My closest companion’s eyes narrow at Maris, but her tone doesn’t give any signs of anger. “Without you, who knows how long we’d be in that forest.”
“How much longer are you gonna keep this up?” David roars. I turn to find him with his fists clenched. Harva jumps at his sudden rise in tone. Everyone stops, watchful that whatever happens doesn’t get out of control. “Who helped lead you since the beginning? Does that count for nothing? I made a mistake. We all know it, but you don’t have to slight me and treat me like an outsider.”
“I think I can do what I want,” Queen retorts, folding her arms. “After all, I’m not the one who lied to us for almost a month because I didn’t want to admit that I was wrong.” So, that was what this was about.
David’s eyes flare with rage. “You know what,” he starts, stepping toward her.
“Stop,” Aurora interjects.
I rush over and step between them. “This is pointless.”
“Please don’t,” Daisuke jeers from behind. “It was just about to get interesting.”
I shoot our captive a look, which shuts him up. “I agree with Felix,” G. says. “There isn’t any point in the two of you fighting like this. Our destination is in front of us. Let’s put aside our differences until later.” The fighting pair look at one another, hatred burning in their eyes, but they drop the subject. “Good.” He walks past Daisuke. “Lead on.”
Our captive sighs, unhappy that the entertainment ended so quickly, but he does as we ask, guiding us through the forest until we reach a shaded area. At the edge of the canopy stands the wall. We have a direct covered line to it. No guard could see us. “Here we are,” he announces, gesturing to the wall. However, there’s a problem. There’s no way across. Did Daisuke lead us out here for no reason? I turn, looking for mischievous pleasure in his eyes, but I find nothing.
“What is this?” I ask, my voice rising in surprise. As far as I can see, we have gone nowhere different from before. Despite this, he pulls at his restraint. “Just wait,” he says. “Could you let me go?”
“And risk you running off?” Queen exclaims. “Not a chance.”
Daisuke rolls his eyes. “I can get us across, but I can’t with my hands tied up like this.” He eyes Aurora, who made his green chain. As long as he wears that, he cannot access his more powerful abilities. He holds his hands toward her, eyes pleading for his release.
“Don’t do it,” David interjects. “We can’t trust him.”
“That’s rich coming from you,” Queen scoffs. David shoots her a hateful side glance. “I agree with you, but it’s still funny.”
“Come on,” Daisuke insists.
“It’s a trap,” G. says. He steps forward, reaching for his spear.
“If this was a trap,” Daisuke retorts. “Don’t you think I could come up with something better? I’m a bandit after all.”
“Can’t be too smart. You got caught,” Zero calls. We turn to find Zero sitting in a tree overhead. He springs down and folds his arms. “Still, Zero doesn’t see what the problem is. Let him go.”
“Are you insane?” G. yells.
Zero chuckles. “Did you forget that there is only one of him? Zero can handle this whipped dog himself. No doubt some of you can too. The instant he does anything wrong, deal with it. Fair?”
G. glares at Zero, weighing the proposition in his mind. “Fine,” he agrees at last, “but we need someone to take charge of him, if anything happens.” He looks around, waiting for someone to volunteer for the position. Despite his boasting, Zero doesn’t offer to watch our captive. Could he want me to do it? Since Daisuke saw me fight, I would be a logical option. Someone else answers before I get the chance to.
“I’ll do it,” Aurora answers, stepping over to Daisuke. With a touch of her hand, the green chain releases its grasp. “Don’t betray our trust,” she says in an icy voice. “Once we reach the other side, you can go your way. Agreed?”
Daisuke rubs his wrists, a grin on his face. “Of course. Why would I look a gift horse in the mouth?” Aurora nods, a kindness yet steeliness in her gaze. With his hands free, Daisuke turns away from us and approaches the wall. He places his palms together and says something, but I can’t hear a single word. Pulling his hands apart, a gap opens in the wall. The further his hands stretch away, the bigger the hole. His hands stop once it is G.’s size. “There,” he breathes.
“A cave,” Queen says with little enthusiasm. “You led us to a cave.”
“No, it’s a tunnel,” the blond man retorts, irritation in his voice. “You wanted a way across the border.” He gestures inside with his head. “This is it.”
“No way,” Queen insists with a shake of her head. “This has to be a trick.”
“What’s the point in trying to trick you now?” he argues, irritation in his voice. “The sooner I help you lot reach the other side, the quicker I can get out of here.”
“Queen,” Aurora interjects. “We have to trust him.”
“I don’t have to trust anybody,” Queen retorts. “How can I trust anyone that wants me to follow him through a hole?”
Daisuke looks at her with a smile forming at the corner of his mouth. “Are you scared of enclosed places?” My eyebrows raise at this. Is she?
The color drains from Queen’s face. “Of course not,” she spits, turning away from everyone, folding her arms in frustration. “Let’s just get this over with.”
“I agree,” G. chimes in, hiding the slightest amusement in his voice. He cracks his knuckles together, leading our not-so-merry band to the tunnel. At the cave’s opening, a flutter of fear dances through my chest. I push it down, not wanting to lose my nerve, but I cannot help it. My stomach churns as the dark hole in the rock face reminds me of the maw of a monster. Are we sure that it won’t shut on us, swallowing us, and trapping us for all time? I glance out the corners of my eyes to see if anyone else shared in my fear.
Harva draws close to me. I smile, trying to act reassuring, though I’m sure that my legs will tremble with each step. Maris regards the dark with the same interest that she did with everything else. Aurora’s eyes remain on Daisuke. Queen keeps her arms folded, irritated by the situation, and the color hasn’t returned to her face. Zero remains nearby, but I can tell from his movements he’s eager to get away from everyone. David doesn’t look at anyone, sulking from Queen’s slighting comment. “Let’s go,” G. says without hesitation.
We all step into the black maw. What I find inside is the opposite of what I expected. Though my vision is dim, I can see everything within the tunnel. My vision is almost as good as walking in the daylight. Looking at the front of the group, I see G. standing with a strange lamp, decorated with winged serpent, in his hand. It chases the dark, showing us the way forward. “I couldn’t call myself an adventurer if I didn’t have one of these,” he says with a chuckle, seeming to know that he lifted a heavy weight off my mind.
I breathe a sigh of relief, but I did it too soon. My breath stops short as a low groaning echoes from deep within the tunnel. As if in response to the noise, the ground beneath us shakes and moves around, as if it were about to give way. “What’s happening?” Harva exclaims, reaching for her shield and my arm.
Queen rips her chisels from her belt. “Start talking,” she demands, whirling on Daisuke. “Unless you want me to cave that skull in.” She makes no attempt to hide the horror on her face. Daisuke says nothing, smiling at Queen’s terror. “What did you do?”
“I did nothing,” he replies, a smile on his face.
“That’s it,” she says, raising the chisels over her head. She pushes past Harva and me, aiming for Daisuke’s forehead.
“Stop,” Aurora yelps, jumping forward and intercepting Queen’s hands before she can do anything else. “Calm down,” she hisses.
“I’m sick of his smug face.”
“No one cares. We need him.”
“Why?”
“It’s like the forest. There’s a barrier on this cave. W
ithout a guide, you can’t make it through,” David says, giving a precise observation. Queen’s narrow eyes seem to shoot into David, silencing him.
“It’s just like your friend said,” our captive guide explains, “there’s a barrier on the tunnel. The pathways inside are always changing.” He smiles in spite of Queen’s threat. “This is a secret tunnel only used by bandits. Did you think thieves would have a way across the border without a form of protection? This tunnel would be worthless if anyone could stroll through.” Before anyone could say anything, he walks up to the front of the group, “You have nothing to fear so long as you follow me and don’t step off the path I show you.” He smirks at Queen. “So, if you want to kill me, you better wait till later.”
Queen breathes heavy, her eyes wide in her rage. At last, she drops her arms, putting her chisels back in place. She shares an apologetic glance with Aurora. “Are you okay?” I ask Harva, whose fingers grip my arm. She says nothing, staring at her friends. Her palm warms my skin, to the point of pain. “Could you let go? You’re hurting me.” The little girl blinks and lets go with a horrified expression on her face. “Are you okay?” She nods, turning her face from me and hurries along as Daisuke leads us deeper into the tunnel. Looking at my arm, I notice a bright red welp on my skin. Ow. It’s tender to the touch. What was that? I say nothing about it. We have bigger problems at the moment.
Our guide strides through the tunnel, not allowing us a moment to rest. The path ahead is tricky, even with his help. As soon as we leave the cave’s entrance, we find ourselves in a massive chasm with no ceiling and no floor other than the path we’re on. The road branches off into alternate routes. Some plunge into the dark while others seem to loop around overhead. A few go straight ahead, but it is uncertain which path is the one to follow. One wrong turn, and it might be impossible to leave this place.
Daisuke keeps us on the main path, walking at a steady pace. All the while, we hear the continual groaning of the cave as the paths move around us. This is worse than the forest. At least it didn’t keep everyone in a constant state of fear. Still, he keeps walking ahead, giving no thought to it. Is it possible that, as long as he’s here, the path ahead will always lead us to the exit? That has to be the case because no matter where we step, it’s as if the stone beneath us is moving to make our foot land closer to the edge, but we always have a place to step. It’s as if the cave is giving a silent threat. Without Daisuke, I think we’d plunge into the darkness below.
I try to open my map, but all I can see is the darkness. Zero might have the same problem. We have no choice but to trust Daisuke, but it’s difficult to. “I forgot how large this wall is,” G. comments, breaking up the tense silence. “Raka’s work is impressive.”
“Fools,” the thief’s voice declares. “They all think they’re protected. As far as they’re concerned, everything will keep going the way it always has. Why should they think any different? They don’t know what’s on the horizon.” He speaks with so much authority I can’t help but feel unsettled.
“What are you talking about?” David questions.
“You’ll know when it happens,” he answers. “It’s only a matter of time now. I won’t be anywhere near it. As soon as I’m done with you lot, and I return to the Coyotes, we’ll head north. They won’t go there. No one bothers those in the far north. The weather is too harsh. Only fools would go there.”
“Don’t the monks live there?” Harva squeaks.
“I already mentioned the fools.”
What could he be talking about? He’s says nothing more and we fall back into silence, listening to the groaning of the tunnel. At times, it sounds as if a monster in the dark is waiting for us. We couldn’t reach the other side fast enough. Daisuke’s hands move around again, and an exit opens. A warmth of relief passes through me as soon as I see the light of day. It’s difficult to contain my excitement. The instant we step outside, a wide grin breaks out on my face. After being stuck in that forest for so long, we escaped it, and not only that, we’ve crossed Raka’s true border. All we have to do is keep battling monsters, and we’ll have our wishes before any of us know it. If I thought about this longer, I would’ve realized that the next part of this adventure was going to only get harder. Blame it on relief.
Unlike the other side of the wall, there’s no tree coverage. The only flora is the grassy ground. Hills are everywhere, and, in the distance, I can see them rise into the Rakan mountains. I breathe a sigh. It’s great to be out of that forest. Looking out on the tremendous mountains, a little tingle of excitement courses through me. I can’t wait to see what they are like. Behind me, everyone else enjoys our first minute within Raka’s true border.
“We did it,” Harva breathes.
I turn back and smile. “Yep,” I agree. She rushes up to me and I raise my hand in the air. Springing up, she slaps her hand against mine. We both give a little cry of triumph. I glance down at my hand, seeing no sign of redness and feeling no pain. Her palm is cool again. I have no idea what that was earlier, but I’ll have to ask once we have the time.
“Great,” Zero chimes in. “Zero was about to go stir crazy.” He looks around for a tree to spring into but finds nothing. His smile rolls over into a frown as his shoulders slump.
“Finally,” Queen gasps once her feet stop on the Rakan grass. The color returns to her face, and she throws her shoulders back, sniffing with confidence. “Let’s not do that again.” Looks exchange between everyone, knowing that the loud and proud Queen fears small, underground places. If everything didn’t stress me so much, I might find it funny.
“Take a quick break,” G. says. Maris lays down on the ground while David looks back at the massive wall, which is even larger up close. “We have a lot further to go today.”
Everyone begins to scatter and enjoy the first time we sat all day. Aurora looks at everything with a huge smile on her face. “Daisuke. Thank you for your…” That was as far as she got. The trembling ground cuts her off. “What’s that?” she cries. I jump to attention while everyone else, even Maris, does likewise. After leaving the tunnel, shouldn’t this be over? What is causing this? We find the source quick because he is standing amongst us. Daisuke used Summon, the Voice announces, proving what we already knew.
Daisuke’s grin is so wide that it looks as if his mouth is about to swallow the rest of his face. A red tint surrounds him. He lifts his hands from the ground, standing up to reach his full height. “Just thought I’d help you to the other side,” he taunts. The ground’s shaking intensifies. It raises up, breaking up our footing. In the upheaval, Daisuke races back into the mouth of the tunnel, disappearing to leave us to our fate, whatever it was.
“I knew it,” Queen and G. shout together.
“What’s going on?” Harva cries, struggling to remain on her little feet.
The only person who isn’t focused on the unstable ground is Aurora. She stands with her gaze following our escaped captive. Her hands ball into tight fists. She reaches up to her scythe and removes it from its resting place. “Everyone, I’ll be right back.” Though I don’t know why, there’s something in her voice that concerns me; but before I can call after her, she sprints after him. The last thing I see is her blonde hair vanishing into the dark.
“Hey,” Queen yells, ripping out her chisels. “I want a piece of him too.”
“Do you think you can chase him through that tunnel?” David taunts, while almost falling to his knees as the ground dips beneath him. Queen whirls around to yell, but he cuts her off, “When this is over, you can say what you want, but now isn’t the time.” Perhaps it was the earth threatening to collapse under us, but, for once, Queen doesn’t argue with him. If that didn’t say that we had a problem on our hands, I don’t know what did.
“Look alive, Felix,” Zero says, who dances around the unstable ground. He’s the opposite of Maris, whose face is taking on a pale-green hue. “Looks like you’re getting another chance to show what Zero taught you.”
“An imitation,” he concluded with no hope of argument. “But Zero believes imitation is the highest form of flattery. You have his approval.” We did learn one thing, and it’s quite clear. Having a similar weapon does not make me as strong as him. I have the bruises to prove it.
What our former guide summoned made its grand appearance. A large hand breaks through the ground. G. springs back, avoiding five large, deformed fingers as they reach toward the sky. Dirt, weeds, and the white skeletons of long-dead animals, both large and small, comprise this appendage. The rest of the body, another hand, arms, legs, and torso, follows, made of the same gross combination. None of its body disgusting composition remains in one place, sliding across its body, changing its hideous form each passing second. It leaves a crater in the ground as it stands up, towering over us higher than any tree. Its bulky body has no head. Instead, its face is on its torso, made out of skeletons. A shiver runs up my spine. This monster is smiling.
With each step, it shakes the ground. “A Golem,” David hisses, clear disdain in his voice. “An artificial monster made of whatever is close by. It must serve the will of whoever summoned it. Until its mission is completed, or it’s defeated, the monster will rampage.”
“You realize that there won’t be a Memento for this one,” Maris says, having enough investment to mention that.
“Yes,” G. answers. “But this battle has nothing to do with our current task. This is a matter of pride.” Brandishing his spear, he adds, “If that fleabag gets the better of us, I don’t know if I can face myself in the morning.”
“Well said,” Zero agrees. “Zero likes that. Let’s show it a good time.” Not waiting for anyone else to take action, Zero charges the Golem. His bo takes on a glow as he leaps into the air. Zero used Splitting Headache, the Voice announces. He strikes it across its haunting face and darts away before it can counterattack. The H.P. appears and depletes a fair amount, an obvious display of Zero’s strength. Remembering how I tried to see everyone else’s statuses, I focus my senses on this unknown monster.
Mind's Journey 2: Of Monsters and Men (A Gamelit Fantasy Adventure - Book 2) Page 14
