Everything was dark, almost too dark to see. The only light in the tunnel was from the glow of strange mushrooms that seemed to grow on everything. The sound of water constantly dripping echoed in the darkness and never seemed to get louder or softer no matter what direction she walked. Stalactites and stalagmites seemed to grow everywhere and the rocky, uneven ground made walking difficult but she pressed on. The tunnel seemed to twist and turn and there were even inclines every so often. However, she could feel that she was going deeper in the ground the further she walked. Just as she approached a sharp downward slope, she heard a sound that surprised her.
“Damn it!” exclaimed a female voice.
She immediately started to make her way down the slope to try to find the other person. Just as she finished descending, she spotted a young woman slumped against a large rock. Judging from her attire, the other girl was clearly a thief. There was no mistaking that purple jumpsuit and black beanie. Whilst tightly gripping her staff, the woman stepped forward into the other’s line of sight.
“Um, hello,” said the woman.
“The hell?” exclaimed the thief, obviously surprised to see someone else so deep in the tunnel.
“No need to be rude,” muttered the woman with a frown.
The thief looked her up and down and frowned. The last thing she needed was a conceited magician seeing her in her current state. And the other woman was clearly a magician. She wore a long, white and yellow robe and clutched at the wooden staff in her hands. The thief snorted when she noticed that floppy, pointed hat that the magician wore.
“What’s so funny?” demanded the magician as she narrowed her eyes at the thief.
“Magicians,” replied the thief with a frown.
“You’re one to talk, thief. At least I have an honest profession.”
“Whatever,” muttered the thief looking away. She hoped the magician would leave.
“And I help people too,” said the magician with a smug expression.
“What are you on about?” asked the thief, giving the magician a suspicious gaze.
“I’m a cleric,” replied the magician with another smug smile.
“Damn it,” muttered the thief under her breath.
“You’re hurt, aren’t you?” asked the cleric.
“None of your business,” snapped the thief, again looking away from the magician.
“No need to hide it. You can’t hide it from me anyway. We clerics are trained to sense when others are injured,” said the magician as she made her way toward the thief.
“Thanks, I don’t need your help,” said the thief with an overly polite smile. The cleric stopped in her tracks and frowned.
“Fine but the Ant Tunnel is no place to be without potions,” said the cleric, turning to leave. The thief bit her lower lip.
“Wait!” called the thief as the cleric started to walk away. Because her back was turned, the thief did not see the cleric smile.
“What?” asked the magician as she turned to face the thief again.
“I’m injured, okay? I ran out of potions while trying to fight a drake,” explained the thief with a sour expression.
“You tried to fight a drake? Are you crazy? You don’t even look old enough to be out of the academy,” said the cleric in mild surprise.
“I’m sixteen and we call it school,” said the thief with a frown.
“Sixteen?” asked the cleric in surprise.
“Got a problem with that?” asked the thief with another frown. She was beginning to dislike the cleric even more.
“Wow, and you’re trying to fight a drake? You can’t have even mastered secondary skills yet,” said the magician as she crouched down beside the thief.
Now that they were closer, they could make out more about each other. The thief seemed younger than sixteen. Her long, blonde hair was pulled back into a ponytail. She had large, dark eyes and freckles. The magician appeared to be a few years older. She had dark skin and dark hair, a fact that surprised the thief. Usually magicians had fairer features from living in the forest and residents of Perion had darker features. The magician had short, dark hair that stuck up from under her hat.
“It’s your leg, isn’t it?” asked the magician.
“What? Yeah, how’d you know?” asked the thief in mild surprise.
“I told you. Clerics are trained to sense the injuries of others. Now just sit still and let me work,” said the cleric as she furrowed her brow in concentration.
The thief was about to ask what was happening when she noticed the tip of the cleric staff starting to glow. The thief realized that the cleric was muttering some kind of incantation. She made several motions with her hand, waving her staff around in the process. Suddenly, the thief felt a warming sensation throughout her body that seemed to focus on her left ankle. A soft, red glow emanated from the cleric’s staff. A strange tingling sensation swam around the swollen foot, and suddenly, the thief felt the pain vanish. She looked at the cleric in surprise. She only ever heard about the power of clerics before then. She was amazed that wounds could be healed like that without the use of potions. The cleric sat back and smiled.
“Thanks,” muttered the thief as she looked at her foot. She flexed the ankle as if to test out the healing.
“It’s what I do,” said the cleric with a smile. “My name is Catharine.”
“I’m Laura,” said the thief as she began to change her opinion about the cleric.
“So how did you get down here anyway?” asked Catharine after a few moments of silence.
“One of the basic skills we learn in school is the ability to focus the energy in our bodies. We partially pass into the ethereal plane and monsters won’t attack us,” explained Laura.
“What?” asked Catharine in shock.
“Well, they can’t really see us so as long as we stay quiet and don’t attack them. We can sneak passed pretty much anything,” said Laura.
“So you snuck past all those drakes near the opening,” said Catharine with a slight nod.
“What are you doing down here?” asked Laura with another suspicious gaze.
“Well, I … was just … exploring,” said Catharine as if she was fishing for words.
“You’re lost, aren’t you?” asked Laura with a smug expression.
“That’s not the point,” replied Catharine quickly.
Suddenly, there was the echo of someone or something approaching. The two young women looked at each other in shock. If a drake found them, there was no way they could survive.
