Chapter 6: Sometimes you should keep an eye on the quiet ones. But you should always keep your eyes on the loud obnoxious morons.
Nick had only vaguely been paying attention to the others as they all laid down to rest or treat for shock or whatever they were doing. He was much more interested in exploring this new place. On the sides there was a long black drop in every direction, which he had dropped a small gil into to see if it would make a noise when it hit the bottom. But he hadn't heard anything at all.
There was a cave system on the opposite side of the stair case. Nick considered wandering down there and seeing what was there, but there was the shiny thing up on the top of the staircase to inspect too. This provided Nick with a conundrum.
Nick could easily climb the stairs first to inspect the shiny object, or he could go down and inspect the caves which were bound to be full of wonders he couldn't even imagine yet. Besides, it would give Nick an excuse to make a torch.
Nick had an almost insatiable curiosity and he often felt the urge to explore and examine everything, and the only thing that came close to his curiosity in his mind was his love of fire. Nick could sit and watch a torch or a lantern burn down to nothingness for hours and not move a muscle. Being near fire in some way made Nick feel...complete.
The headmistress had once called Nick a pyro-something or other, but Nick, at least, didn't think that was right. He simply loved fire cause he loved fire; there was no need to go making it sound all complicated with some big medical word. At his heart, Nick was a relatively simple creature and didn't like making things that were simple overly complex. At least, that was how Nick liked to describe himself.
In the end, Nick's choice was made for him. Mistress Mallory had long ago banned him from using matches, flint and steel, and had even banned him from rubbing sticks together. Since Nick didn't have any of these objects at the moment his choice was clear: Go steal the shiny thing so he could go out into the caves to find two sticks that he could start a fire with so that he could explore the caves. After exploring the caves, Nick could come back here and inspect the shiny thing.
In Nick's mind, this made simple and perfect sense.
Jaeger blinked when she heard Kyle's revelation that the townsfolk, if not the town, had been spared because of their mayor. Hallet was a sage of the Cetra race, a long lived and magically powerful race that had begun to bring the world into a new age of prosperity and science. If anyone in the world could have saved the townspeople of Canaan, then Hallet could have.
"If the troll hadn't kidnapped us, then we'd have been able to escape with everyone else." Kyle said bitterly, but Jaeger grimaced because she thought that this was unfair. It hadn't seemed like the man was a monster to her, and he had saved their lives. And she had seen trolls in books before and while the man had kind of resembled them, the book had been clear trolls couldn't learn how to talk. Besides, it wasn't the man's fault that he didn't know about Hallet.
"That guy couldn't have been a troll." Jaeger explained, adding her reasons one after another. "Besides, he was only trying to hel-" Jaeger protested but Kyle overrode her.
"Okay, so maybe the guy wasn't a troll." Kyle admitted. "But so what? Even if that's true we wouldn't be...wherever the hell here is if he hadn't done anything! We'd have all made it to the mayor's office if he hadn't-"
Kyle's rant was cut off suddenly when the shimmering light from above flashed brightly, causing the children to cover their eyes and turn away.
"Uhhh...guys, I think I made the shiny thingy angry." Nick said from the top of the stairs.
A shriek filled the chamber as a bright figure with leathery wings flew out of the light and began to circle around the cave. The golden bat-like creature circled around the ceiling several times before the monster flipped upside down and clung to the ceiling.
It turned its head towards the children and its blue eyes focused on them. Its leathery golden-yellow wings were attached to its arm and folded into place. The creature had hands in a way, but at the end of the hand were claws rather than fingers, and the same was true of its feet which had dug into the ceiling rocks.
"Be you pilgrims or thieves?" It asked in a quiet, but shrill, voice that echoed in the chamber.
"Another monster?!" Kyle practically cried from his hiding spot behind Jeff and Jaeger. Jeff had pulled out his pocket knife and stood in a defensive stance. Jaeger had immediately set herself behind Jeff, the only person with any means to defend themselves.
The creature snarled in disgust. "I am no monster. I am Firt, the guardian of the Crystal of the Wind and a protector of the Light." The light from the object had become more tolerable and now the bat appeared to be the brightest object in the entire cave. The guardian looked at Jeff, Ashley, Nick, and Kyle in turn and finally stopped on Jaeger. "You are not pilgrims. No, I sense Darkness in all but two of you. I will not allow you to defile this place or steal the Crystal! Let the Light consume you, thieves!