Within the Cave

Other’s POV

*Cough-Cough-Coughh-urgh*

Within a dark cave with fleshly black stoned walls. A few fair faced Elves were slowly waking up.

“Owww...m-my head” the boy found himself seated on a stone, cold floor. The air around him felt light and there was a distant sound of water flowing from some place.

“Thank the Guardians! You're awake Tristen.” A voice called out from his rear.

Tristen slowly twisted his neck around to find a familiar faced Elf crawling towards him with clumsy **** movements .

“O-oliver? You’re alright...haha thank goodness for that.” Oliver crawled towards his friend and the pair shared a heartfelt embrace. They took a moment to thoroughly inspect one another. Other than the appalling state their clothes were in and their faces covered with dirt and dried tears. Their outward appearance looked better than they expected. A few cuts and bruises were nothing for fellows who cultivated on the azure sect.

“Fuck! I thought we were dead...wh-what happened?” asked Oliver in slight hysteria, he was shorter than Tristen and still carried a babyish face despite him being in his early 20’s. HIs large round eyes were still welled with faint signs of his previous tears.

“I... wait...why are we in a cave?” The two boys were startled into that realisation. They both could vividly recall the scene of their carriage falling from the slender path along the mountain road. Despite both of them being at the core stages of the foundation realm, there was nothing neither of them could do when faced with that disaster.

Surely a few broken bones or worst outcomes were expected. But nothing of the sort had taken place. There was a tense silence between the two whilst both of the young Elves were hoping that they hadn’t already died and were currently venturing the afterlife at this moment.

A soft moan sounded from nearby and caught their attention. Both of them glanced to one side of the cave, noticing a pink haired Elven girl, only now just waking up from her deep sleep.

“Ah it’s you...thank goodness you’re alright.” Tristan quickly made his way towards the seated girl. She still had a dazed look about herself before her eyes slowly started to widen as she took in her unfamiliar surroundings.

“W-w-what...is-going on?” She exclaimed moving her eyes all over the place.

“Calm down, I think we’re safe. We just woke up as well...not sure what's actually happened.” Tristan tried to recall the girls name .

“You’re Lena correct? Elder Staciel’s granddaughter?” The doe eyed girl cautiously nodded her head. She glanced behind Tristan to see the round-faced Oliver awkwardly approaching.

She massaged her temples whilst trying to steady her mind and her breathing. Mid thought her eyes suddenly snapped open.

“Where is he?” she asked

“Huh where is whom?”

“The other one...the half...Lady Eleanors son?”

A brief look of indignation flashed across the two youths faces, but then Tristen’s gaze softened. He scratched his head whilst taking a careful look around the cave.

“I... I don’t exactly know.” He replied earnestly unsure of what else to say. Lena noticed a slight look of confliction going on, but she didn’t care enough to pry further. She only wanted to understand what had happened and how they can get out of here.

After the three youths had somewhat settled their nerves, they discussed the last things they remembered before the crash and the explosion. They also wondered why they were the only three present. Recalling the people within their carriage, there should be at least three other people who travelled with them. The two carriage drivers and the half ling boy. Also, the idea that they experienced all of that relatively unscathed felt almost absurd to imagine.

Nonetheless, they couldn’t do much but try and deal with the facts at hand. Tristen decided they should explore this cave a little more, they were bound to discover more survivors if this explosion had taken down the other carriages ahead of them. And it felt like the only current logical choice they had.

The three carefully made their way down a narrow tunnel they noticed on one end of the cave. Other than this gaping hole, the only other entry point they discovered existed way above them. They all figured that must've been the place they had fallen from. But again this didn't look anywhere large enough for a carriage to fall through. There was also no signs of carriage debris or wreckage.

Along their way they encountered a few low-grade beasts. Mostly bats and iron fanged rats. Luckily these students were part of the Azure sect and also at the core stage of the foundation realm. These beasts poised little to no threat to them at all. It also gave them a good form of exercise.

An unknown amount of time had passed and the three youths started to grow more anxious and dreary eyed by the minute.

“We’re walking aimlessly...what are we going to do?” Oliver asked nervously

“Sigh...we can only move forward” Tristen replied. Lena was mostly silent during their journey. She only alerted them whenever some beasts were approaching. Tristen couldn’t help eyeing the girl, he didn’t think much of her when he first saw her, but her strength was the real deal. Not only that, but her tattered robes were slightly revealing the side profile of her breasts and thighs. If not for their dire situation, he might’ve enjoyed the view a little more.

Their footsteps begun to sink lower, telling the three the road ahead had become steep.

“We’re going deeper into the cave...I don’t like the look of this” Tristen voiced. Lena didn’t say anything, but her scrunched up brows revealed she was probably thinking the same thing.

As they walked down the steep path the air around them started to change. They could feel cold air which brought a delight across their faces, This usually meant the air was coming from an outdoor source. The darkness was also subsiding a little and started to reveal the profile of the cavernous walls.

Lena noticed what she could only make out as dark runes marked across the walls. Her brows instantly furrowed as she inspected them a little closely.

“Wh-what is it?” Tristen asked her.

Lena stared at the runes for a good few minutes before she responded.

“N-nothing...we should be prepared. I don’t think this place is as peaceful at it seems.” Her words roused a depressing feeling amongst the other two. They all wanted to believe this would be an easy escape. But the more monsters they encountered, the less likely they felt that would be.

The way ahead went on for another long while. Eventually they met a fork in the cave, where two separate paths appeared. Lena moved her face towards the left way, she could smell something sweet coming from their. Tristen moved towards the other one, he wasn’t sure why but something was telling him to avoid that way at all costs.

“Which way should we choose?” Oliver asked the two with indifference.

“That way” Lena pointed towards the other tunnel,

“No I don’t think that’s the best option...I felt something...”

“Hm? Like what?” she inquired

“I can't explain it but trust me on this one alright. Something dark is waiting for us down there.” Lena stared into his brown eyes thoughtfully. She seemed to be wrestling with her own mind. She glanced towards Oliver and realised her say wouldn’t matter much between these two. Deciding it was best to keep their unity rather than defect, she resigned with a defeated exhale.

“Ok then let's follow your way.”

Lena begrudgingly followed. Although the scent wafting from this way was indeed pleasant. She couldn’t shake away a feeling, bothering her from accepting this is the right way. A sweet scent within such a place could only spell trouble. But she wasn’t quite sure why she thought that was the case. Nevertheless, she started rolling her inner Qi, preparing for the worst.

The sweet scent was delightful to their senses. The trio even discovered their feelings of anxiety and worry had greatly lowered. Lena was the only one who knew this was a terrible idea, she didn’t want to feel calm, not until they escaped. And unlike the other two, her mind was constantly going back towards the half ling.

Remembering the things taught to her by her grandmother, children of fate would go through peculiar trials in life. That was the more reason why she was **** to find him. If he was chosen, her chances of survival would be greater around him. But instead, she had ignored all her natural instincts.

Whilst she was pondering on matters. Tristen, who was leading the small group noticed a gathering of lights at the end of the tunnel.

“Look there's a way ahead...come on that should be the way out.” He hastily jogged along the dark tunnel, Oliver quickly followed with a look of joy creased against his chubby features.

“H-hey wait-” Lena softly called out, but the duo had already run off and left her behind. She didn’t like this feeling one bit, but she quickly closed the gap between them and followed.