Chương 143: Ravine
Blood slowly walked back to the metal wall all the while taking heavy steps and slamming the tip of his shoes into stones that obstructed his path. Each time he kicked a rock he kicked it a little harder, pelting the canyon walls until defined dents were left behind.
Thankfully, he arrived at the marker Spright left behind, a tower of three stones stacked atop one another. Pushing his lone arm into the illusion, Blood felt around until he caught the lever and pulled.
The illusory canyon wall vanished revealing the same metal wall from before. Blood took a step back and leaned against the parallel wall opposite of the metal wall then slid down and relaxed.
"A six pointed flower…" he muttered.
He leaned over and picked up another rock. While muttering to himself he chucked the rock forward and watched it explode against the pristine metal.
He found another rock and the process repeated.
***
Emile carefully placed one foot in front of the other. He held his arms out and stared ahead, refusing to allow himself to look down.
They managed to come across a ravine after the canyon; a mile long stretch of hollow ground, as if a deities claw tore the earth apart.
Deciding to cross the ravine rather than go around, Emile cut down the tallest tree from their surroundings and lodged it between the ravine's thinnest point.
The fallen tree beneath his feet sank with each of his steps, soft and rotten from years of decay. He arrived in the center and the tree bent entirely, hanging low like a piece of cloth laid over a hangar.
Feeling the tree buckle beneath him, Emile panicked and pressed his feet deeper into the trunk. He leaped into the air and rolled onto the forest floor as the dilapidated tree snapped and plummeted into the ravine.
"What was the point of that again?" Willow asked from beside Emile.
"I thought it would be fun," he responded curtly.
"Hmph," Willow exclaimed, "and was it?"
"No—" Emile sighed, "no it was not."
Emile stood up and stretched his back. He walked to the edge of the ravine and looked down, but he was unable to see anything.
At some point the ravine bent, meaning it wasn't a straight fall to the bottom. Instead, when Emile looked over the edge, he saw the ravine walls travel down until eventually nothing. The bottom wasn't visible.
The tree that had fallen also wasn't visible.
"Alright Roy, lead the way," Emile instructed.
But Roy didn't move. He remained on the edge of the ravine just like Emile.
Without looking up, the boy raised his hand and pointed into the heart of the ravine:
"It's down there."
"What's down there?" Emile asked, "The spider? Something else?"
"My tracker."
Emile let out an uncontrollable grunt. Squatting, he peered over the edge once again and began to think.
"Are you sure?" Emile asked.
"This might not be the way to get down—" Roy explained, "but my tracker is definitely beneath us."
"Just great…" Emile commented, "Any ideas?" He turned to Willow.
"Even if there is another entrance, the odds of us finding it are slim. We should enter here."
"Well I know that—" Emile rolled his eyes, "the question is how do we get down?"
Willow's brows furled as she turned her head and looked at Emile:
"What do you mean?" She said, "Just jump."
"That's what I was trying to avoid…" Emile said under his breath.
Without any other solutions, Emile mentally prepared himself to free fall to his death, vividly imagining splatting against the ground like a bird hitting a window.
Willow went first; fearlessly stepping off the edge of the ravine and plummeting down. The first half was unobstructed and Willow fell gracefully, it was the bend that concerned Emile.
Willow bent her legs and prepared for impact. She hit the edge of the wall hard, cracking the stone beneath her before she pushed off again and propelled herself into the second fall of the ravine.
Now out of sight, it was Roy's turn to jump. He paced a little and constantly wiped the sweat off his palms, but he too eventually jumped.
Now alone, Emile nervously walked in circles while mumbling to himself.
'One'
'Two'
He stepped onto the edge as he prepared for three, but looking down again interrupted his thoughts.
'This is some bull—'
'Okay, just jump'
'Once you jump you can't stop yourself, it's like a bandaid'
He counted in his head again and approached the edge. He got to two and then paused again, seemingly stuck.
'Two and a half'
Before he could convince himself to get to three, the rock under his feet slipped and Emile came crashing down. His ribs slammed into the edge of the ravine and he sprung over.
Instead of gracefully falling like the other two, Emile painfully tossed against the wall of the ravine over and over. Sharp branches cut his clothes and protruding rocks kept him from falling peacefully.
Eventually he slammed into the bend and multiple bones shattered in an instant as he slid off the rock and continued falling.
The second he made it past the bend his surroundings darkened as the light from the surface couldn't travel past the ravines break. Forcing his eyes open, a subtle blue light entered his corneas, but he wasn't able to focus on anything since he continued to spin in the air.
Suddenly, a firm force pushed into his side while something wrapped around his waist.
Willow leaped into the air and caught the spiraling Emile. The two landed safely on the ground and Willow let go of Emile.
Observing his condition, Willow parted her lips to say something but Emile cut her off first:
"I don't wanna talk about it."
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