Dark Ascension

We'd made it out of the grassy field and into another cave. Starswirl seemed more alert than before, remembering getting knocked out. That must have got to Clover too. "Starswirl, do you think it was one of those DA guys that knocked you unconscious?" she inquired. "Could be Clover... but we can't think about those 3 now. However if they assault us again, we will be ready for them," he replied.

We had barely talked since the fighting, we just ran... I felt like I should say something, just to lighten the mood. "So Starswirl... What do you intend to do when we get to this source of power?" I asked him. He didn't even glance when I said this.

"Clover, do you think Starswirl is feeling alright?" I had to ask what she thought on all this.

"I... I don't know Super, he's been really quiet all day. He's only talked about what happened earlier and barely anything else,"

"Okay... thanks for telling me what you think,"

I veered back to Starswirl's right so we could keep formation while running. We did this with Starswirl in the middle and Clover on the left so that we could try to divide threats between us. It seemed to work with the threat back there, but only because I ran ahead and nearly compromised us. I'm lucky that the 3 foes didn't gang up on me.

"Left Clear!" Clover Called Out. "Same on the Right!" I responded. "Middle Clear, Move to the exit!" Starswirl called out. Lucky. I thought he would be knocked out again or something. We exited the second cave to come onto a cliff. The moment I stepped outside I could feel stones cracking on the surface and falling into a chasm below us. "Whoa. That's a really long fall..." I thought to myself.

Starswirl's horn started glowing. Magic no doubt. "Don't worry. I can cast a spell to keep us from falling. I will cast a shield spell but only have 1 side shielded, meaning we will not fall," this was a good idea to keep us safe. I ran ahead to scout out, see if anyone would be around, luckily for us, there weren't any. Left was a stone wall. Right, an endless plummet, to the void.

"Alright guys lets-" Clover! The ground right underneath us split like an Axe cutting a tree right down. Starswirl lost focus and his shield faded. We fell.

Wh...what? Starswirl... saved us. He was able to project a shield down to prevent us from falling. But how would we get out? "I can raise the shield up, us along with it," it was a risky plan. If so much as a stone hit him, he would lose concentration. The motion of the Shield scraping the walls vibrated across the chasm, causing rocks to fall from above. Starswirl can't shield the top when he is moving a shield. Clover and I had to keep him protected. I blasted several stones to the right with a water bolt, Clover covering the left with ice. The rocks all blasted over Starswirl and dissolve on impact with the shield.

Nearly there, just a bit higher to go then we-

NO! Starswirl had been hit! The shield below us faded.