Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I apologize for the indefinite hiatus, but it's actually quite difficult to get back into the flow of writing, but I was able to go get this chapter out. (I won't go into detail exactly how long it took me to complete this chapter as that in itself it terribly disappointing.) I'll try my hardest to get you guys more chapters, just bear with me, please. I'll work my hardest! If anyone has an idea that they might think could work at this point in the story, by all means, send it to me, but I do have a good idea where I want to go with this, so there is that as well. Well, anyhow, remember, don't stop believing and don't stop writing everyone!
A Hero Alone - Chapter 26: Fire
The crate fell without warning, and I had not noticed it at all until long after it sailed through the air and landed with a loud noise, which caused me to leap away from it. It somehow caused quite a bit of sand to fly up in a cloud and hover around the crate. I could not get myself to approach the crate for some time after its landing, after all, the last thing I expected after a thrilling battle with a deadly spider was a crate, but here it was.
When I finally did gather enough courage to head up to the curious container, I did so by first walking around the crate. I was debating whether or not anything was actually in the crate. I could not tell from the outside, so I decided I had to look inside of it, something I was very hesitant about. Why I was so alerted by a single, wooden crate at the time was beyond me.
I took a deep breath before walking up to the crate and, using my sword as a lever, pried open one end of the crate. The lid snapped off and flew a bit away from the crate, and I knelt down by the newly made entrance to get a look inside, and what was inside astonished me greatly, and caused me to shoot up in action almost immediately after realizing what was inside the crate.
I hastened to pull him out of the confines of the crates, and a single look was all it took to confirm and even reinforce my worries. The monster had gotten to him long before I had even realized there was a monster. The arachnoid was able to entrap Habib within a silk cocoon and most likely try to hide him, proving that the arachnoid was somewhat conscious of its actions and not just acting out of pure nature.
The cocoon seemed to only seal Habib away, and most likely with a mix of non-lethal poison, the arachnoid found it little trouble to store him away as a meal if it were to get hungry in a later hour.
The silk seemed strong and sturdy, which was to be expected. I ran my hand across the silk once or twice and sighed. I knew getting Habib out was not going to be an easy task at all, and that was with the slim hope that he was alive in there, and that was what I assumed.
I attempted multiple times to try and cut the silk, but it was too strong, telling me that some other way of getting him out of there would be required, but I had to think of how. I knew that cutting him out was near impossible now, and I contemplated the next best idea, which was fire.
Fire could work, or it could only serve to backfire and kill any chance that Habib was alive in that cocoon, but stood the possibility that it is the only way to free Habib from it. After weighing my options, it didn't seem as if there any debate left. I needed to free Habib somehow, and fire seemed to be the best answer.
I rose from the floor and scanned the room to discover that there was actually no torches in the room, but how light was able to get into the room was through openings in the roof. This meant that I would have to make my way back into the previous rooms if I wanted to find any source of fire. I assumed that if I were to find a torch on one of the walls. That would be enough to burn through the cocoon.
I left that room to head back into the hallways, which seemed like the most likely place in the dungeon to contain any sources of fire, torches or otherwise. Although, returning was not easy. There were quite a few monsters who tried to prevent me from reaching the hallways. Yet, despite their annoyance, they didn't pose too much of a challenge. All it took was a few swings of my sword and they were dealt with fairly quick.
Once the monster obstructing my path were defeated, I began to scan the hallways for torches. It was then that I realized the lack of light that existed in the dungeon, I suppose I grew used to this level of lighting, but when thinking about it, it seemed fairly surprising to truly realize how dark it was in the dungeon.
I traveled quite a ways down the corridor before I finally came across a torch, but discovered that I was out of luck; the torch was sealed to the wall with a metal case around it.
It didn't take me much though to figure out how to get a hold of the torch. As it were, the weight of the single item in my pack that had made a lasting impression since I acquired it was the exact item I needed.
I struggled to get a hold on the iron gauntlets, which I believed would serve its purpose in being strong enough to break the case. I took my pack off and slipped gauntlets on. I gave myself a moment to adjust to their size, before gripping the metal case, getting ready to pull it off.
I pulled back with as much power as I could invest, before it eventually snapped off, causing the torch to fall to the sand. I threw the gloves off and scurried to save the torch. I was lucky.
I gave a sigh of relief before standing up and putting the gauntlets, one at a time, back into my pack, swinging it over my back. I headed off back toward the direct of the room where I had left Habib, and found him just as I had left him.
I carried the torch over to him before kneeling down to light the arachnoid silk on fire. I watched it with a ceaseless concentration. Once enough the silk was burned away that it made a hold, I put out the fire and began to pull it apart, ripping the silk further. I cleared enough away that I could pull Habib out of it if I needed to.
Just looking at him, it was so difficult to do, as the expression on his face was almost depressing. It seemed as if there was no life in him, and I was ready to say he was dead, so I only stared at him for a while, doing nothing, as I had no idea what to do in this situation. It was then that I noticed he was breathing.
Just seeing his chest move in rhythm of his breathing eased my heart in a way I couldn't describe. I hurried to clear away the rest of the silk that encased him before he finally regained consciousness and started to cough violently, sitting himself up to do so. After his fit he looked at me.
"L-link, what happened?" He asked in a frightful tone. He was shivering from being in that cold cocoon for that long.
"You're fine now, Habib." I replied. "I thought that thing killed you."
He looked at me as if I was crazy. "What thing?" He asked. I could tell he was sincere.
"You don't remember that arachnid?" I asked.
He shook his head. I couldn't blame him. It seemed that the whole event caused him a bit of amnesia. Yet, this alone caused me to sigh.
"Well, don't worry about it. It's dead, and we're done here, so let's go." I replied, unaware that I might have been a bit harsh on my awakened companion.
"R-right." He said shakily, trying to get up. It took him a few attempts, but he managed. He was still very weak from being trapped. He took a few steps, before giving me a nod.
I nodded back to him and headed out the room with him. I made quick work of monsters that stood in our way, because with a new annoyance of the dungeon, I wasn't scared of the creatures here, they were just burdens to me now, besides, I doubted whether I would actually see anything worse than that monster which took Habib. I wasn't particularly happy, so it didn't take us very long to make it out of the dungeon itself and head back out into the desert after climbing down the cliffs, which turned out to be a much quicker process instead of climbing up them. Neither of us said much on the return trip, but at least for me, I didn't want to say anything, and I could have probably assumed that Habib didn't want to say anything either, but I did want to know what he was thinking. I was afraid that he was afraid of me now, just like Makar was. I didn't want history to repeat itself, I would have never forgiven myself if it did, but I couldn't be sure. Only time could tell.