The darkness was several times more threatening now that he was once more alone. He had told Reed he would be fine, but that may have been more lie than truth.
Reed had walked off about ten minutes ago already, his footsteps slow and cautious as he went. Krasimir had wanted to call after him one last time, but he knew he was being foolish. He could do this.
Taking a deep breath to try and calm his nerves, and rapidly beating heart, Krasimir let go of the rock in front of him and turned around, starting a slow, cautious walk down the tunnel. Why hadn't the prospect of encountering natural disasters down here occurred to him? What if the cave-in hadn't even been from natural causes? Everything seemed so solid and sturdy down here. The game makers could have incorporated the cave-in into the arena's design during its creation – it would not have been difficult to place a sensor somewhere to set off the cave-in once someone walked by it.
This led to an even bigger question: what other dangers existed down here, and how could they surpass them when visibility was practically out of the question in the tunnels?
Krasimir realized his negative thinking could potentially put him in a dangerous position, so he decided to focus upon his current goals: 1. Find some source of water (because how could there not be? The game makers saw to it that there was at least one source of water in each arena every year now) and 2. Find a way back to the Cornucopia and hopefully meet up with Reed once more.
If it wasn't so dark and he had a mirror of some sort, he was positive he would see his face going red at the thought of his new friend. Reed was adorable. His clumsiness was endearing, and Krasimir was pretty sure he would be devastated if Reed cut off his curls.
He should have listened to Wren. He should not have been his overly friendly self, and he should not have allowed his thoughts to constantly stray back to the adorable tribute from District 1. Saving Reed's life had pretty much sealed it for Krasimir; he wanted to be friends with Reed and he could not stand the idea of something bad happening to him. Even now, walking cautiously through the darkness he feared, Krasimir was worrying more and more about how Reed was doing. It was dangerous; what if he survived till the end, only to realize it came down to himself and Reed? He had promised himself nothing would come in between his self and victory, but he knew how he reacted to certain things. The odds of him being able to kill Reed, after allowing himself to develop any sort of feelings, friendship or something more, were slim to none. He was dreading hearing the echoing boom, signaling the death of another tribute, knowing it could possibly be Reed.
The area of the tunnel he had reached before the cave-in was fast approaching. When he had first been here, checking to make sure there were no other tributes around, he had been relieved to find the area was deserted. There had been sounds up ahead, however, and Krasimir hadn't wanted to worry Reed by telling him so after they had been separated. Now he would have to be extra careful, just in case whoever had been up ahead had heard the cave-in and was considering checking out what was going on. Fortunately, the further he went along the tunnel the more he was convinced whoever had been up ahead was long since gone.
He needed to find a branch off from the current tunnel he was in. The direction Reed had to take after the cave-in was at least in the right direction for the cavern they started out in. Now he had to find a way to turn around and head that way as well.
Just as he was starting to feel a little frustrated, his hand slipped off the rocky wall to his right and was met with air. He turned and started heading down the new tunnel. A little ways in it curved to the left and he went around, pausing in surprise at what he saw.
There was light ahead. It was faint, but it was still light nonetheless. Thrilled to finally get out of the darkness for hopefully at least a little bit, Krasimir sped up, feeling relieved as the light grew steadily brighter.
The light led him to another huge, open cavern. This one was not as huge as the one they had all started out in, but it was still big enough. The room was relatively square shaped and hanging from the ceiling, in the middle of the entire room, was another huge iron chandelier that held a small ball of flame.
Krasimir was wary, however, since he was now aware of the fact that there could possibly be more natural dangers awaiting him in the arena. Having yet stepped out of the tunnel he was in to enter the huge cavern, he inspected the room as much as he could from where he was. On each of the other sides of the room there was one tunnel leading off, each just as dark looking as the one he stood in. The cavern itself was practically empty. Some rocks and boulders were settled about, specifically in the corners of the room, but besides those and the iron chandelier the room was empty. Still being cautious, Krasimir reached down, feeling about until he found a fairly heavy, medium sized rock that was lying nearby in the runnel. Once he had picked it up he tossed it out, as far as he could, into the center of the cavern.
The rock hit the ground, but there was no heavy thump upon impact. Instead there was a soft thump, barely audible from where he stood, and, as he watched, the rock sunk into the dirt floor, the surrounding area of ground moving slightly after impact. Suddenly the lighted cavern did not seem as inviting as it had just a moment ago. Whatever the flooring was in here it was not all solid, and somehow Krasimir had to find his way through it.
