Darkness.
Frost.
Those were the only words that Liora could describe where she was with. A pillar of fire floated at her right, just by her side, giving her enough visibility to see but not very far. But keeping her warm enough to chase the cold.
"Kael… Are you there?" Liora whispered. Her voice echoed slightly in the expanse of the tunnel that lay ahead before her.
She couldn't understand its layout, and worst of all. She felt Shadow had abandoned her. Panicking, she looked left to right, then turned around and saw nothing.
Her anxiety began growing at an alarming rate, she murmured another spell. A brighter pillar of light floated on her left. Bright enough to dispel some of the darkness that surrounded her.
"Don't do that…" She heard footsteps behind. Liora turned around in a hurry, ready to blast a spell at whoever would dare jump scare like her.
Nothing.
There was no one there, a hand grabbed her shoulder from behind her. "Calm yourself. It's me, Shadow" he said.
Liora turned her head slowly and was relieved, she cocked her head to the side and looked at him, a lot of things about him didn't make sense.
She dispelled the light magic.
"Wasn't your name Kael?" She pondered.
Shadow hesitated.
"Look, just call me Shadow from now and don't ask why. You ask too many questions" he sighed and looked behind them, into the darkness.
"And where the hell have you been… I've been looking for you everywhere!" She almost shouted, or she would have if Shadow hadn't held her mouth with his palm.
"Quiet… I was scouting" he said in a hushed tone. But he felt rather uneasy, on guard. She had never seen this part of him before, as though he could sense an impending doom, awaiting to strike them.
"We're in a bit of trouble, they know we're here, and I can't figure out why or how. They also know our location, they're waiting…" He whispered.
Liora nodded her head, not fully understanding the situation they were in.
Shadow began walking, slowly but surely, Liora could not hear his steps, it didn't feel like he stepped on the ground either, she had so many questions that needed answers.
But regardless of how confused she felt, Shadow walked ahead and she followed.
After about two hundred meters, the side of the walls began frosting, as did the ground making walking much harder than it already was.
"Do you have a spell that makes you lighter? You're making so much noise!" He frowned at her.
Liora swallowed and murmured a double binding spell for levitation and direction. Some would call it flying, but it was a double binding spell in itself that made one weightless and also gave you direction.
Just to be safe, she added a vector spell.
Liora flew slightly above the ground, almost face to face with Shadow, he looked at her for a brief moment then nodded and continued walking.
Before long the tunnel widened out into something else, something wider, like an open space. The ceilings reached at least fifty meters, but the tunnel continued just ahead of them, another passageway lay ahead.
The problem was the two men who sat on the ground lazily, as though waiting for them.
"Oohh, my back"
Crack!
"Aahh yeah, that's the stuff" a man with long arms and legs bent at an unnatural angle, waiting for Shadow. Beside him was a shorter man, he didn't seem like a dwarf. But he wasn't, he was just really short.
"Took y'all long enough" the short man jumped to his feet. Shadow noticed that the only light in the room was the light from Liora's spell. Which meant these men were accustomed to fighting in the dark.
The long-armed man reached to the ground and raised his weapon. Shadow sucked in a deep breath. He was in trouble, and he knew it, that weapon brought back painful memories.
Not to mention the reach that man would have, added with his ridiculously long arms and feet.
The man cracked the whip in the air.
Crack!
The sound reverberated through the entire cavern.
Shadow swallowed. "You wouldn't happen to be nice enough to let us pass eeh?" He smiled stupidly.
The short man shook his head seriously, while the long man grinned.
"Or drop the whip?" He pushed further.
Shadow spread his shadow sense around, there were no other people within a hundred meters radius of where he stood, so that meant only these men were sent for them.
"If you're strong enough to kill us, you pass" the short man said…
"And if not?" Liora asked. Her hands shook uncontrollably. It was her first time confronting real killers.
The long-armed man made a gesture of slicing his throat.
Shadow took a step back, closer to Liora, he knew they would target her, and she was the weakness link amongst everyone here.
No one moved.
The tension grew steadily as each of them watched the slightest movements. Who would break first.
Who would attack.
They all held their breaths in anticipation.
And then it happened.
The light magic Liora had cast suddenly vanished. At that exact same moment, a whip cracked across the cavern catching Shadow in the face.
It was too fast.
Before he could recover from the attack, a solid blow to his belly sent him flying towards the wall. He smashed into the wall and the ice that covered it.
He coughed out a healthy amount of blood and clutched his belly hard, he tried to blink, but.
His right eye was gone, the whip had slashed it in half leaving a dastardly scar on his face. Although none of them could see it. But Shadow felt it, he felt his blood dripping down his face and felt true fear for the first time in a long time.
He had badly underestimated his enemies.
He hoped. He prayed even, that Liora had done what he told her to do. She would be safe if she listened to him.
But if she didn't, Shadow swallowed hard, holding his eye ball in place, stopping it from falling out.
"Aahh, my whip's wet with blood. Hehe" the voice of the long man echoed through the cavern. And Shadow realized, the man hadn't even moved a step.