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It was one thing to have a mishap while casting one of Brynhildr’s basic spells, but having that mishap teleport the closest person next to him and himself to a place darker than dark was a whole other breed of horse he was not familiar with. Leo could feel the person he was with behind him. Their backs were touching at the shoulder blades, the other’s hair laying across his neck, sticking to the sweat that pooled there during the battle.
The mage knew they teleported and did not get hit so hard he blacked out. No, there would still be some sort of buzz in his ears; the screams and metallic clangs would be muffled over the ringing that would travel in his ears but still there. Plus, if he got hit that hard, his mount would surely be on top of him. There was no blooming pain, no numbing pulses wracking through every bone in his body.
Nope, just a very familiar pricking sensation crawling all over his skin; the outer organ trying to register the quickest body horror to instant repair it will likely never understand truly. And there was a sort of fuzzy cloud covering his brain, yet thoughts came racing through. On top of that, moving water was as audibly clear as crystal.
Leo shifted forward, turning on his stomach and getting his palms flat against the ground. His armor creaked and whined against itself as he pulled his body to sit upright. A short breath in led to the mumbliest fire cast that somehow still worked. A small firelight sparked to life in his palm now outstretched.
A…cave? It was nothing but rock as far as the eye could see. Stalagmites and stalactites creep along the ground and the ceiling respectively. Water drips into a collection of small pools, the fire making it seem like they almost glow. Soil and dirt was minimal. On the walls grew something leaf-like and…red? Green and red?
Leo got to his feet, his armor whining with a bouncing echo following. Crouching, he got close, holding the flame a bit further away so as to not accidentally catch it on fire. Usually, he would be more sure of his abilities to not do that exact thing, but currently that trust has become like that of a wine bottle that appears to be full but has been drained almost completely dry upon further investigation. Minimal excitement. Significantly demoralized. This is going to do for now whether he likes it or not. Afterall, there are more important matters at hand.
For instance, a species of what appears to be a lichen he has not seen before. Or a lichen-like liverwort? It was flat with curled edges and had multiple lobed margins that became bigger or smaller either way around the circle-ish shape it grew into. It had a slight transparent red gleam over a more opaque, pearl green. Water slid in drips along the walls, creating patterns of damp and dry. A particularly large drip path led to the organism, likely creating that red top layer translucent. Lichen, then.
It was surrounded by other types of what he presumed were also lichen, many of which were a fruticose type of lichen that were growing between the lobes of the foliose types. Almost looked like a miniature patch of fallen leaves around leafless bushes that someone forcibly stuck to the slight protrusions in the wall. Many of the foliose types had that red gleam with a poking green luster, but some of them were light shades of purple with a matte dusting of gray. Does this specific pair of species turn red when wet? Or were they four separate species? Or maybe the same but it grows in different colors? And the fruticose types were–
An audible groan that reverberated off of the cave walls made him jump just ever so slightly out of his skin, something he would deny if that familiar voice even saw it happen. Leo wiggled his fingers ever so slowly, a sweat forming on his temples, not daring to look back at his husband. Who, as he came to remember, as never, not even once in his life, had ever been close enough to feel effects of teleportation magic that had not come from a magic gate, like the Dragon’s Gate or the astral realm via Lilith. Theoretically, the archer should be fine, nothing should be damaged or permanently ripped from bone. Theoretically.
The little voice at the back of Leo’s mind tells him to be a good husband and go to Takumi’s aid, assess the damage and proceed from there. The rock troll that has suddenly taken over a large portion of any and all reasoning, however, booms to continue lichen viewing. Repeatedly. He wiggles his fingers once more, just ever so slightly faster, the flame dancing side to side in his palm.
“L…Leo?” Takumi asks, voice sounding as groggy as it does when he wakes up in the middle of the night. Leo should really, really get moving. Yes, very important to make sure his fellow soldier and lover is as well as could be coming out from the heat of battle. Yet…yet…
“Leo…?” Takumi calls out again, a bit more desperate, and it finally gets the mage’s muscles working. Somewhat. Leo turns on one heel, one knee touching the ground as the other stays bent. His head follows the turn, staring directly at the man on the floor, now turned on his side with a look of utter loss and confusion. They both blinked at each other for a moment. Takumi was likely trying to gather his surroundings, aftershock of teleporting for the first time making him slow. Leo is desperately trying to win in a battle against the previously stated mind rock troll. And winning!
“Hello, Takumi. Are you okay?” Leo spoke with a calmness befitting a man asking a passerby who had tripped. Takumi’s mouth hung open in bewilderment.
“ ‘Are you okay?’ He asks. OF COURSE I’M NOT OKAY!!! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!? WHERE ARE WE!?” The archer got to his feet and rushed over to the mage, gripping his shoulders, barely minding the flame. “WHERE IS FUJIN YUMI!?”
That last question had been the helping hand to roll the mind rock troll into the depths. Leo shook his head and scanned the room, not seeing the glowing bow anywhere. He also did not see Brynhildr, but the tome’s magic was seemingly everywhere all at once. Maybe that is why he didn’t panic first.
“These are very great questions Takumi, one’s I really wish I had the answers to.” Color drained from Takumi’s face, hands loosening their hold in what Leo could guess was a mix of despair and bewilderment. Their eyes never looked away from one another, a rising panic surrounding them both the longer they sat there.
Takumi looked completely drained and disheveled. His hair was up in places it normally wasn’t, a darkness circled under his bottom eyelids, red streaks scored through the whites of his eyes, dirt was smudged across his left cheek, his body faintly tremored, a faint pulse of magic coursing just underneath his armor that Leo could feel where gloved hands held onto his own plated armor.
Okay, he will not be allowed near any sort of teleportation spells for quite some time.
“We…We need to get looking. We need to find a way out of here,” Takumi took a deep breath in, “and find our weapons.” The archer let his hands drop to his sides, looking at their surroundings once more. To the left, to the right, above, behind, and in front of him. Takumi paused before repeating the actions, blinking at the wall past Leo’s head.
“Did you spot anythi–”
“Did you ignore me for plants again?” Takumi raised his voice.
“They’re fungi and algae combi–”
“You did, didn’t you!?”
“I have never seen lichen in these colors before!!!” Leo used both his arms to point at the wall, getting to his feet fully finally.
“So what!? We somehow arrived here, stranded without any weapons, and the first thing you spot and go to is a fungi-algae thing!!”
“We teleported here, actually.”
“So you do know what happened? Mind telling me what else you know?”
“Lichen, because they are part fungi, can in fact decompose things, but–”
“As hot as you usually are when explaining concepts to me this is not the time, smartass. Tell me what happened.” Takumi sighed, using both hands to grip at his cheeks. Leo adjusted the flame, tossing it into the other free palm.
“There was an invasion. I used a basic spell from Brynhildr. It went wrong somehow. Now we are here.” Takumi blinked rapidly, taking another exasperated breath in. He slowly started to nod, turning to look at the miniature pools to their right.
“Are you sure it was a basic spell? How did you mess THAT up?” Leo hummed, the panic from earlier being muffled by the same sort of fuzz he has been feeling behind his eyes since he became conscious. How did he mess it up?
Before the invasion happened at the fort, Leo was tending to the plants he has hanging from their ceiling on the opposite end from their bed. Takumi had fallen asleep early, tiring himself out from doing extra training, making up time from when he had gotten sick just the week before. He had paper and pen floating nearby, writing down his hushed whispers. One hand examined the leaves, the other held an opened bottle that was previously hiding away in a shared small cabinet.
Ah. He was drinking, that was why. To be fair to pre-invasion Leo, they had not had an at home battle in almost three months. Pre-invasion Leo wanted to have a relaxing night with his plants and nothing else. Besides, that particular drink was a gift. Would be rude to leave the gift untouched.
“You/I drank.” They both said in unison.
“I think I had half the bottle of wine you had given me.” Leo hummed thoughtfully, trying not to look back at the lichen. They had things to do, now that they figured out the problem.
“...I can’t even say anything. I wanted you to have something because you’ve been nothing but stressed taking care of me and my duties on top of yours while I was practically dying.” Takumi shoved his face fully in his hands.
“First off, you were not dying, we would never let that happen. Secondly, what awful timing, hm?”
“Gods, you can say that.”
Look at the Lichen. Look at the Lichen. The mind rock troll yells from the abyss, getting louder the more that thought repeats.
“...Maybe I can take at least a sample back with us.”