The darkness seemed to consume Herogi's entire world as she plummeted into the unknown. She held the flat of her hatchet blade closely to her chest in fear of losing it, should she survive the fall. But to live after this didn't seem very possible. She couldn't see anything but the mouth of the sweeping pit as she spun in all directions. She couldn't find the bottom. Was the tunnel endless?

Amante was also falling, barely able to see Herogi or Misty. He twisted his body into a straight dive. The updraft of his own fall slid off his skin, causing him to waver unsteadily. He braced himself as he fell faster than the others, attempting to use his magic.

He had to concentrate with all the might he had. He willed his mind to close off the thoughts of panic, or fear, forcing himself to ignore everything around him. It was like living in space, without the need to breathe—just floating around in his own mind. But that was another trap of his magic, to make him stay like that forever. He pulled himself from the comforting cocoon his mind had offered him.

He controlled the flow of magical essence in his head, channeling it into the point of his spear. Vibrant red streaks emerged from the end of it, blanketing around him, till he reached the bottom of the pit.

Without a moment to lose, he took the velvety strings of light and carried them upward. He planted his own feet on the ground, just as Misty, Herogi and her cat fell to the ground, caught in his own embrace of magic. He slowly pulled them safely to the ground till their toes touched the dirt. Then the red streaks dissipated, and the loss of their glow left them in darkness.

"Am I the only one wondering..." Misty stopped to take a breath. "What in the name of the great spirits just happened?!"

"Amante I am going to actually kill you!" Herogi snarled.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Amante sighed with exhaustion.

"I thought we agreed on no more dark-"

"That wasn't dark magic, it was a trick a wood nymph taught me a few years ago, and I'm surprised I even pulled it off," Amante interrupted Herogi. She seemed satisfied with his explanation, though still peeved.

"Ok, stop bickering you two," Misty raised a finger. "We need to figure out where we are. Do we have any light?"

"Yes, I should have remembered to bring a torch when Amante abducted me," Herogi said sarcastically.

"I was actually asking Amante," Misty stated.

"Why me?" Amante asked with speculation.

"I've seen Chaton magic enough to know that several of you can throw balls of fire, can't you do that?" Misty questioned.

"I've never learned. I'm no good with fire," Amante admitted.

"Really?! You can destroy everything around you with just a touch of your fingers but you can't make a fire?!" Herogi exclaimed.

"Hey! You saw me struggling to keep even a small campfire lit! Fire just isn't my thing!" Amante declared. Suddenly a dim purple light illuminated their faces. Amante looked to its source, Misty.

"If I make small illusions, the light from my hands will offer a little bit of light. Herogi, your tribal magic makes your hands glow gold, right?" Misty questioned, running one of her glowing hands through the black beads that decorated her hair.

"Yeah, but I can't... do magic."

"That's unfortunate," Misty said, moving past Herogi to light up the area beyond them as best she could. Amante had to admire Misty for her idea, though felt useless knowing he could offer no light himself.

"It's a catacomb of some sort," Amante figured, as Misty brought her light up around the dirt walls around the group. Looking around them, while their eyes adjusted to the darkness, it was easy to realize they were in a massive tunnel. It was deep within the ground, hence why the fall seemed to carry them forever. But faintly lit by the light of Misty's hands, they could see that the tunnel narrowed and slowly became less grand. A few gems glistened around them, most hidden by the dirt hugging the geodes to the ground.

"Do you think you can get us back up there?" Herogi asked, not looking at Amante.

"I can't think of any spells at the moment. If I were a Nojoch, I probably could fly us out. But unfortunately, I am not," he sighed. "Maybe if we found a rope or something, we could have tied it to one of Misty's arrows and..."

"My arrows are too delicate to carry our weight. Even if we went one at a time," Misty ran her glimmering fingers along the walls. "What if we just followed the tunnel? We could find another way out. These are obviously man-made, so it has to end somewhere."

"Yeah but in what direction?" Herogi questioned, returning her hatchet to her waist.

"Don't know. We'll just have to guess, and hope it leads us somewhere," Misty frowned.

"Well, let's just hope that manananggal isn't somehow still alive," Herogi shuttered.

"Yep, that would be terrifying, seeing as Maggy no longer has a head," Misty smirked. "She probably couldn't see us anyways."

"Can we move, please? We don't know how much time we have," Amante said.

"Relax, your war prophecy isn't going to just happen right now, is it?" Herogi rolled her eyes at him. "Onward!"

The group decided on a direction and began to march forward. Luckily, there weren't any random forks in the path or multiple other ways to go, so it didn't seem like they would need to leave trail markers. The darkness never lightened, which only made them think it could be endless. They may be trapped forever, without a clue which direction they headed.

Herogi kicked a few stones as they walked, not even one of them breaking the silence. Perhaps it was best they didn't talk, for fear of attracting a monster. But eventually, Misty's magic was fading, her purplish light becoming dimmer and dimmer

"Look," Misty pointed at the ground.

"Footprints," Amante reported, leaning a bit closer to the human tracks in the dirt. Misty's glow was nearly nonexistent at that point.

"They could be ours. We might have gone in a circle." Herogi slumped.

"No, we didn't. There's too many prints for that. Like a crowd of people just came through," Misty remarked. "And look–" she stooped down next to Amante, picking up a small seed– "grain."

"Do you think that..." Amante looked at Misty.

"Gatherers. We must be close to a village," Misty said. "I didn't know there would be one so close to my home."

"Troktikos," Amante said. "They went underground hundreds of years ago. I honestly thought they were closed off for good," Amante said as he stood back up.

"Yeah, and they may still be closed off. Technically, we fell through a hole you created, not a free passage door," Herogi commented. "They probably don't care if we go to war above ground. We should just get out of here."

"They saw us," Misty froze, her remaining light immediately vanishing. A low growl erupted from Belki's throat.

"How do you know?" Herogi whispered, but Misty was too stiff to respond. They waited for a while longer, getting into a triangular shape with their backs against each other. None of the three had ever encountered the Troktikos before and had no idea what they were capable of. They weren't even sure of what kind of tribal magic they had.

What little knowledge Amante knew about the hidden Troktikos, he hoped, was just a myth. A tribe that feasted on the flesh of humans, living underground for hundreds of years, he could hardly imagine what they would even look like.

A few figures emerged from the shadows, carrying torches as a source of light. They wore creepy looking masks that represented different animals. Mice, rabbits, badgers, and porcupine decorated coverings hid their faces, with large holes for them to see out of. Their clothing was also quite peculiar to the eye. Some of them were covered head to toe in quills while others were draped with colorful jewels and fur pelts. They all held long thin spears in their hands, jagged like the teeth of fish.

As they stepped closer to Amante, it was clear to see the paint covering every inch of skin untouched by clothing or armor. They walked in a low catlike crouch, coming at the three from all angles. All was still, until one of the figures let out a cry, muffled by their mask. The others mimicked the call, the loud irritating sounds echoing about the tavern. Belki chirped along with it.

"We didn't mean to intrude," Misty said with a shaky voice, trying to drown out the sound of their call. "Just passing through."

"No one passes through. Ever!" said one of them with a deep voice. "Are you friend? Or food?!"

"You meant foe, right?" Herogi questioned, shifting her hand slowly to her hatchet.

"So it is food! We haven't had foreign meat in such a long time!" a woman cackled.

"We're not food! We're people!" Herogi burst out.

"People are food," said another one.

"Neither of you said they were cannibals," Herogi whispered.

"I thought they were vegetarian," Misty whispered back.

"We are Cretos!" Amante exclaimed.

"What?" The first one looked at his comrades, who were now whispering to each other in excitement.

"What are you doing?" Herogi murmured.

"Trust me, Troktikos tend to favor the Cretos. That is one thing I remember from my schooling because they always sided with you when the Cretos attacked us in the past!" he hissed back at her.

"Geez, it's not my fault that that happened over a hundred years ago," Herogi muttered. The Troktikos crawled closer.

"We thought the Cretos had forgotten about us. Is it true, you are of their tribe?" asked one of the women.

"Yep. We are," Misty played along.

"Oh rejoice! It has been so long since they have traded in our markets, or brought us food! We thought we'd never see you again!" the woman cheered.

"Do you bring food?" one of the men asked.

"Uh... No," Amante stated.

"Then why are you here?" he asked.

"We need to speak to your chief," Amante responded. The Troktikos stiffened. The three then realized they had messed up.

"If you were Cretos then you would know we don't have a chief! We live without rule!" Multiple people spoke together. A few more crawled from the shadows as if they were spiders.

"And this one has the markings of a Chaton! This is an ambush!" another one cried out, who was standing closest to Amante. In a sudden stampede, the Troktikos charged the three from all directions, leaving them no hope to escape. Herogi waved her hatchet, protecting herself at the jabs and strikes of the others towards her. It was five to one on her part, while many others attacked the other two.

Misty was thrown to the side where her wrists were bound together by her attackers. They placed a white cloth over her mouth so that she couldn't scream for help. Herogi spun around as someone came from behind, now relying on Amante to assure no one would come to her without warning. Amante wondered if she was finally trusting him.

However, he had faith that she would do the same for him, completely not paying attention to her. This, of course, led to their downfall. From one misfortunate event to another.

First, Misty created the illusion of several other people joining their side, which caused panic in the opposing warriors. But now Herogi was confused by the illusion, also falling under its spell. Amante knew they were illusions, though found it more difficult to keep himself from falling into the trick than it had been back with the Sly Vulpes. All was for lost the second he ran right through one of the illusions and they began to vanish. Upon realizing it was a scheme, more hatred was fueled into the Troktikos warriors, going straight for Herogi, who they thought to be the illusionist. Amante was able to see this, as Herogi screamed for help. Once she was captured and placed beside Misty, Amante realized it was now one against all, and decided to give himself up, in hopes of escaping later on.

Unfortunately, that didn't quite happen. The Troktikos were a lot more brutal to him. After cuffing him they jabbed at his sides with the points of their spears, and dragged him through the dirt with his open wounds.

The girls were heaved over broad shoulders; their weapons taken away. The Troktikos's clothing was the most uncomfortable, seeing as the quills pricked at them from all angles and they smelled like dirt. Herogi was held upside down, Amante could see blood rush to her head, dangling above the earth. Her hair was slithering through the rocks with her.

Ahead of them, the cave began to glow. More gems glistened in this strange light, revealing just how many treasures there actually were. An assortment of colors smoothed out on the floor from the traveler's feet. Almost no dirt was seen.

They finally passed through the source of the light, which was a much larger cave or den. It was so bright, but hard to see.

"Welcome to the warren," one of the warriors sneered. The others began to laugh in harmony. It was sickening.

Amante was the only one who could see where they were, as both girls faced the opposite direction, peering over their shoulders for a glimpse. It was a peculiar-looking village. White pillars rose to the ceiling with hollowed bulb-like structures on top. Other white bulbs hung from the ceiling. The bulbs were connected by bridges from one to another. Towards the bottom of the warren was a network of markets and other buildings. No one was out because the people were asleep. The village was surrounded by a mysterious underground river encircling it entirely.

In the very center was a blue flag with a pink stripe down the middle. The pink stripe held two blue diamonds while the blue sides had two white stars. The flag of the Troktikos was old and tattered, but its colors remained vibrant and unharmed, unscorched by the sun.

The place as a whole was absolutely stunning, yet brought them a feeling of unease. It felt as though the ceiling would collapse upon them at any moment, or perhaps that was just their imagination.

The three men carried them to the edge of a cliff which stood over the belly of the warren. Below they could see the river. Amante's heart pounded as the three were dangled over the edge. The men let go and the three teens went spiraling to their doom. They were unable to do anything, because their hands, arms, and feet were tied. All they could do was accept that they were going to fall to their death. At this, Amante realized that Herogi's cat was no longer with them. Had it been killed? To bad they were going to die before he'd find out!

That is until the earth beneath them swam up from the river bank and caught them in a glove of dirt.

Looking down, Amante could see three strange looking objects being raised by smaller hands of dirt. Studying them, he realized they were cages. And before they knew it, the cages had closed in on them, and the dirt gently pushed them inside, locking the doors.

That was certainly the strangest experience that had ever happened to Amante in his entire life. As the dirt sunk back into the river bank, the cages were lifted higher into the air by magical chains that moved on their own. The three were now rocking below the ceiling, separated and trapped in their own cages, tied, and muted. Amante couldn't remember when the Troktikos had tied their wrists and muffled their mouths, so it took him by surprise when he'd realized just what had happened to them.

"Hope you enjoy the view up there!" one of the guards teased as he took his post. "It's gonna be a long night for you three."

Amante placed his feet on the walls of his hanging prison in exhaustion. Blood oozed from his stab wounds, and the wound to his stomach Herogi had given him just two days ago was now reopening itself. He sighed, now numb to his own pain. He looked down at the village in prostration, beginning to wonder if his mission was worth it or not. He thought about the old lady from the Sly Vulpes who had warned him of the war.

What if she was a fraud? He thought, fear stirring in his mind.

"Thank you," he heard someone next to him. He looked at the sound of the speaker with bloodshot eyes. It was Herogi. She had somehow pushed the cloth–which was supposed to keep her muted–out of her mouth. She was looking back at him with her own tired amber eyes, and Amante's heart sank.

He should have let her go. She didn't deserve to be taken on such a quest she wasn't even prepared for.

He rolled his tongue against the cloth in his mouth. Shifting his jaw around a bit, the cloth came off, hanging loosely around his neck. He looked back at her, finally responding.

"For what?" he asked. His voice sounded sore and weak.

"For saving me. From the manananggal and the fall," she replied, looking back at the strange village.

"Oh. Yeah," he closed his eyes briefly.

"I mean, you didn't have too. I thought you wanted to kill me this whole time. The only reason you brought me was so I wouldn't spread the word of the prophecy, right? If I was dead, how could I do that?" she stated openly.

"Because I don't let people die. And I don't like killing people either," he sighed. Amante glanced over at Misty who was silently crying in her cage on the other side of Herogi. He looked back at Herogi before continuing, lowering his voice. "Can I tell you something? And you won't tell?"

"I'm usually good at keeping secrets. Unless it's about me of course," Herogi admitted, a soft chuckle escaping her lips.

"Alright then," Amante opened his eyes. "You're not going to believe me, seeing as you still don't trust me..."

"It varies," Herogi shrugged.

"I'm not a killer," he stated.

"He's not a killer, he says. But we've- well- the Cretos have seen you before. You've definitely murdered several people," Herogi sounded as if she was trying to be silly, but he could hear the resentment in her tone. Amante just groaned.

"No. My tribe found me practicing tribal magic when I was very young, which is when they decided to teach me dark magic. I'm only like this because that's how they trained me to be. Using dark magic... it's a force of habit," Amante continued, "For the past four years, some others of my clan and I were drugged up so severely by this strange plant, that we obeyed anything they said. It was horrible, really."

"Drugged? Like, delusional and seeing stuff drugged?" Herogi interrupted.

"Kind of, yeah," Amante sighed. "I mean, I didn't see anything. At least I don't think I did. That's why everyone knows who I am. Because while others simply obeyed their orders, I went above and beyond. I was mad! It was like watching myself do these things without doing anything to stop it."

"That's terrible," Herogi pitied. "How could someone do that?"

"We're all slightly crazy," Amante shrugged. He sat up a little more against the bars of his cage, smearing blood everywhere. "I know I've already told you about this but, the Chatons can't grow anything anymore. We never could in the first place but for the past year and a half it's been just unimaginable. We had to rely on the Sly Vulpes for the longest time until we broke ties. Since then, our village has been kind of empty. Without plants or animals, we just spread out to survive. That's why I'm here,"

"And the drug plant?" Herogi pointed out. "It's not still... Do you know?"

"It's not affecting me anymore. They couldn't make it grow I suppose, which is part of the reason they haven't sent an ambush to your tribe yet. They're afraid," Amante explained.

"I'm sorry," Herogi placed her forehead against her knees, her hair making a thick curtain around her face.

"Don't be, it has nothing to do with you. I just don't want you to be afraid of me anymore," Amante finished. Herogi huffed.

"I don't know why I believe you. I guess it just sounds real enough," she said. "I'm sorry I was just assuming things. I don't like dark magic and I don't think I ever will," she snorted. "You know how it works. It takes the energy of life around it to create something that shouldn't be natural... And using it too much... could kill you. You know that, don't you?"

"That's fine," Amante rested his head against the bars.

"What now?" Herogi said, lifting her gaze above her knees.

"We wait," Amante replied, "tomorrow they'll most likely repeat the same thing the Cretos did, and I might have to do the same thing yet again. Whether we gain a member or not."

"Please don't," Herogi groaned. "I don't want these people to hate me."

"Trust me, they already do," Amante chuckled. "Just try and sleep for now."

"Not with Maggy still in my head. That thing is going to give me nightmares," she sighed.

"I don't blame you," Amante looked out at the tribe of the Troktikos before him. It was so much smaller than he had expected.

"You know. Maybe this quest won't be so bad after all. Even if we fail," Herogi began to say. "I've never gotten to see so much in my life. I never even dreamed of it. I suppose I thought everywhere, everything, every person, would be the same as what I'm used to. Who would have thought everything would be so different? I don't know, it probably all means nothing for you. Amante?" She looked at the boy who had fallen asleep already. She smiled kindly as she decided to close her eyes to try to find sleep herself. 

A/N

This chapter has art in it that you can view with a physical copy (I am so sorry lol I do not mean to withold it from you, I just literally can't find the original file for it since it is so incredibly old)

You can have this drawing of Amante to make up for it :(

Fun Fact!

That magic Amante used at the beginning of the chapter is wood nymph magic which he learned from ocean nymphs!

Weird, right? Nymph magic is natural for nymphs but can be learned by others. Some spells are more natural to certain races of nymphs but can be shared around and learned by other nymphs, people, and other humanoids that are capable of magic.