The group made their way into the dark chamber, being wary of any traps the bats had failed to set off.
The room went silent. Only the sound of dripping water broke the quiet, tense atmosphere that seemed to smother the teens.
Ratu stepped on a loose tile, reeling it back in surprise as it settled into the dirt below it.
The whole group stopped, waiting for an arrow, a boulder, something.
Nothing came.
The rebels let out a collective sigh after a few moments of still silence.
"Be more careful, Ratu-" Charlotte's whispering was interrupted.
"I know." Ratu said, moving forward into that black abyss.
The rest of the rebels followed reluctantly.
After a few more minutes of tense steps, Hendrix spotted something far in front of the group.
"There's…" Hendrix pointed through the darkness. "There's a light. Do you guys see that?"
Their eyes focused on a pulsing orange light, waxing and waning in a way only a flame could.
Ratu sped her pace before feeling Charlotte's shoulder slow her down.
"You're getting careless." Charlotte whispered.
Ratu paused, nodding before turning back towards the small light.
The crew made their way forward, flinching at every creak and drip from inside the narrow cavern.
As they got closer, that small orange light transformed into a broken source, seeping through cracks in a broken wall.
Ratu squinted through the cracks in the wall, trying to stick her finger through one of them.
Clink
Her sharp nail tapped against something invisible filling in the crack.
"It must have been one of the protectors' Modes." Charlotte knocked her knuckles against a different crack, producing the same clink.
"Step back." Taro said, sighing as he walked up to the wall.
"If you think you can brute force your way through this-" Charlotte chuckled before a deafening sound stopped her in her tracks.
Boom
With a fast wind up, Taro's fist hit the invisible barrier with a force unlike anything his friends had witnessed before as a loud thud echoed through the cavern.
Above ground, in a stone house:
Boom
"What was that?" Kai stood up, looking around for any cracks in their makeshift barriers.
The group went silent, looking for anything that could've caused such a violent sound.
"It might've been the dragons fighting." Akilah explained. "We should be extra careful-"
The floor underneath the group crumbled, the teens falling into the darkness below them as they screamed, grabbing for each other in a futile effort to save themselves from the plummet.