Where the hell is he? I wondered as I continued down the hall. A single path of ever-changing rocks and formations stalled me from getting any further than I wanted to. Whatever happened to Horus? Well, he clearly wasn't around now and my anxiety and Rewrite were telling me I was probably fucked.
"Horus!" I shouted, looking at the first stone in front of me. I cursed under my breath, Rewrite humming as my feet felt like glue. "Dammit, Horus…" I hopped onto the next rock, letting out a yelp.
It's just moving rocks… I tried to stay positive. It's rocks that are fucking moving! I jumped, again, landing with a loud thud that sounded worst than the second one.
"Ah, fuck this!" I lifted myself up and lifted Runtime into the air. Purple glyphs shimmered to life as I slammed the staff downwards. Purple filled the room, organizing the rocks into one flat shape. I rushed to the other side, almost slipping on my own damn nerves and looking left and right for Horus.
"Where did he go?" I whispered to myself.
A scream echoed in the air followed by Horus' voice to the right. I shifted, following after the voices as more loud noises were heard.
This place is changing still. Who could have this much power to do such a thing? I wondered. I cleared the hall, turning left and noticing a large half-broken metallic door with a strange symbol on it. For a moment, I didn't think anything of it as I neared the door.
I looked up one more time and noticed it: three angled lines forming a broken crown. Victoria's face appeared in my head. I wasn't sure why but the way she acted and what she said, had irked me.
"This symbol, it's not criminal… It's administrative." Victoria's voice echoed in my head.
I still didn't know the meaning behind those words but her demeanor had shifted into something else.
I shook off the feeling. Now wasn't the time to theorize what the symbol meant. It was something to remember for later, but right now my priority should be catching up to Horus.
A loud crash came from the next room as I pushed past the half-broken door. The smell of rocks and sulfur filled the room.
"Lian! Are you okay?!?" Horus shouted.
"I-I'm fine! Did you come back with help?" Lian responded.
"I-I did!" Horus whipped to look behind him and found me in the distance. "Hey, over here!"
Through the piles of rubble and metal, this place in the cave system certainly wasn't like anything else I had imagined it to be. Rewrite hummed as if asking the questions while everything in me told me to leave.
"Why'd you leave me behind?" I asked Horus.
"I-I'm sorry I didn't mean to. I heard Lian when—" Horus stuttered.
"Please, get me out of here. We need to find the others." Lian's voice shook with a familiar pain.
I lifted my staff and pointed at the rubble commanding them, "Become weightless."
The rubble lifted, revealing a green haired woman with broken spectacles and a bloodied jacket. Horus immediately rushed to her side, examining her.
"Hold still, I'll heal you." Horus tried his best to keep his voice still. He lifted his hands and I watched as a green magic circle appeared in front of them. "By the power of Nature, repair what is broken. Heal."
Lian's pale face began to color while her once crushed legs seemed to snap back into place. Life quickly came back to her while my eyes naturally moved to the spell circle.
It's structure is incomplete but Horus' intentions empowered the spell. I observed.
"Here, let me help you." Horus extended a hand to Lian. The broken spectacle woman took his hand and slowly lifted her up onto her feet. She wobbled for a second before testing her legs.
"Your handiwork never ceases to amaze me, Horus." Lian complimented the healer. "I really appreciate you coming back when you did. I don't know how much longer I could've held out."
"Where are the others?"
"They left me to go in deeper after the explosion. I tried to stop them but they seemed spooked."
"By what?"
"I dunno." Lian shook her head. She summoned a new pair of spectacles and wore them. She blinked a couple of times before turning to me. Her green hair was disheveled but in a pony tail whilst her brown eyes looked over to me, as if she wasn't done giving thanks. She wore a satchel like Horus and an outfit that screamed researcher.
"Oh," Horus motioned over to me. "This is Elias. He's the help I got." He realized part of my outfit was burnt and my right hand was scarred and moved over to me. "You're hurt."
"I'm fine." I replied. "I put a stasis spell on it to keep the pain from hurting until I could find a healer. I didn't expect you to be one."
Horus lifted his hand and chanted the healing spell one more time, healing my injuries.
"I'm sorry for leaving you. I heard Lian and my worry grew. They've been down here for much longer than I hoped to leave them. You understand, right?"
I nodded, sympathetically.
"A mage?" Lian raised her eyebrows, skeptically. "I thought you were getting a whole party of people to come help."
"Well…" Horus scratched his cheek. "I didn't want to waste anymore time than I already did so I took him by himself. He even vouched he could help me singlehandedly."
"That sounds too good to be true." Lian clicked her tongue. She looked at me. "Is that true?"
I shook my head.
"What do you gain from this? The pay must've been subpar."
"It's not about the pay." I shook my head, only gaining more suspicion from Lian. "But a favor."
She looked to Horus. "You gave him a favor?"
"He's an adventurer. I just wanted help and he offered it. What's a favor to a stranger who's willing to help get everyone back in one piece?" Horus replied.
The room shook some more, drawing our attention elsewhere. The smell of sulfur worried me as Runtime pulsed with unfamiliarity. Rewrite whispered along with Runtime, drawing my attention behind us.
Five humanoid creatures rushed into the room with armor and steel weapons. Large pointed green ears stuck out of their helmets as bulbous noses stuck out of the armor.
"Goblins, what are they doing down in a place like this?" Lian asked with fear in her voice.
"Don't worry, Lian. We'll protect you." Horus stuck his arm out to Lian defensively.
"Why do they have armor and steel weapons?" I asked. The goblins I knew of in fantasy stories back home certainly didn't have any nice armor like that.
The goblins rushed forward, brandishing their weapons high above what their feeble bodies could handle. Panic set off behind me as it swelled within me. Rewrite hummed to life as everything in my body turned me away from battle.
I ran away, leaving Horus and Lian to do the same. The goblins hobbled behind, their armor clinking as they tried to keep up with their bodies being weighed down.
With a wave of my staff, I pushed the rubble aside, creating an opening and dove through it. I flipped myself, watching as Horus pushed Lian inside first before coming as the rubble spilled back into place, crushing some of the goblins.
Silence washed over us as my throat hitched with anxiety. I lifted a hand to touch my throat trying to recognize that I was fine and I wasn't having some sort of panic attack.
"Why didn't you stop them like you did with the rats?" Horus' question broke the silence.
My throat seized up as the sound of 'chains' rattled. Copper permeated the air and the bodies - oh, the bodies - were far too heavy.
"I need… I need…" I heaved, dropping my staff and reaching for my throat with my other hand. I scratched my throat, legs pushing me far away from the scene in front of me.
"Adventure… means staying. Magic… means changing something, not escaping it. Greed means being greedy enough to keep them alive." Tyresa whispered into my ear.
"I-I…" I coughed violently. Voices blurred as tears filled my eyes. One second nobody was in front of me and the next Horus was knelt down in front of me, trying to stay something.
"Elias…!" Horus' voice was quiet.
A shadow snapped their fingers and shook their hands in front of me. My head shook as I looked down.
"I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean to. I didn't do it. I didn't do it." My voice shook.
"Hey!" Horus' voice grew loud as the shadow disappeared, revealing him in front of me. He planted his calloused hands on my shoulders and the strange glimmer of light entered his eyes. "Everything's alright. We're alright."
"But I…"
"If you hadn't collapsed the tunnel," Horus spoke quietly, "they would've followed us."
"But I didn't mean to—"
"You did what you had to." Horus patted my shoulders, again. "We have to do what we have to… to stay alive." His grip tightened. "Next time, that choice might be heavier."