Kyle had almost lost hope. But she 'had' to stay strong.
The monsters kept on coming. Everyone was exhausted.
She slashed the monster in front of her and swiftly rolled to dodge its strike, then stabbed its neck! She jumped back to avoid another strike.
Another one attacked, she tried to dodge, but her legs would bare move. She urgently dragged to save her life.
As she dodged another attack Matt appeared behind her and blocked its axe, startling them. Taking advantage of the distraction, she thrust her dagger into the creature's heart, killing it.
"Huff..."
She looked around as she desperately tried to pull her daggers back, Matt was also barely holding on. Lily was on the ground unconscious from the blood loss. Tidlen had his eye crushed and Ray...
Ray was bleeding heavily.
'He will fall too...' She thought seeing him try to stand up.
But then...
"Finally!" He muttered.
Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. All the monsters that had been attacking, went still. Shaking uncontrollably, looking down, not daring to look up.
Their forms which could not be distinguished before, became visible. Each of them was different and weird. Anyone would be shocked at their appearance. But…
The monsters were not the only ones affected. Kyle slowly looked up in fear.
Ray's eyes glowed blue, his horns, which had become visible looked as dark as the night, he was barely standing upright. Yet everyone were afraid.
She was afraid!
It was instinct, an instinctual fear!
Matt, who was hardly awake, Tidlen barely healing himself conscious, all of them froze. Even Lily had regained her awareness with a frightened expression It was presence, just pure presence. A domineering presence.
It was not directed at them, even so they felt absolute fear.
Like a being much greater, someone most exalted was before them. They could do nothing. Fear had gripped their senses. They could no longer feel the pain, tiredness, or anything, just fear.
The monsters, under his presence all bowed, crouching. Many were already unconscious. Looking at them, Ray slowly focused, as a short humanoid figure, with a cut eye, doglike ears, pointed face and a buff body that in no way matched his appearance walked to the front, still bowing deeply.
"Guide us out."
Ray said, his voice low but surprisingly clear and heard.
In that silence, the short figure, shakily glanced, before bowing again and turned and looked at them again, as if truly guiding them.
Then his presence weakened as he turned.
"Tidlen, please support me. We'll follow it."
He asked as politely as ever, but in way that allowed no objection. There could be no objection!
Though the words spelled suggestion, everyone followed it like an order, after all, they had no other option as they were shaken by his presence.
They all slowly walked behind the short figure. Kyle and Matt supported Lily, while Tidlen carried Ray on his back. After all, he was the least physically exhausted one and his mana was slowly returning.
They walked for what seemed like hours. They were all getting anxious. The monsters which had been previously shaking, were also starting to follow them.
Finally, the short figure stopped. It turned and raised its hand, then turned again, and slowly walked front towards a wall.
It touched the wall and then a magic circle appeared. After which the wall lowered revealing a desert outside. Seeing freedom, they finally walked out of the ruins.
Turning back one last time to look at the humanoid creature all gathered at the exit looking at them intently, before closing the wall once more, they felt all their strength leave them. Everyone was both physically and mentally exhausted.
Tidlen, who had recovered a part of his mana, cast a powerful healing spell on all of them, using up all his recovered mana. Colour returned to their face and they all immediately fell asleep.
***
It was Tidlen who woke up first. It was burning hot. All he could see was sand. As he slept, he had lightly regained his crushed eye's vision.
The others also woke not long after. Ray was the last to get up. He looked around in a daze. All of them were confused. They did not know how long they had slept nor where they were.
The first to break the silence was lily.
"What happened? Where are we? I was fighting those weird creatures…"
It was Matt who answered her question.
"I am also not sure. All I remember was that after Ray made that short monster to guide us out… we ended up here."
"Well, at least we are back on the surface. Cheer up, we escaped that place alive." Kyle turned to Tidlen.
"Tidlen, can you use water magic now?"
"Huh? Let me try…"
Tidlen who was snapped out of his confusion, lifted his hand and mana circle appeared just as a small stream of water, started to flow out of hand.
Seeing the water, everyone perked up and filled their bottles.
The situation already looked much better than before. Feeling his magic working properly, Tidlen immediately started to heal Matt and Ray, who were still having trouble walking.
"Guys, I think I know where we are."
It was Ray. He had not spoken until now. He still looked completely dazed.
The others weren't sure how/what to respond. After what they had witnessed, they were still shaken.
"Where? And how can you tell?''
It was Kyle. Her jaw slightly trembled as she asked Ray.
"Come here, look at that dead lizard? It has a unique pattern around its neck. These are only found in the deserts of the Cursed haven."
Looking at the lifeless husk of a lizard with wavy brown pattern on its neck,
"Then, have any idea which direction to go?'' Lily asked
'Are the others still scared to speak to Ray. It must have been very terrifying.' She thought glancing at her friends and then at the vast expanse of sand and rocks.
[to be continued]