Right before his feet finally landed on the ground, Andrew controlled the air under his feet to give him a boost forward, approaching Tameka at lightning speed.

As Andrew was able to close up the distance between them, his right hand formed into a gun shape as he held it point-blank at Tameka's face right before a small surge of electricity flash a dark yellow colour right as it zapped from his fingertips.

Tameka, whose face was right next to the electric spark, knew that she wasn't fast enough to dodge Andrew's attack. But what she also knew was that the speed of light was much faster than the speed of lightning, which allowed her to clearly see Andrew's attack's movement after enhancing her eyesight so she could catch up with it.

Andrew was certain that he had caught Tameka in his trap and that he would finally defeat her in battle, but he couldn't be more wrong. Despite not being able to dodge the attack, she swiftly batted her head slightly to the side as she bent the airflow around her to redirect Andrew's spell.

"C'mon!" Andrew groaned, "How did that not work?"

"Don't be too harsh on yourself," Tameka comforted him, "You improved a lot. When you attack with fire magic and similar stuff like that, you need to emphasize its explosive power. Sure, when you use lightning, you also need to focus on speed, but that is exactly your problem. Lightning already has a high speed that nobody can dodge normally at a close range. The only reason I could divert your attack was that it didn't have any actual power, so I could easily use the air to redirect it."

"Alright," Andrew sighed wearily, "How's the portal coming, anyway?"

"Patience is a virtue, Andrew," Tameka replied, "Everything has its time."

Tameka had been training Andrew for a while now. She would rant for what seemed like endless hours before having Andrew practise in battle with her, and after she beat up Andrew for what felt like the millionth time, she would start working on a portal to try to get Andrew out of the caverns.

Andrew lay on the ground motionless, watching small patches of water falling from the stalactites on the cavern ceiling above him.

He hadn't seen his family for so long. While it was only about a month or two, he felt as if it was an eternity. If he hadn't had Tameka by his side for all that time, he would've probably gone insane.

He turned his head to the side, watching Tameka sitting still, gathering energy bit by bit just two create a portal for Andrew. He didn't know why Tameka hadn't gotten out of the caverns already if she was able to conjure up a portal, but he was more than grateful that she was still in the caverns with him.

"What would you like to do when we get out?" Andrew asked Tameka out of the blue.

Tameka snapped out of her concentration state, "Huh?"

"When we get out," Andrew repeated, "What are you gonna do?"

"I... don't know," Tameka replied before quickly turning away but not before Andrew could clearly spot a saddened look on her face.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm... I'm fine," Tameka said.

Andrew frowned. He knew that something was wrong with Tameka, but he didn't want to push her. He left her alone and started walking around the huge caverns. Despite having travelled through the caverns already, he was always impressed with nature's spectacle that was in front of him.

Even when Andrew and Tameka had technically travelled everywhere in the giant caverns, there were always new spots hiding behind a rock or under some lichen-covered trees that he had mistaken for a weirdly shaped rock covered in moss.

That night, when Andrew returned to their camp, he couldn't find Tameka anywhere. While he was worried, he wasn't exactly nervous about it since there wasn't anybody else in the caverns with them, and he was more than confident that Tameka could handle herself. Andrew wasn't the most powerful warrior ever, but he still had fighting skills that he somehow felt like he inherited from the dark grimoire, yet he still couldn't make a single scratch on Tameka.

He went into the tent made up of all kinds of leaves and clumsily crawled into his sleeping bag made up of cotton. The unprocessed cotton was rough and a bit uncomfortable, and it also wasn't the best insulator to keep him warm, but Andrew didn't have anything else to keep him any warmer, so he just made do.

He lay alone in the tent, pondering and processing hundreds of thoughts that were going through his head. He became more and more worried for Tameka. It wasn't the first time she left him to do something else, but she was never that late. Without her, the tent seemed so much less cosy, and Andrew started sweating. Somehow he felt like something was endangering him.

Then all of a sudden, he heard somebody yelling.

He didn't know who it was, but he was certain it wasn't Tameka. The voice was much deeper, seemingly belonging to a male.

Andrew moved quickly. He grabbed some food that he and Tameka had stored if they were too lazy to hunt as well as a dagger made out of sharpened stone.

He started climbing to the highest place he could. He wasn't sure who it was, but he had learnt many things during his time with Tameka, and two of them was to always be quick on his feet and to always get the high ground. He then hid in a small hole in the wall that he dug out so only he could hide in and patiently waited.

He suddenly heard a branch breaking.

I'm screwed, he thought. Andrew then focused mana onto his eyes and enhanced his eyesight to be able to see in the dark. He then saw an injured Tameka who was weakly making her way back to the tent. Concerned for her, Andrew dashed out of the wall, swiftly used air magic to slowly fall onto the ground and ran to her, trying to help her, only for Tameka to push him away.

"Run, Andrew!" she yelled, "They're coming for us!"

"What... What do you mean?" Andrew asked nervously.

"I know I never actually asked you this, but I think that they want something to do with the fact that you are able to use magic at such a young age," Tameka said as she grabbed Andrew and started running for their lives, "When I opened the portal, they must've sensed your existence."

Andrew heard an explosion.

Tameka cursed. "Listen now, Andrew," she said as she gave him a silver ring, "Take this, alright? Keep it with you always. It can keep you safe. Now, what I want you to do is to run through that portal as fast as you can. Don't even stop to look back or anything. Just run."

"Why can't you come with me?"

"I'll catch up with you later, okay?" Tameka said hurriedly, "Just go. Go! Now!" she yelled as Andrew saw three men dressed in black robes approaching them.

Tameka whispered something under her breath as a portal was conjured up behind her. Andrew started running towards it, with the three men leaping after him.

One of them threw an ice spike at him, which he barely ducked out of. Tameka then conjured up a stone wall, completely blocking the three men from Andrew but not before unleashing a magical blast through the air that violently pushed Andrew through the portal.

As his frail body flew through the air and into the portal and his eyes witnessed his only friend for so long getting trapped behind a stone wall, Andrew screamed in despair.

"NO!"