(Just wanted to say thanks to my two readers! Thank you for reading this, even though it's kind of bad and the fandom is almost officially dead. It means a lot.)

Following Duncan

It scared me watching Y/N run off like that with that guard Laurence with how everything was feeling in this area of the forest but...

"He won't let her die if that's what you are worried about, Duncan." Ophella said to me, stepping out from behind a tree, as usual. I smirk at her and put the crystal back into my pocket.

"Nah, I was thinking about how she can handle herself in magical situations. I have sparred with her enough to know that she can dodge and take a hit." Even if I wish I didn't know that. I thought and swallowed.

"You are right, but consider the fact that Laurence is a Shadow Knight guard. There are no things that I can sense that will put him in enough of a rage to hurt innocents. There are very few who could take him on in his other form, most are standing with him."

"Standing with him... oh that's right, his friends, Lucinda and Lo. What happened to them?" I asked.

"In the caves, Lo hit a light crystal on his way down." Ophella answered while tracing the mark left on the tree. "They will not find them unless they themselves fall to the caves. There are still places where the earth will cave under the footsteps of people."

"Could you lead us to them if we got in the caves?"

"That would be, as you say, 'child's play.'" Ophella makes her form smile and I find myself smiling in return.

"I'll find them and you can lead us down, into the caves and his friends will be perfectly safe. Perfect."

"Well... I only have to lead you down now. They have found their way into the caves."

"What did you just say."

=====

As You a few minutes prior

Running. Running could be fun, occasionally. Feet pounding against the ground, wind whistling past you, and no tree roots moving out of their way to trip you or branches moving to hit you in the face. There was also the bonus of Laurence running a little bit further out but close enough where you could constantly see each other.

So we aren't constantly knocking into each other. He said.

Like that wouldn't have been awesome in its own right.

The fact that was standing is that you two should have spotted Lo and Lucinda by now. There was no way they hadn't thought of turning back and every time you checked there were signs of people walking this path. You started slowing down, Laurence noticed and did the same and eventually the two of you found yourselves standing next to each other, panting from exertion. This was the sucky part about running.

"Laurence... I think we might have been following the wrong path." You said while stepping closer to him. He opened his mouth to respond but he wasn't able to say anything before the two of you fell into the earth.

The fall itself: Kind of neat. Disorienting but exhilarating at the same time.

It was the landing that sucked. It knocked the wind out of you more than the running had and left multiple tiny rocks digging into whatever touched the ground. Laurence ended up on top of you so that was an awkward bonus but a bonus none-the-less.

Another awkward and slightly uncomfortable bonus was accounted for when involving the armor he wore, but you were mostly just happy that you didn't fall a foot or two to the right. The reasoning behind that decision: you could feel the drop off into something deeper a foot or two to the right of you.

"You alright, Y/N?" Laurence asked.

"I'd say no but a hot guy just fell for me so I'm pretty happy about that." You smile at the attempt of a joke and cough. Dirt and dust was still in the air from when you fell making it harder to breathe.

"I mean did you get hurt?"

"I have some rocks kind of digging into my back but nothing is broken. How about on your end?"

"Sore but I'll be fine." Laurence replies while sitting up and backing up a bit. You sit up and stretch your back out a bit. Definitely going to bruise later, oh well.

"So these are the Western Caves? I didn't realize a forest could just... grow on top of a cave system like that." Laurence looks around in the darkness surrounding the two of you.

"The dirt settled and trees started growing and the rocks got carved out. In some places between the trees where the stone is weak people fall through. The main entrance that goes up had a cave-in but Ophella found another way out in her wandering. There were a lot of metals and jewels but now it's mainly known for the crystals." You stand up and look around. You could definitely make out an old pickaxe leaning against the side of the cave deeper down. "This must be one of the places the miners found. It'll be quite a bit of walking before we get out, then."

"Oh great, more walking." Laurence groaned while standing up, you snicker.

"It's not as far as you may think, Y/N." Another voice answers. You turn around.

"Hey, Ophel, how are you?" You reply to the shadowy projection. You could see the faint purple glow coming off of her projection, making it stand out amongst the other shadows.

"Surprised you fell down. Normally you are more careful. Not that it matters. I appeared to lead you and Laurence out of the caves." Ophella looks between the two of you before starting to walk away.

"Wait! Lo and Lucinda, what happened to them?" Laurence asked her.

"They also fell, I am already guiding them out, I am also guiding Duncan down to meet them, and hopefully you." She answers.

So that's why she's being so... undetailed with this projection. She has others going and performing their own actions nearby.

"Okay, let's start going so we can meet up with them, Laurence." You say and turn to see Ophella leading the two of you down into the darkness. "Wait, shouldn't we be going up?"

"That way leads to the cave-ins. To get out we would have to go this way, past the crystals, then loop around to get out, but it isn't too far. It's just dark until you get to the crystals.."

"Are there any old torches from the miners that we could re-light?" Laurence asked. Ophella shook her head no.

"Most either burnt out or were smothered by the rocks and dust. It will be dark unless you have one of the crystals I gave you, Y/N." Ophella responds and stares at you with her unblinking purple eyes.

"I left them with my other stuff back in Percyvell." You answer and look away from her, grinding your toe into the dirt covered rock. You never worried about it when you had Duncan around. He could cast any spell the crystals possibly could so they were usually useless to you. After all, the two of you rarely separated.

"Then we must deal with the darkness until we get close to the crystals again." Ophella said while watching you. "I understand it is herd for you to get around without sight but we can go slow. If I had a way to... help, I would."

"Alright, alright, down we go, I guess." You say and turn to Laurence. "You going to try jumping out because you won't make it unless you can super jump."

"No, that's not it. Nevermind, let's start following her." Laurence said and walked back up to you. You smile and wink at him before jumping down a ledge. He rolled his eyes, although it was hard to make out, before jumping down after you.