While Jonas was definitely feeling better, and a burden off of his mind, Elmo couldn't help but worry what might happen if this place with so light pouring in from a hole in the ceiling of the cave was rely a tease as to how close they were about getting out of the cave. He hadn't been able to do much exploring before Jonas woke up, but he was struggling to remain optimistic about their situation.
He'd found a spring of water in a cave that was clear and cold, though it wasn't until then that Elmo had realized that he'd lost his own waterskin. He wasn't sure when that had happened, but it left him less sure of their survival if they couldn't find a way out of this cave soon.
After returning from the spring with so water for Jonas, Elmo looked at the three other potential exits that were visible in this chamber. All three moved into darkness and eventually left the light from this chamber. He couldn't tell just how far they extended, and he was sure he'd have to eventually take a guess as to which one to go with, but at the mont he hadn't been able to bring himself to make that decision.
Maybe part of him had been hoping that Jonas would be able to give him a suggestion about which one he thought would work best, but that didn't really matter when he wasn't sure Jonas would be able to help until he was almost fully recovered. Which wasn't clear as to when that would occur.
Still, Elmo couldn't say if his assumptions would turn out to be accurate. He hadn't really expected Jonas to wake up this quickly anyway, So, it was possible that he'd be able to be well enough to let him know which passage might be best for them to take.
Elmo quickly made his way over to Jonas and put the waterskin to his lips, helping him drink. When Jonas reached for the waterskin, Elmo quickly let him have it. He didn't want to push his efforts to help Jonas if the help wasn't wanted.
"So what's the situation now?" Jonas asked when he finished drinking. "I'm sure you didn't just stop here for however long just to wait for to wake up."
Elmo felt like Jonas' words pierced him right to his core, since that was almost true. He had been getting tired of basically carrying Jonas around, though mostly because it took a lot longer than he would have liked. Which was critical given how they didn't have anything to eat.
"There's four passages into this place, other than the one that brought us here," Elmo said, not sure how else to put it. "One leads to the dead end where I found the water. The others go too far for to see anything, so I have no idea if they might lead out of these caves."
Jonas nodded, looking thoughtful. Though Elmo wasn't sure how much Jonas might have actually understood of what he'd said. He knew that he himself didn't know what he was going to do next yet. Aside from which, he was getting rather hungry. Staying busy kept his mind off of that, so he was happy to keep doing sothing, as long as it didn't wear him out completely and make him more hungry.
"How long have we been here?" Jonas asked, pulling Elmo out of his thoughts.
Elmo looked at the opening in the cave, surprised he hadn't thought about that himself. "Uh, I guess maybe most of the day? I really hadn't thought about it."
Jonas nodded as if he had expected that. "Well, if we rest until the morning, it's possible that we might be able to have a better idea of this place."
Elmo wasn't sure he followed, but didn't want to say anything. As far as he knew, Jonas could hear sothing that would help them get out, but he didn't want to say anything in case it was just in his imagination.
"By the way, did you hear the announcent?" Jonas asked as Elmo settled down, unsure of what else to do, even though he really wanted to keep moving.
While he knew he was tired, he couldn't say why, but he felt like he needed to keep moving. Like everything that was going well would end if he suddenly stopped.
Although, on the other hand, it was starting to feel like sothing was wrong with the world around him. He couldn't say what it was, just that sothing was off.
"You an the one that happened just before we found this place?" Elmo wasn't sure if he might have missed an announcent or sothing.
"No idea," Jonas answered. "It was at least the last one I think they made."
"I thought you were out of it at that ti," Elmo remarked, feeling like he might have made certain assumptions and wasn't paying attention like he should have been.
"Maybe I was," ca the thoughtful reply. "I was just thinking about how whoever is running this farce seems to be having problems on their end of it. Maybe there might be sothing we can do to benefit from it."
"Maybe," Elmo said, feeling like his mind was starting to go rather fuzzy.
"You should sleep," Jonas said. "You sound more tired than you did when I first could see again."
"Wait, you couldn't see?"
"As I said, I felt like I was in a darkness so thick that you could touch it. So, of course I couldn't see."
Elmo felt like he should have rembered that. Yet, even now his mind didn't react, even to Jonas' harsh tone. It was like he was becoming numb to everything around him. He felt like even Jonas' next words had beco part of the world around him and were just a minor buzzing that didn't an anything.
As Elmo felt his eyes close, he couldn't help but wonder if that was as far as they'd be able to go. That they'd be in these caves until they died of starvation. If not sothing else. His mind wouldn't go into what that 'sothing' was. Just acknowledging that there were other possibilities.
Jonas wasn't sure what was going on with Elmo, but he wouldn't be surprised to learn that Elmo was nearing his limit. That if they didn't reach the surface, so to speak, that Elmo might not be able to handle it.
Of course, that could also be simply because Elmo had clearly worn himself to the bone. Especially with bringing Jonas to this point.
Jonas closed his eyes and let his ears hear his surroundings. While he hadn't worked on being able to use echolocation himself, he figured with his enhanced senses that it wouldn't be too hard to pick up. Only, he was confident that being able to actually see, even if it was through a hazy, distorted way, would only make it more difficult to work it out.
He wasn't sure if the hole in the ceiling that was allowing light to shine through would affect his attempt, but it wasn't like he had many options. Especially since he'd only just thought of working that out.
As Jonas slowed his breathing down, calming his heartbeat so it was almost imperceptible from the other ambient noises around him, he focused on trying to pinpoint the source of the various noises he could hear around him.
So were simple, like a spider traversing the stones to his side, while others were a little trickier. Such as if the slight wind he heard was from the ceiling or to the passage to his right.
Jonas wasn't sure which passage was the one that Elmo had co out of, but it didn't really matter at that mont. Finding out which passage to take wasn't really the point at the mont. The point was to try to work out his senses so he could try to find his way with his hearing, if it beca necessary to attempt that.
He wasn't really banking on succeeding, but he didn't think it would be a good idea to just sit here without exactly doing anything. Especially since he wasn't sure he'd be able to do anything more right then.
While he didn't feel strange or anything, he wouldn't be surprised if there was sothing that he'd only find out about if he tried to move himself. Such as a sense of vertigo or nausea. He'd had tis where he'd feel that if he tried to move, but otherwise he was fine.
While he hoped that wasn't the case here, he couldn't be sure without trying. Yet, unless it was ti to move, more than his arms, that is, he didn't want to try. As it wouldn't serve a purpose to find out now, since it could always go away by the ti it ca to start moving.
With that in mind, Jonas had started to close his eyes to try and get so sleep, when he heard a rumbling. It felt like it was from deep underground, but he couldn't be sure if that was just his imagination. All he knew was that he was getting a sense that it wasn't good.
That Elmo might not be able to finish his sleep before they might need to pick one of the passages at random and hope it was the way they wanted to go. Although, he couldn't be sure just yet, he had a feeling he knew which passage to take already.
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