Chapter 3

The Secret Beneath the City

“We need to come up with our own formations,” said Grey, walking behind Ham. The children had followed the little mouse down the sewers. The tunnels had gotten strange, and old. The mossy brick walls were eventually replaced with hard stone, as if the whole place was carved directly from a mountain.

“Formations?” she replied, casually.

“I mean, I remember my old teacher used to talk about them. They are things adventurer’s use to keep themselves safe when traveling in dungeons.”

“It could be worth a shot,” said Oswin, inquisitively. “But? Will we really need it? I don’t think a mouse can really hurt us.”

“Well,” shrugged Grey. “A mouse did just beat you up.”

Oswin coughed. “That’s because I didn’t use any magic. Next time, it won’t be so easy.”

“Grey? What is a formation?” pressed Ciara,

“It’s the placement of people in a group,” said Grey. “You know how magic works by hand seals and diagrams right?”

“Ah, you mean the things Iris taught on the way here to the city?”

“That’s right,” nodded Grey. He made a few movements of his own. His hand tracing the shape of a pentagram in the air. “The elemental pentagram which holds all the elements. The alignment of the moon and the earth. The distance between the sky and the stars. Important things give meaning. By aligning our bodies in a pattern. We can give ourselves protection even if we don’t say any words.

Grey released a little of his aura. Tracing a magical shape in the air. His hands lowered and his legs stretched out in a horse stance. He curled his hand into a fist and swayed making circular shape in the air.

“So, it is kind of like that saying a person is but a grain of sand, but even sand can become a mountain if gathered together.”

“Interesting,” murmured Oswin. “Grey, I have not said it yet, but you are quite smart. Sometimes you sound like Iris. Haha.”

“I’m not that smart,” said Grey. “I just know some things.”

“Anyway,” continued Oswin, “What are these formations? Did you want us to get in a line or something?”

“I asked Iris a few things while traveling. Let me show you,” replied Grey.

A few minutes later, a group of children stood in a jagged line. Ciara was the front, Oswin was in the middle, and Grey was in the back.

“So you hold your hands like this and then and then tap. This is the Constellation of Aries. You usually do it with more people, but as long as we have the general shape, even this has some power.”

Grey did as he practiced with Iris. He did not release his aura but focused it internally, directing his aura through his finger and striking Oswin in the back. The power coursed from Grey to Oswin. Oswin likewise struck Ciara in the back. Connected. A faint glow emanated from the children and power radiated forth. Their aura’s coalesced together and formed a shape. They moved in unison. Left arm. Forward. Right Leg out. Swivel on their on leg. Knee raised. Then down into a low tiger stance. The image of a large tiger, teeth raised, projected forth from their auras. It’s paws gripping on the walls, shaking the earth.

Grey breathed in deeply and then released his finger from Oswin’s back. The formation broken, everyone’s separate auras returned back to their bodies. Ham shook in a corner terrified. Grey had told Ham that they were trying to practice something, but this was too much for a little mouse!

“Wha! Grey, I did not know you were a tiger! Sorry! Sorry! I’ll never attack you or any humans ever again!”

Grey looked surprised, and then smiled. “I am not a tiger. It’s just when we do this things like that happens.”

“That was amazing!” shouted Ciara, leaping into the air. “If you knew this then perhaps we should have done this in the beginning before we attacked Ham.”

“I didn’t think we would need it for a mouse,” shrugged Grey. If they had use this on Ham, there probably wouldn’t even be a rat tail left for them to collect for the guild.

“It’s better than getting beat again,” replied Oswin. “Let’s just use it if we are in danger and we can’t run.”

“Yes,” said Grey in agreement. Ciara nodded as well, bouncing up and down. Imagining all the things they could do with it. If they did different formations would the three of them transform into another powerful creature? This made her giddy in her heart.

A few hours later, the tunnels grew dark and eerie. The torches gradually changed, their shape and texture were wholly unfamiliar. They burned brightly with light, but the light had slowly turned green instead of the usual orange. Oswin whispered this in Grey’s ear and before long they came across a long corridor where no light shined at all.

“What is this?” replied Oswin, peering into the darkness. “It’s completely dark!”

“Is it?” said Grey, teasingly. “I can’t tell.”

“Ah, sorry.” said Oswin, quickly. “I forgot you are blind.”

“It is kind of scary. I wonder why all the lights are out here,” said Ciara, leaning to her right. She tried to see if bending sideways would let her see something. “No, definitely can’t see anything.”

“I got a torch,” replied Oswin, taking one of the torches off the walls. “If it goes out, maybe we can use our aura to come back?”

“We could,” replied Grey. The only problem was it took mana to project aura; eventually they’d get tired and have to go back.

“Let me take a torch,” said Grey. He reached out towards Oswin. “Ciara should take one too. So if one goes out we can light it with another one.”

The children each took one torch. They left the corridor and proceeded deeper in the sewers. Grey asked Ham as they walked if there were any monsters here. The little mouse replied.

“I usually run every time there is noise! So, I think so but I haven’t seen them.”

They came across a vast underground chamber. The walls here had strange engravings in the stone. Oswin came near one of them and lit it up. The wall stretched so far up that it looked like there was no ceiling.

“How far did we go down,” murmured Oswin. The engravings in the wall formed a picture, a large dragon breathing fire down on a lonely man carrying a sword. No, the man wasn’t alone. Behind him there were four other figures. Their images obscured by time. The only person he could make out was a little boy who had a hat too big for his head.

“This doesn’t look like the sewers,” said Oswin, touching the engraving.

“It does not,” said Ciara, shining her torch at another wall. Here a different picture was engraved into the wall. A city on fire. Hundreds of people set aflame. Their faces contorted in anguish. But...as Ciara stood back a few feet. These faces formed one larger face in the background. Their screams forming a smile, the fires forming its eyes.

Grey walked forward. His hands feeling on the cold stone. An image flashed in his head. A bright light, the wings of a dove fluttering in the background, a calm melody. A second and it was gone, leaving him stunned.

“Ham?” said Grey, feeling on the stone wall. He could not see the picture the engravings were making, but he sensed something was here. It wasn’t magic. It did not give off that feel. This was something older, more distant.

“Grey,” said Ham, scratching her ear. She waited at the far end of the room. Her tail wagging beside her. “What is wrong?”

“This place? Do you know what this is?”

“Ham doesn’t know,” said Ham, but her voice did not come from the front. The voice came from his side, as if Ham was inside the wall.

“Ham only knows what Ham knows,” the little mouse continued. Her voice echoing from the floor.

“Ham doesn’t know many human things. Come! We are are almost there,” repeated Ham. Her voice returned to normal. She was in front of Grey, looking at him with beady eyes.

Grey started to sweat. His mind full of doubts. A dove...Ham’s voice….

“Oswin!” shouted Grey, turning his head back towards his friends. “Are you okay?”

“I am okay,” replied Oswin, nonchalantly. “Are we almost there? This place is really weird.”

“Yeah,” murmured Grey. He wondered if it was all in his head. He had heard that sometimes people will hear or see things that were real.

“We ready to go?” jumped Ciara. She walked by Grey and tapped him on the shoulder. “I want to see this boss mouse. We might even get to use our special attack!”

“We are suppose to talk to it,” smiled Grey. He playfully pushed her forward to get her to walk.

The distance between the walls got farther and farther the deeper they went. Oswin could no longer see from one end to the other, the chamber had become a vast cavern. He could hear things scuttling in the darkness. A rock bounced off the stone floor, disturbed by a shadow that moved just out of sight. A single light in vast ocean of darkness.

“Where are we?” said Ciara, slightly trembling. It was dark, everywhere around her. There was nothing to hold onto. Nothing to touch except for the ground on her feet. She felt as if the floor suddenly flip over she would fall sideways and never come back up.

Grey furrowed his eyebrows, listening to the shadows in the distance. There was a sloshing of water, slowing inching its way towards them. He stopped Oswin who was walking next to him.

“Oswin do you hear that?” said Grey, nervously.

Oswin stopped and listened.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know, but it is coming closer. Ham? Ham are you there?” called Grey. He waited for the little mouse’s voice to come up in front of him, but heard nothing. The mouse was gone.

Ciara held Grey’s arm, shaking. Her courage had evaporated. Her mind remembering her ordeal in the forest. “I don’t like scary things. I don’t like scary things. Alexis...Alexis...”

“Grey,” said Oswin, calmly. “We should do the formation.”

“Yes, but” replied Grey, turning towards Ciara. “Ciara. We need you to get in front of us. We are going to do the special attack. Wake up. Wake up.”

Grey gently slapped Ciara on the face. She didn’t respond, repeating the words. “Alexis...Alexis….”

Oswin’s face paled. They needed to move in unison for the formation to work. The sound had already gotten close enough that he could almost feel the water touching his skin.

Grey smacked Ciara in the cheek, but she repeated her words even louder.

“She’s gone stupid!” said Oswin, “Grey stay behind me. If I start falling down. Hit whatever it is with your torch.”

Grey readied himself behind Oswin. The thing approached. It was a slime. It’s green translucent body came into view, pieces of a sword and armor in its stomach. It moved slowly towards Oswin, tentacles shooting forth from its body. Oswin whacked one of the tentacles and unleashed his aura. Iris said not to use their magic, but Oswin feared for his life! He leaped and dodged out of the way.

Grey stood behind him and unleashed his aura at the same time.

“Oswin what is it?” cried Grey, only able to hear the battle.

“It’s a slime!” said Oswin, panting. Oswin looked at his torch. It went out. The tip of it had completely melted as soon as it touched the slime’s body. “Don’t touch it! It melts things it touches.”

Grey’s heart nearly leaped from his chest. A slime! Even adventurers ran away from them because one swing and their weapon would be broken. Grey’s first reaction was to….run!

“Oswin let’s run back!” shouted Grey. He turned to move but Ciara held him in place. “Ciara!! We have to run! Move!”

Grey tried to budge the girl remained firmly planted on the ground. She shivered. No longer making as sound.

“Grey!” said Oswin, watching the scene. The slime was close. Grey’s mind raced through a dozen possible situations. He focused his aura internally in his body, allowing it to envelop his fist. The slime lurched its body forward to swallow him whole. Grey punched the slime, wildly swinging his free arm in front of him. Smack. Smack. The slime recoiled and retreated a few feet.

Grey continued to wildly swing, not knowing where it was. He felt a stinging pain in his hand and quickly used his other hand to touch it to make sure it was still there. There were burn marks on his hand. It had melted the top layer of his skin. He focused his aura and slowly began to heal himself.

“I-I can punch it,” exclaimed Grey, shaking. He slowly wrenched himself free from Ciara’s grip and listened for the slime.

Oswin stood there surprised, and then remembered Grey’s ability. Healing. He could do it.

“Grey, the slime is to your right. It’s crawling away. Give me your torch.”

Oswin quickly walked to Grey and took the torch from his hands. Oswin followed the slime, and directed Grey towards it. It might come back to kill us. It might kill us. Grey remembered the winged creatures in the forest. He told them to stop, but they wouldn’t stop. They just kept hurting him, even if he did nothing. Even if he cried and shouted for them to stop. That’s right...things that hurt him should die. Die, so they wouldn’t hurt him anymore.

Grey found the slime, slithering away. He focused his aura around his hands, and pounded away. Again and again. Grey punched it till his hands were raw and his bones were showing. In the end, the slime became nothing more than a pile of goo. A sword that lay inside its body now remained uncovered along with a battered shield.

“It dropped something,” mumbled Oswin. “Grey...are you okay?”

“I am fine,” said Grey. He couldn’t feel anything in his hands. He sat down and began to focus on healing his body, the sound of his aura changing as he did so.

Oswin ran back to Ciara who was still laying on the floor talking to herself.

“Ciara. Look. It’s dead. It’s dead. Grey killed it.”

Ciara looked at Oswin. Life returning to her eyes.

“Dead?”

“Yeah,” replied Oswin, pointing at the pile of goo. “Dead.”

“I see,” sighed Ciara, picking herself up. “Ah...sorry.”

“It happens,” said Oswin, patting her on the back. He too had his share of nightmares in the forest. Had the situation been a little different, he might be the one on the floor. “It dropped a few things though. We got some loot!”

“Loot?” smiled Ciara. “Really?”

“Yes, but let’s look at Grey first. He did most of the work.”

The two children came up to Grey. He was still concentrating on his wounds. The muscles in his hands were beginning to form over his raw bones and tendons. His face contorted in incredible pain. He had been hurt all the time, but no matter what he never got used to it. The tiger nearly ripping his body in half. Those winged creatures ripping at his face. Being hurt was frightening. Even a small cut on his finger made him remember those near death experiences. As if he had never really escaped the forest or that knight back at his village.

Ciara touched Grey on the shoulder, soothing his thoughts.

“Grey, I’m sorry. I...messed up.”

“It’s okay,” sighed Grey, calming down. “I am kind of messed up too.”

Ciara looked at Grey’s bloody hand, and felt guilty. If she had done their formation. Perhaps, he wouldn’t have been hurt so. She gently patted him on the back.

“Grey, the slime left some loot!” said Ciara, leaning towards the slime.

“It did?” said Grey, a little happy. He had heard monsters sometimes ate weapons and dropped them when they were killed. “What did it drop?”

“Let’s see,” said Oswin, walking towards the slime. He picked at it carefully, avoiding the puddle of ooze the best he could. He took out the items, cleaned them with a rag, and lay them in front of Grey. “There is a sword, a shield, a ring, and a necklace.”

“We should split it up,” said Grey, happily. “Can I have the necklace? It’ll be easier for me to find it since I have to use my hand sometimes when I walk around.”

“Okay,” nodded Oswin, picking up the necklace. He handed it over to Grey. “Ciara did you want the sword, shield, or ring?”

Ciara shook her head. “If I panic again. It won’t be good. I’ll take the ring.”

“I’ll take the sword and shield then,” said Oswin. He picked up his items, and Ciara picked up the ring. Oswin swung the sword a couple of times through the air. He was still a child, so the weight was a little heavy for him.

“I wondered what happened to Ham,” sighed Grey. He turned his head and called out. “Ham! Are you there! We killed the slime! Come back!”

Grey’s voice echoed through the dark cavern.

“She might have gotten scared,” said Oswin. “Do we know the way back from here?”

“I think so….” said Grey, cautiously. “Ciara, the map?”

“I have it wait,” replied Ciara, rummaging through her bag. She pulled out her map. “We just need to head back towards the….”

She stopped. Her face lost all color.

“What?” said Oswin. “What is it?”

“We have a map, but...which way is back?”

She looked all around her. Darkness. They were lost.

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Author’s Note:

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Hello everyone. It’s been a while. Working on trying to publish the first book, my job, and other miscellaneous things have gotten me a little muddled. So, good news and bad news. Good news is my editor got a job! Yahoo! Bad news is he won’t have as much time to spend on editing my work as before, so things are going to get a little sloppy.

Also, I’ve been getting hung up on making things perfect that it’s messing with my creativity lately. I’m getting the feeling I should just post, and call the whole thing a draft. So things might not make as much sense, and the kinks might not work out, but I think posting the story out there, and then coming back to it later to fix all the mistakes is what I need to focus on.

So, I’m going to try to return to the daily posts and dear goodness try to flood the rest of the second volume on here, so I can start on the volume book. Thank you readers for all the support. (>_<). I’ll see you guy’s next time!