Calmness before a storm

"It would also be nice if you could share your name, it might be awkward if we are in danger and I start looking for you, but I don't know your name." He chuckled at the possibility of that playing out.

She raised her brows wondering if this was a way of him low-key hitting on her. His offer did sound tempting, and she needed the said weight off her shoulder even if it was just for a while.

"Who said you would actually need to call my name when we are faced with dangers?" She punched him playfully to the shoulder.

He shrugged, looking around them, allowing her imagination do the rest.The cave was nothing like they had encountered.

Accepting it couldn't hurt in the slightest, so she actually did release her backpack to him reluctantly, "be careful with my baby." She patted her backpack before handing it over to him.

"You have your baby kept in here?" He gasped playfully. Happy he could get a smile from her.

"No silly. Of course I don't have a baby, nor do I have anyone I'm dating." She shook her head, laughing at his obvious tease.

"It's just the necessary tools I had thought might come in handy, unluckily for me, I might have packed a little bit more than necessary." She masked her nervousness with a chuckle.

"Better prepared than never." Raph encouraged with a smile, as they continued their journey through the dark cave. The only way of knowing they were headed the right path with their headlights were the distant headlights of the others ahead of them.

Luckily for Raph, the backpack weight didn't feel that heavy in comparison to how she carried it, he could only blame it on the difference in their body weight and build.

Walking by her side, he wanted them to catch up with the others, he couldn't afford them to get lost at such a critical time. "Let's get going now, it should be much faster to walk up to them in a matter of four to five minutes." He bragged at their agility in comparison to the middle aged archeologists ahead of them.

"Chantel." She spoke out, not bothering to get his reaction, she walked ahead.

Raph paused, if he wasn't mistaken, he could safely assume she had just shared her name with him. He had the stop in his tracks to fully take in her name, "Chantel." He repeated with a smile.

Realizing the gap between them was starting to get longer, he jogged to her side. "You have a lovely name." He commended.

"Oh! Shut up." She nudged him, secretly amused he would think of her name in such a manner.

"But you didn't commend my name when I told you!" He pouted.

"Fact," She turned her face to the other side, increasing her pace. "Don't do your lips like that, it makes your face look weird."

"Look weird?" He questioned trying to catch up with her.

The humid smell of wet rock and the luminous fungus growing on the wall was starting to cloud his senses, he looked around him, the surrounding area different from the usual darkness they had encountered as they walked in with their headlights.

He had totally forgotten what they had been talking about earlier, his sole focus being on fungus surrounding the cave. So much so that he collided into the back of Chantel.

"What the hell?!" She hissed, clearly not pleased by his collision.

"Sorry!" He whispered.

They had finally reached an opening in the cave, and judging from the luminous fungus aiding with visualizing the environment, the others too had been caught in its splendor.

"I welcome you all to the cave of Weltic rune." Mr Nigel said in a loud voice, the echo reverberating.

Everyone was still mesmerized by the sight, they had totally forgotten about the task at hand.

Raph on the other hand whipped his head towards the direction of Mr Nigel, there was something strangely familiar with that word he used about the cave, but he couldn't just wrap his fingers around it just yet.

Taking a big whiff of the air, Mr Nigel smiled, he had not expected them to come this far, if he remembered correctly, there should be some sort of trap as they were on their way to this sacred place, but he found none to his relief.

He definitely knew he couldn't do this alone.

His calmness was a little bit too soon, dodging by the hair was a carved bone arrow which had been fired in his direction, he had let out a sigh of relief at dodging such a deadly projectile.

An ear piercing scream could be heard from a woman, as blood had splashed on her face and some oozed on the floor.