_____*The ravine.*_____
The pathways in the ravine were long, confusing and dangerous, as if they were made to stall or kill intruders, the path got darker and darker as the day passed, as as they continued forward, the rocks were all jagged and looked as though they would pierce your flesh just by the tinniest amount of contact.
Lyaroa led the way through the ravine, while Roxanne had pointed out that she could just as easily teleport them to where they needed to be, or at least give them a better and faster way of getting through, Lyaroa had responded by saying that it would be cheating.
Unfortunately, Golden didn't seem to care, and he had gone off, saying that if the world was at stake, shouldn't they go as fast as possible? Lyaroa had said this. 'If I did that, it would leave a trace, and anything that could follow it would find us, it's better this way, trust me.'
Unsurprisingly the calmest one in the group was Fang, who seemed to be ignoring everyone else in order to better focus on the environment and other hazards, he found it strange though, with how dangerous and is place was, why did there seem to be a pathway through the rocks?
After a lot of walking and bickering, the group eventually stumbled across a dead end, and Golden decided to be a smart ass.....again. "Way to go Sentinel, you led us to ANOTHER dead end!" He sarcastically congratulated.
Lyaroa growled and looked at Golden. "Fine, you lead the way!" She challenged.
Golden shrugged. "Ok." He said simply.
After that, Golden led the way forward with a strange calmness, no longer flinging insults and actually focusing, but now Lyaroa seemed to be grumpy, thankfully, Roxanne picked a random subject. "So Golden, what's with the staff?.....I mean, not to insult, but compared to the swords and Shade's magic, it seems a little pointless." She asked curiously.
Golden paused and looked at Roxanne. "Normally, you would pose a good point, and I get that I have the build for either a war hammer or a great-axe, but this thing took me five years to build, and I'm not letting it break or be called 'pointless', besides." He continued walking and looked away. "It's stronger than your letter openers.' He muttered under his breath.
As they walked, Fang continued to notice an odd pattern in the rocks, while to everyone else, it seemed like he was staring at things that weren't there.
Eventually, Shade got curious. "What is it?" He asked.
Fang blinked. "Nothing." He lied as he followed Golden and the others, much to the suspicion of Shade.
After a while longer, Golden led them and found a small cave opening, but it didn't seem to go far. "Way to go Golden, now what?" Lyaroa teased.
Golden sighed and motioned for the group to hold up as he entered the small cave, leaving everyone else out to wait.
Soon enough, Shade approached Fang, with a question or two in mind. "Hey, mind if I talk to you quick?" He asked carefully.
Fang looked at the Night Wolf, he didn't strike Fang as the curious kind, or one to dodge around details. "What about?" He wondered.
Shade crossed his arms and looked around, his gaze soon locked on Fang. "Out of everyone here, I can understand them, even barely, Golden is here because he's bored, Roxanne and Lyaroa are trying to protect what they care about, and I'm here because I want to live, and try to make a new life here, but you?.....you confuse me." He said honestly.
Fang shrugged. "I'm here to protect what I care about, just like the girls." He replied.
Shade sighed. "It's not that, look, I am well aware that I've known you for barely an hour, but so far, you've struck me as the kind of person who just doesn't care, like you don't give a damn about the world ending, but something is making you help....I'm curious as to what." He said calmly.
Fang paused at the words, while he couldn't legitimately deny it, he honestly didn't care if the world ended, but for some reason hearing Shade talk to him like that, he seemed to consider the why. "Other than my son and my friends, the only reason I'm here is to keep Rox alive, not much beyond that." He replied.
Shade opened his mouth to speak, but just then, Golden exited the cave and spoke, silencing Shade. "Found something." The bear said.
Lyaroa walked over to see what Golden was talking about, surely enough, she soon noticed a revealed lever in the cave, which was previously concealed by strong magic. "Interesting, did you pull it?" She asked.
Golden shook his head. "Not yet, I was going too." He replied.
Lyaroa then proceeded to pull the lever, she quickly left the small cave along with Golden.
Soon enough, loud rumblings in the mountains were heard, along the annoying sound of stone grinding.
Shade looked around with everyone, attempting to find the source, and soon, Shade spotted it, a sizable part of the mountain seemed to push out slightly, before sliding off to the side, after it was finished moving, a large stone hatch could be seen in the wall. "Found it." He said, pointing at the hatch.
Everyone looked at where Shade was pointing, seeing the hatch.....sixty feet up the mountain.
Roxanne's jaw dropped. "And just HOW are we getting up there?" She asked.
Lyaroa shrugged. "We climb." She answered simply.
"Right, and when we fall and die?" Golden questioned snidely.
Lyaroa went to say something, but stopped as she thought on it. "Fine, any bright ideas?" She asked.
Fang blinked as he looked around, he spotted that path among the spikes again and wordlessly walked away from the group who were busy coming up with ideas.
A minute or so later, Lyaora noticed that Fang was missing, she looked around but could not find her friend. "Uh, did anyone see where Fang went?" She asked.
Everyone looked around, but found no trace of the wolf. "Fang?.....where are you?" Roxanne asked.
"Up here!" They heard his voice and all looked, they were confused and shocked to find that Fang was sitting on a smooth surface near the now open hatch.
Shade raised an eyebrow as Fang proceeded to point at something, he looked over and spotted it, a hidden and confusing pathway through the rocks to the hatch. "Let's get going." He said.
It took a while, but with Fang's help, the group eventually made it to the hatch and went inside.
"How did you find that path?" Lyaroa asked.
Fang pointed one finger at his eyes. "I looked." He replied before shutting the hatch with a loud bang.
Everyone was startled at the sudden noise, and the grinding of stone was soon heard followed by a slam shortly after. "Why did you close it?" Roxanne asked.
"To slow down possible pursuers." Fang answered easily.
Seeing as the room was completely dark, Golden spoke up. "Can we get some damn light in here now?" He wondered as though no one noticed it.
Roxanne then held one hand up and ignited it in white flame, the room now illuminated, it was a simple cave with no defining features except a few stone spikes, they all continued forward further into the cavern.
The group soon entered a room with carvings in the wall along with a door and two statues, the carvings seemed to have a volcanic pattern to them, the statues were that of a Pegasus and a unicorn in full armor holding silver spears.
Golden walked up to the door and opened it, or so he thought as it didn't budge, he grumbled. "Looks like we need a key." He stated grumpily.
Roxanne walked up to the statues and noticed something odd, the hoof that held the spear on both seemed flexible, she reached out and bent the hoof, she heard a click as the statue turned and the spear was now pointing at the door.
Shade soon did the same, and now both were facing the door, another click and the door opened.
As they walked through the next door, Roxanne grumbled. "Would it be too much to ask for a damned torch?" She complained.
Lyaroa sighed. "If we don't find one in the next few rooms, I'll make one." She assured the fox.
"Good, I hate being the flashlight." She said with irritation.
As luck would have it, the group entered another room and there was a torch......behind a wall of fire and spikes. "Of fucking course!" Roxanne cursed.
Fang approached the wall, he then looked back at Shade. "Can you do anything to help or not?" He wondered.
Shade's eyes glowed purple with red sparks and he raised a hand. "Move away." He instructed.
Fang moved away and soon a blast of some kind of energy launched at the spikes, upon impact, the spikes disintegrated. "Whoa.....can your entire race do that?" He asked.
"No, just me." Shade replied.
Fang blinked, he then turned around and walked through the firewall, he felt incredible heat, but he didn't feel any pain, he walked to the torch and grabbed it, he then ran back through the firewall. "Here you go." He said as he handed Roxanne the torch.
Golden rubbed his eyes. "How are you not dead or on fire?" He questioned.
Fang pointed at the fire. "That was made by fire magic, and I have a resistance to magic, simple." He answered.
Roxanne lit the torch and she was finally able to give her powers a break, the torch illuminated the room with its white fire, soon enough, the group continued moving through a door in the room.
____*ten minutes of walking later.*____
The group had walked through a small maze and another puzzle room, but they were now in a large room with only one thing of note, a giant hole in the center.
Lyaroa walked up to the hole and knelt down, she couldn't see the bottom even with her night vision, she sighed and looked at Roxanne. "Drop the torch down the hole, we need to know how deep it is." She said.
Roxanne ignited her other hand and walked up to the hole, with everyone around it, she dropped the torch, it fell, and fell, but soon even the flames vanished from sight.
"Well, that sucks." Golden pointed out.
Lyaroa sighed. "Ok, give me a minute and I'll...." She was cut off as Fang suddenly jumped down.
Golden watched as Fang fell down the hole, he sighed and stood up. "I hate that dog." He complained as he jumped down.
Shade looked at the others. "No way, I am not jumping down ther-" He was suddenly pushed off by an unseen force, unlike the others, he literally fell down the hole.
Lyaroa shrugged and crossed her arms as she fell forwards and into the hole. "Why not?" She mumbled.
Roxanne blinked, she rubbed her eyes. "Oh who am I kidding?" She then jumped down after them.
Roxanne soon caught up to Lyaroa, who still had her arms crossed. "This is fun!" The Sentinel suddenly said.
____*two minutes later, at the bottom.*____
Golden growled at his predicament, somehow, Fang had slowed his decent just enough so that Golden landed on the bottom.....again.
The pile that this resulted in was basically the same, except Lyaroa switched places with Shade. "You alright down there Golden?" Shade asked.
Golden sighed. "Could be better if you dogs GOT THE FUCK OFF ME!" He shouted.
"Ok, it's official, I love this far more than the Empire." Lyaroa said.