Spurred by his desire to make things right, Siquioce
proceeded to waddle alongside his friends after Bo, following closely behind
him as he led the trio past the many trees of the jungle, all of which only
grew greyer and greyer as time went on. Eventually, the party found themselves
in a fully white grove, where not even a hint of color could be seen.
"Oh man," said Yuchauzh, looking around in disbelief, "This
is unreal..."
Kantuta nodded, taking in the sight of the bleached trees
with worried eyes.
"I must agree with you on that, Yuchauzh. This place looks
like a ghost town..."
As his travel mates observed the dismal state of the jungle,
Siquioce heard a soft, sad chirp from his bluegill chick. Upset by this, the
Samanian stepped in front of his companions, giving them both a serious look.
"We must hurry and find the root of this problem, you two. My
bird can't last much longer in these conditions; he's suffering just being
here! Come, let's split up and look for whatever might be draining the life
from this place."
Kantuta and Yuchauzh exchanged glances before nodding and
parting ways, scouring the immediate area for anything notable or telling. As
the elf and orc continued their search, Bo squinted his eyes and held his chin,
eyeing the adventurers with confused intrigue.
"So, fish is leader. Bo wonder how that that work..."
A short while later, Yuchauzh shouted from afar, "Yo, guys,
I found something!"
Raising his eyebrows, Siquioce shuffled across the dry
ground in the northern direction to reach Yuchauzch, who was standing at the
mouth of a large cave. Looking deep into the cavern, Siquioce let out a loud
gasp, taking a step back in surprise.
"Great Tomanil...this cave is gigantic!"
Kantuta soon entered the scene, wearing a slightly annoyed
expression as she inquired, "What is it, Yu—my
word! What is this size?!"
Catching up to the group, Bo
became as surprised as them once he laid his eyes on the gaping hole.
"This what at heart of jungle?!
Bo never see this before! Did something happen?"
Kantuta hummed contemplatively,
crossing her arms as she replied, "Well, whatever happened, it was not natural;
someone or something clearly dug this hole. And I have a hunch that we may be
able to find the culprit if we head deeper into this hollow."
Hearing this, Bo immediately
backed away, pushing his scaly hands outward as he shook his head fervently.
"No, no, no. Bo sit this one
out. Heroes go ahead."
"What?!" Kantuta gave the
Urosite a look of surprise before narrowing her eyes at him, "Hmph, and here I
was thinking that you were not as much of a coward as your father made you out
to be. Agh...well, I suppose that leaves us three, then. Shall we go, Siquioce?"
The Samanian nodded, "We shall.
But first..."
He closed his eyes and
concentrated, taking in a deep breath as he began to absorb moisture from the
stagnant air. Although he tried his best, the most he was able to get from the
dead atmosphere was a small puddle of moisture. Sighing, he decided to settle
for the water he was able to gather and faced back towards the cave.
"Okay, I'm ready."
With that, the party stepped
forward into the cavity, their pace slow but certain as they walked over dry
mud, loose gravel, and finally hard stone. After getting past the first slope,
the travelers found themselves in near-complete darkness.
"...Huh." Yuchauzh said, "We
really didn't think this through, did we? How the heck're we supposed see down
here?"
Kantuta let out a huff of
superiority, responding, "Did you forget, orc? I have the perfect spell for
this situation..."
The sound of a stick hitting the
ground echoed through the cave before Kantuta shouted "Flash!", causing the
head of her staff to shine brightly and illuminate the surrounding area.
Siquioce and Yuchauzh stared in
awe at the glowing staff for a few seconds before the orc let out a small
chuckle, saying, "Oh yeah, I did forget about that lil' spell. Probably because
it did nothing to me the first time I saw it."
"Ah—" Kantuta gave Yuchauzh an
offended look before angrily blushing and turning away, "Shut up..."
Siquioce laughed a bit at
Kantuta's expense before stating, "Well, this is good, isn't it? Exploring this
cave should be much easier now. " He pointed forward, "Lead the way, Kantuta!"
Kantuta gave Siquioce a look before
sighing and rolling her eyes, walking ahead of her mates with a mix of
annoyance and determination in her expression.
"Whatever you say, leader. Let
me show you the real power of my Flash spell!"
And so, with their path
illuminated by Kantuta's light, the trio made their way through the large cave,
their steps echoing between the rocky walls as they ventured deeper and deeper
into the tunnel. During their trek, Siquioce took the time to look around at
the walls, taking notice of the fact that they were riddled with holes and
gaps.
"Hm, that's weird. Is it normal
for caves to have this many depressions?"
Yuchauzh shrugged, "Beats me. Maybe
the rocks in this cave are one of those holey kinds. Y'know, like pumice and
stuff."
Kantuta scoffed and shook her
head, "Yuchauzch, you idiot, that would be impossible; rocks like that only
form near volcanos. Even if stones such as pumice miraculously ended up here,
they could not possibly be stable enough to form this cave's walls. No, there
must be another explanation for these holes. Possibly—"
Kantuta's
sentence was interrupted by a sudden and violent quake that shook through the
entire cave, causing everyone but Yuchauzh to fall to the ground.
"Ack—hey!"
Kantuta winced and got up, looking around in confusion, "What did that?"
Yuchauzch
pointed forward, answering, "I dunno exactly, but something tells me that it
came from over there."
Kantuta
rolled her eyes, "Gee, you think? Siquioce, shall we go investigate?"
Groaning,
the Samanian got up and nodded, "Yeah, we shall. Come on."
With
that, the heroes ventured further into the cave, following the quiet rumblings
as they traversed through the rest of the long hallway. Eventually, the trio
entered a larger, wider section of the cave, where a gigantic, brown-furred
creature could be found clawing and biting away at a large, pink crystal.
"What
in the…" Kantuta did a double take, her eyes wide as saucers as she gazed at
the gargantuan cave dweller, "That excamole is humongous!"
Yuchauzh
stared up at the behemoth of a mole, his expression as shocked as the others as
he added, "Yeah, that thing is, like, 100 times bigger than what it should be. Is
this a hotspot for grubs or something?"
The
giant excamole continued to dig away at the shiny rock for another minute before
suddenly stopping and sniffing the air. After finding something, it hopped and
spun around, looking down at the party with its small red eyes. Holding its stubby
but thick claws close to its chest, the mammal let out a low growl, baring its silvery
teeth in a threatening manner.
"Um…guys?"
Siquioce said, backing up slowly, "I don't think we're supposed to be here…"
Looking
back at his friend, Yuchauzh frowned and asked, "What, are you scared of this
overgrown worm muncher? We can take him on no problem."
Reeling
back in surprise, Kantuta inquired, "Are you insane?! There's no way that we can
stand up to such a titanic beast!"
"Oh
yeah?" Yuchauzh pointed behind Kantuta, "Well, we're gonna have to; that excamole's
already on the attack."
Turning
her head, Kantuta let out a gasp as she watched the malicious miner leap up,
clap its paws together, and rotate it's body like a drill to bore into the
ground. Groaning in distress, she turned back to Siquioce and said:
"Ah,
it seems like there's no way out of this after all. What do you say, leader? Should
we stay and fight? Or should we attempt to escape?"
Feeling
the rumbling of the stones beneath him, Siquioce ran through the options in his
head before sighing and shaking his head.
"I
think we have no choice but to fight."
Hearing
this, Yuchauzh grinned and propped his log up on his shoulder, saying, "That's
what I'm talkin' bout! Let's whack this mole!"