"Admit it, you fell in by accident, and now we're lost."
"Nonsense. My mind's impeccable treasure sense led us, and the ruin's supposed to be around here somewhere. For all we know, these tunnels could be a part of it... Ouch!" Edric looked at the raven-like bird hovering on his shoulder accusingly, having been jabbed by a beak.
"Seems perfectly peckable to me." Balsaam admonished haughtily. Edric could barely make out his friend's pitch black feathers in the gloom of the cave, only the weight and sharp yellow eyes floating in the dark and told him he was there at all. "I don't see any forgotten treasure or ruins. This is just a damp, nasty cave that's making my feathers all dewy and we're only here because you can't see an inch in front of your nose in that silly hat." he grumbled. Edric clutched his wide-brimmed hat defensively, as if afraid it might get offended. He could feel the claws kneading his shoulder, letting him feel the weight of his partner's displeasure. Balsaam was always cranky underground. They both were, though Edric did his best to supress it, because who would respect a claustrophobic treasure hunter?
"Well we might as well take a look now." he said firmly. The bird could warble as much as he wanted. There was something to this cave, Edric could feel it. "Besides" he said, unable to resist a rebuttal. "where were you, my keen eyes in the sky? Off chatting up some forest songbird I bet, otherwise you could have warned me there was a bleeding crevice in all that foliage." He kept trudging through the darkness of the twisting tunnels, keeping one hand on the wet stony wall as he went, trusting in Balsaam's keen eyes to catch any threat to his footing despite what he'd just said, and ignoring the bird's squawks of indignation and insistence that he was a gentlebird who was above that sort of thing.
Their bickering was eventually cut short, as they noticed a soft glow ahead. It was an object. Impaled in the rough floor ahead of the them was an opulent sword, bathing the crude walls of the cave in a shimmering, mystical light. Edric approached enraptured. It was beautiful. Like every magic sword he'd ever imagined.
"Edric, this is..." Balsaam counselled hesitantly, but the man had already grasped it with both hands, and pulled. It came free of the ground with the sound of a clear bell, and Edric held it reverently. He could feel it thrumming with energy. He gave it a swing and it cleaved the air with the sound of a thunderclap, causing Balsaam to squawk and take off in alarm.
Yes, he thought, feeling a surge course through his arms as he held the weapon aloft. This is the power I need. With this I can finally- The weapon abruptly burst into flames, shocking him, and suddenly he heard the screams. The awful, familiar screams filling his head with their fear. The glowering, hot metal seared him, and in the bright, flickering blade he could see the shadows of other things burning. Houses. People. It was like he was there again. He could almost smell it. He cried out, hurling the sword away. The blaze flared once brightly, and then the cave plunged into darkness. Blinded, he fell to the ground, clutching himself as the screaming gradually subsided.
He lay there afterward for a moment, flinching when he felt something land beside him. It laid a comforting wing across his head, saying nothing. Eventually his eyes adjusted back to the gloom, and he made an effort to rise, not wanting to look weak in front of his partner. "We've come across some nasty traps in our time." he said shakily. "But that was..." He fell silent.
"I understand if you're a little shaken up after that" Balsaam crowed nervously. "But we've got to get moving now." Edric nodded, and the pair lapsed into uncomfortable silence as they started down the tunnel again "I could hear those screams." he eventually said hesitantly, "were they from..?"
"Yes"
He shook his head. "Then that was no trap. This place is unnatural. The longer we stay here, the more in danger we are."
"Then go fly ahead. Find us a way out."
The creature shook his head seriously. "I'd never find you again in the darkness." It was a valid point, but Edric thought his reluctance was probably founded on not wanting to leave him alone with more illusions. "I-" Balsaam stopped, tensing up. "Do you hear that?"
Edric did. It sounded like crying. A gentle sobbing being carried by the acoustics of the cavern. Moreover there was another light, softer and less eerie than the first, up ahead. He could make out some figures at its centre. "Another trap?" he whispered.
"Yes. Or other people stuck down here." he heard whispered in his ear. "Either way, we don't have much of a choice."
He was right, they couldn't get out the way they'd come in. He advanced cautiously, Balsaam huddled down on his shoulder, entering a much larger cavern. Disturbingly, Edric had seen no trace of the sword, as though it had never been there to begin with, though his scolded hands testified otherwise. What he could see was drawings, everywhere, covering the vast ceiling, though he kept his attention on the three figures in front of him as he neared them.
They were certainly a bizarre looking trio. "Um, is this illusion targeted at you, Bal? I've definitely never met..." he squinted. "A knight, a wildling and a cat-person."
"What?.. No! Besides, they don't feel like the sword did. My intuition tells me they're real."
He had no idea what such a motely bunch would be doing down here, but they didn't look very dangerous. Edric closed the rest of the distance and stepped into the circle of light that emanated from the group, his hands held up so as to try and not cause alarm. "Er, Hello there fellow spelunkers. My friend and I are kind of lost." he said uncertainly, taking in the two teary-eyed faces and inscrutable gaze of the knight. Aw hell. I'm no good with kids. he thought. "I don't suppose you folks know where we could find an exit?" he asked, without much hope.
