It felt like forever until light shone in his face. He was curled up and half-asleep when there was a loud sound of something giving way. He was high on alert, baring his fangs, as a paw appeared.
"Thank goodness he's alright," said a soft voice.
"Wisp! Can you hear me?" shouted another voice.
Wisp knew the voices well. Terra and Darren.
Or was it Rho and Darren?
"Oh... Thank the stars! Wisp! Wisp!"
Mist.
"I'm alright," Wisp managed to call out.
"You got me worried sick, dummy!" cried Mist, furious.
"I'm... I'm sorry..." stuttered Wisp as more of the blocking walls gave way.
"Don't just say sorry, help us out!" cried Darren. "You can try and push the soil away. It's much weaker now."
Soil? So whatever rushed at him was soil?
"A-alright," Wisp said and dug at the opening. Soil flew onto his face, and he shook his head.
"A small gap, not much to work on," sighed Terra, or Rho.
Darren sighed. "We still need to try nevertheless," sighed he.
"Is Escarda helping?" inquired Wisp, still clawing at the opening.
"She insists on hunting instead," said Darren calmly, "and I don't see any reason why I should stop her."
Reasonable, calm. That's Darren in a twist.
"What happened? I mean, what could have caused this?" cried Mist.
It was then Wisp realised his mouth was parched. "I... I don't know," he lied, not wanting to have the blame on Terra. It wasn't her fault anyway. It was Rho's.
"Some kind of sneaky monster must be releasing spells," Terra suddenly said as another block of soil gave way.
"Eh?" Darren cried.
"Spells?" inquired Mist.
There was a pause, and it was quiet except for the scratching noise. "Spells, well, when I was back with my former pack, we believed in monsters. They're lurking at night, and for every weird incident, they're the ones who caused it," said Terra. "Phenomenas are not their talent, but disasters are. We don't understand many things, but the Alpha said when the earth shakes, a giant is upset. When a flood ruins our area, it is said that a giant is crying. They do things without thoughts. It's their pure emotions."
"You believe in those?" asked Mist, curious. "If the earth shakes, if it floods, we just accept the reality that it happens. We never consider about what factor or cause."
Darren spoke up. "What you have mentioned are disasters, but this misfortune has only struck Wisp. Why is that?"
Uh-oh.
Wisp wanted to change the subject, but that'll look bad on him. He slammed his body against a wall of soil. It barely budged.
"Perhaps this is how the earth giants hunt," Terra mused, and it came to Wisp that she has been bluffing. "They've never told me this kind of things could happen."
It was Mist's turn to speak. "It's too unnatural for me to believe it's not caused by someone. I'll buy the giant story until I know what's really happening here."
Darren didn't say anything.
For a long time, they just kept on digging without another conversation.
"Hold up, guys," said Darren suddenly. "We're close to completion."
In a few minutes, there was a tunnel-like entrance which Wisp squeezed through. "Thank the stars," Mist breathed, embracing him warmly.
"I hope you're alright, Wisp," Terra said, her eyes apologetic when he faced her.
"I'm good, but thirsty," Wisp replied.
"Come then," Darren said. "There's a small watering hole nearby, and we can help Escarda hunt as well."
"Alright!" cried Mist and rushed ahead, and Wisp hypothesised that she didn't have any luck when she went hunting last night.
Terra turned. "Come on, Wisp."
Wisp turned to follow, but she wasn't done with her sentence.
"I want to talk to you."
Author's Note: HAHAHA one chapter dedicated to the soil tower. Oops. Nothing much, I know, but the next one, I hope, will be fascinating.
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