We continued following the trail for an hour more, having a trivial conversation about the forest’s apparent anger toward me exclusively after being the only one to trip multiple times on branches, before we reached the cave entrance. We tried staring down into it but all we saw was the darkness waiting ahead. It was foreboding, my skin was crawling, and glancing at the others, so was theirs. Sylv opened her mouth, stuttering before even saying a word, and asked, “Wi- will the c-c-cave shoot out rock tentacles if it’s alive too?” We all froze, Sylv’s words reverberating in our ears. I turned to look at her and she was horror struck, her eyes bulging out in fear, begging for an answer. Forland, Alistanna and I all burst into fits of laughter, clutching at our guts while trying not to topple over each other. “I’m serious! How do we know?” Even Boris struggled to stifle a chuckle as Forland buried his face into his shoulder to muffle his laughter.
“Sylv, dear.” Alistanna answered, wiping tears from her eyes. “That’s a very… interesting idea, but if the cave was alive, why wouldn’t it just crush us instead of spouting tentacles.” These words were not the calming words Sylv was looking for, which was evident by the second of understanding that immediately after turned her face white with all the air leaving her lungs. Again, for a few minutes more, laughter took over us all, except Sylv who grappled with the thought of instantly being crushed.
Forland cleared his throat, causing us to fall silent and glance his way. “Okay,” he said, deepening his voice and extruding his neck. “Sylv will-.”
We all cut him off, and in a monotoned voice, we all said at the exact same time, “Use her lure spell, which has roughly a five-minute timer, to lure out the enemies when we enter the cavern. Listen to what Forland says while we’re inside the cavern. Go into formation raven. Did we miss anything?”
“Wow.” He replied, his cheeks slightly flushed along with his moist eyes. “That was an amazing speech. I wish I could have come up with it.” He smiled, marching off towards the cave, as we all stared at each other with blank expressions, unsure if he realised if it was his speech or not.
We followed closely behind Forland after getting over the confusion, and then drifted apart from each other. I maneuvered past Forland, stationed in front of the group. Marching closely behind, shield in hand, was Boris with his ears perched. To my left was Forland. His blade was drawn; he swung his sword around, scratching the roof of the cave, then readjusted. On my right stumbled Sylv on the uneven rocky floor, trying to concentrate long enough to get her spell casted. And in the back was Alistanna, murmuring to herself, most likely calling to Maria.
My eyes began to sting as the gloomy cavern opened to me. The area was smaller than I imagined, certainly not ideal for Forland. Turning around, my eyes were lit ablaze by the sudden concentrated light peering from within Alistanna’s staff. Quickly, I snapped my head back to the front.
Boris leaned close to me, seemingly placing his head right behind mine, “Okay?” He whispered. With a little nod, I continued to look around the cave.
The rooftop was jagged and uneven, spanning a neutral grey throughout. No surface was completely flat, they all had some cracks splintering through or edge protruding. A chill ran down my spine the further we wandered with no change in sight. Dust slowly sprinkled down from the ceiling onto my head. Each breath was growing harder to hold onto. Placing my hand to the side of my face, I turned my head to Forland. His light blue skin was the opposite of his expression as he stared at the walls, wide eyed and tight lipped. Turning back and closing my eyes, I took a deep breath and held it for a moment. We’ll be in and out. The creatures are supposed to be in an open space. it’s fine.
Opening my eyes, a group of skinny black and purple figures were hunched over themselves on the sides of the cave. Immediately, I stopped and drew my daggers from their sheathes. The sounds of footsteps grinding on stones stopped, the whistling of a blade halted, and the sound of buttons popping and scrapping against metal could be heard. Silently, I walked ahead of the group, raising two fingers to my forehead. “In the shadows I lurk,” I whispered, running my fingers down my face onto my nose, “for what is held in the darkness is left forgotten,” the tips of my fingers pressed against my chin, holding their place, “end cog.” The tips of my fingers rushed down from my chin to my side, a warm energy ran down my skin, nestling against my body hair and clenching down onto them. I began my approach.
Slowly, trying not to stumble on the uneven terrain, I made my way closer. Sitting on their laps laid shields with a crest impossible to see on my angle. Their weapons were placed by their sides, sitting up against the hard wall. They had a range of staffs, swords, daggers, hammers, axes, and even throwable and wearable rings. My approach went unnoticed, so much that I stopped sneaking and just meandered over to the first one and kicked it. No reaction, not surprising coming from a skeleton. “We’re good!” I shouted down, echoing off the sides of the cave.
The group quickly wandered over to the sight of more than a dozen skeletons all lined up with hands in their laps or by their sides, placed against the cave wall like decorations or a warning. Each bone on the corpses were cracked and were decoloured, but more importantly, completely picked clean. Not even a single speck of skin or flesh left hanging from any bone. Once the group were next to me, the energy dribbled out of my glands, fading away from my body. “Wait, these are skeletons.” Sylv said, pointing down at one with a confused look sat on her face, “How’d you mix them up with creatures?”
“I casted Lunar sight? You shou-.” I said, turning around to her and meeting a blinding light sitting directly in front of my face. “Maria!” I shouted, quickly turning away from the light.
“Oh, sorry.” Alistanna apologised, patting me on the back.
“Keep your voices down.” Forland whispered, “We don’t know how far away we are from the Shranks.”
“Actually,” I chimed back in, rubbing my eyes with my palms, “there’s an opening down there.” I pointed down the cave to what looked to be an opening into a larger space.
“Who are these guys?” Sylv said, jumping back after accidentally touching one of the purple stained bones.
“Yurthmen.” Boris replied, picking up one of the shields and snapping it in two with ease. “Old, hand painted crest, rubbish weaponry, and skeletons.”
“They’re from during the war.” Forland said, examining the miniscule armour on the corpses. “Before their guild made their crest the head of a hydra, their crest was just green with a y shaped tongue on the bottom and two triangle fangs on the top. Never thought I would ever see something like this. A relic lost to time, found by us.”
“But why are they here?” Alistanna asked, poking one with the end of her staff, causing the head to topple over onto the floor. “They’re a long way from their guild hall.”
“Who knows,” I said, stomping on the skull that fell to the ground, crushing it to dust and fragments, “who cares. They’re gone and they were probably here for the same reason we are. For whatever’s in this cave. I think what’s more worrying is the fact they’ve clearly been placed like this.”
“Meaning there’s either people live down here that fought them,” Alistanna jumped in, looking down towards the opening, “or the Shranks are smarter than we once thought.”
“They have always been clever.” Forland told to us, moving away from the battalion and now looking down the cave’s path. “They created weapons, staffs too, and have a hierarchy engrained in their blood. It does not change a thing.” A glimmer of light flickered in his eyes as he turned back to all of us, “We have a job to do. So, let’s. Sylv, is the spell casted?”
“Yep.” She exclaimed, giving a thumbs up and a smirk, “They should be drawn to us for the next five minutes.”
“Then let us move, I would not want to start a fight in here.” Forland laughed, glancing around at the cave’s ceiling then back down to his blade.
We walked into the open cavern, blades and staffs in hand, to a brightly lit pebbled path. My eyes were lit ablaze walking in until the mana rolled down my cheeks much like a tear. The path had crystal torches strung to wooden rods that stood on the side. The red and blue crystals flickered like flames without embers, and led down to the camp of Shranks surrounding true flames. The Shranks with little or no horns glared us down, clenching their weapons of choice in their hands, while the ones with longer horns sat unfazed, blades and staffs by their sides, staring front and centre. A short brown furred shrank with white tips stood in front of them all, its horns were the longest of them all, twisting and turning in on themselves. Its long, cylindrical snout snapped with each of its barks and roars to its compatriots; with freshly sharpened and shined tusks. His tusks reflected the flames that built inside the Shranks as they stamped their hooves into the rocky floor. The short horned Shranks had stopped glaring at us, and were now giving full attention to their leader.
“What the hell?” I said, looking over the cult like meeting.
“What do we do here?” Alistanna questioned, looking over to their rugged cotton tents bolted into the stone floor.
“We do what we came here to do.” Forland uttered lifelessly, “Eliminate them.”
“Wait what?” Alistanna baulked, looking towards Forland with desperate eyes. “They’re intelligent.”
“Which was already known.” He stated.
“Not like this.” She rebutted, shaking her head.” They’re communicating, they have a hierarchy, and they can resist a lure cast, only humans and other truly intelligent creatures can do that.”
“This is what it takes to be A rank. Did you not see out front, they are a threat.” Forland said coldly, looking at Alistanna.
Alistanna looked right to Sylv, who looked away, and then to Boris and I with wide eyes and curled lips. While Boris looked down to the ground, I looked towards the Shranks to see them all staring at us, as if listening. “Alistanna.” I said, looking back to her. Her face lit up as I uttered her name. “This is something we have to do.” My nails dug into my hands as her face slowly began to darken with each word I said. “We have rent we need to pay by the start of next week, and we don’t have the funds and we can’t get back and complete a new job by then.” Turning away from Alistanna’s teary eyes and looking back at the Shranks, something stuck out on their weapons. It wasn’t the matte finish, or the wooden handle, but the crest dug into the handles. “Their blades and staffs, they’re the same ones we saw on those bodies outside.”
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“So,” Forland chimed back in, lifting his blade towards the Shranks, “The question is not if their kind did kill them.”
“But if alive when happened.” Boris said, straightening himself up and lifting his blade as well.
Alistanna’s face was still darkened, her hands dug into her stone staff, her teeth clenched down on themselves. “Then Maria will forgive me for killing these haevorns.”
The Shranks, horned and hornless, picked up their weapons and marched towards us, twenty-three strong. The leader pushed from out the back into the front with his soldiers following behind him. They had two lines of eight, all armed with blades, and one line of six behind them with staffs raised. The Shranks stopped as their leader did, staring him down, waiting for a command. Looking back to Forland, he looked around to us all, barely moving his head to do so. He looked at me, then to the leader, and with the nudge of his head, I understood the command.
The light air passed easily through my body as I turned my head back to the motionless Shranks. Even though the leather handle wrapped around my blade was worn to a thin layer with strands peeling off of it, it still melded to my hands like it had done oh so many times before. A cold ooze dragged itself down my legs, underneath my skin, scratching at the muscle that sat underneath to repair and lighten them. I leaned forward; my left leg slowly dragged itself behind my body. All the weight of my body fell upon my right leg, it dug into the floor as the softened muscles began tightening, reinforcing themselves with one another.
The sound of a rock cracking shot throughout the cave as I leaped forward, it only took me three bounding steps to reach the leader of the group. They were all so slow. My right hand clenched around my dagger, pushing it across his throat to no resistance. The slice was quick, so fast not a speck of blood drenched my blade. I continued my dash, moving from their leader into the backlines. They tried to react, raising their blades, two even sliced through the air, nearly cutting me, but they couldn’t stop me from reaching their back line.
In front of me stood six staff wielding Shranks, but only the closest four had realised I had already broken through. While the other two were still casting their spells to heal or enhance their allies, the four stared at me. The skin on their snouts was pulled back revealing razor sharp fangs. They aimed their staffs towards me, but their muscles were too tight to try to make any fluid movement. They wanted to make it believable, that they had a chance and maybe I would back away, but their eyes were filled with a black void swallowing them. They knew what was going to happen. With fluid movement, rushing in and around all six of them, I came out the other side. Looking down, my hands were warm and drenched in blood.
The sound of seven bodies falling to the floor in quick succession rang through the cave before the Shranks all mighty roar. I turned around to see all but four Shranks rushing towards my friends. These four must be the only ones that notice I made it through. Like their brothers did, the Shranks all advanced towards me, swords in hand. One was ahead of the rest and he leaped forward, sword raised over his head. Can’t expect more from a hornless one. Moving my body slightly to the side, he flew past me into the hard stone ground. Another blade whistled from behind me. My neck snapped my head down to my chest and the blade whistled over. Glancing to the side, the two other Shranks were swinging in unison. Turning myself towards them with my arms crossed, their blades collided with mine. Veins bulged from underneath their skin all over as they pushed their blades against mine, but my daggers didn’t budge. Effortlessly, I flicked my daggers sideways, causing the Shranks’ arms and blades to rise up into the air. Their heads collided with each other as they stumbled forward from putting too much might into one measly attack, causing them to stumble to the ground.
The sound of a whistling blade passed my ears again as the only competent shrank continued his attacks. I continued to dodge swing after swing, slowly taking steps back. The other three rose from the ground, and like the fools they were, rushed back into the fray. The three of them gave each other a look, and with a glisten in their eye, it was all but obvious what they would try to do. Hornless fools.
They rushed forward, pebbles flew up behind them as their hooves pushed off the ground. With each bound their swords rose higher and higher until they were raised over their heads. In the blink of an eye, I leapt towards all three, running together. In one step, I landed in front of them. Their eyes widened, they could see it all, but were too slow to react as my blade travelled up through the air and across their body, slicing from one torso to the next. The competent one had turned and began rushing over, but my blade had already guided itself through the stomach of the last shrank. Their blood and intestines gushed onto the stone floor as their bodies fell limp.
Quickly jumping back, I raised my daggers up to my chest as the Shrank’s sword crashed down into them. Finally, I felt the blood coursing through my veins, up my arms, through my heart. My arms bulged slightly as the Shrank pressed his sword with all his might down on me. Our blades scrapped against each other as we looked into each other’s eyes and I saw his eyes lit with righteous fury and rage. His head lifted up and he swung his horns down. Leaping back, I pushed his blade up, leaving mine by my side, and he leapt forward. His blade raised above me; the crystals above made it shimmer in the light as he swung it down towards me. My blood flew from one end of my body to the other. My eyes were entrapped on that blade. This is it. This is the end. It’s not fair, why couldn’t it go on for just a bit longer. I raised my left leg, catching the blade against the heel of my boots and slammed it into the ground. With my daggers still firmly in hand, I stabbed down into the closest part of the shrank, its head. His skull popped as my blade slithered inside, only stopping once the handle pressed against his skull. His body jittered for a moment, but it didn’t cry or wail. Only a soft moan left his body as the air did his lungs. His fiery eyes fell dark as his body fell limp. His crimson blood with vibrant blue specks oozed from his cranium. May Maria grant thy mercy.
The clanging of blades to my side subsided as the last shrank squealed before falling in two. Glancing over, Forland was wiping his blade on his cape, Boris slammed his giant sword into the stone and rested his head on the hilt, while Sylv and Alistanna joked and laughed. Walking over, I wiped my blades on the side of my cloak, smearing the blood across the daggers.
“I killed three of them with a fireball.” Sylv stated, swing her staff around much like a martial artist would.
“So? I enhanced both Forland and Boris, which means I killed almost fifteen.” Alistanna countered, mockingly laughing after with the back of her hand up to her mouth.
“HIGHFIVE!” Sylv’s bellow echoed throughout the cave as she swung her open palm to Alistanna’s, smacking her in the face with the gesture. The noise exploded throughout the cavern. Alistanna’s face lit up as she clenched onto her staff, raising it above her head. Sylv broke out into a sprint, running around the edge of the chamber with Alistanna swinging at her from close behind. Forland, Boris and I watched and chuckled as the two continued their bit, interweaving between us with Alistanna still swinging, nearly knocking our heads off.
“Maria.” Forland whispered, a glint hitting his eye after he dodged a swing. “You two, stop.” He commanded. They both stopped running, dropping to their knees and catching their breath.
“We were. Waiting. For you. To say. That.” Alistanna sputtered out between gasps of air before collapsing onto her chest.
Forland paid their overdramatization no mind as he quickly walked to the side of the cave. He ran his fingers across the wall before grabbing a piece of crystal stuck in the wall and snapping it off with a loud crunch. His head tilted down as he pulled the crystal closer to his eyes. “MARIA!” He exclaimed, practically jumping for joy on the spot. “CATCH!” He arched his back and swung his arm, tossing the crystal through the air directly in front of me. I reached out, grabbing the crystal. It was a clear, slightly scratched crystal. But what made the crystal exciting was the tiny bit of shining light hovering inside the central area of it, moving around inside. Only one crystal acted like this. “ALL OF THE CRYSTALS ON THE WALL ARE LIKE THIS!” He shouted over to us. Does he need to shout? the echo would send the message just fine. “HAE CRYSTALS! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT”
“Explains quest.” Boris said, glancing over my shoulder at the crystal, his deep breaths flowing down my back.
“So, how many do we take back with us then?” Sylv asked, lunging from the ground at the crystal in my hand and failing miserably.
“I think we should leave them.” Forland answered, turning away from the wall, walking back to us. His eyelids slammed down onto each other; wielding shut. His hands rolled up and tightened into shaking red fists, with sweat beading his face, dripping down off it.
Boris and I’s heads shot straight to him as he continued his walk. Even Alistanna, who was still sprawled out on the ground, sprung into the air, slack jawed by his comment. “You can’t be serious.” Sylv said, flabbergasted like the rest of us.
Forland’s teeth clenched together as he looked down towards the ground. “They are not ours to take.”
“You do realise we’re getting paid shit for this right?” I spat, my eyes growing wider the more his words sunk into my ears.
“I thought we all agreed the pay was fine.” Forland retorted. “In fact, I thought we were all stoked for our first A rank job.”
“Yes, we were.” Alistanna jumped in, beginning to walking over to Forland with us all following close behind. “But that was when it was a clear out. Kill monsters, get kol. But this.” She waved her hands up in the air, glancing around at the crystals, refracting off one another’s light. “This makes that amount laughable. They’ll be making at least ten times the amount they paid per slab of crystals. I’ve never. Ever! Seen, let alone heard of anything like this in all my years of school and alignment reading. This place is like a myth told in ancient scripter but discovered to be true. Not only true, but still existing.”
“It is not ours to take.” Forland sighed; his face sunken but with eyes wrapped around the crystal in my hand.
“Take two, who’d know.” Boris said, wandering past Forland to the wall decorated with the crystals. “One slab, job done.”
Forland stood aside as we walked past with Boris to the wall, all eyeing which crystal we would take for ourselves. A small smirk rose on Forland’s face while walking by him, then he proclaimed, “Fine. Two and only two,” His eyes shot over and glared at Sylv for a moment before continuing “will be allowed for each of us. So, make sure you get at least one worth keeping.” He sped up behind us, sticking his hand past us and snapped the biggest crystal on the wall off. He had that picked out from the start, didn’t he?
We scoured the wall for a few seconds, knocking on crystals, examining how much mana was inside them, and if they could be broken off by hand. Sylv continued to pull on the second biggest one, about the size of my dagger, to no avail. She had both legs pressed against the side of the cave, tugging against it and the crystal wouldn’t even wiggle.
Walking down the cave wall, examining the crystals for my own perfect one, something caught my eye. To the left was an opening cavern that I didn’t realise was there before, and not only that, a group of rocks sat in front of it. Why is everything flat except that one area? The rocks sitting on the floor jittered slightly as from behind them a large pillar began rising up higher and higher. A loud crash echoed in the cave, dust blew down from the entrance as more stones and another pillar rose from the other side. Oh Maria. Those aren’t rocks. The shining, hopeful light that had flickered in my eyes faded as the creature pulled itself up through the gap. The creature slowly rose from its knees and stood up on its hooves, and though it was at least a mile away, it still towered over us. Its shadow that rose with it washed over my body, holding me in place. “Holy-.” I gasped. Pulling with all my might, I dragged my neck to the side to look at my friends. They were all standing in place, their eyes stuck on the creatures, with their faces draining of all colour the longer they stared. The creature snarled while glaring us down. It reverberated through the cave, bouncing off and knocking loose some of the crystals hanging in the cave. We all knew what this was now that we could see it properly, this was no creature, but a monster. A Drynir, an S rank monster. And if we wanted to get out alive, we might have to kill it.
