Endzone: Simulated Apocalypse

As Cyanide and Ragnar dashed through the darkness of the cave, they had little light to work with. The former was a lot faster than the latter, but he couldn't go too far ahead since Ragnar was the one with the fire.

"Throw the damn sword away, idiot!" Cyanide yelled, but Ragnar once again refused.

"I'd rather eat shit!" Ragnar fired back, footsteps thundering across the cave floor.

"You will in a second if you don't listen to me now!"

"Ugh…!" Turning around, Ragnar could practically see the dozens of enormous centipedes crawling towards him, getting closer and closer. They were faster than him, unfortunately, and after the fight with the Hydra earlier, he was in no condition to be using Pyromaniac again to get out of this.

"It's either you lose your sword, or you lose your life," Cyanide called out one last time, as his final verdict. "Choose your poison."

With that, he sped on ahead, leaving Ragnar behind and creating his own subtle light using the Lightning Chain Soul Art to see ahead of him. Ragnar, stuck with little choice, gritted his teeth in anger and cursed under his breath.

"Fuck… well, as they say, the weapon of a warrior is in their body, not their hand! Sorry, Fury's Edge—I'll remember you well!"

With makeshift tears in his eyes, Ragnar hurled his sword behind him at the mutant centipedes, striking a couple. The rest, however, stopped chasing, and instead all crawled around the burning sword, beginning to tear it apart thinking it was food. The warrior clenched his fists, but there was nothing to be done.

Turning back around, he chased after Cyanide, remembering the evil these stupid bugs had done to him today.

*****

Soon, after several minutes of wandering around in the cave, Cyanide came across what looked like a source of light. It was quite faint, but in the cave's darkness, it was easy to spot the soft blue hue being emitted from a certain direction.

Curious, Cyanide walked over closer to it, and discovered an exit. On the other side, however, was not the open. Instead, it was a miraculous chamber of sorts—so beautiful that just about anyone would gasp in awe.

Not, Cyanide, though. He was merely surprised a place like this could even exist in a cave.

The chamber was small, but beautiful. Several tall trees twisted and intertwined with one another stood around the place like a border of sorts, and on the circular patch of grass they surrounded, several illuminative flowers bloomed.

They were shaped like roses, but had translucent petals that gave off a bright blue glow rather than the deep red as accustomed to on Earth. Their stems were slightly curved, and the flowers blew side to side softly by the gentle wind that came from the unknown. They were fragile and delicate; tranquil and luminescent. They were like the light in the shadow, the torch in the dark.

A faint sweet aroma filled the air, cool and relaxing. It wasn't overbearing—it was very gentle, just like the flowers themselves. The calming blue lighting created by the flowers also helped provide a soothing atmosphere, further enhanced by the small but eye-attracting sparks of blue light in the air that looked like fireflies.

This place—everything about it looked so natural, so transcendent, that it was hard to believe this chamber was found within a cave. In fact, the lighting seemed like real moonlight itself, thus granting the name 'Moonflower.'

"These are…" Cyanide murmured, trailing off as he realized this was the herb he'd been looking for. Moonflowers—very rare and very valuable, was a herb that had extremely potent, almost miraculous recovery effects. Without a doubt, it would be able to craft amazing healing potions, which Cyanide really was in need of in emergency situations.

Soon, from behind him came the sound of footsteps—loud, heavy footsteps. Without even looking, Cyanide knew who it was already—who else could it be?

"Holy shit…"

Ragnar walked up beside Cyanide, entering the miraculous and paradoxical chamber that should not exist in this cave. Staring up above at what should be a rock ceiling, the two instead saw an illusive night sky, painted pretty with white stars and a pale moon on a gradient dark ocean blue background.

"… I know this is fake, just some kind of illusion created by those flowers, but… goddamn, this feels real," Ragnar muttered. "Almost enough to make me forget about my sword. Almost."

"… Whine, whine, whine." Cyanide shot him a sideways glance, exhausted. "Rather than crying over your sword, how about thinking of a way back out of this cave? I'll be fine since I already memorized the way in, but I doubt you've done the same."

"Hold up, you memorized the way in?" Ragnar asked, blinking in surprise. "How the fuck did you do that?"

Cyanide shot him a deadpan look, as if this was something obvious.

"… It's simple. From the moment we entered this cave until arriving at this place, I've been counting the number of steps I took and the directions I turned. In my mind, I've already got a basic mental map of the route to take down. The only problem I can think of is if those… critters are still back there."

Ragnar pondered for a moment, then a smile slowly appeared on his face.

"… Yo, assassin. I've got an idea."

Cyanide wasn't very keen on hearing Ragnar's idea, but waited in silence for it anyway. Ragnar, taking his quietness for acceptance, continued.

"You go ahead and dash straight through them with a light in your hand, and distract them. With your speed, there's no way they can catch up to you. And while you're doing that, I'll grab my sword back, and sneak up on the bastards from behind. We'll hit them with a flank attack—boom! Enemy incinerated."

"A sound plan," Cyanide said with a perfectly neutral expression, clapping his hands together sarcastically. "But unfortunately, there's one thing missing."

Ragnar blinked. "What?"

"What do I get out of this, my supposed nemesis?"