Unbeknownst to me, a familiar tragedy was playing out back at the clearing.
"Stay close." The nameless member of Travis's team yells back at us from the front. The mammoth tree leaves above glow dimly from light of the suns. All I can hear is the ragged breathing of my fellow students and the occasional stumble due to low visibility. Even with the added luminescence of the fungus, the forest floor is in perpetual twilight.
One kid starts to lag behind but our leader his quick to notice.
"Someone help that kid in the back, no gets left behind."
I slow down and throw the kid's arm over my shoulder to support him.
"I got you, just keep moving." The haggard child doesn't have the strength to respond and can only wheeze back.
I'm glad we spent so much time getting in shape or this would be me.
We keep running for another couple minutes until another kid starts falling back, and then another.
"Shit, someone help them!" The archer calls back from the front.
Sakura and Josh are quick to help but a fourth kid starts lagging behind as well.
"I'm fine go help them." The haggard kid I'm aiding is looking noticeably better. His breath has returned and he can even talk. "I'll make it the rest of the way myself."
"Got it." I detach myself from his side and turn back to help the latest casualty.
"Put your arm over my shoulder, I'll help you."
"Don't you dare touch me."
"Tyrion?"
Crash!
Before I know it, the ground gives way beneath my feet. I'm in free fall briefly before slamming into the ground.
"Ow." I send a probe down my body and check to make sure I can still move.
"Help!" A high pitched voice calls out from the darkness.
As my eyes adjust to the lack of light, I see Tyrion in a crumbled mess on top of a pile of rocks.
"That wasn't me." He says as he notices my gaze. To prove his point, he stands up and wipes himself off.
I untangle myself and look around to find the source of the noise. A little further down I see a tunnel descend into an abyss.
"Light?"
Tyrion sighs and tosses me a stone.
"What's this?"
"It's a light stone, obviously. Just put in some mana and it'll glow."
"…"
"Oh, I'm sorry. Do you not have any mana?" He asks, mockingly. A glance at my status reveals my mana capacity to be zero. "How interesting."
Tyrion extends his hand to retrieve the stone so I throw it back at him.
"Hey, watch it. That's expensive." He blocks the stone with his arms and picks it up off the ground.
In an instant, the cave is filled with light. There's a small hole above us and a single tunnel heading down.
"Lead the way, oh mighty magic user." I sneer.
"I like the sound of that, feel free to keep using that moniker in the future."
"Shut up."
We walk down into the tunnel until it opens up into a wide cavern.
"Wow."
"It's probably an abandoned dungeon." Tyrion explains.
"But it's so small."
The tunnel is only about forty feet with a slope of maybe thirty degrees.
"Most dungeons are small like this, how do you not know this?"
"They haven't gotten to that part yet in the beginners course."
"Whatever. There's only a handful of dungeons that become big enough to survive long term. Most have their dungeon core destroyed or stolen before then."
"So dungeons grow?"
"Yes."
I look around at the bare cavern until my eyes land on a tiny person with wings growing out of their back.
"Go away!" The tiny girl shouts when she notices my gaze.
"Is that a fairy?"
"It appears so. A rock must have landed on one of its wings during the cave in."
Now that he mentions it, I notice a stone sitting on one of her feathery wings.
"Don't come any closer!" Her chest heaves rapidly as she presses her back against the stone in fear.
"Potion." I demand while extending a hand toward Tyrion.
"What do you need that for? Just kill her and take her core."
I resist the urge to immediately punch him in the face but he must have sensed my intentions because he flinches and takes a step back.
"What are you so pissed about? It's just a dumb fairy."
"Potion." I respect with more force this time.
"Fine." He sighs and hands me a potion from within his robe.
I walk up to the injured fairy and smile.
"So how would you eat us?" I ask.
"What?!"
"You said you were going to eat us, how would you do it? Would you have a barbecue or make a stew-"
"Stew!" She shouts excitedly.
"What kind of stew?" While keeping her distracted, I carefully lift the offending stone and inspect her wing. It's bent at a weird angle.
"Vegetable stew!"
"What would you put in it?" I hold the velvety wing up and carefully apply the potion. The bones smoothly snap back into place.
"All of them!" She smiles and hugs herself as she imagines such a concoction. Her blond hair bounces back and forth with excitement.
"That sounds yummy, can you move your wing for me?" I wiggle her wing to test it before stepping back.
She panics as she comes to her senses and hops backward.
"I healed your wing, I think. Can you fly?"
She gasps at my words and flaps her wings. With little effort she floats up into the air.
"Woohee can fly again!" She cries, her golden eyes sparkle with joy.
"So your name is Woohee? I'm Nick, nice to meet you."
"Woohee's name isn't Woohee!" She shouts as she darts out of the cave.
"Did you have fun?" Tyrion frowns from his position near the entrance. Despite his words, he made no effort to stop me from healing the fairy or impeding her retreat.
"Yeah, thanks for the help."
"You owe me for that potion."
Most of the liquid remains in the bottle but I don't mention that.
"No problem. Anyway we should get going."
"Don't you want to check that out first?" Tyrion motions to the other side of the room with his chin. By the far wall sits a wooden chest.
"A chest? Isn't that a little cliche?"
"What are you talking about? Goblins make them and store their valuables inside." Again he makes no move.
"Don't you want to take a look?"
"I don't want to get my hands dirty." He shrugs.
"So you were going to make me kill the fairy myself, were you?"
"Obviously."
I shake my head and walk up to the chest. It's shoddily made. A simple wood design with no lock.
I pull up the lid and check what's inside.
"Oh good, there weren't any traps." Tyrion says offhandedly from behind me. Again the urge to strike him rises through my chest but I hold it in.
"That's why you didn't want to open yourself ."
"Obviously."
I can only sigh now that he's gotten me twice so far today. First with the magic stone and now this. He seems like just a dumb bully but he actually thinks through everything pretty well. I'll have to keep that in mind going forward.
"What's inside?" He urges.
"Let me check." The light from the magic stone illuminates the bottom of the chest as my nemesis draws near.
"A sword and a stone?"
"That's a fairy core."
"Why don't you take that core since you wanted one so bad and I'll take the sword." He looks at me like I'm stupid and hesitates. "It's fine, you said I owe you for the potion, right?"
"I'm not going to argue with you." He snatched up the stone and it disappears into his robe.
I pick up the sword and feel the weight in my hands. It's comfortable to hold, not to heavy and the blade looks sharp.
I bet Josh will like this.