The Stars Are Dimming

DEMPHIN

The flames in the fireplace crackled, illuminating the darkness of the cavern. From the wall, they could hear water dripping and gushing down, and the cave led deep down, which Demphin and Felros decided to not investigate. The limestone cavern was filled with insects, and sometimes they could hear a hiss and screech, then silence. For once or twice Felros and Demphin jumped, but soon it seemed to be normal. When they ate, the light bluish glow of the seven stars radiated down onto the entrance of the cavern, the light cascading down onto the ground.

"So, Demphin," Felros asked when they were about to sleep, "We never expected ourselves here, huh?"

Demphin simply nodded and stared up at the top of the cavern.

"About Gurzuk and all other things happening... what do you think about it?"

"You're afraid?"

"No," Felros replied, "But I feel... nervous, that something worse than Gurzuk is coming. I can feel the darkness rising underneath our feet, preparing to erupt."

Demphin did not reply but continued staring at the top of the cavern. For some time, no one spoke and there was utter silence with the exception of continuous drips of water from the top of the cavern onto the floor.

"I think, that there is hope," Demphin muttered after a long time, "If the strength of the light increases when darkness gets more powerful, no matter how powerful darkness gets the light can be powerful enough to stop it. Balance, the man you met previously said, right? That is what keeps the darkness or the light alive, but it is also the greatest weakness of the darkness. Only because of balance, can the dark not overpower the light."

"But, you do not understand how powerful I sensed the darkness in the man to be!" Felros said, her voice tense.

"I mean, who knows? The unexpected can happen at the last moment. Anyways, try to turn in, we have gotta cover a long distance tomorrow!" Demphin stood and snuffed the small flame Demphin produced from his finger with his magic, and the cavern was thrown into darkness...

***

Demphin woke. It was the middle of the night, and he felt a cold slithery body touch his skin. He froze. Poisonous snakes roamed the Outskirts, but Demphin never thought he would find them there. He opened his eyes by a fraction, and from the walls of the cave hundreds of green eyes glanced back at him, and he jumped. Hundreds of glaring, sharp and painful eyes moved at once, and all of a sudden they were on him. Demphin yelped, startling Felros.

"Wha..." Felros seemed startled for a moment, then saw the slithery bodies all around the caves. "Run, Demphin!" Felros tried going out of the cave, but the snakes piled upon one another, blocking the walls of the cavern and were spilling out from small gaps on the walls, and there seemed to be only one place to hide -- escaping deep into the grotto.

Demphin's only mastery was at healing, and Felros could do no more than freezing a few snakes, so the duo escaped into the darkness of the cavern, their shoes echoing on the ground of the cavern. 

"Ya got a plan?" Felros glanced at Demphin, who shook his head. Behind, the snakes gained upon them, then in front of them, the cave tunnel widened to a hall.

"Shit! A dead end!" Demphin turned back, but the snakes had already filled the tunnel behind them, and were advancing smoothly, quickly, gaining on them, "What do we do?"

Felros flicked her finger in the direction, and frost trails froze some snakes in their path. The snakes paused for a moment, but afterwards immediately continued their way towards them. "I will hold them back!" Felros shouted to him, "You take care of the big guy!"

"Wha--" Demphin did not know who or what the 'big guy' Felros said was, but then he turned around and saw it -- a towering beast more than a dozen feet tall, and seemed to be a combination of a scorpion and a serpent, a serpent with pincers to be exact. Beneath its legs, thousands of bones of not only humans, but a variety of creatures lay, and the serpent charged straight at him, the loud breaking of bones sounded beneath its feet as it lumbered.

Demphin dodged the serpent and rolled behind a boulder. He held up his hands, and his staff appeared in front of his hands. Demphin grabbed it and leaped over the boulder onto the serpent, but it moved away and swiped its pincers at Demphin. Demphin barely evaded the pincers when the second strike came, and he parried the blows and had a lucky shot to its eye with his magic.

It howled in agony but did not seem to give up. From the corner of Demphin's eyes, he saw Felros falling, being bitten by snakes twice, and that moment that he was not focused proved to be his fatal error -- the serpent knocked Demphin off balance and his staff slid away from its grasp. Demphin tried to form a blast of destructive green magic, but it was too late, the serpent already was about to give its fatal final blow to Demphin.

Demphin shut his eyes tight, waiting for the final blow, but it did not come. When Demphin opened his eyes once more, the serpent lay on the ground, a black spear lodged in its throat. He looked towards the entrance of the cave and there a boy stood on top of a dead pile of snakes, and beside him he saw Felros lying there, unconscious.

"Ar-Qosh," Demphin was surprised, "What brings you here?"

"My master sent me to the Edge," Ar-Qosh replied, frowning suspiciously, "But what brings you here? Do you still believe that we are the ones who used Gurzuk?"

Demphin thought for a moment, and then decided that he would not disclose that Gwyndale sent them there, and the true reason they came, which would prove Ar-Qosh's suspicions right, so Demphin replied while picking up his staff, "We sneaked out of the realms, for we thought Gwyndale did not care whether we survived the darkness or not; he did not even care about Gurzuk."

The tension in the hall eased, and Demphin helped Ar-Qosh carry Felros to the entrance of the cave. Demphin knelt down and found two fang marks on her throat and arm. He closed his eyes and placed two fingers on Felros' wounds and eased some healing magic from his inner self. He felt the poison surge out of her wound, but some instead was already in her blood, and Demphin used some more magic to heal the blood. Once it was done, Demphin stood and turned to Ar-Qosh.

"So, Demphin... how is it?" Ar-Qosh stared at Demphin uncertainly.

"Felros is alright now, she just needs adequate rest and the remnants of poison would heal," Demphin frowned slightly.

"But how is she going to get enough rest in this freaking place, and with your meagre supplies we won't last that long!"

"That is what I worry about, but at least our supplies could last for a week at most, so we need to be quick. Have some rest tonight, she will awake by tomorrow sunrise."