Cursed Explorer of the Arcana

I’m awed. No matter how much I despise spiders or how terrified I am even though I’ve been told this specimen is already dead… I feel so small and insignificant even in the presence of its remains.

“I really hate this place, you know?” Valka grumbles, her eyes glued to the massive carcass while her legs are hard at work stomping the small spiders still coming at us relentlessly.

“At least you got something. More questions are all I found here.” A quick jog around the body showed no signs of injury. Nothing whatsoever.

Beasts don’t tend to die of old age. It’s not that they can’t but with every evolution, they can somehow extend their lifespan and after breaching four digits they tend to live for many, many centuries.

This place is old, the spirits were old and the city looked absolutely ancient but even so I doubt this one died a natural death.

“We should keep moving.” Valka suggests and I couldn’t agree more.

Ever since passing through that illusionary wall when I started following the spirits’ cry things have been consistently going south. Danger after danger, the promise of freedom and sparks of curiosity juggled in front of our eyes yet just out of reach. This place sucks.

So I do the usual Elyssia thing when I’m frustrated. Something impulsive and stupid.

“Close your eyes!” I’m considerate enough to warn my partner this time, just to avoid any arguments.

My cute little fireball acting as a lantern until now floats up high in the air where I pump it full of mana to increase the flames both in size and intensity until even I can barely make out anything without going blind. Finally, the outline of the cavern wall becomes visible along with many many other things left forgotten under the veil of complete darkness.

Corpses and skeletons in the thousands, broken wings sizeable shaped out of what looks like metal embedded into a wall, and spiders. As if irked by the intense light a furious screech breaks the relative silence just the way I shattered the darkness. It’s hard to tell how far, how big, or how dangerous but I don’t plan on sticking around to find out.

“There!” I grab the wobbly and half-blind Valka, despite my clear warning, and sprint toward what seems to be a tunnel in the distance.

The chances of it leading straight to freedom are abysmal but it’s easier to defend and can stop massive opponents for a while. Clearly the best direction.

Taking one last glance at the titanic remains of the once mighty spider I finally catch something unusual under intense albeit diminishing light. The top of its body seems… open. Just completely missing.

I don’t get to ponder more on the how, the what, or the when because the last thing I see as the lights go dim is the shadow of a very large and very spidery leg cresting a wall to our right. Likely the owner of the ear-piercing screeches and just as likely an offspring of the big bad dead thing we left behind.

The looks of the creature remain a mystery, not that I’m curious, as we finally reach the tunnel just as dark, damp and depressing as the rest of the underground spider habitat. And the webs, the unending walls of thick spiderwebs covering everything.

This does give me some hope of something else besides spiders living down here because those eight legs are the last thing I’d want to eat.

“Don’t stop here!” I drop the useless advice. Just in case.

Just because I’m adaptable and clearly smarter than almost any beast doesn’t mean they can’t bring something new to the table. They can be surprisingly cunning and being overly cautious is the only remedy for that type of danger.

“You should collapse-”

I’m already one step ahead. Halting my escapade I turn on my heels and throw a violent ball of fire promising a real blast at the ceiling while aiding its destructive work with a hint of earth magic. The results are instantaneous and the furious screech from the other side proves the effectiveness of the makeshift barricade.

I’ve basically trapped ourselves. There might be creatures just as dangerous down this tunnel but now all we have to our back is a dead end. Still better than an army of spiders.

“What now?” Valka inquires, already walking a few paces ahead of me.

“The exact same thing we’ve been doing for about a day now.” I chuckle. “We wander around aimlessly and hope for the best.”

“That’s a shitty plan.” The wild grind on Valka’s face says it all. “Just keep lighting the path, I’ll take the vanguard!”

There really is nothing else we can do. Only forward.

***

“Hey, wake up!” Someone gently pokes my shoulder. “I let you rest a little longer but enough is enough.” The nudges are getting more and more aggressive. “I heard your stomach growl in your sleep and I’m also starving.”

“Just a few more minutes Mom.” I mutter and roll over finding the rest of the hard rock surface just as uncomfortable to lie on.

“Get up or I’ll find a spider and put it in your clothes.” Valka’s ice-cold tone makes sure her words sound like a promise rather than a joke. And I’m sure she’d do it.

I finally open my eyes with a big stretch and a groan that would put even old people to shame. What welcomes me is a little hideyhole I made in a corner, a tiny spark controlled by Maintained Magic, and a frowning Valka. We’re still underground, still hungry, and still very lost.

“How did you even survive all alone without me?” Valka pulls me to my feet, sounding a lot like Mom without the benefit of actually being my mother.

“I didn’t have days' worth of supplies disappear in a second.” I counter, shaking my very empty bag.

“We can always find something else to eat.” She crosses her arms and looks pointedly at the stone wall I raised to cover us while we sleep.

“Sure, we have snails, spiders, and some other small lizards. Make your pick.” With that said the lizards look more and more appetizing by the hour.

It’s been about a day or two since we escaped the spider cave if my inner clock is to be trusted. With little to no rest and basically no sustenance we won’t last much longer but at least it's not the spiders that get us.

I think we got rid of the eight-legged nightmares not long ago and now we’re only left with beasts more afraid of us than the other way around. Hopefully, that means they’re not all that strong and confident, suggesting the surface can’t be that far.

I miss the light of Solaire, the fresh air and-

Out of nowhere, Valka punches the wall behind me strong enough for pieces of rocks to come falling down. The crack I hear is hopefully just the stone and not her bones because there’s clearly enough force behind the strike to crush every bone in me.

It’s pretty frightening but I won’t stop messing with her just because she’s really freaking strong, I’m not a helpless damsel either.

“What was that?” I make an umbrella of arcane to save myself from the falling debris.

“Just wanted to make sure this isn’t one of those space jumbles.” The slight frown on her face betrays her tough act, that punch must’ve hurt. Probably didn’t hurt enough to make her any wiser but that’s not my problem.

She still keeps acting like an animal most of the time, as if she grew up among berserker bears after being dropped on her head as a child. I could teach her… with food maybe, like a dog? Proper human food, yes, that’d definitely work. Oh Gods what I’d give for a slice of cake or even fresh bread right now…

“What’s on your mind? Something good?” She asks while checking the perimeter after my wall has been pulled down.

“What, no? What do you mean?” I stutter, I can’t deny it.

How did she know? Only my parents, Bennett, Martha, and the squad can read me like that. We haven’t even known each other for a week.

“I’m not blind, I noticed how they move.” She explains basically nothing. So I do the usual head tilt and eyebrow raise. “Hah, you e-” She slaps a hand on her mouth, going wide-eyed and collapsing on the ground all of a sudden.

“Valka!” I rush over in fright, only to find her in tears and holding her side as her entire body trembles.

She’s laughing.

Valka POV:

There’s no way she doesn’t know. I can’t believe the people around her kept her in the dark for twelve long years about this, I refuse to believe it.

“What!” Elyssia demands this time with her ears pulling backward and lowering slightly.

Seeing this I completely lose it and dissolve into laughter.

Her ears… they betray all her thoughts. Slight wiggles for excited or happy, up means surprised or embarrassed, down is usually sad or something troubling, while back is angry or combat mode. And then there’s the way they can turn red in just seconds…

Cute.

It takes a good few minutes of dying on the ground, plenty of shouting and yapping from Elyssia, and endless wheezing for air to finally calm down. Her ears and the thought of her being completely in the dark will likely never stop being a source of entertainment but I do manage to overcome the urge to cackle.

I can’t even remember the last time I laughed like this…

“WHAT!” She demands and I almost lose it again.

“No- nothing, we should, pffff!” I can’t help but giggle again, only to be rewarded with a blast of wind right at my face.

The push is strong enough to make me skid back a few steps and it does manage to make me forget about the comedy that my companion is. Not because it poses any danger, no, but rather due to the smells the air rushing past me carries.

“Do you smell that?” I sniff the air, looking for that specific scent again.

“You need to be a bit more specific. Is it the feces, the decay, or the damp rocky stench?” Elyssia is as snapy as ever although this time it’s entirely my fault.

“Meat, roast to be more specific.” I describe to her what I’ve felt.

“You must be hallucinating.” She huffs and starts walking.

“Do that again, the wind thing!” I barely finish the sentence and the air is already rushing at me, throwing me off my feet and continuing to roar into my face for a few more seconds.

She’s enjoying it… The ears don’t lie.

“There!” I hop up. “This way.”

The retribution for Elyssia’s childish behavior has to wait because now I’m certain. I wasn’t just making up things. Beastly Perception enhances all my senses which can sometimes backfire, like when a bear roars right into my ears or something is trying to bite my arm off but it saved my skin plenty of times, it stays.

“But if you’re wrong-” Elyssia tries to bitch again.

“Then what? We can’t get any more lost. I trusted your judgment in the tunnel, now it’s your turn to trust mine.” My words are not just simple facts but also a request. I want her to trust me.

This does shut her up surprisingly. I sharpen my senses and follow the smell, moving with haste yet not too fast, I don’t want to make a fool out of myself.

The first few turns are simple, two right and one left, then just at the next junction a few steps before the tunnel begins to broaden the smell reveals its secret. A crack in the wall, barely big enough for a mouse to fit through and close to the ceiling, just out of sight.

I pull my arm back to clear the way but Elyssia stops me. “Let me!” She whispers. “We don’t know what to expect so I’d like to keep the element of surprise.”

And she’s right.

The rocks begin to part, slowly and meticulously, making as little noise as possible while breaking off the wall and piling to the sides. I do have to clear my throat and pointedly look at myself after she stops clearing the path a little too early with the hole just big enough for her and too small for me.

When we finally climb through the small flame Elyssia uses as our source of light illuminates what I can only describe as hope. There’s greenery here, mostly moss and a few skinny roots reaching into some puddles but it is still infinitely more than what we’ve seen in the past days. It’s a marvelous first step.

The eerie silence of the underground is also no more as the rattling of water and muted echoes of distant conversation reach our ears.

“Careful from here. Remember we have no friends in the forest.” Elyssia reminds me as I take the lead.

Despite her words, it proves difficult to hold myself back as my excitement overflows. We might finally get out and get to sleep under the starry night sky and hunt for a proper meal and get a step closer to freedom. To fulfilling my promise… With that said, I hope Elyssia doesn’t go back on her word.

The closer we get the louder the voices are yet I still don’t understand a word spoken despite my superb hearing.

“What are they saying.” I ask Elyssia since she’s native to this continent and not me.

“Shush, I do have a guess about who we’re dealing with. We’re either fortunate as hell or in for the most painful and humiliating death you can imagine.” Her answer is not too encouraging but I’m willing to fight through anything standing between us and the surface.

It only takes a few more turns to find the next corner illuminated by what’s clearly the light of a camper fire, judging by the dancing shadows on the wall. We can now hear all speakers loud and clear, albeit without understanding a word they say.

“What now?” I ask, despite having a few ideas of my own.

“Let’s move to the bend.” That we do. “I’ll check if I was ri-” But just as she’s about to get an eye on the mysterious grill party someone from the other side decides to reveal… itself?

A small creature looking like a disfigured green child clearly abandoned by its parents for being too hideous. Large beady eyes, massive ears, hunched back, patchy hair, a potbelly and a smell strong enough to stop even a punch.

“Catch it!” Elyssia hisses and I decide to trust her word without hesitation.

My hand springs out and grabs the ugly child by its face, making sure to cover its mouth before lifting it off the ground and bringing it close for inspection. As it turns out Elyssia has other plans and she slits the creature's throat with a blade of wind without any hesitation.

“Just as I thought, goblins.” She mutters more to herself than me. “Ugly little buggers. There might be hundreds of them but if we move can dispatch them fast enough and move swiftly… yeah, that might work.”

The gleam in her eyes and of course the ears tell me the planning session is over. She’s smart while her adaptability and experience both leave me in the dust. I don’t think I’d lose to her if she were to betray me or that she’s more than me but one needs to respect wisdom. That is the teaching of my tribe.

“Show no mercy Valka, these creatures are pests, worse than rats.” Elyssia explains with a disgusted frown and ice-cold eyes. “Aelion might even thank us for cleansing the lands of goblins. Be swift and quiet, we’re not here to exterminate but be ready…” Her eyes turn dark. “If they capture us death will be the least of our worries.”

Stealth is not my strongest suit but I really don’t feel like dying today. Together we can do it.