Chapter 8

-Family Outings Just got Annoying-

"Tyrell... Tyrell?"

Karis's voice echoed throughout the valley below. The group of adepts stood before the mouth of a cave, that seemed to lead to another opening above them. Garet glanced at her. "We're here."

"And there's the soarwing," Isaac sighed as he noticed the pile of broken wood pieces and other parts of Karis's father's creation, which lay next to the higher cave opening.

Following his gaze, Garet narrowed his eyes. "That's it, all right. So I'm betting Tyrell landed up there, then climbed inside."

Scowling, Isaac nodded. "He crashed the soarwing. It's broken. The wing... It's totally destroyed."

Karis clenched her teeth. "Did that idiot land and then blow it up or something? He definitely wasn't falling that fast!"

Huh, boy. Matt sighed in his mind. What has he done now?

Isaac put his hand on Karis's shoulder. "It could have been a lot worse, probably."

"You think so?" Garet gave his friend a sideways glance, who nodded.

"Absolutely. We still have our children alive and well. Tyrell is nearby, Garet. I'm sure of it."

"And things end up SO well when you're sure of them."

"Let's just go, we're wasting time. Lead us in, Matthew!" Isaac smiled at his son.

Karis shuddered. "I don't like this..."

(Almost like a creepy, ominous music should be playing, but it's not like this is a video game or something, we could die here!)

Matthew glanced at one of his borrowed djinn from Garet, Shine, who lit up their path with its small tail. The adepts followed Shine through a tunnel, full of roots and cracked rocks. Karis seemed like the only one would wanted to break the silence.

"Who wants to sing 'ninety-nine bottles of-' "

Matt handed her the herbs and elixir he'd collected on the way, and she examined them for a few minutes before stashing them. She's made it clear that if they were to go on a journey like their parents, she wanted to be a healer. Wind adepts often had special healing powers, which were just better than a water adept's. To Matt's disappointment, she suggested other things that she had no idea were nothing anyone else liked in the slightest, proved by 'I Spy' lasting for 3 minutes and 12 seconds after everything anyone could spy was 'rock'.

Things began to look up when Karis tripped over a pointed stone when Shine's light flickered, and Matt carried her due to a twisted ankle.

One of the Psynergy stones that were discussed earlier helped them recover from the battles in the forest, and they continued into a crevasse-filled, deep, dark chasm. Creeping along abandoned train tracks to cross the ravines, they climbed a vine, which Karis's ankle didn't make easy, Shine dismissed herself and her lit tail faded, revealing the stone walls decorated with crystal light.

"Whoa," Karis and Garet awed.

Isaac and Matt silently gazed at the sight, but kept the group walking. "Come on, Tyrell's just up ahead," Isaac told them.

"How can you tell?" Karis blinked.

Isaac put his hand on the wall. "I can feel the movement of the earth, and that counts for those touching it. Tyrells' breathing is producing sound waves, and their close by."

Garet sighed; he'd constantly heard this before, but Karis looked relieved. "Thank goodness for that. I should be able to do that with the air, but the closed space is messing with me."

She laughed weakly, and Matt pointed towards a new door. Isaac looked at something closer than where his son had pointed. A jagged, slightly dark purple rock grew from the ground, but it didn't give off the same calming light as other Psynergy stones, if that was what it was.

Garet reach out his hand. "Is that a Psynergy stone?"

Isaac knocked it away, but not before the strange rock shattered, leaving darker shards of itself at their feet. "No, that seemed relatively like the Tanglewood's corrupted tree roots. We have to keep moving, I don't know how much time Tyrell could have left."

MAN, now I can gonna complain about delays! I took a really nice yoga class, and one of the exercises made me think of a new future part to this story, and I really wanted to get it going again! So, yay, probably!

So while I was catching up to here in my game, I noticed that I missed a few cut-scenes in the Tanglewood place. Fear not, for I shall make flashbacks in the next chapter!

Hope you like Isaac's little lesson on something you'll never need in your life unless you're an Earth adept. Even then, I think I made that up.

Uh... yes, also Karis is a little claustrophobic.

And as for the votes for who Karis will end up with, here they are:

Matt: 5

Tyrell: 2

Basically nothing's changed.

Ok, well 'tis nice to get another chapter out, and I'll try and get them out daily-ish.

See y'all when I see y'all!

-Shiny