Chapter 16: Stuck.

Rayder White P.O.V.

Awaking with a start, I try to sit up by sheer reflex; Only to get stopped short almost immediately as I hit my head painfully on a solid surface barely a decimeter into the movement.

“Argh!! Dammit!”

Falling back down, I try to take deep breaths to fight back the pain, only to choke up on the first breath.

It takes all my effort to keep me from heaving what little sustenance I have left in my stomach.

“My god! The smell is... horrible beyond all reason! It's so bad I can even taste it!” I exclaim after forcefully breathing the foul tasting air.

Finally breathing semi-normally, my head pain makes itself known again as it flares up and vyes for my attention.

Seconds pass as I take deep breaths as the pain slowly recedes. Opening my eyes and gingerly looking around, I realize it is almost completely pitch black here; Wherever here is.

As the pain from my face bump finally fades to an ignorable level, other sources of pain dully make themselves known and assault my mind one after the other, vying for my attention.

It seems my body has taken a quite a bit of a beating while I was unconscious.

‘I wonder how long I was out for…’ I ponder absentmindedly as I try to make sense of the jumbled sensations.

After taking a moment to process the information dump from my body, I then decide to try using my hands to explore my surroundings; only to realise I can't move my left arm.

Panic rising, I try to keep calm and reassure myself that it is, probably, nothing major, seeing as I am still alive; and begin exploring for the reason of my nonmoving limb.

Carefully probing my left arm with my right, I let out a sigh of relief that I at least still have a left arm. It takes me almost a minute of further probing for me to realize I have a pretty badly dislocated shoulder.

Fortunately, that seems to be about the extent of the damage, as I can still move my fingers, feel pain, etc.

‘Shit… Hopefully there is someone around to help out it back in place. If I have to do something about it myself…’

Shuddering, I shake my head to clear the image from my mind.

‘I don't even want to think about it.’

Considering the state of my left arm, I decide to give my body a quick go over. Just to make sure.

Moving my feet reveals no problems, thankfully, and except a few nicks and scratches and painful bruises, I seem to be mostly ok. Mostly at least.

That out of the way, I instead turn my attention towards the current biggest problem; My location and surroundings. In particular, the solid object seemingly on top of me.

Pulling some mana, I will a small flame to appear above my right hand.

With the light from the small flame, I quickly realize what I am more or less trapped under, but can barely believe it.

‘No way… Did the explosion break off portions of the wall? And it actually managed to send pieces of the wall flying off? Just how strong was that explosion!?’

Upon closer inspection, I realize I am left alive through sheer dumb luck, as the section that fell on top of me was a lookout hole in the wall.

If I were a meter or two further in any direction, I would have been squished into tomato paste.

Not a pretty sight, I'd imagine.

The space I am currently in is, or was rather, an almost perfect rectangle hole in the wall, its size being 2x2 meters on the inside with only a long thin line with about half a decimeter for an opening towards the enemies.

It was mostly used by archers to rain down arrows, so it didn't need large openings.

Now however, it is not quite so rectangular and said hole is practically non-existent.

The “ceiling” is only a decimeter or two above me, so I can't stand up, but with a little wiggling and awkward twisting, I think I can manage to turn unto my stomach.

Its previous rectangular shape has become more of a haphazard mess of a rectangle, as if it was made by totally wasted halflings; As more bricks juts out at strange angles than the few that doesn't.

‘I just hope it holds long enough for me to get out of here, otherwise... Tomato paste.’

Making a brighter flame, I start inspecting the former wall carefully for a way out of this stone tomb I never asked for.

After searching for a while, and awkwardly rotating and twisting my body a few times because of the lack of space;

I notice a weak spring of light is falling in through a small opening in the ceiling to my far right, where the structure has partially collapsed in a heap of broken bricks and mortar.

Awkwardly crawling with my one good arm and my legs, I make my way towards the opening while trying to avoid further injury to my already battered body and dislocated shoulder.

Easier said than done when you crawl through partially crushed stones where sharp pieces are mixed in randomly.

After what feels like a few minutes of carefully crawling through the makeshift stone caltrop field, I finally reach the small opening and its accompanying pile of debris.

Upon closer inspection, the hole is about a hands width across, so I can't get out that way.

“Unless, of course, I blow it apart.” I mutter to myself beneath my breath.

’Not sure if that is a very good idea though; Seeing as I am underneath it all, should it all collapse.’

As I look up through the small opening I see the source of the light; the moons, the big green Ruh and the smaller red Hur.

‘So it's night, huh. I must have been out of it for quite a few hours then…Explains why I am so damn hungry too.’ I ponder loosely as I try to spot something, anything, through the crack.

Unable to spot anything of note in the night sky outside, I lay down to ponder my options.

‘1. Blow it apart with magic. Likely conclusion: It all collapses onto me.

… yeah, no.

Try to widen the hole through manual labor. Likely conclusion: Might work, if right conditions exist. Small risk of it collapsing unto me.

… Maybe, let's see if I can get some bricks loose.’

Reaching up, I grab the closest brick around the hole and try to wiggle it out. No such luck, it is wedged stuck.

‘Well shit. Next then…

Wait for/call for help. Likely conclusion: Improbable to get help, may even call beasts to me. If they are still around, that is. Pretty sure that if they were, I'd already be dead.

But on the bright side of things, no risk of getting crushed. ... I think.

... Worth a shot.’

“Hello!? Anybody out there? ... I could use some help here!” I yell as loudly as I can manage.

Pausing, I focus all my attention on listening for any kind of response.

Seconds pass… nothing. A minute passes, yet still nothing.

Sighing, I slump back down on the ground as I stare up the moons through the hole above me.

‘Well that's a no go... What now…’ I ponder as I stare absently at the moon above.

Minutes pass in silence as I lose myself in the sight of the moon above, as the glow paints the world in a tinge of light green.

‘So here I am, trapped alone under who knows how many tonnes of stone; all of which is likely to come crashing down on me without much more than a moment's notice.

Let's not forget that my group and everyone else I knew here are probably hurt or worse; dead. The city where I lived is most likely badly crippled, if not outright destroyed by the blast…

Even if I manage to get out of here, how am I supposed to stay alive? For what purpose am I even here to begin with…?’

Staring up at the dully glowing moons, I absently ponder the fate of my acquaintances while I soul search in hopes of finding some answers, or a sign, or... Something.

As the minutes pass, no divine message or signs descend; Not even a reasonable plan of escape comes to mind. But then something catches my attention; A faint sound. Or at least, I think I heard something…

… ...

Was it just my imagination?

… …

... Oh god. Am I going crazy already?

-----------+---!--/--

Aya Grey P.O.V.

Looking out over the burning piles of monsters and beasts, I can't help but sweep my gaze over the surrounding plains, searching for a sign. A hint. Anything.

‘He can't be dead, right?

I mean, he's like a zombie. No matter how many times I beat him down while we were sparring, he would just stand right back up again and keep going...’

Looking back out over the dark fields I see nothing of note, the same as the last 6 or 7 hours since I started tending the pyres.

The fields that are now only dimly illuminated by the light of the fires and the twin moons in the sky show little of what may be hidden in among the rubble and corpses littering the ground.

The dark is thick as the wispy mint green and vermilion light of the moons doesn't give enough light to see anything but hazy shapes; Not surprising as it is probably well past midnight already.

I let out a long sigh as I feel the fatigue and sleepiness from the long and exerting day flow through me once again, threatening to bring me away to the land of sleep even as I stand.

Steeling my will, I slap my face hard with both of my hands to regain clarity.

“Not yet.” I murmur quietly to myself. “There is still a chance...”

Returning my gaze to the pyers, i watch as the wretched beasts and monsters ever so slowly turn to ash until something catches my attention.

“…! Co… h..lp!”

“It couldn't be…” I mutter quietly to myself as I try to locate the source of the voice.

Having only a vague sense of where the voice came from, I tentatively sneak slowly towards the approximate direction, with shield raised and tightly clutching my sword.

After walking slowly and quietly for a few minutes, I notice a particularly large part of the wall lays surrounded by monsters and beasts and I ever so carefully approach the broken off part of the wall while keeping ready to act immediately, should anything dangerous deem to appear.

It is not only monsters and beasts that one need to be wary of, after all… bandits and similar ilk are not unheard of after large battles, after all.

‘Especially given our current plight and weakness. I bet there are more than a few bands of 'em who would try to exploit us or even straight up try to force us into slavery, or worse... No, Aya, focus!’

Shaking my head to clear my errant thoughts, I refocus on the task: finding the source of the voice.

Quietly stalking closer to the former part of the wall, I lose my footing on a piece of rubble that crumbles under my weight and sets me falling to ground. Reflexes quickly kick in and do a quick roll to regain my footing.

The drastic movement however, causes a ruckus as my metal rivets in my armor and shield meets the ground with dull clanging sounds.

Standing perfectly still, I watch for movement. Nothing happens however, even after a long and tense 30 seconds of waiting.

Breathing out quietly, I relax slightly and after readjusting my gear I restart my quiet stalking as I search for the source of the voice.

As I reach the large block of stone that was, formerly, part of the wall, I hear a quiet murmur. It seems to be coming from inside of the wall block…

Following the voice I realise it is coming from a small hole in the top of the wall block.

“… I mean, what's up with that? Giant freakin’ dog! And he can speak?! I mean, like, how!?”

‘He's alive!’

Butterflies rush through my stomach and my knees give out at the realization and I slump down on the cold stone.

Trying to call out to him, I get interrupted as he continues his monolog.

“Ra...!”

“I mean… forget the talking part, magic yadda yadda but; Why a dog?? Could've been something cool instead. Like... a dragon! Yeah! a dragon would've been way cooler!”

…

… …

“Uhm Ray?” I ask bluntly.

“Oh… ... … Uhm, hey Aya, what's up?”

“... What exactly are you doing?” I ask, voice coming out sharper than I had intended.

“Oh.. well, see, I… am trying to think of a way out of here.” He replies incoherently. “Wanna, uhh, give me a hand? I only have one that is usable at the moment. Which sucks by the way. It really does.”

Unable to stop myself from chuckling at the sheer absurdness that is Rayder White, I reply with a simple “Sure” and start working to widen the hole enough to get him out of there.

End of chapter 16