Chapter 2: The Mines of Altin
Mia coughed and reached out to the wall to steady herself as she expelled dusty air from her lungs. Isaac glanced over at her to ensure she was all right as he continued moving forward with Ivan and Garet through the dimly lit tunnels.
The mine shafts of Altin were still a dangerous place without the awakened statues causing issues for the town, and the miners had not yet gone back to work clearing the place out. Loose rock and boulders lay strewn about the various shafts and tunnels, making navigation more difficult. The air quality was bad and the group of adepts often had to stop when one of them breathed in too much of the harmful dust and had a bout of coughing.
I'm no geologic expert, but you would think that a place like this would be less dusty and just damp instead considering how waterlogged it was just the other day… Mia thought. Removing her hand from the wall, she glanced at the powderized rock that had rubbed off on her palm.
The dim lighting that allowed the group to see and attempt to navigate through the mines for the third time was emanating from Garet's psynergy as he maintained a small flame in the palm of his hand.
"Stick close Mia," Garet whispered, warning her to stay within the small sight radius his fire could provide. The deeper parts of the mine got much more dangerous the further the group went due to monsters that became more numerous and powerful. The miners had been confined to only short distances from the entrances ever since the Mt. Aleph incident had altered the wildlife to be more aggressive and monsters started to appear across the land.
While the miners could deal with the bats near the surface, the town spoke of monsters roaming the depths of the shafts that they dared not to venture through any longer. The group of adepts had confirmed those rumors just the other day when fighting their way through to the living water statues, encountering many foes hidden in the dark tunnels.
Isaac shifted suddenly and held out his arm to stop the rest of the group from moving forward. Garet snuffed the flame and plunged the group into total blackness as everyone stood frozen in place, silent save for the slightest sound of breathing in the stifling air.
The darkness was absolute, but everyone knew better than to try to ask Isaac what was happening. A few moments passed and then Mia heard it: A rattling sound echoing softly off the walls of the cavern ahead.
Skeletons! Mia thought, slowing her breathing to minimal levels along with the rest of the group in an attempt to avoid detection by the reanimated horrors. I wonder if the townsfolk are right about these skeletons being the remains of the miners first killed after Mt. Aleph began acting up… Mia couldn't help to think, shuddering at the idea of the miner's deaths from the slimes and rat men in the area.
The group had slowly been making progress through the tunnels for the last two hours, attempting to avoid encounters with monsters whenever possible, and fighting only if absolutely necessary. According to the villagers, the exit to the other side of the mountain should be somewhere on this level, Mia thought, keeping as positive as she could by focusing on the goal of their expedition back into the deep mines.
The mountain pass above was unusable due to a recent landslide completely blocking any way through to the town on the other side, so the group had concluded that the mines were the only way to continue on their journey. The sound of skeletons moving around in the dark faded out as they wandered away from the patiently waiting adepts.
Isaac tapped Garet in the darkness, indicating the all clear, and flames flickered back to life in the redhead's hand, casting the adept's shadows on the wall next to them.
"That was a close one," Ivan breathed a sigh of relief at the narrow miss.
"How long do you have?" Isaac whispered to Garet, concerned about the time remaining in which they could explore the floor before his psynergy would run low and they would lose the light required to progress through the cavernous system.
Gauging his psynergy, Garet estimated. "Another hour or so at best keeping it up continuously," he told Isaac.
That doesn't leave us much time left, Mia thought, doing the calculations in her head. She figured they would have another half hour to find the exit they were looking for until being forced to turn around and head back to the town as they had the day before.
Apparently Isaac and Ivan came up with the same result, because Isaac shook his head and Ivan cursed quietly in frustration. "We don't have time to wait for these monsters…" the younger blond boy voiced.
"We have half an hour then," Isaac stated based on Garet's answer, not happy about the situation, but accepting it as reality.
He began to move forward again as the rest of the group followed, alert and ready for anything that decided to attack them. Coming up to the wider room ahead where the skeletons just passed through, Mia could hear her footsteps echoing off the walls while stepping carefully across the damp ground.
The path branched into two more tunnels as the adepts continued along the wall and Isaac stopped to allow Garet to peer down them as best he could before choosing a path. Increasing the intensity of his psynergy, Garet glanced down the first tunnel while Mia and Ivan stood guard, alert to their surroundings behind them.
A giant bat fluttered past, disturbed by the increased light level in the otherwise dark cavern, but did not attack, even as Mia readied a frost spell to prevent it from coming after them.
Garet and Isaac moved on to peering down the second tunnel, and immediately jumped back as one of the mutant rat fighters living in the caves surprised them by leaping out with a swing at Isaac.
The blonde boy barely managed to raise his blade in time to block the attack and a loud clanging sound of metal on metal resounded off the walls as the rat's miniature spear bounced off Isaac's sword.
Reacting quickly, Ivan spun around and blasted the rat with a ray of lightning as Garet backed off to clear the way, maintaining the higher lighting level for the rest of the group to fight in.
"We're in for it now," Isaac called out, abandoning the attempt to stay quiet with whispers as combat began.
More rats started pouring out of the tunnel and a huge spider descended from the ceiling behind the group, irritated at the noise near its nest. Mia raised her staff and fired off a frost spell to slow the spider and prevent it from entering the fight as the rest of the group tried to deal with the armed rat men.
Combat in the dark and confined space was a completely different dynamic than when outside and was much more dangerous for the group since Garet's need to maintain the lighting and conserve his psynergy meant he could not effectively fight with either his weapons or spells, leaving Isaac as the only fighter in the front line to protect Ivan and Mia.
A slash of his blade allowed Isaac to take out another rat coming at them and Mia cast another spell to impale more of the rats rushing at them with icicle spears. One rat made it past Isaac and rushed at Mia, who knocked its attack aside using her staff. A blast of electricity from Ivan fried the rat and cause Mia's skin to tingle from the static electricity as it passed.
Splitting her attention back to the spider behind the group, Mia kept it at bay with a douse spell, drenching the spider in torrential water and dampening the sense it relied on to navigate towards its new prey.
Isaac called upon his psynergy to grow roots and vines under the feet of the rats to entangle them and impede movement, jumping out of the way of another spear thrust toward him at the same time.
"Isaac back off," Ivan called out as he channeled another spell and a whirlwind began to form near the entangled rats. Leaving the rats to Ivan, Isaac stepped past Mia, bringing his blade around to neatly slice off a leg of the giant spider. Spinning around again, Isaac slashed a few more times in quick succession, dismembering the spider's legs as he went and throwing it off balance.
Ivan's whirlwind whipped around with alarming speed, trapping the rats inside as they were battered by the wind as well as loose rock caught up in the maelstrom. One of the rats almost escaped the miniature storm, but Garet gave it a swift kick to the face, knocking the creature back into the vortex with a squeal of pain abruptly cut short by the sound of a flying rock colliding with a skull.
Mia sent another icicle spear flying, this time at the spider, killing the creature and pinning the legless body to the floor. As Ivan's whirlwind subsided, the copious amounts of dust it kicked up filled the air, making it difficult to see and breathe once again. Through the thick fog-like cloud, Mia could barely make out the sole survivor of Ivan's magic crawling away heavily injured as the bodies of its brethren lay strewn across the stone floor.
Isaac must have seen the same thing because a second later, his psynergy flared up and a stalactite of stone fell from above and impaled the creature, ending its life.
Trying to avoid breathing in more of the harmful dust, the group ducked down the first tunnel and into relatively clean air. Breathing heavily from holding their breaths as well as the exertion of battle, the group took a moment to recuperate.
Mia and Ivan both glanced over at Isaac, surprised at the unusual act of executing a defeated enemy; Something Isaac had never shown a tendency to do previously. Feeling their gazes, Isaac looked up and then back and forth at each other adept in turn, reading their expressions.
"I had to," was Isaac's reply to the inquisitive looks. "If there were more down there and the injured one was going to get them, we would be in a whole lot of trouble right now," Isaac explained.
That makes perfect sense, Mia knew, though it was still a first and her surprise continued to linger as she caught her breath.
"That said...we still made a whole lot of noise back there," Isaac pointed out as the rest of the group agreed. "We should keep moving and put some distance between us and that battle in case it attracts some….less friendly creatures."
At that thought, Ivan stood up from where he sat leaning against the wall and picked up his weapon, peering further down the shaft in anticipation of continuing on. Garet moved up front to lead the way with his personal light source, followed closely by Isaac and Mia.
Faint sounds of dripping water could be heard from the still damp sections of the mine, keeping the adepts alert as they listened for any other sounds that could possibly indicate nearby enemies. The air got lighter and easier to breathe again as the group left the dust cloud whipped up by Ivan's magic in the last battle. The pathway began to widen once more as the adepts carefully made their way forward until Garet stopped the group.
In front of them was a mound of debris blocking the tunnel with what looked like a small boulder in the center of the path. The massive piece of rock appeared to have broken off of the wall and was lodged in the tunnel in a way that made it impossible to get past.
Isaac stepped forward and lay his hand gently on the stone peering past it to the tunnel beyond, ensuring that it wasn't just a dead end on the other side. Having encountered a few similar situations so far in the mines, the rest of the group stayed put as Isaac checked out the surroundings.
"It looks like another good path beyond here," Isaac commented, stepping back from the rock as he fished through his bags for a little gem recently acquired from their fight with the water spewing statues a few days prior.
Mia watched the golden particles of Isaac's psynergy wink into existence as the blonde boy focused his power onto the gem, causing it to glow softly with a dim light. Isaac's psynergy is always so nice to watch, Mia reflected, enjoying the soft, golden color of the psynergy that was unique to him.
Large psynergetic hands appeared on either side of the boulder and as psynergy rings enveloped Isaac, the hands appear to lift the boulder slowly off the ground, moving it horizontally just barely out of the path before setting it down. The psynergy dissipated, leaving a gap between the boulder and the wall with enough space for the adepts to get past.
It's going to be a tight fit, Mia knew, eyeing Garet as the largest member of the party squeezed his way through the opening Isaac created and over to the other side. Reigniting the flame in his hand once making it through, Garet took a quick look ahead to confirm their immediate safety before letting the others know to follow with a quick, "All clear."
Ivan handed his sword through to Garet on the other side before nimbly ducking through the opening as well. Mia glanced behind the group, double checking their safety on that side as well, motioning to Isaac to go first.
The blonde boy also handed his sword over to the other side then squeezed his way past the boulder. Halfway through, Isaac's yellow scarf caught on a sharp edge of the rock, preventing him from moving past. Unable to see the issue, Isaac began to feel around with one hand to try to find the snag without much success.
Mia glanced over to see the hold up and noticed the problem, stepping over to the boulder and releasing the scarf from the edge it was caught on. "There you go," she whispered to Isaac, who finished slipping through after feeling the scarf was slack and no longer snagged on the rock.
"Thanks," he whispered back, reaching out to grab Mia's staff for her as she took one last look behind to ensure nothing was approaching. Isaac passed the staff off to his other hand and reached back out to Mia in order to help her through.
Mia took Isaac's hand to steady herself as she pulled her robes tight against herself with her other hand to avoid a similar issue to Isaac's scarf as she made her way through. Successfully passing the boulder, Mia relaxed her grip on her robes and brushed the dust off of them before accepting her staff back from Isaac.
Continuing down the previously blocked path, the tunnel continued to widen before opening up into a cavern ahead. Upon entering the room, the group came across some mine cart tracks, rusted over by the water damage with a pickaxe lying on the ground nearby. There were a number of exits from the large room and a couple of them had cart tracks heading down their halls.
This must be one of the more heavily mined areas in the past when it was still open, Mia considered, judging by the higher density of the track that seemed to serve as a hub for transporting mined rock. That also means it's likely there are a lot more monsters here as well...
She dared not voice her concern to the others for fear of being detected, however Garet seemed to have come to the same conclusion, dimming the light to the point where the adepts could just barely see their immediate surroundings.
Using the wall to help navigate, the group circled their way carefully toward where they saw the first exit from the room on the left side. As they got closer to their goal, Mia heard a sudden thud from behind her and a skidding noise of something scraping across the stone floor before she felt an impact on her leg, causing her to jump in alarm.
Garet increased the light level in response to the incident as Mia glanced down quickly to see what had hit her. A yellow mining hat lay next to her feet, wobbling slightly and caked in what appeared to be dried blood. Mia put a hand over her mouth to prevent any noise from escaping as she realized exactly what it was and the implications behind it.
The miners here must have died violent deaths, Mia thought, unable to brood on the idea long due to the sound of fast approaching footsteps that were not their own.
Garet cursed his clumsiness for kicking the helmet upon hearing the approaching monsters as the group got ready for battle, drawing weapons and taking up defensive positions.
They didn't have long to wait as a group of skeletons burst out of the corridors to engage the party, armed with pickaxes and swords. Swarming towards the group of adepts, most of the skeletons focused on Isaac, who was doing his best to draw their attention away from the other members of the group.
Garet increased the light level, bringing the flames in his hand roaring to life. There was a bright flash of bluish purple lightning as Ivan shot off his ray spells in rapid succession. The smell of ozone wafted from the atomized remains of the skeleton Ivan had targeted and Mia called the powers of frost to her side, bombarding the oncoming skeletons with a hail of ice.
Echoing sounds of shattering ice reverberated through the room as two of the skeletons got completely pulverized and ground into dust by the onslaught. Isaac parried an attack from one of the skeletons charging him with a loud clang, using the momentum shift to bring his blade crashing into another enemy, shattering the bones to pieces.
"More Incoming!" Garet warned, seeing some more foes stream into the room from the right side. Ivan quickly turned to engage, tossing more bolts of lightning at the skeletons and pulling out his sword, knowing melee combat was inevitable.
Mia hit her staff against the ground, calling forth a wave of water to knock back the oncoming skeletons and prevent them from reaching the adepts as quickly. Isaac decapitated a foe in front of him and dropped a spire attack into one of the newcomers, crushing it beneath the weight of the stone.
There were too many skeletons to stop completely and when they broke through the spells targeting them, two came directly for Mia. The cerulean haired girl raised her staff, blocking two attacks in quick succession as she glanced over to see Isaac keeping three at bay from himself and Garet while Ivan moved with the swiftness of the wind, darting between two more foes in a deadly sword fight.
Augmenting her staff with Mercury psynergy, Mia struck one of her assailants, staggering it and knocking back from the fight for a second. As she turned to position for the second skeleton, Mia slipped on the damp floor and fell to the ground, barely catching the edge of a pickaxe against her staff.
Holding the undead at bay, Mia tried to take her staff to block the next strike from a recovered skeleton, but it was caught on the far edge of her first opponent's pickaxe and was locked in place by the hook shape of the pick. Mia saw the blade coming at her, still unable to dislodge her staff and block the attack. As a last resort, Mia let go of the staff and rolled out of the way of the attack, suffering only a slash through her robe as the undead's sword narrowly missed.
Free from the melee lock, the skeleton with the pickaxe raised the weapon above its head and brought it crashing down upon Mia.
Is this how I die? Mia wondered, knowing she had no hope of dodging the second blow coming for her. Surprisingly she found she was calm, and even though adrenaline was pumping through her veins, she felt passive as if she was looking on and watching someone else's life. The pickaxe came down and there was an explosion of light, and then nothing.
Mia's ears started ringing as the light she saw faded away rapidly, leaving her blind to her surroundings, waiting for her eyes to adjust.
The echoes of combat around her helped bring Mia back to her senses as she looked around disoriented, realizing she wasn't dead just yet. The sight of Garet engulfed in blazing red psynergy with a serious look on his face and the incinerated remains of two skeletons in front of her helped Mia realize what happened.
The heat from Garet's fireball spell that had saved her life lingered in the air as Mia came to her senses, grabbing her staff from the floor where it had fallen. The floor was riddled with skeleton pieces from Ivan and Isaac's fight, but the two boys were being pushed back by an increasing tide of enemies.
Garet had completely abandoned the idea of keeping the room lit and instead switched to offense to help deal with the endless stream of foes from all sides. The only vision the adepts had was from the fire spells Garet continued to unleash to hold skeletons at bay as well as the bright flashes of Ivan's electric spells intermingled with his melee attacks.
This is no time to be holding back Mia knew, mostly unfazed from the close brush with death. Her ears and eyes were still recovering, but she could function well enough to continue fighting. I know I was trying to conserve psynergy in case of an emergency...but this situation could hardly qualify as anything less than that!
Raising her hands, Mia called upon her psynergy once again, focusing on the skeletons that were beginning to surround Isaac. A chill filled the room as the temperature dropped to freezing and the skeletons became encased in a tomb of ice.
Not worried about retaliation, Isaac was able to switch to pure offense, bringing his blade through the encased undead, shattering the ice and their bones to pieces with quick swipes of his blade.
Ivan finished off the last of his foes, panting heavily as the bones rattled to the floor in a pile. With no more psynergy spells flying through the air to light up the room, everything faded to pitch black.
Each adept stood still among the remains of the reanimated miners recovering from the fight in the darkness. Mia looked around in an attempt to locate her companions, a futile effort without Garet's flames to aid her.
"Is everyone okay?" Isaac called out, trying to confirm their safety before proceeding. Mia thought she could sense the faintest hint of a bright spot near one of the tunnels just before Garet re-ignited the fire he had used to guide them so far.
A look around showed all the adepts alive, though in varying conditions after the skirmish. Mia's hair and robes were signed, Isaac had some gashes that looked like they would require medical attention, and Ivan was mostly unscathed save for some scratches from the claws of one of the skeletons that managed to hit him.
"Thanks Garet," Mia acknowledged the fire adept's timeliness in his assistance during the fight, even as she cast a healing spell on Isaac to at least prevent the injuries from becoming any worse before she would have a chance to tend to them in better conditions.
"Of course Mia," Garet replied. "I wasn't about to let you get hit by that," he stated, avoiding any mention of her possibly dying.
Ivan eyed the flame in Garet's hand warily. "How long do we have left now that you were forced to use psynergy?" the blonde boy asked Garet.
Garet shook his head, knowing the other would not like his reply. "10 minutes at best," he answered to the dismay of the group.
"So we have a long trek back to town in complete darkness ahead of us once this runs out...and we're in no shape for another battle," Isaac voiced the situation, pondering what to do.
Mia glanced around the room, trying to discern the tunnel she thought was lighter than the rest, but could not find any difference in the lit up cavern.
Isaac caught her gaze as she was looking around and studied her curiously, wondering if she had noticed the same thing he did. "Hey Garet...put out the fire a second," Isaac said. Garet looked at him funny and replied, "Whatever you say boss," before snuffing the flame.
Wondering what Isaac was getting at, the other adepts sat in the darkness as Mia and Isaac scanned the room again, looking for what they had both seen earlier just after the fight. "There it is again," Mia said softly, finding the tunnel she thought was barely a shade lighter than the rest.
"You see that too?" Isaac asked Mia, looking over at the same tunnel she was. "It looks lighter to me over there," the blonde boy added, prompting Garet and Ivan to start looking around as well.
The sound of someone moving around was heard as Garet went to peer down the shaft. "I think you're onto something here," Garet said, agreeing with the analysis that the tunnel was indeed lighter than the rest.
"You're implying that's the exit then?" Ivan spoke up asking the rest of the group the obvious question.
Garet lit up the fire in his hand once more to illuminate the area and finish their conversation. If that IS the exit...this is all over with and we can make it out before Garet's fire runs out...the upside is high here, but if we are wrong that's another stretch of tunnel we have to make our way back through in complete darkness without getting lost or running into monsters, Mia thought, wondering how the others were analyzing their situation.
Isaac frowned. "Well we have a choice to make and it's not an easy one. If we continue forward and assume that is the exit, we might be right...but it's a risky path to take if we do have to come all the way back."
The adepts all sat in silence to ponder the situation as precious seconds ticked away, pressure to make a decision mounting in order to not waste more time.
"Let's go for it," Ivan finally said, breaking the silence and voicing what they were all thinking, but nobody wanted to say.
"I don't think we're going to get a choice in the matter," Garet added on, indicating behind him at a familiar rattling sound coming through the tunnel toward them.
Crap! We were too loud! Mia realized, knowing their voices probably carried through the tunnels alerting more monsters to their presence. The adepts grabbed their weapons and, though injured, they steeled themselves for another fight.
"Which tunnel was it?" Isaac asked, losing track in the light of Garet's flame and the distraction of more approaching enemies.
"This one!" Mia shouted out, indicating the tunnel they felt was the exit with her staff as skeletons began to pour into the room.
Ivan fired off ray spells with flashes of violet light to deal with the first foe running at them. Isaac brought his blade up and blocked an attack from another skeleton with a loud clang of metal on metal.
Mia once again called upon her frost spells to impale their foes with shards of ice, staff glowing with psynergetic light. A couple of the skeletons shattered and fell to the floor, but to the dismay of the adepts, a swarm of rat men appeared from another tunnel on the right, attracted by the sounds of combat.
Assessing the situation from the back, Garet called upon his psynergy once more to send a massive stream of fire into the oncoming rats, cooking the frontrunners alive. The light dimmed as the dire consequence of using his psynergy took its toll, unable to maintain the vision he had been previously.
"Run!" Garet yelled, sending a final fireball crashing into their foes before dashing down the tunnel Mia had indicated earlier.
Heading his advice, the rest of the party turned tail to follow, using their psynergy defensively to slow the oncoming tide of monsters. Ivan blocked off an incoming group of skeletons with a gale, blowing dust everywhere and obscuring the monsters chasing after the group as they ran away. Mia placed a hand on her staff, breathing heavily while fleeing. Invoking her powers, she froze the floor behind the adepts to create a slick surface that would be difficult for the monsters to navigate in the dust.
Garet's fire finally winked out, but it was light enough for the party to see their surroundings enough not to run into the walls as they continued to sprint down the tunnel, following the source of the light ahead.
"It's getting lighter!" Ivan exclaimed, certain they were on the right path now.
Isaac swung his sword at the side of the wall as Mia dashed past, hitting a skeleton that appeared from an offshoot of the main tunnel that nobody else had noticed in their mad dash for freedom.
The light got continuously brighter as Mia and her friends ran for dear life, and rounding the bend showed an exit from the mine just ahead.
"We made it!" Mia heard Ivan yell to the other adepts as they approached the blinding white light of the outdoors. As Ivan finished his exclamation, a group of angry rat men burst out of the darkness behind them to attack Isaac at the rear of the party.
Acting on instinct, the blonde boy called upon his psynergy and unleashed a spell that caused the tunnel to begin to shake.
Earthquake! Mia's mind screamed out as she recognized the signs of the spell Isaac just unleashed. He was so careful NOT to use that the whole time we've been in here…
Isaac froze for half a second as his spell went off and a rumbling could be heard in the ground and the walls, cursing as he realized his mistake.
"Oh Shi-" Isaac got off before a piece of the ceiling collapsed, entombing half the rats following them under tons of rocks and startling the blonde boy into sprinting for the exit again.
Garet was the first outside, collapsing to the ground and rapidly sucking in breaths of fresh air as the other adepts followed suit.
Mia kneeled down after exiting the mine, using her staff as support, listening the rumbling noises intensify behind them and watching the entire mine shaft collapse seconds after Isaac made it to safety outside. Watching the entrance showed no signs of their attackers still in pursuit, presumably dead from the falling debris.
The exhausted group caught their breath for half a minute in complete silence, just thankful to be alive after the whole ordeal. Thank Mercury, Mia thought, looking out at the blue sky for the first time all day, appreciating the calm of the clouds while the dust settled behind them from the destroyed tunnel. The adepts' heavy breathing could be heard as Mia closed her eyes to block out the harsh light until they could adjust to the outdoors.
"Are you trying to KILL us?!" Ivan exclaimed in reference to the earthquake spell, breaking the silence and looking over at Isaac incredulously.
The older blonde boy didn't immediately respond to the outburst as he attempted to comprehend his own thought process leading to his unleashing of Quake psynergy.
"That was pretty insane man," Garet chimed in as well. "Who else in all of Weyard would think triggering a freaking EARTHQUAKE while UNDERGROUND is a good idea?"
I feel bad for this abuse...but he does kind of deserve it for that one, Mia thought to herself. Isaac did lead us through the cave multiple days in a row though and was probably under a lot of stress these last few days…
"I...acted instinctively and didn't think that one through," Isaac admitted with a serious face. "I was in danger and didn't think and that put all of you in danger as well...I'm so sorry…"
Mia sighed. This couldn't come at a worse time. It was just last night that I spoke with Isaac about confidence and helped him regain some confidence as a leader...I hope this doesn't shake those worries again...
Mia interjected to reprimand Ivan and Garet. "Guys...keep in mind how often we've been in that mine recently and how it's also thanks to Isaac that we even got through it in the first place," she pointed out. The cerulean haired girl turned and smiled understandingly at Isaac, lending him support.
The blonde boy gave her a half smile in appreciation for sticking up for him as Ivan and Garet dropped their gazes for a moment, knowing Mia's words rang true. "It WAS a bit close for comfort, but in the end we all survived where we may not have otherwise," she also pointed out.
Ivan spoke up first. "I spoke rashly in the heat of the moment," he said, looking over at Isaac. "All of this is true and without you we wouldn't have made it out of the cave in the first place," he added with a nod of appreciation.
Garet chuckled to himself. "You may have picked a terrible time to use that spell...but there was no doubt it was effective," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the blocked off entrance to the mine. Laying back down on the ground and staring up at the sky, Garet let out an exclamation of frustration. "UGH! You have no idea how irritating it was to not be able to participate in some of those fights," he added, completely over the point being made of Isaac's earthquake.
Mia smiled as Isaac noticed everyone else had let the issue go. "Thanks for understanding guys," Isaac told them all with a smile, looking to each of his companions in turn.
"Hey, no problem man," Garet replied nonchalantly with a lazy wave of his arm.
"Well at least it worked," Ivan said. "After all, nobody is infallible...except for me," he added with a joking smile, earning a snort from Garet and chuckle from Isaac and Mia.
With tensions eased, Mia glanced over at Isaac's injuries that she was unable to properly heal while inside the cave and frowned. Scooting over to where the blonde boy was, Mia placed a hand upon his arm where the worst of his injuries required a little more than a simple healing spell.
It's not too bad, but I'll have to make sure it doesn't get infected later, Mia reminded herself, making a mental note to check up on it later as she applied another healing spell to help mend the wound.
"Thanks Mia," Isaac said as she finished her spell and let go of his arm. Mia smiled at him and explained that she would have to keep her eye on it but that it should be all right, before moving on to Ivan to patch up the scratches he sustained against the skeletons.
Once done with Ivan, Mia glanced over at Garet and felt like making a joke at the fire adepts expense. "No need to check the slacker in our fights today," Mia said with a wink, knowing that he hadn't sustained any injuries.
"No fair Mia!" Garet complained. "I was stuck on human torch duty the whole time."
Mia just shrugged. "Excuses, excuses…." she mumbled, loud enough for him to hear, as Isaac and Ivan let out some much needed laughter after a long day.
Garet wasn't about to lay down and take it without a comeback though, and glared and the laughing boys before giving Mia a sly smile. Making sure to speak loudly enough over the laughing of the blonde boys for everyone to clearly hear, he said, "Now I know Isaac likes you putting your hands all over him to heal and all...but the rest of us can get injured too you know."
Put my hands all over Isaac? Mia felt a bit of blood rush to her face at those words and snuck a quick glance over to see the blonde boy's reaction to the teasing, catching his eye briefly before they both glanced away with pink in their cheeks.
Ivan thought the situation was hilarious and kept laughing at their expense as Mia mustered up a skeptical look and returned her gaze to Garet. "Oh no way...I was right?!" Garet exclaimed, trying to interpret Isaac and Mia's reaction to his comment.
Mia grabbed her staff off the ground and faked like she was going to smack the fire adept with it. "You might be right about other people getting injured if you keep running your mouth like that," she said, poking him gently as a mock warning, but giving him a smile to try to brush off the comment.
Isaac decided to combat the accusation with a different tactic. "Seriously Garet?" was all he replied with after overcoming his initial surprise at the comment. "Need I bring up some childhood memories for you such as the time-"
"AHAAAA!" Garet interrupted sharply, cutting Isaac off quickly. "Perhaps it is best to leave the past in the past...after all, I don't remember seeing Mia healing you or anything…" he stated, nonchalantly trailing off and redirecting the other adepts away from the subject in a very obvious manner.
"What is this Garet? Is there something you need to tell us?" Mia asked, turning the tables on the fire adept and capitalizing on his embarrassment.
Ivan followed the conversation closely as he lay on the ground, trying to recover along with the others after their mad dash through the mines."This sounds like an interesting story," he chimed in with a grin.
Garet just shrugged. "It's a bit of a long story...maybe a story for another time when we aren't all exhausted like this," he reasoned, indicating the way the four adepts were sprawled out on the ground.
Letting it go for the time being, Isaac stood up and eyed the path winding down the mountain for a short ways before it ended in the Lama Temple. "We should head for town before it gets too late," he said, being the voice of reason for the group to continue moving.
Glancing over at Isaac, Mia tried to read the blonde boy's expression to ensure that he was still in the right mindset despite the near mishap with his psynergy. He was definately serious about the apology...but I can't see any loss in confidence from the incident. I think Isaac will be okay this time, Mia thought with a smile, glad that she had been able to get through to him previously about his role as a leader.
"Let's go then," Mia said simply, standing up and grabbing her staff before looking down the dirt path to town. "I am pretty hungry after all that and could use some time to recover," she added as an afterthought.
Garet groaned at her words. "Oh no, why did you have to remind me of food?" Garet asked as he stared up at the sky and his stomach audibly rumbled. Mia and Ivan laughed, the typical scene of a hungry Garet playing out in front of them, even after such a taxing journey as the one they just finished through the mine.
"You can always count on Garet to be hungry," Ivan quipped, poking a bit of fun at the fire adept who just ignored his words.
Isaac walked over and held out his hand to help Garet up. "I don't know if I can make it," Garet added, acting melodramatic before accepting the aid of his childhood friend. "Leave me behind….save yourselves!" the redhead exclaimed, falling to his knee again and continuing his act, betrayed by the smile on his face that he couldn't quite hide.
It's important to keep humor around in tying times like these, Mia realized, feeling more energetic than before due to Garet lifting everyone's spirits back up. We each have a role to play here and while I hesitate to classify Garet as "Mr. Comic Relief," I have to admit he does a pretty good job of it.
"We'll meet you in town," Isaac said to Garet as he turned and walked away down the path with his hand raised in a gesture of goodbye and dismissal, used the many years of the fire adept's antics back in their hometown of Vale.
Mia barely kept herself from laughing at the scene again, happy to know that her traveling companions made all the hardships of the journey worthwhile. Ivan followed after Isaac and Mia as the group began to make their way down the path and towards the town and temple below.
"All right, All Right!" They heard Garet say before the shuffling of feet behind indicated he was following along as well and bringing up the rear in the pack of adepts on the winding mountain road.