Kael couldn't breathe. The extreme pressure of the rocks pressed down his body from every angle. No matter how much he pushed, he couldn't move a muscle.
He could hear Ryker's voice not far away, but it was muffled and distorted.
The ground still shook, and the crevice beneath him was growing larger.
Just when his vision was about to black out, the rock gave out beneath him, and he was falling.
He couldn't stop himself—he was plummeting, the darkness swallowing him whole. A rush of air whistled in his ears as his body tumbled down. Time seemed to stretch, and his mind struggled to process the chaos of what was happening.
For a second, the thought crossed his mind that there would be no end to this fall. That he would be cursed for eternity to never hit the expected bottom.
Then, a harsh thud.
His body slammed against something solid, pain exploding through his limbs. His vision blurred as he gasped for air, the weight of the fall knocking the wind out of him.
He lay there, unable to move for a few moments, the shock of the impact freezing him in place. Yet, he was still alive. The fall hadn't been enough to kill him.
Chunks of rock rained down around him like meteors, but all managed to miss him by a few feet.
After a few seconds, Kael forced himself to think through the pain. Where am I? It was some sort of cavern, similar to the one that the miners had set up camp in.
The stone was cold and damp beneath him, and he could hear running water nearby.
"Kael!" Ryker shouted down from above.
Kael peered through the darkness above, and he could make out Ryker's silhouette nearly thirty feet above.
"I'm alive," he croaked, trying to sit up.
"Don't move!" Ryker called down. "I'm gonna go get help!"
For a minute, he lay there in pain, waiting for the sound of footsteps to return.
Eventually, his patience ran out, and the pain was replaced by the desire to find out where he was.
Kael gritted his teeth as he pushed himself up into a sitting position. Blood dripped from his forehead and nose, running down his face like crimson tears.
His thigh seared with pain where a thin shard of rock had impaled it.
Ignoring it, Kael stood.
On second inspection, the cavern was actually much larger than the other one.
There was running water, a small river that had carved out a path through the stone. It curved and winded, disappearing into the darkness beyond his vision.
He stumbled toward it, dropping to his knees.
Kael gasped as he splashed the cold water on his bloodied face. Wiping that water away from his eyes, he blinked.
Something was glowing beneath the surface.
It was a small gem, emanating a blue hue. Barely bright enough to be noticed.
Plunging his hand into the frigid water, Kael pulled the rock out. It was warm to the touch, and something about it almost seemed to hum with life.
He turned it over in his hand. The stone seemed smooth and polished, but its shape was off, jagged, as though it had been forcibly torn from its origin. It felt...wrong, but also too captivating to ignore.
Kael slid the gem into his pocket and shakily regained his footing.
He needed to find a way out of here.
The tablet, he remembered. Just inside his jacket pocket. Maybe it could give him some advice on what to do. It had tried to provide him advice in a tough situation before.
Reaching into his pocket, Kael pulled it out. No, just a piece of it
Panic coursing through his veins, he rummaged through his pocket, which contained the shattered fragments of his tablet.
"This will monitor your life force and give you instructions on where to proceed. If you lose it, you will not get another." The woman had told him after he'd first woken up.
So, it was gone. Forever. There would be no replacement.
Kael sighed, deciding instead to forge his own way. Without instructions.
He delved deeper into the cavern, which proved to be nearly double the size of the other cavern. He could make out many tunnels, leading even further down.
The area around him loomed like an ancient, forgotten world, vast and sprawling.
His footsteps echoed in the stillness, the sound oddly comforting in the otherwise empty space.
Kael ran a hand against the wall of the cavern. It was rich with obsidian. Chunks of the rock were larger than anything he'd seen. Hundreds of veins of the sharp, dark stone seemed to run through every corner of the cavern like a bloodline of Selora.
If the others could figure out a way to get down here, they would surely have enough to provide for the seemingly impossible quota the officials had put on them.
"Kael?" Ryker's voice echoed down through the cavern. "Where are you?"
He slowly made his way back to the area he'd fallen, looking up through the hole in the ceiling. "I'm here, Ryker."
"Are you hurt?" Another familiar voice called down. Elysia.
"Yes," he responded. "But I'll live. Can you find a way down here?"
A rope fell from above, slapping the ground with a crack.
"Grab on," Ryker said. "We'll pull you up."
Taking in a deep breath, Kael wrapped his hands around the rough surface of the rope.
Then, he began his ascension.