Authors Note: Hey all, nothing really new on my end other than I enjoyed writing this chapter. It's almost a balancing act on how high a hurdle should be for a character to overcome.

Well it also depends on the character themself too. Hurdles to Yumi aren't necessarily hurdles to Calgar right?

Anyway, here is the Chapter. Enjoy!

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Chapter 22

Night had fallen over the makeshift city of Extirus, yet the streets were still filled with people. It was the time the miners returned from a long day of working. Those with families returned home after browsing some wares, while those still single began to hit up the bars for a refreshing alcoholic beverage.

Calgar and Auromi were walking down the street.

Calgar commented on the number of people still awake and active. “I had a feeling there would be more people awake at night than a normal town, but I didn’t expect this many.”

Auromi agreed. “Yes, but doesn’t it give the city a feeling of being alive? It makes you want to be a part of the action and have fun.”

“I guess so. I never thought of it that way.”

Weaving through the crowds and heading their way were Luna and Sol.

In a quieter voice, Calgar asked them. “So how does it look?”

Sol answered. “The east side of the wall is fairly heavily guarded until you reach outside the city limits, then the guards are sparser.”

Luna nodded. “Yeah about the same on the west side too.”

Calgar said. “The east side is closer. We’ll enter from that side. Girls I’ll leave it to you to silence any guards.”

Luna let out a sinister chuckle. “They’ll never see it coming.”

Sol glared at her. “You know he means no killing them, right?”

Luna looked back at Calgar. “No killing?”

Calgar shook his head. “No killing.”

Her excitement from earlier vanished in the blink of an eye, and with a large sigh, she began to walk. “Let’s get this over with then…”

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A guard was patrolling a top the east wall. He looked out over the vast barren land that was illuminated by the moonlight. If someone asked him what he thought of this view, he could only reply with the word ‘bland’.

He covered his mouth as a yawn came over him. He hated the night shift. Nothing ever happened on the outskirts at night, and if there were people trying to get into the mine for whatever reason, they would do it in the city. Intruders could easily be spotted from the high vantage point he had.

And so, with half closed eyes, the guard stared out blankly expecting nothing to happen like usual. After a while he thought to pass the time by chatting with someone, so he looked to his left, but no one was there.

He thought it was odd, but didn’t think too hard on it and turned to his right, but again no one was there. The guard thought to himself, ‘Where the heck is everyone? They better not be slacking off without me!’

He would never know the answer, as a swift strike to his head made him lose consciousness. His limp body was hoisted over his attacker’s shoulders and was carried off into a room the guards used to take breaks. With a small grunt, his body was thrown onto a pile of other guards in a similar state as himself.

Luna dusted her hands. “Whew that’s the last of them.”

She then went to the top of the wall and signaled below. Moments later Calgar jumped up while carrying Auromi and landed next to Luna. Then the three of them jumped back down to the ground and Calgar released Auromi.

With a smile on her face and a touch of red to her cheeks, Auromi thanked them. “Sorry that we have to sneak in this way. I was never any good at being stealthy, even with magic.”

Calgar waved his hand. “It’s alright. I don’t have enough power yet to make everyone invisible, and I remembered that you were bad at it, so this way is fine.”

Sol appeared next to them. “Most of the guards were on the wall. I’ve neutralized the remaining few in the complex.”

Calgar pat her head. “Good work. Let’s hurry and continue on. Auromi is it underneath mine, or further in the mountains?”

“From what I could tell earlier, it should be under the mine.”

The four advanced through the complex unhindered, passing by what looked to be constructs designed to drill into the earth and large metal wagons used to transport the mined material. About 30 mins later, they came upon large double metal doors.

Calgar stared up at the 50 meter tall doors. “This must be the entrance? How does one open such massive doors?”

Auromi pointed to a console off to the side. “It seems that device is connected by magic to the doors. Perhaps it opens them?”

Luna examined the console. “What are these? Buttons with numbers? On the top it looks like you need ten numbers.”

Sol speculated. “Maybe you enter ten numbers in a certain order and the door opens.”

Calgar approached the doors and wedged his fingers in the small gap between them. “It will take too long to figure it out, I’ll just open it by force. Auromi, if you could cast that spell from before, I’d appreciate it.”

“Of course. [Silentium].”

The metal doors were covered in a blue hue. Using his strength, Calgar began to pull apart the doors. What normally would have followed would be a loud screeching of grinding metal, but Auromi’s spell insured that the surroundings remained dead silent.

Calgar created a hole just wide enough that a person could comfortably walk through without needing to stoop over. Inside it was dark, with the only light coming from the opening and the amber glow given off by Calgar himself.

“Let’s get going.”

Auromi stopped them. “Wait, I can’t see when it’s this dark. My eyes aren’t as good as you three.”

“Ah, that’s right. Sol, if you would?”

“Yes Father.”

With Calgar’s command, Sol undid her disguise and turned back into her normal appearance. Her bright golden hair lit up the tunnel. It was so bright, that they could see quite far ahead. With Sol taking the lead, the four made their way deeper into the mine.

Lined along some of the walls were ore that let out a pale red light.

Noticing them Calgar commented. “This is a unique ore. It has a peculiar glow to it.”

Auromi added. “It seems this ore is capable of storing a portion of the power spots energy within itself.”

“Then this must be what the miners are after?”

She shook her head. “I don’t think so. The magic within appears extremely volatile and dangerous. I have to assume they are looking for something else.”

After what felt to be a long period of time, they reached a dead end in one of the off shoot paths.

Calgar asked Auromi. “This is the lowest point they have dug, can you tell how much farther it is?”

“I can feel some of the energy a little further ahead, but the source seems to be deeper underground.”

Calgar tapped the rock with his knuckles. A hollow sound resounded. Placing his hand on the stone, he melted away the rocks, expanding the tunnel forwards. Not five meters away, the rock disappeared, replaced by air. The four approached the edge and peered over.

What greeted them was a large circular cavern that went deeper down. Not even the light Sol was emitting allowed them to see the bottom.

Auromi said. “This cavern must act as a sort of vent for the power spot. The energy is stronger down there and weaker near the top.”

Luna replied. “Well this is good. I was afraid we would have to spend all our time digging down.”

Sol noticed that Calgar was staring at the walls. “Is something wrong Father?”

“This cavern… it doesn’t seem to be natural. The walls look too smooth, as if carved out by something.”

“Was it the mortals?”

He shook his head. “That wouldn’t make sense. They hadn’t dug into here yet. Something else made this.”

Luna shrugged. “Then it was a creature? I don’t remember much about them. Was there one that could do this?”

Auromi thought a moment. “There are many that could live underground, but most of those weren’t very large. The animals, just like the mortals, started digressing into a state where most are small with the bigger ones closer to the size of a house.”

“Well, rather than that, how are we getting down there?”

Sol raised her hand. “First let’s see how deep it is. [Pila Lux].”

A small ball of light left her hand and traveled down into the dark depths. Even after five minutes it still continued onward, turning into a small speck.

“It’s deeper than I thought.”

All of a sudden the light disappeared and the ground began to violently shake. Rocks fell from the ceiling and the sound of tunnels collapsing could be heard.

Calgar shouted. “An earthquake? What horrible timing. Everyone, brace yourselves!”

As if to make matters worse, the ground they stood on couldn’t handle the vibrations and started splitting apart. In moments the rocks crumbled away and dumped everyone down into the cavern.

“Auromi!”

Calgar reached out his hand to grab onto her, but a large boulder slammed into him from above, sending him faster downward. Feeling irritated, he slammed his elbow into the boulder, shattering it into pieces.

Looking up he could see Auromi shining a faint purple. He guessed she was using magic to shield herself from the falling debris. He couldn’t spot Luna, but could see Sol further below.

Calgar leaned to his right, trying to glide towards the wall of the cavern. To his dismay, the walls offered nothing to grab onto. There was no rocky outcropping or protruding ledges. So instead he would use it as a footing to jump off of to reach Auromi.

His armor scraped against the smooth surface as he prepared to launch himself. Jumping off, he aimed where Auromi would be and prepared to catch her.

Auromi’s eyes grew wide and she screamed. “Calgar behind you!”

Yet before he could do anything, he felt a sudden impact and his vision went dark. Disoriented and unsure as to what happened, Calgar tried to move his body but was unable to. A pressure was being applied onto his back. His armor creaked and moaned as it endured the strain.

Then the pressure was released. The cracked side of the cavern appeared in his eyes as he fell backwards. He could make out a large round thing that attached into the wall and tunneled into another part of the cavern.

His thoughts were interrupted by yet another impact. As he lay there, he concluded that he reached the bottom of the cavern. Using his arms to lift himself up he looked around.

Calgar called out. “Auromi! Luna! Sol! Are you alright?”

However there was no immediate answer. Before he could try again, he stopped himself. He had the feeling of being watched. He slowly scanned his surroundings. Since Calgar could easily see in the dark, he saw that the chamber he was in was huge. So huge, that it made it hard to believe that they were underground.

Glancing up, he saw the cavern that they fell down to reach here, but that wasn’t the only thing. With part of its body buried inside the cavern wall, six red eyes stared down at him. The creature’s eyes were fixated on him, watching his every move. A thin forked tongue flickered in and out of its mouth. Its smooth scales that covered its back and sides were dark obsidian while the scales underlying its belly were a deep crimson. Following along its back were sharp spikes of a pale red color that pulsed with energy, similar to the rocks found in the mine.

Two strong and thick forearms, each ending with four fingered claws, held it up. The Beast was massive. Calgar couldn’t accurately gauge how large it truly was since the rest of the body that couldn’t be seen was imbedded in the rock.

A low, rumbling hiss escaped from the creature’s throat. It grew in volume as it opened its mouth to bare its vicious fangs at him.

“Father!”

Calgar turned to see Luna sprinting towards him. Four of the six eyes locked onto her and the Beast began to move. Turning itself upside down, it crawled across the ceiling. Even when it approached its long body showed no signs of leaving the wall.

Calgar dashed to Luna. As if already knowing the plan, she leaped at him and transformed back into a sword. With precise movements, Calgar caught her and gripped her hilt firmly in his hand.

Luna’s voice could be heard. “Let’s go all out!”

The Beast lunged at them with the plan to swallow them whole. Calgar lifted his hand and erected a shield, but for some reason he had a bad feeling in his gut. Deciding to trust his instincts, he leapt to the side at the last second. The shield he had, shattered like glass and the Beast tunneled into the ground, causing more vibrations.

Seeing the vulnerable body that was following after the head, Calgar moved in to strike. Brandishing Luna, he swung horizontally at the body. As her blade made contact with the scales, the two were shocked as she bounced right off them.

Calgar jumped back to take some distance. “Luna, what just happened?”

“It’s hard! Like, really really hard! It felt like hitting your defensive magic when you’re at full power.”

“Then it used magic?”

“I don’t know. It was like magic, but wasn’t at the same time.”

Calgar watched as the Beast tail finally came into view. It was the same pale red as the spikes on its back, yet it was pronged near its tip. A light filled the darkness, and further away they could see Sol.

“Father, Auromi and I are over here! But it’s bad; Auromi was wounded in the fall!”

Calgar was alarmed. “What?!”

He raced towards Sol, when Luna shouted. “Below us!”

Diving to the side, Calgar narrowly escaped the Beast’s sneak attack as it emerged. More debris began to fall from the ceiling. The Beast noticed the presence of Sol, but seemed to back away slightly.

Noticing the movement, Calgar called out. “Sol, light magic to its eyes!”

Without missing a beat, she cast her magic. “[Exoculo]!”

A dazzling flash ignited the room with light. The Beast let loose a deafening screech which shook loose more rock. It dived back into the ground to escape the blinding flashes. Calgar reached Sol and saw Auromi lying on the ground near her. Her arm was bloody and her breathing was rough.

She weakly smiled at him. “Mortal bodies are pretty fragile. I got a little careless.”

He quickly picked her up. “Are you in immediate danger? Can you hold on for a little bit?”

“I can wait. Just be quick, this really hurts.”

Calgar moved as fast as he could, followed by Sol. They were heading to the far end of the large area where the ground met the wall. They passed by another opening that leads further underground, but ignored it. When they reached the wall, they found a small tunnel. Calgar entered it and expanded a room that the four of them could fit in.

He set Auromi down and turned to Sol. “I’m not good in this area, so I’ll leave the healing to you.”

She nodded and knelt by Auromi. A soft warm light was emitted from her hands as she channeled healing magic into Auromi’s body. Luna transformed back into her human form and lied down on her side.

Calgar sat down and leaned against the wall. “What in the world was that thing? I thought you said the animals got smaller?”

Auromi replied. “I don’t know what it is, but it resembles the creature called Anguis, only a lot larger and more deadly.”

Luna scoffed. “Anguis? That dinky little thing that worms its way through the dirt? I find it hard to believe they are related.”

Sol said. “It might have somehow mutated into a new species?”

Calgar thought about her words. “Mutated… Luna didn’t you say it was like magic, but also not magic?”

“Yeah, that’s what it felt like.”

Auromi followed his train of thought. “Do you think it absorbed the magic and changed?”

Calgar nodded. “Maybe. It would explain why Luna couldn’t cut it. If it had absorbed the magic for an extended period of time and incorporated it into its body, then it’s a lot more deadly than we think.”

“Can we beat it?”

Calgar didn’t answer right away. “As of now… It would be extremely difficult. Ideally I would like to ignore it and head to the power spot, but it most likely made its home there.”

“What should we do?”

“Good question.”

The four sat quietly on the floor, unsure of how to face this unexpected foe.