The Paladins had been navigating the tunnels within the Shining Mountain for what felt like hours. And Egal was beginning to feel the effects of being trapped in the dark for too long. Sluggishness, exhaustion, and the need to just curl up and wait for the sun to come out again was strong, fended off only by the soft glow of the Paladin armour and the insulating cloak that Pidge had designed to absorb the sun's rays and re-emit them in the dark (although Pidge had complained about the need for them the first time the issue had presented itself).
The cloak tied around Egal's neck and fell past Egal's knees. There were fitted sleeves to allow a wide range of movement in case a fight arose and it emitted a soft glow as it released the stored energy from the sun.
Being a plant-based organism required constant exposure to light to create the energy Egal needed. With time though, Egal had become more resistant to the dark, but they had been in the dark for a while now and Egal was starting to feel the effects, hence the glowing cloak. Egal tried hard to hide it, but Shiro still sent him anxious glances now and then. Egal shakes it off. It's just a little darkness. Is this not what Egal was fighting against? The Darkness? Egal wasn't going to lose.
So Egal breathed a little deeper, stood a little closer to the minimal light and fought through the drowsiness. Egal wasn't going to drag the team down and prove Egal's insecurities right. Egal was a Paladin. Egal was strong.
Now if only Egal believed it.
The team comes to another fork in the tunnel. Two of the paths sloped upwards while the third stayed level.
"Yay, another path," Hunk grumbled walking closer to the split and running a hand over the symbols carved into the walls that were supposed to lead them on the correct path. "Are we sure we're even going in the right direction? I mean, it doesn't really feel like we've been going up at all."
"We can only keep moving forward," Allura said moving beside Hunk and squinting at the symbols.
"None of these symbols look like any of the others we've seen before," Shiro commented from another tunnel. Shiro's head was tilted to stare blankly at the symbol which looked like a triangle with a star at the top.
"My Symbiese is a little rusty but I do believe that this one indicates sleep. Perhaps this tunnel leads to the living quarters," Allura pointed to the symbol over the left corridor.
"Or maybe it refers to the eternal sleep of the dead," Egal mumbled not expecting to be heard and started in surprise when Hunk was suddenly gripping Egal's arm and pleading to not say things like that. Egal apologizes as an embarrassed heat floods Egal's ears.
"Either way," Shiro shakes Shiro's head, "it's not where we want to go. That leaves two paths."
Egal manages to pry the arm away from Hunk. A discussion begins about which path should be followed; already too much time has been lost doubling back on dead ends and tunnels that lead in circles.
Egal stayed back as the others each put their thoughts in and was content to do so until Egal felt a prickling at Egal's back. Like the feeling one gets when a sleeping limb reawakens. There's a small rush of energy as the chloroplasts started synthesizing energy. Egal turned around to the mouth of the tunnel Egal stood in front of and sure enough, Egal's photo-enhanced eyes could detect minute rays of light bouncing off the walls of the tunnel.
"Hey," Egal spoke up, "Egal's thinks this one leads outside."
"What?" That got the other's attention.
"Minute rays of light are emanating from this way," Egal took a couple steps into the tunnel and where a faint light shone further down around the bend. Egal's face split into a smile and turned to the team. "It's not—"
*CRASH!*
Something outside crashed into the Mountain and the ground began to shake. Distantly, Egal remembered Greyson's warning.
'No one has used these tunnels in generations. Watch for unstable support beams and rock slides.'
Sure enough, the support beams were eaten through by bugs and the march of time, and they gave a loud crack under the pressure and shaking. Without any further warning, the ceiling began to split open and rubble rained down.
"Egal!"
Egal heard Egal's name being shouted and dove farther into the tunnel as chaos came crashing down. Noise and rocks and dust filled the air. Egal stumbled and fell. The only thing left to do was curl up and hope that the Paladin armour was enough to shield from the worst of the damage that could be incurred by a sudden rock slide.
It was with ringing ears that Egal realized that it was over. Egal uncurled carefully, coughing from the dust that still littered the air, and feeling for any injuries. Left ankle twinged, right arm brace cracked slightly, helmet still intact, jet pack functioning, all life signs green.
Results: Egal was functional. A little roughed up, but fine. Egal's cloak, though, had sustained a few tears and Egal knew for sure that Pidge would have something to say about it once everyone returned to the castle.
Shaking the thought away, Egal stood and stumbled over to the new wall of rubble that separated him from his team.
"Shiro! Allura! Hunk!" Egal shouted. Egal's strained ears may have caught muffled sounds produced from the team on the other side, but no discernable words could be made out. Egal tapped the helmet and tried to connect to the comms. Egal only got static.
"Great," Egal sighed and cast a gaze further into the tunnel. "Guess there's only one way to go."
Oo-oO
"Egal. . . Egal!" Shiro started throwing rocks around, trying to dig through the rubble that separated them from their teammate.
"Watch out!" Hunk suddenly pulled him away as another rockslide fell where Shiro was frantically digging. The rocks stilled and whatever progress Shiro had made had been more than undone.
"The tunnel is unstable," Allura's face was creased with worry as she examined what remained of the ceiling. "Disturbing anything else could trigger another rockslide on both sides." She pointed this last comment toward Shiro.
"Okay, okay," Shiro took a calming breath, trying to come back to himself. "I get it. Messing around on here can make it worse on the other side."
"So, what do we do now?" Hunk asked, poking his two index fingers together nervously.
"The only thing we can do is move forward," Allura said. "Egal said that there was an exit down that tunnel. If it leads outside, he should be able to meet up with us once we reach the top of the mountain. We just have to find another way there."
"You're right, Allura," Shiro nodded and turned to face the tunnels again. One led to a dead end, another was blocked by the rock slide, the last . . . "Guess that only leaves one way for us to go."
Oo-oO
Egal was running as soon as Egal saw the bright light at the end of the tunnel. The sluggishness melted away as soon as Egal stepped into the sunlight. The helmet came off and Egal turned to bask in the sun. With a few deep breaths of fresh air, Egal relaxed and opened up Egal's senses.
Egal immediately closed Egal's senses when not only one, but multiple other living organisms were detected very, very close by. Egal's eyes peaked open and Egal wished they were still closed so Egal didn't have to see the big—no no, the giant red reptile that loomed above him.
"Oh quiznak," Egal took a step back toward the tunnel, only to bump into the snout of another one. Egal's cloak billowed in the breath snorted from the beasts nose.
Right, Egal thought, lightheaded as another warning was remembered. The Guardians.
Standing on four powerful legs with red scales gleaming in the sun, long tail swinging behind them and spiked, leathery wings flaring out, the beasts were a sight to behold.
Egal stood very still as the two Guardians grumbled and shuffled around what Egal realized was a nest.
Of course, of COURSE, Egal managed to stumble into the most dangerous part of the mountain, the place that the warrior Greyson warned about, the place Egal was foolish enough walk straight into without even realizing the danger.
Egal cursed and moved to draw the red bayard but paused and nearly fell as a third, much smaller Guardian pranced out from behind its parents' legs and came up to greet the Paladin. The baby Guardian only came up to Egal's waistline, but there was something about it that was almost . . . cute. Like, if Egal wasn't in a life-threatening situation right now, Egal may reach out a hand and pet the little Guardian.
Instead, the little Guardian took the initiative and pressed its snout up into Egal's hand. Egal still couldn't find the will to move though, not with the giant Guardians still looming above . . .
As if reading Egal's discomfort, the two giant Guardians made the ground shake as they laid down, a clear sign of their acceptance of this new stranger into their nest. Egal let out a breathless laugh as one of them set its head down beside Egal and allowed itself to be pet.
"Egal thought that the Guardians were supposed to be vicious beasts," Egal wondered aloud as the Guardian rumbled. "Egal sees that this was wrong."
Egal laughed as the little Guardian pounced from behind, knocking Egal to the ground and rolling together. Egal managed to come out on top and set about rubbing the little one's belly.
Egal's hands came to a stop when Egal noticed another form laying on the ground.
"What's that?" Egal asked the little Guardian. The little Guardian noticed what Egal was looking at and wiggled out from under Egal, bouncing energetically over to the prone form and nudging it with its snout.
As Egal got a closer look . . .
"That's another person!" Egal exclaimed and raced over to the persons side. The Stranger was clad in dark robes with a dark mask on that resembled a skull but was clearly equipped with an air filter. Was this Stranger from off world like Egal's team was? Were they a species that wasn't able to breath this air?
Egal jumped when the Stranger groaned and shifted but leaned in to make sure they were alright.
"Hey—" Egal tried as the Stranger came to.
Without any forewarning the Stranger shoved Egal back and pulled a knife easily falling into a defensive stance. The little Guardian scampered back a few paces and hid behind its parents.
"Woah! Easy!" Egal shouted at the Stranger, raising hands up placatingly. "Calm down. No harm will be done."
"Who are you?" the Stranger asked, using those pronoun words that Egal hated so much.
"Egal is Egal," Egal introduced. "Egal found, uh you, in the Guardians nest. Is the Stranger okay?"
"Stranger? Uh, yeah, I guess," the Stranger slowly lowered the sword, but kept a tight grip on it. "What happened?"
"Egal doesn't know what happened to the Stranger, but Egal found the Stranger passed out up here."
"I was . . ." the Stranger's gaze drifted around and locked onto the Guardians. The Stranger tensed and gripped the knife tighter. "I was fighting." The Stranger said it as if to reaffirm what had happened. "Then something jumped me from behind."
"If Egal were to guess, that would have been the little Guardian," Egal crouched down to rub the little Guardian's back, who had come back over to see what was going on.
The Stranger seemed to watch the little Guardian before eyeing the larger reptiles who lay around them. Egal supposed the caution was warranted, but the creatures seemed to be docile enough right now.
"Yeah, real cute," the Stranger commented with distain. "Are you supposed to be some sort of dragon whisperer of something? Why aren't they trying to kill you?"
"Egal isn't sure. The Shah from the village below warned about the Guardians, said that they were vicious beasts. Apparently no one who ever ventured up here before was ever seen alive again." One of the Guardians reached out with a clawed appendage and nudged Egal. Egal smiled and took the claw, running a hand over it. "Perhaps the Shah's information is out of date."
"I don't know," the Stranger said wearily. "Seemed pretty accurate to me."
"Then maybe it's the Stranger that the Guardians don't like."
Even as Egal said so, the little Guardian bounced on the Stranger and they both went tumbling to the ground. The Stranger screeched and brandished the sword again while the little Guardian chirped happily.
"Then again, maybe the Guardians do like the Stranger."
"Huh?" the Stranger seemed to relent as the little Guardian stuck out a tongue and licked at the skull mask. The Stranger pushed the little one away and after a small struggle, managed to slip out from under the little one and regain footing.
"You seem to know a lot about these guys," the Stranger said. "Who are you?"
"As Egal said, Egal is Egal."
"And it's weird to refer to yourself in the third person."
Egal's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps it is the Stranger who is weird for using those confusing pronoun things."
"Whatever," the Stranger shrugged and looked up toward the summit of the mountain. "I don't have time for this. It's been nice seeing you but I gotta keep going."
"Where is the Stranger going?" Egal followed as the Stranger started toward the cliff.
"Up."
"Wait, did the Stranger climb all this way from the bottom of the mountain?" Egal looked toward the edge. It was a lot higher up than Egal thought.
"Yeah," the Stranger cast a look over a shoulder. "Why? How did you get up here?"
"The tunnels."
"There are tunnels!" The Stranger noticed the opening and ran over to it.
"Not very good tunnels," Egal joined the Stranger in peering into the cave. "There was a cave in and Egal got cut off from the team."
". . . Sorry to hear that?" the Stranger said awkwardly. "So I guess the only up is still scaling it from the outside then."
Egal furrowed Egal's brow and cast an eye over to the Guardians who were watching them with interest. "Or is it?"