The fog

Delvin woke up to the feel of a slap

Gasping awake Delvin coughed into his mask a few times before looking to the culprit, Snap-pine who had licked him with his rough tongue with enough force to scrape his cheek painfully. Giving the dragon an annoyed look Delvin pushed his large head away before painfully getting to his feet

Thankfully it appeared that Snap-pine had caught him while they were falling as when Delvin looked up he couldnt even see the roof, leaving him unaware of how long they could have fallen. Giving Snap-pine a scratch under the chin in thanks Delvin looked around to their dark surroundings

They were obviously underground, everything that surrounded them was just black and grey stone, forged in the shape of a tunnel or ravine, their only source of light was a few clumps of moss and mushrooms that glowed in the dark, giving a gentle lighting.

"Did we fall into an old lava lake?" Delvin asked allowing, drawing a gentle growl from his partner. With such a large volcano existing on the island, it was hardly a stretch to expect that it would have an underground network of sorts, they were just lucky they hadn't fallen into an active tunnel

"Wheres my halberd?" Delvin muttered as he began to move around the tunnel searching for his weapon, however, he didn't have to search long as a growl from Snap-pine drew his attetnion, looking over he could see the dragon sniffing at the remains of his weapon, it's blade twisted and shattered by the debris and its handle snapped "...well thank god i didn't bring my good halberd then huh?" Delvin joked, trying to lighten the atmosphere, which just caused Snap-pine to give him a look which was kind of unfair seeing as he was rather happy he had left his gronkle iron halberd at home.

Soon enough however as Delvin began to search through what remained of his backpack they noticed a large issue, all their tools and resources had been crushed and destroyed, the food crushed to a point that it was no longer fit for human consumption

"Let's get out of here" Delvin sighed as he began to walk in one of the directions of the tunnel, towards the facing direction. From there the pair of them began to walk ad traverse the unknown labyrinth that was the lava tunnels, often having to stop and change direction as they ran into collapsed tunnels and ones still filled with running magma.

However once they had finally discovered what seemed to be the most promising tunnel they found themselves attacked by heavy darkness, one that seemed unusual as it blocked out the light from even the nearby glowing flora, like a black mist

Leaning over and tightening Snap-pine mask and then his own Delvin began to feel unsettled, like something dangerous was nearby but he didn't knows what. And as they continued to traverse the tunnel, even adding another mask over the ones e and snap-pine were already wearing delvin began to look at his surroundings closer

The air that surrounded them was filled with the same blackness that had surrounded them from the beginning, but it had gotten far more present, becoming a physical fog that clung ot the floor and air like clouds, at present, he couldnt even see his feet as he was up to his ankles in the gas. And soon the clouds began to fill with specks of purple, dark and swirling

By the time that either of them began to show bad signs, they had already been traveling through the tunnel for some hours, the effects of the smoke and fog limited by their masks and their careful avoidance of the thicker sections of gas

Delvin began to laugh after a while, once they had reached the thicker area, heaving ragged coughs and wheezes out of him, each cough excluding black vapor and spit, and soon he began to notice a reaction in Snap-pine as the dragon grew twitchy and appeared restless

Soon enough Delvin began to panic, his mind whirling as he jumped onto the back of Snap-pine, causing the large dragon to let out a low snarl before pointing forwards "we need to get out of here! Hold your breath and run!" Delvin yelled. Letting out a roar, Snap-pine charged forward into the dark of the tunnel, all Delvin could do was ensure that neither of their masks came off, afraid of what the unknown smoke could be doing to them

They plunged through the tunnel at high speed, the smoke around them growing brighter and gaining a purple glow as they ran. Delvin could only grab a scrap of cloth from his bag, tying them around his face and holding on as Snap-pine continued his charge, his originally panicked growls growing different over time… more menacing and threatening, despite the fact that they were alone in the tunnels

After a few more minutes and with another snarl at the mist, Snap-pine slammed through a fog wall, crashing into an open caver, this one lit by its own sets of flora, glowing purple. They soon collapsed to the ground, panting and sucking in the clear air as Delvin coughed and Snap-pine wandered off, going to a nearby stream of water

For a few minutes, all Delvin could do was just lay on the ground, coughing out his lugs and black vapor as it clung to his body, but soon he gradually began to feel better. The black and purple mist being sucked off his body.

Looking over Delvin could see the mist entering a nearby plant, a mushroom, as the plant vibrated and shook, taking in the mist. Whatever the gas was, these plants had grown to feed off it, which was lucky for him. However that didn't change the fact that he felt worse than he ever had before

It was like something had hollowed him out and then left him to be taken by nature, his body felt… unwel,l like he was sick, hungry, and feverish all at once. Struggling to his feet, delvin soon stumbled over to Snap-pine at the waterhole

Reaching out a hand to pat him Delvin began "i think we should probably get out of here, we have no idea what that gas-" he didn't finish as he was forced to throw himself backward as Snap-pine swung around with a snarl, biting at his fingers, eyes flashing red

"What the hell!?" Delvin yelled as he fell back to the ground, before beginning to cough raggedly again before turning to his dragon again "what are you doing!?"

Snap-pine himself looked shocked at his actions, his bright eyes portraying shock as the large dragon took a timid step back from Delvin, unsure of his own actions

"Yeah, we definitely need to get out of here" Delvin muttered as he gingerly approached the dragon, laying an arm over Snap-pine's leg and walking alongside him, but not before grabbing a bagful of the mist-eating mushrooms, and then they slowly stumbled towards another tunnel.

But that was when, like a slinking shadow, the master of the cavern appeared, blocking their path

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