Chandea, Year of Severus, 15, I.R., the 48th day of Fall, Arenfall

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"What's happening?!" The silver-haired Commander asked as a loud booming sound followed by a static echoed through the crystal ball. "Can someone—"

Suddenly the ground shook violently.

"The ground is shaking!" A knight shouted from outside the command tent.

Lord Prestonheim held the crystal ball in his hands and tucked his godson into his arms as everything went to a state of panic. Commander Crovar held on the table for a while as the massive earthquake tumbled some of the posts inside the tent.

It took a while for it to finally stop and when it did, the tent already collapsed above them. Lord Prestonheim could hear the panicking squads' shouts and cries as they tried to dig them out of the collapsed structure.

He looked at his godson in his arms, curled into a ball scared witlessly with the shaking of the ground.

"Are you alright, Arterius?" He whispered to him calmly.

"I am alright, godfather." The young prince answered. "We should check the others and also the hole. We need to do it quickly!"

He could feel his godson's shivering body, but the young man's never quivered. Lord Prestonheim knew Prince Arterius was afraid, but the young prince held himself together. It was his first experience of an earthquake, but the prince took it pretty well.

"Very well, Arterius." Lord Prestonheim smiled and unsheathed his blade. The silver-haired Commander stabbed the leather tarp and ran the blade down to slice it open.

"There they are!" A knight exclaimed as he saw Lord Prestonheim and the Prince emerge from the debris.

The knights immediately helped them get out the heavy leather tarp. He looked around and saw his old friend emerged at the other end of the tent, carrying the limp body of the prince's ward.

"STOLAS!" The Prince shouted. "STOLAS! NO!" He limped towards his unconscious ward.

Commander Crovar laid his unconscious friend on the ground and gestured them to not go any further.

"What happened, Syleon?" Lord Prestonheim asked.

"The ward tripped over from the shaking and bumped his head on the corner of the table. He was bleeding profusely earlier, but I stopped it already." Commander Crovar answered. "I am going to perform full healing now, please stand back and take the prince with you." He added.

Lord Prestonheim nodded and took the Prince away from his old friend. As they were about to leave, a frantic knight came rushing over, his breath labored.

"L…Lord…m—my Lord…" The knight said as he was trying to catch his breath. "T-the f-freed…cough…slaves…they're—"

"What of them?!" The silver-haired Commander asked.

The knight pointed towards the direction of the hole. Lord Prestonheim's heart sunk as he began to realize the situation. He left the Prince by the knights and ran towards the hole. As he rushed towards it, a lot of questions came running in his mind.

Did they actually follow him there? Did they turn against the squads? Lord Prestonheim had to know.

As he went nearing the area, he saw knights frantically carrying logs while some used earth runes over something. Has something emerged from beneath the earth? Is it another grotesque monster?

"What is going around here?!" He shouted and shoved some of the knights blocking his way. There he saw a very odd scenario involving the freed slaves. The dwarf was frantically writing runes around the shrinking hole as the beastman held it open.

"What happened?" Lord Prestonheim asked a knight.

"The hole in the ground started to shrink after it shook." The knight explained. "The freed slaves noticed it and began to work their way to stop it from closing, m'Lord." He added.

"Why are you staring here? Why are you not helping?!" He asked angrily on his knights' incapacity to help.

"They told us not to intervene, my Lord." Another knight answered. "They just asked for our earth runes instead." He added.

"Quit yer yappin, Ulfaar and make sure dah hole ain't closin'!" The dwarf's voice boomed. "Pull yer muscles!"

"NNgghhh…I'm tryin' too…" The beastman clenched his jaw as he tried to prevent the ground from closing.

Lord Prestonheim could see the desperation in both of the men's eyes. The dwarf's sweat dripped down his runes, but he just continued on after cursing himself. The dwarf kept looking around. It seemed like he was waiting for something.

Lord Prestonheim tried to get near him, but the dwarf yelled out, "Stay off this, M'Lord! 'Tis a bit dangerous tah be round'ere!"

The dwarf was looking around again, "Damn it! Phellie! Where yah lass? I need dem earth runes now!"

The elf came running out from the crowd of knights. She seemed to be bringing a bag full of earth runes. After a quick instruction from the dwarf, she began setting them up around the runes the dwarf drew earlier.

The beastman was already at his limit. His hand was constantly slipping from the insistent hole that seemed to be closing itself by the moment.

"Pick up yer pace!" The dwarf yelled at the elf.

Lord Prestonheim could only look at them anxiously as they tried to salvage the opening. He stood there, fist clenched as the situation became more dire. The beastman wasn't able to put his hand in the hole. The hole was so small only his fingers were keeping it open.

The elf finally signaled at the dwarf that she was done. Seeing this the dwarf clasped his hands together and began to chant.

"Oh earthly mother, I ask yer hand tah bound the door open fer eternity." The dwarf took a deep breath and placed his hands into his drawn rune. Suddenly, the stony tendrils began to emerge from the earth rune that elf stabbed on the dwarf's scribbled runes.

The tendrils then began to go clamp the hole open while the dwarf controlled it to adjust the opening's size. Lord Prestonheim could again see the dwarf's face gritting and gnashing as he continued to stretch the hole with his magic.

After a few decent struggles, he was able to finally keep it in place. The hole was back to normal which gained a few cheers coming from the knights. The beastman and the dwarf collapsed on the ground exhausted with the effort they exerted to save the hole from closing.

"Get them some potions!" Lord Prestonheim commanded. The knights took out the crate of reserved potions and gave a couple of it to the both freed slaves.

Lord Prestonheim approached them as they were tended by the knights. The dwarf was catching his breath, he was exhausted from the entire ordeal, but was still vigorous enough to speak with him.

"Are you alright, dwarf?" Lord Prestonheim asked.

"Juzta wee tired, I guess." The dwarf answered back as he sat down. "Dat shakin' wuz of a magic variety." He added.

"What do you mean by that?" Lord Prestonheim got confused. "You mean to say it wasn't some monster—"

"Tis might be a monster," The dwarf interjected. "But, tis a magical tracin' innit!" The dwarf scratched his head and stood up.

"You need to rest." Lord Prestonheim held his hand on the dwarf's shoulder. "Take sometime—"

"Ders nay time fer sleep." The dwarf took the commander's hand off his shoulder. "I need me axe! I'm goin' down there!"

The dwarf groggly walked towards the hole but Lord Prestonheim held his arm once again.

"Let go off meh!" The dwarf shook the grip off his arm.

The elf finally stepped in and spread her arms, gesturing him to stop. The dwarf looked at her in the eyes, "But…there's…" The dwarf collapsed on the ground for the second time. Using that amount of ability truly took a toll on him.

Lord Prestonheim asked the knights to carry both the dwarf and the beastman to a safer place while additional healing potions are being administered. Lord Prestonheim went back to the issue of the hole.

A deep sense of dread slowly sunk in. What could've happened to the two squads? Are they still alive or no longer with them? Dark thoughts came rushing in his mind. The only way to confirm it is if someone would confirm it.

He called one of the knights and asked him to descend to the hole and check the squads' status. The knight agreed, but Lord Prestonheim could feel the fear in him.

"No, you won't be going alone." He said. "Those who are able, can assist this knight down there and check the status of the first two squads! I won't take it against you if you won't, but we cannot just leave them behind without knowing their fates."

He looked around and saw his knights just standing right there. Although frustrated, he couldn't blame his knights for being afraid. After all, who knows what kind of terror awaits them at the bottom. He looked around and was disappointed from their response. Only an auxillarum member and a healer from Commander Crovar's army was willing to join them.

"It looks like you three have to investigate what happened to the cave. Very well…" He sighed.

"Pardon my intrusion Lord Commander, but FOUR of us will be going." The auxillarum pointed behind Lord Prestonheim.

The desperate, silver-haired Commander looked behind him and saw the elf raising her hand.

"You would like to join too?" He asked.

She looked at him straight in the eye and nodded.