'Looking good, man.' Nolan couldn't help but think as he looked in the mirror, donning his new armor. A leather chest piece stitched together from mangled pieces of animal hide sat firm across his torso. Around his legs he wore heavy pants, like cargos, fitted over fabric that created a tight tension underneath.
'While this isn't exactly the armor I had envisioned in my mind, this will work.'
He buckled the scabbard for his short sword on his hip, looking like a true adventurer. His brown hair fluttered over his face as he raised a hand and pushed it back.
'Gotta look good for the princess.'
He finished cleaning up and stepped out of the storage room that housed what little weapons and armor they had. Outside, Lyris was waiting for him.
She looked him up and down.
"Not bad," she said. "In my mind I thought you would look a little more knightly. Instead you look rather—" She gestured her hands to his figure, as if that alone explained her thoughts.
"Hey, I think I look rather adventurous in this outfit, thank you very much." He straightened up. "And enough of your side comments. We have an adventure to go on. Adventure awaits!" He raised his fist to the air as he walked shoulder to shoulder with Lyris, heading towards the village gates where Adam should be waiting.
Reaching the gates, they found Adam leaned up against the wall. A sizable pack sat on his back, carrying what Nolan could only describe as supplies.
"Yo, Adam! What's up?" Stepping up, Nolan went for a dap.
"Hi there, sir." Adam met Nolan with a stiff handshake instead, his fingers locking around Nolan's palm at entirely the wrong angle. Nolan tried to adjust mid-grip but it was too late. The handshake was already happening and it was awful.
"We might need to work on that, Adam." Nolan let go, flexing his fingers. "I'll have to show you some cool handshakes you've never seen before."
"Uh, ok…" Adam looked down at his own hand like he wasn't sure what had just gone wrong.
'This man has no idea what ball knowledge I'm about to drop on him.'
Lyris stepped past both of them, not even acknowledging the exchange. "Are you ready, Adam?"
Adam snapped back to attention. "Yes, my lady. Supplies are packed." He pulled a folded piece of parchment from his belt and opened it up a rough hand-drawn map of the island, marked with trails, landmarks, and the river. He tapped a spot north of the village where he'd drawn a small circle. "I've marked the trail here. We follow the river north, cross at the shallows, and the cave sits at the base of the ridge. Shouldn't take more than a couple hours."
"Good. Then let's not waste daylight." Lyris stepped through the broken gate without looking back.
Nolan clapped Adam on the shoulder as he passed. "Don't worry. We'll work on the handshake thing on the way."
"I'd really prefer if we didn't, sir."
"Too late. You're my project now."
Adam sighed the sigh of a man who had already accepted his fate and fell into step behind them as the three of them headed down the trail and into the forest.
Following the trail that cut through the forest, it was narrow and uneven. Clearly nothing more than a one-man path that Adam had walked before. But it was still better than exploring unknown land as the three of them continued to walk beneath the trees, the canopy thick enough to blot out most of the midday sun. What little light broke through came in scattered patches, painting the forest floor in spots of gold.
Adam led the way with his map in one hand and a walking stick in the other. Despite his injured torso, he moved carefully and deliberately the kind of movement that came from walking these woods for ages.
Nolan walked behind him with Lyris at his side. The forest was quiet. Too quiet. Not so many birds or rustles of small animals in the underbrush. Just the crunch of their footsteps and the occasional creak of wood as the wind pushed through the canopy above.
'This is ridiculously quiet.' Nolan couldn't help but think as he turned his head around, scanning the trees.
"Is it always this dead out here?" Nolan asked, keeping his voice low.
"No." Adam didn't turn around as he answered. "Before the attack, these woods were always lively. Birds, deer, foxes — you name it. But ever since you two came, things haven't been the same."
"Great. So we ruined the ecosystem then."
"The what?"
"Never mind." Shaking his head, Nolan stared off into the distance as they continued to walk in silence.
The trail began to slope upward as the terrain shifted from flat forest floor to rocky incline. The trees thinned slightly, giving way to patches of exposed stone and moss-covered boulders.
Lyris walked with her orb in one hand, her eyes scanning the treeline on either side. She hadn't said much since they left the village, but Nolan could see the tension in her shoulders. Every snapped twig or shifting shadow drew her attention.
"You good?" Nolan asked quietly, falling into step beside her.
"Fine," she said. "Just keeping my eyes open."
'She's been on edge ever since we left. Can't blame her though.'
Walking along a forest where goblins could be anywhere was quite frightening, so they made quick pace heading straight along the trail. Thankfully, all went well and nothing went wrong. Before they knew it, they had made it to the ridge.
That's when both Lyris and Nolan felt it.
They looked at each other.
"You feel that?" Nolan asked.
"Yeah," Lyris said quietly. "It's calling out. Like it wants me to be there."
"Same."
Walking forward, they continued along the trail as the feeling grew deeper inside them. Larger. Calling out to them in greater waves with every step. It wasn't a sound or a voice, just a pull, steady and growing, like something ancient knew they were close.
And before they knew it, they reached what could only be described as a massive cave. The entrance stood as tall as a two-story building, its vastness all-encompassing. No light came from within, just darkness stretching inward like an open mouth.
Adam reached into his backpack and pulled out what looked to be an unlit torch. He glanced at the two of them.
"Are you sure this is the cave?"
They both nodded.
"Well then." Adam struck the torch alight. "I guess here we go."
Striking the torch against the ground, it ignited. The flame lit the path in front of them as they walked into the deep, dark cave.
The echoey sound of the cave was almost suffocating to Nolan's ears.
'Why is it so loud?' He couldn't help but think as he kept walking. 'It's as if this place was designed to echo.'
The deeper they went into the cave, the stronger the pull became. Nolan felt as if the coal burning in his chest was gravitating toward the core or at least what he believed was the core. He could tell Lyris felt it too, as her pace quickened alongside his, her eyes fixed ahead as if she could see what was drawing them forth.
"We're close," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
"Yeah. It's getting harder to ignore." Nolan pressed a hand against his chest. "I feel like my flame's gonna jump out of my chest. Like it's desperate, crawling back to where it calls home."
As they kept following Adam through the cave, the tunnel surprisingly widened, opening into a great cavern below them. They stood above, looking down. Pure darkness ringed around them on all sides.
"Woah. How deep is this?" Nolan couldn't help but ask as he peered over the edge.
"I'm not sure." Lyris turned to Adam. "Pass me the torch."
"Yes, my lady." Adam handed Lyris the torch.
Taking from her own pouch, she pulled out a small wooden stick. She lit it on fire from the torch and dropped it into the void below.
The small wooden stick fell through the cavern, the light of it shrinking until it was barely more than a speck in the air. Then it hit the ground with a distant thud.
"That must have been like thirty or forty feet," Nolan couldn't help but gasp.
"Possibly even more," Lyris said.
"Forty-three."
Both Nolan and Lyris turned to Adam.
"Forty-three feet?"
"They look to be about forty-three feet," Adam said.
"How do you know?" Nolan asked.
"I just do."
"...Okay."
The shaking intensified. Cracks splintered across the stone beneath their feet, spreading like veins through the rock.
"Get back!" Adam shouted, already turning toward the tunnel they came from.
They ran.
Adam was ahead, his torch casting wild shadows against the walls as the cave shook around them. Chunks of stone broke free from the ceiling, crashing down behind them. The ground groaned beneath every step like it was threatening to swallow them whole.
"Move move move!" Nolan shouted, his legs pumping as hard as they could carry him.
Then Lyris stumbled.
Her foot caught on a crack in the stone that hadn't been there a second ago. She pitched forward, her orb flying from her hand as she hit the ground hard.
"Lyris!" Nolan skidded to a stop and turned back. He grabbed her by the arm, hauling her up — but the ground beneath them was already giving way. The edge of the cavern crumbled beneath their feet, the rock sliding out from under them like sand.
"ADAM!" Nolan screamed, but a wall of stone crashed down between them, sealing off the tunnel in a cascade of rock and dust. Adam's torchlight vanished behind it.
And then they were falling.
Nolan pulled Lyris into him on instinct, wrapping his arms around her as they tumbled down the side of the cavern. Stone and loose earth scraped against his leather armor as they slid and rolled, the darkness swallowing them whole. He hit something hard with his shoulder, bounced, hit something else with his back, and then —
Thud.
They hit the bottom.