The air was damp and heavy as they stood in front of the cave entrance. The farmer, Borin, stood beside them, his broad hands wrapped around a pair of flame torches. His jaw was set, eyes dark beneath the brim of his straw hat.
"Here," he said, thrusting the torches toward them. "You're gonna need these."
Sora accepted his with a tight nod, the wooden handle cool and rough against his palm. But Asami just glanced at the torch, her lips curling in disdain. Then, with a huff, she tossed hers to the ground and spread her hand. Flames flickered to life, dancing along her palm, casting flickering shadows across her smirking face.
Borin's eyebrows shot up. "Huh. Well, alright then."
"You sure you're ready for this?" Borin asked, his voice a low rumble. "These orcs aren't just big. They're smart. And if anything happens to you in there..." His gaze flicked over the three of them, lingering a second longer on Sora's tense face. "I got no hands in your blood."
Sora swallowed, feeling his insides tighten. But he kept his mouth shut, forcing his face to stay neutral. Asami, on the other hand, just rolled her eyes.
"We'll be fine," she said, her fingers still wrapped in flames.
Sora glanced at her from the corner of his eye, a bitter taste pooling in his mouth. Asami. A drunkard who could barely go a day without chugging down ale. And yet, here she was, with magic so potent that she could conjure flames at will. If she'd just been serious about her life, maybe... just maybe... she could've been in a stable guild, earning a good income, taking on real jobs instead of cabbage-paying ones.
But Sora forced a smirk on his face, rolling his shoulders back. "Alright," he said. "Let's go."
The cave swallowed them whole, the walls narrowing as they pressed forward. Asami held her hand high, the flames casting wavering shadows against the stone. Sora walked in the middle, his torch flickering as he tried to keep his breathing even. Daren brought up the rear, his boots scuffing loudly against the ground.
"You know," Daren drawled, his voice loud and echoing through the cavern. "This place gives me the creeps."
"Then maybe you should keep your voice down," Sora muttered, his eyes darting into the dark recesses of the cave. "We don't know what's lurking here."
"Oh, come on, Sora," Daren laughed, throwing his arm around Sora's shoulders. "What's the matter? Scared of the big, bad orcs?"
"Maybe he is," Asami chimed in, a wicked grin on her lips. "Poor Sora. Still too green to man up."
Sora's jaw clenched, his grip tightening on the torch. "I'm not scared," he said through gritted teeth. "I'm just being cautious."
"Cautious, huh?" Daren said, giving Sora's head a rough, playful shake. "Nah. That's just another word for coward."
Sora bit down the retort burning on his tongue, forcing his eyes forward. They were idiots. Both of them. And they were going to get them all killed.
A chill ran down Sora's spine, the hair on his arms rising as a sudden wave of cold swept over them.
"Wait," he said, holding out an arm. "Did you feel that?"
The three of them stopped, their breaths clouding the air. Silence stretched, thick and suffocating. Then, slowly, Asami lowered her hand, the flames dimming to a soft glow.
That's when they saw it — the hulking figure leaning against the stone wall just ahead, half-shrouded in shadow. It was massive, with skin the color of rotting moss and muscles rippling beneath a thin, tattered loincloth. A long, crude spear lay across its lap, its thick hands wrapped around the shaft.
The orc was asleep, its head lolled back against the rock, drool pooling at the corner of its mouth.
"There's one," Sora whispered, his pulse thundering in his ears. "We should think of a plan—"
But Daren just grinned, a terrible grin that stretched wide across his face. He lifted his hand, and with a flash of light, an axe materialized in his grip.
"Or," Daren said, hefting the axe onto his shoulder, "we could just kill it."
"Are you insane?" Sora hissed, his heart slamming against his ribs. "If we do that, we'll alert the others. We don't even know how many of them there are—"
"Who cares?" Asami interrupted, her eyes flashing as she stepped forward. "As long as it results in our glory!"
Sora opened his mouth to protest, but the orc stirred, its eyelids fluttering. The moment stretched, frozen in time. And then the orc's eyes snapped open, black and beady, focusing on them with a low, guttural growl.
"Shit," Sora muttered.
The orc pushed itself off the rock, the spear already swinging forward — but Daren was faster, lunging forward with a wild yell, his axe coming down in a deadly arc. The orc rolled aside at the last second, the blade slamming into the stone with a deafening clang.
"Daren!" Sora shouted, but the orc was already swinging back, its spear slicing through the air. Daren barely managed to twist out of the way, the tip grazing his arm.
"Asami!" Sora yelled, panic lacing his voice.
But Asami was already moving. Flames erupted from her palm, a blinding burst that shot forward in a roaring wave. The orc's scream echoed through the tunnel as fire engulfed its massive form, the stench of burning flesh filling the air. It staggered backward, flailing, its skin blistering and cracking as the fire consumed it.
Sora's heart hammered in his chest as the orc's screams echoed on and on, long after it had collapsed to the ground, smoldering and blackened.
"Well," Daren said, panting as he leaned on his axe. "That was... one way to do it."
Sora stared at the charred corpse, his jaw tight, his fists shaking at his sides. "You idiots... you complete idiots," he muttered, a knot of frustration twisting in his gut. "We're dead. We're so dead."
But Asami just shrugged, a wicked grin playing at her lips. "Relax, Sora. That was just one. There's plenty more where that came from."
Sora's stomach sank. 'Yeah,' he thought, eyes dark as he stared into the endless dark tunnel ahead. 'And now they all know we're here.'