Winter 5:2
Inside the small cave next to the Guildhouse, Abigail sees a number of things. The only sources of light are a small yellow bulb at the opposite end of the entrance, where she now stands. It doesn't illuminate anything, merely shining to be noticed.
The rest of the cave is somewhat lit by a wide beam of sunlight coming from the outside world behind Abigail. It throws itself onto the dirt floor of the cave, though the light is partially blocked by Abigail's shadow, cast as long as the light spreading into the room.
To the left of the cave, Abigail barely makes out an old minecart. It doesn't look like it's working, though she vaguely recalls Kyron telling Lewis he'd repaired them. Or was that a dream? She can't remember.
On her right is a small passage, though she can't see where it leads. Five paces in front of her and one to the right, a ladder drops down into pitch darkness. It is here where Kyron stands, peering down it. He looks up and smiles at Abigail, who is still stood by the entrance.
"It's okay Abigail. You're with me." the farmer encourages.
"We don't have anything for mining though." the purple haired girl points out. A small chuckle from Kyron, and he gestures to Abigail's right. She looks and sees a chest, hidden in the corner. It's coloured black, so almost invisible in the gloom. She walks over to it, entering the cave without realising.
"It's cold in here." she comments out loud.
"No sunlight from here onward." Kyron says behind her. His ring glows brighter as he walks closer to her, so she can see inside the chest.
Inside lays a Steel Pickaxe, a pile of unlit Torches, and something long and thick wrapped in leather. There are also a few bottles of a red liquid Abigail doesn't recognise, a slingshot and several stones for ammo, and a small bag.
"What is all this?" Abigail asks. Kyron comes up next to her, looking in with her.
"The bag is just coins. For the few occasions I'm going deep enough to need a Guild member to watch my back. We won't need it." he explains.
Abigail leans in and picks up the Steel Pickaxe.
"Is this yours?" she asks.
"It was my spare." the farmer replies, watching her spin the tool in her hands, feeling the weight of it, "But it's yours now, if you want it."
Abigail lowers the tool and looks at Kyron with a mixture of disbelief and delight.
"Oh Kyron, really? I can have this?" she asks, eyes gleaming. Kyron nods with a smile and reaches into their chest, removing the leather wrapped something. Abigail follows his arms, eyes locked onto the mysterious package. She looks up at Kyron. The smile is gone.
"One of these is yours also." he says, and unwraps the leather on the floor of the cave. Abigail's eyes widen even further as two swords unveil themselves. One is long, simple, and shining silver with a black hilt. The other blade is a dark brownish grey with a dusky blue hilt.
"Which one is mine?" Abigail asks after looking at both blades in awe.
"Depends if you would rather learn to mine or fight to begin with." Kyron replies. Abigail frowns a moment and looks up at him. She is inwardly taken aback at his deadly serious nature, like he's almost angry. Her worry must have shown on her face, for he relaxes slightly.
"Sorry," he says, "I don't mean to worry you, just this is serious. It's dangerous down there and I'd hate to see you get hurt."
Abigail gives a small smile back, and picks up the silver sword. A nod from Kyron, and he collects the grey one.
"We're not going very far down. In fact, we won't even use the elevator." he says. He points to the ladder going down.
"We'll go down there." Abigail shudders in fright.
"It's not that bad." Kyron reassures her, "It's dark, yeah, but there's no monsters on the first level. Just rocks. That's all."
Abigail composes herself and shakes her head. Her eyes are wide though, and her hands are clenched tightly on the handle of the sword. Kyron offers out a hand, holding his sword expertly in the other. Abigail tries letting go of the sword, to hold it in one hand like Kyron, but she drops the sword in her panic. Kyron reacts instantly, pushing her back slightly and catching the blade with his hand before it slices her toes off.
"Ah, I'm sorry Kyron!" Abigail cries. Kyron pauses a moment, blinking back the searing pain in his palm - he'd caught the sword by the blade and the ultra-sharp edge is digging into his palm. He feels the hot sticky warmth of his blood in his palm, coating the blade where he'd caught it. He stands up and offers Abigail the sword by the handle. She pauses and gently takes it in both hands, having dropped the Pickaxe as well as the sword.
"Thought you'd practiced swordsmanship?" Kyron asks.
"I have, I just panicked. Oh Kyron, are you okay?" Abigail asks. She's crying from worry and panic.
"Maybe this wasn't a good idea after all..." she murmurs. Kyron hears her.
"Hey! You always wanted to do this right? You've barely given it a chance yet. Come to Floor 2 with me. We'll break you in slowly. That sword is more than enough to handle the monsters on Floor 2." he smiles. Abigail smiles with him and nods in agreement. She faces the ladder.
Kyron checks they have everything they need then draws out a bottle of the red liquid. Abigail stares in wonder as he uncorks it and dribbles the liquid carefully onto his palm. He puts barely more than a few drops over the cut, then recorks the bottle and rubs the liquid in with his own hand. The farmer closes his injured hand into a fist and, using his clenched hand to help, he straps his own Pickaxe to his belt and ensures his backpack is okay. He'd filled it with food and small red balls that he wouldn't explain to Abigail before they left the house.
Kyron and Abigail walk to the ladder's edge. They look at one another, and Abigail admires Kyron's eyes as they shine in the dim light.
"It's very dark down there." Kyron advises, "There's a few torches here and there but we'll mostly only be able to see thanks to this." he holds up his glowing ring, "I found this down there so I'm hoping we can get another one for you. We have torches for dire situations though. We shouldn't need anywhere near the amount of stuff we've brought, as we're only going to Floor Two, I'm just taking it to be prepared."
"So, are you ready?" the farmer asks. Abigail shivers, peering down the darkness.
"C-can you go first?" she whispers. Kyron smiles.
"Of course. Just wait here. In fact - "Kyron removes his glowing ring and holds it out to Abigail, whose eyes widen.
"It's more useful to you than me." the farmer says. He isn't smiling, but Abigail sees that friendly gleam in his eyes and knows his offer is genuine. She takes the ring and fits it onto her right ring finger. Just wearing it makes her feel warmer and the safety of the dome of light she is in causes her lips to spread into an unrestrained smile.
"Is the ring magical so it makes you feel happy? Because I feel so happy at the moment!" Abigail asks Kyron. The farmer chuckles.
"Not as such. The happiness is only you. But the ring can make you feel safer and warmer, which can lead to happiness."
The farmer descends into the darkness of Floor 1 without another word. Abigail is startled and moves to stop him but the farmer holds up a hand.
"I've been down this thing more times than I can count. I'll be fine." he smiles. Abigail blinks and looks unsure, but remains where she is, holding the glowing ring to her chest for comfort. She watches her partner disappear, swallowed by the darkness below. He disappears from view completely after the fifth or sixth rung down, something that terrifies Abigail.
"Are you at the bottom yet?" she calls, trying to keep her voice calm. She'd never known such a total darkness like this, like a hungry monster swallowing her beloved whole.
A pause. The unnerved teenager is tempted to call down again but she hears a loud thud and Kyron calls up.
"I'm at the bottom. You can start now but take it easy. Although you can see your way down and I couldn't."
That first climb onto the cold steel ladder triples Abigail's shaking. She stays there an entire minute, trying to build the courage to go down. Already on the first rung, the world around her feels darker, despite the ring.
"Abigail." the farmer's voice echoes up from below, "You need to calm down. It's just a ladder and I'm here waiting at the bottom. Just climb down okay? It's alright."
Abigail takes a deep breath and starts climbing down.
