That night, after the hot spring, how Lania endured two hours of hellish training—and how a certain bear tormented her half to death—was best left unsaid.
Those who knew, knew!
After passing out, she slept for over three hours before waking with a start. She was just about to sneak away when Annie caught her again!
This time, Annie caught her red-handed before she even made it out of the cave.
Then Annie gave her no chance to explain, cry, beg for mercy, or say anything else. She simply took Lania with her and flew on.
Perhaps an hour or two later—Lania had no idea how long it had been—Annie set her down on a cliff at the edge of a vast underground cavern. For the first time, the sheer scale of the world below left her stunned.
Fresh from the passage with Annie, Lania took two steps forward. She reached out without thinking and braced herself against the cold, clammy rock wall beside her.
As she stared into the distance, her fingers tightened until they dug into the glowing moss on the stone.
She had not even realized she was holding her breath.
"!!"
Only when her chest began to ache did she snap out of it and slowly exhale. She drew deep breaths of the cool, damp air. Unlike the air elsewhere underground, especially in the passages they had traveled, it carried no stink of rot or muddy tang. Steadying herself, she looked into the distance again.
Before her stretched a "sky" and "earth" so vast they nearly robbed her of words. What lay before her no longer looked like an underground world at all.
It was an enormous space: a cavern plain hidden deep beneath the world, larger than anything she had ever imagined!
Yes, a