Let's goo!

Out of the Cavern

Elrid and the 'small man', Encel who turned out to be a Dverga or a dwarf according to what he told him was leading them to the Professor's study. After Elrid helped him out, Encel led him to a storage room that was adjacent to the chamber that they were in where they kept the possessions of their...previous owners.

Elrid had picked up a tight leather battered armor that covered his chest and stomach, as well as his back. He also picked up some worn leather leggings that were full length and some combat boots. The only thing that was unprotected were his muscular arms, but he liked the freedom of movement the leather armor gave him, and it was better than the tatters that he woke up with. The dwarf also gave him some 'health potions ', which surprisingly worked. They healed his wound from the fight that he had and invigorated him.

'Another one of the great inventions of Professor Hugues!' the dwarf proudly said.

The two of them had traversed quite a bit of the caverns. According to the dwarf, they were part of the Allestar Tower, but that did not mean anything to Elrid since he did not know where the tower itself was found geographically.

As the dwarf walked ahead of him, he did not note anything of any great significance. He was young looking with a thick handlebar moustache and was excited, despite the situation that they were in. He is a little too trustworthy if anything.

The Dverga and the Almain found themselves in yet another storeroom. This one, however, seemed to be unoccupied. Elrid took this chance of being left alone to loot, as he saw a weapons rack across from where he was. He picked up an iron kite shield from the rack and tested a few quick jabs with his sword to adjust to the weight of both the weapon and the shield as he combined them.

The shield, however, proved too heavy to be dual-wielded, so he put it on his back, deciding to keep it but use it only as a last resort to block inevitable attacks.

Encel, on the other hand, was looking around the storage room for an exit. Unfortunately, the only one seemed to be blocked by a landslide of rocks that had it sealed.

'Damn it! This is our only way out and it is sealed. There are no other passages beside this one that will lead us out of the caverns.' the dwarf noted and resigned from looking for a gap between the rocks and went to sit on one of the many crates that filled the storage room.

'So, what do we do now then?' Elrid queried.

'I'm not sure. Let me think for a moment, we could try one of the-'

A low rumble could be heard from the other side of the sealed path. It started increasing in amplitude. The dwarf jumped from the crate that he was sitting on and ran behind Elrid, pulling two short daggers that he snatched from the earlier storage room and now had attached to his side.

'Can you manage yourself in a fight with these?' Elrid was curious.

'You humans think that we dwarfs can't defend ourselves because of our stature. Well, I guess you are about to find out.'

And with that final reply, the rocks blew inwards into the storage room. From the gap formed, two of the Tuatha fighters came in and they were quick to draw arms upon sighting the human and dwarf.

Elrid did not wait around and threw himself at the first Tuatha. Encel had no choice either, but to engage as well, as the second soldier approached him with a roar.

The skirmish did not take too long – Elrid found himself against a less skilled opponent this time and had him knocked out in a minute, while Encel did his best but couldn't really deal a finishing blow on his enemy. He had him cut up like pig, the Tuatha oozing blood mostly from his legs and lower torso, but still hanging on for dear life and refusing to lie down and die.

Encel himself wasn't faring any better too. He wasn't a trained fighter and was making little mistakes here and there, which let the Tuatha inflict some damage. On the upside, however, he was too small and fast for the Tuatha to have a good shot at him.

Only when Elrid came and stabbed him through the back, did the final swordsman give up.

The fight took a toll on the two – they were both a bit winded from all the running and jumping around, but as they looted the bodies, they were extremely happy to find a canteen of water which they guzzled on greedily.

After the short break, they continued up the now cleared out tunnel and along the way they found another Tuatha lying on the ground dead.

'Hey, look at this one. He has a bow. It could be of use to you, don't you think?' Encel asked as he lifted the bow to Elrid.

'It is a useful addition to having a ranged weapon. But there aren't that many arrows.' he noted as he pointed to the five arrows that the dead man had in his quiver.

'We'll just collect the ones that haven't broken or that weren't lost, and we'll reuse them. Besides, I doubt that we will be able to take all the Tuatha out with just a bow. We should probably save these for some long surprise shots.'

Elrid found himself agreeing with the dwarf and picked up both the quiver and the bow. He slung the quiver around his right shoulder, but he had no more space because of the shield and sword.

'You should probably hold onto the bow for now until we need it, since you are not carrying anything on your back.' Elrid commented.

'All right, that makes sense, yes.'

With that, the two comrades continued down the tunnel.

All the shaking from the bombing had knocked a substantial portion of the books off the shelves in the lab of the Professor. Now it looked as if a tornado had come through it. He did not care for the mess, however. His only goal was to gather his most important notes from his research over the last two decades before it was all damned.

How were they able to come here? The war shouldn't be so far into the Faelands yet! Yet here they are...

The sounds of battle could be heard not too far away from his study and that was a bit stressful. Not because Fomorous feared for his life, no. But because it meant he would not have enough time to get everything. He wouldn't be able to look at the most recent success of his either. Just when things were starting to look promising and now, he had to leave it all.

Elrid and Encel progressed quickly through the tunnels now and Encel said that they weren't that far away before they reached the upper levels of the tower.

They still had to take care of the Tuatha that were in their path however, and now was one such case as there were three of them on their passage – two shooting arrows of a cliff edge and one behind them, looting the dead body of a Dverga.

'I'm quicker and quieter than you, so I'll take the one who is separated. After that, you use the bow to shoot the other two, before they find out that their friend is dead.' Encel said.

Agreeing to the plan, they quickly suited words to action. Encel crouched low but still moved rather quickly and most importantly, quietly. The Tuatha scout did not know what hit him until it was too late - Encel's dagger through his jugular.

He had his hand on the dying man's mouth, so his gasps and screams were muffled, but one didn't become a soldier without having spatial awareness, and the archers turned around to see what the commotion was. Unluckily for them, they didn't have the time to react as Elrid shot two arrows.

One hit the Tuatha on the left of the chest and he fell off balance and through the precipice, but the other arrow was off, and was only hit on the hip. That was most definitely painful for him, but it wasn't as severe as what his comrade received.

The wounded archer started shooting arrows at them and both Elrid and Encel had to hide behind whatever rocks they could find or be otherwise shot. He stopped, however, once they hid. No point in wasting ammo like this.

Elrid noticed that while the corridor was wide and would give the archer a shot, it was jagged and there were plenty of rocks to hide behind to the point where they were close enough to tackle him.

Also, the archer couldn't split his focus between the two of them – he only had one arrow to shoot at a time.

Elrid shared the idea with his dwarf friend and they both decided it was better to try it rather than waiting for hours until the bastard ran out of blood.

Elrid started first because he was slower than Encel. The first arrow wheezed by him, barely missing him. The next probably wouldn't but at least he successfully crossed the passage further up.

Encel came out of hiding and gunned for a spot that was a bit further than Elrid's. The archer pulled the tether on his bow and just as he was about to fire at Encel who was in the middle of the path, Elrid jumped out and ran to another spot across the room. This confused the archer for a moment, but that was all the two needed.

This way, both the dwarf and human were running parallel to each other in an X pattern where the archer wouldn't be able to shoot them down that easily. They succeeded in getting further into the tunnel and were no more than 10 meters away from the soldier.

But they knew that the soldier wouldn't fall for the same trick twice. Worse yet, they had no more where to hide, they had to come head on with the soldier and get rid of him. It was then that Elrid decided to pull his shield out to use it as a battering ram against the barrage of arrows that were to follow.

The two glanced at each other after having taken a quick breath, they nodded and came out of their hiding for one last push.

The two came out of hiding, as they raced ahead towards him. The human had a shield deployed in front of him, but the dwarf was a little bit to his side, exposed. The archer decided to use that opening and kill the damn pest. He aimed and fired, but the arrow was blocked by the giant iron shield. It made the human fall off-balance, having to jump in front of the arrow with the heavy shield so fast, but before he could take advantage of that opening, the dwarf was already upon him with his daggers.

The archer only had the time to think of one thing before his life temporarily ended.

Fuck

'Whoo! I honestly haven't felt this alive in years. This is so exciting, fighting people! Don't you get the rush?!' Encel asked, jumping up and down, still high on adrenaline with a dope smile on his face.

'I'd rather we get out of here soon, Encel. I'm not too fond of people trying to kill me.' Elrid replied calmly as he started walking down their path once again.

The two men opened a gate that led into a giant hall that was full of desks and cages at its sides. There were also flowers and other vegetation that was suddenly growing straight from the ground as they walked in.

'Cave blossoms only respond in the presence of magic. Perhaps there's more to you than it seems?' Encel sounded fascinated as he walked up to Elrid.

'What, do you mean I could grow plants just by walking by them?' The man chuckled.

The dwarf sighed annoyingly. 'Cave blossoms are the only flowers that do that and since I know that I have no arcana capabilities, they must be reacting to you. Don't you feel anything inside of you? Maybe like a pool of power or similar?'

Elrid closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on what Encel told him. He looked for a source of power...There! He felt something, like a pleasant warm sensation in his stomach. He just thought it was him not being hungry and sated, but now that he focused on it, he felt tingly and excited, as if power surged through him like...like lightning!

Suddenly, his eyes opened, and it was as if he was a spectator in his own body, as he suddenly summoned a ball of lightning in his hand and sent it racing down the middle of the room until it crashed into the strange ball-like contraption making it spin with energy.

He turned to Encel, eyes wide, perplexed at his own ability. Encel looked up to him with his mouth wide open and eyes almost bulging out, not being able to utter any words.

He did recover eventually. 'Incredible...what are you?'

'That's what I'd like to know too.'

Elrid's thoughts were racing through his head.

Am I a magician? How did I learn this? There are so many things that I apparently seem to be able to do but there is no explanation on who I am or how I got here. More specifically, how I died. I sure hope this Fomorous person can tell me more about myself...

All these thoughts had taken up his attention and he moved on autopilot. Encel had been chattering him up about how the Tuatha didn't stand a chance against them now that he rediscovered his abilities, asking him questions about what's it like to use magic, how does it feel and much more, but Elrid only vaguely answered, barely understanding it himself and not really paying attention to the dwarf.

All the while, they had a couple of more encounters with giant spiders and found a quarterstaff which he found out channeled his magical abilities easier, letting him funnel them through the staff and expel an elemental effect.

Encel told him that each staff was built differently, and they all had different elemental effects, but they ultimately served a purpose to let a magic user use his abilities more efficiently without tiring themselves out.

The one that they found held the element of fire. It was extremely useful against the spiders that they faced and their webs.

Not long after that, the terrain changed from a cave-like path to big rooms that were obviously manufactured, judging by the various gates, walls with windows and the many, many dwarfs that were filling out what looked to be an armory.

One of the dwarfs came forward to meet them.

'Encel! You're alive! And who is this?' The armored dwarf asked as he noticed his brethren.

'That's what I intend to find out. He came out of the Well!' Encel replied smugly.

'What?! Then he'd better get inside to see the old man. Quick, before those Tuatha make another push!'

Nodding to the armored dwarf, Encel turned to Elrid.

'This is where we part ways but take whatever you want from this armory – we might have a few things that would suit you. Just make sure you get to Hugues! We can hold off the Tuatha here.'

'I couldn't make it this far without you Encel, thank you!' Elrid reached out a hand to Encel. The two, now comrades, exchanged a handshake.

'I suppose these might be able to help as well. If the Tuatha realize what you are, you'll need them.'

The dwarf handed a couple of potions over as a farewell gift before he walked away.

Elrid however, would most definitely take him up on his offer of seeing what was available to take from the armory. After a couple of minutes of talking with a couple of squires, he was provided with full metal-plate body armor, minus a headpiece, but he didn't mind it. These people did more than enough to help him around. He only wished he could stay behind and fight with them, give them back the favor.

Alas, he knew that they were only fighting so that he could make it out to the Professor. He was going to honor their wish.

After the Professor had collected all his most important notes, he started brewing a concoction of exceedingly rare and volatile ingredients. He wasn't a fool; he knew that it was only a matter of time before the Allestar Tower fell to the Tuatha.

And although they wouldn't need the research on the Well of Souls – Fae came back to life eventually, there were many other articles the Professor had in his study that could be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. So, he decided that he would create a bomb, of sorts. He had been working on it for the last ten minutes, when he suddenly heard the door to his study opening and closing.

He didn't pay attention to it, after all, he had people running around all over the tower to gather ingredients and other useful items that he could use for the deadly trap. But he didn't expect to see the man that came through into his study.

'You! You're alive? That means...the Well actually succeeded! That's incredible news! Unfortunately, however, we do not have the time to celebrate.' The excited voice of the Professor died down as he composed himself a bit more.

'Please, forgive me. You must be terribly confused by all of this. I am Fomorous Hugues, and this is my laboratory at Allestar. Everything you see here is dedicated to one thing: the Well of Souls. The pursuit of immortality! And you...you're my first success!

Elrid was happy to know that the Professor wasn't some madman, but he had to get some answers for his restart to life.

'What's going on' he asked the Professor.

'Too much to explain right now. The Tuatha have come to stop my work, but I don't believe they know about you, at least, not yet. What's important is getting you out of here safely. You're the only proof of what we've achieved here.' The small and old man answered.

A couple of shakes could be felt throughout the room and then Encel burst into the room.

'Sir! The Tuatha have almost reached the lab! They're inside the-'

A short gasp left Encel's lips, an arrow protruded from his chest, probably impaling one of his lungs. He fell to the ground and gurgled, until finally he stopped suffocating with closed eyes.

'No! We've got to get you out of here now! Quickly!'

Shouts could be heard down the corridor. The Tuatha were breaching into the laboratory and would be into the study any moment now.

'Follow the path to the town of Gorhart. Find Agarth. He's a friend, and he may be able to help. No matter what else, stay alive!'

Just then, the Tuatha broke the door down and the first of them entered. The Professor, against all expectations of Elrid, threw himself into the fray and slashed the first down into his side with a short dagger and continued to lay mayhem into the group that followed him back out of the study.

'Go!' He shouted one final time, before the ceiling collapsed, blocking the exit.

Elrid turned around and saw a staircase leading to a giant gate, which he guessed was the exit. He headed for it without turning around once, because he didn't want to see the crushed body of his deceased friend. He couldn't do anything for him now...except avenge him.

And that was exactly what he was planning to do.

Thank you all for reading so far into my story. I'm noticing I'm skipping time quite frequently and it is something that is bothering me personally, so I'll try and be a bit smoother with the various skips.
Please do leave reviews for the chapters, because they are what help me to dial my writing to make this work the best it can be!