The wind slowly grazed at the carvings in the stone doors that prayed above us, sealing away the opening to the established caves located at the shores of the Neutral land, that also intersected with the beginning of the Elven forests and went further across their shores to complete the cave's system.
Our party looked upwards, inspecting the inscriptions embedded on the surface of the stone entrance. We looked for multiple minutes, all puzzled, before we realised that this language was unlike any language belonging to this world's books. Some of the party were exhilarated by the possibility of a yet discovered race, whilst the others disregarded this fact and simply wanted to continue on with the quest we have decided to take on.
I was unable to fit myself into any of these two emotions. I felt rather uncomfortable and seemingly frightened at the possibility of an undiscovered race instead.
"Right! Everyone, you must all have your thoughts around this discovery and the potential things this might mean. However, we have a quest to complete. So if you want to search for traces of this race and their unthinkably desirable treasures, we must swiftly complete this! So focus people!" His words shining a deep emphasis on the words desirable treasures, as he relayed his instructions to us.
"Before we go in, I need to explain what this quest is and what it involves. You ready to hear it Blank? Or would you rather or go in without knowing anything, like a thrill seeker!~" He crouched next to me and whispered, his face contorting into unseemly expressions. A crazed smile that showed only his animalistic desires, a fiend driven by his hunger for untold wealth. Even if he had to become the cruellest of them all to do so. As he slaughtered the rare Winged- horned deer, which was already low in numbers, without batting an eye previously.
"I-I'd rather hear what this place has in store for me." His face fell, upon hearing my words, returning to normal.
"I suppose you would like to know... Not that it'll be that important to you."
"Huh?" The sound left my lips but he ignored it and began listing me the objectives and the purpose of this mission as well as what my role would be.
"Ok, listen up because I will say this once and only once. The quest we are taking on is collecting Earthworm eggs and bringing them back to the guild securely, ready to receive our reward. This is the exact reason why I was looking for someone small."
"You may, or may not know that Giant Earthworms usually take shelter and breed in already existing grounds. They only make slight adjustments based on their preferences and needed accommodations. The reason that they decide on already formed grounds, is because it's a natural barrier against their predators as well as other creatures who are looking to disturb; so for this reason, they dig themselves in places such as cave systems. There is practically no way of getting in without alerting them immediately because you would have to smash your way through. That's where you come in."
"Earthworms need light to be able to operate in the darkness, therefore they can replicate the effects of light after seeing it by manipulating mana particles. Their problem is that they can't replicate it forever. They need to get these glimpses of light every two to three hours or so. But how can they get light when they're underground in a cave system, you might ask? They leave small cracks in the caves roof allowing small beams of light to come inside. It's just about big enough for someone of your size to use."
"Oh and don't worry, the eggs are the same size as you but they weigh practically nothing. You should be able to get them out with ease. Anyway, you got that?"
After he finished his rather detailed explanation of why he brought me along and what the mission was, I stood there blankly for a couple of seconds before my brain caught up. His hand waved in my face as he whispered an annoying "Hello~".
"Eh, yes! I... think I got that."
"Ok party, gather around." Our leader, Skull face, shouted rallying us all back into one spot since the group scattered round the edges of the cave inspecting it for more mysteries or just simply relaxing, taking a brief moment of silence before an exhausting quest.
Rain drops now gently fell on us as we huddled together ready to hear our party leader's final words before we enter.
"I will quickly tell you the formation we will be entering the cave in. Keep in mind, when not fighting you don't have to follow it exactly, but still stick close enough to your fellow teammates in case of emergency. At the front, I want our Souls." Red wolf, Crafty and edgy rich kid all nodded their head in unison.
"Then as our rear, I obviously want our magicians. Blank, I want you to also be apart of the rear, is that understood?" I give him a firm look as I swallow my doubts. All the magicians give me a pat on the back and gesture at me to follow them.
"And finally, the rest of us will be supporting the rest of them. We are the glue that holds this team in tight situations and we are the one's who need to take charge if anything goes wrong. Now let's get going!"
"Right!" All of them shout together as they begin walking towards the closed off entrance. Red snake, still with closed eyes, smiled at me and urged me forwards with light shoves to my back. The two other magicians walked in front of me, their formation with Red snake formed a triangle, that held me captive, as if I was a prisoner, being led to my execution unbeknownst to me.
The rain now heavily splattered against the door, removing the dust and sand of it on impact. "I suppose it's time we go in." Announced Skull face, as he moved forwards towards it with Blind spot, everyone making way for them.
"On the count of three." Suggested Blind spot.
"Ok."
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
As the countdown ended the two seemingly pushed with intense force, both exerting their source strength as they pressed forwards against the titan doors, which began scraping at the cobbled floor that stood as their support, as the door began revealing the darkness beyond the once closed entrance. Beams of light slowly broke in illuminating a tiny area right in front of the opening.
"Everybody. We enter now." Those commands pierced our ears as our leader's words echoed back from cave that he faced towards, not tearing his eye away once.
Everybody slowly made their way in, me being the only one who was in the back watching their silhouettes enter from the outside.
Why are my legs frozen? I need to do this! There is no better place to start! I need to take this chance! Why... why are those flags coming up again!? Sure they maybe driven by greed and self interest, but that doesn't mean anything! Now move! MOVE!!
The rain lashing down snapping me out of my trance as the rest of my party look back, staring ominously at me. Their gazes chaining me down, to their lust for greed. "Are you coming? Or is this where are small partnership ends?" Threatened Blind spot, the rest of them taking a hold of their weapons.
My heart beat quickened and my breathing became disturbed. I struggled to breathe, trying to take the oxygen from the atmosphere, but I only felt daggers racing down my throat, scarring it from the inside and piercing my skin and digging in to the wall that was this party. I realised this before... but it is now too obvious to push back down. I'm a lamb for slaughter... awaiting the call of my master to see if I get to live.
"Brother..."
"Huh? Krill?" My eyes shot open in shock.
Did I just hear my brothers voice?
"Oi! Are you moving or not?!" Skull face sounded.
I have to. For your sake, brother. I will return your body to you... At all costs! "I'm coming!"
"Then get your ass moving boy! Don't slow us down!"
I won't let this be the end of me. Not until I can welcome you back. These thoughts sounded through my mind as I jogged inside the cave, re-joining the party. They all look at me as nothing but a temporary measure to achieve their current goal. But I won't let it end like this.
"Okay! Let's continue moving."
Our party forged onwards into the depths of the cave. The magicians, apart from me, casted a small fire which they held, serving as our light in this otherwise dark abyss. The party's magicians, Soul's and pacemakers had all split up now. Each of the different groups took different tunnels, as to faster locate the Earthworm's nest. Obviously, the souls didn't have magic, however they seemed to have some kind of special arts that allowed them to produce light in it's purest form. Therefore we didn't need to distribute magicians or pacemaker's over to the Soul's which was rather convenient.
I, just as instructed, was keeping with the magicians group. However the fears that I held before entering the place had not disappeared. If anything they magnified, which made me obsessively worried and had me keeping a safe distance from the magicians. But obviously since I can't use light, I couldn't venture too far away from them either. The magic that I had taught myself in two days was minimalistic and didn't prove much worth so far. After all, I had labelled them to be useful only in combat. I didn't particularly learn any magic that would help me see in the dark. I neither touched on my source strength. But I can't... I shouldn't use source strength.
Our search in the cave had most likely spanned for over half an hour, but it was hard to tell. After all, there was no natural light indicating what time it could be. There was just darkness. We had found multiple things, yet none of them even hinted at where the Earthworm's nest could be. Just skeleton's, minor monsters that the others swiftly dealt with, and some scattered treasure but, apparently it was too low in value from what our leader said.
Our leader also told us to even look for more entrances or massive bulges along the walls that may indicate where they had been moving around. Apparently, there could be entrances to lead us to deeper parts of the cave we have had yet to enter. That was pretty confusing for me. After all, who on earth would make entrances to these caves and then decided to make more, that will lead deeper into the caves. Seemed kind of pointless to me... unless there was something they desperately wanted to hide.
The further we went inside, the more swarms of Dagger ants and spike spiders flocked towards us all with malicious intent of devouring us. Dagger ants were somewhat becoming a phobia for me. There appearance really freaked me out. Normal ants are fine but not these! The Dagger ants were half the size on average adult, and keep in mind I'm an 8 year old. So the ants were my height, had freaky long hairs coming of them that felt like splinters to the touch and had fangs that coming of it's head in the shape of two curved daggers that extended for half a metre each. As for spike spiders... well, it's pretty self explanatory.
"Oi! Stop dragging your feet Blank. Come over here, we need you for this one." The magician with grey hair called over. His eyes were still clearly visible even in the dark when he didn't shine his fire due to there lemon colour.
"Coming, Rat." I replied
"Don't call me Rat! Stupid kid! Either call me by my full adventurer name, or address me with my nickname."
"Which is?"
"Sora."
"Ok. I will refer to you as Sora from now on."
"Good. Now we need you to go down that opening. The rest of us tried, but it seems to be too small for us."
I looked at the opening as Sora directed his hand closer to the entrance, shining the light on the cramped hole. I could certainly see why they couldn't get in... but why would they even try. The hole was crawling with webs and you could hear the multiple hissing noises coming from the monsters who are waiting on the other side.
"Could I bow out for this one." I timidly asked, only for Sora's smile to disappear. The minuscule flame that was only used to maintain visibility in the cave had now increased in size and ferocity, now being pointed straight at me.
"Hahaha." A bleak laugh escaped his mouth. "Sorry for that. I didn't mean to sound like you had an option to refuse." A smile now returned to his face, but it wasn't the kind, comforting smile of before. It glowed under the fierce flames conjured by his mana, emanating it's sadistic energy as he forcefully grabbed my hand with his other one and began condensing the ball of fire in his hand onto one finger. It came closer to my wrist, it's heat from a small distance away was already burning my skin.
"Please stop! Please, I'll do it, I'll do it! Please!" Only cries escaped my mouth and tears began streaming down my face.
"Oh. Are you? That's great! I knew you wouldn't let us down!" His face now returned to a casual smile, leaving no trace of his sadistic and cruel persona. "Oh? I didn't know it can rain in a cave. Did you?" HE question in regards to my tears and in response I quickly tried to remove them.
"N-n-n-no, I didn't."
"Right. Neither did I. Now go be a good boy and make yourself useful." He shoved me towards the hole as he watched me, making sure I would go inside.
I can't die. I can't die I can't die. But if I go in, I might get injured and leave scars on this body. I could never! It belongs to my brother! I can't take anything away from him, any possibilities. I have to make sure his body is in perfect condition when I return it. But if I go back. He'll brand me with his flames there's nothing I can do. And the other won't help me either. They either just ignore what's going on or partake in it. Fuck! I... I guess I got to go in.
"You alright there, Blank. Need a friendly boost to get you over the line?" His words reeked of anger and irritation. I can't waste any more time. I have to go in!
I walked over slowly and stealthily. I don know why though. I guess it was some kind of defence mechanism because I was so scared. I got closer and I began conjuring small wind blade before releasing it towards the webs that obstructed the small opening.
"You can use magic after all! Guess you're not as worthless!"
I ignored his words and took a couple shallow breaths before holding my breath as I plunged into the whole. On the other side... no monsters were found. Their squeamish noises were clearly directed from the whole but there was nothing but a similar rocky corridor like the rest of the cave. The only difference is that there were two torches at the very entrance casting light gingerly.
I tried to call out to the others through the hole, but when I did no one responded. I took a closer look through, and there was nothing on the other side of the hole now.
"What the -?"
I stumbled backwards before snatching one of the torches from the wall and reconsidering my next move.
I suppose it might be best to go forwards for now and see what I can find and then go back and report.
My next move was now established, and so I began following through with it by following the only path forwards. The dark corridor eventually led me to an intersection with two paths. Either right. Or left. I guess it would be the RIGHT way to go. I took a swift turn to the right and followed the path further to encounter a left turn before going forwards some more and the another small left turn before coming to a similar intersection. This time though, I was coming from one of the sides instead of taking one of the sides. My only remaining way to go was down that one path straight to the right. Also, looking at the other side that leads to this, it seems if I picked left originally, I would have still ended up in this place.
Since going straight would end up leading me into a circle, I decided to choose the only other path available. I ventured another ten steps forward before twisting my body to the right. This path was already much different. It no longer resembled the walls of the cave, being perfectly black in colour and having no bumps. It was a corridor that could have been designed by human hand. It was fairly cramped, but the ceiling of the corridor reached far into the heavens. I trudged on further ahead, the light from my torch slowly dissipating.
"No, no, no, no. Please don't go out." I prayed out loud. "Just last a bit longer."
Then, an unexpected breeze emerged from the depths of the corridor. A faint cyan glow shaped in some kind of distorted swirl. It was a rune. I think. I approached closer with the little bit of light that I had remaining on my torch. It was a door? Or a portal? I think portal would have been more appropriate. Stone slabs placed around it and the cyan swirling rune placed atop.
"Wow." My amazement leapt out of me with that word. I tried to place my hand through portal, but as I tried it burst out in a pure white luminosity. Startled, my hand shot back and my eyes widened. I tried to reassure myself before I approach it once more, however in the next moment, it was longer there. For the split second that I looked down at my hand. It disappeared.
"What the -. Am I hallucinating?" My mind and my eyes were confident I had seen it. But maybe I didn't? Ughhh! I'm going to trust myself on this and say it was there. But since it's not here anymore, I won't be reporting it to the rest.
"Suppose I should head back. My light is almost gone and I've seen everything I could have."
I made my way back instantly and travelled all the way back to the same hole which I crawled through.
"Guys! Still no response, huh? If I go through this hole again, am I even guaranteed to end up where I was previously?"
"Where the fuck is this kid? Ughhh! If it wasn't for the fact that we need him, I would have killed him ages ago!"
Just like I thought. My assumptions were confirmed. They indeed wanted to dispose me after I had assisted them. After the blind trust I put in them for offering me such a high paying job, this was deserved. After ignoring all the red flags that came up, this was deserved. And now I was hearing it directly from them after climbing out of the hole. They had yet to notice me though.
"I'm back." I let out a meek voice to inform them of my immediate return.
Sora and the two other magicians all turned to face me, changing their expressions. Then Sora began walking in my direction, before he crouched in front of me, placed his arm on my shoulder and looked at me with his fake facade. His usual gentle smile looked all the more terrifying after you realise how quickly and effortlessly he can change his outward expression. It sunk grave fear in me.
"So, what did you find over there?"
I began listing everything I found over there and my surprises. All apart from the cyan rune portal, of course.
"Hmmm. That is a rather strange place you explored. Good job for reporting your findings, I'll pass it onto our leader. So come on, time to regroup with them. Whilst you was away, we were informed by the others of the potential layer of the Giant Earthworms."
Sora then got up and walked of with the other two magicians as I sat there for a little while longer.
I need to stay with them for now. I need to get the money and survive this place. Maybe they'll change and see that I'm useful. I just have to prove it to them. Then they'll spare me.
My look hardened as I got up onto one knee and supported myself up of the floor. I will survive! And I will get you your body back!