Thanks in advance for reading! =D

[Edit: Changed ending to make it not-so-bad. Also changed the title to make it fit better with the chapter content.]

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Chapter 1: The First Encounter

The dungeon of Ant Tunnel wasn’t just dark. It was also dank and musty, the thick and foul air most likely arising from the trapped, still water that dripped down from the streams and systems above. It was also said that geysers existed even deeper into the tunnel, the huge spouts erupting from subterranean sources into the Tunnels of Lost Light. Hell, it could be the “Tree of Life” dripping some miracle water into the caves, making deceased mushrooms into zombies. But she had never been one to listen to fairies, even if she had grown up with them. Especially reclusive fairies like Mar. If one spent too much time alone, who knew what sort of crazy ideas could filter through?

Eh, whatever the source, water made the air smell bad, and the ground most unpleasant to walk on. It didn’t help her thoughts that there was a constant squelching noise. But at least she knew that all killed mushies disappeared and left only caps or Undead Charms behind. At least…she hoped…

Pushing the idea of rotting corpses – bother monster and human – out of her head, Renelle tried to figure out what had possessed her into agreeing to do this little “favor” for her friends again. Admittedly, it wasn’t going to be hard for her. A few Evil Eye tails were all she needed to retrieve. Still, thinking back on it, the girl still felt like she had been double-teamed. And by her two best friends.

“You’re the strongest out of us three, please go?” Cinia had said. This was true…Renelle herself had just recently gained enough power to obtain the privilege of wearing a Guiltian, and with new gloves and shoes, her Red Moonlight outfit was complete in look.

“And anyway, you’re a Fire Wiz! Strongest kind out there!” had been Valene’s way of begging; by flattery. Well, while the Path of Flame was considered to be strongest out of the three roads a magician could take, Renelle didn’t quite live up to that reputation. Sure, she had a decent mastery over her Fire Arrow, but so did a lot of other people at her level of training. Besides…“But Cin’s a Fire Wizard too, why can’t the two of you go on your own? It’s just Ant Tunnel!”

Ugh. “Just Ant Tunnel” I said. the girl thought with self-exasperation. She had (obviously) eventually agreed to the venture, as the conditions her friends had to meet put them in a position of little time to adventure about Victoria Island. Valene had only recently passed her exam that took her into the ranks of Clerics, and had decided to return to the girls’ hometown of Lith Harbor in order to refine her skills at Healing. She’d do well there; too many new travelers often needed help upon arriving from their early lives on Maple Island.

Renelle recalled with a grin, however, the slightly more comical details of Cinia’s situation. While she had been training as a wizard for just as long as her two companions, and though she was of the same class as Renelle, her eccentric home life forced her away from her studies and training as a wizard. Her parents owned a restaurant in Henesys that served all manners of “exotic” and strange dishes. Their specialty dish was a creation that would do Kerning’s Cutthroat Manny proud; it had a name the mage couldn’t remember, but it was, essentially, made from Evil Eye Tail. And, despite the fact that it sounded disgusting, it was the most popular dish on the restaurant’s menu, which meant that Cinia’s family was in constant need of the yellow lizards’ appendages.

So where did all this lead? It was the simple fact that Cinia was way too scared of the grinning Evil Eyes to take up harvesting after her father retired from hunting them. Hiring someone to do it had been drastically costly, so…out of the goodness of her heart – at least, Renelle kept telling herself this – she was helping her childhood friend out. Then, for some reason or another, Valene had requested a stock of Evil Eye Tails herself for potion making.

So here she was. Trekking down Ant Tunnel for the second day, the girl was sure she was near to the cave system’s Park area…at least she hoped. She needed to resto-

Out of virtually nowhere, a Stirge – the most annoying little buggers ever, in her opinion – dropped out of the darkness and flew straight into her face. Letting out a muffled shriek of both surprise and just because she hated bats, the frazzled mage immediately let loose a stream of fire after the creature had disentangled itself, and continued to flame at it – both magically and verbally – after it had fled, chittering in terror.

Heaving a sigh, Renelle took a moment to observe her surroundings, trying to find a ledge to scramble up. For a while, the only things that met her gray eyes were rocks and cliffs without so much as a rope to climb up. Of course, it didn’t help that she was trying to look in the dark…Calling up a small flame, the wizard turned around in slow circles, looking for her next way up or down. Preferably down, since that was the way she had to go.

Finally, the light of her fire fell on a rather old and decrepit-looking rope ladder dangling from a ledge. Unfortunately, there was a good deal of empty airspace between herself and said maggot-eaten ladder. The distance looked at least as far as she was tall – 5 feet, 4 inches – and was probably longer. It was too far for her current grasp at Teleport to manage.

Darnit, she was a mage, not a thief….

Extinguishing her flame with a flick of the wrist and a closed hand, Renelle backed up a few feet to get at least somewhat of a running start. She’d have to make do with dashing and jumping in a dress, but there was no other way around it. Carefully making sure her Fairy Wand was securely tucked into the chord around her waist, the girl took a moment to inhale deeply – yuck, she’d forgotten about the stinking air – and proceeded to run forward.

And at that exact moment, a Zombie Mushroom dashed out of the shadows behind her, and as the mage leapt, the mushie made to tackle her. The resulting blow actually helped propel the human towards the ladder she was aiming for, leaving the zombie growling behind on the ledge. This was a good thing, except that the force with which she had caught onto her target was making the thing swing back and forth.

She could just feel the old rope’s fibers stretching and breaking beneath her hands. So, deciding that she’d rather not find out what was in the blackness beneath her, she made to clamber up the ladder as fast as she could make her limbs climb. She heard a few snaps and cracks, but kept going, seeing as though nothing directly in contact with her had given way yet. Ooooh, when she found out which genius had overlooked this ladder on the yearly replacements…

Then, just at the top and in the process of pushing her torso onto the rock, the boards beneath her feet gave way, and in the sudden moment before realization kicked in, she found herself scrambling for a handhold and failing miserably. Odd that, though she had wailed at the Stirge flying into her face, she could not produce a sound when she was truly in danger of a rather long fall. Perhaps her heart was beating too fast and had frozen her vocal chords from emitting any sort of sound. Wincing silently as she heard the hollow bangs of the broken boards clanging on the rocks beneath her, Renelle gave another effort to pull herself up…then realized she was being utterly incompetent.

Clearing her thoughts, the wizard took a deep breath and thought of the nothingness that it would take for the transfer. To defy the laws of physics and move oneself a certain length without physically crossing the space was tricky. Hmph, many people who did not study the arts of the technique always thought magicians were “showing off” when they chose to Teleport. If only they knew how wrong it could go.

Ah, she was thinking to hard. Nothingness, be nothing… and a flash of azure light later, Renelle stood upright and quite safe on the rocky ledge.

Well, she remained upright for about half a second, anyway. As the girl had been completely oblivious to anyone or anything else in the darkened area while she was focusing on Teleportation, she had inadvertently transported her mass straight into another mass. With the force of her move propelling her, she had managed to knock both said masses onto the ground. Yelping at the impact, Renelle sat up on her knees, her hand cradling the from of her head. Whatever her brow had collided had been hard, and consequently her cranium was in a bit of pain. Muttering under her breath, the mage sank down into a sitting position, her exasperation with the entire situation began to mount again.

It dawned on her then that the mass she had run into was actually another person, and she was now sitting on the stomach of said person.

She would later swear that, as she stared at the man she was on top of and he returned her gaze, the bright scarlet her face turned could have illuminated the cave.

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Thanks for any comments. =)