Chapter 16 – BONUS CHAPTER!!!

The orange sun bled over the mountains, heralding the dawn of a new day. Warmth kissed Caleb’s bare chest as he strode across the plaza of the blue mountain – he’d discarded his shirt since, at this point, it was little more than a few threads struggling to hold onto each other.

Everything looked just as he’d left it. Hopefully that was a good thing.

Caleb stepped over the frozen body of a boggart and placed his hand atop the massive boulder clogging the entrance to the cave. He felt within it a hardness, a desire to remain as it was. Stone was averse to change. It was a constant, only weathering after hundreds, thousands of years. Only breaking under immense forces. But beneath Caleb’s touch, it yielded.

The stone flowed and shifte.d A grinding sound accompanied the movement as rocks shifted out of the way, melding the mouth of the cave into one solid wall of stone with an entrance in the center. Like a flat wall with a singular doorwary

Someone yelled from inside and as Caleb stepped through, he was greeted by the tip of a spear being shoved in his face. Chloe’s expression shifted from tensed to relieved to confused.

“Caleb? What are you– Why didn’t you come in through the… How did you just do that?” She pulled the spear back as Caleb moved its tip out of his face with a finger.

Caleb chuckled. “What, this?” He reached a hand behind him and lifted his palm into the air. A wall of stone jutted up from the ground, closing the entrance he’d just made behind him and sealing them within the cave. The wall was now just one solid sheet of stone, not a crack of light getting through.

Chloe gaped, leaning on the spear. “Yeah,” she said. “That. I heard something moving the rocks and came to check on it, thinking it was more of those little monsters. Turns out it was just you using freaking magic.”

“It’s not magic.” Caleb grinned, then squished his mouth to the side. “Well, maybe it kind of is magic.”

“Maybe?” Chloe rolled her eyes and shifted her head to the side, but Caleb could still see the smile on her face. “And here I was, thinking I’d be able to start catching up to you. But now you’re earthbending. How is that even fair?”

It wasn’t. He’d gotten boon after boon after boon. Expecting someone else to keep up with him was more than wishful thinking – it was ridiculous thinking.

“Sorry,” Caleb said, flexing his muscles like a bodybuilder. “You’re just gonna have to try harder.”

“Oh shut it.” Chloe laughed softly and pushed Caleb in the shoulder.

He didn’t even budge. It was like she’d tried to shove a concrete wall. The two stared at each other for a second.

“Seriously not fair,” Chloe said, shaking her head. She turned to walk toward the map room and motioned for Caleb to follow. “Come on, Superman. Tyler wants to see you, too.”

Caleb followed Chloe into the map room. A low fire was burning in the center, the smoke gathering in pools of scintillating grey at the ceiling. The tunnel he’d dug was blocked off with a large stone so nothing would be able to enter, and the wolf he’d hauled over here for Chloe and Tyler to eat was stored in the corner, partially butchered. His eyes widened a hair. There was also a second slain wolf.

His eyes shot toward Chloe as she laid her spear against the wall and kneeled down beside Tyler. Did she do that on her own? I haven’t seen a wolf lower than Aether Level 11. She’s getting stronger at an impressive rate.

Tyler’s eyes warmed and he smiled toward Caleb. It didn’t look like he’d moved since Caleb last saw him. Just sat there, basically immobile next to the warming fire.

“You did it?” Tyler asked. “You killed another boss?”

Caleb nodded. “Yeah,” he said. “I did. It wasn’t easy, but now we’re one step closer to getting out of here. Did anything of note happen while I was gone? Any monsters sniffing around the area or any sign of Lucas?”

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Tyler shook his head, lowering his gaze to the ground at the mention of Lucas’s name. It couldn’t be easy for Tyler to come to terms with how his supposed friend had treated him. Even if he was wicked, even if he was cruel, losing someone was never easy. This was just yet another kind of loss. “No,” Tyler said, his voice hushed. “Nothing at all.”

“And thank goodness for that.” Chloe stood back up, grabbing her spear. “The quieter the better. The monsters in this area have thinned out to the point that I spent over an hour before I even saw one. Lucas’s either hiding out somewhere on his own, or dead. I’m hoping dead.”

Tyler flinched. Caleb’s brows rose at her bluntness. Harsh but I honestly can’t say I disagree. He was willing to throw anyone under the bus for personal gain. Good riddance.