Chapter 45
Fear welled up inside Hoku as he plunged into a pit of darkness, the rush of wind howling past his ears.
He closed his eyes so tightly that pinpricks of light had begun dancing behind his eyelids.
The moment Hoku thrust out his arm, his spine collided with an unexpected cushion that spared his skull from shattering.
As his awareness wavered back, the world before him remained steeped in haze.
Before him was a dense, low‑lying fog that drifted across the ground like a tide of spectral vapor.
Within its folds, a weak ember of light glowed, yet almost desperate in its persistence.
For an interminable moment, the surroundings lingered in a muted blur of iron‑grey shadows.
His fingers brushed against flattened petals that were unnervingly pliant.
Hoku inhaled slowly.
The fog soaked into his clothes and wound around his ankles in slow spirals as he drew his legs slightly closer.
His pulse thrummed in his temples.
In that moment, he wondered if he had truly awakened or fallen into another dream.
His fingers twitched feebly as he swept dust from his hair that left faint gray streaks on his knuckles.
Obscure outlines expanded and receded in the mist, curling like half-formed hands.
Amongst his own shallow breathing and the faint grind of debris, it felt as if he had also wandered into another tunnel.
"How—" He caught himself as panic rose, yet his voice vanished when a distant orange glow flickered.
He squinted, lifting his chin.
"Is that… the lantern?"
Recognition slithered across his spine, moving cold into his veins.
'It should have shattered upon impact. Even if the casing survived, the glass—'
His fingers curled into his palm, crushing wilted flowers beneath his grip.
'This wasn't a soft landing, given how thin this carpet of petals feels.'
Hoku pondered in a daze: if something so fragile remained untouched, could his own upright posture and clarity stem from the same illogicality?
The lantern lay tipped on its side as the flame trembled stubbornly behind the cracked glass.
Suddenly, he caught onto another shape in his periphery that laid a few yards further.
It resembled a lumpy silhouette slumped against the cavern wall.
At first, he dismissed it as a rock draped in fog. But something about its smooth curve betrayed that it wasn't stone.
As he scrutinized it, a fresh chill enveloped his form, and his gaze sharpened with sudden precision.
Without thinking, he rasped, "Mars?" Dust caked his throat, making his own voice sound alien.
Though the first call had seemed futile, something shifted moments after, emitting a soft cascade, like snow slipping over ice.
Hoku inwardly exhaled, drawing upon a fleeting insight.
'Mars must be alive! The flowers had broken my own fall, surely Mars had been spared too.'
"Mars!" he bellowed.
Once more, Hoku was only met with a quiet stir.
Then—
THUNK.
A resonant thud reverberated across the cavern floor.
Hoku recoiled instinctively, his gaze snapping to the silhouette obscured by the mist.
'Did it move closer?' Despite his strained focus, he couldn't discern if there had been movement.
Hoku's heart quickened as he cautiously drew his knees to his chest and rose with deliberate care.
His heel scraped sharply against the stone.
Suddenly, a much heavier thud reverberated, followed by the dull clang of something massive striking the cavern wall.
Before he could steady himself, a rapid tap-tap-tap resounded through the air, reminiscent of hooves, drawing nearer.
His head impulsively whipped to the right.
Hoku never managed to scramble fully to an upright position. Instead, he slid sideways, caught awkwardly between a crawl and a stagger.
He dove aside with instinctual urgency, and his fingers curled around the hilt of his sword as its blade caught a delicate shaft of the blue luminescence.
In the same motion, he slammed his left arm into the ground to brace himself.
Pain spurted from wrist to elbow, as though a living thing crawled beneath his skin.
He expelled a ragged hiss through clenched teeth, wrenching his weight off that arm.
He crashed onto his elbow, the impact jarring enough that he nearly lost his purchase on the sword's hilt.
Without glancing back, he pivoted sharply, dropped onto his buttocks, and positioned the sword's tip outward with both hands.
Hoku only caught a fleeting glimpse of the enormous shape bearing down on him before a violent grip seized his collar from behind.
A startled cry tore from him as his body was hauled sideways and flung with savage force.
Upon colliding downwards, his body carved a shallow trough across the field, finally grinding to a halt, face‑first against a stone wall.
More pain flared through his joints as a cloud of dust billowed around him.
In the next heartbeat, a gale of air struck him squarely in the back.
CLATTER—THUD!
The tumultuous clatter of hooves barely subsided when the immense silhouette hurtled toward the ground as well.
Gritting his teeth, Hoku wrenched himself from the wall and forced himself to crawl as he struggled to pivot.
A shadow flitted beside him as the figure was carried forward by sheer momentum.
Hoku's groggy senses crawled upward, from the worn leather of their boots to the ashen glow of a green vial that dangled from their neck.
His hair was in disarray; grit and stone fragments clung to the stark contrast of his own silvery-white.
"Li?? What damn reason carried him to this place? And where is…'
Hoku's mind oscillated at the edge of awareness, as bewilderment and alarm tugged at the frayed strands of his consciousness.
His knees trembled upon rising to his feet
Suddenly, Mars barreled in from behind, startling him with a coarse shout.
"Mon Dieu! Had Li miscalculated your position by a heartbeat, you would've found yourself dangling from her antlers!"
Hoku's boots crunched against loose gravel and parched stems, as his every step betrayed his imbalance.
A familiar stab of discomfort flared along his wrist, making him clamp his hand over it.
A bitter tang rose at the back of his throat like iron and dust mingling unpleasantly.
Mars faltered as his eyes caught their figures, and he came to an abrupt halt.
"Stay low, it might circle back," Li immediately cautioned.
Hoku nodded stiffly and sank lower, a chaotic knot of emotions still thrumming in his chest. Mars approached, steadying him with a firm grip.
Clearing his throat, Mars asked in a concerned voice, "Are you hurt? Why didn't you dodge sooner?"
Hoku pressed his finger into his wrist, the edges whitening under the pressure, before tentatively lifting his left hand.
He flexed his fingers and tried to lower his wrist, but the moment his hand moved, an intense jolt seized his entire arm, leaving it rigid and unresponsive.
Mars studied him a moment longer, his brows knitting, before ruffling his hair in quiet frustration.
"I don't see any bones protruding, but we'll get a better look once there's more light."
A sense of relief had just taken root in Hoku's chest before a torrent of questions surged to the surface.
He swallowed convulsively, unsure where to begin.
"What the hell just darted by like that?"
His heart skipped upon hearing the edge in his own voice, and he paused, chastising himself inwardly for the lapse before letting the moment pass.
Li eased one foot sideways, glancing over his shoulder without committing to a full turn.
"I suspect it's the thing we've been searching for," Mars said at length. "But we'll need proper light before approaching. Better that than startling it again."
Then, he raised an arm and curled his fingers in a loose gesture towards the path behind them.
"Will you fetch the lantern? It should be somewhere down the way you came. Li and I will keep the creature in check so it doesn't make another charge."
Hoku's throat tightened. Without shifting his posture, he swept his gaze across the murk for any sign of movement, of threat.
"There's nothing else in that direction," Mars assured.
Hoku clenched his right hand, then edged back toward the wall where he'd been thrown.
He stooped, retrieving his sword in a single motion.
Though he had yet to demonstrate true skill with the blade, he no longer felt anxious at the prospect of facing weak creatures.
In such instances, it felt as if his reflexes were drawn instinctively from some innate reserve.
Hoku pressed the corners of his lips together before muttering, "Even so…I might be able to manage to some extent."
To be continued…