Hi! Im glad you all like it! I just wish more people would review : ( … I still appreciate it nonetheless! I always get sleepy during my English and construction tech class (for those of you who don't know, I'm a girl)…yesterday I fell asleep during construction and woke up to find out that I had almost missed the bus back to school! (construction class is off-campus)… I still cant figure out why the smiley faces and symbol thingies aren't showing up… So yeah, I need to find something to keep me awake during the day… Dayquil wont really work, im kinda immune to those things…anyways, heres the next part, which involves the…soft sides of both of em…woot.
Five days after the pair left Easthaven, they were caught up in a vicious snowstorm that the druid obviously hadn't foreseen; purposely or not, they didn't know. Tomia sensed the coming storm forehand and stocked up on winter survival gear.
"The storm's getting worse – we need to find shelter now!" Tomia yelled over the screaming wind.
"But where? There's nothing nearby!" Jachal shouted back.
Tomia glanced around, trying to peer through the blinding snow. "There! A cave!" she pointed out. The pair made their way hurriedly through the vicious storm and made it to the entrance. Shoving their frozen gear off their shoulders, they gathered what little timber they could and managed to start a mediocre fire. After the pair had defrosted themselves, they noticed their surroundings.
"This is an unusual cave," Tomia stated. "There are practically no natural cave formations anywhere in here."
Jachal looked around. Tomia was right; there were no stalactites or stalagmites anywhere, however, there were some signs of recent inhabitants living there.
"What do you say we go and explore this cave as soon as my sword is unfrozen from its sheath?" Jachal asked slyly. Tomia nodded and held her sickle closer to the fire, as did Jachal with his greatsword, to warm it up.
Tomia pulled out two unused torches and handed one to Jachal. They lighted them with the sparks of the dying fire, and then began their trek down the glistening cave. Tomia held her torch up high to get a better look at the ceiling of the cave. "Jachal," she whispered. "The ceiling of the cave… it's unstable. Any loud noise could upset it, causing it to crash down upon us." Jachal glanced up nervously and also noticed the crumbling ceiling. Trying not to think about what would happen if one of them sneezed or something, they continued down the tunnel. They came to a room, apparently carved by Umber Hulks according to Tomia, that was covered in glistening blue crystals.
"Whoa," Jachal said silently. "What kind of rock is this?"
Tomia examined one large crystal visually, then reached her hand out to touch it. A blast of energy emanated from the crystal, coursed throughout her body, then threw her against the far side of the cave. The noise slightly upset the ceiling as small rocks and debris came falling down, but it wasn't much of an upset, as the whole thing didn't come crashing down. Jachal hurried over to Tomia, who lay groaning.
"Damnable crystals… should have known… they were-" Tomia's sentence was cut off by the sound of rapid digging. A large group of Umber Hulks, about twenty of them, burst through the walls of the cave, all turning their gaze upon the dazed Tomia and surprised Jachal. As the Umber Hulks swarmed in, Jachal heard a loud grunt behind him. He turned to face a large dire tiger, but Tomia was nowhere to be found. However, Jachal did notice that this particular tiger was badly wounded in the areas where Tomia was struck. The new arrival let out a roar and charged at the other Umber Hulks, slaughtering the confused behemoths where they stood. Breathing heavily, the victorious tiger turned around and stared at Jachal, then collapsed on the ground. A green light enveloped the beast, and then went away, showing Tomia, badly injured, lying facedown on the ground. Raising her head wearily, she smiled and said," Oh, I forgot to…tell you…I'm part shifter also…" then collapsed. Jachal picked up her limp body and carried her over to the far side of the cave and began to tend to her wounds. A few hours passed, in that time Jachal fought off numerous Umber Hulks curious as to what happened to their brothers and sisters. Then things took a turn for the worst as the ground trembled beneath Jachal's feet. Suddenly a large rock golem burst through a wall of the cavern. The golem turned its empty gaze towards Jachal, let loose a roar, and charged at him. Jachal had no time to react as the golem's stony fist connected with Jachal's stomach, launching him high into the air. He would have kept on going had it not been for the ceiling of the cave, which his body connected with the dropped back down to the floor. At about this time, however, Tomia woke up. The first thing she saw was Jachal's limp body on the floor, not moving or breathing. Then she noticed the rock golem as it reached down to pick her up. She struck its hand with her sickle, but it unfortunately shattered upon impact. The golem tried to grab her again, but this time she had changed into a badger and hid between the giant golem's legs. It took a while before the golem noticed that she was between its legs, but then its foot came crashing down on Tomia. As the golem lifted its foot, it discovered that nothing was there. It awkwardly looked at the bottom of its foot to see if she had stuck there, but once again, nothing was there. The golem looked around the room in search of the enemy that had eluded it. It looked at the ground and noticed feathers. White feathers from something with large wings. The golem didn't have time to look up before Tomia, in her deva-form, came crashing down on the golem with a giant, glowing hammer. The golem's head was thoroughly smashed to pieces after the blow, but Tomia forgot to calculate where the golem would fall. It was tilting down towards Jachal. Reacting quickly and not fearing for her life, she swooped down and shoved Jachal's body out of the way as the golem's body came crashing down upon her.
Jachal woke up with a severe pain in his gut, barely remembering what happened. He looked around the cave in front of him, wondering where the golem went. "Ja…chal…" a faint voice whispered behind him. He whirled around to see Tomia, half-crushed under the weight of the golem's body, having a really hard time breathing. "TOMIA!" Jachal yelled and ran over to her. He grabbed the golem from underneath and struggled to lift it. His fingers slipped and the golem's full weight once again came crashing down upon Tomia, who screamed when it hit, not to mention coughing up blood. Jachal tried again, this time managing to lift it and throw it off her mangled body. Jachal rushed to Tomia's side and tried to pick her up. "Aahhhh! Please no!" Tomia screamed. So Jachal just held her hand as she lay there, coughing up more blood. "Tomia…" Jachal started, right before a hoard of Umber Hulks poured in through the hole the rock golem made, among them was a larger and more powerful-looking Umber Hulk. The "leader" pushed through the screaming crowd of beasts and marched up to Jachal and Tomia. "Sho, yoush thinksh yoush elvens have won, eh? Shorry to break it to yoush, but shmashing one of our many rock golemsh ish not gonna win yoush the fight. Your friend ish sherioushly injured, and Ish thinksh we now have the upper hand," the Umber Hulk laughed. "CHAAARGE!" it roared out to its comrades. The Umber Hulks swarmed forward and Jachal's mind was suddenly filled with rage and sadness. He picked up his greatsword and began to lash out and the wave of beasts, killing them where they stood, but they just kept coming. Eventually Jachal would tire out, and even he knew this….
Ahh…cliffhangers… gotta luv em :D yeah, note the part one thing up there, people. It's starting to look good, me thinks. "What be this? Secret treasure room, maybe?" WHO SAID IT PEOPLE? It's the kobold we all know and love… DEEKIN:hugs Deekin: anyways, new chappie coming soon, so STAY TUNED or else ills end Deekin flying after you! (just kidding)