The Cave - Part 1

Setting off, Octavia and Sylvia headed out, hoping to reach the nearby road and then head to the nearest village somewhere along it. It would take a while to get there, and it all depended on how far the nearest village actually was. With the era being what it was, having maps and keeping them up to date, just wasn't possible. That meant, unless someone had actually put a village on a map, no one would know where it was aside from word of mouth.

Leaving the village, they headed back through the forest, being greeted by the familiar sight of repeating trees, bushes and nature. It was a lovely sight to look at, and if you like camping, this would be a great place to go. But after having travelled through it so many times, it all just blurred into one big annoyance.

They saw a few different animals on the way, all going about their daily business. A few birds travelled overhead, probably looking for food. Thankfully, they had not seen anything aggressive yet.

But even if they did, with the training she had received, Octavia was sure she could take it on.

If she came across those wolves like she did when she first arrived here, she was sure she could deal with them without having to use much trickery.

…

"What do you think we will find in this village?" Octavia decided to ask Sylvia, wondering if they could outfit themselves with anything new, or maybe get some information on the surrounding area.

"I'm not sure. I mean, I have no idea what villages there are around us, but I have been to a few others. I can't imagine there will be much to do there. It'll be mostly farmland and some houses. There may be a few shops as well, but they would be selling necessities or other merchandise they get from traders."

"So, no place to train or get a weapon?"

She hoped she could either brush up or put her training to the test against someone and that they may be able to get a weapon for Sylvia to use as they spoke about before.

"Maybe. I've heard of a few villages have blacksmiths, but it all depends on who settled in the village. As for training, there should be some guards that help defend the place, but who knows if they would agree to spar with you…and besides, are you sure you want to spar with them. You won't feel too good if they knock you down easily." Sylvia finished off with a slight smirk.

"That will not happen." Octavia responded with a frown, "I may not have received much training, but I'm sure I can put up a decent fight. I won't just get knocked down."

Octavia could only hope what she said was true and she wouldn't look the fool if this actually happened.

As they continued to just chat through the day, all the while making sure to watch their surroundings in case anything was lurking about, Octavia felt something wet hit her head.

Thankfully, it wasn't anything insidious like a beast drooling above them and was just a spot of rain.

"It's only light so we should be fine. If it starts to get heavier, we should try and find some shelter." Octavia said, with Sylvia wholeheartedly agreeing.

A downpour of rain may not sound so bad, but with the world they were in, it could cause problems.

While it was likely some form of healing magic could be done in this world, or a potion that provided the same sort of recovery existed, neither of them had either of these. It was at this point that Octavia realised she should have bought some in the apothecary.

Why she hadn't she couldn't figure out. She wondered if something had distracted her from doing so.

Putting that aside, not having either of these to hand meant that should they be caught in heavy rain, and end up getting soaked and cold, they risked getting ill. And without something to aid them, such an illness could slow them right down, or worse.

So, without further ado, they continued, through the forest keeping themselves close to trees in order to stay dry. As they did, they also looked out for anything that could be used as shelter other than the trees which were not perfect at keeping the rain out.

…

As their trek continued, the worse came to be.

The rain grew progressively heavier and heavier.

The trees that had provided some cover, began to wane, the wind and the heavy downpour knocking back the leaves and letting it fall to the ground where it had not before.

This meant that both Octavia and Sylvia started to get wetter from the weather, and desperately needed to find some cover before it got even worse.

"What's that?" Sylvia called out as she pointed to their right.

Octavia, struggling to see with the constant raindrops falling between herself and where Sylvia was pointing, ended up having to just head in that direction to see what Sylvia had spotted.

Even Sylvia wasn't sure what it was, just that when Octavia asked, she said it looked like a blurry section of grey which stood out from the green and brown of the forest.

As they got closer, they found it to be their salvation.

It was a section of exposed rock that poked out from a hill or a small cliff of some sort.

And as luck would have it, within this rock, was a natural cave that headed into it, which was pitch black and eerily quiet.

The problem was that finding this was a bit of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it would save them from becoming drenched in rain. But on the other, they had no idea what was in the cave.

It didn't look like anyone was using it. And by this Octavia saw that there was no one and nothing man-made littered around the entrance. This hopefully meant that there were no bandits or the like loitering around inside.

That just left a beast of this world making it its home.

…

As Octavia was contemplating this, Sylvia started to walk over to the entrance.

Octavia quickly got ahead of her and stopped her from doing so.

"Hold on, who knows what is in there. We need to be careful." Octavia said in a stern voice, almost reprimanding her.

Sylvia responded with a slight nod to the head realising her mistake, and a light blush that Octavia could not see due to the downpour.

The weather continued to worsen, so really there was no other option than to make the cave their home until the rain passed.

But, while they needed to get to cover fast, they still needed to be careful. Death by as angry beast was worse than getting ill which you might be able to bounce back from. Poleaxe out, Octavia started to head in. She also turned on her infrared vision to check for any life signs in the cave.

With a scan of the tunnel, it looked to be clear, and all she could see was just a dark and slightly blue hue.

To be sure though, she continued in partway down the cave tunnel, still with her weapon drawn. She was sure her vision told her everything she needed to know, but who was to say there wasn't some animal or creature in this world that ran cold and didn't give off the heat signature that her vision could detect?

It also gave Sylvia some piece of mind, as it wouldn't have looked good if Octavia just said it was all clear as soon as they entered the cave. She couldn't see her just believing her if she did that.

So, with it being empty as far as her vision and quick search had shown, they proceeded to set up camp and get themselves dry.

First was the fire, but with the rain outside, it was not possible to go gathering sticks to use for timber from out there. Thankfully, ever since the cave was formed however many years ago that was, the wind had been blowing all manner of nature into the cave.

There were plenty of twigs and sticks to choose from, along with some moss, and dead and dying plants, so scraping together enough for fuel was no problem.

They then proceeded to remove their clothing, and after some fiddling with some sticks, hung them close to the fire.

Neither of them had spare clothing, something they now realised they needed to get when they got to the village, and so after drying themselves off by both sitting by the fire and using some of the tent fabric as a towel, they then wrapped their bed rolls around themselves to keep their decency and keep warm.

As far as the first days of a journey went, it was not the best. The only saving grace was that they hadn't encountered an animal or bandits along the way as well.

The only thing they could do now was wait out the rain, all the while having their meals for the day, and then popping off to sleep.

But, before they got to any of that, something odd happened in the cave.

Sylvia had spotted it, pointing it out to Octavia. But where there had been darkness, even now while illuminated by the campfire which had hardly made a dent in the shadows, they could see a light.

It was a sparkling light, like what you would see from light bounding off a chandelier or disco ball.

It glistened right at the back of the cave, almost beckoning them to come towards it, like the promise of treasure in a chest.

The sight came and went a few times as they watched it, being replaced by darkness and then reappearing out of the black all of a sudden.

Neither knew what it was, but as they looked at each other, completely bored having to wait out the rain, they knew what they would be doing next.