-----E-----

„Don‘t you guys think there is something wrong here?“ I said.

„What do you mean?“ Franek answered.

„I mean isn‘t it strange that we have been walking along this really long-ass tunnel for about an hour, with no encounter of anything?“

„I'm guessing you haven't seen many vaults and dungeons, they do get stranger every time I see a new one though.“

This must have taken months to dig out. Who in their right mind would dig tunnels with nothing in them?

After we defeated the centipede queen, we have been walking in a straight line for a long time. We might have even passed the mountain from underground already.

„Hey, Reve.“

Reve was next to me, carrying Nia on his back. Nia said that she was tired so Reve was nice enough to give her a ride, but I honestly think she was just too lazy to walk.

„Yeah, Ethan, what‘s on your mind?“

„You have been into vaults, correct?“

„I have been into two, and cleared them both, with some help, of course.“

„Has there been a long tunnel like this one in one of them?“

„Hmm. . . yes there has been, but some were shorter than this. There was one tunnel that took me two hours to go to the end, my group started playing games with words, and they sounded so bored!“ He laughed.

This is really annoying, needing to walk a really long tunnel was boring as hell. Whoever designed these places is a jerk. And Franek said that the dungeons and vaults do get stranger.

„Hold up!“ Franek suddenly spoke.

We stopped, and glanced around, there really were only two directions too look at but we still glanced at the walls.

„Up ahead, there is light coming towards us, and it‘s fast.“

In front of us is a light, two lines on the floor, hugging the corner of the walls, and it is coming at us quickly. It was that quick that it already passed us, leaving a small fire trail behind, we barely even reacted to it.

„What is this?“

The fire lingered, then we heard noises coming closer and closer. It sounded like stone being scraped by the walls. We couldn‘t see up ahead, it was all dark even though that fire trail was there.

„Shit, run!“ Braxton the gunslinger suddenly said and started running back. He barely says anything, then he spoke about running away.

We stood there a moment, didn‘t understand what he meant, then we saw the floor collapsing, coming ever so closer to us.

We immediately ran after Braxton as quickly as possible. Either he saw that coming before us, or he just had an instinct to run. That mask of his might have helped his vision.

I have never ran so fast in my life, I glanced back only to see a man with an ax fall down on the ground, and the second person that also had an ax collapsed on top of him.

I stopped to try and help them, but the floor would catch up before I could try and help them up.

„Sorry,“ I said quietly and ran.

I heard their screams when they fell, their sounds were fading slowly. Like the drop is long as the tunnel itself.

This tunnel must be a trap, that is why it has been dug out so far, with no other direction to go except straight ahead.

„Reve! Let me run, I am only slowing you down!“

„If you can run as fast as us, then fine.“

Nia hopped down and ran alongside us. I really thought she would be slow, but she was actually fairly quick on her feet.

Looking at Reve, he had a suit of armor that likely weighs a ton, and I could clearly see that he was getting exhausted by running. He would not make it.

I was carrying a bag with the queen‘s scales that I was going to make into armor, or to sell, but I needed to drop it. These valuable scales fell down and were consumed by the void.

Oh whatever, my life is more valuable than some scales.

Most of the others also dropped their bags, gaining more speed.

Braxton and Ivy were the fastest here, so they were the safest of us all. Franek, Letya, and I were close in second. And behind us were the rest, Nia, right behind me.

I didn‘t look back, but I heard people fall, and one of them was Reve.

„Reve!“ Nia yelled and was about to stop when I grabbed her hand to keep her from making a stupid mistake.

„Don‘t stop! Just keep on running!“

„R. . Right.“

We kept on running, and I noticed Letya start to falter.

I let go of Nia and tried to help Letya, but she hit something with her feet and fell, I fell along with her to the ground.

„Shit!“ I tried to stand up quickly, only to feel nothing beneath me.

I had my back towards the ground, the air was quickly moving around me, the ceiling above was getting smaller and smaller.

Then the realization kicked in that I was falling deep into the abyss.

----------

I awoke with a gasp but didn‘t move. I felt for someone touching my back with their hands.

„Hey hey, it‘s alright, I‘m just healing your wounds,“ I heard the soft voice of Letya say.

„What happened?“

„I fell into deep water, but you didn‘t have that good luck as me. If the water beneath you would have been more shallow, you would likely be dead.“

„Ugh, is this the fourth time that I have fallen unconscious when I got this shield?“ I muttered.

„Huh?“

„Nothing. Wait, where are the others?“

There was no one around except for me and Letya.

„I don‘t know, we got separated when we fell.“

„Oh, that‘s just great, awesome!“ I stood up and noticed that I wasn‘t wearing anything around my chest. „Um, where are my clothes?“

„I needed to heal your back before you would have bled out, so I took them off,“ she said and smiled while tilting her head.

„Oh. . . Thank you, I guess,“ why was I feeling so awkward, she only was healing my back, nothing else.

„And I wasn‘t done, you still have some open wounds that I haven‘t yet sealed.“

„Ah, that is why it still stung,“ I sat down and let her heal my back. „How long does it take to heal my wounds?“

„It should only take a moment, but after I fell into the water, the zettra stones on my gauntlets started to get weaker.“

„What do you mean?“

„Zettra stones start to lose their energy when they get too much water on them. So most of mine are now useless.“

„Crap, I guess the stones that I have are now useless too?“

„Yes they are, I checked your small pouch that you have.“

„Eh? You can‘t just go through someone else‘s stuff without permission.“

„Sorry, I needed a better stone so I could heal your wounds quicker, I didn‘t look that much after I saw that the zettra stones that you had have lost their energy.“

There really wasn‘t that much in there anyway. I only had the stones and some coins. But the bag that I lost had the scales, and my food supply, and my bandages.

„There, your back is good now!“ She said happily.

„Thank you,“ I said and changed into the armor and cloak.

I stared up, seeing that we fell in a giant crevasse. We were in a cave that didn‘t look man-made. It was rather dark but Letya did make a campfire, I didn‘t see how she would have made a fire when all of our equipment was dosed in water until I saw around me were sticks. Some vegetation was around this cave, somehow surviving without the light of Tessera.

I was wondering how my clothes weren‘t wet after I fell into the water. Also, Letya clothes were not soaked in water as well. Wait, did she take off my pants to warm them up? How long was I out?

„Where shall we go?“

„Oh. . um. . over there, I think,“ I was blushing after that thought. I really need to keep myself together.

The cave wasn‘t closed off, there was a passageway that I could see, and we walked there with torches in hand.

I didn‘t want to use my shield‘s energy for light, so I turned that down, no need to waste it without any zettra stones.

The cave has grass and some shrubs around, I wouldn‘t be surprised if there were animals here that live on these plants.

I was looking at Letya‘s gauntlets when I had a thought.

„Letya, you can do other stuff than just heal, right?“

„Of course.“

„Then can you maybe increase the adrenaline rush in people so they would run faster?“

She stopped walking.

„Hm? What‘s wrong?“ I asked.

She stared down towards the ground, her face changed from being cheerful to shock.

„Oh no, oh no,“ she crouched down with her hands against her mouth.

„Are you alright?“

„I. . I. . I could have helped them,“ she stuttered.

This change from her really surprised me. I thought she was always so joyful.

„I do have a program to give others more speed, but I haven‘t used that often so I forgot about it,“ she started to tear up.

„Hey hey,“ I crouched down towards her, holding her shoulders with my hands. „It wasn‘t your fault, we didn‘t know that the ground would collapse.“

„But. . I could have saved us.“

Man, does she get really emotional when she could have saved someone? She is just really kind to others. She is like an angel that failed her duty.

„It‘s okay, the others might have also survived after the fall. We just have to go and find them,“ I tried my best at consoling her, but I rarely did something like that so I didn‘t know what to say.

„Okay, let‘s just. . let‘s just keep going.“

„That‘s the spirit, just keep that frown away and show your cute smile.“

She looked up at me with a blush, then quickly averted her eyes.

Wait, what did I say?

„Yeah, I‘ll keep the frown away.“

I saw her smile from the side between her white hair, and then we kept on walking.

-----V-----

„Well. . . Shit.“ I muttered when I woke up in the middle of the night.

I glanced around for my bag, but it was gone. Likely stolen by some thief. I thought for sure I locked the door, and shouldn‘t the tavern be closed when it‘s night?

I got up and put on my clothes and armor. The guy didn‘t steal my clothes, I should thank him for that. My blaster was moved a bit from my table, he likely tried to steal it, but because I had a program activated, it wouldn‘t allow itself to move away from me in a certain radius.

I was glad that I stashed a pouch with coins inside the bedsheet. The bag that was stolen had all the rest of my currency, and also my zettra stones.

I remembered one item in my jacket that was really important. I started to search for it, feeling every bit around me. I threw the jacket on the bed and frantically searched the pockets thoroughly.

I stopped and calmed myself.

„Well. My day has been ruined.“

The item I was searching for was the key to my spaceship. But it wasn‘t there. The ship costs a lot, and getting a replacement key will be hard. I really should‘ve had a spare.

The thief must‘ve thought it was valuable. So he took it with him. I can‘t wait to see his face when he finds out that he can‘t do anything with it except if he finds my ship.

Now I finally have something to do at least. It was starting to get boring waiting for Ethan. Now, thief, where are you hiding?