-------Sondar POV-------
The cave crumbled down as the earthquake that ca out of nowhere roared and trembled all around us. We had barely managed to escape the base with everyone just in ti to see the ceiling co crashing down, it destroyed everything that we had built up. We didn't even have ti to stash away our loot that we've been collecting.
I force myself to stand up with this pain in my head still throbbing, It was however starting to beco numb and fade away. I tried to dig my way back through the cave in but was stopped by the others in case I caused another cave in.
I scread in frustration at not being able to do anything. That's when Sylvania shouted.
"SONDAR CO QUICK I THINK SOTHINGS HAPPENING TO KITSOMA!"
I ran over to where they were and after looking down I saw that her eyes were slowly opening. She looked around for a few seconds as if she were lost and couldn't figure out what was going on. Then she scread out after becoming wide eyed.
"VEXSUUUUUSSSS NOOOOOOOOOO, WE HAVE TO GO BACK, VEXSUS IS IN TROUBLE, WE HAVE TO GO BACK FOR HIM." She beca hysterical and I actually had to knock her out to get her to calm down. I felt bad for it but there was just no other way and from what she was saying it seed like sothing really bad had happened.
That's when It happened, I got a feeling from Vexsus at that ti, it felt like when you say goodbye to sobody that you know is leaving for a really long ti, maybe even forever. My body instantly fell down onto my knees and I started to cry. I could feel the connection with him weakening, but it never fully disappeared. It just beca like a tiny little spider thread that you could only see if you moved your head to the right angle.
I looked up to the ceiling and felt like a piece of was shriveling up but not dying, more like going into a coma. Then I hears sothing I thought I'd never hear.
"Sondar....Shorunt....Confused..Master...Gone? No... Feel...Master.." I looked over and saw that Shorunt still looked the sa except his speech had regressed back to when he was just a regular goblin.
"No Shorunt, your masters just taking a nap. Here hold my hand I'll show you that he is still alive and kicking." I said as I held out my hand. I focused as hard as I could on the tiny thread between us and forced that feeling through to Shorunt. It was hard and took forever it seed but soon I felt a warmth go through and into his body.
"Oh, Sondar.... Thank you, I can feel master's still alive through you, I had started to feel a darkness start to take over my mind and It was all I could do to stay semi-sane. It felt like my mind was starting to cloud over and all that was going through my head was the instincts of a goblin."
He cried a little when he felt how weak the connection was between and Vexsus. They knew sothing was wrong, the new people aswell as the originals, all of them could feel the air itself turn heavy.
"Sylvania..... wake Kitsoma up... it's ti we found out what happened."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~1 year later~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We had been forced away from the cave by the goblins who had co to investigate. They attacked us as we slept and had killed and captured a few of the unknown people that Vexsus sacrificed himself for. I tried my best to defend them but after healing to full health I still only had 1 hand.
We moved away from the Red goblin section of the cave and had moved back to where the original outpost was. Sylvania and Kitsoma concluded that since it was a offshoot area, we could build 1 way in-out fortifications and if need be we can escape back through the tunnel we had made what felt like forever ago.
We still think about Vexsus, I can still feel that he's alive.... But it feels more feral, like a wild beast had taken his place. I tried many tis to go back and try and dig a little bit but those damn goblins had put up defenses and blocked off the tunnel leading to it. We had no choice but to fall back and begin training.
So people decided to leave and take their chances exploring the cave. So nights we had heard screaming that seed to haunt even our dreams and we never saw those people again. Kitsoma is still recovering from her soul being ripped out of her body. Even to this day her magic is unfocused and she has trouble controlling it, the other day she tried to reignite the fire after one of the raccoon brothers fell asleep while tending to it, It exploded in her face. Shorunt was thankfully right there and was able to heal her right away but ever since then she hasn't used magic again.
Sotis I would see her stare off into space, then an hour would go by and she would snap out of it and when she ca back to eat we could see that she had been crying as her eyes would be bloodshot and her eyes still glistening from unshed tears.
It's been a year now since all that happened and I have been able to train a bit more every day. At first and Konna were unable to do much other than sit up, her because her legs were still being nded. It seed that Vexsus had left a bit of his magic in her body to help with the healing, but after what he went through his magic seed to slow down to a crawl. It wasn't until a few weeks after that she was able to start walking again.
I on the other hand had been unable to do anything for most days, as I would feel unimaginable pain wash over my entire body. At those monts I would feel the tiny thread bloom like a flower and I could feel Vexsus again. But this wasn't the Vexsus I knew, I felt anger, pain, sadness, but most frightening was that I felt madness co from the connection. It felt like whatever he had gone through had driven him so far that he had lost himself.
I told the others what I had felt in those monts and then we all had a group eting. By this ti is was just us 12 that had survived together and not left. We decided that we should do our best and after a month we should go back and kill the goblins that are stopping us from digging through the cave and finally hold up our promise of rescuing our leader.
So we all left the makeshift ho we created near the tunnel. It didn't hold any significance to us so it was easy to leave. We traveled down the familiar tunnels as we trained together and beca stronger. Even Hannah had grown taller and she had blossod as a talented mage. She was even able to create stone golems by infusing spirits into them. Even the spirits of the dead were able to be used by her. I was a bit scared of this power she had but when she told us that she was doing this all so she could rescue Vexsus I couldn't help but smile at her and do anything I could to help.
The raccoon brothers had grown bigger, I an way bigger, almost as tall as . They had grown into fully grown adult raccoon beastkin adults. Jasper had taken lessons from and Konna and beca a very reliable shieldholder. He even specialized in using whatever shieldlike thing he could find and ca up with his own style of fighting that mixed well with his affinity with ice that with Sylvania's help, he was able to produce Ice Shields all by himself instead of having to use what was laying around. Victor on the other hand had developed a passion for the spear, which when combined with his rare lighting affinity, combined to create a dazzling array of bright lights that I bet could even pierce Vexsus' scales after he uses his buffs.
We had all grown in our own ways, but the sad thing is that Kitsoma had still refused to use her magic again. She got so mad the other day when we discussed it that she had taken a goblin and using her beast like strength, she actually torn out its spine. I an from head to tailbone, just straight spine. Now that gave a little scare, I know I'm a big guy but to see a chick like her just rip out a goblins spine like that..... Well let's just say I left her alone for a little bit.
But after she got that spine she had gotten help from and Shorunt and turned it into a freaking bone whip for her. Using Shorunt's developed abilities as a healer he was able to preserve the bones, while with my knowledge on weaponry from my days as a rcenary we were able to strengthen it and make it more durable. Now whenever she sees an enemy she's the first one to run off and start whipping it like so kind of Dominatrix. She even laughs while she does it to, which even just thinking about it gives shivers.
After we had gotten rid of the goblins that were blocking the caved in tunnel we discovered that the goblins had actually been excavating into the cave and were in the process of building a small outpost where our old base used to be. We were angry about that but so of the more rational thinkers thought it would be best to just kill the builders, take over finishing the construction, and then go back to living in our original base again.
As we were going around looking at what was finished and not, we were surprised to found that they had actually dug new tunnels leading towards the old ant tunnels. They were lit up with with torches that were burning with a weird liquid like substance that even after an hour were still burning strong.
"Hmmm. Hey guys, you don't think the Red Goblins had dug their way to where Digger and Vexsus were do you?" I asked as I looked down the tunnel, only to see nothing but darkness after a few hundred yards.
"Well, It could very well be possible. If the goblins had developed a working relationship with that madman then it would only make sense to build a trading route between them. And this tunnel was the main connection between the 2 connection points."
"Yea you could be right. I just don't like the thought of the idea that maybe they were getting dragon parts as part of the deal. Oh my gods.... What if they are trading with Digger in order to breed dragon-goblins. That is just a nasty image in my head holy hell, nope, let's hope that's not true... Ewww I just thought of sothing..... What if Digger made Vexsus impregnate the queen ant. Wouldn't that an that we are going to face off against dragon ants aswell? Good gods this whole thing, now that I think about it is way to scary. I an imagine fighting against a Vexsus ant, We would barely survive."
Howy who had until now been gone more often then naught as the scout of our group said with a look of horror covering his face.
I shivered and then shook my head. "Let's just hope that Digger kept his experints under control. But if I know anything, it's that the more bored a scientist gets.... the more bizarre he will get in order to relieve his boredom. Let's just rest here for the night and then we will set out towards the ant cave after everyone gets so rest."
They had all agreed as I could see the look of exhaustion suddenly overtook their faces at the ntion of resting. That night we had yet again a feast of red goblin at and so form of weird tubular vegetable that Howy had found on one of his excursions. That ti he had taken Liosa with him and they ca back after a few hours with a handful of these..... There was also a faint muskiness surrounding them but I wasn't going to say anything.
As we finished eating and were settling down to go to sleep, I had given the twins and the brothers the job of keeping watch for the night. They would switch off after a few hours and if need be they would wake up and I would take over.
I had just closed my eyes when I felt a headache start to grow above my eyes. I rubbed them and as I did I heard a ding go off in my head.
[User: Vexsus has sent a ssage, do you wish to open?]
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