Descent into Darkness

After going into the house I tried to read. I picked one of the books that I had read more times than I could remember and there wasn’t likely anything new for me to divine from the pages, but I needed something to distract me from my worries. Once I was convinced my mind wasn’t going to switch gears from thinking about Amelia, Kase, and Mia to reading the words in front of me I closed the book. I looked out the window and saw Amelia was still sitting in front of her house. I thought about going back out to talk to her some more but decided instead to take off my clothes and go to bed.

I thought I would be stuck awake thinking about the events of the last few days but the training that Mia had run me through turned out to be exhaustive enough that I fell right to sleep, and slept without worry of nightmares.

The next morning when I went outside, Amelia was waiting for me.

"Ready to go to the mine?" she asked.

I really didn't want to go anywhere with Kase and I didn't feel right going anywhere with Amelia now that I was developing a relationship with Mia in secret. I thought I should tell her the truth about Mia but fear that it would drive her to Kase stopped me. Did I have a right to not want her with Kase if I was with Mia?

I put those thoughts out of my head and nodded. I would have to put up with Kase for today, this was likely to be the only chance I had to explore the mines, and it would give me time to put the conflict of what I should do about Amelia and Mia out of my mind for a while.

Amelia smiled and walked with me into town.

"Maybe we should invite Oliver," I said.

Amelia looked nervous, looked away from me and shook her head.

"No, after you got hurt Oliver changed. He doesn't seem interested in going out again."

"Darx!" Mia yelled and Amelia growled in response.

Mia ran up to us and smiled at Amelia with a wink before looking at me.

"You going to the mine then?" she asked.

"I did make a promise I would."

"Is he not supposed to go to the mine?" Amelia snapped.

Mia shook her head.

"No, he made a promise."

I could see she was struggling to remain civil with Amelia.

"Don't let anything happen to him in there okay, Am-e-lia?"

"You don't need to tell me that Mia!" Amelia almost screamed.

Mia giggled and ran off.

"Geez, what is with her? Acting all nice. Do you know what her game is Darx?"

I shook my head. I did know, but it was a conversation that I didn’t really want to have with Amelia right before needing to rely on her for my health.

We left the village and made our way to the mine. Kase was waiting outside with a stupid smirk on his face but trying to appear nice.

"Hello Amelia," he said, completely ignoring that I was there.

"Hi." Her tone was more cutting than I had ever heard with Mia.

"Did you bring the equipment that I asked you to bring?"

"Yes." Pointed and harsh.

Kase's smirk faded and he looked confused. She was acting like they had gotten in a fight and she was mad at him, but he didn't seem to know about it. He checked the equipment we brought and nodded while turning toward the entrance to the mine.

"You should stay close to me Amelia, to stay safest."

"No, I think I'm safest with Darx."

He didn't look happy with that but he pretended to not be affected.

"Alright, remember that the mine is like a labyrinth, all the tunnels look the same and there isn't much light in there. We will stick to the paths I used the last time I was here so stay with me or you could get lost. If we encounter monsters I'll take the role of tank."

Without a chance for more talking Kase entered into the mine. He was right about the lack of light, as we moved deeper the lanterns were fewer and farther between. He was right that everything looked the same, but there were small things like a pile of rock and ore, a broken support, pieces of discarded wood from the rails, and I made sure to dedicate them all to memory. Not that I didn't trust Kase to remember the way out, but if something happened to him we would be stuck.

Monsters were few but they were there. This was the reason the mine wasn't being worked, monsters kept appearing and keeping them clear was nearing impossible. None of the monsters presented a challenge. Kase would catch their attention, block their strikes, and I would step in and cut them down. I was surprised by Amelia though, I could feel how her support magic was strengthening me and normally by now she would need a potion or two but so far she hadn't drank a single one. We fought a giant bat, I had never seen it before and it was the strongest monster we saw, but Amelia was able to paralyze it without a problem. She used paralysis again and again and the length of the effect was long enough I didn't need to worry about it wearing off and could finish the enemy I was fighting.

Again, I thought about how much I had handicapped her and Oliver by refusing to train with Jax.

We moved deeper and the light faded more. Amelia didn't want to move deeper into the dark but Kase insisted since it was the only path he was certain to know. Amelia moved closer to me and tried to hold my hand.

"We should be ready," I whispered and pulled my hand away.

While I was looking at her Kase disappeared into the dark ahead of us.

"Kase?"

"..."

I hurried forward to try and catch sight of him and felt something push against me. I lost my balance and fell to into the dark and tumbled off the road into a shaft that went to a deeper level.

"Ugh.." I grabbed my head.

"Darx!" Amelia screamed.

"I'm here! I fell to a lower level!" I yelled.

Kase appeared at the mouth of the shaft I fell into, a crystal brightly illuminating him and Amelia and allowing them to see me. I tried to climb but the shaft was too steep and the walls too weak to hold my weight.

"This pulley must've been used to move equipment between the levels," Kase said. "It looks like it's still usable, did you bring a rope?"

Amelia shook her head. Kase already knew that though, he inspected our equipment. Why did he have a crystal that could light the path for us and not use it until now?

"A bit further ahead I saw a rope, I think."

"Darx, wait here. Kase and I will go get the rope, okay?" She sounded **** to help me.

"Kase, thank you for keeping her safe," I said.

"You wouldn't have to worry about it if you weren't so pathetic as to fall into a hole."

Amelia slapped him.

"That's not true!" she screamed. "Darx isn't pathetic! If you don't want to help tell me where to go and I'll get the rope!"

"Sorry," Kase said. "I would be a bad tank if I let my support go alone."

Kase looked down the shaft and his smirk returned. I didn't like this, but I had no other choice. I looked down the other paths but once the light of the crystal was gone there was almost no light left down here. I looked back up the shaft, what was the truth between them?

I didn’t like them being alone, but with my secrets with Mia did I really have a say in the secrets that Amelia and Kase kept from me?