Aravel

Chapter 53

Before Lunaria knew it, she had fallen into a deep dark hole of pure despair.

Freefalling downwards endlessly, the dot that is the light at the exit of the hole became smaller and smaller. A draft of cold wind came from under her, blasting right at her defenseless self.

Lunaria's first instinct was to spread her wings to stop herself from falling. It wasn't until a few seconds of struggling passed that she realized she didn't even have wings to begin with. Not even her tail was present, needless to say the rest of her draconic features.

Her next response was to shout. She needed to say something, anything.

Once again, nothing could be heard. Was it because she was falling at a rate that she was unable to hear even herself or the wind blowing from below that restricted her voice from being heard? Lunaria didn't know. All that she could remember was blacking out in front of a purple glow.

The fact that she couldn't see anything around her, do anything or say anything, made her alarmed. Lunaria could feel her heart thumping violently in sheer agony over her helplessness. No matter what she tried to do, nothing worked at stopping the fall. She couldn't even see or feel the width of the hole she was falling into, only accompanied by endless darkness.

Just as she was about to burst to tears, her body suddenly stopped mid-air, creating a jerking motion that caught her off guard. She felt like she was floating, but at the same time finding an invisible solid beneath her. The floor itself wasn't a solid floor. It was like walking on air, yet she couldn't tell what it was exactly she was stepping on.

The first thing she did now that she had a platform to stand on was touch herself. She wanted to confirm her own identity, that she was Lunaria, a dragonkin of Aravel. While her sense of touch had not faded yet, it was fair to say that it was the only thing left of her now that her sight was robbed by the darkness and her ears deafened by the loud silence.

Taking a few deep breathes to calm herself down, she tried speaking once again to no avail. Nothing could be heard, nor did anything respond to her empty words.

Lunaria looked around desperately, as if searching for something. Her worries were answered when a flash of light zoomed past her iris, causing her to have a delayed reaction to instinctively look at the direction where the light was headed to. Her legs carried her along, wanting to not be left alone in the cold darkness.

A short sprint was all it took for Lunaria to arrive at the next zone. When she realized, she was already in what looked to be a hastily constructed dirt tunnel that was barely kept lit by the dying wooden torches kept hanging on the side of the wall. Lunaria hesitated, unsure of whether or not to follow on. Looking back at the empty space of black, she took her chances with the tunnel.

The tunnel gradually took shape as she continued traversing cautiously down the single straight path ahead. At first, everything looked blurry to her with distorted space, but now it became the 'reality' that Lunaria was used to seeing. The distorted lines stabilized, and the flickering lights became more prevalent. Lunaria's transition from a dark place to an area with light caused her to wince since her eyes still weren't used to the light yet.

Gradually, sound returned to her as well. She could hear the sound of dirt crunching under her feet with each step she took, which was a relief as that meant she hadn't gone deaf. Still, the unease did not settle within her, for she did not know where she was yet or how she got there.

A few more minutes of walking later, Lunaria found an opening up ahead. She was still underground, wherever she was, which meant the opening either had a chance to lead up to the surface or a split path. She could not even harness her magic powers right now, leaving her in a vulnerable state should an enemy appear.