He heard a sound. In the darkness from where they had originally come from. The wolf was bound to arrive. He shook both Den and Lydd awake. He was looking for the glowing red eyes in the dark. It was hard to make anything out.
"I-I'm awake. How about you Lydd?"
Lydd was awake looking into the darkness.
"Yeah, I'm fine. We should get going."
They all got up. Packing their rations, they continued heading further into the cave. They started at walking pace, conserving stamina. It seemed as if the sound they heard before was just a fluke. Though they all knew what that truly meant, the creature was intelligent. It mimicked human speech by making Lug its doll. They all knew what that that creature's goal was.
The goal being to torture them all. It was doing its job well. Making every step, one they had to check in case the creature had something planned. It only got worse when the cracks in the tunnel were evident throughout the floor, and walls.
In the dark like this made all of them feel weak and powerless. This monster knew what it was doing, making even the smallest hope they had slowly disappear every second. They didn't even want to speak in fear the monster would attack during the conversation.
They were alert to every sound.
Bang!
Both Aban and Lydd looked over to Den.
"S-sorry, the floor I stepped on was loose."
There was a respectable sized hole, not enough to fit a person, next to Den's feet. The sound seemed louder because they were all more alert. This darkness was not good for their mentality. Every step sounded louder than they were supposed to be, every strut seemingly hurt the ears.
Even in the outskirts Aban never felt so powerless. Right now, they knew that moving was hopeless, yet they still moved forward. It was a while before they finally reached something remotely interesting.
But what they found was also something that drained all their hope. They realized it when Aban crashed into the wall. Lydd heard the thud and brought out her lighter. What they saw brought Aban to his knees.
A dead end. They had walked all this way to reach a dead end. Aban started laughing with tears in his eyes.
"Hopeless, powerlessness, is this what I was meant to see?"
He continued laughing, tears rolling down his face faster, and faster. Lydd was looking for another exit. Den went to Aban.
"R-Raiden, we are seeing an illusion right. M-maybe because we were in the dark for so long what we are seeing is a mirage. A-a trick it has to be."
He picked up the rock on the ground, and he threw it at the dead end. It bounced off.
"Den its useless, we are seeing a dead end."
Hope was a fickle thing, and for all three of them it had just about run out. Lydd couldn't find anything. They all decided to sit around the lighter, they had decided silently that this was it. Aban originally wanted freedom from the deal he was made, but now he realized the benefit of accepting the power he was offered.
Den was curled up into a ball resting on Lydd's shoulder. Lydd herself was in deep contemplation. They were all tired from running, and now they couldn't. The monster had done its job, the hope they all had was gone.
After a few minutes, Lydd suddenly slapped herself. She got up. It seemed she still had some hope left. Both Den and Aban looked at her.
"It's not over yet, we just go back and find the correct tunnel."
Aban looked at her, but it was Den who snapped.
"A-AND WHAT! We have to fight that thing, did you see what it did to the whole camp. Now what about us? O-our supplies are almost gone, our hopes diminished, and worst of all it's only the three of us."
Lydd looked at him. She was pissed off.
"That may be true, but the creature died. So, if it could be killed, we still have a chance. Nothing in this world is immune to a full load of bull-."
Aban noticed it first. The ground started shaking, a spike made of bone came up from behind Lydd.
What happened next turned the disheartened trio into a hopeless duo.