After we met, we decided to go down together, and the deeper we went, the darker it became, even the air grew colder. Silence and dampness became the most dominant things that strongly clung to this ravine.
Mishael whispered to me and I immediately raised my head.
"Is your necklace still emitting a red light?" she asked, and I immediately looked at my necklace which was still glowing bright red.
"Yes, it is?"
"Are you sure we are not lost?" she asked, but I shook my head, not knowing what was really happening because right now I could not fully trust my necklace, but I also had no other choice except to follow it as it continued to emit a red light.
I fell silent, feeling someone shaking the root rope. I spoke to Mishael and held her leg to call her name. She lowered her head and raised her eyebrows in confusion.
"Can you feel someone shaking our rope?"
She immediately fell silent and felt that someone was cutting our rope, then nodded.
"Which bastard wants us to die here for nothing?" Michelle cursed, and I immediately looked toward the rocky cliff, but there was no other choice. If he cut the rope, we would most likely die, and we did not know how deep this ravine was.
"You brought a dagger, right?" I asked and she nodded.
"We will use your dagger to hold our weight, maybe we can go down with the dagger."
"What… what?"
"Hurry, give me the dagger," I said, and she immediately rushed to take the dagger from her thigh and waist.
After Mishael gave me the dagger, suddenly I felt like we were falling freely, and I immediately stabbed the dagger into the steep cliff wall.
"Get ready, we will stab the dagger into the cliff wall." Before I could finish, the root rope suddenly snapped and we fell.
"Akhhh…!" it seemed Mishael was not ready and slipped, but luckily I grabbed her hand, so I was still holding her.
"Xanders…!" she screamed in fear. She was hanging and only holding onto my hand.
Her shoes fell down and after a long time we finally heard how deep this ravine was.
I looked at Mishael who was terrified after what just happened.
"Are you okay?" I asked, but she remained silent while staring downward.
"Hurry, stab your dagger into the cliff wall," I said, and she hurriedly tried to stab the dagger into the wall. She tried several times, but the steep wall made it difficult, especially since she was hanging with one hand.
"This is too difficult," Mishael said, but I kept urging her to do it.
With my heart beating fast, I decided to lower her so she could stab the dagger she carried.
"Let's go down slowly," I said while guiding her even though she struggled.
I looked to my side.
There were some rare plants.
I tried to take a few plants that might be medicine, and I also saw something strange.
There were mushrooms that I did not know the type of, but they seemed rare or maybe poisonous, so I stared at them in confusion.
"You took those mushrooms, Xanders?" Michelle asked, and I nodded.
"Give them to me, I want to see." After that I gave one mushroom to her.
Mishael examined it several times and even smelled it repeatedly.
"Be careful, it might be poisonous," I said, but she ignored me and kept smelling it.
"Are there many of these mushrooms?" she asked, and I nodded, letting her see the mushrooms beside me.
"Can you give me more?" Mishael asked, and I nodded, then started taking more mushrooms that I could still reach.
After taking enough, I gave them to Mishael who looked exhausted.
She put the mushrooms into her bag.
For half an hour we were hanging on the edge and my strength was almost gone, then I saw a cave on the side of the cliff.
The cave was quite far, but it seemed unused, so I looked at Mishael who was already enduring pain in her arms.
"You're about to faint, Mishael." She was sweating heavily and trembling while holding her body.
"Look over there, there is a cave, maybe we can rest there for a while." I invited her and she nodded.
I walked toward the cave.
The cave was not too far from me.
I prepared to jump because it seemed suitable to rest for a while.
With heavy breathing, I told Mishael to follow me. I waved my hand and she jumped, grabbing my hand.
She crouched there. Even though there was no light at all, our eyes could still see.
"Do you feel like you saw something?" Michelle asked while touching the wall and I carefully observed the cave.
I turned around and saw a small light. As I approached, it turned out to be a firefly. The deeper I went, the more fireflies I saw, and I was surprised to see so many inside this cave.
"Why are they here?" I shook my head because I did not know how fireflies could be here, especially in such darkness.
We approached the fireflies and indeed they were living inside the cave.
"That means there is sunlight and water of life here, that's why they live here!" I recalled what I knew about fireflies.
Then I heard the sound of dripping water.
"Mishael, come closer, I hear water and see light," I called her, but she did not respond.
I went back and saw Mishael lying on the ground, and it seemed she was exhausted, so I quickly ran.
I tapped her cheek but she did not wake up, so I immediately carried her.
I hurried forward and as I got closer to the sound of water, more light entered and made me smile at what I saw.
In front of me there was a small flowing stream, and there were flowers growing along the edges, making me realize how beautiful creation is.
I laid her body on the ground and took water with both hands. I placed my hands on her lips and tried to pour the water into her mouth.
I waited for a long time but she still did not wake up.
"What is really happening?" I said softly.
I looked around. There were no herbal plants. Only simple plants that I did not recognize.
I kept looking around and then looked back at Mishael. She had woken up, though she looked weak.
"You're awake?"
"Are you hurt?" I asked, but Mishael shook her head.
"Yes, I'm fine, just a little dizzy," she said while holding her head.
"We will get out of this labyrinth soon," I said while standing and looking around again.
I did not see anything except plants covering what seemed like the lower entrance, but that was not a problem because there might be a way out.
"Wait a moment." I walked toward the light and indeed in front of me there was a small opening.
"Have I already gotten out of the labyrinth?" I muttered in confusion. In front of me was a settlement, and I did not know that now we were in the western region, but this was the territory of the elf clan.
From here, it was on a hill and rarely known, it was indeed hidden, so to see it you had to move aside the hanging roots from above the hill.
Note:
Sorry if I misspelled the name Mishael or Misshael. But it is the same person.