Seeing the rope's threading splitting apart, Craig deduced that it wouldn't be long before the bridge collapsed. "It's about to collapse, there's no need to be gentle anymore. Use your magic, come on!" He yelled.
"I can't! My magic isn't working!" Maeli shouted back as she pulled herself up onto the side of the bridge.
"What! Why!?" Craig shouted in response.
"I don't know." Maeli's voice was filled anxiety as she responded. "Something's interfering with it." She carefully stepped on the closest plank and started making her way over to Craig.
Glowmyth stopped cutting the rope and sighed in disappointment. "Well that didn't go the way I thought it would. I was sure he would rush across to save himself." Her test had ended in a failure so she decided to stop cutting the rope.
Pak! Pak! Pak!
However, that didn't stop the rope from continuing to break apart.
"Oh no! I might have messed up a little bit... I hope they survive?" She said to herself in a helpless manner.
Pak! Pak! Poof!
Maeli was just about to reach Craig when the side of rope Glowmyth had cut through broke, flipping the bridge sideways. The feedback from the collapse caused the two of them to nearly loose their grip. They were both hanging like clothes on a line above the seemingly infinitely deep canyon.
"We should go back, it's much closer!" Maeli shouted in suggestion. From her point of view, if they tried to go all the way across they might not make it.
Craig shook his head. "What about A'ina! If we don't go on we might not be able to save her!" He countered, determined to keep going.
Maeli realized that this was a situation where retreat wasn't an option. She didn't know any other way into the forbidden territory and even if there was one it may take too long to find it. With these thoughts she nodded and moved toward Craig as he moved toward the other side of the bridge.
Poof!
Before they had gotten anywhere, the second main rope suddenly broke causing the bridge to collapse vertically across to the other side the canyon.
Bang!
The broken bridge along with Craig and Maeli hit the cliff-side with a loud bang. They both uttered a yelp from the impact. Several of the planks split apart upon impact, leaving the main ropes and small pieces of wood. The ropes themselves were slowly breaking thread by thread in several places and even the supporting stump at the top of cliff was bending under the weight.
"Oops." Glowmyth whispered to herself in guilt. If she hadn't done what she did, none of this probably wouldn't have happened.
"We need to climb up fast!" Craig shouted as he looked down at Maeli. Then he began making his way upward.
Maeli followed after him and the two of them climbed as fast as they could. It was a long way up, a distance of almost thirty metres.
As he climbed, Craig could feel the snapping of the the rope's threading, vibrating into his hands. Looking up, he could see an area of rope that was much thinner than everywhere else. He then looked down at the mist way below and felt his heart skip a beat. Whatever was beneath the mist, he certainly did not want to find out.
He tried his best to increase his speed to overtake that thinning out area and get Maeli above it as well.
"Wuh!" He groaned as he suddenly felt his weight increase and a grip clamped around his ankle. Looking down he noticed Maeli holding on to his leg with one hand, hanging in mid-air. The rest of the bridge was falling down into the canyon, eventually disappearing into the mist.
Pak! Pak!
The thin area above was breaking even faster than before. Craig did a quick analysis of the situation and held onto the rope with one hand, extending the other one to Maeli. "Reach for my hand!" He grunted as he tried to pull her up higher with his leg to shorten her reach.
She reached for his hand and eventually their hands locked together, then he pulled her up to his chest where she grabbed onto his shoulder with her other hand. Following that she grabbed onto the rope slightly above him after releasing his hand. Her legs were locked around his waist and her face was slightly above his, but close enough that their nose touched. His freed hand was also now wrapped around her waist. If it wasn't for the dire situation, you would think they about to embrace each other passionately.
"Go up, I'm right behind you!" Craig yelled softly.
She nodded and quickly pulled herself upward as Craig followed behind her. In quick fashion she had arrived at the thinned out area, but as soon as she grabbed above it, several threads had snapped simultaneously.
Craig felt himself drop a short distance as the rope continued to snap. He felt a sense of impending doom run through him.
Maeli quickly looked down when she felt the vibration of the rope snapping and extended her hand toward him. In the nick of time he had grabbed onto her hand, but before he could get a proper grip the rope had completely snapped and their fingers only gripped for an instant before his hand slid out of hers.
Whoosh!
He was falling... there was no turning back time, nothing to grab on to, just a sense of doom coursing through his mind and body. 'Well, this is it huh.' He thought as he looked up at Maeli's panicked and deformed expression. He felt as if everything was happening in slow motion, but that only lasted for an instant. 'Sorry princess, I won't be able to save you. Sorry mom, dad, I won't be able to avenge you.' These were his last thoughts as he closed his eyes and plummeted downwards.
"Craiiiiiiig!!!!"
Maeli's mournful scream echoed into the surroundings as she witnessed Craig's figure disappearing into the mist. She went completely blank, looking down into the mist whilst holding on to the rope subconsciously. A sudden hollow feeling had completely overtaken her. The small amount of time they had spent together flashed through her mind as water flowed from her eyes. She realised then that she didn't dislike him as much as she thought.
It was the vibration of the rope continuing to break that brought her back to her senses. She quickly climbed upwards until she made it to the top of the cliff. Then, she just stood there, looking down into canyon, wondering. Wondering if there was something more she could have done, wondering if he could have survived. For she truly did not want him to die in such a manner.
All this while, Glowmyth had been observing the entire situation helplessly and witnessed everything. She too was at a loss of how to react to the situation. "Such a strange human." She muttered after some time. "He actually put himself in danger to save her life. Then ended up loosing his own in the process. What a rare treat this was."
"Now how am I going to explain this to Lady Setra!" She started to spin around in a panic. "Technically this is my fault. I killed my mission. If Lady Setra finds out, I'm toast. Toast? Why did I even say that. What am I saying, I need to fix this before Lady Setra's wrath takes my life!" She continued to spin around in a panic unsure of what to do.
"Wait, what if he survived? Yes, yes! The canyon is filled with with water around this time of year. That's why my magic felt so weak earlier, due to the special effects of the canyon. But... the deeper I go the weaker my magic will become. I might even die down there." Glowmyth kept muttering to herself in a fit of panic. The thought of death from the canyon crossed her mind, but Setra's wrath also crossed her mind which to her, was worse than death. A shiver ran through her body as she thought about it and immediately dove into the canyon.
At the edge of the cliff, Maeli was still looking down into the canyon, when she saw a ball of light descending into the depths, disappearing into the mist. "Was that a wisp? Am I so shaken up by his death that I'm hallucinating?" She muttered to herself before taking several deep breaths. "Okay, get yourself together Mae." She consoled herself, followed by a pause. "Thank you, Craig, not just for saving my life this time around, but for the other times as well. I will forever remember it... remember you." After casting one last look into they canyon, she turned around and left.
***
Glowmyth descended into the mist and kept heading downward until she passed through the mist and ended up above a large raging river. The water was deep blue and its flow was extremely violent. It was the kind of current that would make even fish want to find safety on land.
Glowmyth followed the flow of the river downward around several twists and turns. There were multiple waterfalls that all seemed quite terrifying to fall from. "Could he really have survived in a river like this? Even a stone would die after dropping from all these waterfalls." she muttered to herself as she followed the river.
Eventually, she came to a long, straight stretch of river, where the water was even calmer than a regular river. The stretch of river flowed into a large cave with odd glowing mushrooms lighting up the inside.
Glowmyth flew into the cave, continually scanning the surroundings until she spotted a body floating next to rock in the water. Looking closely she verified that it was indeed Craig. His clothes were badly torn and there were bruises all over his body. She quickly flew over and hovered around him. "Is he dead?" She wondered as she bumped onto his back a few times. When that didn't work she landed on his back and glowed brightly. "I hope this works. All my magic will be drained after this."
"Spark."
Bzzzzt!
Using her magic, Glowmyth copied the traits of an electric eel and sent arcs of current into her surroundings. The current entered the water and zapped Craig relentlessly.
"Pah!"
Cough! Cough! Cough!
In an instant Craig immediately woke up and started coughing out mouthfuls of water. As he gasped for breath he simultaneously swam to the riverbank which was close by and pulled himself ashore. He laid on his back and stared at the ceiling of the cave, taking in deep breaths. He couldn't help but laugh joyfully at being alive. 'I can't believe I survived.' He thought.
Turing his head to the left and the right, he took in the scenery of the cave. There were glowing mushrooms scattered all about, lighting up the entire cave. They looked like little blue lanterns placed all over.
The river cut through the center of the cave separating it into two sides. There was a natural bridge connecting the two sides together; a curved stone arc that almost looked like it was man-made.
Craig suddenly felt a bit of pain at the back of his head. As the electric current had numbed his body, all his pain had temporarily disappeared. Now, it was slowly returning. He raised his head slightly and rubbed the area with his hand only to wince in pain. When he looked at his had it was covered in blood. 'Guess I hit my head on the way down. Not just my head though.' He thought as he felt pain coming from over his body, causing him to groan involuntarily.
He felt his vision getting blurry as he became light headed. That was when he saw a ball of light float over and land on his chest, before going dim and disappearing. He tried to look at his chest but before he could see anything he fainted.
On his chest, Glowmyth's tiny figure was clearly visible. A tiny humanoid figure in a little green dress with a pair of white wings. She laid weakly on her back with a pale complexion on her tiny face. "All my magic has been drained." She muttered in a weak voice before also passing out.