Light At The End Of The Tunnel

A mournful scream echoed through the walls yet again, further convincing whatever beast still hiding about in the dark not to come out for it was the third death throes they have heard in merely a couple of hours, whoever these two legged guests were they had not come bearing good intentions

With her fifth rocky lizard fight finished Jade slumped on its back with heavy breaths, having fought two back to back even she started to run out of juice

"This place is so dry"

She complained, the ponds were hard to spot and even when they were visible few were drinkable, mostly due to big fools like the one under her for stepping into them with their bloody claws like they did just now

"I just wanted a mouthful"

Her voice was hoarse, cracked from thirst and tiresome battles

'Did I get lost in here?'

Such thoughts kept repeating themselves, how could they not when the two had been going around the caves for god knew how many days, or weeks, even the main road only took about one week, not to mention the two having trekked forward for three days before entering this hell pit

'Can't give up though, mom and dad sacrificed themselves to let me live...'

A sigh came out along these thoughts, they were her sole motivation to move on but she could feel herself giving up as her body deteriorated, honestly if her mother's words did not keep replying through her head she would have long slumped in the cold hard cave

"Let's get a move on then"

Picking herself up from the despondent mood she started to walk toward the same direction they were going through before, or so she hoped, all she could see in this damn darkness was the yellow eyes of the skittering beasts or nothing at all, every pit above long gone

"Though the big guy's steps can no longer be heard too, that's a plus I guess, right?"

Her hoarse words fell on deaf ears as Jack silently followed behind, even though she knew he wouldn't answer she still spoke as if he would, else who could tolerate this loneliness?

Kaasaa! Gaaa!

"I wasn't talking to you guys"

She retorted to the battle cries coming further up the road, not at all afraid of whatever was fighting ahead, at this point all she ever saw was the rocky ones, the Cave Claws, and the huge rocky ones that were too slow to keep up with anything down here

Sure enough, it was a battle between some Cave Claw and one of those rocky lizards, nothing surprising here

"Huh?"

Until she realized what she was looking at that is, a Cave Claw, one of those cowardly creatures, was battling something triple its size with rock hard skin?

"I must have gone mad from thirst, or this lizard did, either way something crazy is going on here"

It wasn't like she was going to waste this opportunity however, since the small one was keeping the other occupied she might as well take advantage and end this foe standing in her path

So while keeping herself lined with the back of the rocky lizard she took slow steps forward, slowly getting closer and closer to its back

Kasaaa!

That's when the Cave Claw suddenly jumped on top of the big beast, clawing at it with everything it had until its enemy had enough and slammed its tail upward and down to squash this creature, what happened was something Jade, and apparently the Cave Claw, were more than familiar with

Bam! Ga!

Hitting its own head the lizard faltered, giving grounds for the Cave Claw to tear the hole open and put an end to its foe

'How despicable, it doesn't even dare to fight fairly'

Jade shook her head and jumped at the back of the Cave Claw mounting the back of the rocky lizard, smashing the former with a dropkick to the spine, or whatever she managed to hit in this darkness

Kaa!

Receiving this heavy hit the Cave Claw retaliated by smacking upward with its tail, and due to the difference in size it managed to hit Jade, whipping her behind and sending her tumbling forward

'This thing is quite strong?'

She did not realize this until now but it was indeed odd how the Cave Claw managed to kill the bigger lizard, sadly it was no time to think over the issue since the enraged foe already jumped at her with mouth wide open

Not in a position to dodge she kicked at the jaws, but the thing was sneaky, hooking its tail on the dead body and pulling back before starting to manuaver around her

"Does it look like I'm slow to you?"

She questioned while it circled to get to her side, perhaps thinking it could achieve the same result by putting into action the tactic both used against that slow witt of a lizard

Kassaa!

The Cave Claw pounced forward with a swipe

Jade ducked, but again was surprised as a tail came whipping down sneakily

Kaa?!

The voice of the beast was enough to know its expression when she gripped the tail before it hit her, halting it mid air and slamming the sneaky fellow face first into the earth

It clutched onto the ground and tried to crawl away but she lifted it up again and slammed it, over, and over, until the beast had enough, bending itself to try and claw at her hands

Futile were those attempts since she whipped its body upward and slammed it once again, this time cracking something for sure

Seeing as blood was seeping out of the head she finally let go of the tail

"Haah, what a handful this one was"

It was clear now that this might not have been a normal Cave Claw, if one at all, perhaps another species, this was lizard land apparently

Tatata

All of a sudden the creature in question pit pattered away in escape, stunning her for half a second but enough for the slimy one to get further away

"You little!"

She gave chase but it seemed too late, it was faster than her and Jade was in no mood to waste her energy on running after a meal

Pahcuk!

She did not have to do so in the end though, for the sneaky lizard got sneak attacked by the waiting Jack, damaged head smashed open with a rock

"Ohh, nice"

Jade pat his shoulder, receiving no response as usual

"Well, that's our dinner, lets's just take it somewhere with less blood"

Picking the dead body up she noted the eyes sneakily close, making her narrow her own in suspicion

'It couldn't still be alive, right? That would be some stupid amount of vitality…..Just in case though'

Holding it by the tail she smashed its head into the ground once more

Kaaa!!

"You were alive you little bastard!"

Kaa! Kaaa!

It shrieked in pain as she repeatedly smashed it into the ground while wondering just how strong its vitality was, even the rocky lizard would be dead by now much less a Cave Claw or whatever this was

'Unless it gained the trait and that's why it was hunting them?'

Suddenly it dawned on her why the rascal was so strong, by the time it did the annoying fellow finally had its skull crack, splattering everything inside on the ground

Jade still wasn't so sure if the fellow was dead or not yet, so she was about to smack it a few more times, before she did however a tingling feeling flowed through her arm and into her body, filling it with vitality if for but a moment

"This is…I see, speak of the devil and he shall appear"

While it was a new experience for her Jade was more than sure of what this was, her father had told her about it before in passing, it's also what she thought the reason for the Cave Claw's power was, Jade gained the trait of the one she slew, or in human terms, she manifested an Emblem

"Well, not yet, not until I accept the power"

It would seem stupid not to since the strength running through her told of its use, Regeneration, was the trait of the now dead creature, shedding light on the reason behind that stupidly great vitality

Accepting the power she felt it congeal in her heart, taking the shape of a lizard seemingly turning tail and running, its body littered with scars yet eyes bearing a vengeful stare

Instantly a wave of relaxation passed over her entire body, slowly fixing itself overtime, the trait turned to be one that worked on its own, a great boon indeed

"Let's go"

While it was a joyous occasion the two already lingered around more than enough, the earlier fight of the two lizards and this subsequent battle made a ton of noise, and while that wasn't usually a problem since Cave Claws mostly dotted this place Jade did not want to wait and find out if there were more of the strong ones around

And so they started the upward climb once again, meal in hand

"I might drink this thing's blood if I don't find water soon, I don't care if that turns me into…"

The words of complaint stopped midway, for in font she could see light, dim as it might be that made her hope light up, speeding forward with Jack in tow

"Is it? An exit? An exit? YES!"

Tears couldn't help but spill, both from happiness and the direct contact with the sun's rays after so long, up above was the blue sky, and toward the entrance she could climb through a steep incline

"We made it out! We are out!!"

Dropping the bloody lizard Jade took Jack into her arms, jumping around in a silly manner while squeezing the poor young man in a tight hug

Finally, the days of trudging through darkness could be put behind them