Neither Petra, Lukas or Axel spoke as they crept down the tunnel Rascal had disappeared down. All of them could hear the the mobs at that point, zombies growling, spiders hissing.

"Rascal!" Petra called into the tunnel at one point, her confident voice sounding more anxious than usual.

"I don't understand, he's usually so well behaved." Lukas said, frowning.

"I can hear him." Petra suddenly said, breaking into a jog. 

The others didn't hesitate to follow, Lukas trying his best to keep the torch lit.
The tunnel lead into yet another dark cobblestone room. But instead of leading into another tunnel, this one had an iron door at the end.

Rascal was there, scratching all along the base of the iron door, looking like he desperately wanted to get to the other side of it.

"Rascal!" Petra let out somewhat of a relieved gasp, running up to the wolf. "What has gotten into you today, boy?"

Rascal whimpered, scratching against the door again before looking up at Petra.

"What is on the other side of the door?" Axel asked as he and Lukas came up as well, the torch's orange glow bouncing off of the iron.

"I don't know." Petra said, biting her lip as she moved her gaze across the door. "I've never seen an iron door like this and.... is it enchanted?"

"You can enchant doors?" Lukas asked in surprise.

"I've never seen an enchanted door, but look." Petra said, gesturing to the purple glow on the iron. "This looks exactly like an enchantment on a regular weapon or tool."

"Can we get in?" Axel asked.

"No, it's locked tight, with no lever or button to open it." Petra said thoughtfully. 

She subconsciously reached out a hand to place it on the door's iron surface.
Seeing what Petra was doing, Rascal let out an upset yelp. He pressed his head against Petra's stomach, pushing her away from the door.

"Rascal?" Petra asked in surprise.

The wolf whined again, before going to stand in between his owner and door protectively.

"That's... odd." Lukas said, frowning. "Why wouldn't he want you to touch it?"

Petra reached out a hand again, pressing her palm against the cool iron of the door. Rascal whined, nudging her away from the door, pawing at Petra's legs when she stood her ground.

"He does not like me near this thing." Petra said, taking her hand off the door.

"Think he can smell mobs on the other side?" Axel suggested.

"But why would he react so protectively?" Petra pointed out. "We've been out hunting monsters a ton."

"Let me test something." Lukas said, stepping forward and taking the door's handle.

Rascal whimpered softly, but he didn't try to push Lukas off as well. Instead he retreated back to Petra's side, standing by her protectively.

"Clearly he doesn't mind me getting hit with whatever is in there." Lukas said, frowning.

He tugged slightly on the handle to make sure the door was actually locked. But before he could let go of the handle, the flames on his torch died with a sizzle.

"The hell?" All three of them asked in unison.

It was pitch black inside the room, the torch having been the only light source. Their eyes not having adjusted to the dark yet, nobody could see a thing in the dark.

"What happened?" Petra heard Lukas's voice. "The flame was burning strong."

"No clue dude." Axel responded.

Petra opened her mouth to reply as well, when she heard and unexpected puff noise.

"You all heard that too, right?" Lukas spoke up.

"Something spawned." Petra said, ripping Miss Butter out of its sheath. She could hear the other two drawing their weapons as well.

Suddenly the smell of rotten flesh met Petra's nostrils, followed by a growl right behind her. Flinging around on the spot, Petra buried Miss Butter into the mob's chest, hearing it's skin tear open.

More things were spawning, quickly scattering about the three friends. Petra's eyes were starting to adjust enough for her to see the shape of the zombie she had just impaled. Much to Petra's shock and horror, the zombie remained standing when she ripped the blade out.

"Is it just me, or are these mobs unnaturally buff?" Lukas called from somewhere in the dark room.

"No, you're right!" Petra called back a reply, swinging the sword at the zombie again before it could grab her.

Miss Butter effortlessly sliced right through the zombie's head, decapitating it. Petra raised her sword again, flinging it to the right as she heard the familiar sounds of bones rattling.

There was a hollow clatter on the ground as one of the skeletons bones were broken off with Miss Butter. It didn't show any pain, simply raising it's bow right at Petra.

Thinking swiftly, Petra kicked back the mob and slammed Miss Butter down on it's head, embedding the blade into its skull. Seconds later, the skeleton fell to the ground in a pile of bones.

It was hard to tell what was going on where, everybody being scattered around the room and fighting their own battles.

Another zombie came up against Petra. This time she immediately aimed her sword for its head, having realised that was the quickest way to kill them.

The zombie however saw the blow coming. It grabbed the blade as it came down on it, ripping the sword from Petra's hands. She watched in horror as the zombie carelessly tossed her weapon aside. How smart were they?

Unarmed, there wasn't much Petra could do when the zombie all of a sudden threw itself at her, pinning her to the ground. Her screams of horror were drowned out by the commotion there was in the room, neither Lukas or Axel knowing of their friend's dire situation.

A shriek ripped itself from Petra's throat as the zombie suddenly embedded its claws deep into her shoulder. The sleeveless shirt she was wearing didn't provide any resistance.

Suddenly the zombie made an unsettling noise, ripping its claws out of Petra's shoulder, tearing through her skin. Screaming in agony, Petra looked up just in time to see why the zombie had let go.

Rascal was halfway on top of the monster, his jaw locked around the zombie's neck. With a bloodthirsty growl, Rascal tore apart the mob's throat, black, rotten blood raining down on Petra. She gagged at the stench, covering her nose with one hand as she pulled herself up by the wall.

"Rascal." Petra gasped, looking down at the wolf who was protectively circling her. She looked up again, her eyes searching around frantically. Ignoring the throbbing in her right shoulder, Petra reached down and grabbed Miss Butter off the floor again.

Rascal whined, running towards the exit tunnel – which Petra could only just about make out in the dark – and looking back at her with pleading eyes. Petra knew exactly what he wanted, and so did she.

"Let's get out of here!" She called to the others. "The mobs will burn in the sunlight!"

"Right behind you!" She heard Axel call from somewhere in the dark.

"Me too!" Lukas added from another side of the room, followed by the sound of a sword breaking through bone.

Not needing to be told twice, Petra turned around on the spot and booked it right down the tunnel with Rascal sprinting beside her.

Adrenaline carried all of them out of the dungeon, not once looking back or stopping to gasp for breath. As they broke out into the humid jungle air, everybody promptly collapsed against trees or onto the ground.

Rascal whined anxiously, walking to Petra's form on the ground. He nudged her cheek with his nose.

"I'm... okay... boy." Petra panted, looking up at her wolf. "Just catching... my breath..."

Rascal whined again, before starting to lick the open wound on Petra's shoulder. Not having the strength to sit up, Petra just let her eyes fall close, taking deep breaths. At that moment she kind of wished she didn't have lunch less than twenty minutes ago.

"Okay, what... happened in there?" Lukas asked, being the first to somewhat catch his breath.

"Those things wouldn't die!" Axel called, somehow managing to catch a second breath immediately and start talking. "I've never seen spiders so strong! I ripped off three of its legs and it was still going!"

"Axel." Petra said, managing to regain her own breath and pushing herself up on her uninjured elbow. "Too much information."

"Oh, one of them got you bad." Lukas said, flinching when he saw Petra's shoulder. He had a scratch down the side of his face, but that was all Petra could see.

"Ever had a zombie rip your weapon right from your hands so he can attack you unarmed?"

"That happened?" Axel asked, his own eyes widening.

"No, I just made that up because I thought it would be cool." Petra snapped back at him.

"Okay, okay, we believe you." Lukas said, holding up his hands, before offering one to Petra to help her up. She brushed it aside and got up on her own.

"We should get back." Petra said matter-of-factly. "I'd like to know how Jesse's doing."

"Me too." Lukas replied. "And get that wound of yours cleaned up."

"One more word about my injury, and I will injure you."

Rascal longingly looked back at the dungeon, but this time he obediently followed Petra and the other two.

Lukas quickly picked up what was left of their picnic, shoving it all back into the saddle bags. Nobody spoke as they all mounted, beginning to ride back in the direction of home, Rascal trotting beside Petra's horse.

It was a silent ride back home, all of them incredibly relieved when they came riding up to the tree-house again. The other two horses were both unsaddled and in the paddock. Jesse's gelding was slightly pacing up and down by the fence, probably knowing that something was up with his rider. Lluna wasn't in sight, most likely having followed Olivia and Jesse into the house.

"You can go on inside." Lukas said to Petra as the three of them dismounted their horses. "We'll unsaddle the horses-"

"I can tack down my own horse, thank you very much." Petra deadpanned, ignoring the pulsing in her shoulder as she began to loosen the girth on the saddle.

The silence between the three friends were heavy and uncomfortable as they finished with the horses, leaving them turned out in the paddock before walking towards the tree-house. Rascal still stuck to Petra's side like glue.

Bursting in through the door, they were greeted by a horrified Olivia.

"What happened to you three?" She gasped, clasping a hand over her mouth. "Petra, your shoulder!"

"I know about my shoulder, I'll live." Petra said, internally groaning at the fact that it was everybody's first concern.

"How's Jesse?" Lukas immediately asked Olivia. "Is she okay?"

Olivia took a deep breath, still mildly horrified by her friends' condition. But she nodded. "Yes, Jesse's better, a lot better in fact."

"Any idea what was wrong with her?" Axel asked, crossing his arms as he cocked his head to the side.

"I have no clue." Olivia admitted, holding up her hands. "She could barely get on her horse when we left, but by the time we got back here, it was almost as if it never happened."

"Excuse me?" Petra asked, raising her eyebrows. "She nearly passed out in the cave, and you're telling me she recovered within the matter of minutes?"

"Why would I make that up?" Olivia pointed out, almost sounding frustrated.

"Where is she now?" Lukas asked.

"In her room." Olivia responded. "She was still a bit on the pale side, so I just told her to go lie down for a bit, in case whatever it was comes back."

The engineer planted her hands on her hips, giving them an expectant look. "Now, are you guys going to tell me what the hell happened back there?"

___

What the hell happened when I wrote this chapter, the wording sounded drunk and there were more typos than in the entire last book. I can't remember the last time I had to do this much editing, and I probably still missed some stuff- Please ignore whatever slipped through

But anyhow, typos aside!

I don't have a lot to say about this chapter, mainly because I just don't like it that much, lol. But a lot did happen!

Right now, kinda looks like a mess, I'll be honest. And it takes quite a while for all these missing puzzle pieces to show up, I can promise you that.

So theorise away while you can!

See you all in five days with Chapter 3!