Tristan nodded even though he did not understand much of what Ava had said. His Well, like she had mentioned was empty but re-filling at a much slower rate than before. He could feel the emptiness inside... it would explain why his thoughts suddenly felt somehow clearer and more coherent.She led him through the darkness with purpose. They were somewhere under the Peak, but the cavern looked ma.s.sive from what little he could see from those floating golden light specks. May be it was an illusion but he felt like there was nothing above them, no thick layer of rock hiding behind the gloom. He felt his mind stirring as he was being "filled" more and more by each moment. But concentrating on that constant splashing of water by his feet he kept his thoughts in order.
"Please don"t tell Nowsen that I had come here." Tristan pleaded from behind Ava. She didn"t answer or even stopped. He was starting to wonder if she even heard him was when she replied, "I can"t promise you that. But I will make sure that he knows you had… good intentions."
"But-" he started and paused.
What was could he tell her? How much was he going to tell her?
Ava already seemed to know more than he had let out. Would it even make a difference? Nowsen had said he would stop teaching him if Tristan ever broke the promise. But by the way he is now, he wouldn"t be even alive to teach Tristan. But he stayed quiet, grateful that Ava hadn"t heard his slight protest.
They walked and walked, in that endless darkness. Splashes around their feet that played a monotonous melody. It had been long since Tristan had lost track of time. He kept a constant check on his reserves as Ava had ordered. He was almost filled but she had said to hold out for as long as he could, and so he waited.
Suddenly she paused. "This is it." She said looking ahead. He went up beside her and also stared. And the same endless darkness stared back. "She is down there…" Ava pointed somewhere ahead below.
Tristan didn"t see it at first but slowly he started to notice. The darkness in front of them was thicker and deeper. He didn"t even know how it was possible as looking straight at it, it looked all the same. But there was something ahead of them on the ground. A darker, more gaping hole. A ma.s.sive one.
"We"ll have to jump." She announced and suddenly grabbed his hand. "Don"t let go." She screamed and then they were falling.
Or that was how it felt at the start but as the time went by, without wind buffeting them from below and only darkness around them, he couldn"t tell if they were actually falling. Or just floating. But Ava"s hand was holding onto him and he could still see the rough grey silhouette of her by him so he didn"t panic. The light flakes were not around them anymore either. Countless weightless seconds pa.s.sed before Ava"s m.u.f.fled voice reached him again.
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"Be ready," A distant shout came from somewhere behind him and he felt her grip strengthen. And then he felt something solid under his feet. His weight returned and he stood and felt himself sinking down. It was mud under him this time not water. Thick but wet, he waited for concrete surface to reach him but nothing cropped up. He was in to his knees and sinking rapidly. With Ava"s grip still strong on his hand he pulled on it for support but her bony hand crumbled under his own like it hadn"t even been there. He was down upto his waist now and suddenly couldn"t feel his arms anymore. He opened his mouth to scream but no voice came out. And instead he felt something crawling on his neck, his face, and soon inside his nose, ears and mouth. There was no pain but just the raw sensation of being invaded by a thousand crawling bugs. Though, he could still breathe and hear the skittering creatures around his head. A rotten stink filled him like the magic he came here for. His well was being corrupted with filthy water. The mud rose to his neck now and he felt a faint scream. So far..., but it had sounded like his name... he just couldn"t tell for real, it was too much, too much going on…
***
… "Tristan, Tristan?" His eyes fluttered open and he saw red skies, black sun and clouds of bugs flying above, he closed his eyes back.
***
"Tristan." Again he opened his eyes and this time saw …nothing. "Tristan, open your eyes." Called the voice again, familiar and harsh. But… his eyes were already open. Weren"t they?
He tried regardless, to open them and this time the gloom was lifted like a curtain. Soft golden lights dangled around him and among them, looking over him was a face, old and scarred. Ava"s eyes remained hard but he saw concern there and a little …regret? He felt her hand on his head, the tip of her sharp thumb-nail cutting into his forehead. He didn"t feel pain in there but relief. Like a pressure was released from his head.
"How do you feel?" she asked as she helped him sit up. He had been lying on something dark, thick and wet. The same mud. He pushed on his right arm to get up, the mud came to just below his elbow but this time there was something concrete underneath. Smooth and slippery but solid, so that he wouldn"t sink again.
"I feel …strange." He answered honestly as he slowly got on his knees, then feet. He felt dizzy, swaying left and right. Ava"s hand stabilized him. In his forehead the cut now burned and he rubbed on it with his other hand and felt wet on his fingers. His reserves were gone but strangely he felt no loss over it. "I… what happened?" He asked finally getting his bearing.
"What I was afraid of." Ava answered grimly. "You overloaded with magic and your body couldn"t handle it. How exactly do you feel?"
"I… can"t feel my magic … at all. I felt like I was drowning, in mud and bugs… I can still feel them crawling on me but… lesser…" He shivered, neither in fear nor cold.
"Good. Just illusions. And yes, I have shut off your… magic for now. And as for the crawling, it will stay for as long as we are here. Can you bear it?" Tristan nodded. Ava continued, "Hmm. But if it is too much you"ll tell me?" Tristan nodded again and Ava stood in front of him and put her palm on his forehead. He felt warmth and the cutting sensation disappeared.
"Is-is it permanent? Is my magic really gone?" Tristan asked as if it was just an afterthought. His most treasured part of him he couldn"t even feel it, and he felt nothing over its absence.
"No." Ava answered without looking.
"…Uh-wh?"
"I said no. It is not permanent. Magic here is poisonous, too dense, and …corrosive. There is a protection over you, thanks to your teacher I a.s.sume, that saved you. Even for me… I can"t stay here for long." Then she trudged a few steps away in the mud. "I will unlatch it when we get out, now hurry. Sooner we find her, sooner we are getting out."
"Uh her?" Tristan in a momentary confusion asked dumbly.
"Olean."
"Oh! Oh! Of course."
He struggled to follow after Ava. The mud, he felt it clutch his legs, sticking to him like tree sap. They were again in sheer darkness, only lit by the tiny golden sparks of Ava. But it felt much different here than above. There, the darkness was suffocating and solidified that felt like it was pressing down on him, a constant pressure and a presence that surrounded him but here, he felt alone, without that unnatural presence. The darkness here was a void, an endless mire of black mud under the black sky.
"Was it really below us all this time?" He found himself breathing the question without even thinking. A chasm below the peak and a hole so vast below the mountain?
Ava paused and turned to him, her face frowning in the dim light.
"No." She answered but didn"t elaborate.