There were too many of those spider things coming our way, all screaming and screeching. They came crawling through he walls, ceiling and floor.!

  “Aspen! They are coming…ah!”

  Aspen grabbed me on her maw and began to run towards the horde.

  “Hey! What are you doing?!”

  Running towards the attacking army was not her best idea. The hundreds of meters that they were apart quickly went down, and she was not stopping.

  “Aspen!” I demanded an answer.

  “I’m breaking through!” She yelled as she jumped to dodge the first line of those monsters.

  The monsters spitted, swinging their weapons and tried to grab us, but Aspen moved faster through them, jumped over their heads and skipped with speed over the massive group of monstrous spiders that were coming for us.

  Maybe it was a case of tunnel vision, or the corruption in their minds was numbing their judgement completely until they became thralls that just fought. They hit each other, blinded themselves with their poison spits, and killed themselves trying to reach us.

  Even if Aspen’s idea was dangerous, she was pulling it off, but even if I could not deny the results, I was going to scold her like never before.

  But then…

  “Ah! Aspen! Watch out!”

  “Watch out what?”

  But it was late. She jumped over the last row of them and into a chasm.

  “Ah!” We both screamed.

  The Arakins screeched behind us, and turned while we were free-falling.

  The fall went down for several meters, and if Aspen hit the ground as she was gaining speed, I was not sure she would survive it!

  I pulled out of her mouth and sheathed myself under her armor and pulled up!

  “Aspen! What are you made of?!” I demanded an answer.

  “What do you mean made of?!”

  What the hell was my strength stat for anyway?!

  [Aspen is still pretty heavy.]

  “Yeah! Heavier than I thought!”

  “H-heavy?! Hey! I am not heavy! I am strong and with muscles! Hey!”

  We landed at the bottom with little to no grace. Aspen tripped, and I got caught on her armor for a couple of minutes.

  "Agh! Get off!" she yelled while trying to pull away.

  "Don't move or I might cut... ah! There!" I pulled out without accidentally cutting the threads that held her armor together.

  “Hmph! You are really annoying when you want to!” Aspen said.

  “Are you seriously going to give me an attitude for that?! Didn’t you say it was all muscles?”

  [Eeehhh… not wanting to interrupt you, but you kind of have an emergency?]

  The Arakins were coming down the chasm! Fast, screeching and wailing and anger.

  “Shit! Aspen let’s move… huh?”

  When I was about to tell her to grab me and run, the Arakins tried to stop.

  The ones in the front tried to not move forward but got pushed. One fell a few meters in front of us, startling Aspen who growled at it… but it immediately screeched in fear, it turned around and began to claw its way back up in desperation.

  “Why did it run away?” Aspen asked.

  [They seem scared of something… Warning! Anomalous Ether fluctuation detected!]

  That is when I noticed them.

  Tendrils of ether, like I had never seen before. They seemed like tentacles, and they swirled around us like trying to grab us but dissolved before they could get any grip on us.

  Dark. Every one of them was dark.

  “SI feel something is looking at me…” Aspen said, searching for that something.

  I felt it too. It was not the Arakin, who where staring at us without moving forward.

  Suddenly, Aspen lowered her body, growling, but her position was not one of threat, it was one of fear, acting like a cornered beast warning to back off out of fear. She stepped back , like trying to fight her urges to run away.

  Something was down there with us capable of scaring the mindless thralls of a hive mind.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  Something big, something dark, something lurking in those parts of the caves.

  “...forward…”

  I heard a voice.

  “Huh? Forward?” I asked.

  “Forward? What are you talking about?” Aspen, confused, asked.

  “Y-you didn’t hear that?”

  “ not fear…” the voice again, “...you are close… I can feel it… be careful…”

  I recognized that voice…

  “Ella…”

  “Hah? Ella? What about her?”

  “I can hear her… inside me.”

  The voice was not coming from anywhere else, but from me. Ella’s soul was speaking with me, telling me to move forward and to not fear.

  But whatever was producing that dark Ether was trying to do the contrary. Is odd, and at that moment I was not sure how I felt it, but maybe the hive mind controlling the Arakins did. That thing observing us, generating that dark magical energy was screaming at us through its aura to turn around and leave.

  It was like an impulse to escape, to be afraid of whatever was there.

  “We need to investigate.” I answered.

  “What? Alice, that seems dangerous!”

  Even Aspen, who just threw herself at a horde of monsters in order to push through and keep us progressing, was afraid of whatever was there.

  [I don’t know what is up ahead, but it’s Ether signal is more heavy than anything you had seen so far in the caves! Be careful!]

  I already had a confirmation.

  Or maybe that was not a message to run.

  No, it came from us.

  It was our instincts kicking in, telling us that the thing producing that Ether was too powerful for us, it could devour us if it was so inclined.

  “Aspen, don’t worry.” I began to move forward, as I had this off feeling that we were approaching something we needed, “we have been through a lot. I am sure this will be fine.”

  She doubted, but nodded.

  We ventured once more into the darkness, together.

  }------------------------------------------o~o------------------------------------------{

  Nothing lived down there. Not even plants. It was somehow more empty than the caves of the Arakin that we so briefly visited.

  Have you ever felt that sensation that you are too close to reaching the end of a very long journey? Finally that last score for your grades that your life hangs on? Or that long project finally seeing completion? Or maybe finally getting close to reaching that last level so you can fight the final boss of the game?

  That is how I felt at that moment.

  But it came in mixed with the sensation that the road was going to get blocked, I should have studied one more week, the project file was going to get corrupted and that my save file was going to get deleted by accident.

  Whatever was there at the end of the road, I felt, I was not ready to face. At least not yet. Call it gut feeling, instinct, premonition, whatever.

  Maybe I should have paid attention to that fear.

  Aspen stopped. So did I.

  After walking for a few minutes in the dark, in complete silence thanks to the ominous sensation, we finally found a room where we there was actually something.

  From the ceiling, broken in parts thanks to roots and rocks that came from over us, came in light. Not mushrooms, not from an animal.

  No.

  Bright sun light, coming down like a beam from heaven.

  “What is wrong with that light? It is bright!” Aspen took a step forward, sniffing at it from the distance.

  “That… that is the sun.” I answered.

  It was a day outside. A bit of light was coming in from between a giant tree that was above us. Its roots traveled down through the walls of the caves and buried themselves into the ground.

  “W-wait… the sun? Like in Ella’s tales? The one in the sky? Then, we are…”

  Aspen could not believe what she was hearing. She was completely astounded. But I was sure, it was the sun. That was the last room! The one I had been searching for over a month already. The one the wolves were searching since their birth as a self-conscious species.

  The room itself was as magnifique as expected. A large space, with lilac colored flowers decorating the landscape in a majestic field, giving it an oddly serene sensation at the naked eye.

  At the other end, there it was. A large stone door. Ominous and impossible to miss.

  But… There was a problem.

  [Warning! Large Ether Source detected!]

  I didn't need Erika to tell me, but it did confirm it.

  In the middle of the room, right at the center of the field of flowers, sitting on her knees, facing the door, was someone.

  Large dark with purple hue hair, wearing armor and a cape behind her.

  “Is that…?” Aspen saw it.

  “A human.”

  It was a human, or it seemed to be. I could not see her face, but I was sure it was a woman.

  And around her was the dark Ether. A very dark toned purple Ether. It didn’t seem natural, it didn't seem like it belonged to that world. It danced around her like trying to grab everything around it.

  It was overwhelming, heavy and strong. I would not be exaggerating if I said I could taste that Ether.

  It was a beast.

  “…” Ella’s voice again, “ is… be careful… my friend…”

  Even Ella’s soul was worried.

  I floated nearby. Aspen stood behind, ears perked up in case.

  It did not react.

  “H-hello?” I asked.

  No response.

  Something was telling me I had found something dark.

  I moved closer. Aspen began to follow me.

  “H-hey! A-are you injured?” I moved around, trying to see if they would turn around.

  We continued approaching. Slower, carefully.

  And then…

  SWOOOOSH!

  CLANK!

  She turned around, and swung a sword at me!

  The attack was to sudden, I failed to dodge it.

  [HP: 81%]

  I missed the worst of it, but sparks came out of the contact and I almost lost balance.

  “T-that was fast!” Aspen said.

  We both moved back to take distance.

  And then I saw her face.

  I could not believe what I saw.

  Something… it had to be a mistake!

  “H-huh…? Why? How?!” I flew backwards, trying to gain distance as I fell in disbelief.

  It swung its blade once more at us.

  The swing came with a purple line that followed the blade.

  Aspen dodged, but I was still stunned and got hit with the worst of it. A small crack formed in my blade as I was sent flying from the impact. The flowers the blade touched were unharmed.

  [HP: 34%]

  [Warning! HP on critical levels! Alice! Snap out of it and react! It is going to kill you!]

  “Alice! What is happening?!” Aspen yelled.

  The swordswoman began to walk towards me.

  Aspen, to defend me, jumped at her and began to bite at her armored arm.

  But she shoved Aspen with ease, throwing her upwards and then kicked her in the guts to send her tumbling several meters.

  [Warning! Aspen’s HP levels are on a critical level!]

  The swordswoman turned towards Aspen, and began to run towards her.

  She moved with grace, precision and deadly force. The cape danced behind her. The full display of raw power against us was overwhelming.

  I snapped when I saw Aspen harmed.

  “No!” I yelled, and used [Wind Blades] at her.

  She saw them and parried them with her sword, effortlessly stopping my attacks.

  I used the time she stopped to cut distance and attack, but all I managed was to clash swords with her.

  I believe it was an illusion. What I had in front of me, was impossible.

  She pushed me back with her blade and prepared to attack again by holding her sword with both hands.

  “Answer me, dammit!” I damned an answer as I used the spear tips I stole from the Arakins to heal. The crack was gone, but my HP only reached at 80%.

  But it did not answer.

  “Tell me! Why do you look like me?!”