing because I was exhausted from just that one.
"I just felt the need to kill it, and I wanted to be closer to it. Then I was there, and it was dead before I realized that it happened, but the part after is just as much of a mystery to me as it is to you."
"You really need to stop fighting alone," Lavender scolded me.
"I know, but it was like the blade needed the kill, but the agony and despair I felt after," But my voice trailed off, and a wave of tiredness hit me.
Lavender got me up, and we went back to the concave in the wall, and she told me to lay my head on her lap. I complied, too exhausted to argue, and laid my head into Lavender's soft and warm thighs. Running her hands through my hair, Lavender's voice singing a strange song was that last thing I heard as I drifted off.