As always Alan stood tall with the pack strapped on his back. His hair whistled in the wind, whisking around his face. The other two followed behind him, carrying their belongings along. He couldn't think about much else but his time limit. Only two more days, at most, to find his brother and get him to safety. Two more days...
      "Say, how much further do you think we have to walk until we find something?" Emeryl asked.
      "It can't be much. There might not be a way down. But it was a small town, it shouldn't take long to cross the area and check." Prism explained. Alan closed his eyes until they were only faintly open.
      "Alan?" Emeryl questionably edged closer to him.
      Alan stared back pensively without a word. By now Emeryl learned not to try and help Alan or he'd get a scolding, but his weary look bothered him.
      "Don't worry, we'll make it. Don't be discouraged." Alan answered. He lifted the pack higher up on his back. Despite his confidence Emeryl was sure Alan was worried they wouldn't find his brother. But they had to keep going anyway.
      It went that way for hours, with only a few moments of idle chat. Emeryl told Prism about his father at the cathedral and Prism told him about some of the other towns like Piri-Piri. Surprisingly, Alan spoke a little of the way Cervik was before, but after that he didn't say much.
      The sun was setting and their shadows were long before anything happened.
      "There's not much time left, you know. And we haven't found anything." Prism sighed, setting up a bonfire.
      "If I could at least find his skeleton, or something of his..." Alan rested his face on his hands. He felt weak, but it wasn't like him to say anything.
      "We've gone across nearly the entire place, it's all soil." Emeryl limply dropped to his belly next to them. He wasn't used to long walks.
      "Well, we can just cover the last few bits and leave I guess." Prism lit the fire with his fingers, then sat back to enjoy it.
      They all sighed in unison. All their effort was wasted, and Alan was nearly out of time. The light flickered in Emeryl's eyes as he watched it dance across the firewood.
      "What's that!" he pointed suddenly. Several yards in front of them was a small, white rock in the middle of the black soil, barely visible in the dim light.
      Prism and Alan jumped to their feet and ran over right after Emeryl. With a swift hand Alan snatched it up before Prism even had the chance, then dropped it again.
      "It's a bone!" he announced.
      "But there haven't been any bones." Emeryl knelt down and began digging. Following suit, Prism started scooping up dirt with his hands and Alan drew his sword. They kept digging for several minutes, until they ran into a large rock. At that Alan stuck his sword under the rock, then they all pressed their weight on the other side to move it out of the way. It budged slightly, little by little, until it finally gave way. The pressure from them caused it to shove back into the soil, and that caused a collapsed in the ground. Emeryl tripped and nearly fell into the hole but Prism managed to grab him and hold on while the dirt spilled in.
      "We found it!" Emeryl cheered as he crawled out of the dirt.
      "Yes! Now we can go down and check it out!" Alan waved his hands in the air excitedly.
      "Good work!" Prism patted Emeryl on the back.
      "I'm going to get the equipment!" Alan dashed back, grabbing all of their newly placed items and shoving them back into containers and packs.
      Joining him, Prism took his book and Emeryl shoved all his belongings back into the pack. After a minute they made a small formation around the crudely smashed in tunnel.
      "This is it, this is our way in." Prism grinned widely.
      "This is exciting!" Emeryl yipped. They both looked in the middle at Alan for his comment. He smiled faintly, then dropped to the ground face first.
      "Alan!" Emeryl yelled, stooping next to him.
      "No! Alan, get back up!" Prism dropped everything and began shouting at him to stand up.
      "It's the poison! We're losing him!" Emeryl bit his lips, "He only has a few minutes! We have to do something!"
      "Hang in there Alan!" Prism screamed at him as if it did any good. Beside him Emeryl did what he could to comfort the body or heal it, but it wasn't any use.
      Hot tears started to flow down Prism's cheeks. After ten years of keeping Alan from coming back he finally did and then died before even finding his brother. All this time wasted...
      "It's not fair!" Prism shouted into the air. In a frenzy he flipped through his spellbook until he found something.
      "I need an item, I need a solid item!" Prism yelled, but Emeryl had no idea what he was talking about.
      Panicking, Prism pulled Alan's sword and set it in front of him.
      "Prism! He's going!" Emeryl felt his pulse fade.
      In an uncomfortable hurry Prism began the spell, chanting it and wetting the sword blade with his own tears. It took a few minutes, but it went off, casting a cloud of swirls into the air. The smog wrapped around Alan and drifted around the sword. After a minute it appeared the sword sucked it up like spaghetti strands and the spells vanished completely.
      "He's gone..." Emeryl drooped his head.
      "No, no he's not." Prism picked up the sword, "I locked his soul in here. He's still alive... kind of."
      "You..." Emeryl blinked, "You can do that?"
      "I've never done it before, but I'm pretty sure it worked. I wish there were a way we could ask. But it's better then nothing." Prism sighed heavily.
      "Now what?" Emeryl asked.
      "Now, he needs a grave. We'll sleep here and head back tomorrow." Prism answered, digging a few yards away.