Polaris' hooves drummed faster across the thick layer of leaf mold underfoot. It was rare that the caverns were spacious and clear enough of plants to properly run, and he was taking full advantage of it.

He never surfaced anymore; it just wasn't worth it. That said, he occasionally missed open spaced that weren't likely to be plagued with tra-

A scream was ripped from Polaris' lungs as the ground disappeared from beneath him. What was just seconds ago a firm, damp soil underfoot was now gone; he tumbled, tail over ears, into a deep hole, his momentum sending him crashing into the far wall and sliding down it.

A splintering sound met his ears, but he couldn't yet make sense of anything. His head span nauseatingly and his vision swum. Where was he?

He shut his eyes tight, brow pinched, as he tried to shake the dizziness from his head. He took stock of his limbs, moving them gingerly; nothing seemed broken, and nothing seemed- ouch.

His eyes flew open to reveal a veritable forest of wooden stakes, and he gasped, realising how close he'd been to just straight up dying. He'd lucked out; instead of falling directly on top of them as he would have if he'd been travelling slower, his speed had taken him right over the top of the spikes and into the far wall, where he'd slid down into the bottom of the pit.

His legs, while uncomfortably entangled in splintered wood, were thankfully un-impaled. His body, equally vampiric-wooden-stake-free, ached from the impact and from where he'd scraped the wall on the way down, but he'd escaped grievous injury.

Now came the problem of how to get out. He closed his eyes once more. That plan could come after he'd thanked his gods one more time.