Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 134: Oil Lamp (Beast Den 6)

*Fine. Fine. But sit down for now and recover,* Vivi ordered while laying down on the ground.

*What about those guys?* Laz pointed at the ceiling, indicating the couple of remaining dog sized spiders that were clinging to the ceiling without moving.

*They won't move from that spot until we leave,* Vivi said without a moments hesitation.

*Why not?* Laz asked, a bit confused on why she seemed so sure.

*Cause right now I'm the baddest bitch in this place,* Vivi responded with a smirk.

*Uh, ok...* Laz just sat down and began circulating his energy. Despite having absorbed the source essence that was released when the spider died, he still felt somewhat exhausted now that Vivi had pointed it out, although he didn't know why.

*Feeling tired?* Vivi asked, looking over.

*A bit, yeah.*

*That's because even though you absorbed the source essence that was released from the spider, it doesn't automatically make it yours. You need to slowly combine it and incorporate it into your body, letting it take on the characteristics of your own source essence before it becomes usable. It's like eating a bit meal. Just because you have the food in you doesn't mean you can convert it into energy right away. It takes time for your body to break it down. Since you went all out like a human flame thrower, I'm not surprised your tank is empty currently. You need to learn how to pace yourself better,* Vivi instructed Laz. She knew that when it came to things like energy usage and pacing, Laz had not been in any battles big enough to actually exert himself. Since this was the first time, even though it had gone smoothly, he needed to learn what it felt like to be empty and learn how to avoid that in the future.

*Ah. Makes sense. But why is it that the energy in the air seems to recharge me faster than the big load of energy I just got?* Laz asked, feeling how the energy in the air was refreshing him faster than the gathered source essence.

*That's because it's pure energy. It like drinking a liquid as opposed to eating solid food. It can be absorb loads faster.* Once he heard this, he realized that it made perfect sense and stopped asking. After around a half hour, Laz felt refreshed and ready to go, as did Vivi. Laz still felt like he was full and that bit by bit, that source essence was breaking down and combining with his black flame like source essence, causing it to grow stronger. It was still in the shape of a ball inside of him, but if you could look closely enough, the ball looked as though black flames were dancing on the surface of it as it grew larger and larger.

Seeing that Vivi had gotten up, Laz did the same and made their way to the pillar of stone that was lead up to the opening. As Laz looked around, he noticed that his backpack had been knocked over at some point and the contents had spilled out. Although almost everything was alright, the climbing pick axes had somehow gotten trampled and destroyed in the fight. Holding up the broken pieces, Laz couldn't help but feel regret since he barely even got to play with them. Seeing the sad and pitiful look in Laz's eyes, Vivi walked up next to him.

*Get on,* she said while indicating her back.

*You sure?* They had never done this in the past, but Laz had brought it up once. The fact that Vivi was basically the size of a rather large horse meant that the normal size Laz could, in fact, ride her. Of course when he brought that up, all he got from Vivi was a vicious stare and as a flat out 'not on your life,' kind of response. He learned from that look that he should never bring up this suggestion again.

*Yeah, but if you rip out any of my fur, I'm going to rip out your's while you sleep,* Vivi growled to make sure he understood. It wasn't that Vivi hadn't thought of the same thing before, but there had never been the need to do it. And also, she liked being the little sister to Laz's big brother. She enjoyed the times that he held her in his ap and brushed her hair, clipped her nails and cleaned her ears. She enjoyed the spoiling and pampering that he heaped upon her and was worried that his view might change if she suddenly became his mount. But now that they needed to get up their quickly, she ignored her rejection of it and just wanted to get it over as quick as possible.

Laz carefully got on and instead of sitting up straight, he laid against her back and wrapped his arms around her neck. Then, just to diffuse the mood he knew Vivi would be in, he whispered in her ear,

"Please be gentle."

Seeing him be goofy and knowing her was only like that around her, Vivi couldn't help but laugh as she ran over to the pillar, jumped up on to the wall and flung herself off of it, just managing to grab the top of the pillar and pull them both up. As Laz slid off her back, he could see two spikes nailed into the ground near the edge of the pillar. Thinking about it, he figured they used to hold the ends of the rope for whatever ladder or what not that used to hang here. Laz gave one final look over the large open cavern before he turned around and pulled out a flash light, lighting the way forward. Even though the one cavern had crystals, the pathway ahead did not.

Taking their time by going ahead slow, the cave, much like the one they first entered through, started to open up more and more as they went on. It seemed that it didn't take long until they reached another cavern that was actually quite a bit larger than the one they had come from, this one also being lit by the strange wall crystals. Looking out over it, Laz couldn't help but blink his eyes a few times as though he was dreaming.

"What the hell is this place?" Laz said out loud, not bothering to keep quiet.

Although there were still a few small spiders roaming around, there were none of the dog sized ones. Instead, the entire area seemed to be mostly empty, which caused the few things in the area to be that much more eye catching. The entire cavern, unlike the circular and rough shape of the outer cavern, was actually carved into the shape of a giant square. In one of the far corners, there was a massive collection of sticks, moss, roots and grasses, all looking to be randomly piled on top of each other, forming what looked to be a bed, or nest. With the quick conclusion, Laz believed that must have been where the giant spider slept. In the other far corner, there was a hole in the wall, out of which came a steady trickle of water that ran down into a square shaped pool beneath it. The sides of the pool were actually raised stone blocks that had been piled together and sealed, causing it to look like a giant bath tub. Although the water continued to drip down into the pool at a somewhat quick pace, the water level in the pool didn't get any higher, remaining at a constant level. Above the pool, hanging from a brace that was nailed into the wall, hung an old oil lamp. Laz watched on, a bit mesmerized as he realized the energy fog was actually coming from that old oil lamp. Laz and Vivi both briefly turned their heads to look at each other, neither knowing what to make of it..

Instead of just standing there with their mouths open, they both proceeded to walk further into the cave and check things out a little closer. As they were walking with their attention on the fog spewing lamp, Vivi accidentally stepped on one of the small level one spiders that were running around. Although the larger, early level two spiders knew enough to be afraid of her, these smaller ones were just too weak to notice the danger.

*EWW...* Vivi couldn't help but lift her paw and tried to wipe off the spider guts onto the stone floor. As she did so though, she noticed that a bit of web had escaped from the bottom of this spider pancake.

*Hey, human.* Vivi got Laz's attention although he was already looking at her while trying to hide his smile.

"Yes?" Since they had taken care of the big spider and nothing else around seemed dangerous, Laz just went back to talking like normal.

*I thought you said these wolf spiders didn't produce webs?* Vivi asked while shaking her paw back and forth, making the web attached to it more visible.

"Uh, they don't. At least not the normal ones outside. But... this is clearly a wolf spider and it's obviously making webs." Laz leaned in for a closer look and was caught by surprise as Vivi ended up wiping the spider pancake off on his pants.

"Thanks," Las said flatly.

*Happy to share.* Vivi said while smiling. She had obviously noticed the smile he had tried to hide and decided to have some payback.

"So wolf spiders can make webs? you can tell from the eyes and the pincers that they are wolf spiders and I remember reading about them not having webs though..." Laz was voicing out his confusion for Vivi.

*Hmm, interesting.*

"What is?"

*Nothing for now, why don't we check out that lamp. And something tells me that pool isn't normal either,* Vivi said, hiding her concern. She had a bad feeling about the smaller spiders that could make webs, but that wasn't something to talk about right now.

Laz nodded his head at her suggestion and started to walk towards the pool. He had felt it too, but she had voiced it first. The thing they both noticed after coming into the square shaped cavern was that it was several degrees warmer than the other one. And the source of that heat seemed to be coming from the pool.

...

Outside a two and a half story white and red house, a lone figure could be seen sitting on the roof outside an opened window. Her silky smooth hair was blowing gently in the warm breeze as she continued to look up at the stars in the sky, seemingly lost in thought. Although creating a surreal picture, one couldn't help but notice the rather icy look on her face, almost as though she bore hatred for the sky itself. Before long, the window on the other side of the roof opened up, revealing a young man who stuck his head out to watch her. Knowing that she wouldn't be at peace unless she said something, she directed her cold gaze towards her brother.

"What?" Leona asked.

"Nuttin. Just wondering what's got your head all messed up?" Reggie asked, not bothering about he seemly cold attitude.

"Does it matter?" She asked back.

"If it didn't, you wouldn't be out here," Reggie answered back. Although the roof was slanted, it was still flat enough and strong enough that you could sit on it and both of them had done it at various times. It was also a bit dangerous if you fell, but that just added to the isolation it provided. They both knew that when either of them were outside like this, they had something bothering them.

"Heya, it's not that guy Laz, is it?" Reggie asked, already having some ideas based on Leona's personality.

"So what if it is?" Leona shot back.

"Then you got a problem." Reggie retreated back into his room and made like he was going to close his window.

"Wait..." Leona stopped him.

"Well?"

"My problem is, I don't know who the hell this guy is. He just shows up outta nowhere, acting like he knows everything and boom, we just follow right along. Doesn't that seem wrong to you?" Leona asked, wondering if her little brother had felt the same thing. Reggie didn't respond as first, but leaned against the window sill and looked up.

"You want to know him? Why don't you ask him about himself then? Why make things hard on yourself? And us? So far, he's done everything without expecting something back. You know what that tells me? Either he's hiding something or there is a story there. But you won't know unless you talk to him. I mean, it's not like he's done something horrible to us or anything." Although Reggie meant something else, Leona couldn't help but turn a bit red when she thought about the late night she had spent with Laz. She wasn't sure if she should be frightened or pissed at him.

"Look, guys are simple, you know? You want to learn more about the guy, ask him out. Great way to get to know someone. Simple and easy. And you get a meal out of the deal. What could be better?" Reggie said, using his own limited experience. Although he had dated a bit, most of the time he remembered the food more than the girl. And almost every time he went out, he wished that he was out with Dee instead. They just hadn't yet taken that step.

"What if he says no?" Leona asked, feeling a bit nervous. No girl liked to be rejected. She would have no problem staring at Laz naked since they had already gone past that point, but she was actually a bit scared to ask him out.

"Well, then that means he has no taste," Reggie replied, smiling encouragingly to his sister.

"Thank... "Leona felt a little touched and was going to thank her brother.

"Or he's gay."

"I mean, that would be his..."

"Or you're not his type."

"I guess..."

"Or your just not pretty enough..."

"Really?..."

"Or maybe it's because your boobs are a different size..." Just as Reggie was about to go on, he felt a whoosh and noticed a pen had been lodged into the wood of the window frame right next to his head. It was at this moment he knew he had gone a bit too far.