The entire group had seen everything, and it was the last thing that they expected to happen. The long thin bridge that connected the two tunnels had completely broken and the strange large creature with the army of wendigos had fallen into the deep dark pit.
‘Quinn, surely there was a better way than that!’ Vorden said as he looked down in the dark hole. Still not being able to even see the bottom.
Not all of the Wendigos had fallen when the bridge broke, as there were still many on the other side. they continued to snarl and shout while looking at the others. While standing partly on the broken bridge and some inside the tunnel.
One of the Wendigos ran forward and used what little part of the bridge there was before it tried leaping with all of its power.
It managed to gain quite a height and distance, but it only managed to reach the halfway point, before falling down into the bottomless pit. After seeing this, a few of the other wendigos attempted to do the same, but all of them ended in the same result. A while later they could tell that there was no way to get to the other side and started to leave, heading back into the tunnel.
It seemed, they had at least some instincts.
Once they had left, the growls and cries had stopped and no longer echoed, it had quietened down and the group could hear their own thoughts. With this, Vorden went to grab a small stone from inside the tunnel. He peaked over the edge and let go, dropping the stone. The group waited and waited as the stone fell, but no sound was heard.
Clenching his fist and closing his eyes, Vorden could only hope Quinn was okay.
“It’s a big drop, but it doesn’t mean he’s dead.” Logan said, as he knew what they were all thinking and what Vorden was trying to do with his little test. If they were to hear a sound when the rock reached the bottom. Then it would give them an idea of how far the drop down was, but they had heard nothing.
“He’s not dead.” Layla said with confidence as she placed her hand across her chest and closed her eyes. “The connection I can still feel it, he’s alive. We should do what he said, try to find a way out here, and meet him outside when we can.”
Layla’s words managed to cheer up both Logan and Vorden. They knew she wouldn’t lie about something like this. If Quinn was dead, then she would probably be on her knees sobbing and the fact she wasn’t doing that gave the two of them confidence.
“Do you think he can get out?” Cia asked.
Looking at the broken bridge, it was their only way to the strange base, and Logan started to think if there was any way they would be able to return to it in the future. “This place is quite grand and large and considering it was used as a facility at one point, it’s quite possible there is more than one exist.” Logan explained. “Remember, there were two tunnels to choose from. We haven’t run into any other pathways when we were running down so we can guess the other tunnel leads somewhere else. Also back at the lab where we started. Apart from the six doors for the trials, there were also the two large shutter doors on either side. Most likely there is more than one way to get there.”
Still, even if there were multiple exits, if one was to get back to the lab, they would have an army of creatures to deal with. Before the group set off, Vorden looked down the pit one more time, as the image of the Boneclaw was pictured in his head. “I hope those things are dead, especially the big boy, and not with you down there Quinn, good luck.”
Carefully, the group continued to walk through the tunnels, and they were now travelling in pairs. Vorden stuck at the front with Logan. With his equipment, he was able to see and lead the way, and Vorden would be his type of body to guard if anything was to come out. While Cia and Layla stayed at the back. Using Layla’s ability to see in the night.
They were quite confident no more creatures would come from behind and attack since the bridge was broken, so this formation was designed by keeping both Layla and Cia in mind. Being ranged and support types, they could help out wherever possible. Due to her vampire sub class, Layla didn’t have the things that Quinn did, such as super strength, speed and so on. However, her powers also didn’t really depend on Quinn like Peter, but instead on her own emotions and Cia’s next to her.
Proceeding cautiously through the tunnel, they slightly jumped a few times, form strange noises, but most of it was just a water drip from above, or someone kicking a stone across the floor.
Cia seemed to be continually praying along the way, as she felt frightened, but every so often that would go away, and Layla standing next to her would feel satisfied. Still, looking at Cia, she really did seem like a different person compared to what she was before.
Cia was a cocky, confident girl. ‘Was it all because of the Pure training, can it really change a person that much?’ Seeing this, Layla started to think back to Erin again. If Cia had changed this much from forgetting everything to do with Pure. How much did Erin change after learning everything about Pure?
Gripping her bow tightly, she remembered her resolve. She hadn’t only come on this trip to save Fex and Peter or help Quinn out, but it was for herself. To grow her skills and get stronger so she could save Erin one day.
The path never split off, and it continued straight. They still walked, but it finally looked like something could be seen ahead. It was still dark, but a little bit of it was clear enough that it was different compared to the whole cave. Not just that, but it looked like the blue lights stopped ahead as well.
Then they started to feel the wind breeze up ahead and a smile appeared across all of their faces.
“That’s the exit, right? I’m right, that’s the exit, yeah!” Cia said excitedly.
The group was now naturally walking faster than before without even realising it. The idea of getting out of this place was urging their tired and weak legs to walk faster and then finally, they had stepped out of the cave and were all fully outside.
Cia and Layla, who were the most tired, immediately fell to the ground, as they rested their bodies. While the two boys started to look around, taking in the scenery they were at and where they had just come from. The sky was dark and two moons could be seen in front glowing.
It allowed them to see without the need for night vision equipment, but it was still dark outside. However, it made one thing clear, that they were definitely no longer on earth. In front of them, just out of the cave entrance, was a dark forest. The tree’s looked dead, but on a closer inspection, their leaves just weren’t green in colour like they were used to, and instead were a light grey in colour.
The forest blocked most of their vision, so they weren’t able to see beyond, as they looked behind them, to see what they had just exited from, it appeared they were inside a fairly large mountain this whole time.
“Maybe if we climb up the mountain a bit, we can see where we are and what’s around us.” Logan said.
“What already,” Layla complained. “Can’t we have a brief rest before moving?”
Honestly, Logan didn’t think it was a good idea. They were in an unknown place, and by the edge of the forest. Who knew what creatures remained here.
“Don’t worry.” Vorden said. “I’ll go, you look after the equipment and protect the girls.”
“Then take this.” Logan said as a spider ran down his sleeve and hopped onto Vorden’s shoulder. “When he comes back, I can see what you saw.”
The mountain wasn’t too steep, and although there wasn’t a direct pathway. Vorden was able to scale it with ease. Before climbing, he looked at it for a little while and had chosen the best path. It was all in his head as his foot pushed off from one platform to the other until eventually he was in a high enough place and stopped.
“Wasn’t his ability just to copy others?” Logan thought. “He has a lot of skill.”
“He reminds me of a ninja.” Cia said.
While on the top, Vorden looked out from the platform over the forest outward at their position. The forest was large, but it didn’t look like it went on for too far. But past the forest, it looked like they could see what they were looking for. lights were shining from the vampire settlement, and a giant castle stood at the end, surrounded by seven castles on each side.
His heart started to thump louder and louder, looking at the place. It was a beauty, a sight to behold, and soon they would be making their way there.
****
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