Hope and Expectation

As they made their way forward, they got to the end of the tunnel. What greeted them was a magnificent and truly spectacular sight. They felt the breeze the waves delivered to them, the gentle yet firm wind. The water in front of them looked endless. Endless full of living beings. Fish creatures, diverse whale monsters and other kind. In the skies there were multiple types of birds. It ranged from simple seagulls to majestic giant eagles. This place was full of life, it was a sight to behold. The trio upon seeing this majestic place were dumbfounded.

"D-didnt you say it was like just water?" Asked James.

"I never said that, I mean, I'm as surprised as you!" Said Dan.

"This is not just water isn't it?" Asked Pete.

"No Pete, it's not, definitely not." Said James.

"We escaped the giant insects, but what now?" Asked Dan.

"This is just weird how can there be a sky under the earth? And a whole ocean?! What kind of logic does apply to the place we are?! ARGH I get headaches just thinking about this.."

"W-wait look!" Pete pointed to the sky.

James and Dan looked really really close, squinting their eyes, trying to see what he saw.

"What exactly are we supposed to see or look for?" Asked James.

"Can't you see? There are roots, giant roots!" Pete exclaimed.

"Roots? In the sky? We can't see anything, are you sure, you are not seeing things?" James tried to be as polite as possible, not to sound upset.

"Here let me help you!" Pete went to James and Dan.

He grabbed their heads and pointed them straight to the point he saw.

"H-hey what are you doing?" James was flustered.

Dan just played along, knowing his brother's antics, it seemed like a normal day for him, like any other.

"Just loook!" Pete firmly held James head in place, slightly squashing his cheeks.

"Hm, I don't know what you wanted to show me bu-... wait, I think I see it too, its true. There are roots in the sky! This means we are still underground!"

James upon realizing Pete was right, looked at Pete a little conflicted.

"I'm sorry, i didn't believe you at first, I should trust you more." James apologized straight away.

"Hehe, no problem, its not a big deal, i have better eye sight than most people, it happens. It happened back then too, so its understandable not everyone believes me when I say I see things others don't, I'm used to it, no big deal seriously.." Pete stood there awkwardly scratching his head.

"What do you mean with back then?" Asked James inquisitive.

Dan stepped forward in front of Pete, but before he could speak, Pete said,

"Dan, its alright!" Pete grabbed Dans shoulder and patted his shoulder.

Dan looked concerned at Pete, as it wasn't easy to talk about something you wanted buried.

Some memories are burdens, that you can't get rid of, you have to live with them, to hopefully someday be able to live with them.

"When I was a kid, I saw something, something only I saw. I played outside the village, I walked through the other villages that were nearby, then I saw it as I was playing with the other children, i saw a glimpse of the volcano, it erupted. So as a child, that saw what just happened, shared it with the other Adults and friends. Nobody believed me. How could they? It was pretty far away, and I was only a child. I went back home, told my mother, my brother they believed me, they tried to warn the others, but..." Pete tried to hold his tears back, to no avail.

"But it was too late..." James finished Petes sentence.

"Afterwards the survivors from the nearby villages, came to our village to seek shelter."

Dan explained.

"So, thats why..., they wanted to sacrifice you two, because they believed you were at fault...,I am so sorry to hear that, I can't imagine what you two have gone through..." James looked at them, his view of them changed.

'They maybe sometimes particular, but at the end of the day they still are just thinking, living beings, how could I forget something like that important, you idiot! '

*sigh*

Pete hugged James, crying and bawling his eyes out, his snot was ridiculous big.

He used James clothes to get rid off his snot.

"Thanks James for listening, I feel so much better now!" Said Pete.

James grimaced at the snot on his clothes.

"Yeah..., no problem buddy, as long as you feel better, no problem whatsoever"

James immediately took his clothes off and washed them at the shore, trying to clean everything, from ant blood and goo to Pete's snot.

"I don't know how long we are here, so we have to prepare a place to sleep, and then we can think about what to do later, at least we won't go hungry here anytime soon. " as James just said it, he caught a fish that got lured through the blood, that got washed out. James smirked and felt smug until he got hit by the fish tail in the face. Dan and Pete watched James got hit and immediately tried to not laugh, it didn't work. They laughed really hard, which pissed off James!

"Argh!" Dan got hit in the face with the fish, James threw it at him.

"Still funny?" Asked James.

Dan and Pete gulped.

"Yes kinda..." said Pete as he threw his hands up to guard his face.

*sigh*

James rolled his eyes.

"Pete you see the giant looking marble in the sky?"

"You mean the Sun sir?"

"Yeah the 'sun' before it goes down use your weapon to cut some trees"

"You mean these giant trees sir?!"

"Precisely these giant trees"

"How?! I don't think I can do this alone..." pete looked at the giant trees behind him and then at his weapon. A little hatched that he stowed away, he picked it up from the corpse he tripped over.

Dan came to Pete, it gave Pete hope, hope that got destroyed the second his brother opened his mouth.

"You can do this little brother, I believe you." Dan patted his shoulder and gave a thumbs up to james.

James laughed at Dan.

"You got another job to do, the fish that I caught, prepare it, cook it, if you can try to catch some more."

"B-but I don't know how..?"

James went Dan and patted his shoulder.

"Then you better learn fast how, I believe you!"

"Then what are you doing?" Asked Pete.

"Me? I need to meditate, I need to focus and collect my soulpower again, once I have enough I can protect you and myself better, I know we are beyond our limits and have gone far behind it, but if we dont want to die, to live another wretched day, we have to keep going, im sure if we just keep going we will find a way out."

"How are you so sure we will?" Asked Dan.

"First of all experience, don't forget my time as paid sword, as mercenary you have all kind of scenarios, if you don't adapt, you simply die. The most important thing is hope, keeping hope, if we lose hope, we lost more than hope, we would lose much more. So don't lose hope " James laughed as he took his knife from the boots he wear and gave it to Dan.

He then sat cross-legged under a tree and closed his eyes.

In another place

"Hah...hah..hah.. you old man.. one more time!" Grisko was full of bruises, making him unrecognizable.

Elder Eldrick just shook his head.

"How many rounds does this make? Do you want a hint? You never dodged one-"

"I DID you just played dirty and hid a second behind the first!"

Elder Eldrick threw another pebble at Grisko!

"Argh!! Why?!" Grisko felt wronged.

"Don't interrupt me when I speak you brat! And thats still count as one!"

"Why?!!"

"Because I say so! Stop testing my limits! Now do you want to hear a hint or not?!"

Grisko rubbed his elbow.

'This old geezer is too unreasonable!'

Seeing Elder Eldrick picked another pebble Grisko immediately gave in!

"I do! I do! Tell me please!"

Elder Eldrick smirked.

"Hohohoho, why not so from the beginning? Listen carefully here, some things you can see, some things you can not, some things you can hear, some things you can not, its the same for your other sensory perceptive functions. So what does not change no matter if its there or not?"

Elder Eldrick stroked his very long beard.

Grisko took a second to take said stuff in and think about it.

He thought deeply until he came to a conclusion, his eyes widened in realization.

Elder Eldrick smiled.

"Its intuition!"

"Thats right, you are not so stupid after all, who knew? Hohohoho, your instinct, your primal response, your subconsciousness. You rely too much on your eyes, learn to trust your instincts"

"How do I do it?"

"Thats on you to find out hohohoho"

'This damn old maaaaaan!!!!'

Meanwhile

"No, no, no there is a misunderstanding here, your friend isn't dead, he is... huh.., hmm thats unexpected, well nevermind he is doing great, don't worry, I will guide you to the place where you can meet him." Arvan explained to John and Elisa.

Elisa took Arvan's hand and John's.

"Let's gooooo!!!"

Arvan and John didn't even know what to say, so they said nothing!

"..."

"Oh boy, my father's gonna kill me, where are they? I can't believe I lost them ! If father finds out I am so dead! What should I do???!"

There was a women with long blonde hair, clear green eyes, she had a small nose, her face was round, like a child her expression showed her pure innocent. She wore a green tunic with a cloak, that was embroidered with golden weaves.

She frantically looked around her, there were armor and weapons all around, it was the place where James and the others fought the beast.

She was on her way to find them, but got lost in the labyrinth, then she finally found her way downwards, only to find out that the people she keeps looking are already gone.

"Ahhh! Whatever, I know I will find them, sooner or later anyway!"

She just went into the tunnel, like a bird following the bread crumbs, she followed the chaos James and the others left behind.

Then she came across a dying giant worm, it was breathing with its skin, it just laid there, but it didn't give up, contrary to ones believe. It was still fighting. Fighting to overcome it's inevitable.

The woman stopped in her steps, she came closer to the giant worm.

She put her hand on the giant worm.

She was very gentle and calm.

"You who have still hope within your darkest hour, be assured that I took notice of your courage, death will come, soon it will take you a place where you can eat and dig how much you want. Farewell worm, with the knowledge that I will not forget you nor abandon your belief.."

Like a chant that worked like magic, the giant worm, was calmed down, it breathed shallower and shallower. Until it stopped, it found its peace. May he rest for he believed.

A sudden gust appeared. Suddenly there was a Woman standing. She wore blood red garments, she had red hair and freckles.

"Ker..., what are you doing here" Asked the woman nervous.

"Well, somebody called, so i came over, I just didn't think you prayed for a worm my naive sister" she pointed at her sister laughing out loud.

"So what do you want?" Asked the woman.

"Nothing much really, just a little bit hungry , you know." She licked her lips.

"You..."

"Don't you have a job to take care of?"

The woman looked conflicted, she bit her lips.

"This isn't over yet!"

"Sure sure, be safe on your travels my dear sister"

The woman looked back to look one more time at her sister and then ran to the tunnel where James and the others went inside.

Ker was feasting on the worm, blood all over, she was in ecstasy. She ripped the worm apart like nothing and ate it.

Finally the woman found them, one sitting under a tree, one catching more fishes, one chopping trees.

"There you are!!! I finally found you!"

Immediately the trio went into warrior mode.

"Who are you!?" Asked James as he donned his gauntlets.

"Me? I'm Elpis!" Said Elpis as she smiled brightly.