Zoe waited until she could see Midir and Famina no longer on the horizon. Midir was too exhausted and depleted to use his Inito to carry Famina, and so he had to resort to the old fashioned way of carrying her on his back.
"Be careful Zoe. If you sense any form of danger, please please return back. We will continue when we are all back to full strength." Famina had pleaded before leaving.
"You were the one who said the revival of the Goddess should not be delayed any longer." Zoe had answered, smiling.
Famina grimly shook her head. "If we begin going into the cave, that is already a step towards the Goddess' revival. We don't need to complete the cave by today. Your safety, your survival is much more essential."
Zoe had laughed and had assured the young nun that she would leave if she felt any danger.
Now thought as she watched the silhouette of Midir and Famina grow smaller in the distance, she wondered whether she would be able to do so. The fight with Exi and Fridt had left her completely exhausted as well. Even though she only used her Inito at the end, she had overextended her magik reserves quite a lot.
Zoe shook her head, trying to remain optimistic.
No use thinking about scenarios I can't control.
She finally moved towards the entrance of the cave, which had been left practically untouched by the recent conflict around it. She walked past the fallen General and the puddle of Exi, deciding to bury then after she came out of the cave. If she came out.
Remember optimistic, I have to be optimistic.
Sighing to herself, she entered the cave.
.XX.
Darkness. Utter and complete.
Zoe's eyes took some time to adjust to the suffocating darkness inside the cave after the blinding sunlight outside. The path inside the cave was very narrow, even though the entrance had been wide enough.
As Zoe made her way through the path, she noticed a speck of light coming from up ahead. Eager to escape the murky darkness, she quickened her step moving towards the light.
As she came closer, she realized that the path in the cave widened close to the light and there seemed to be another entrance. She carefully made her way to the end of the narrow path and through the wide opening.
Now it was back to light. Zoe blinked to adjust her eyes, which had been blinded by the intense light. Once she was able to see clearly again, she looked around to take stock of the situation.
She seemed to be in what was a large cavern. There was no hole in the roof, but the cavern was flooded with light anyway. Zoe looked up and scrutinized the roof but she wasn't able to find out exactly where the light was coming from.
In the middle of the cavern, there stood a pool of glistening water. And in front of the pool, there was a simple sign.
Cleanse yourself of your fatigue, traveller.
It seemed the sign was talking directly to her. Zoe almost felt her tiredness double. She was no longer as fit as she had been during her modelling days, where often she had to run marathons every day of the week.
I am almost forty, she thought ruefully. Her body craved for a rest, some relaxation.
Eagerly she undressed, keeping the shirt and cargo pants neatly folded beside the pool. Then she took off her underwear, and kept it on top of her clothes. Interestingly, across worlds, the underwear was the same. Zoe had noticed it with quite some amusement the first time Famina had handed her a pair of bras and panties.
Having removed all clothes, Zoe stepped into the pool with a satisfied moan. She didn't know whether the water actually had any magik infused with it or not, but she felt her muscles relax. The water was a bit warm, but not scorching. The perfect temperature. It also seemed to slowly work on the bruises she had received in the fight against Exi. Zoe winced slightly as she felt the water washing over her bruises, slowly healing them.
And along with her body healing, Zoe felt something else. The reserves of magik in her, which had depleted almost completely, were being replenished. The process was slow yes, but Zoe wasn't in too much of a hurry. The water felt like heaven on her tired body.
In about an hour, all of her bruises were completely healed, and she felt her magik reserves go back up to full. To test, she raised her hand and conjured a sand arm from the ground of the cavern. Obediently the sand rose up, and satisfied, Zoe stood up from the pool, even though she was loathe to leave the comfort of the water.
Once she stepped out, she dressed herself again, and now feeling rejuvenated and recovered, she began looking for the path forward with new enthusiasm.
That's why you stay optimistic, she thought with a smile.
For the first time though, Zoe looked at the other things in the cavern. There was the large hole from where she had entered, behind her. In the center was the pool. In front of her there seemed to be two paths. One led to another narrow path, while the other path actually had stairs leading downwards.
Zoe frowned. She should have asked Famina if she knew which path to take.
But if Famina knew about this, surely she would have told me before she left.
I'll just retrace my steps if I take the wrong path.
Shrugging Zoe decided to go down the stairs. She didn't want to go through another narrow, dark path. She wasn't claustrophobic but that path still made her feel a bit sick.
As she descended down the stairs, the light coming from the cavern behind her slowly disappeared and she was plunged into complete darkness once more. Zoe stopped, allowing her eyes to get used to this darkness before continuing. At the bottom of the stairs however there was another, much fainter, glow of light. When Zoe reached there, she saw that she was at the beginning of a long corridor, whose walls were lined with lanterns. The bluish flame of the lanterns lit up the corridor, but the light provided by them was nowhere near intense enough, causing parts of the corridor to remain dark.
Zoe stepped forward carefully, fully expecting there to be some kind of trap in the corridor. Sure enough, as soon as she had stepped a few steps, there was the sound of heavy footsteps and a Stone Guardian stepped out from behind one of the shadowed parts of the corridor.
The Stone Guardian was a stone statue of a fully armored soldier. He was standing facing Zoe, his swords raised as if he were about to launch into an attack.
Zoe sighed. These ones Famina had warned her about.
"The Caves of Bloodfell are like a dungeon hiding its treasures at the very end. It is guarded by all manners of different monsters as well as magikal artifacts. There is also a final monster or artifact at the end that needs to be defeated to get the artifact in your hands. No one has actually reached the final monster, so I don't know what that is, but from accounts of other adventurers, you will find Stone Guardians, imps and goblins guarding the way." Famina had said seriously the first night they had come to the city.
At that time Zoe hadn't paid much attention, because she assumed Famina would be with her, but now she cursed her lack of knowledge.
I should have asked what their weaknesses were.
Zoe slowly raised her hands, waiting for the Guardian to make the first move, which it did. The stone statue ran towards her with suprising agility. The legs and arms of the Guardian were moving like an actual human as it thrust the sword towards Zoe.
Zoe raised a sand shield to block the strike, while at the same time dodging down. The sword of the Guardian bounced harmlessly off the shield but Zoe's main aim was the Guardian's legs. As the Guardian stumbled back, Zoe released another tendril of sand aimed directly at the Stone Guardian's legs. The tendril shot out from her finger and smashed a the feet off the right leg of the statue. Stumbling around it crashed into the wall and broke into a thousand pieces. The sword it was carrying fell onto the ground beside it with a thundering clang.
Zoe stood up and surveyed her work. Maybe it was because she had just fought the monster Exi, but this dispatching of the Stone Guardian almost felt too easy to her.
Shouldn't get overconfident, Zoe reminded herself.
She walked over the broken pieces of the Guardian carefully, half-afraid that they would spring back into action. However nothing happened. Zoe looked back doubtfully one last time before shrugging and continuing on.
The corridor ran straight, and Zoe couldn't see the end. The blue light from the lanterns, placed at intervals of about twenty metres, gave the place a sort of eerie atmosphere. Zoe remained alert, expecting an ambush or another Stone Guardian at any moment. However again there was nothing. In a way this was more nerve-racking for Zoe, who had to keep her magik shields up.
And then it happened.
A short dagger shot out towards her arm. She could barely see it in the dim blue light until it was too close to dodge. Almost instinctively she covered her arm with a layer of sand and the dagger bounced off it towards the wall.
She heard a cackle of laughter coming from in front of her. She looked up, but wasn't able to see the creature that had attacked her.
Damn it.
Another flurry of daggers shot out, and Zoe created a shield of sand in front of her, blocking all of them. Keeping the shield up, she ducked beneath one of the lanterns, trying to see if the creature would come out of the shadows now.
Sure enough there was a frustrated grunt and the creature shooting the daggers stepped out into the light to inspect the sand barrier Zoe had created.
It was a small, one horned creature with a long tail. It's face was almost like that of a small, ugly human except it was red instead. The creature tilted it's head in confusion as it examined the sand wall.
An Imp, Zoe thought grimly. This was another of the creatures Famina had told her about.
She was about to come out of hiding and attack the creature, when she stopped. There were two Stone Guardians who stepped out of the shadows from behind the imp. The imp seemed to be controlling them for he pointed irritatedly at the wall and said something in a language Zoe didn't understand. The Stone Guardians immediately raised both of their swords and smashed it against the sand wall. It held, but there were cracks on the outside of it already.
So much for being easy. Zoe thought as the Guardians raised their swords for another strike.