Chapter 14: The Great Outside

There seemed to be a light coming from the other side of the waterfall and he noticed glowing mushrooms illuminating a path behind him delving deeper into the cave. The place he found himself was near where the monsters had taken him from the metallic structure. This was the origins of the deafening noise he had heard.

Aaron stood there lost in his thoughts. He had learned so much from Athos but was still plagued with questions he wasn't given the time to ask.

"What now…?" he asked himself.

He was alone again without any knowledge of how the world worked he knew he wouldn't make it far. Aaron didn't even know where to start especially with the whole unlocking his potential part. The one thing he did know was he was going to find Emily and John to make them pay for what they did.

"Aaron!??…" a familiar voice asked from behind

a large rock.

"Tom!!" Aaron yelled seeing the young man shuffle around the side into view.

Running through the large pool of water Aaron jumped, tackling him with a bear hug.

"Aghh" a groan of pain escaped Tom's lips.

Aaron quickly let go of him hearing his discomfort. Tom's cloths were badly damaged and the skin that was exposed was covered in cuts and bruises.

He hadn't even noticed it earlier in the excitement of seeing him still alive but he was in bad shape. The largest injury on his leg was bandaged well but blood still seeped through showing how severe it was. Tom winced leaning back up against the massive rock.

"A-are you ok" Aaron worriedly asked.

"Don't worry about it, I'll be fine. What matters is your alive! I didn't think you made it…" he said trying to be tough and smile through the pain.

"Where's Dorothy?" Tom asked hopeful.

Aarons expression turned grim, the smile fading from his face. This was all the answer Tom needed to realize she hadn't made it.

"Shit! How could I have let this happen?" Tom punched a rock leaving a bloody print on it.

The plan had been a disaster as Aaron couldn't go through with his part in time and Tom disappeared before his.

"Where were you? Why did you leave us?!" Aaron grew angry.

He realized part of the reason Dorothy died was Tom's absence. Deep down he knew he was just as much to blame but he couldn't help the way he was feeling.

"I-I…it all happened so fast. One moment I was knocking another arrow and the next…I don't know what happened but I was surrounded by those monsters." Tom looked traumatized.

Aaron had not seen him like this before. His skin was pale whether from the loss of blood or terror evident on his face he did not know.

"Then just before I was about to be killed…it appeared" Tom shivered.

"The two green flames in the dark spoke. I couldn't understand its words but when it disappeared so did the monsters."

Aaron immediately thought of the the being he had just met. It had to have been him.

"When I got back there was nothing but blood and disfigured bodies. It was a bloodbath I thought you all were killed by it. I had no choice…I grabbed whatever I could and ran but this was as far as I could make it…" Tom said sliding down the rock barely conscious his eyes rolled back.

"Hey! Hey wake up!"

Aaron felt guilty about the way he yelled at Tom especially with how hurt he was. The bag by the young man's side caught his attention. He hurriedly grabbed it and sure enough it was Veron's bag. The same one he had taken that strange bottle from when Tom shot the wizards hand.

After fumbling with the button holding the flap closed he flipped it open. There he saw three bottles filled with the light green liquid he recognized. It also contained a smaller pouch, a clear needle, and a book. Aaron took out each bottle uncorking one and removing the bandage from Tom's leg.

The wound was long stretching from his hip to just above the kneecap even showing bone in some parts. He had already lost one of the people that he had grown fond of and he really couldn't handle losing another.

Just as he had seen the wizard do he poured it over the gaping tear in Tom's leg. Seconds passed with no clear reaction and he grew worried pouring the other two on as well. This seemed to have done something as Aaron could see the substance seep into his flesh. The exposed muscles and flesh sizzled expanding around the bone sealing most of the tear up.

The whole process took a few minutes and the cut was definitely not entirely healed but it wasn't bleeding anymore. Aaron wrapped it up wiping away the excess blood just as Dorothy had done for him. Tom was slowly coming back to his senses and groggily opened his eyes.

"God…I feel dizzy" he whispered.

They sat there for an hour letting Tom rest as Aaron recounted what happened. He did his best to summarize it leaving out stuff like the supposed invisible chains shackled to him or the fact that he spoke to the creature known as Athos.

Aaron trusted Tom but he didn't know if he would even believe him or what kind of reaction he would have to him being different. He mostly talked about what Emily and John did too Dorothy and how they escaped with some sort of magic ball.

Tom explained it was a short range teleportation item that could only be used once and was extremely valuable. He was shocked to hear she had acquired one.

"Well we better get the hell out of this hell hole. I also have a good idea of where we can find that bitch. I swear they will both live to regret what they have done…especially Emily." Tom said getting up to test his leg.

Putting some pressure on it he found he was able to walk well enough. Aaron helped him carry the wizards bag putting the empty bottles back inside. He didn't know if they had any value but there was no trouble in keeping them.

"How do we leave this place anyway? And what's even outside, what's it really like?" Aaron asked full of curiosity.

Stepping back into the shallow water Tom gestured for Aaron to follow.

"See this waterfall here! This is our way out! And about the outside world…well your about to find out!" Tom yelled so that the loud roar wouldn't drown him out.

Grabbing Arron by the shoulder they both ran into the wall of water. The impact hit hard and bore down on him. He could feel Tom by his side moving forward, he forced himself not to give in.

Pushing through the violent pressure beating down on them they breached the other side immediately falling through the air. With a splash Aaron plunged into the cold pool of water below.

He couldn't swim and felt himself sinking deeper as he flailed his arms desperately trying to grab hold of something. Opening his eyes he noticed his vision was heavily blurred. He could see the bubbles escaping from him rising into the light above.

His lungs burned for air as a hand gripped his. The next thing he knew his head broke through the surface coughing up the water that had entered his lungs.

Tom pulled his struggling body to shore. Dragging him over something new something soft. Aaron dug his fingers into it grabbing a handful, small amounts trickled between his fingers.

"Ok that was my fault. Sorry, I didn't really think about your lack of swimming knowledge or we coulda taken the long route." Tom apologized but he could see the young man was stifling a laugh.

Aaron was too mesmerized to care though taking in the beauty of his surroundings. The only memories he had were of the dark cavern and strange structure he emerged from but this, this was amazing.

Letting the dirt he held fall from his palm he gazed at the tall trees covered in a thick layer of leaves. The bright blue sky scattered with white puffs moving ever so slowly. A bright ball in the sky gave off a blinding light that Aaron found warm.

Running away from the water Aaron dove onto a bed of grass that expanded for as far the eye could see. He could hear Tom laughing at his interest.

"Have you seriously never seen grass!?!"