Those of us gifted by the System are not often as obvious as one might assume. This is because the skills or abilities granted to us come in many shapes and forms. They can be as general or specific as one likes, and in this time of magic and technology, it is difficult to define power gifted by the System or learned or earned by mortal means. On the contrary, an item gifted by the System is often apparent. There is a subtle power about them, a uniqueness in their form that could only be System-given. A sword of flame far more efficient than anything and magitech scientist could whip up. An endless quiver of arrows, something no one has ever cracked. Endless apples as well, with small sources of dedicated mana than seem to never die out. The System is mysterious and powerful. You wonder of my title? Yet study my appearance with caution. What powers might I have? What might I be capable of? Unfortunately, like many bard tales, the truth is often sprinkled with fiction. In essence, who knows?

-Traveling Bard, Raknor The Slayer

"I'm glad we got this out of the way but I think I should ask the question on everyone's mind." Luck paused as everyone looked up, including the chameleon man. "Are we staying to clear the infection or not?"

Ace sighed at the same time Tate did. They looked at each other in mild surprise, shrugging their shoulders.

With a gruff rumble, it was Rick who answered after a quiet. "If I know my son, we're staying." He smiled through his beard. Sometimes Luck thought his dad's voice might once be muffled by the thickness of his beard. He had forgotten that his voice was deep enough that it didn't matter.

"If anyone wants out, wants to head back to the city, I can point the way." Spirit, and by extension Luck, had a very precise mental and digital map of the surrounding area. He could easily track their path backward if he wanted. "Just say the word."

Paint flashed a variety of colors that Luck had an uncanny mental ability to decode, no doubt a nod to his mastery of language, his Omnilingual Trait. "My god he is insane." Luck gave Paint a brief significant devilish grin. Colors flashed, quiet, unsure, exposed. "You understand me?" A flash of blue spotted with purple. Luck eyes only briefly swept over the colohue.

Luck shifted his attention.

Maxworth leaned back in the stone bench. To say the Gentleman was nothing more than formed of cold metal was in contrary to his next words. "If it is within our ability friends, then I believe it's only right to spare the innocents of Ardun. The System's Update created many hardships, we may be able to curb this one." His was a statement of quiet determination of the sort one might expect from the naive, only... Maxworth was not. He was an extremely skilled and precise combatant.

Tate eyed the metallic man then. And in her eyes, Luck's own thoughts reflected back to him. Even after all the discrimination, hatred and if not that, then coldness and isolation that he received constantly and consistently from everyone, Maxworth simply didn't care.

"Well, then I'd just feel like shit now if I left." Tate smiled softly. "He's right, if we didn't stop Noshm who knows what might've happened. It was pure chance we were there and able to help, just like it is now. Besides, wouldn't want to miss out on family time." His sister was conspicuously - and perhaps a little too enthusiastically - fiddling with her new magitech weapon. Luck didn't blame her, so was he.

The pressure of a weapon on his hip was something superficial, given the nature of his arsenal, yet all the same he appreciated the humming magitech pistol attached to his side now. His dad had shot a gods damn missile at the source of the infection. Luck dreamed of being that badass. In his experience, a weapon usually helped.

"Okay, recon." Luck began. "We're not out of the jungle yet." As if on cue, hooting and hollering exploded from a short distance away.

"Baboons." Rick frowned. "Damn baboons. They only chatter like that once they have their prey in confidence."

"Yeah, they're surrounding us. Looks like they knew we were here." Luck closed his eyes, he could make out their outlines with his earth-sense for a decent radius around them.

Ace peeked outside through the viewing slits. "With so many eyes, I'm not surprised they found us. The snakes aren't nearly intelligent to follow us." Ace jerked his head backward as, what Luck hoped was soil, flew through the slit. Loud chattering and laughter rang out. "They know we're here. They must have been watching all the commotion. You think after they saw Rick shoot a goddamn missile out of thin air they would back the fuck off." The crackling of lightning encompassed the small room for a blink of time. Something screamed in pain outside, and Luck felt the body hit the floor. A small sharp contrast that painted his earth sense accompanied the thud.

Surprisingly the lightning was somewhat quieter from what Luck was used to. Perhaps a little of Ace's mastery showed. Paint joined him cautiously, peering out the thin windows.

Rick took a solid once over of the room. "They won't be getting anywhere with us sitting here. Rock's too thick for them to get through, no exits, no entrances."

"As intended, Dad." Luck said offhandedly.

Luck peeked outside too. The actual aftermath of their short sprint and resulting explosion was immediately apparent. A blackened half-crater dug into the ground, an obvious result of a missile impact against something immovable. The entire scene was visible through a near horizontal window of a few centimeters - a precaution Luck took for safety - and only a two-hundred-meter sprint away.

The baboons were being loud around the crater, but never actually approaching the blackened ground. They surrounded the group's position, perching on the fallen tips of trees that the Source knocked down. Some standing in the trees in the distance, or hanging off branches further. Of course, Luck could sense the ones creeping up to the boulder bunker where they either thought there were no windows or thought they weren't looking. He could sense the ones already on the boulder bunker too. His awareness was comprised of many things.

Spirit supplied relevant statistics. Estimating two-hundred or so entities. Intelligent pack animals, not much in the way of natural weapons other than a sharper intellect than most, short claws, fangs, long limbs, height.

Luck responded mentally. And numbers.

Affirmative. Came the reply.

Luck took a look at Tate. The path of her previous tears eroded lines down her dirtied face. Her mouth was neutral, but her eyes and brow were in consternation and perhaps a tinge of worry. She looked tired. "They're making a lot of noise out there." He could tell she was somewhat uneasy.

Luck frowned. He had no news to make her feel better. "Yeah, they're calling for help." They were definitely loud enough for Luck to overhear.

Everyone paused.

"You can understand them?" Ace smacked his head.

"Help?" Rick asked at the same time.

"Fuck me, of course you can!"

Luck kept his senses outward, closing his eyes. "To answer both your questions, they're calling one of Krukon's Apes to crack us open like a nut." He relayed, noticing the shifting of everyone's weight at the news. "From what I hear, and have seen, I'm convinced it's entirely possible." He popped open an eye to look at Maxworth. "You remember, Maxworth." He gestured.

"If one can shatter an entire branch of one of the thicker trees, they can this bunker." Maxworth said simply. "We must fight our way out then."

"Shit. The big ones are something I tried to stay clear of when I could. Paint and I had only a single run-in to convince us to give them wide berths." Rick said. Paint, staring out the window slits, turned abruptly and flashed warning colors. The message was clear.

Luck took a deep breath, feeling the entirety of the earth within his radius. His back was against the cool stone behind him. His headache had gotten much worse and from the look of Ace's face his own headache was a stubborn one. He could think past the pain, but it wasn't helping. He needed to rest.

Ace peered out the slit, analyzing all the angles of escape outside, ultimately coming to the same conclusion Luck had. "I can carve out a path if Lucky hands me another sword. If Tate can get behind me, we could keep it open. I don't know how much juice Lucky's got left but it won't take long for us to get overrun without his magic. We have to rush it, we're goners otherwise." His voice was calm, everyone having accepted the plan as it was. He went back to monitoring the outside.

A short silence. "A sword? Why had I not thought that?" Rick ran his hand through his hair. He chuckled. "The magitech will drain all of you far before you even make a dent in the horde by the way. But... a sword, to match the reach of those damn monkeys, that might just serve me well. Can you make me one, son?"

"Without any exits, it's the only way out." Tate's omnitanium flowed about her, forming into a shiny sword.

The conversation went on. Mainly, Rick did his best to debrief everyone on what exactly one of Krukon's Apes entailed. That, with Maxworth's account of not only his personal encounter but of past adventurers, the rest were able to glean what Luck already knew through Spirit. They were giants of the jungle, somehow surpassing any of the baboons in size and mass. Smarter too.

Ace, for what Luck gathered was the same reason he himself opted to simply listen, had his eyes closed and relaxed. With Rick, Tate, and Maxworth around, neither were too hesitant to leave watch and lookout duties to the group. He cleared his throat. "I believe it's quite time we get a move on. Lucky?"

Finally noticing Luck's silence. Someone repeated. "Luck?"

Mentally, he finished mapping the radius of his earth-sense in his mind's eye.

Luck's smirk showed before his eyes opened. And perhaps that, of all things, was what caught the attention. A father knew his son, a friend and sister too were familiar with the expression. Waxing moons of glowing amber shone like a fossil glazed. He was unsure of when they even closed, but they opened now. He pushed off the wall with the smoothness of a showman, the balance and sureness of someone confident. His head only slightly throbbed as he took a slow breath not only for himself but for everyone who he caught in the moment. Him the patient fisherman, and the rest his catch. His foot stepped forward with an inexpressable significance only understood by those that watched him.

His sense of self dropped into the earth, the cool stability of the ground. He rested his mind against that feeling. And for a moment the throbbing became a focus.

His voice came slow, not for any move towards theatrics, but a consequence of the calm focus he took not to injure his mind as he used his mana. "Sorry, I had to wait for the damn headache to go away. Ace, you know the shit I'm talking about." He said, Ace pausing to look at him, just as the rest did. His other foot lined up and he set his stance, solid and calm. He took a breath. His hands went into his pockets.

His feet planted with a firm strength. And then, as if the very earth welcomed him, the ground opened up slowly and steadily. Dirt and stone barely even crumbled as an entrance downward appeared. Luck took the first step as the first step down formed by his will. "Come on. Let's get out of here."

He had made his way down a handful of meters, eyes completely closed before a small glow shone through his eyrlids. Quiet footsteps echoed behind him, the mark of people accustomed to moving silently. A soft magic ball of shifting color lit the tunnel forming in front of their very eyes. Thick roots swirled around them, being thrown around in different colors and creating an entirely new sort of jungle. Threads and fibers tickled the shoulders as Luck shared and listened to their stories as he passed.

Luck didn't go deeper than the tips of these roots. His bleeding hand found a way to smear his blood against them when he could. His mind was blank and meditative. He was relaxed here. It felt as if time was frozen, here in the earth, the heart of nature, all aspects of his magic were met.

"What are you doing?" Rick wasn't a hard father. He was fair, allowing Tate and him to make their own mistakes and learn from them. In doing so, he trusted their decisions implicitly. Still, some things were just too strange now to leave unquestioned. "Why the blood? That's not dangerous for you is it?" Like every Lockyer, Rick knew how much blood leaving the body was lethal. Luck was well beyond that point.

"Antibodies for the infection." He explained. "I adapt fast. It's the reason the air is still breathable for me. The blood is nothing, I'll be fine Dad." Luck wasn't fast enough to hide his smile, not that he was trying to. Rick huffed, but ultimately let a quiet chuckle escape him, somewhat inexplicably suppressed by the old roots around them.

Spirit? I can transmit the antibodies safely to others correct?

Affirmative. Without your Traits, however, their effect will be less immediate in others. With this level of infectivity, even the antibodies will not be able to immediately suppress a given infection in the lungs. With constant exposure, most Races would be unable to combat a constant invasive parasitic fungus. Perhaps a Lesser Human with their enhanced physicality might, but not a Pure Human.

"Can you do it for us as well?" Rick said, sharply. "I do not envy the people I've seen hijacked by this thing."

"I'll need an open wound from you." Luck handed his dad a small sharp stone. No hesitance, Rick cut open his palm.

"Me too Lucky, don't really subscribe to the 'get incinerated by Spectres' type of death" Ace joked.

Tate, meanwhile, was already bleeding from her hand. Then, the tunnel flashed with a particular set of colors and patterns that Luck interpreted only to find Paint also bleeding. In the end, he exchanged blood with everyone save for Maxworth for the obvious reason.

"After this, your bodies will be able to fight off the infection. It won't be as strong enough as me standing here in high levels of infectivity, but they'll fight it off eventually, given that you're somewhere safe. You're not gonna succumb to becoming a drone if you do get infected now." Luck explained.

All around them were healthy roots with small fibers reaching into the soil. As they walked, he made sure to replace the dirt and soil where it mattered. They walked like that in comfortable silence, unsaid things passed between them. Tate was calmer, freer, even here pressed beneath the trees. Rick walked unhurried, a blessing given the previous state of his leg, there seemed to be no weight on his shoulders. Ace, Luck felt, was perhaps more himself than any act he might've put on as Ace the mercenary.

And him...

"You seem happy." Her eyes were on his back, but Luck knew Tate was talking to him. His hands were absently brushing the roots.

"We just need Mom now." He replied with a smile she couldn't see. Anyone could've heard it, however. "We're still in deep shit though." He said after a moment of thought.

"True." He could practically hear the shrug in Tate's voice, and they both laughed quietly.

Above them, still, there were baboons around. He could feel them climbing the trees and hopping on the ground. If not that, then the very vibrations of their noise caused enough movement for Luck's earth sense to visualize. The method he used to track all the things above him was significantly consuming. He could focus on moving forward and sensing above and ahead, no more than that save for small conversation. It wasn't that he didn't have the mental capacity, it was that it was taxed. He felt a close buddy of his coming on, mana fatigue and the headache that came with.

"A cave." A smooth voice flowed over the silence. Maxworth was behind most of the group, walking close to the colohue, Paint. Radiant colors threw the tunnel into light shades. It was easy to miss something. Maxworth was pointing at something Luck never even noticed. "It leads down." A tunnel.

All paused.

"We could use this instead. Lucky's bound to have some mana fatigue by now. When we eventually surface we'll need him at full charge." Ace reasoned, having moved closer. He was peering into the dark entrance. "Wait, I see something."

Then there was chittering. Small. Like a million nails tapping on stone in random. It was consuming. Luck froze, too taxed to extend his senses down the shadows.

"Brace!" Maxworth yelled. His stance went low. His hands found his frosty enchanted weapons, billowing ice.

Paint flashed red and warning. His hands brightened with hues.

Tate pulled her magitech pistol much the same way Ace did. Ace's hand lit up in lightning, and curiously a slight frost formed around his fist. Tate's omnitanium formed around her. "What is it?" She asked, her whole body was braced, ready to fight.

"Son, I don't think you could make me that sword now would you?" Rick grimaced, deep but cautious. Luck tried, but searing pain in his mind stopped him. He gave his dad a weak shake of the head. "Shit." Was his response.

The sound became encompassing. The tunnel, small and muffled, ate the sharp multitude of noise. It was both hissing and clicking, and something altogether... arachnid. Spiders. Big ones.

A single furry limb gingerly poked out of the entrance. Two, four, seven total followed. By the time everyone had figured out what they were looking at, their numbers seemed to duplicate until they were staring at a moving mass. Blinking eyes, a shiny dull stared at them in multitude.

Maxworth spoke slowly. Cautiously, as if tiptoeing by a bear. "These are Acid Spiders. They'll melt through flesh and steel if they get their fangs or mouths on you." He said the next part with extreme pause and stress. "Do not move." The whirring of Tate and Ace's magitech silenced themselves.

Ace visibly tensed, too perfectly poised. Tate's omnitanium flowed around her smoothly, as if waiting to react to an attack. Paint nearly dissapeared against the wall, no matter that Luck could clearly sense him, his eyes couldn't find the colohue. Meanwhile, Rick seemed more prepared to retreat... which was decidedly practical, and probably the best bet.

Luck stared back at them, tilting his head upon finding something familiar. He stared into a random pair of eyes and found something odd-

We welcome you, Druid. The chittering stilled but continued in his mind. The group tensed. The Tunnels of Arach have not seen a Druid in many centuries.

Everyone jerked when Luck laughed. Tense, danger, all those feelings were thrown into uncertainty. There was a pregnant pause where Luck could see neurons firing off in everyone's head.

"You're fucking kidding." Ace kept his hand on his magitech, one hand free. In a moment, he had deduced the reasoning behind Luck's laugh. "Spiders too?"

"What? What's going on?" Tate whispered, fearful of agitating the mass of furry arachnids. They did not make any outward movements against them.

"Luck?" Rick said tentatively, once Luck's laughing had calmed down into a smirk.

His amber eyes flashed with warmth and perhaps a little mischief. "They're welcoming us into the Tunnels of Arach." He whispered both outloud and through the connection. "We appreciate your hospitality." The rest he spoke only to them. White fangs and clean kills, Acidren. He knew their formal name, somehow. Likely, a result of the memories of the Druids of Old.

There was much chittering until a voice spoke clearly. And you too Druid Lockyer.

The spiders began to relax, meandering about, above and below them. An unhealthy choice for the hearts of the group. On the walls, the ceiling, everywhere was fair game. And too soon, they realized something. It wasn't that these spiders were so numerous that they couldn't be distinguished from one another. Not at all. It was simply dark, hard for them to make out individual shapes. Because once they stepped into the colored light Luck found they were size of a large dog.

That is, they were up to his hip.

But not shy to crawl over themselves. Hiding their figures. It appeared to him as some kind of natural camoflauge, hiding shapes and individuals. A natural movement in their species that helped conceal themselves.

"Gods fuck me." Ace cursed, he jerked to the side as one passed above him. "What in the - I have no fucking words. Holy hell, Lucky." He visibly shivered.

"Are they a threat?" Rick asked calmly. "I assume this is something to do with your impartation? Are we safe with so many near us?"

Luck responded fast and sure. "They won't hurt us. We're friends. Basically family because of one of my Traits." His hand brushed fearlessly along one of the bigger spiders on the ceiling. A chilling sight for anyone, yet that primal instinct was quelled harshly by something deeper within him. "See?"

"Hmm." Rick nodded slowly. It looked to Luck that his father went through some mental gymnastics before finally settling. "If I can't trust my own son then I can't trust anyone." Rick, like him, brushed one cautiously. "God, they're big aren't they?"

His father wasn't one to show fear. Luck didn't even believe his father was scared of anything. And if he was, it was crushed immediately. Typically, no one would brush against a spider the size of a large dog just because someone said so. Not Rick Lockyer, his trust in his family was absolute.

"They get bigger too, sir." Maxworth spoke. He was still as a statue, for fear or of simple existence, it wasn't clear to Luck. "These are young adults I believe. The older they get the larger too. The Acid Spiders are one of the only few species that are allowed to thrive. They normally hunt pests no one would bother spending time killing." He looked around quietly. "And even then, they could maim us in a single bite. That is, that would be happening if were found in their territory in normal circumstances."

"No worries Maxworth, we're safe."

"I have no doubts, friend. It is the same as it was for the Icil Wolves. I've witnessed you commune with beasts often enough to trust you." He spoke shortly. "Beyond that, you said your mother passed us somehow on the way to the Source? Could she have been underground?" Maxworth gestured to the tunnel entrance that Acid Spiders writhed around.

Luck paused. He asked the Acid Spiders if they had seen anyone down there. If there were any humans or anything unusual in the caves.

We have not encountered any like you, Druid. But the Acidren do not inhabit every inch of the Tunnels of Arach. There are others below, and since recently, dangers even we do not face. We share our space with unamed beasts we fear to even glance upon. If whom you search for is unseen by us, it is likely she is in a territory we do not dare cross.

A muffled vibration came from above, shaking the roots free of dirt. Luck glanced upward, a small part of him warring futilely with his values. He could sense the large steps above of what could only be the Source of the infestation.

In the end, even though he was fundamentally changed to care for nature, he was still a Lockyer. Family came first. He recalled Jerxos mentioning something about Traits having in the past conflicting natures with that of their recipients. Not for Luck though.

"We'll ditch the Source." But it wasn't Luck who spoke. Rick cracked his knuckles. "Let's find my wife." He signaled to Paint. The chameleon man had reappeared evidently. The colohue was hesitant at Rick's gesturing, but eventually, the colored globe of light floated down the tunnel.

Rick was the first one to take steps down. His face was locked in a look of determination. Anger, or perhaps grit, at whatever might be in their way. His father was a stubborn one, but as soft as they come if you only go deep enough.

Ace chimed in. "Sure, head into the spider tunnel, okay. Sure, Rick, sure." He groaned, but Luck sensed ease settle around Ace, a sureness in his step around what would otherwise be extremely threatening creatures. He glanced at them as he walked by. "Gods." He whispered.

Maxworth followed Paint quietly as they too descended. The spiders, like some odd escort, flowed around them on the walls and ceiling. As if making a point to always encompass them. Luck found it comforting before realizing it was equivalent or as close to an honored escort as they could get.

Then, it was Tate and Luck for a small moment. Luck grinned noticing her revulsion of the creatures. "Ladies first, right?"

Tate took a deep breath and spared Luck a forced glare.

The tunnel wasn't any size different from the one Luck had been creating. The main difference was that he wasn't constantly forming it, the concentration he needed was no longer applied. As a result, his awareness spread around him gently, easing his headache. He could feel the ancient rock formations mere meters away from him, sense the age and antiquity like the trees above.

The thought paused him and he hoped there could be some transmission of his blood through the forest in the meantime. He spoke gently with the trees as he passed their roots, they still weren't aware of their infection.

The cave eventually widened out. Before they knew it, perhaps it was a trick of the light, they were walking forward in a large cavern rather than a narrow tunnel. On either side of them, slick cliffs. The bottom was in sight because of their light, but that didn't make the drop any less dangerous. Luck thought he saw some spider carcasses below, stuck and starved. A rock face too slick for even their legs to grip.

Ace made an expression of awe and Luck looked ahead, or rather ahead and upward.

"Damn, never seen a stalagmite in person. It's huge. " Tate said. "These are the type of things people make tours around aren't they?"

"They're stalactites, Tot. Hanging from the ceiling not sprouting from below. " Ace spoke over his shoulder. He seemed to be admiring the formations much the same way Luck was. Although, Luck was using both his eyes and his earth sense. Something more than awe filled him.

We do not build our webs in them. A chittering, restless voice spoke. It is a disrespect to the Tunnels of Arach. She spun her webs from below and above until the Titans from the surface descended and ripped them to hanging shreds. Now, Arach's tattered web has been covered by the stones, consumed by the very earth they were stuck to.

These tunnels are beautiful. Formations like these would be spectacles to be preserved and admired. Did your ancestors create them? These caverns?

No, that credit goes to something more ancient than them. The Tunnels of Arach is one of the lesser known zones surrounding Last Light. Where all else attacks and dwells on the surface, we exist below. We've not felt compelled to attack the city in months now. The voice echoed sharply in his mind, mimicking the sound of furry legs on solid stone.

Luck silently smacked himself. It was something he should've inferred - that something like this could exist below Ardun. He had seen ice caverns around the Frozen Zones larger than this, and for all he knew, more expansive. Why couldn't something like this be here? And, it seemed, for the most part, everyone appeared around Ardun, save for himself and Ace who were rebirthed after his family had been. That meant, it would not have been a leap of logic for his mother to have begun her life anew... in these dark, foreboding caves. The only reason it wasn't as of currently was due to the colorful light show that danced on the cavern walls, where crawling spiders were absent from.

Hold on, Last Light? Luck paused, that was the name of old, the ones that the Spectres used. Have you been awakened recently by the Update? He sensed nothing out of the ordinary with their place in the natural order of things.

We Acidren pass knowledge with utmost precision. Some of us stick to the old customs, old names. Last Light, Ice Spike, Hydr's Watch, Trees of Krukon, Serpent's Path. Names are powerful things, we show respect when we can.

Luck nodded quietly. He felt he had maybe heard the names in passing, either the trees of Snake's Way spoke of the other zones, or perhaps Rever had mentioned them during their brief talks.

Absently, a blue grid spread from Luck's feet, using data from his own senses. It flowed over everything within Luck's awareness and information sprung like a water spout from the surroundings. The density of stone, hardness, shape, malleability, even impurities were picked up. He could even see - in a 3D internal model - the different layers of stone that took part in shaping the cavern. That was little to say of the information that he had already internalized of the group he walked with. Of note, Ace's magic, Tate's omnitanium, both of their magitech weapons, his dad's creation ability - something Luck could still not quite wrap his head around - Maxworth's daggers and person, and Paint the colohue and the odd colored magic he practiced. All of these were presented to him uniformly and uncluttered, something Spirit had informed him could only be safely done with few high-compatible users.

Luck stuck his hands in his pockets and perused inconspicuously.

He focused the stalagmites, thinking for all of what the spiders say, it would be a simple rock formation. He paused when curiously, he picked up an unidentifiable material at the core of the rocks. What's more, Spirit could not identify it either.

The stalagmite had a girth of three or four meters. Tate and Rick came close peering upwards into the dark of the ceiling of the cavern where the column disappeared to. Ace brushed his palm against the slick surface, wet with moisture.

"Amazing." The former mercenary said. "This thing must be old."

"I don't think I've ever seen any this big on TV either." Tate spoke aloud.

"That's because all you ever watch is baseball on the bar TV." Rick scoffed. "Besides, not like you kids would've ever seen one of these in your lifetimes. You're city kids." Ace rose an eyebrow pointedly. "Well, except for Ace. Maybe he has for all I know. Life takes you places." Rick allowed.

There, Luck noted absently. His father would sometimes do that, although Luck assumed he was unaware of it, he would vaguely hint at things of a past life. By now Luck knew his father had some secrets, and it killed his curiosity, knowing that with the type of work they had done, it couldn't have been that bad in comparison. Yet Luck never had it in him to ask. His father's eyes often went somewhere else when Luck sensed him remembering said memories.

For example, his eyes often went distant when he was alone for a stretch of time without his wife. It must've been a few hours since they unanimously decided to leave Snake's Way and search for his mother. Perhaps it was this period of rest together that drove home the absence of the last Lockyer. And of everyone, she was probably the most easily missed.

Rick fiddled with the pendant Luck entrusted him.

"Problem is, " Rick noted. "This thing isn't three dimensional. It's just a two-dimensional compass. Won't know if your mother's below or above us. And here, in this tunnel, we'd probably need to know that." He still had the pendant given to Luck by Jerxos.

"We can rule a few areas out. Above and around us are spider territory." Luck gestured to the hanging thick, sticky webs around them. The large spiders went about their business, bringing in what seemed like large worms or rodents to feast upon. "I believe them when they say they would've noticed her. That means, the only way is down."

"Are you sure we'll know our way back out?" Tate asked. She, like him, had to be good at remembering directions. Neither had much experience in caves. For Luck, however, he felt at ease in nature, not to mention his impeccable mental map. He could walk the way back blindfolded. "We've been on the move for hours. I can't make out what's what. Half of the time I can barely see where we came from."

"Worse than a blizzard isn't it?" Luck joked. "Don't worry I can lead us back with no problems."

Tate gave him a small nod, her omnitanium flowed calmly around her.

"In any case," Ace spoke into the silence. "You think we could take these breathers off? My face has been itching for some cold cave air." He tapped the metal mask he wore. "Besides we've been immunized."

Luck hadn't been detecting any traces of the fungus for a reasonable amount of time already. "Feel free." He said. "Should be fine this far from the infection."

Ace began to peel the mask off until it simply flowed off his face like quicksilver coming back to Tate. For his part, Rick peeled the mushroom cap plastered to his face off gently. Tate and Paint followed suit. And, collectively and oddly in sync, they took a deep breath.

They would've felt cold air in their lungs. Stale, unbreathed, and somehow fresh despite being stale. This was the air the things in the Tunnels of Arach breathed. The spiders, having escorted them to the edge of their territory, if not in number than in size, began to chatter and click.

This is as far as we go. The territory beyond is not considered ours, Druid Lockyer. We wish you the best in finding what you search for. We will keep our eyes out for this human, although our chances of catching and restraining her without damage to both parties are slim, we will attempt it should the opportunity present itself.

Thank you, Acidren. We are grateful for the safe passage and welcoming into the Tunnels of Arach.

The spider shifted in what might have been dark humor. We will not be the only ones. You have yet to truly be welcomed. Not all below us are as friendly as we to the Druids. Watch your back and the shadows, Druid Lockyer. That is the best advice we could give to you.

Maxworth calmly looked back at Luck when he made eye contact, a wordless question.

Luck answered for everybody. "This is the edge of their territory. They won't be watching our backs for us anymore." He said, speaking even as the spiders around them dispersed, a scant larger few staying to see them off. "Dad, where's the light on the pendant pointing?"

"Straight ahead son," Rick replied, rubbing his beard.

Luck reached into the ground below him. He handed his father a finely crafted sword made entirely out of stone. Sharp enough to nick a finger with easy pressure. The design and aesthetic he mentally modeled with Spirit's help.

"Straight ahead and down then." He said simply, taking the first steps forward.