This chapter was requested by two people the lovelyXxFallenAngel15xX who I've chatted with a few times in several places and Baxleyt who I've seen for the first time on Wattpad
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Seekaah's Pov
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As we walked up the snowy mountain top that leads to the cave entrance I could hear Colin's teeth chattering and the small gasps for breath. I'll admit that the cold didn't bother me that much but I was also wearing a jacket and Colins outfit pretty much only covered his legs and lower torso. So even if he had a resistance to the cold it wasn't going to last long in this weather.

"Are we almost there?" Colin questioned the man that had been leading us to the cave, he had to half shout it due to the icy wind. I could tell from here that the lack of oxygen was starting to get to him.

"Oh, it's just up ahead. Be wary of the traps and illusions it can create, several of our fine men have been stuck in there because of it."

We walked up to the entrance of the cave and I immediately took notice that it was a tight squeeze to get in the mouth of it, though it seemed more expansive from the look of it.

"Hey, have you ever been down there? Because it looks like it has room to walk in there but it could be the cave trying to fool us." I had turned to the man and he nodded grimly.

"I have but wouldn't go in again. It is wide at first but then the tunnels and walls get smaller and smaller, there was one time one of the villagers got stuck in one of the tunnels and it took two hours for us to get him out. His chest and back were caught between the walls of the cave and he was upside down, he was honestly lucky to make it out alive. Never been near the damn thing since." I wasn't reassured by what I was hearing and it did sound like he had a vague idea of how the caves were, but I didn't expect the cave to be an actual death trap. Colin who had been listening quietly this whole time had visibly paled and had a look of fear in his eyes.

"Seek, I don't like the sound of this. Do we have to fight something in these damned caves? I don't know about you but I don't think these caves could inhabit a beast that needs an A-rank to a B-rank wizard to take care of the problem." He had a fair point and this mission was not something that should have been put up on every board especially not the C-rank. This was possibly an A-rank or higher mission that we were taking.

"We already knew this was going to be dangerous when we took the mission. But I do wish we had been given more details on it before we arrived." I let out a sigh and looked over to Colin before pulling him to the side.

"I'll leave it up to you man. I don't exactly want to go into the spooky cave after hearing that but at the same time, there is a problem with leaving this matter unattended." I knew I didn't want to do this mission anymore but more people would get hurt and lost if we didn't help. But... We could also be lost in these caves...

"I-, I'll admit that I don't want to go in there but... I don't want more people to get hurt... Or worse..." He hadn't answered the question when our guide had walked over to us.

"You know I'd understand if you kids didn't want to get involved with this matter. It wouldn't be fair to your families if you got lost in those caves and we couldn't find you." He had let out a sigh and his shoulders relaxed before he started his head.

"Families... Mines gone and I know I'll never see them again... Now that I think about it, Colin has never once spoken about his family he only ever talked about the guild. Does he even have one or did he get raised by the guild?" As I dwelled deeper into my thoughts about the red-haired shadow, I found myself questioning what I knew about the mage.

He didn't talk about himself all that much, just about what was going on with the guild and the city or even finding a random topic about one of our guild members. Now that I think about it we've only ever had a heart-to-heart once and even that didn't last longer than a night.

I felt someone shake me out of my thoughts for a second and looked up to see Colin whose eyes held concern and grip on my shoulders tightened. I was still not fully shaken out of the little trace I'd gotten myself into. And I couldn't help but question how much I truly know about the man I'd call my best friend and maybe just maybe something else.

"-eek! Seek! Snap out of it!" I could feel his nails slightly dig into my shoulder now and shook my head trying to get rid of whatever I was feeling at that moment.

"I'm fine Colin, just zoned out for a minute." I gave him a smile trying to reassure him that I was alright. I was but I couldn't quite shake the feeling I had from earlier.

"Even though I don't like it I think we should at least try to complete this quest and we already told the elder that if we didn't come back he needs to send a message to the guild." I nodded my head in agreement, I didn't want to go into a cave that got smaller as you went on, not to mention having traps and the illusions but we did accept this quest so we should probably see it through.

"Alright then, shall we?" He nodded his head and walked up to the mouth of the cave, he dropped his sword down first and then started to climb in feet first.

Colin's Pov
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It took me a few minutes to get into the cave, the snow on the rocks didn't help either. But once I got down into it, it wasn't as bad still cold and there was ice over rock and snow but it was surprisingly not as cold as it was outside. But I knew that would change as we went deeper, why didn't I bring a jacket just in case?!

I heard a loud thunk come from behind me and saw Seek's bag sitting by the cave exit. His legs were dangling from the top bit and it was clear he was having the same struggle to get down as I had. I noticed that it was a farther drop than I'd first seen and remembered that it was still very slippery.

"Crap! Seek, wait a second! It's a big drop!" I rushed over to where he'd more than likely fall from and waited.

"Colin I think I can get in but is it safe now?" His voice was somewhat muffled but I was glad we could hear each other.

"Yeah, I got you!" As I said it I heard him swear loudly and his grip slipped. I took a step forward and managed to catch him but not without slipping on the icy floor of the cave.

We ended up piled onto each other and I had the wind knocked out of me for a short period and Seek seemed to be a little freaked out because he wasn't moving and I could feel his hands tighten on my shoulders.

Seek's Pov
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I could hear Colin yelling at me from inside the cave but with the freezing air whipping my face and ears I couldn't hear what he was saying. My body heat was melting the ice to some extent and I could feel myself slipping into the cave. I hadn't yet found the footing to brace myself but unfortunately, it was too late, I slipped into the cave, I heard Colin yell something but I was too panicked to hear it, all I could think about was falling on the icy rock-solid floor.

And yet... I didn't instead I felt something warm, and squishy. I was a little winded from the fall but I managed to get the air back into my lungs, with minor difficulty.

I could feel something gripping onto me tightly, I opened my eyes to see Colin with a pained expression painted on his face. I tried to push myself off him to find I couldn't, my legs were completely numb and I found it hard to move. I could feel Colin shift underneath me, and struggle to sit up. he scooted us over to an icy wall and looked down at me.

"Seek, you okay?" I could tell he was still in a lot of pain, yet the only thing I could see in those emerald eyes was worry and concern. Why couldn't he just worry about himself, he always puts others first, never himself. He needs to be selfish at times.

"I-I'm okay, what about you?" I looked at him intensely and waited for his response. He hesitated for a moment and then spoke.

"I'm okay, for now at least. Though I definitely have a few scrapes and bruises."

"You sure? Your face says otherwise." I narrowed my eyes as he released a long-drawn-out sigh. He looked at me for a second before bowing his head down in surrender. I got out of his face and started looking him over for anything that could be causing him pain or that needed to be treated before it was too late.

Luckily I didn't find anything other than a nasty gash that was on his leg. It certainly looks painful but all it needed was to be washed and bandaged and it'd be fine.

"Let's take care of that gash before it gets infected."

"Did you pack medical supplies??" He looked over to me with a pained expression. He was biting his lip attempting not to show how bad he was actually feeling but it evidently wasn't working.

"Hold still Colin, if you move it'll just hurt more." I got up from Colin and went to grab the medkit that was in my bag, it took me a few moments to discover where our bags had been fallen but I struggled to find them between the icy stalagmites.

"Found the first aid kit!" I made my way back to Colin, attempting not to slip on the frigid grounds of the cave
I could hear Colin's quiet response to my call when I finally got over to him.

"Hey Colin, are you sure you're okay?"

To Be Continued...

God, I love where this chapter is going! I'm thinking of turning this one-shot into an actual book, what do you guys think?

I hope you all enjoyed it! I know for a fact I did!😁👌

Also big thank you to FryViewer they were a nice help with this!

Word count: 1885