Torag Jung’s Sonarum wasn’t just whispering to him this time. The near-deafening roar in his head warned of impending doom.
With a loud crack, a fissure spread out along the false stone floor up ahead. The sharp crackle that rumbled out, echoed what his Sonarum just whispered. Terror latched its invisible clammy tendrils about him.
Torag froze. His heart pounded a thousand beats a second. This little misadventure into the Forbidden Catacombs was about to take a turn for the worse. This wasn’t the first or only warning that had popped up in his mind since the outset of this dangerous quest. Coming here was a real bad idea. From the get-go, that’s what he told Elaya Fel—his best and only real friend. If only she’d listened to his logic. There were good reasons why these catacombs were forbidden to Daejic pupils. From the onset of their journey, he reminded Elaya that a gumpf-load of fatal dangers lurked in this ancient labyrinth. And of the Daejic trespassing rule too. But she hadn’t listened to him. Right. Did she ever?
Nope! Not thick-headed, adventure-seeking, rebellious Elaya. The resounding answer to his silent question thundered in his head, as loud as the fractured stone and mud floor up ahead. His closest friend for the majority of his adolescence craved all opportunities to prove her worth as a future Daejic Warrior. And so far, this risky journey into the catacombs to save some lost Daejic pupils was her best opportunity. A great chance to prove her metal before her Warrior training at the Daejic Academy was even completed. It was against all logic and reasoning.
Ugh! Often times this obsession Elaya carried about to prove her warrior worth was beyond him. Just seemed self-destructive if anything. He snorted. Yeah, and now she’d dragged him into this obsession, something that would probably end in their sad and painful demise.
Crack, snap!
In horror, Torag glanced down at the fractured floor before him, then up ahead at Elaya. He finally found his voice. “Elaya watch out! The cave floor—”
Up ahead, the false cave floor crumbled away under the aera’s feet.
“Aiyeee!” Elaya shrieked. Her petite silhouette, outlined by the lumestick in her hand, vanished through the floor.
“Elaya!” Torag’s heart leapt into his throat. This was his worse nightmare. To lose his best friend and be stuck alone in some horrific maze of catacombs filled with fiendish creatures.
Darkness threatened to return to the foreboding stone cave ahead. Through the new hole in the cave floor, the dim light cast by Elaya’s lumestick glowed upward. But this cool-blue light faded fast. So, the lumestick hadn’t hit the bottom of that hole yet. Torag shuddered. That could only mean that hole was real deep.
“Oros…please save her.” Torag prayed under his breath.
“Torag help!” Up ahead, Elaya’s fingertips clawed the mud and thin limestone ledge of the cave’s floor.
Elaya was still alive! Maybe Oros did exist. Maybe there was hope for them to still get out of this mess Elaya had recklessly signed up for. A mess that he’d felt obligated to join in on. It wasn’t like Elaya could locate the missing Daejic pupils through this torturous mess of catacombs all on her own. Only a person with Mystik pathfinding abilities could do that. Someone like him.
“Hold on, Elaya!” Torag tossed aside his lumestick and dove down to the cave floor. Now on his flat belly, he crawled over to where Elaya dangled.
At the edge, where Elaya clung for her life, Torag glanced down into the hole. He gasped and shrunk back. Oh Oros no! It was nothing but a fathomless black pit. The lumestick that Elaya had dropped was now a mere pinprick of light. And it still hadn’t hit bottom! He shuddered, then swallowed his nerves back down. Gotta get a grip. Be a hauk, not a cluck. Whether or not they would survive this danger was all upon his scrawny teenage Ornithian shoulders. So hauk up, Torag!
Torag bit his lip, reached down, and grabbed Elaya’s petite lavender wrist. “Can ya get some sort of footing? I can’t pull ya up by myself—”
Hisssszzzzz… kaplop, plop… kaplop, plop…
The cave floor, walls, and ceiling shook about them.
Just great! As if things weren’t already bad enough. The monster they’d run into before and escaped had found them…again.
Torag peered over his shoulder, behind them. “Somehow it found us! Won’t be long—”
“Rrrr…I know Torag! Just hold onto my one arm, focus on pulling me up. I can do the rest.” Elaya bit her lip and grunted. “I think I’ve got a good footing.”
Again the dark, dank cave about them quaked. More jagged lines appeared in the rock and grew out from the lip ledge to under and around his body.
“Oh Oros!” He grunted and inched backward. At the same time, he held onto Elaya’s slender wrist and pulled her along with him. He groaned at the strain. Any moment the floor was about to give way—his Sonarum said so. But Elaya was strong. No doubt due to her Warrior training at the Daejic Academy.
A glimmer of hope swept over him. Elaya had made it up to her chest out of the hole and continued to make good headway. Together, inch by inch, they distanced themselves from the precipice. Only a little bit more and they should be in the clear.
Maybe there was a way out of this catastrophe after all.
Again the slurping hiss of the nightmarish creature echoed and the tunnel rumbled. More hairline cracks spread across the floor about them.
“Hurry Elaya!”
“Rrrr…I’m trying!”
Crack! Snap! The shattering sound petrified him as much as the whisper from his Sonarum. Torag froze again. It was no surprise when the floor gave way from under Elaya.
“Aiyeeee!” Elaya shrieked and dropped back down into the fathomless hole.
“Aaaahhhhhh!” Torag roared out in pain. Elaya’s full body weight jerked him forward to the mouth of the seeming bottomless pit. The pain was immense, felt like his arm was about to be ripped out of its socket. Still, his will to hold onto her wrist held out. Although the temptation to let go was still there—in a bad way. His Mystik training wasn’t anything like her Warrior training. The physical component in his schooling was lacking. Rrr…but it wasn’t gonna stop him from trying. He jammed his bare toe talons into the dirt and rock floor behind him. Sure, it stopped his forward progress into the pit, but this too was painful, almost unbearable.
Torag gazed down into the pit below him and grunted. His head and shoulders hung over the edge. Ah gumpf, this was a much better view of the gaping nothingness that Elaya dangled into. He swallowed down the dry lump in his throat. Much better than he’d ever hoped for or wanted.
So now what? He couldn’t hold onto her forever. Not him, an Ornithian weakling. And just a mere Daejic Mystik pupil. Mystiks weren’t cut out for this sort of strength and agility thing.
“Torag! Don’t let go!” Elaya gasped up at him. Her sky-blue eyes locked onto him. Within those steadfast eyes was a hint of something that had never appeared before. Something almost unrecognizable. Except it was in his mind too…
Dammit! None of this was good at all. Ugh! His hands were so sweaty and his arm muscles burned, it was hard not to let go of her. He gritted his teeth and fought the urge, squeezed his grip tighter around her wrist. But her tiny wrist started to slip through his sweaty grip anyway.
“I’m trying not to let go, but I—”
Hisssszzzzz… kaplop, plop… kaplop, plop…
The slurp and hiss of the nightmarish monster was more distinct, it was close. A soft greenish-yellow glow reflected off the tunnel walls from behind them.
Again, the floor rumbled. This time with greater violence. More splintered lines formed about him in the ground. He shook his head. The fiendish thing was very close. Too close to look. Maybe it was best not to.
Torag locked his gaze upon Elaya’s wide-open blue eyes. The fear in her eyes was no longer veiled. Although, it was an emotion that had never showed up on her face before. Torag groaned. So this must be the end for them both. One way or another they would die—the creature or the black pit.
Oh Oros! A terrible death, and for what? Would anyone even miss them?
A teardrop streaked down Torag’s downy cheek. “I’m sorry Elaya. I failed us.”
“Torag—!”