Lola gazed doubtfully at the gaping entrance in front of her, a cold breeze wafting out of it. She hugged Bloof tighter to her.

She was no stranger to the concept of crawls. They were a natural occurrence of carrying ranks, and could be found all over Xanem. Inside their depths, monsters and beasts could appear from practically nowhere, similarly to familiars, except in great numbers, often already possessing levels. The creatures created by the dungeon frequently cooperated with each other, with a common goal: anyone and anything that entered was an intruder, and would be removed.

While familiar with the idea of a crawl, Lola was significantly less eager to actually go in as opposed to learning about them. Her friends were right next to her, each with their own reactions to it. Forrest was staring wide-eyed at it, clearly terrified with Cerbi happily slobbering next to him. Carl didn't seem to quite understand the fact that the monsters wouldn't know who he was, and was boasting with blissful ignorance to Carolin, who seemed to rifling through her emerald-green grimoire. Dawn was quietly speaking to Thorn, her chlorofae, in a language that Lola couldn't understand. They were both staring at the crawl with expressions of undisguised disgust.

Mommy-master okay?

Lola glanced down at Athena, the strange sensation of whatever ability the oculahl was using to speak to her leaving tingly sparks in her mind. "I'm fine. I'm just a little worried, that's all! I'm sure it'll go great!"

Isaac patted her on the shoulder confidently. "I assure you, Weatherton's crawl is a simple one. The worst creature that's been thus far documented in there was a qualin, and not a very strong one, either."

Lola's eyes widened at the thought. Qualins were tough creatures even when young, large eight-legged creatures with a humanoid upper half - if multiple asymmetrical eyes and disjointed limbs could be called humanoid, that is. The thought of facing one in low, ill-lit tunnels wasn't one that made her excited, and she looked up at her father worriedly. "Are you sure? Do we have to do this?"

Isaac nodded firmly. "We most certainly do. Not only will this be an excellent opportunity to, ah... educate your cavyrn, but you'll also likely gain significant amounts of experience as well. Besides, I'll be right here to help you along as we go, all right? I promise I'll keep you safe."

Barkley gave her a thumbs up. "Indeed. Mister Bourgeious' skill with curses is not one to be taken lightly, and while proficient at removing them, I'm sure you're aware of his skill at applying them as well."

Nodding, Isaac asked Barkley in a low voice, "Just to clarify, I assume Lola told you about her grimoire?"

Barkley smiled jovially, a calm smile on his face. "Rest assured, mister Bourgeious, the staff of Weatherton is aware of Lola's... circumstances."

Isaac matched the expression, a slight furrow of concern wrinkling his forehead. "And you're all right with it?"

Barkley bowed his head slightly. "Of course! We wouldn't dream of removing a child of such phenomenal talent for something so... unusual."

Isaac smiled, clearly relieved. "Ah. Well, that's good." He rubbed his gloved hands together, then pulled his grimoire out of his vest. He flipped through the pages for a moment, before arriving nearly at the very back. Lola had never seen him go so far in the grimoire before, and wondered what spells he was going to be using.

He spoke loudly, immediately gaining the attention of everyone present. "All right, everyone. Do any of you have defensive spells?" Forrest and Carl immediately raised their hands, Carl posing as he did. A confused look crossed Isaac's face, but he brushed it off quickly. "All right, you two will be in the front, although not too far. I'll be accompanying you personally. What about offensive spells?" Dawn, Carolin, and Lola raised their hands, Lola holding onto Bloof one-handed. He smiled slightly, then returned to his serious demeanor. "All right, you three will be right behind me. Do not use any spells without first asking me, all right? We don't want any mishaps down there."

After a chorus of yeses and nods, Isaac smiled, the corners of his eyes creasing. "Very well. Remember, these creatures will die, but they'll return shortly. We don't have that convenience, which means we have to be extremely careful. In other words, Barkley and I will provide you with backup when needed, but for the most part, you'll be casting your own spells."

Lola carefully stepped on his foot, still holding Bloof tightly. He glanced down at her. "Yes?"

She looked worried, her lower lip curling slightly. "Um, I can't really control my spells very well. I use too much mana and end up destroying everything. I even got a Perk for it."

Isaac's eyes widened slightly, but he relaxed just as quickly. "Don't worry about it, dear. The crawl is quite tough, so I'm sure that it'll work out fine."

Bloof tried to wriggle out of her arms for the third time, and she let him go. As he flapped to the ground, he spun around in a neat circle and hissed at the crawl entrance, his fur standing up on end and his ears flattened back. He began turning to leave, but Isaac picked him up and securely handed him to Lola. He had a strange look in his eyes. "Oh, no you don't. You're Lola's familiar, remember? You're going to be helping her out."

He flinched suddenly, eyes snapping to look at Athena. "What? No, it's not a punishm - you can talk?"

Lola smiled. "Yup! She talks for Codex sometimes, but it's hard to tell whether she's talking herself or for him."

Isaac's eyebrows leaped upwards. "Really? What sort of spell is that?"

Lola frowned slightly, remembering Barkley's words. "Well, she can't do any spells, but she has a ton of Perks, so she's fine."

Isaac looked as though he desperately wanted to learn more about Athena and oculahls in general, but it wasn't the right time to be discussing familiars. Instead, he coughed lightly and indicated the dark entrance. "All right then, everyone. Let's get moving."

Without further hesitation, they descended.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Lola looked around in surprise. Rather than being a dank, dirty hole like she'd expected, the tunnels were instead cool and well-lit, torches ensconced in the wall giving off cheery light. The tunnels were spacious, with wide, clean-cut edges and high ceilings. Yes, there were grains of dirt filtering down, and the air was more than a little dusty, but it was far from the skeletal dungeon she'd been expecting.

As the group continued onward, Lola began to notice something interesting. Cerbi, Forrest's familiar, kept sniffing at the ground and barking at his other head. She couldn't really tell whether or not the ganyberus' heads were thinking separately, or if they were both the same dog, but the two heads seemed to disagree too often for that to be the case. Either way, Cerbi was acting nervous, rushing ahead with a curious sniff, only to be called back by the equally nervous Forrest.

Looking down at Athena and Bloof, who were walking next to each other uncomfortably, she asked, "Why haven't we seen any monsters yet?"

Isaac answered instead of them. "Likely because our group is so large. It'd be stranger if we were approached by a monster so soon. Really, I - oh, well would you look at that!"

A small blue slime was rolling towards them at top speed, and they readied their grimoires. To their surprise, the slime suddenly leaped to the side and ricocheted off the wall, speeding past them. Isaac watched it roll away, a twinge of concern stabbing at his stomach. The monsters that crawls made always attacked people, regardless of whether they stood a chance. Always.

A slight rumble began to build, slowly coming to a crescendo in the background. The concern began alarm, and Isaac shouted suddenly, "Carl! Ice Wall, now!" Even as the surprised Carl cast the spell, delicate spools of pale blue mana dipping into the floor and pulling up transparent, frosted crystals, Isaac launched his own spell. Stretching a hand out, a flurry of small red orbs shot out, spiraling outwards and fixing themselves to the walls.

As the sound grew into a roar, the children huddled close, eyes wide in fear. Lola pulled Codex out and flipped to the second page. Glancing down nervously, she put a finger on Mana Laser and whispered, "Are you ready?"

Mother ready.

She glanced over at Athena, who was poofed up in terror, almost sitting on Bloof, who was hiding behind Isaac's legs. Lola smiled. "Don't worry! We're going to be fine!"

And then the spiders turned the corner.