Arcane Warfare: From the Ashes of a Disposable Soldier

 The quiet stillness of the early morning shattered!

 A faint hum reached Cedar's ears, the kind that sent a chill straight down his spine. His instincts kicked in immediately.

 He shot upright from his sleeping position, staff already in hand. The sound was unmistakable.

 Enemy soldiers on their mana-powered surfboards—and they were closing in fast.

 Cedar turned to his ally, Ivan, and shook him awake. "Get up! We've got company!" he hissed.

 Ivan's eyes snapped open, and he grabbed his gear without hesitation.

 There was no time for explanations or questions.

 The two of them moved in perfect sync, their speed and silence honed from years of survival training.

 They hadn't planned to stay in the cave for long. Last night, they'd stumbled upon it while following the river, hoping it might lead them to a hidden underground path as a way to slip past enemy patrols undetected.

 But now, it seemed their pursuers had caught up.

 While Ivan cast a camouflage spell to hide them, Cedar activated his search radar. He closed his eyes, sending out pulses of mana to scan the area. The results came back quickly, and his stomach dropped.

 Ten enemies. All of them closing in, riding those damn surfboards.

"Damn it," Cedar muttered under his breath. His grip tightened around his staff as he turned to Ivan. "They're right on top of us. Ten, maybe more. How the hell did they track us?"

 Ivan's face paled as he glanced at the radar, but he didn't waste time speculating.

 It didn't matter how they'd been tracked. What mattered was survival. The sound of the surfboards was growing louder, an ominous drone that echoed through the rocky walls.

"We can't fight them head-on," Ivan said, his voice tight. "Not ten of them. We have to move. Now!"

 Cedar nodded, his gaze darting toward the deeper part of the cave. Last night, they had hoped the cave might connect to an underground river, something that could give them an escape route.

 They hadn't explored far, but now they had no other choice.

"Deeper into the cave," Cedar said. He was already moving toward the shadows. "If this place leads to water, we might have a chance. Keep the camouflage up as long as you can."

 Ivan followed without hesitation, the faint shimmer of his spell flickering around them.

 The camouflage bent light, making them nearly invisible to the naked eye and enemy radars alike. But Cedar knew it wouldn't last.

 Ivan's mana reserves, though partially restored from last night's rest, weren't capable of holding out for too long.

 The two moved quickly but carefully, their footsteps muffled against the uneven stone floor.

 As they ventured deeper, the cave grew colder, and the walls narrowed around them. The sound of the surfboards faded slightly, but the tension remained thick in the air.

 Cedar's radar pulsed quietly, showing the enemies were still outside, but he knew they wouldn't take long to realize where the two had gone.

"They must've tracked us somehow," Ivan whispered, his voice barely audible. "Maybe they picked up the mana trail from the fight yesterday."

"Doesn't matter," Cedar replied, his tone clipped. "We just need to lose them. Keep moving."

 The cave twisted and turned, its passages becoming more labyrinthine with each step. 

 The natural light from the entrance faded, replaced by the faint glow of Ivan's spell and Cedar's radar.

 Then, they heard it.

 It was a faint but unmistakable sound.

 Water!

 Somewhere ahead, the sound of a rushing current echoed faintly through the tunnels.

 Relief surged through Cedar. If they could find the river, they might be able to escape. The surfboards wouldn't follow them underwater.

 But before they could reach it, the narrow passage opened up into a massive chamber.

 The ceiling arched high above them, disappearing into the shadows.

 The room was vast, its boundaries obscured by thick darkness. The only light came from a pool of crystal-clear water, faintly glowing with soft blue light, casting an eerie glow that barely reached the edges of the room.

 The walls of the chamber were jagged, and several narrow paths led off into the darkness, each one veiled in impenetrable blackness.

 They couldn't see beyond the first few steps into the other tunnels, but Cedar felt something pressing against his senses, a weight in the air that didn't belong.

 Ivan froze, staring at the scene. "What is this place?" he muttered.

 Cedar didn't answer. His radar pulsed again, and his heart sank. The enemy soldiers were closing in. Their positions were shifting, moving toward the cave entrance.

"They're coming," Cedar said, his voice low but firm.

 Before either of them could act, the air in the chamber shifted.

 It was subtle at first, just a faint pressure, like the weight of an invisible presence. But then it hit like a tidal wave.

 Both Cedar and Ivan froze in place.

 Their bodies locked up completely, as though invisible chains had seized their limbs. Cedar's heart pounded as he tried to move, to even twitch a finger, but nothing happened.

 His body refused to obey him.

 This is not just simple magic, this is fear!

 An overwhelming pressure filled the room, ancient and suffocating. It pressed down on them like a weight they couldn't escape, stealing their breath and silencing their thoughts.

 And then, Cedar felt it.

 His magic. Gone!

 Not just drained, but completely erased.

 The faint glow of Ivan's camouflage spell flickered out instantly, leaving them exposed. Even Cedar's staff, which always carried a faint hum of residual mana, felt cold and lifeless in his hand.

"C-Cedar," Ivan whispered, his voice trembling. "What's happening?"

 Cedar didn't answer.

 He could feel it!

 Every fiber of Cedar's being screamed to run, but his body refused to obey.

 Something from one of the darkened paths, watching them. The pressure came from there, emanating from the shadows, but he could not make clear what it was.

 It didn't need to reveal itself to make them feel its presence.

 It wasn't just a presence.

 It was aware of them, and the sheer intensity of its gaze made their skin crawl.

And it was watching them.

Both of them were frozen, and they felt like they were completely exposed to the unknown entity.

 Cedar couldn't see it, but he could feel it, an unimaginable force that made his heart feel like it was about to explode from fear.

 Before anyone could react, a sudden, dizzying shift in the air made him feel like the ground had dropped out from beneath him.

 His vision warped, and in an instant, the ten enemy riders were standing right next to him, frozen in place just like he was.

Their surfboards hovered a few feet off the ground, but none of them moved.

 They're just as trapped as him, their eyes wide with fear, each of them clearly struggling in vain to break free of the force that was holding all of them captive.

 The silence was deafening.

 No one dared to breathe, the oppressive aura of the cave suffocating everything in its grasp.

 And then… a voice.

 The voice, though soft, rang out clearly in the chamber, cutting through the stillness like a knife.

"What year is it now?"

What kind of question is that? Cedar thought to himself, grappling with the potential implications of his worries, but was immediately engulfed by a wave of terror at the uncertain possibilities that loomed ahead.

 His thoughts raced, but a deep, instinctual fear rooted him to the spot. The question lingered, and Cedar couldn't shake the feeling that the very nature of the entity that spoke was beyond anything he could comprehend.

 He thought of answering, but his throat was tight, choked by the overwhelming presence.

 The voice wasn't just asking.

 It was demanding.

 The power behind it made it clear that any attempt to defy or ignore it would be futile.