UPDATE:

Apologies everyone. Due to using a new program to write in, the text morphed without me noticing.

I have NO clue what caused this but this ought to fix it. Again, my apologies, I never noticed.

UPDATE²: Right, so WHY was the spelling messed up? Don't ask me, I know I fixed it before but all I can think of is that I forgot to save the file before uploading. Kind of embarrassing!

At any rate, this is Chapter Two in it's arguably finished form.

Author's note: Huzzah! Another chapter! Well feast your eyes it's going slower from now on. Last chapter of the prologue.

Enjoy.

Chapter Two: Hide and seek.

"Was something there? Why can't I feel it?" he thought.

Something was definitely off. Up until now his earth powers have let him sense anything close to him. Be it the floor, the walls or even the moles above his head. He could essentially walk through a forest with his eyes closed without tripping! So why is it that he could -hear- footsteps but not feel them?

He turned around, his hand on the hilt of his sword as he stared blankly ahead of him in utter darkness... "There's no way I can fight what I can neither see nor feel... The elements are these things?" He thought as he heard the footsteps again - this time much closer then before.

And then, from the cold dark of the cave, he heard growling followed by quickening footsteps, getting louder by the second. Matthew's eyes widened and his face grimaced true fear as he realized something WAS there! Something he had no way of beating! Swiftly he scanned the way back to the dead-end-camp they had put up, memorizing it in the few seconds he had. Then as the growling

sounds and footsteps seemed at its closest, he ran. He ran and he ran, using his psynergy to drop rocks from the roof as he went to help him escape. Occasionally he could hear a loud, near ear deafening cry follow by some weeping sounds as he dropped another one. But he didn't notice. That was just one, if at all and the sounds of footsteps never seemed to lessen. Even when he collapsed an entire tunnel section behind him, it did not seem to end. So he sprinted on through the cave towards help.

Karis was done preparing the tent and the 'campsite' under the ground and was cooking up dinner along with Tyrell, whom had regained his strength to do something the moment the stakes were raised to warm food. Suddenly, odd crashing sounds could be heard from the tunnel. First faintly,

so that neither of them heeded it. But as it came closer and closer, inevitably they became worried. Tyrell dropped the cooking spoon in the pot and grabbed for his long sword, taking a few steps ahead of Karis in the tunnel where Matthew had been planning his wall idea. One hand on the hilt and the other on the sheath as the sounds came closer.

"What the blazing fires was that? Are the monsters running into walls or something?" the fire adept asked. "Maybe they learned that from you..." Karis said with a giggle, to which Tyrell glanced over his right shoulder at her with a grin, hands still on his sword in front of him. "Yeah. Maybe you're

right."

He ran, like the living devil he ran for it. It was a straight piece of cave now bent slightly downhill and only a small bend at the end of it to reach the campsite he had assigned. Matthew wasn't some kind of delusional hero. He knew that whatever was behind him would've outrun him a long time ago if he didn't drop all those rocks and use his surroundings to his advantage. But his Psynergy was beginning to run out so he had to conserve the amount of rocks and spires he could still drop! This meant they were slowly catching up to him. Vaulting over a rock cropping he noticed a light source from just around the corner ahead of him. He made it! As he ran he took one final big breath, yelling to his friends for aid.

"Tyrell, Karis! Trouble!" he yelled just as he came around the corner. Karis and Tyrell stared at him in his furious running. Unsure what to think, yet Matthew's face could've filled entire books. Joyous at finding his friends, anger for whatever was behind him, fear for whatever was behind him... There were no need for words to tell them these things. As Tyrell spotted his friend, he drew his long sword, throwing the sheath aside against the wall as he went forward. Tyrell nodded at Matthew as they past each other, he swiftly created a wall of flames along the cave, preventing the monsters from passing through. They knew Tyrell was a capable fire adept, but the fire had nothing

to sustain itself on. Inevitably it would go out soon. Matthew turned around as he slowed down came to a halt, he nodded at Karis behind him, like he always did when they were about to fight.

She was stunned, they were all used to the group being under danger from monsters, but never had they been trapped like this before. Nor had she ever seen Matthew this panicked. She stood there for a moment as she pondered this, before nodding back at Matthew and grabbing her bow. She was no real marksmen with it - but she could hit her targets in between her psynergy casting and it

definitely put her at an advantageous range versus melee combat.

When the earth adept saw the nod she gave him, he went back to the front and stood beside his childhood friend, sword drawn for whatever was coming. When Karis joined them behind them, he nudged to Tyrell to drop the fire wall.

He dropped the fire wall at Matthew's request, prepared for anything to come right at them.

Yet there was nothing. The torch's fire flared behind them, creating a play of shadows on the walls ahead of them. There was nothing there. Tyrell turned to Matthew, sheer anger painting his face as he lowered his long sword. "Matthew. What the elements are you doing?" he asked, trying to keep his calm which was definitely not his strong suit. But Matthew never ripped his eyes off of that dark cave... He ignored his friends' rants which were only stopped by a timely intervention from the wind adept, who had noticed his shock.

Karis had seen Matthew like this twice before. Once when they were still very

young, and Tyrell had played a joke on him faking him jumping off a cliff side,

and the other time when during a visit of all five to Carvers shop

(incidentally Tyrell would burn the place down one month later), he had lost

everyone else in another prank of Tyrell's. It was right there that she knew

his biggest fear of all, was being alone.

Matthew bit his lip. How would he explain what happened in there? The sounds? They could've been echoes from miles away. Did he justly panic and cause his friends so much stress by yelling for help? He pondered how to respond. The earth adept glanced at Karis, whom simply stood there, bow loosely in her left hand as she looked at him. A scornful look he thought. He sheathed his sword as he looked back to Tyrell."Yeah. Must've been the echoes freaking me out."

Tyrell nodded back at him - what was there to say?

At least they're back together. Obviously Matthew had nothing for his small wall idea though so that idea fell to the background. The adepts moved back to the cooking pot, where Karis quickly served the meal for everyone before it overcooked on the fire. Gratefully, the boys accepted

the mushroom soup and indulged themselves in their hunger.

She could easily see it, the boys were beat. Tyrell for supplying a light source for so long to save their few torches and candles and Matthew from his madman's dash and rock dropping. As they finished their meals, she nodded at the boys and their nightly routine commenced. She went into the tent to change into her night gown and instinctively the boys turned around and stared at the bend in the cave. Sure, the boys had their male desires to peek. One could never truly get rid of that. But for one they both simply respected her wishes too much and she'd also leave nothing behind of you if she found out.

It was a pleasantly easy decision to not.

A few minutes later, Karis came back out of the tent in her night gown. A nice light purple one-piece with white ornamental thread running through the gown from top to bottom.

"The ussual shift?" She asked, snapping the boys out of their staring trance. Matthew was the first to turn around. "That sounds best for now indeed."Tyrell turned around, hesitant to speak he added: "Fine. First shift's on me then."

Matthew stood up from the fire and passed by Karis, whom smiled awkwardly as he passed her. Karis went to sit by the fire and talk about Matthew's yelps for help as she waited for Matthew to shift into his dark blue boxers and yellow sleeveless shirt, his sleeping clothes.

Karis glanced over her shoulder at the closed tent, whispering to Tyrell: "So why do you think he came running like an army was behind him?" Tyrell shrugged. "Matthew ain't crazy. Not yet. And he can feel whatever is around him, he could fight a wolf in pitch dark and win. So if he had to run like crazy and yell like that, it'd have been something bad I figured." He looked at Karis briefly, he only just noticed that she had already untied her ponytail, so that her green hair was hanging loosely along her back. She had nice silky hair, which was only ruined by the dirt specks throughout it. Even combing wouldn't get those out.

Karis decided to stare up at the roof instead as the conversation died out for both simultaneously. After a few minutes she continued: "But there was nothing there. Do you think it's still down that hall? It managed to freak even Matthew out." A slight tone of fright managed to break through as she said that but Tyrell couldn't blame her. Why _didn't_ it, or those things, try to attack them once he dropped the flame well? "I know what you mean. Just get your rest though. No need to lay awake all night fussing like that." the fire adept said. Karis smiled broadly at him in a thank you for the pick-me-up talk, which almost made him blush at the sight. Damn she _was_ pretty, especially with he hair out long he thought. He knew of himself that he would make a move on her if it wasn't for that darned incident three years back... She knew it and he knew it. Nothing would ever happen between those two. Not even on the short term. So instead he had decided that he'd nudge her to Matthew instead and see what would happen.

His thought train was interrupted however by the opening of the tent. Both of them turned around to stare at the yellow haired and yellow shirted boy that said that he was done before going back in. Karis slowly got up, said her good nights to Tyrell since she had third shift and went into the tent to get some sleep.

The three shifts, since you couldn't call it night underground, passed swiftly and without much trouble. At one point Tyrell could have sworn he heard something shuffling but Matthew explained to him, that that was just them turning around in bed, the next day.

Upon the end of each's shift, they all got up again. They packed the small campsite and under Matthew's leadership they traversed deeper into the tunnels. After some time, Matthew felt it. A direct path to the exit! They had finally gotten out of that horrible tunnel and would see daylight once more.

Author's note:

Well ain't this quite the anti climax? Did you expect to find Dullahan down there? Nu-uh. The last thing I want is to change a shipping story into a dramatic fight for survival. Admit it, whom of you would have liked it if I did that? And no worries. The moving shadows and what attacked Matthew will all be explained in time.

For those who didn't realize it the chapter title refers to how they're 'hiding out' in their camp site and how whatever is out there hides from plain sight as well and only seems to come out away from the camp.

From now on chapter releases'll take more time. This was more or a less the opening and it'll be more difficult for me to write from now on.

I could STILL very much use some help with the conversations. If anyone feels they can live into the role of Karis pretty well, a small role play style talk would probably give me a lot of ideas for the future so I eagerly await anyone willing to fill this role. Obviously, you'd be credited for the help.

P.S. The reason for the "I'ma feelin' da earth" part is because Isaac LITERALLY refers to that ability in the game. Personally, I hate it, but it allows me to make Matthew a bit more.. Competent.