by Weiqi Wang
‘Really?’ The crew all marvelled. ‘Let’s go, then… but that way is into the lake.’
‘Snower, you want to go swimming?’ Jemario took the kitten from Soarame’s arm, finding her claws indeed pointing at the lake.
‘Meow meow.’ Snower shook her little head. {There, there! }
‘I think she means to go around the lake to the other side.’ Soarame interpreted. So the crew followed Snower’s intention out of curiosity, and walked a long way to reach the other side of the lake; however, Snower was still pointing her claw forward and meowing.
‘Guys, are you sure we should still go ahead?’ Omifo asked. ‘We don’t know that area very well.’
‘Hey, what are you worried about?’ Catheray turned up her nose at this. ‘We are on campus, it’s safe!’
Most of the crew agreed with Catheray, so they went on exploring. But after quite a while of walking, Snower was still meowing to go ahead.
‘Soarame, are you sure you’re not playing with us?’ Jemario poked Soarame’s oxter. ‘We are already on the boundary of campus!’
‘Snower, are you sure you’re not playing us?’ Soarame poked Snower’s oxter, making everyone chuckle. ‘We are already on the boundary of campus!’
‘Meow!’ Snower was shaking her head rapidly, as if she was really anxious. {There, there! }
‘But there’s only a cliff in front of us.’ Soarame looked ahead at the sharp cliff, which was the symbol of the campus edge. ‘Snower, what do you actually want?’
‘Meow!’ Snower suddenly jumped out of Soarame’s arms and ran ahead alone. This astonished the crew; they all dashed forward to follow the kitten.
‘Snower, wait!’ Kardiac shouted at the top of his voice. Snower ran so fast that the team could barely keep up with her, and was never able to get any closer.
‘Oh my god, are you sure she’s just a baby?’ Seeing Snower finally stop at the bottom of the cliff, everyone was breathing heavily. Soarame rushed ahead to take the kitten back into his arms, but Snower raised her claw and waved towards the cliff —
A ray of green light emitted from Snower’s little palm, casting a circle of colour onto the cliff. Everyone could see the light, so it must be a magic spell of some sort.
‘Oh my, did you see that?’ Jemario muffled a scream. ‘What did she do?’
Everyone was taken aback. They looked left and right at each other, with eyes wide open.
‘Guys, we should go.’ Halgon suddenly spoke up. ‘I have a bad feeling…’
‘Jigaga….’
Before Halgon had finished his words, a blast of noise erupted out of the cliff. The noise sounded so loud and ferocious that it almost knocked everyone black. At some level of consciousness, they felt a big wave of suction that held them irresistibly. The next second, they felt an overwhelming dizziness that felt similar to when passing the Libral Gate, but a lot stronger —
‘Pong, pong, pong, pong, pong, pong!’
In a big space, completely dark, Soarame and his friends fell to the ground one after another. They got up quickly, finding themselves somehow teleported into this completely new strange place. Everyone was terrified.
‘What the heck is this?’ Kardiac cried in a shuddering voice. ‘Where are we?’ With that, Kardiac hurriedly chanted a short incantation and a tongue of flame emerged on the tip of his wand, providing them with some light. The team could now see that they were standing in a cave of some kind, facing an exit not too far ahead.
‘Snower, what did you do?’ Soarame searched around and found the little kitten, but Snower was not really able to properly communicate yet. She kept meowing rapidly, sounding anxious.
‘What did she say?’ Jemario grabbed Soarame’s arms out of fear. ‘Where are we?’
‘I don’t know. She probably doesn’t know either.’ Soarame shielded Jemario with his body. Thanks to Scankeen’s training, in this abnormal situation, Soarame exhibited calmness that was rare to see among his age. ‘We have to stay calm and find our way out, whatever this place is.’
‘Let’s call Chelonad first!’ Omifo was anxious. ‘Chelonad, we need help!’
They waited a few second, but Chelonad didn’t respond.
‘He probably can’t hear us.’ Halgon was guessing. ‘We are likely to be out of campus right now.’
‘Let me try.’ Kardiac was about to make full use of his lungs, but Halgon stopped him by covering his mouth —
‘Gulala.’ Just then, a weird noise came from somewhere.
‘What’s that?’ Heads turned in fear.
‘Gulalalala.’ The noise sounded clearer than the last time, as if it was approaching. Every few seconds it started up again, each time closer than the last one.
‘What the heck?!’ The kids were creeped out on hearing this; the girls already started to sob. Soarame hurriedly gathered his friends together, signalling them to be silent. Kardiac was asked to withdraw the flame, so that the cave became dark again. Snower also stopped meowing and hid in Soarame’s gown; Soarame could feel that she was shaking with Jemario together, both in his arms. At the same time, Halgon whispered to Omifo and Kardiac to take care of Catheray, then he walked up to the front of the team.
Strangely, when they became silent, the weird noise also stopped. The kids were trying hard to keep their breathing quiet, while looking around to get a better understanding of the environment; but this place was just too dark to provide any clues. No one dared to make any noise, so they had to touch each other for signalling, while breathing the tense air.
After a few minutes, the kids sent each other signals again to check if anyone had got anything new, but the answer seemed to be negative. Halgon thus started moving ahead, carefully. Catheray wanted to stop him, but Omifo dragged her back and signalled her to stay put. Halgon forged ahead for a few feet, but still couldn’t see anything, mainly because of the darkness in this place. Just when he was about to go further, a hand pressed on his shoulder, signalling him to stop.
Halgon looked back and could barely see Soarame, holding Jemario with one hand, grabbing him with another. Halgon leaned back to Soarame and heard him whisper. ‘It’s down there.’
Down? Halgon turned around and looked very carefully at the ground, then gasped — Soarame was right, the cave that they were in seemed to be somehow up in mid-air. That was to say, it was a hole in a wall. Right then Halgon was close to the exit of the cave, so if he had stepped further he might have fallen off. Halgon made a thumbs-up to Soarame — hopefully he could see it — and then moved slowly towards the exit to look out.
‘No, something is down there.’ Halgon was again stopped by Soarame, and heard his whisper. ‘It’s just out of the exit, hanging on the wall down there!’
What?! Halgon had a wave of goose bumps all over his body. Soarame could tell this because his special eyes saw the colour of magic elements — it’s yellow, meaning Earth. Halgon had no idea of that, but his instinct told him that Soarame was probably right. So Halgon started to fall back from the exit with Soarame, but stepped on a rock and made a small cracking noise —
‘Jigaga!’ The next second, something jumped up from outside of the cave and landed inside, roaring. The friends were all terrified; their screams echoed back and forth in the cave. Omifo had been prepared; he instantly performed Light magic and lit up his wand, so that the crew could see the thing that was coming for them —
It looked like a beetle of some sort, only that the size was as big as a buffalo.
‘Ahhh!’ The scary-looking creature made the friends scream again. ‘A monster!’
They tried to flee, but in the next second they realized that they were trapped — the cave was not deep, and the only exit was blocked by the giant beetle.
‘It’s a magimal, not a monster, so calm down.’ Halgon was in a defence pose with his wand in hand. ‘And I know that an insect-like magimal usually won’t be of a high rank, so we may be able to handle it if we stay together.’
‘Omifo, Kardiac, take care of Jemario and Snow
er.’ Soarame gritted his teeth and sent Jemario and Snower to the back. With his wand also in hand, Soarame was standing side by side with Halgon, confronting the giant beetle. Thanks to Scankeen, Soarame had seen lots of scary magimals from his master’s memory crystal in a most vivid way, so that he was not as panicked as his friends. However, he was amazed that Halgon was as confident as him.
‘Do you know this magimal?’ Soarame asked Halgon.
‘Not exactly, but it is probably a Darkness one.’ Halgon was observing the giant beetle.
‘It can do Earth, too.’ Soarame said with confidence. ‘So its scales must be tough.’
‘You are right! I know what it is now.’ Halgon suddenly remembered. ‘It’s a beetalbull, a level-5 magimal of Darkness and Earth. Careful; it’ll charge at us and try to knock us down.’
Halgon’s words reminded Soarame of the boar-like magimal when he was little, but that one was just a level-3, according to his master later on — that’s why it got scared off as soon as it sensed Soarame’s Lightning gift. This time, the problem would no longer be that easy.
‘Gulala.’ The beetalbull started to make the weird noise again and stepped forward towards the kids. Its mouth was opening and closing in a creepy way that freaked them out.
‘Stand upright and stretch your body!’ Halgon commanded. ‘Make yourself look big; or it may charge at any time!’
‘Ahh!’ A scream sounded from behind — Kardiac slipped and fell. The beetalbull was instantly attracted; it roared again and charged at the boy lying on the ground.
‘Haaww!’ At the same time, Halgon charged against the beetalbull to save his friend. However, he was too small and light and bounced off right away, falling over feet away onto his back. But thanks to his effort, the beetalbull had stopped too.
‘Halg!’ Everyone was worried, but Halgon jumped up from the ground swiftly, with a shield of some kind on his left arm.
‘I’m okay! It can’t break my stone shield.’ Halgon waved his hand and walked forwards again. ‘You guys check around, see if there’s another way to get out!’
‘Jigaga… Jigaga!’ Just when the team started to work on it, another roar sounded from outside of the cave. Everyone paled on hearing this — there was more than one beetalbull out there, and it sounded like they were coming in!
‘Oh my god, we’re done.’ Kardiac muttered. ‘No! No, no!’
‘Don’t say that!’ Soarame yelled back at him. ‘We’ve got each other, we’ll all be fine!’
‘What can we do?’ Kardiac didn’t buy this. ‘We are all just Novices and they are all Adepts!’
‘Another one!’ Omifo suddenly screamed, as they saw another giant figure climb up to the cave and squeeze through the opening.
Soarame gnashed his teeth hard and was determined to spell his best magic — windblades. Although he was supposed to keep his secret, at this moment he had no other choice.
‘Soarame, what are you doing!’ Jemario screamed at Soarame with Snower in her arms. She saw him walking ahead towards the two beetalbulls, alone. ‘Don’t be stupid! You can’t fight them!’
‘Trust me guys, there’s no other way.’ Soarame took a deep breath and looked back at his friends. ‘Get ready to break out with me!’
‘Let me help you!’ Halgon hurried forward with his stone shield covering his front, but Soarame gesticulated to him to stay back and stepped further ahead —
‘Gulala.’ Before anyone spoke again, the beetalbulls made the weird noise again and moved backwards as Soarame approached. Everyone was surprised to see this, including Soarame himself. The boy hesitated for a second, then decided to try approaching one step more —
‘Gulala!’ Both of the beetalbulls fell back immediately, looking restless for some reason. Soarame stepped further ahead, and the beetalbulls started to roar as if they sensed a threat, and kept falling back.
‘They are afraid of you!’ Halgon’s eyes brightened up. ‘But why?’
‘I don’t know!’ Soarame was bewildered to see this sudden change. He was about to spell his windblades, but now it seemed that he didn’t have to anymore. Soarame stepped forward again, and this time another beetalbull arrived at the cave, but knocked into the two retreating ones and got bounced up. The three beetalbulls were knocking against each other and making creepy noises, clearly in chaos.
‘Beetalbulls don’t have good eyes or ears, but they have excellent noses.’ Halgon suddenly spoke up. ‘There must be something on you that frightened them! What are you carrying in your gown?’
‘Snower, don’t!’ Just when everyone was thinking about this, Jemario suddenly screamed — Snower jumped from her arms and ran towards Soarame. The next second, she got onto Soarame’s chest and scratched him from inside the gown.
‘Oh, you mean this?’ Soarame was surprised until he understood what Snower’s action meant, and took something out from his gown —
A big, black feather.
‘Meow!’ Snower stretched out her little fluffy head from Soarame’s collar, nodding rapidly.
The feather from Volsta! Soarame was suddenly enlightened. They can smell Volsta, and Volsta is a high-ranking magimal, so they are afraid!
Thinking this, Soarame held the feather out and stretched his arm towards the beetalbulls. The three giant magimals immediately retreated several feet back; they looked too nervous to even roar anymore.
‘They fear this feather!’ Soarame was certain now. He raised the black feather to his forehead and walked towards the beetalbull, making them panic and try to flee. The one on the back was the first to get squeezed out of the cave and fell off, screaming while dropping.
‘Is this real?’ Everyone marvelled at this, especially Kardiac. ‘We don’t have to die now?’
‘Shut up!’ Catheray kicked his shank. The team started to follow Soarame and move forwards, nervous but excited.
‘Holy crap!’ The team didn’t take long to reach the exit of the cave, but when they look outwards, their blood froze. There was a gigantic cave in front, with countless small caves — just like the one that they stood in — all over the wall of the gigantic cave. The cave they were in was halfway up the wall, a hundred feet from the ground that they could barely see. There were some things moving between the ground below and each small cave, and they were countless in number.
‘It’s a beetalbull nest!’ Halgon gasped at this. ‘Thank god we had the feather, otherwise…’
‘Look! They are climbing up to us!’ Jemario pointed downwards at a wave of dark figures. ‘Dozens of them!’
‘Oh no!’ Soarame had goose bumps when he saw them. ‘There’s no way back, so we need to hold up here!’
The beetalbulls approached the team soon enough. They all sensed the threat from the feather but there were too many of them now; they seemed to be ready to join forces and launch their attack some time later. Right then, hundreds of beetalbulls gathered around the exit of the small cave, hanging on the wall, encircling Soarame and his friends from up and down, left and right of the exit.
‘Holy mama!’ Kardiac was about to wet his pants. ‘They are going to eat us! They are ready!’
‘Could you just shut up?!’ Catheray kicked him, tears in her eyes. Jemario was grabbing Soarame’s gown from behind, peeking at the accumulating beetalbulls as time passed, looking terrified. Omifo made a desperate try to shine a ray of light into a beetalbull’s eyes, but it just turned its head to dodge the direct contact with the ray — no miracle happened.
‘Damn it!’ Halgon muttered. He inhaled a deep breath and seemed to be determined. ‘Guys, stand behind me. Let me do this.’
‘What? What do you want to do?’ Soarame asked.
‘We may never see each other again, but I’m glad I’m here and met you guys.’ Halgon cracked a wan smile. ‘See you guys! Good luck!’
‘No!!’ Although Soarame wasn’t sure what Halgon was about to do, he knew it wasn’t going to be good. He instantly grabbed Halgon’s arm and tried to drag him back, only to f
ind that this boy was surprisingly strong and he could not move him by an inch. Madly anxious, Soarame had to jump in front of him to stop him from whatever he was about to do — ‘No way!!!’
With Soarame’s roaring, a ray of green light glimmered from his necklace. The light was very dim, so no one noticed it except for Snower, who was grovelling right on top of it.
‘Hmm?!’ The next second, a large deep voice sounded all over the gigantic cave. ‘Are you kidding me? How did you kids get in here?’
‘Chelonad!’ The crew recognised Chelonad’s voice. ‘Help, please!’
‘Sure. Go through that gate behind you.’ Chelonad commanded. ‘Go!’
The kids looked back to the other end of the cave and saw a whirlpool emerging. With Soarame and Halgon covering the retreat, the team quickly backed off and stepped into the whirlpool. At that happened, the gang of beetalbulls instantly started chasing and hunting behind, but Halgon managed to summon a series of stone thorns that spiked out of the wall and the ground to obstruct their way. However, a beetalbull still got Halgon’s leg and tried to take him, when Soarame was about to step into the whirlpool and leave.
‘Let go, you freak!’ Halgon was yelling aloud, but couldn’t escape from it. Just when he was desperate to practice his unknown final plan, Soarame pounced onto the beetalbull, with the tail of the feather stabbing hard at it. The beetalbull was freaked out by the feather and sprang back, so Soarame took Halgon and dash towards the whirlpool.
‘Your feather!’ Halgon saw the black feather bumped out of Soarame’s hand and dropped on the ground, so he was thinking to fetch it; however it was too risky to do that in front of a blast of beetalbulls, and they couldn’t afford the failure. Soarame was also anxious, but he knew the timing didn’t allow him to do anything.
Just then, a white flash emanated from Soarame’s chest, pounced at the feather, got it and returned in a blink. The boys were both awestruck and excited to see this; they threw themselves at the whirlpool without hesitation this time.
‘Oh my god, there you are!’ On the lawn, the rest of the team had been horribly anxious until Soarame and Halgon emerged. They had been out here for a little while; the longer it took for Soarame and Halgon to appear, the more their fears grew. ‘Are you alright? Did you get hurt?’