[Sarah]

Looking up, Jesper could only just make out the top of the cliff. “Looks like we made it to the cave.” he grumbled, the path they had been following had placed them here, in a small area that was blocked on three sides by straight cold rock. “It would seem that way.” Cream said, excitement lit in her eyes. “You know I have never been in a cave before.” Her tails waved happily, “I wonder what it’s going to be like. I bet it is magical inside with huge crystals and glowing moss.” Cream was in her own fantasy land Jesper could tell. “Or its just cold black stone.” He mumbled, narrowly avoiding Creams paw as she tried to hit him upside the head. “Let’s just go in then, and see how magical it is.” He meowed, flicking his tail to indicate that Cream should go first.

[Sarah]

“Don’t worry; I’ll go first since you’re too scared.” Cream meowed passing Jesper and entering the cave. She was shocked at how quickly the darkness swallowed her. Her eyes adjusted slowly, and now she was in total darkness even with the entrance bring just a paw step away. “Are you ready to go?” She called out from the cave, waiting for Jesper to step through. The stone was cold, and dry, and a boring shade of gray. “Well, is it magical yet?” Jesper asked, shaking out his fur and hoping that the further they delved into the cave he would not freeze to death. Cream shot him a playful glare, “Oh lighten up, your just sad because you actually have to move.” She meowed poking his belly. “Hey watch it!” he jumped, honestly she had startled him, not hurt him. “I have never had anything against exercising!” he defended himself drawing his tongue over the place he had been poked.

[Sarah]

Walking deeper into the shadow of the cave Jesper got more jumpy while Cream seemed to be at home. She had always loved caves and rocks so he assumed it was only natural for her to feel comfortable in this environment. Following her closely they didn’t bump into anything crazy, the path grey a tiny bit narrower and the grey stone slowed downwards slowly into the depths of the earth. It wasn’t steep; it was sort of a small decline and was hardly noticeable. Still it meant that they were going under thousands of pounds of cold crushing rock. Jesper lost sight of the light that was so welcoming he was ready to sprint back to it if needed, but she would not leave cream under the rock alone.

[Sarah]

“Well, this is new.” Jesper mumbled as they walked into an open cavern, a spiraling path was the only visible way down into the circular death pit unless they wanted to jump straight down which would not end well. It had been a long time of wandering before they found anything remotely ‘cave’ like and now that they were here Jesper could tell that neither of them where particularly thrilled about the idea. Following cream still, he stopped next to her and looked down the drop, he could not see through the darkness to see the bottom, but it had to be there somewhere. “I’ll go down first.” Jesper meowed, taking the lead; he wanted to make sure that Cream would be able to make it down the steep slope without falling.

[Sarah]

The cool stone under paw made Jesper wish for the hot sun that they had to experience on the surface, this whole place was cold. Fluffing up his fur and wishing for warmth he took the lead, stepping in front of Cream and placing a paw on the beginning of the path downwards. The spiral made him dizzy to look at so he kept his mind focused on his paws. He heard cream stepping behind him; they both had taken their first steps into the unforgiving cavern now they would have to be careful that the old thing would not kill them. Once Jesper got onto the path he felt just how steep they would have to walk. After a few feet and one complete spiral they were facing almost perpendicular to the ground hidden below. With just enough paw-holds to not fall all the way down the slope Jesper had to wonder if the crazy Feuta would have fallen all the way down to the bottom.

[Sarah]

Thinking about falling Jesper had to catch his breath that was threatening to leave him as the fear swelled inside. Not only did jesper despise heights and caves he had to worry about falling, Cream or Jesper would be broken if they fell. Taking another tentative step Jesper felt his way down the spiraling path, slipping only once he wanted nothing more than to sit at the bottom and die, his paws where sore, his claws felt like they were going to fall out and more than anything now his emotions where on the fritz, fear and adrenaline flooded his whole being and it made his thoughts jumbled and hard to sort through. Glancing back at cream who had made it down just fine he saw that she must be feeling the same. “Can we rest for a while?” he asked, Cream looked at him and nodded, too tired to speak.

[Sarah]

Jesper lay on the bare stone, his claws resting openly. He licked his paw pads, none of them where to badly scraped, but some of them where bleeding. He saw Cream do the same with her paws. “You ok?” he asked, she had not left any prints of blood like he had, but he wanted to make sure she had not pulled anything. Cream nodded. “I’m fine, I am more worried about you, you’re bleeding.” She said softly to him, concern dancing in her eyes. Jesper smiled at her. “I will be fine in a few moments, the bleeding isn’t as bad as it looks.” He promised looking her over. Nothing seemed to be out of place to Jesper was content to rest for the few moments they had.

[Sarah]

Standing up, Jesper was shocked when he found his eyes opening slowly; he had not meant to sleep. Panic sharpened his thoughts out of sleep when he found that Cream was also sleeping, they had lost track of time. “Boy master is going to be mad.” He mumbled, shaking Cream softly to get her to wake up. “wha- where am I?” she asked, her eyes big and frantic and she looked around the bare gray stone. “You’re ok, we are in the caves, and we just dozed off.” He reassured her, looking around the cave. He could not tell how many hours or minutes or days they had slept, nor did he know if Feuta would still be in the caves at this point. “You have to use your skill.” Jesper whispered looking at Cream seriously.

[Sarah]

-he knows I hate using that, and that I shouldn’t.- Cream thought panic now taking over her brain. Cream had a skill that allowed her to sense other life aura’s, thorough walls and far away. She was born with this skill however she could not use it long because it drained her power and shortened her life. Most doctors thought that her skill was caused by a demon and in return for the demons services Cream would have a shorter life. “You know I can’t.” Cream said desperately, tears welling in her eyes. Jesper looked into her eyes making Cream’s legs weak. “If you don’t we will die here, you know I would never ask you to give your life away, but this is a matter of life or death for me, you and Feuta. Plus you won’t have to use it very long.” Jesper’s tone was also desperate, and fear stunk in the air around them.

[Sarah]

Cream sighed; no one knew how much life was taken from her even if she used her abilities for a moment. But she would rather have a shortened lifespan on the top of the world than none in the depths. Plus she would give her life to save Jesper’s. And people where counting on her, Feuta and her master both would need her to use her ability. She nodded slowly at Jesper. “Ok, I’ll do it.” She said taking a deep breath. She closed her eyes and allowed the demon inside her to take over. The beast was hungry for her life force and was happy to show her the place their friend was in the caves and exactly how to get to her.

[Sarah]

Pushing the demon back Cream took over her body again, “It seems like Feuta is stuck, and not far away so we won’t have to worry about a chase.” Cream said, weakly, she would have enough power to get to the lost soul but when they got there she would have to rest. “Ok, show me the way, and we can go slowly.” Jesper said. “Thank you.” He mumbled quickly after, a look of relief shot across his face. -he must be happy that we won’t die in these tunnels.-  Cream thought mildly amused, but she did have to agree dying was not on his list of things to do while she was in the tunnels. Choosing the correct path to take they plodded down one path and winded back around another on their way to Feuta.

[Sarah]

Slowly Cream was getting her strength back, and slowly her mind focused on the task at hand instead of worrying about her own demon. She sped their pace a bit so that they could make some sort of good time. She would still have to rest no matter how much strength she got back on the way, but getting their in a timely matter was important to Cream so instead of letting her body rest she was at a swift trot as she followed the directions she was given. Jesper kept up close behind her, and Cream wished that the pathway was wide enough for him to walk next to her. She would have liked someone to lean on.

[Sarah]

They ended up sprinting to the place that Feuta was located, twisting and squeezing down the maze that was the cavern.  -This is annoying- Jesper thought feeling the weight of the rock as he pushed his way down the path. After this was over, neither of them would be going anywhere, especially not to rescue anyone. After a sharp turn they found themselves skidding to a halt, below them was a hole and in it lay Feuta, looking rather pissed off. “Hello there.” The sahound said looking up at them.

[Sarah]

Ska flitted up towards the two kuhna, squeaking something that sounded angry, they couldn’t tell and it wasn’t like it was that important anyway. “Need help.” Jesper called down towards Feuta, while cream found a place to rest. “Always did like help.” Feuta yelled back, putting a paw out trying to reach as far up as possible. Considering how short she was, it was hardly even halfway. “Ok, I’m going to grab your pay.” Jesper said leaning down into the hole, careful not to fall in.

[Sarah]

Grabbing her paw, Jesper lifted her easily out of the hole, “well, that went better than expected.” he mumbled, “thanks for that, I had not meant to go down there.” Feuta said looking cheeky. Jesper just grunted and returned to cream’s side. Feuta shook her head, “I see that your kind is still as loyal as ever.” She observed Jesper shot her a glare. “Not all of us are as loyal as you think.” He growled; Feuta nodded. “I see.” She said pondering the words for a moment.