Life in Isolation

I open my eyes once again to total darkness. This is my second time going to sleep like normal in this stupid cave, so you'd think that this is my third day here. I try my best not to assume this, though. I have no reference for time down here, and that can really mess up your entire perception of time. I feel like this is the start of day three, but I'd bet a lot that this is actually a whole lot earlier than that.

Anyway, I need to start my day at some point, so I'd better get to work. I take my clothes off and bathe in the water pool that I found some time ago. After the first time I skinny dipped in here my common sense returned to me as soon as the relief settled down. I made a whole bunch of light with my fire and made extra sure that there weren't any parasites in here. When I figured that it was safe enough I started bathing in here every time I woke up so I don't catch some filth related disease.

After that's done, I come out of the water and wait a bit to dry. I could wipe myself off with my clothes, but I'd just have to put them on and get wet again. I could dry myself off with wind courtesy of Kari, but it's a bad idea to be using mana for something so frivolous in this situation.

I pour the water into some of the small bottles that I had on me when I fell down here. I use my connection with Florian to boil them before I drink them. Again, getting some sort of disease this far from any help would be the worst. I know I drank it straight from the source when I first found this area, but that was only because I was literally dying of dehydration at the time. Desperation is definitely one hell of an emotion, when you really feel it.

There's still no real concept of time down here, so I have no idea how long I'm boiling my water for. Eventually I decide that it should be enough to have killed any bacteria in it, and doing any more would be a waste of my mana. I quickly gulp down all the water. Now it's time for more waiting.

Even if I ran a bit from my original location, the rule I'm following here remains the same. The less I move, the easier it will be for rescue teams to find me. Trying to find my way out, or even trying to find my way back, especially somewhere as dark and hard to navigate as here would only get me more lost, and in turn make me much harder to find. So yeah, until someone finds me, I'll do my best to stay put. I just have to remain patient. There's no way Inell, Kiaran, or any of the others would just abandon me down here, afterall.

My stomach starts gurgling. Man, I'm really hungry. I managed to kill and cook some naked mole rat looking thing "yesterday," but even that took a whole lot of mana. I wasn't able to prepare it nearly as well as Freware and Kiaran, and it tasted absolutely awful.

Even if it was the worst though, it should keep me satiated for a while. Hunting for, and cooking food both cost mana. It also comes with the risk of getting lost, as well as the risk of eating something that stays poisonous even after it's cooked.

Call me overcautious, but I just really don't want to die down here. In order to do that, I need to consider everything that could possibly kill me. I need to keep up a surplus of mana so that I can fight if need be, and I can't move from this spot unless my life is in danger. Those are the rules that I've set for myself, and those are rules that I intend to stick to.

I'd be lying if I said it wasn't extremely boring here, though. There's absolutely nothing to do, and having to way to tell the time. The only real way I can pass any sort of time is to touch myself, try and force myself to sleep, or start imagining stories in my head. I can only force myself to sleep so much before I can't any more, and I can only touch myself so many times before my body starts feeling the toll. That just leaves imagining stories in my head for me to do.

It's kind of nostalgic, really. I remember when I was a little girl, as I started getting older whenever I got in trouble and got put in timeout, I started imagining all sorts of stories in my head to pass the time quicker. I used to brag to myself about how I managed to cure boredom. Aw, little girl, just wait until you figure out what writer's block is…

Anyway, I need to start figuring out what to think about as I wait for rescue. I'm not making any fire to conserve mana, and to not burn all my oxygen out. That means it's completely dark in here, and I have no idea what's even in front of me. That could lend itself quite well to horror.

How about a monster based on your fear of the dark? That can only exist in pure darkness, and changes its shape based on its prey's worst fears? The key to defeating such a monster is to simply not be afraid. Yeah, not being afraid of it kills it instantly, how cool of an idea is that? How would it survive, though? Does it need to be near a human to live, or can it feed off of the fear of all humanity?

If the former's the case then it's basically an unkillable god with millions of forms. Oh ho ho. I'm getting giddy just thinking about that! I need to submerge myself in complete darkness more often, if that's the kind of ideas I come up with! I just have to write about it! Right now! No, I'm imagining a story right now, I'll put it down in writing as soon as I get a hold of paper.

I'll have to write a story about some sort of scared protagonist getting trapped with that dark God of fear. I can't wait to see what Jody, April, Sierra, and Alissa think of it. Now, should I do a comic or a novel with it? No, I'm going with a lovecraftian writing style, and that lends itself better to writing better than any kind of visual format. It also lends well to the theme of a monster changing to suit your worst fears. Drawing it and giving it a physical form kind of takes away from that.

So I have the big bad, and the theme down already. This is moving along faster than any of my other stories! Now I just need the protagonist, then supporting characters, then-

A noise. It snaps me right out of all of that. I look around out of reflex even though I know I can't see anything. I keep myself from lighting a fire. If I do that to see whatever that noise was, it will definitely see me. I just bathed, so I don't think it would be able to smell me. Some big bad monster smelling me is really- no, focus. Don't you dare, not in this situation.

I hear more noise. It's like footsteps, but… crackly? Like something huge is stepping on a bunch of crunchy leaves straight off of autumn trees. Whatever it is, it's walking slowly. It's footsteps sound heavy though, so whatever it is, it's probably huge.

Should I prepare a lightning spell? No, that attack would definitely draw a whole bunch of other monsters over here, and I don't want to lose access to this spot. It's also way too mana intensive. I'll try my best to take it out with just wind blades. That's also a last resort, though. I'd prefer to get through this without having to fight.

I hear groaning. Whatever it is, it's really close now. I think that it's getting closer to the water so I try my best to move away in the darkness without making a sound. I think the fact that I'm still barefoot is helping a bit with that.

I hear whatever the thing is approaching the water. Then it just stands there in silence. The fact that it's not making any more noise makes it even scarier. The fact that I know it's there, but none of my senses are telling me that is terrifying. I still refuse to light a fire to see. If it has any sort of eyesight, it will definitely notice me the second I do that. I just have to be patient and listen like hell for any noise it makes.

It begins to groan again. Thank God it's giving me some sort of idea of where it is. I slowly back away as slowly as possible so I don't make any noise. I think it's leaving. Ah, crap, a wall. I tumble into one of the walls of the cave because I can't see.

Whatever it was, it made a sudden grunt, and then went silent again. It knows I'm here. Oh no. I hear its footsteps again, slowly getting closer to me. I want to shower it in wind blades and throw in a lightning bolt for good measure, but I don't know what it is, or even what it looks like, so I don't know whether it would be able to tank that or not.

For now I just slowly move to the side, while feeling the cave wall. I feel my foot hit something. Then I hear the sound of a bottle being knocked onto the stone floor, and then shaking. It wouldn't be that much noise normally, but in this situation, it's deafening. When the hell did I put these over here?

Whatever. Kari! Give me your winds! I put everything I have into blowing myself to the left. As I do, I hear whatever that thing is shrieking and jut towards me as fast as it can. As I stumble onto the ground I hear it crash into the wall and hear the sounds of rocks cracking. If I didn't put everything I had into dodging that, I definitely would have died. I know that from the noise alone.

Florian! Give me fire! Now! I put all my mental force into imagining fire appear on my right hand. This time it works the first time. What I see in front of me is a huge monster that looks like vines and mold wrapping itself over a bunch of rocks, bones, and various other things. It's vaguely humanoid, with two legs, five big bulging arms, and no head. How that thing shrieks is completely beyond me.

Kari, please, give me your winds so I can put this crime against nature down. I begin to literally spray the thing in wind blades. Some of them go past the fire that I made and carry some of it with it, creating wind blades made out of not only wind, but of fire as well. I'll have to keep that in mind later.

That barrage cut all the vines and the mold into a bunch of pieces, and the creature somehow started screaming. Some of the rocks and the bones started to fall out of its hold. After that though, the vines and the moss started growing again, healing from the wounds and grabbing up all the stuff that fell out and putting it back into its "body."

It's screaming at me. It jumps at me again, and I fly over its attack. Its vines extend out in sharp, knifelike points at me in the air, which also takes a lot out of me to dodge. Should I blast it with lightning? No, too mana intensive, and I don't know if it will actually kill it. Fire, then? It does seem like a plant based monster.

Fire it is, then! Florian! I order you and myself to create a pillar of flame strong enough to burn this hideous monster to ash! I draw out huge amounts of mana from my soul and imbue it with the will to survive. I imagine that pillar of flame completely enveloping that monster.

I do create fire, but it isn't nearly the amount that I wanted nor was it near the amount needed to completely kill the thing. I lit it on fire, but after that I couldn't keep the spell going. Through the creature's screams it's regeneration of its plant matter outpaces the rate that it's getting destroyed by my fire. I only succeeded in hurting it, and making it angry. Now I have a giant on fire plant monster that's pissed off at me.

I decide that if I keep fighting, I'll eventually run out of mana and die, so I fly away. I'm probably not going to be able to find this place again, so I'll have to find another source of water. I'm also leaving those bottles behind, so I have no idea how I'm meant to boil my water for now on, but I have more pressing matters.

It's galloping behind me with its five arms and two legs. I can only fly so fast because with the fire I'm creating, I can only see so far ahead of me. That thing is much faster than that, though. I can hear its low guttural screams getting louder and louder. I can also feel that heat of the fire I lit on it getting closer. Damn it, damn it, I thought I escaped this hell and I put myself right back in it!

Adad! Give me power! I do my best to maneuver the cave with what little light I'm capable of creating. More power, Adad you idiot! I can feel the heat getting closer, I refuse to let it get right up next to me again. Now! I fire a lightning bolt at the ceiling between me and the flaming plant monster. The spell very briefly lights up the entire cave, I try my best to remember everything I saw in this brief moment. After the flash and the loud boom, the ceiling begins to collapse.

This area of the cave is much larger than the area I had encountered the fire beetles, though. Because of that, the collapse wasn't nearly enough to cover the entire cave, and left space for the creature to pursue me. I look behind, briefly and see it burrowing itself into the rocks. Either trying to grow in size, or put the fire out. Whatever it is, it bought me time, at least.

I continue to fly through the cave as quickly as I can with the low light conditions in mind, but soon enough I hear it's screams again, getting closer to me. How the hell do you know where I am?!

Whatever, I just keep flying. Eventually I turn around and see it gaining on me again. Why are you still chasing me, just go away! I'm clearly more trouble than it's worth! How do I lose this stupid thing?!

Whatever, I just keep flying. Eventually I turn around and see it gaining on me again, still on fire. Why are you still chasing me, just go away! I'm clearly more trouble than it's worth! How do I lose this stupid thing?!

After who knows how long of flying, the ground suddenly disappears beneath me. Below me is just total darkness. A cliff face. Hah! Hahahahaha! No getting cornered on a cliff for me, crime against nature! I can fly! Idiot!

Eventually it reaches the edge of the cliff face and can't chase after me for literally no reason any more. I fly and fly, and see the flaming vine monster grow more and more distant. Eventually I stop. Finally, thank God that's over. Alright, now to look for a nice place to land. I can't be wasting mana like this.

Huh?! It jumped at me?! I desperately try to fly to avoid the jump, but it shoots more sharp plant matter at me. I try my best to dodge all of that and- Aaaaaaaahh! My foot! It stabbed right through my foot! It hurts, it hurts a lot, definitely the most pain I've been in in my entire second life. The only thing more painful than this was my first death.

It wraps around my leg and drags me downward way too quickly. "Wind blade!" I fire a wind blade at the thing with all the force I can muster, and it cuts in half. I'm able to fly, just with a plant stabbing through my foot and wrapping around my leg. It still hurts like hell.

A wall. I just crashed into a wall. Hard. It really hurt. At some point during that entire confrontation, my fire wound up going out and the darkness returned. Now I have no idea where I'm flying and I wound up injuring myself even more.

How much mana do I have left? I try my best to sense inside of my soul to guess my mana capacity, but I'm not particularly skilled at this, so my answer is going to be a bit vague. Let's see… 15%... give or take 5% or so. Crap, crap, crap, that is way too small.

At the lowest possible estimate, that leaves me with about two minutes more of flight before I'm completely dry. I have no idea where to land. Making light to see is only just going to cost me more mana. The more I think the more mana I'm going to waste. Whatever it is, I have to do something now.

I begin to fly down slowly. And by slowly, I mean just slow enough that hitting the floor won't break my legs. This is the fastest way I can get down to the bottom of here safely. I still don't know how deep this chasm is, but it shouldn't be so steep that I run out of mana before I reach the bottom.

I land on something with a thud. I landed on one foot so that I didn't have to put pressure on the one that was stabbed through. That causes me to fall over and hit my head on something. Then for some reason I keep falling. I try to start flying again, but before I can start I hit my head on something sharp. It slices across my cheek, not deep enough to cut it open, but definitely deep enough that it will scar. Then the rest of my body falls on something very hard and uncomfortable.

That probably wasn't even that much of a fall, but it still hurt a whole lot. Florian, fire. I try to form fire so that I can see my surroundings, but everything hurts too much and I can't focus hard enough. I'm really tired… maybe I should just sleep for a bit, recharge my mana, and take in my surroundings later…

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I wake up with everything hurting. The aching pain of what happened "yesterday." Alright, before anything else, about how much mana do I have left? Let's see… a bit less than half, with a 5% margin of error again. So I got about a third of it back then. That takes around 8 hours. Huh. I'm just now realizing how good my mana capacity is at telling the time… I wish I knew that when I first wound up down here.

Anyway, that should be enough to see what's going on around me. Florian, create me a fire! I put my will into my hands, and ignite the mana I pour into it. It works on the first try again. What I see around me is a small cave made entirely of crystals.

All sorts of crystals of all sorts of colors, and shapes and sizes. The walls, the floor, the ceiling, all made out of jutting out rainbow crystal. What's more, they seem to be able to absorb the fire that I created. One of the crystals that my hand was near just happened to suck it off, causing all the crystals here to produce their own light.

The small cave slowly becomes a glowing crystal cave with all sorts of different colored light rays going every single direction like something out of a fairy tale. I can even see my own reflections in all of them, like some sort of pristine hall of mirrors. It's beautiful. It's really, honestly beautiful. How I got here is beyond me, but I could stay here looking at all the gems all day.

My own reflection is much worse off than this pristine crystal cave, though. I'm dirty, my clothes are all ripped, that stupid plant is still inside of my foot, and I have a huge gash across my left cheek. There's also blood all over my face that poured from that wound.

I was definitely right about that scarring… I mean, depending on the look I'm going for, a scar could definitely be considered badass. That definitely is not the look I'm going for, though. Besides, that's definitely a really lame way to get a scar.

I guess I could make it work, if I went for a badass tomboy vibe, something like Freware. Bragging about surviving this cave is every chance I get, showing off muscles, calling guys bro. I can't say that the idea isn't appealing, but I definitely couldn't pull it off. I'll have to think of some way to make the scar work later.

For now though, my foot is a much more pressing matter. I really don't want the wound to get infected, although by now it probably is. I don't know if this is the right thing to do, but if I leave it like this, I'm not going to be able to walk as well as I'd like. I begin to rip the left sleeve of my shirt off. It's a long sleeve so it gives loads of fabric for me to use.

I begin to unwrap that plant from my leg. Oh, oh God, I'm definitely going to regret this here in a second. It's a long tendril, so I'm not going to be able to yank it out in one go. I'm going to have to work at this for a bit. I can't take too long, I can't be losing a lot of blood here. I put the fabric next to my foot, and grab the plant with both hands. Now… I need to pull.

"Aaaaaaaaahhh!"

I yell for the first time in this cave. It hurts, it feels like how I'd imagine ripping a huge leech off, except way worse. Oh God, there's still more.

"Aaaaaaaaaagggggghhh!"

Keep pulling… keep pulling… I'm out of breath. It's making my entire foot hurt. This is undoubtedly worse than getting stabbed the first time.

Aaaaaaarrrrrgggghhh!"

Only a little bit more. It's only a bit more, but my entire body feels exhausted. I'm going light headed, I'm getting squeamish. But I have to get this out. I start hitting my head over and over again in an effort to fight through the pain. I grab the plant again, and yank with all I have.

It comes right out. I don't think it hit an artery, but oh my God is that a lot of blood. It's literally forming a pool. That's my blood… I'm actually going to bleed out… No! Focus! This is something Azariah should also be able to do! This is child's play for Azariah!

I grab the cloth and wrap it around my foot. I tie it in the way I normally tie my shoes, because that's the only knot I know. I make sure to tie it as tight as I can possibly make it, no matter how much it hurts my foot. And then I double know it. Then triple knot it. If there was enough cloth for a quadruple knot, I would have done that as well. I make sure that the only way this is coming off is with the help of a knife. I can't have this coming off by accident.

Alright… I'm done… it hurts like hell, but I'm done nonetheless. Now I lay down to rest once again. It takes a while for the pain to die down enough for me to start thinking again.

Alright, let's see. Assuming, I'm spot on with my estimate, I should have about half my mana left. I think… that as pretty as this area is, I need to go. There's no water here.

I'm also probably too far away from wherever I originally fell for anyone to find me. I really don't like the idea, but I think that if I stay put I really won't be found. I'm not sure if this is the right thing to do, but it's my decision.

My foot still hurts, so… I use a wind blade to cut a particularly long crystal structure out of the floor, and then use it like a walking stick. Hah. This thing alone is probably priceless, and look at what I'm using it for. Whatever, it works.

All jokes aside, these things are probably pretty expensive, so I cut off a couple of smaller chunks of crystals and pocket them as well. After a few tries, I summon more fire, and imbue it into my walking stick. A walking stick, and a lantern, how useful.

I stand up for the first time in a while, and light a fire to see again. After a bit of looking, I find an exit to this crystal cave, although I'm certain that it isn't the way I came in. Now, it's time to start walking.

It isn't long before I'm standing over yet another cliff. This time though, I can see the bottom. What I see past that cliff is a truly massive open space illuminated by pockets of lava on the floor, golden glowing vines all over the walls, and various small lights flying through the air like flocks of birds, which I assume are insects.

It's a truly epic space, that honestly takes my breath away much more than that cave of priceless crystals. I can't help but just stand there and stare at every last inch that I can see.

So… this is where I'm heading then? First find water, then find a way out. Those are my goals for here on out. Alright, let's get going.