with a sudden stop

It was a moment of slow motion, watching the darkness swallow his peripheral vision until the only thing to see was a well lit hole in the cavern wall, just out of reach like a dying dream. And then his feet hit stone.

Angled and a little slick Alex was on his stomach with a thud and the wind knocked out of him, a clatter and scraping as his armor skidded down the rock until the rock he slipped on ended abruptly into another rock in the darkness that once again knocked the air out of his lungs.

It felt like minutes before he found his breath and mustered the strength to seek a more upright position, rolling over into a sit into the V of the two rocks he had failed to physically ****, albeit accidentally. His hands fumbled with the chin strap of his helmet before he took it off his head and held it in hand, gasping and softly groaning at his own reckless foolery and the consequences of that overconfidence.

"Did you break anything?" Demon's voice from above taunted him.

"I can see the shine of your armor, you were right when you said it wasn't that far down," Raven called, "But I'm not going to jump, that sounded painful."

"I didn't break anything," Alex replied forcing his voice to stay even, "just got the breath knocked out of me. The rock is at a steeper angle than I thought and maybe a little wet, but I think I can walk on it safely. But give me a minute to adjust to the darkness down here."

With a light groan Alex rose to his feet tentatively and looked around cautiously. In the light from the torch in Raven's hand he could in fact make out the pile of rocks that he sat among at least enough to recognize that this was the collapsed ceiling of a much older chamber that was now somewhere beneath the rubble under his butt. The light source was not strong enough to illuminate the farther walls of the chamber or even the overhead ceiling.

"Raven," Alex spoke as he picked his way carefully back to the place under the opening in the wall, "I need you to light a second torch and drop it down to me."

"Sure, where are they?"

"In this long pocket," Demon answered, "He keeps the rags over here though in a waxed leather bag to keep the sheep smell contained."

Alex couldn't see them rummaging through his pack but he could follow their movements through their conversation.

"Wow," Raven choked, "that is a strong smell. No wonder he keeps them in the bag."

"He uses the lanolin to polish his weapons and armor too. Some days he smells like a barn, it's demeaning to be near him."

"Not fond of animals?"

"Not the living ones. I'm a lady of refinement, I need flowers and fatty chunks of meat."

Raven laughed.

"Are you two done up there yet?" Alex interrupted their jokes, with their focus being on making a second torch he was standing in a very great darkness and could barely make out his own hands. If it weren't for his new gauntlets he probably wouldn't be able to see them at all.

"Patience master. You make torch making look so much easier than it is."

"You literally just wrap the oil soaked rag around the cudgel and tuck the ends."

"Bullshit!" Demon called back, "I've seen you do this a hundred times and Raven is trying his best."

"Then you do it for him."

"FINE!"

Raven made quite the cry of surprise and Alex watched his silhouette fall backwards to the opening of the tunnel.

After a few seconds of stammering Raven turned looked over his shoulder and called down to Alex, "Your cat just turned into a naked woman. How long could she do that?"

Alex chuckled realizing what had happened, "Well in case you hadn't noticed she was a naked cat before changing shape, clothes don't come out of nowhere."

"Not the point! She has hands! And skin, and HAIR...and that's not making me sound any better." Raven's shock faded and his voice shifted into a sort of meek murmur. "You surprised me."

"Ehhhhh, I don't change shape often." Demon consoled him with the patience of an elder sister, "Most of the time it's not much use and people are less on guard around me when I remain a cat. This is also draining so I can't maintain it indefinitely because mister stingy power miser down there does his best to keep me magic starved."

Raven let that sink in before asking, "So, if I understand this right you were once a powerful demon, and all that residual magic is in Alex, and you can only use your more draining magical skills when he lets you?"

"Close enough." Demon's catgirl face peeked over the edge holding a second burning torch. "Still not as easy as you make it look, Alex."

Alex didn't reply, just smirked and held his hand up. Demon dropped the torch handle side down and Alex caught it with ease.

Now with his own light source Alex turned to give a better inspection of the chamber where he stood.