Down Below

It was a nice fall morning, still close enough to summer that the pale sun warmed Fantasia’s fur. Sky bounced in the air above him, as if she was hopping through deep snow, only that her paws were never even close to touching the ground. “So, like I was saying—”

But before she could finish, something tangled around Fantasia’s paws, tripping them and sending them tumbling to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Sky asked, flying a little lower to check up on her friend.

Fantasia opened her mouth to answer when the ground opened up, and they dropped. Sky called after them, but the ground closed as quickly as it had opened.

The landing was rough, pressing the air out of Fantasia’s lungs, and for a little while, all they could do was lie there and try to catch his breath. The thing he’d stumbled over, thin metal wire, was cutting into her legs; once the pain had subsided a bit, she carefully pulled it off, losing bits of spotted fur in the process. The only light down here were Fantasia’s flames and markings, bathing the cave’s walls in a dim red glow, almost spookier than complete darkness would have been. They took a little time to lick their injured paws, healing the cuts with their magic.

Now what?

Fantasia leapt up a wall, digging her claws in as well as he could, but after his second jump the wall crumbled. They lost their footing and barely managed to land on their paws, dirt showering them. So climbing wasn’t an option.

There was a single tunnel leading out of the cave. Fantasia walked to it, but hesitated. It felt like a trap—it definitely wasa trap, judging by the tripwire.

He sniffed, but there was no sign of another Seldnac down here, only the scent of soil and stale air. What to do? He could follow the tunnel, he could hope for Sky to bring help, or he could try to dig his way out. None of these options was great, and if they chose wrong…

She took one timid step into the tunnel, then immediately retreated. Sky would definitely try to help, but would she be successful? And how far had the fall been, was it a height Fantasia could dig, or would they die of thirst before reaching the surface? What kinds of traps were hiding in the tunnel? Could they avoid them, or would they take them by surprise?

Fantasia panted as they paced the walls of the cave. Stop. Calm down.

He forced herself to take slow, deep breaths. Think. If he wanted to use the tunnel, she had to go now, or they might end up too weak to deal with whatever dangers lurked in it.

The thought made her shiver, and caused her to accidentally activate her barrier magic.

They deactivated the shield again. Someone had made this trap, and that person was presumably not an idiot, which meant that they had probably taken some precautions to make sure a Seldnac would have to use the tunnel. Maybe there were metal plates all around, or maybe something else to stop someone from digging out.

Fantasia stepped up to the tunnel entrance. She had no way of knowing whether it would even lead outside. But if the trap had any purpose, then there should be access for whoever made it somewhere, right? At least Fantasia hoped so.

He took a deep breath and activated the barrier again.

Fantasia’s paws shook as they took one step, then another. No traps so far. The soft glow of the barrier made it even harder to make out anything in the darkness beyond, but Fantasia didn’t dare drop their only means of protection. Every breath was shakier than the last, and they had to force their paws forward for every single step. The tunnel felt endless, but maybe Fantasia was just walking incredibly slowly. Still nothing.

Somehow, that only made Fantasia even more anxious.

The tunnel finally made a turn. Fantasia stopped and leaned forward, squinting past the barrier when something shot towards her. She yelped and jumped back just in time, and the object, a small stone, bounced harmlessly off the wall.

Fantasia’s heart thumped so hard he was worried it might just stop. Ten seconds. Thirty. A minute. No second shot. After another minute, Fantasia forced himself to return to the corner, shivering worse with every step. They leaned forward again, and—nothing. No second stone, no arrows, and nothing even worse.

One step, then another, and another, and Fantasia was around the corner. She continued down the tunnel even more carefully than before. Was the ground sloping downwards, or was that just their imagination? Fantasia desperately hoped for the latter. If this path really was the wrong one, they were doomed.

The barrier magic was starting to tire Fantasia out. They stopped, and after some more hesitation, Fantasia dropped the shield and sat down to rest for a moment. He felt incredibly vulnerable without the barrier, and his ears kept swiveling back and forth, trying to catch even the faintest sound, get the warning just a split second earlier.

Something was glittering in the red light, only a few meters ahead of Fantasia. She carefully edged towards it, stopping after every step to look for dangers. A noise sounded behind him, making him duck, but it was only a bit of dirt coming loose from the ceiling.

The glittering turned out to be an underground pond, the other shore just barely visible at the edge of Fantasia’s vision. It wasn’t too far to swim, but the water smelled sour; definitely not safe to drink, and they didn’t want to take a bath in it, either. But they did have to cross in some way if she wanted to continue.

A few logs swam in the foul water, smaller branches scattered between them. Even if the pond had formed naturally, those had to have been placed by someone!

Fantasia wasn’t too great at climbing, and if the walls were similar to the cave, then they were too brittle to carry Fantasia’s weight, but maybe they could jump over the logs… If the wood wasn’t too rotten, and if it wasn’t a trap. Not for the first time in their life, Fantasia envied Sky’s flying magic.

He wished he could turn on the barrier magic again, have at least a little protection, but that would’ve made it even harder to see where he had to jump, and with the choice between being vulnerable to traps and risking a fall into thiswater, Fantasia opted for the traps.

He gathered her paws underneath themself. If there’d ever been a moment she did not want to trip, it was right now. He aimed at an old tree stump, jumped—and landed on it. The stump swayed side to side as Fantasia looked around for the next piece of wood, the sour air stinging in their nostrils.

They made it to the next log, but it moved around more than the last, and the water touched the pads of his hind paws. It felt weirdly slimy, and Fantasia had to fight the reflex to shake their paws; she could not risk making the log move even more, or else she might end up losing her balance.

The next few jumps were uneventful, and the shore was close now. For a moment, Fantasia considered trying to leap all the way, but that jump would have been risky. Instead, they aimed at another tree stump about halfway to it. Their front legs landed on it—and crashed through the wood with a loud crunch, followed by a splash as the water closed above Fantasia’s head. He quickly got back to the surface, the water burning in his eyes and nose as they made their way to the shore. Soon, Fantasia pulled herself on dry land and shook her fur. The grimy water stuck to his pelt, though, coating him in foul liquid. Fantasia tried shaking it out again, but to no avail. The red light from their markings was dimmer now, and his skin soon started to itch.

She activated her barrier magic again and continued, slowly following the tunnel.

After a little while, a part of the floor gave under Fantasia’s paws and dropped a little, not far, just enough to startle them. Only a heartbeat later, whistling sounds filled the air, and Fantasia dropped to the ground right as something flew past above them. The whistling didn’t stop. More things Fantasia couldn’t quite make out soared past, and every now and then, something bounced off the barrier. It wouldn’t stop, so Fantasia, still lying on his stomach, crawled forward, just hoping that the barrier would hold.

He had to clench her teeth to keep it up, always expecting that the next thing would break through, that soon would be the end.

Then the attacks stopped. No whistling, nothing hitting the barrier, and instead—light! Fantasia waited as long as he could before dropping the barrier and looking around, paws firmly planted in place lest they ended up activating another trap.

She was in a cave again, larger than the first. The light was coming from another tunnel far above, just underneath the ceiling; it was faint, but it was there! Light had to mean an exit! They just had to get all the way up there.

Most of the cave was taken up by a large tower-like pile of dirt, covered in half-rotten wood. There might one day have been platforms or stairs attached to it, but if so, time had torn them down. Fantasia’s best bet were probably the rusty pieces of metal and the occasional stones poking out from the tower, then.

Fantasia carefully approached the pile. The cave was huge, and if they fell from that thing… But it couldn’t be too much worse than the first drop, right? And he’d survived that one. And, more importantly, she didn’t have much of a choice. If only his paws could stop shaking!

They mustered the rest of their magic reserves to activate the barrier one last time as they walked around the pile, trying to find the best place to start. There was nothing in reach of just one jump, so Fantasia had to settle for something else. Above her, a rock was poking out of the tower, right next to the remnant of a wooden ledge. Two, maybe three jumps should get them there, and if the ledge held, that should allow them to get on the rock.

If.

Ifthe ledge held, and ifthey managed at least those few jumps.

Fantasia took a deep breath, ignoring the stench of the foul water that still clung to his fur, dropped the barrier, and jumped. The dirt here was denser than on the walls, and seemed to support his weight. What had their father told them about climbing back when they’d been a cub? Never look down, don’t think too much, focus only on what’s ahead, use your claws.

All good advice, though Fantasia had always struggled with properly following it. Her skill had to be enough for now, though. Fantasia pressed their hind legs against the pile, trying to push himself a little further up. The dirt still held. Another one, and now the ledge was in reach, right when the soil began to crumble, and Fantasia’s back paws lost their footing. Now she hung on with only their front legs, trying to find some place to put her back paws, but all she accomplished was kicking even more dirt loose. Not much longer, and the whole area would fall apart, sending Fantasia back to the ground. They wanted to yelp in a panic, but were panting too hard for that. His right front paw was starting to come loose, too.

They reached up, and her claws barely managed to grab hold of the wooden ledge. The wood felt far too soft for comfort, but it was better than the crumbling earth! Fantasia pulled himself up until both front paws were attached to the ledge, and over here was still enough dirt to put their hind legs, allowing him to jump on the rock.

She waited for a few moments, trying to get his breathing back under control. She was nowhere even near the mid-point, but she had to rest for a bit before she could continue. At least the rock seemed secure, there was no dirt falling away around it and it wasn’t shaking or slipping. But where to now? One of the wooden platforms had mostly survived the tooth of time, and Fantasia could’ve reached it with one big leap and a little bit of luck, but what if it was too rotten to support their weight? Then he’d have to start again from the beginning, if he didn’t break a paw in the fall. Better to look for something else.

In another direction was a piece of metal, red with rust. It was narrow, but big enough for Fantasia to stand on and jump off of.

Two climbing jumps over the dirt and Fantasia reached the piece. They were looking for a good place to go to next when a loud screeching filled the air, and the metal dropped sharply; Fantasia nearly lost his footing and barely caught himself when the metal slowed, but it didn’t quite come to a halt. She jumped, vaguely in the direction of something that had looked like a rock, just before the metal dropped to the floor with a loud clang.

Their front legs reached the rocks, but their back legs now dangled uselessly over the edge. They struggled, trying to find a foothold in the smooth stone, and after some sheer endless seconds, pulled herself up fully. Then the rock too, moved, and Fantasia could only jump further, digging her claws into the tower again. Where to now? She knew she didn’t have much time, or else the dirt might come loose again. Left? Right? Just straight up?

Fantasia tried up, climbing as fast as they could, until they spotted another rock out of the corner of his eye. But would that one hold? What if it didn’t? But what if the dirt came lose instead? Maybe they should try the wooden pieces? Or more metal? Fantasia’s heart was racing, he hated not having the time to think, to pause, to calm down, but they had to keep going.

He moved towards the rock and finally landed on it. It held. All Fantasia wanted to do right now was sink down and close her eyes, try to forget the whole situation, rest, wait for her heart to stop thumping quite so hard. But that would risk this rock coming loose, too. Fantasia should keep moving as soon as possible. So instead of resting, he looked around, trying to find the next ledge, rock, whatever could bring them closer to the exit tunnel. She was almost there. Only a few more jumps.

There, right across from the tunnel, was another metal platform. That should work, but he had to climb quite a bit. What if she couldn’t hold on anymore? What if the dirt was more brittle up there?

But Fantasia forcefully shook his head. He couldn’t wait long enough to think about better paths. She took some shaky breaths and jumped as high as they could, digging their claws into the dirt, paw after paw, slowly climbing higher and higher. The dirt held. Once or twice one of Fantasia’s paws came loose, but while her heart beat as if it wanted to jump out of her chest every time, he always found a new place to hold on to, until he finally reached the metal platform.

This time, she didn’t need to—nor dare to—look around and immediately jumped off it into the tunnel.

Now, finally, Fantasia could sink to the ground, eyes closed, panting heavily. He whined softly, even though he knew that there was no one here to come and comfort her.

It took Fantasia a few minutes to calm down enough to open their eyes and slowly get up again. She didn’t have enough energy to use her barrier magic, so he had to rely on just her senses to get through this tunnel safely. He walked carefully, eyes wide open and ears perked, as the light steadily grew stronger. It almost hurt his eyes after the dim tunnels.

Finally, the tunnel opened into a third cave, smaller than the other two. A tattered banner hung from the ceiling, too old and torn to read, and behind it was a set of stairs. Was that the way outside?

Fantasia wanted to run, but he forced themself to walk slowly, still on the lookout for traps, but nothing happened. Only a few steps up, and she was finally, finally standing on grass instead of dirt, lit by sunlight instead of flickering red flames. Fantasia wanted to curl up and cry once again, this time out of relief. How long had she been down there? Hours? A day? It seemed to be early evening by now. When she and Sky had come this way, it had been sometime in the morning, but was it still the same day?

Sky! Sky had seen him fall, she had to be incredibly worried! Fantasia wondered how far away they were now. She knew the tunnel had made at least one turn, but that was all he was really sure about. How should they find Sky? Or their way back into the city? Was Sky looking for them? She probably was, but where? 

He tried sniffing the air to see if hers and Sky’s scent was anywhere, but the dip in that pond made sure that all Fantasia could smell was sour underground water. Their voice wasn’t loud enough that calling would be of much help, either. What else? Maybe if he came across another Seldnac, he could ask if they had seen Sky… That would mean talking to a stranger, but…

Luckily, a very familiar voice ripped Fantasia from their thoughts.

“Patches! There you are! I was so worried!” Sky landed with so much speed she kicked up quite a bit of grass and dust and showered Fantasia with it. Not like it made much of a difference, considering the state of Fantasia’s fur. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? Do you need anything?” Sky hovered again and circled Fantasia, as if looking for any wounds.

Fantasia nuzzled their friend. “I’m—I’m okay. Mostly. I promise.” Physically, at least. “How long… How long have I been down there?”

“A few hours, I think.”

At least it hadn’t been a whole day.

“Oh, I called some help, I’ll go tell them we’ve got you back safe and sound! As soon as you’re somewhere nice. The city is that way. Do you need anything? Food? Water? A hug?”

Despite of how tired they were, Fantasia couldn’t help but smile. “Mostly, a bath. And then what you said. And then some sleep.”

“All right!” Sky flew in a circle right above Fantasia’s head, then dropped to the ground so the two of them could walk side by side. “I’m so glad I didn’t lose you.”

Fantasia leaned down to nudge Sky. “And I’m glad I didn’t stay lost.”

They spent the rest of the way back to the city in silence, but despite that, or maybe because of that, Fantasia was more than ever happy to have Sky’s company.