"He's alright, just unconscious." Auden dropped the kid's arm carefully after checking for a pulse. "You should take him back to town before another monster finds him."
"Why me?"
"The numbers of beasts here are very unnatural. After all monster beasts can't just appear out of nowhere can they?" He looked further into the cave. Once more, he had the spine-chilling feeling that someone was watching him, and lying in wait in the depths of the darkness. "I'm going to go in further and see what's going on." He finished firmly.
"And like I said, why does it have to be me that has to take the child back?" Elyse asked, increasingly frustrated. Why was she always treated as someone who had to retreat when she was just a bit injured? "I'll obviously be able to handle whatever the hell's down there!"
Auden sighed wearily, "Look, if another Gryphon shows up, I wouldn't be able to protect the boy or even myself in this state. That's why I'm counting on you to bring him back safely. Besides, I plan on getting the hell out of here the moment I see what's going on down there."
Elyse's face brightened when she heard she was going to be doing something more important than him and went over to pick up the kid gently. "I see, I guess that makes sense." She took off her cape and wrapped her arms in it so as not to accidentally hurt the boy with her armor.
Auden hid a relieved smile; she was too easy to read.
"Um... About before, when I called you a coward..." She looked at him awkwardly for a few moments and she looked as if she had something to say but struggle to say it.
"Yeah?"
She bit her lip before turning away and mumbled "Sorry." quietly, hoping he didn't hear it before walking away as quickly as she could without breaking into a run, which was still quite fast from Auden's perspective.
He was amazed; he didn't think her pride would've allowed her to apologize. He didn't mind being called a coward, since he definitely had been thinking of leaving. He watched as she disappeared into the mist in seconds. She had even forgotten her shield in her haste, though it was possible that she left it on purpose due to its battered state.
Feeling his face redden, he turned around, pulled his sword out that was still stuck in the Gryphon's eye. It had a moderately large dent in it but it had fared better than his dagger which had unfortunately been turned to shards when it fell with the stalactites. In a daze, he made his way further down wondering just what had come over him.
The cave was dark, almost pitch black. Auden lit a match with one hand, carrying his sword with his other though the small flickering flame didn't help much except to brighten up a few inches around him.
"Ah, crap. Maybe I should turn back." He muttered, not wanting to enter a place where his vision was limited but it was too late for that. Looking around the darkness, he had no idea which direction he had come from or where to go.
It had only been a few minutes, but he felt like he had been wandering for hours stumbling over loose rocks in the darkness, and to his horror, he was starting to run out of matches. With every minute that passed, he was starting to think he would never be able to find his way out of the cave. He leaned against a wall tiredly, his legs refusing to walk any further.
"How long is this cave anyway..." Auden complained to no one in particular. Most caves near Sefrath were never this long, or at least the ones he knew about weren't. Most likely, there was some kind of concealing magic in this cave that had trapped him here. If it was one of the complex kind, he would probably be trapped here for eternity. Shuddering at the thought of staying in the darkness forever, he slammed his fist into the wall in frustration.
Something clicked behind him and Auden tumbled backward into a small dimly lit room as the wall opened up with a grinding noise. The room was filled with runic symbols and a pentagram was drawn in chalk on the floor. White dust smudged the edges as if it had been erased and redrawn countless times. Bottles of strange liquid of various colors sat on a desk with a- is that a human eye? Eerie green flames from several candles flickered from the sudden gust of wind that rushed into the room along with him. A hooded figure stood amongst a pile of monster corpses, and he stepped back at the sight of Auden.
"Auden?" The figure said, seemingly agitated for a moment before his voice softened. "Wasn't expecting to see you here today, lad."
Startled, he looked at the hooded figure, recognizing the voice. Beneath the shade of the hood, he could just make out the features of a long dignified face with a sharp beard. But why would he be here of all places? No, just what was
"Master Dunehal!?" He voiced his surprise as he got up and picked up his weapon slowly. But why would he be here of all places? No, just what was Master Dunehal doing in this creepy secret room when he was supposed to be having some urgent business? Come to think of it, Dunehal hadn't even told him what the urgent business was.
"What are you doing here, lad?" Dunehal asked quite calmly though it was evident that he was on guard. His right hand was kept inside the cloak and he took down his hood covering his face. The flickering light illuminated a wary smile on his face.
"I could ask you the same question." Auden backed away and looked around the room. He could see more grotesque things other than the eye lying on the desk now after standing up, and a few more symbols on the walls and floor. "Is- is that black magic runes?"
"It's nothing to concern yourself with, lad. You're too young to understand."
Black magic was strongly forbidden in the kingdom, and whoever was caught practicing it would face immediate execution. He still couldn't believe Master Dunehal, his mentor and the respected person who raised him would be doing this.
"Come now, Irvene must be worried about you, yes? Let's get you back home to your sister and forget all about this."
Unconsciously, Auden nodded and took a step forward. He watched, horrified and unable to control his body that was now acting on its own as his hands fell limply to his sides and let go of his sword. Dunehal's voice was soothing and calm, and it felt as if it was the right thing to do, to get closer and to listen to him, but the conscious part of him knew Dunehal was using a mind-control spell, trying to get him to come closer so he would be able to erase his memories. He had been trained to resist mind-control by Dunehal himself before but this was stronger than anything he had ever felt. Dunehal smiled, a warm kind smile but he could sense something else behind it- Danger.
With all the willpower he had left, he bit his tongue as hard as he could. Pain shot through his nerves, jerking him free of the control suddenly. Leaping back as far as he could away from Dunehal, he snatched up his sword trying to keep a good distance between him. The nearer one was to a mind-control spell, the stronger it would get, and Dunehal was a genius in this field meaning if he got close enough, he would be helpless and at his mercy.
There was still a nagging feeling left in his mind as traces of the control lingered, telling him to go back and go home to Irvene but he suppressed it down. Frustration flashed across Dunehal's face before vanishing as quickly as it appeared.
"Come now, don't make this difficult for me, lad." Dunehal said, taking a few steps before Auden pointed the tip of his blade at him.
"What is the meaning of this?"
"As I've said, you're still too weak to understand this," Dunehal said vaguely, his smile had now vanished and replaced with a stern frown.
"I'm not like how I was before, Master." Auden didn't mind being called weak or a coward, but he hated being kept in the dark. "I think you also owe me an explanation."
Dunehal pondered for a bit before replying. "Alright lad, let's do it this way. If you can manage to humor me, I'll let you know a few things before I erase your memories." The slight feeling of the mind-control disappeared as the spell was released.
He pulled out a tall curved wooden staff from underneath his cloak. On the tip was a large pure rune crystal that glittered a dark green shade in the flickering light. In his other hand was a black sword, the blade shimmering with dark energy. Runes lit up on the handle and Auden could already feel a tremendous force from the blade alone.
"Get ready lad," He said, advancing slowly towards Auden. "I'm not going to go easy just because you're my disciple."
With a quick motion, Dunehal suddenly slammed his staff into the ground. Auden did a backward flip quickly and missed the rocky spike that had emerged out of the ground where he was standing seconds ago nearly. This old man wasn't playing around. If Auden was only a few seconds late in moving, he would've been impaled.
Dunehal was a master in both magic and close combat which was a big disadvantage to Auden since all he had was a sword. He didn't even have any special abilities or sword skills like Elyse. The only thing he could do in this situation was to bait his enemy and counter at the right moment. He knew all of Dunehal's usual attacks and this was the only thing he could use to his advantage.
A sharp gust of wind broke him out of thinking and he narrowly avoided it before it sliced several inches into the rock wall behind him like it was butter. However it was not over yet, the first was just a distraction and a huge gust of wind started revolving around Dunehal, picking up papers and small objects in the room into the air.
Dunehal tapped the ground again with his staff. The rocky flooring of the cave split into pieces and small rocks and stones were picked up by the whirlwind, turning it into a deadly barrier of sharp stones rotating with enough force to kill a person if they got in its path.
With a wave of his staff, there was a roar as flames seemingly ignited out of thin air, fusing with the winds and turning into one huge dome of flames covering him. Wind with flying rocks was hard enough to deal with, but this was overkill. Dunehal stood in the center, unharmed and grinning.
"Well lad, what are you going to do about this?" He taunted as the whirlwind of destruction expanded outwards toward Auden.