Aru Shah and the Soul Trident

No Snow White in Sight

A/N: Hey guys! So, this chapter probably isn't really my best work, but, like, just go with it. I promise that the next couple chapters are gonna be pretty interesting!

Rudy let out a high-pitched, girlish scream and nearly jumped into Aiden's arms.

"Rudy-oomph-GET OFF ME!" Aiden's muffled cry rang through the small tunnel as Rudy practically climbed onto his cousin. With the faint light, Aru could see Rudy yanking Aiden's hair back in his panic, and Brynne trying to pull the Naga prince off of her best friend.

She pried her eyes away from the chaotic scene and aimed her new glaive at the eyes that stared back at them.

"Who are you?" Aru asked, narrowing her eyebrows.

Whoever was holding the small lantern that provided the light lifted it a little higher to their face. A small gasp escaped from her mouth. Right in front of them, were three old, bald...dwarves? Aru wasn't exactly sure what they were. All three of them wore some kind of strange, orange-colored blankets around them. They sorta looked like those togas from those old roman movies, except for a few differences here and there. The only way to tell them apart was by the length of their beards. The one on the left had the longest beard, the one in the middle had a medium-length beard, and the one on the right had no beard at all. They were all incredibly short, even shorter than Mini. The three dwarves came up to about a little higher than Aru's waist.

"We are the vamanas and are the descendants of Vamana- the fifth avatar of Vishnu," the one standing to the right said in a high, squeaky voice. "You children are the Pandavas, no?"

"I'm not a Pandava!" Aiden and Rudy both said at the same time. Aiden had finally untangled himself from his cousin, and he seemed more frazzled than Aru had ever seen him. His hair was sticking up, and his clothes were all wrinkled. She stifled a laugh as Aiden went on to mutter, "I mean, I am a Pandava, but not really. More of an adjacent..."

"Oh, are you the ones that Agni told us to find?" Mini exclaimed, clapping her hands together in surprise. "He said that you would give us the SSS."

" Yes, yes. Follow us. We shall lead you to it," the one in the middle told them in a contrastingly low, deep voice.

The Potatoes exchanged glances with each other. They agreed to it so easily? Aru was expecting some sort of fight or something before being able to get access to it.

Well, that's suspicious, Brynne spoke up through the mind-link. Nothing is ever this easy.

Yeah, it's weird, Mini agreed.

Let's just keep our guard up, Aru said. She glanced at Aiden and Rudy, who also gave two quick nods.

"Okay, lead the way," Aru told the three vamanas. Without another word, they simultaneously turned around and began guiding them through the tunnel.

Well, that was creepy. As the Potatoes began to follow the vamanas, Aru noticed that they were ridiculously fast despite the fact that they were so small. She had to speed-walk to keep up. Brynne and Mini jogged up ahead, and Rudy followed close behind them. Aru hung in the back with Aiden, and asked him a question that was lingering in her mind ever since they escaped the lava.

"Wifey?"

"Yeah?" He answered. She could hear his breath hitch as he turned to face her.

"What did you want to say to me before Rudy interrupted?"

Silence ensued. She waited for a couple moments, but he didn't answer her. Aru couldn't make out his features in the darkness. She desperately wished that she had some sort of light source too. As soon as she had that thought, her glaive suddenly started to glow a faint orange color. Startled, she nearly dropped her weapon.