Let me out! You bastard... You don't have control over me! LET ME OUT! The man woke up sweating in the middle of the night, strung out by the voices that screamed within his head. It's just a dream... He told himself between troubled breaths, and shaking the sweat droplets from his forehead he got up. A walk would clear his mind.

The forest had become a mixture of the darkest shades of night and the purest whites of snow. Still pretty creepy. And the cold of winter made it feel a lot more like hone to the northerner, but he wasn't at peace. Too many things crossed the young warrior's head, starting with the fact that Meldresi was paunchy after just a couple weeks of... Fooling around with Bane. There was no doubt she was pregnant, her scent screamed puppies, and the thought of being a father wasn't a placid one for the pale beast. But why hadn't Meldresi talked about it with him? Were they even his?

The thoughts distracted the young Epsilon from where he was going, and when he came back to the real world he was standing in one of the many entrances of the caves. A creek ran through it, deep into the darkness of it, but besides the rushing sound of the water there was nothing else, silence reigned the night as it always did. Not a helpful thing when you don't want to think.

The voice of an approaching male made the pale bast's ears swivel in surprise. It was Kove, one of the new males. He remembered from the meeting, as well as from the hunt they had successfully carried out not so long ago. I wasn't... Bane barked coming back to reality, But I've got nothing better to do... Have you been in there before?

The caves were Bane's home, he had picked his own corner close to the rendezvous site as his den, and he had walked into the darkness of Mephala's web many times. He knew the way in and out as he knew himself, but exploring a bit further wouldn't do any harm.

It wasn't a surprise to the young Epsilon that the new member hadn't trailed into the caves. It was dark, too much for many, and not knowing your way could be deadly, all of Kove's fears were a reality down there. But to the restless northerner it was just another experience, one that would keep his mind busy.

Then, what are we waiting for? he said with a grin and eyes gleaming with evil. The depths of the caves were a maze, a dark web of tunnels that extended under the whole territory, with many openings scattered throughout the surface, and in the core of it, the deepest secrets of the lands were hidden.

Bane walked forward, just ahead of Kove, he would be the guide today, knowing that as a newbie, the pale beast would get lost for sure. The sound of Bane's paws splashing in the creek echoed through the vault that served as the entrance, which gradually grew smaller as they moved forward.

Bane took a glance back at the other male, his eyes wide open trying to take in the last little specks of light that came from the already-dark outside. Maybe it was natural to him, and to many others as well, but it only caused a chuckle to emerge from the pale northerner. It was just too funny.

You're using the wrong sense... Bane pointed out, his voice rebounding from the walls, Common mistake, you can't use your eyes in here. Your nose though... he suggested, a pint of arrogance in his voice. But it was true. The cave wasn't deserted, smelly bats left a trail to follow in and out of the system. Easy to track. Wanna try?

It wasn't strange to Bane that new guy hadn't thought of using his nose prior to his advise. Everyone is just so used to go by their sight that they tend to forget that the entire species doesn't just have an excellent visual capacity, their sense of smell is prodigious as well. Bat dung will do the trick... the northerner joked. But it was true. Although you might be intrigued about how a bat "goes" when they spend most of the time upside down, they do "go" sometimes, and it smells pretty bad.

The creek is very helpful too when you're deeper inside, bats tend to stay close to the surface. The water always finds its way out. the northerner stated, and stopped advancing to let Kove lead the way. He was sure the new guy would do just fine.

Having given the new member an easy trail to follow, the silver warrior stayed back, following Kove very closely. He still kept his own senses wary, making sure Kove was going in the right direction, but it wasn't because he feared getting lost, it was because he knew that for sure sooner rather than later they would come across a fall, given that the level they were at was much higher than the actual cave system usually was, and to continue moving forward they would have to jump. He didn't warn Kove yet, trying this way to test his abilities, besides.

A couple times... Bane woofed sarcastically. He had been in the caves more times that he could count, his den was in there, his prisoner was in there, and lately, his children were in there.

Bane's predictions became real, unsurprisingly as usual. The sound of rushing water slowly became that of falling water, and by how loud it was, Bane could tell that the fall was a long one. He followed Kove all the way to the fall, and stopped behind him as he did. This part, as the rest of the journey, would be a challenging decision to make, and Bane was eager to see how the new guy reacted to it.

You're the guide! What do you want to do here? Bane said as he placed himself right beside Kove, feeling the edge of the creek. Many times had Bane found himself in the exact same situation, and he knew it could be worrying at first. If you throw yourself down, then how do you come back up? Common mistake. You don't need to come back up, the river flows through the mountains and sooner or later it finds its way out of it. But Mephala's web had its own twist to it all, besides always finding a way out, you would never fail to get to the main chambers of the system, the chambers where glowworms and fluorescent mushrooms, some of them pisonous, broke the obscurity and transformed it into an amazing display of light that had amazed every one who managed to get in.

Are you afraid to jump? he teased, smiling sarcastically in the darkness.

Bane chuckled at Kove's words, for some reason and against all the statistics around the matter, Bane had actually found Kove's words funny. Unusual, but true. Unfortunately, for you, there's no way to know... Bane's sarcasm spoke again. He knew the fall would be survivable, he had noticed that the water's constant falling made the rock turn into a pool, and usually it was hard to touch the bottom. They would be okay.

Expectantly, Bane pricked his ears up to hear the splash that was sure to come, and making his own mental calculations he decided that the fall was probably the highest he had ever come across in the caverns.

Without waiting another second, Bane threw himself down the waterfall, trying to jump as far from the edge as possible, he didn't want to die from crushing into a rock or something. Suddenly he was fully submerged underwater, and paddling to the surface. For a moment he thought he hadn't caught enough air, but then he came out of the water and took a deep, relaxing breath.

Are you alright pal? the Gamma called, blind to where his buddy might have gone after the fall. For the time being, the silver wolf just doggy-paddled in the opposite direction of the sound of the waterfall, trying to get to a point where he could touch the floor.

Bane swam all the way to the ground, trying to get out of the cold water as fast as possible. Yeah, come over here, you've got to see this! he exclaimed after shaking the water from his pelt, and walking forward without even waiting for Kove, Bane doubled in a corner to the right to find himself inside one of the main chambers where the glowworms sparkled.

There was something about those bugs that left Bane open mouthed every time he saw them, they kind-of resembled the open night sky that was so rarely ever sighted inside the pack-lands. Hurry up man! Bane shouted, and waiting for his companion to arrive, Bane started licking his fur to get rid of the excess of water.

Bane too was amazed every time he saw the glowing bugs in the caves, he just was quite used to it by now, so Kove's reaction was naturally a bit amusing for the snow warrior. He couldn't help to chuckle silently avoiding being heard by the other wolf.

You don't even know... the silver wolf assured. His words suggested that in fact, Kove sure couldn't imagine the kind of things Bane had had the disgrace to experience within those tunnels, but that's a story for another day.

So... Bane said sharply, probably interrupting Kove's thoughts, Wanna find our way out, cap?