Light.
Then sound, a deafening roar that swallowed their senses as the explosion's flash washed everything white.
Aven and Eryndor instinctively blocked with their magic.
Aven summoned a wall of wind, Eryndor covered himself inside a bubble of water.
However, Eidolon didn't react at all.
The earth split beneath them, cracks webbing out like lightning before giving way.
The impact shattered Aven's barrier and something in her arm.
She felt weightless as the ground vanished underfoot, turning in the air she braced for the fall.
The explosion tore through the ground, unveiling a cavernous hideout. Dozens of tunnels converged on a single chamber, and the reason for that was obvious from where Aven was looking.
A magic circle the size of the room was drawn with blood.
Nimbly landing on her feet, she checked on her two companions.
Eryndor was in a similar state to hers, he held his injured arm with an unbothered expression.
Eidolon on the other hand, she couldn't find.
'Is he under the rubble?' To her surprise she was slightly concerned for that unhinged man.
"We're not alone."
She didn't need his warning as the cultists weren't trying to hide their intentions.
They were completely surrounded. It seemed that most of the cultists had been waiting down here.
Their expressions were a mix of shock and anger as they readied their staffs and weapons, groups of threes had formed chanting and drawing runes.
"They're summoning more golems!" Aven got some information about them from Cael.
Dozens of golems rose, although not as big as Iskalor's fragment, they were double their summoners' size and their numbers would close any gap in strength they might have had.
She grit her teeth, her muscles aching. "You've got to be kidding me…"
Preparing to fight both adventurers took up their stance—
Everything stopped.
A crushing silence befell the air.
The torches dimmed then turned a dark blue.
Aven's breathing stopped in anticipation, she tried to move back–
But her shadow did not follow, no matter how hard she tensed her muscles her body refused to move.
Only her pupils were able to scan her surroundings, darting in panic across the frozen scene.
The same thing seemed to happen to everyone else, the cultists ceased their chanting, the golems' growls were cut short and Eryndor's spear arm trembled frozen mid swing, his frown described the veracity of the situation.
They were held by their own shadows.
Black mist spread from the center of the cave.
Its origin, a dark figure standing slouched over.
For a moment, Aven couldn't tell what it was, the shadows covering it almost completely, but she noticed a crimson glow.
Red eyes and hair.
It was Eidolon.
'What is he doing?'
Yet she wasn't sure. She had spent enough time with him to glean his real proportions even with the concealment.
So how could he appear ever changing?
Darkness devoured him whole. His shape warped, shrinking, swelling, shifting from the size of a fly to that of a dragon.
It was fluid, unpredictable, uncanny.
Then it stabilised.
A form none of them could recognize.
"Is it him!?" One of the cultists screamed.
"AHH! Did the magic circle activate!?"
"Has he finally answered our pleas!?"
After the first scream, many followed suit until the cave was full of cultists' ramblings.
"What the hell is going on!?" A chill ran down Aven's spine.
Not knowing what Eidolon was going to do, or if it was him at all, she racked her brain to find a way out of the situation. But she was still unable to move.
Locking her eyes at the creature in the center of the room, she noticed the shadows moving around it erratically.
Her senses told her that they were readying for something.
And they were right.
The shadows erupted. Living beasts of darkness tearing through the cultists with terrifying ease.
Their worship turned to blood-curdling screams.
Their own shadows had taken form and started a bloodbath, they pieced some, ripped some apart and shattered the golems' cores before any of them could take a single step forward.
In seconds, Silence returned and the battlefield became a crimson field of ruin and death.
Aven's mind couldn't comprehend what she was witnessing.
"W-what is that…" And Eryndor could muster a whisper.
Drip
The last drop of blood fell from a hanging corpse.
The cavern reeked of iron.
Then Eidolon turned towards the last two standing.
His steps were slow, each sending their hearts racing from fear.
Their bodies refused their input.
His intentions were unknown, yet both felt a deep dread overwhelm them.
He raised a hand, and just as it almost reached them—
A sound echoed from the deeper tunnels.
A golem's roar.
Eidolon froze, his head turning towards the noise.
And in the next instant–
He was gone, vanishing into the darkness.
The lingering silence felt louder than any sound to their ears.
Aven collapsed as if her knees had turned into mush.
Their shadows were freed.
She brought her hands to her face, they were trembling.
Fear.
Fear that she hadn't felt in years had taken hold of her.
Sneaking a look at Eryndor, she saw something she never thought she'd see.
The Drowned Knight was well known for his unfaltering heart.
Yet here he was trembling from fear.
No words were exchanged between the two, and their breathing was barely heard. As if they were afraid of breaking the silence.
***
An unknown amount of time had passed.
Step Crunch
They tensed at the sound of the heavy steps crunching bones underneath them, both locking their eyes at their source.
Trying to prepare for an attack, they called for their elements.
To no avail.
Aven was out of mana and Eryndor could only close the wound in his arm.
They were defenseless.
Slowly appearing from the tunnel, Eidolon's figure had returned to its usual abnormality.
The uncanny horror was replaced by a strange man.
The golden cracks on his mask, his crimson hair and eyes glowed much brighter.
And he was soaked in blood.
Although his appearance didn't spark comfort, they relaxed, Eryndor dropping his head down and Aven hugging her legs.
When he finally reached them, she opened her eyes and met his gaze.
"What the hell are you?" If he hid this kind of power what more could he be hiding?
"What?" A hint of confusion seeped through his concealed voice.
"You're not human." Platinum adventurers were at the pinnacle of human strength rivaled only by the Arcana ranked magicians, and beat by the Hero.
Yet here was a being that could rival a Platinum adventurer in martial skill and an Arcana magician in element manipulation. Maybe even surpassing the two.
And he was not a Hero.
"What even was that power you used?"
Cael looked at his blood soaked hand.
'I can't remember any of it…'
No matter how hard he searched his mind for a battle, he could get nothing but static.
He had almost believed that he woke up right after the explosion, the cultists' fate sealed by another of their failed summons.
However, his tired blood covered body, his depleting mana, the freshness of the corpses around him and Aven's question, it all painted him as the culprit.
"I took care of it didn't I? What's the use of asking questions?" He forced his voice back to his playful tone.
He couldn't answer her question, as he was more clueless to the situation than her who had at least witnessed what happened.
If he were to frankly tell them that he might have been possessed by something, it would compromise their already weak relationship, so he had to play into it for now.
"Were you hiding that ability?" Eryndor's flat tone broke his train of thought.
"Are you telling me that you reveal all of your cards to everyone you meet? I would understand revealing them to your closest allies… But I don't think you two have a high opinion of me. Am I wrong~?"
His point was heard loud and clear by the both of them, since the start–even though they were working together–they never lowered their guards around him, and that did not escape him.
Eidolon was as guarded, and he had his cards very close to his chest, revealing them only after their backs were against the wall.
Aven's mind couldn't help but wander, if he was hiding such a devastating power, wouldn't it be as easy for him to hide his actual fighting style? Only showing them what he wanted to show? And he used Cael's style to only get her attention and bait her into coming with him?
If what she was thinking was right, Eidolon would be the most terrifying person she had ever met…
"Anyway," he said lightly, as if nothing had happened. "You two look half-dead, but we still need to find the children." He pointed at the tunnels, "The paths are endless, and unfortunately I don't have multiple bodies."
Aven opened her eyes wide, she had forgotten why they came here to begin with.
Forcing herself to stand up, she took a moment to balance and looked at Eidolon.
"Have you found any traces?" The fear disappeared from her voice.
"Nope. Not from where I came. Let's split up, let's search them all until we find the kids, make sure to mark the path so we don't go into the same ones." Turning around, Eidolon chose one of the openings and entered it.
"Can you really trust him with the children?" Eryndor asked.
"I–I don't know… But we'd be dead if he wanted to." She shook her head, "Let's just hope that they're still alive."