NOVGO.NET Chapter 1941 Liz Hale
Chapter 1941: Chapter 1941 Liz Hale
— Kat —
Kat glanced outside at the howling winds. Something strange was happening. About an hour ago the wind had started to pick up. She’d ignored it at first… but it hadn’t stopped increasing in strength. The speed went up, and up, and up. The snowflakes were turning into series hazards and Kat was finding it harder and harder to control her flight. Hedera’s teeth were chattering and Lily had moved to hide inside of Hedera’s armour, just barely squeezing inside in an attempt to provide them both with some warmth.
Kat had found a place to stop, for now at least. It was on the edge of one of the holes but instead of a cave this one seemed to be something a bit more. There were some remnants of supports or stone structures around the mouth… but it was hard to make out. Much of it was destroyed and more was covered in snow.
Currently, Hedera and Lily were huddling together a bit further inside, just out of the wind, while Kat was standing at entrance looking out. Wondering what the plan was going to be. *Do we even have time to make it to spring now? I have no idea how close we are to the walls and the snow made that nearly impossible before whatever this is…*
[Kat, get the fuck inside. Hedera and I might be out of the worst of the wind but it’s still FREEZING. Heading further in without you seems like a good way to get caught in a trap so we’re waiting… but you’re just staring out at the snow!]
*Sorry. I guess I was wondering if we have time to explore this…*
[Kat, there’s no way Hedera can survive that cold. Not if it keeps getting worse. You were struggling to fly in it as well. It’s not matter of ’do we have time’ there is no choice here.]
*Sorry your right. I guess I’m just on edge. Not being able to see the fog at all makes me feel like we might never make it out of winter… and I’m the one who suggested it.*
[Bah. Just get in her before I freeze my ears off.]
Kat nodded and headed inside. Hedera tried to stand up upon seeing Kat moving away from the entrance… and fell back against the wall soon afterwards. Her legs and arms were simply shaking too much as she tried to get some warmth into them. Hedera was glancing between her bracelet and the wall, pondering what to do when Kat pulled her back up into a princess carry.
“I-I-I c-c-c-can w-w-w-walk you k-k-kn-now” Hedera ’claimed’.
Kat didn’t need the twitch of her eyebrow to tell her that Hedera was full of shit. “Yeah… I doubt,” Kat sighed as she started to walk deeper in, hoping that the area would warm up soon. Meanwhile, Hedera was still debating if she should use some of her limited heating items because it was fucking cold.
As they started to walk further in, Kat took a look at the walls. Despite looking a lot like a normal cave there were a few things that were off, other than the entrance. The biggest and most notable was that the walls were blue. Not ice blue or see-through, it was clearly still rock… but more of a dark navy blue. It was somewhat pretty too look at and that led to the other strange bit. For all that it seemed like a natural forming cave the rocks were smooth… too smooth.
They had some points, corners and edges… but it was all very smooth. The edges were solid straight lines, the flat planes were completely smooth with no blemishes. It was subtly wrong in a way that tickled your mind. It wasn’t quite worry, but the sense that something was wrong permeated the air. Kat’s switch to demonic fire as a light source didn’t help matters, as it blended oddly with the blue stone around them.
Sound echoed for quite a while as well. Kat was trying to be somewhat quiet, gently placing her feet down as she walked… but every step rang out like she’d strummed on a mouth harp or chucked an ice cube down a long hole to bounce off the walls. The ground seemed to be a slightly different material to the walls… but that was more of a guess from the sound. It didn’t seem like quite the same colour either though that might just be from the regular foot traffic.
As they got deeper in Hedera was able to stop shivering. The wind had trouble reaching quite so far inside and they’d been walking for a while at this point. They hadn’t encountered any splits in the path or anything that looked like a hidden door. A few spots where the ceiling dipped down a bit, but Kat had been able to manage by ducking down low and using her tail for support in one section.
“How deep do we go?” asked Kat. [Until we find something or we break for the night I guess. That storm was till ramping up and I don’t want to be anywhere near it.]
Hedera said about the same thing. “Until we find a place to sleep I guess? Or get through a bunch of traps? The floor is pretty cold but I don’t know if that’s the weird material it’s made of or it’s just the storm.”
Kat shrugged, and continued on. Both of her teammates had decided it was best to keep going so Kat just kept walking. There was a slight temptation to try sliding, but the cave didn’t consistently head downwards and Kat wasn’t sure the floor was slippery enough for that.
Instead, Kat just trudged along waiting for something to change. When it finally did, Kat had been expecting some sort of obvious challenge or perhaps another monster attack. Instead, it started as a faint click. Kat watched as Lily’s ears perked up at the sound, confirming she’d heard it as well. Kat glanced around, looking for anything that might have set things off, even gently moving her foot around her to see if she’d triggered a low trip wire or something but as far as Kat could tell she hadn’t tripped anything.
“Hedera you heard that right?” asked Kat softly.
“Yes, that strange click… it sounded like it happened right on top of us…” whispered Hedera.
“I don’t feel any wires around my legs or… well anywhere else so I don’t think it’s a tripwire. I didn’t feel a pressure plate… enchanted I guess?” suggested Kat.
“Must be… though I was expecting some sort of trap to go along with the clicking sound,” offered Hedera.
Kat nodded… but with nothing visibly changed and no traps springing up from the walls they didn’t know what else to do but continue on. A few minutes later though, there was another click. Kat froze, looking around once again… and still finding nothing. The pattern would repeat two more times.
A click would be heard, the three would investigate, and yet nothing would happen. The next time the floor clicked, assuming it even was the floor, they just ignored it. There was nothing changing that they could see. Nothing to dodge, or be ready for. So they kept walking. Click. Click. Click.
Hedera would flinch every time one went off, looking around worriedly for a hint as to where the sound was coming from, or what it meant. Lily had started to ignore it. Kat kept an eye out… but didn’t stop. The clicking continued and Kat was really starting to wonder what the point was. She was half expecting for there to be a trap where, once they were lulled into a false sense of security by the excessive clicking, something would happen.
Kat wasn’t too far off, though not completely correct either. Between one step and the next instead of a clicking sound, Kat heard something that sounded a bit like a wheeze. She was so confused she stopped in place and looked around for any sign of a person that might have made the noise when the wall exploded out towards her.
Kat kicked off the ground to move forward, demonic energy giving her plenty of time… in theory. In practice this particular section of floor was much, much slipperier and Kat found herself stuck in place despite the application of force. Making her mind up in an instant she threw the other two forward and transformed into water as they left her arms.
The weird blue stone slammed into her after the transformation happened, sending her water droplets flying, while trapping a few against the opposite side wall. Hedera had tried to land but apparently the slippery floor continued, and was flailing a bit as she slid forward, Lily along with her. Kat rushed to put herself back together and follow them.
It wasn’t a fast process, not at first. Too much water was dispersed and pulling it together was going to take time Kat couldn’t be sure she had… so instead she just used more demonic energy to reform herself from the droplets that made it to the same side Hedera and Lily had vanished down.