Chapter Three: Materia
Despite the prior disastrous events that had taken place within just a few metres from where the group had entered the cave, the trio knew they had to endure the monstrous mines to get the long sought after dew of the myrrh tree. These magical trees only shed their myrrh dew once every two years and so it was almost a contest between the various Caravans to get the much-needed dew. Of course, there were enough trees to go round, however some were more dangerous than others and it was these routes that were more likely not to have been used by another Caravan and so a certain degree of certainty that they'd get their first drop of dew in their chalice. Xu Pai was very much the chalice holder of this particular party, being the fastest and most agile of the three and her best ability with combat was that her weapon allowed her to perform ranged attacks. Rackets were staff/wand-like instruments of combat that had the uncanny ability to fire focused energy from their tips and Xu Pai's triple burst racket was no exception, its superior craftsmanship allowing it to fire three consecutive blasts of energy rather than just one shot.
Where exactly Xu Pai 'obtained' this instrument from, Bella resisted asking; undoubtedly it was stolen from some weary travelling trader. The Clavat glanced at her Xu Pai with an expression of puzzlement. The Selkie never came across as some ruthless bandit that killed to simply pillage their remains and take the possessions. Certainly she had a certain roguish quality that actually, if anything, seemed to make her a little more innocent, her quirky, flirtatious attitude causing her to appear like an open book with no hidden details. She could be wrong, but Bella believed that people were too presumptuous about Selkies. Perhaps there were so many outlaw Selkies because they'd been born to believe that that was there place in life; being distrusted and looked-down upon as though you were going to steal something would likely make even herself turn into a thief. Perhaps Xu Pai was just a mischievous thief, one that stole from the rich and only took what she couldn't get otherwise? This still didn't sit well with Bella's conscience but she decided it was at least better than the evil maniacs that other people tried to label Selkies as being.
Bella suddenly realised that Xu Pai was looking back at her and that she'd been staring at the Selkie for the whole time she was considering Xu Pai's fixture to the Selkie stereotype. She bore her usual grin, only this time she was blushing brightly and her eyes were narrowed in some seductive manner. Clearly, she'd gotten the wrong impression from Bella's staring, however how could Bella explain her stare otherwise? She could tell her the truth, but then Xu Pai might have felt distrusted, which Bella certainly didn't want her to feel. The Clavat decided to simply ignore it all and hope Xu Pai got over her little affliction with her as soon as possible. Bella didn't so much hate the hugging and playing that Xu Pai was constantly trying for as it actually made her feel more like a close friend to the Selkie, like two giggling girls that had wound up on some silly adventure with a humongous, walking apple they called Bezzel. Xu Pai would try to take it too far, however. Many an attempted kiss, attempted gropes and plenty of sneaky bottom pinches were going well beyond silly girliness that Bella remembered a young child. Bella wished Bezzel were more emotional so that she could think of him a little more than the embarrassing after images of Xu Pai's antics. The biggest qualm about travelling with a lesbian Selkie was bathing time, as Bella had come to learn the difficult way…
Bella suddenly saw Xu Pai's grinning face again, this time the Selkie poking her head in front of the Clavat's blank expression as they walked down the dingy corridor with only the bombs to light their path, "What're you thinking about, Bella?"
Bella blinked at the question and realised she'd been physically blushing, her lightly rounded cheeks burning as the blood flowed into them. As much as Bella hated lying to people, especially to friends, she knew that she couldn't possibly tell Xu Pai that she was thinking of them bathing a while ago, even more so after the staring incident, "Nothing… N-Nothing at all…"
Xu Pai glanced down. She'd caught Bella nervously fidgeting again, "Nothing, eh?"
"That's right! Nothing whatsoever!" She giggled and rubbed the back of her head, soothingly. Most people might not have known this, however when people rub the back of their heads in this manner, it was from nervousness. Something people did from childhood when mothers would stroke the back of their baby's head. Being a Selkie and prone to a spot of thievery, deception and political mastery, Xu Pai knew this little fact.
"You were thinking of me, weren't you?" Xu Pai gave Bella a seductive expression, licking her lips softly. Despite being verbally adept and capable of choosing the perfect words for any occasion so that she could avoid any awkwardness or unusual predicaments, when it came to talking with Bella, Xu Pai particularly enjoyed being blatant and blunt with her speech as it often produced the best and most amusing results.
Naturally, Bella was flabbergasted and at a loss for words, stumbling over her randomised speech consisting of 'I' and 'well' a lot, repeated and stammered. Xu Pai started laughing and Bella suddenly found she thought she heard a certain pomposity and patronising tone in it that suddenly seemed to offend her. Bella was rarely offended and even rarer an occasion that she was angry, especially over such a trivial thing as the way someone laughed. Perhaps it was because she was being laughed at, but either way Bella was both offended and angry with Xu Pai.
Bella pushed past Xu Pai, nudging her out of the way with her shoulder. The surprised Selkie almost fell over from the unexpected shove and might have had she not incredible balance. She wasn't laughing anymore, or even moving as Bella heard no further footsteps. Instantly she regretted what she'd just done and wanted to turn about face and apologise to Xu Pai, hug her and pretend it never happened. Alas, her body seemed to refuse, continuing its angry marching behind the little Bezzel, who was constantly jogging, keeping him just ahead of the two girls when they walked.
Bella and Bezzel turned about a corner and she longed to hear Xu Pai's footsteps behind them but there was nothing, no clapping of her boots on solid rock, a cobbled rustle or even the clank of her boot striking one of the rail bars. Bella ventured a glance behind her but Xu Pai hadn't even snuck up on them, no one coming around the corner after them. Bella glanced nervously to Bezzel, however he seemed not to notice at all.
Panic set in as Bella's mind raced, thinking of all the terrible things that could be happening to Xu Pai. Was she still stood where Bella had pushed her? Was there a monster eating her now? Was she scared and alone in the dark?
She started to bit her nails worriedly and piped up to Bezzel, "Uh… Bezzel, I think we should stop… we've lost Xu Pai… Let's go back…"
Bezzel stopped dead and held up his hand, "Wait…"
That was the first time Bella had even heard him speak and found his voice surprisingly deep for such a short being. For a while, Bella had wondered whether he could actually speak, being silent for so long must be difficult. The surprise of Bezzel's sudden capacity to communicate with speech caused Bella to completely miss what the Lilty was telling her to wait for. The thudding of large feet upon a cobbled ground. When it eventually got through to her brain, Bella's heart skipped a beat; suddenly thinking that this creature they now heard coming toward them had already finished off poor Xu Pai and had eaten her. However, Bezzel hadn't turned around and his spear was pointed forward. Through the darkness ahead came the first signs of the troll, his huge axe glinting in the light from the captured bomb hanging from the beam on the ceiling. This one was larger than the last, though he still possessed the same axe and shield that the last had had, probably they were all from some mass produced collection of armaments left by the ancient Lilties.
Upon sight of the two adventurers, it let out a terrible roar that echoed throughout the corridor, almost deafening Bella, reverberating in her ears. Bezzel pointed to the chalice beside him and spoke to her for the second time, "Watch that…"
With that, his little legs started and he sped toward the beast. For a brief moment, Bella wondered how he'd gotten the chalice from Xu Pai, however her mind then panicked as she realised they'd left the Selkie without the protection of myrrh from the miasma that filled the ominous tunnels. She was about to bark out her concerns when she suddenly realised she should storm off after Xu Pai and leave Bezzel without myrrh protection and defeat a huge troll on his own. Bella grabbed the chalice and started after the Lilty even as he started to engage the monster ahead of them.
Bezzel's spear thrust forward, cutting into the troll's shoulder, causing a howl to escape the monster's, grotesque lips. However, even before he managed to retract the spear from the creature's body, the troll grabbed a hold of it and then swung the end of it, lifting Bezzel off of his feet and slammed him into one of the solid, stonewalls. The beast the pulled the spear from its shoulder and tossed it to the ground, giving something of an arrogant grunt at it before looking back up to the Lilty. Bezzel pulled himself from the wall with his constantly cool expression, no sign of anger or fear on his lips. The troll seemed to laugh and swung the axe downward, causing Bezzel to hop backward, narrowly missing the vicious blade. The troll took a second swing, this time moving it horizontally, however he clearly underestimated the Lilty's speed and even his size as Bezzel dove forward, to the ground, avoiding the swinging axe and even coming to a roll so he landed on his feet, just behind the beast. Further to the chagrin of the troll was that mid-roll, Bezzel had managed to repossess his spear and proceeded to pin around and thrust it into the monster's back. Bella reached the pair of them just in time to see Bezzel's spear pierce through the troll's entire body and spurt out the other side. The troll's face was a depiction of agony as its eyes clenched and his mouth drooled blood, both hands releasing its weaponry and clenched at the end of the protruding spear. Bezzel twisted the spear, causing a further course of pain to spread through the monster's body as it growled in pain. He suddenly opened his eyes and stared down at Bella and with an almighty defiant roar, the beast lunged at her, hands ready to grab her and tear her apart, limb from limb. Bella screamed and swiped at the oncoming hands, driving them back as her blade sliced off fingers and pierced the palms, she then eagerly thrust the sword forward into the trolls gut and finally swiped horizontally, spilling the creature's innards and finishing him off. Bezzel's spear pulled free of the monster and the decapitated troll slumped to the ground in a spray of stones and dust. Breathing heavily, Bella could hardly believe what she'd just down as she gaped at her sword, almost in awe of its sharpness. For a short moment, she wondered why she'd never been given any training in this sort of thing if everyone knew she'd have to undertake the task of collecting myrrh, however she then looked to Bezzel who was headed further into the tunnel.
"W-Wait…" Bella managed to say as she noticed something on the troll's person. She knelt down and picked up the curious orb that had been sitting in one of the deceased troll's pouches on his belt. Inside it was what seemed to be a swirling mass of fiery red and instantly, Bella recognised the peculiar sphere as the fire material that her father had told her she might encounter. Apparently, these orbs gave their bearers magical powers, able to cast whatever spell they had hidden inside them. The downside to material was that it could only be used within a certain radius of its 'home', a place in which the orb had been allowed to fester for a long time and extract its spores into the air. She presumed then that this orb must have been brought to the mine by Lilties, possibly to cast fire and melt the raw iron they dug up. She knew Lilties were generally poor spell casters, slow and generally weak spells formed from the orbs, however she supposed that that would serve their purposes at least. Clavat's on the other hand were rather adept and were capable of swift casting, something to do with their biological chemistry, yet no one really knew why. The Yukes were the best at magic however; their peculiar mannerisms and strange clothing all helped to supposedly amplify their magical abilities. The Selkie's, however, were the worst for magic, which again no one understood, though some speculated that it was due to their superior abilities with focused energy and the rackets…
Bella suddenly remembered Xu Pai and grew wide-eyed with panic, however Bezzel had already gone wandering ahead and she had to run to catch up to him, "Bezzel, wait! What about Xu Pai?"
He seemed not to listen as he crossed the corner and Bella almost felt she might burst into tears, knowing that this was all her fault. Her heart felt heavy and her legs felt numb, her body trembling with the crime she felt she'd committed. Stumbling after Bezzel with her eyes swelling in tears, Bella continued to mumble ramblings about how she'd betrayed her friend and left her to succumb to the venomous miasma when their surroundings seemed to shift. They were no longer within the usual iron mining caves with the tracks running over a cobbled ground, they were upon a suspended gantry over a cool, solemn pool of chilling water in which there were no fish or otherwise. The tracks still ran along this net-floored gantry and the very beams supporting their weight appeared rotted and worn, which was particularly unnerving, especially to Bella's already deeply cut courage.
They hurried over this wooden structure as quickly as they dared; cautiously their footsteps tread upon the soft netting underfoot. They were thankful that no enemies seemed to have the courage to stand upon this structure, otherwise a battle on such weak supports might have brung the entire construct down, along with them, into the icy depths below, from which there appeared no obvious escape. The worn chalice in under her shielded arm suddenly seemed to gain weight, as if the heavy burden of her task suddenly bore down upon her. She fussed with it for a moment before she saw a pillar of stone up ahead. It seemed that the ancient Lilties hadn't been without sense as they'd formed their construct to fit with the natural formations of the cave, rather than force nature to their will. Whilst the stone flooring might have brought a certain spark of relief to Bella's mind, the fact that a third, gruesome troll stood upon the pillar ground out the light in her hopes of a confrontless push to the final resting place of the myrrh tree.
Naturally, the presence of the troll only seemed to spur the stumpy Lilty onward as he picked up speed, rocking the loose netting underneath both himself and Bella. Gasping, Bella grabbed a hold of one of the support beams and hugged the chalice close to her chest. It wasn't until the rickety gantry finished shaking that Bella opened her eyes, just in time to see the troll and its large club bat Bezzel to one side. The small body of the Lilty flew and rolled across the floor, almost falling off of the tall stone pillar.
"Bezzel!" she naturally screamed out, which managed to attain the attention of the drooling, bloated troll. It turned about face and started at a run toward the gantry, instantly sparking fear of falling into the freezing, still pool below. In turn, this ignited the fiery passion of the magical orb within her. The materia in her pouch flared up with bright fury and, with the wave of her hands in the troll's direction, magical fire burst to life from her fingertips and crashed into the troll with a tremendous force. The troll lumbered forward, his charred, black body now vulnerable to even the weakest of attacks. The troll allowed for a somewhat pitiful and mourning sigh as it fell to its knees and looked toward Bella who was still stood upon the gantry. The Clavat's body then decided it was time to finish the job and, dropping the chalice to the netting, she dashed forward and rose her sword courageously, appearing as some kind of Holy Saint sent on a divine crusade through the realm of monsters. The blade came down and cleft the monster's head in two, the remains falling to the ground finally.
Reopening her eyes, Bella saw Bezzel stood on the other side of the troll and simply watching her as though he'd allowed her to finish off the beast rather than intervening and claiming the kill as his own. To a degree she thanked him for that, but cursed his coldness silently in her mind. He rose his arm and pointed a finger to somewhere behind her. She about faced and saw he was indicating to the chalice; it was time to get moving again. She complied, lifting the chalice from the net and prodded along the gantry until she was back on the stone flooring of the pillar, where she carefully tread over the dead troll and pursued after Bezzel, who was now entering the mouth of a cave that led further into the mines.
Bella mildly wondered if they were actually getting any closer to the myrrh tree or whether they'd taken a wrong turning at some point. The numbers of various passages through the mine were endless and the tree could have been down any one of them, however for some reason, she believed they were on the right path. It was likely that all the paths led to the one spot that the tree stood, acting as some kind of focal point to the whole cave system.
The dynamic duo came out of the short tunnel and into a large, spacious room with but one other exit, which lay directly opposite them. This in itself was entirely unusual as the whole mine beyond this room was usually stuffy and covered in many, many various points of entry and exit. Curiously she wondered if she had been right in that all paths led to this spot and if so, they must have been close to the myrrh tree. Excitement grew in Bella's heart and her usually cautious footsteps became proud footfalls as she strode forth, toward the awaiting tunnel ahead. However as they got close to the tunnel, Bezzel stopped, which in turn prompted Bella to cease walking also.
"What's wrong?" Bella asked her shorter companion. He didn't reply but started to look around as if he knew they were being watched. There came a sudden crash and stone seemed to fall from above them. Sheltering her eyes from the falling stones and dust, Bella looked up to see what had caused the sudden sound…