What her words hinted regarding life in the Palace was unpleasant to think about, but there was only one answer you could give. You looked straight at her pleading eyes and took her hands in yours. "I promise you Schala. I'll hide if he gets here. He'll never see me in the shadows. But... he's going to take you away... I want to see you again after today."
"I want to see you too Gaius..." She bit her lip, deep in thought. "One week from today. I won't be able to sneak away again too soon. I'll meet you at the waterfalls when the sun rises. I'll... understand if you don't want to come..."
"In one week, at the waterfalls." you repeated forcefully. "I'll be there. It's a date!" You smiled, echoing the words that now seemed so long ago.
"A date... next time you-"
"RRROOOOOAAAAAARRRRRGGGHH!"
The Gosnell frustrated roar interrupted whatever she wanted to say. You were so engrossed that you hadn't heard it approaching. It was stuck at the entrance, failing to force its way in and impotently clawing at the walls.
You pulled Schala away from it. "We should head further in so it can't see us. And maybe there's another entrance or the cave is connected to the Earthbound caves?" Or maybe it was inhabited by another monster? You didn't voice that part though.
"Right" She nodded and followed you.
The cave wasn't very impressive, if you were to be honest. It was exactly how you imagined a typical cave to be when you had read about them. Just a roughly straight cylindrical corridor going down on a gentle slope, with rocks, stalactites and stalagmites. The green phosphorescent fungi were the most, no the only, interesting thing about it. It wasn't very deep either. You soon reached the far end and let out a disappointed sigh.
"It's a dead end. I guess we're stuck here for now. We should rest a little, then I'll go back to see if it left." You slumped on the side wall and let yourself fall down. Schala slowly moved towards the back. Suddenly exhausted, you closed your eyes and rested your head on the wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BM1EFKmiBZAA cacophony from the back of the cave made you snap them open again. A round red portal had appeared behind Schala. Her pendant was glowing. Blue lightning crackled around her, originating from that pendant. She looked terrified.
"Gaius!" She rose her hand towards you and an instant later - she was gone. The portal shrunk down to a small, red, glowing ball. The pendant fell to the ground.
You...
>Rushed after her.>Didn't.You all saw this coming 