The rough stone floor of the tunnel glowed with a dim amethyst hue, reflected off from the crystals that were scattered all over, their numbers increasing as we went deeper.
I had decided not to absorb aether from those crystals, since the aether contained in them wouldn't account to much. My mind hurdled back to the tiny particles of pinkish hue that were mixed with the raw aether inside the crystal.
'Could it be some byproduct that resulted due to the sedimentation of rocks in this region?', I thought, remembering the colour of the radiant sky outside.
Before my mind could dive deeper into the matter, I noticed the tunnel coming to an end at a few meters away from our distance. Caera and I glanced at each other, before sprinting to the end, curious to see what's lying on the inside, although I already had a few guesses of my own.
Our steps soon came to an halt as the tunnel opened up to a huge dome-like structure, brightly lit, completely in contrast to the dark tunnel that we had traversed to reach here.
My eyes took a moment to adjust to the sudden assault of the light. Once my eyes opened, it was drawn to the cackling noise that came from the other side of the rough stone floor.
What I saw was a large piles of shining amethyst crystals in a form of a mountain, a few hundreds of thousand, in numbers. My jaw hung open at the sheer number.
But what caught my attention was the sight of my companion among the mountain pile- whose actions almost made me freeze.
'Uh- Regis- what are you doing?' I asked with a slight hesitation, looking at my companion- munching on the crystals, one after another, like a- well- 'dog munching on its treats'.
Regis's eyes widened at sound of our arrival as his head lifted away from the crystal pile to glance at us. He then quickly went back to his- eating. His wolfish head buried back inside the pile of crystals.
He spoke out loud after few moments, "Awthoor youbrr heherr gwoooh" his tone slightly muffled.
I froze at his words-!
"Regis", I said., my voice as deep as it could be. Not giving a moment for him to answer, I continued, '"are you- high?'- I bit back my words, feeling incredulous to even say it out loud.
But the shadow wolf has been acting strangely, so far to give away my real name in public.
'How much aether did he consume? And- why is it affecting his senses?!' I thought, looking at the large of pile of crystals, more than few hundred of them, which had went dim and lifeless. Some broken to bits and some had holes, made by- claws. And some even burnt to its core.
I could only shake my head at the sight. Regis noticed my reaction and promptly stood up.
"Don't worry, oh my pitiful master! For I, your mighty god-made weapon of destruction, has secured a hefty sum of top-notch aether crystals. Please accept my humble offerings, dear master!" Regis said in an exaggerated tone, as he pushed a pile of crystals towards me.
I deadpanned at him, not moving to accept his 'offering' right away.
'Oh don't look at me like that, princess. It's not I like cheated on you.' Regis barked in amusement looking at my reaction.
'Besides your mood has been pretty edgy lately. You're spending too much with the lady horns here. Come! Perhaps we could have a crystal or two. The ones I saved for you are top-quality!' Regis commented without moving from his position.
"Ahem!" I looked at Caera. Who had been left out of our conversation. "Grey, are we perhaps going to find the portal? Or should I sit here and look at you two staring at each other with silly eyes?"
When I didn't reply, Caera continued, "as touching as it is to see you both lovebirds, I'd rather prefer to leave this place as soon as possible". Caera said with an amused smirk.
I rolled my eyes. And walked to Regis. I crouched down next to the pile of "top-quality" crystals- as Regis put it. And took a handful of them, before storing the rest in my extradimensional storage rune.
I walked away, wanting to keep some distance from my - 'drug-addict' of a companion.
I sat down at a corner of the cave and started to absorb the crystals, feeling the raw aether entering my body through the aether veins. They are much wider than ever, so this amount of aether absorption felt like a child's play.
***
After absorbing from a significant number of crystals, I did something that I haven't done in a long time.
"Hey, Sylv" I muttered, as I took out the 'colourful stone' out of my extra-dimensional storage rune.
"I prosmise I'll get you out of there, soon" I said, with the stone next to my mouth, hoping that she would hear my voice from inside.
I felt Caera's gaze falling on me from the corner of my eyes. But I ignored her, before closing my eyes. Channelling aether through my 'aether channels' after activating my core, I began to pour controlled amount of aether into the stone.
Minutes passed, as my aether reserves started to plummet. Soon I was gasping for breath. My face pale and sweating. And my core churning and aching. I felt my mind dull and my vision become blurry.
Knowing that I've reached my limit I stopped the transferring process.
I took a deep breath as I opened my eyes. I had been able to send a significant amount of aether into the stone this time. But It felt like the stone contained a never ending- 'abyss', being able to suck out all the energy it is fed.
I felt a tinge of worry at my 'progress'. My mind swirlied with thoughts. Thoughts, that I didn't want to think of. The thoughts, I had kept locked on the back of my mind. My eyes lost focus as I felt forced to relive my darkest nightmares.
"What does it do?" Caera's curious voice snapped me back to reality. I saw her pointing to the colorful stone in my hands.
'I resisted the urge to tell her. Tell her everything. No more wanting to carry this burden of keeping myself- my true self- hidden, from the people around me- the people I trust...'
My eyes gazed back at Caera's face, her childlike curiosity visible. Her ruby eyes glinted like two flaming jewels, ready to devour any knowledge they see. 'One of the things that I lo-like about her', I thought- before instantly pushing back that thought.
"It's- just a- gift- from a- friend", I lied. My words audibly choking.
'Although it wasn't entirely false', I thought. My mind replaying the memory of Sylvia handing me the stone and asking me to take care of it.
"-ey.? Grey?- Are you listening?"
I shook my head at one of the happy memories that I had of my current life, not wanting to ruin them. Before turning to Caera, I waited for her to repeat whatever she was saying.
Caera looked at me in the eyes. Really looked at me, trying to read off my reactions.
'She wants answers' I thought, knowing what exactly her gaze meant. We had come to understand each other's actions in the past few months without needing to speak verbally.
'That's not true. Even I don't understand what goes on inside your mind. And I can literally read your mind!!' Regis's voice interrupted.
"Regis- Go fetch! And stop bothering our conversation", I said, throwing a fist-sized crystal above the shadow wolf's head- my tone unhappy due to his mental intrusion.
"Rude-", Caera's voice cut me off. "-never whisper secrets in a lady's presence", she said with a smirk, her tone graceful.
I shook my head and gave a toothy grin, at her words. Regis joined me as he barked out a laugh.
Caera frowned. Her eyebrows furrowing deep as much as they could. "Y-you, why are you laughing?" She pointed her finger at me and shouted, as she stood with legs spread apart, her hand on her waist.
"I'm s-" before I could finish my sentence, a deep thud came from the side of tunnel pathway leading to the entrance.
Before I could react, the dome-ceiling of the tunnel room shook as shards of rocks started falling off to the ground at random places.
Soon the cave floor filled with dust and debris. My attention went to the opening of the dome from where we had entered, only to see large lumps of rocks blocking off the only exit that we could take.
I hastily stood up to my feet, running towards Caera, wanting to leave the cave as soon as possible. I saw that Caera had fallen down on her back, due to the lack of any support when the cave shook.
As I moved close to her, Caera stood back up and grabbed my arms to steady herself. I reached out, wrapping my hands behind her waist, to keep her from falling again. Our eyes darted to the ceiling, which was breaking like broken glass, as the thudding noises continued from the tunnel entrance.
A mass of large pointy rock above our head vibrated and shook, as it broke off from the ceiling and came falling down at our direction.
Caera's nails unconsciously dug deeper into my sides at that sight, as she let out an audible yelp. I pushed Caera back, who was still in my arms, to get her out of the range, before jumping back. I came to an halt, to see the lumps of rock crushing the ground where Caera and I were stood just seconds ago.
More and more rocks kept falling from the ceiling as it started to hollow-out. Not wanting to stay inside anymore, I turned my head to see Caera, who had already started moving towards my direction, jumping across the fallen rocks to reach my position.
Caera quickly drew close and stood in front of me, as she draped her arms around my neck and tugged closer-
I felt Caera's heart pounding against me, as our bodies came into contact with each other. I felt the heat rising from her stomach to her chest. And the warmth in her breath softly hitting my face rhythmically, her mouth barely inches away from mine. I gulped down audibly due to her sudden action.
Trying to ignore the- growing sensation, I brought my mind back to senses: to get us out of here in one piece.
'She sure has gotten more bold these days', Regis mused at Caera's action.
I couldn't help but stifle a laugh at Regis's words and how true they were- earning Caera's attention. She pouted her lips before huffing, as she pinched my left cheek. "Stop wasting time and teleport us out of here before we- I- turn into a pulp", she said biting her lips.
Regis let out a chortle, completely uncaring about the dire situation we were in.
'Keep laughing and I'll leave you in here', I deadpanned at Regis.
'No problem, boss. I'm a mighty weapon made by the Gods. I can just blast my way out of here. Or- I could just use my incorporeal form to escape' Regis said with a smirk.
'No more aether for y-' "Ouch!" I was cut short from my mental conversation, by Caera, as she pinched my arm, before tightening her grip around my neck.
"Stop. Talking. And teleport. Now!" Caera stressed.
"When did you become so violent? Sheesh!", I replied, immediately activating my God rune.
I turned to look at Regis, who was happily munching on the crystals, like an addict. 'Maybe I'll just stay he-' "Regis!" I shot back before he could finish his words, making him jump back to into my body.
Ignoring the falling rocks, I focused on the aetheric pathways leading to the end of the tunnel, trying to visualise the entrance from my memory. I made a mental map of how the aetheric pathways would connect to the entrance outside.
And- stepped forward.