Snow Maiden
It was quick into their defense that Riyxia noticed the enemy had stopped coming, the camp settling into a still perimeter quickly after Sryine ran ahead. Making use of their equipment, she was able to identify that Sryine and Vwyx had begun conflict with Ieqyisa and Fhyernx, but all of the multitude of beasts were keeping their distance as well.
The most obvious answer was so that they would not take any collateral damage in the fight, but the fact that such waiting power sources were getting no usage at all remained slightly unnerving. Even so, this was still an opportunity. With their enemy so devotedly occupied, there was no one left to interfere, she would have free access to the vent.. just as was originally planned. The only change was that she would have to go alone, Sryine and Vwyx were already occupied, and there wasn’t anyone else who would have a chance facing such a threat as the vent. The hunters.. everyone else here.. they would have to remain and keep alert, in the off chance things suddenly turned grim before she could return. Resolved as such, Riyxia started looking for a good exit towards her goal.
“So we’re all set to go?” “We? Don’t you have to stay here?” “Well, I guess we did make you the boss, that would be your call. But I did also offer my help earlier, saying that I would be glad to help you in your own moment of weakness. Really, I’ve been there before, I know you wouldn’t want to ask for help either, it’s why I have to offer. Don’t even try turning this into something about this being dangerous, I know this is dangerous, that’s why I can’t let you do this alone. You might be normally an unstoppable force of nature, but right now you’re no more powerful than I am, and it’s my fault you’re left in that situation. If you didn’t have to save my life, you wouldn’t have to go through this particular risk. Please, let me do this for you, let me help you in return, I owe you my life already as is.” “Fine, whatever, we don’t have time to argue. Let’s just get out of here.” After having let a few others know about their plans, Ayzherie led the way for Riyxia, having already expected that being aware of the most direct escape route would have been an important step in the process. She had been watching the map Eqriuxzl was producing intently, making sure she knew the best way out. The simple winds of the path in this direction, it was also obvious that Vwyx had set up the path on this side with the intent on providing Riyxia with an opportune exit. The exit even arrived at a beachside segment, providing them with access to the water as additional cover.
Along the path, Riyxia noticed that Ayzherie was filling up a series of flasks with saltwater, something she had been denied access to earlier due to the mirror maze. The whole thing didn’t slow them down at all, but just seemed slightly out of place in the process. Riyxia just expected that Ayzherie was dealing with her own personal needs in the process, and if that didn’t slow her down at all, there wouldn’t be any problems. Mostly, this wasn’t the best opportunity for sparking a conversation, they had to be cautious in case of any potential ambush. This proceeded until the beach gave way to obsidian stone, black rocks surrounding the mound that marked the site of the vent. At this point, there was no other direction but up, the coastline becoming even more dangerous further along. Even their first steps on the black rock caused their boots to hiss, the heat having already increased as the water on their boots reacted to the stone. Somehow though, there was something subtly refreshing about the air, an impression that only increased the closer they got. Eventually, their path led them into the mountain itself, into a passage where even the very walls appeared to glow faintly without color.
Even with just a couple of steps into the tunnel, their Comsets started to go crazy, leaving them without alternative but to shut the gear down and to put it away. It wasn’t even just the component for tracking the astral flame, the entire instrument had just been unable to take the climate it was being exposed to without malfunctioning. This made Riyxia slightly alarmed, knowing that she had a lot in common with most instruments, and if her body started to have similar problems.. she would be in serious trouble. Ayzherie however looked to be having breathing problems herself, so Riyxia decided to head back out for a moment and to get a bit of rest before they pressed into such danger. Back into fresh air, Ayzherie recovered quickly but nodded as she pulled out one of the vials she carried.
“I knew this would be a smart idea. Give me a moment though, getting these things filtered properly takes some serious stamina.” Ayzherie started to apply her gift to the vial she was carrying, leaving still no visible clue what she was doing. Noticing her audience was visibly confused, Ayzherie filled in the blanks of her plan as she worked. “Sorry, I’m just filtering the vial into two different parts, so that I can separate the crystal from the liquid. Both are components I sorta make use of with my own gift, but I wasn’t sure how useful any of either would be if we collected such from inside. My gift focuses upon water crystallization.. or in other words, ice. The hunters had taken to calling me the Snow Maiden.. something about being cold hearted and everything.. though they stopped in respect of my circumstances after I lost access to my gift. It might have picked up after I had recovered, but after being stabbed in the heart with someone else’s ice.. it seems no one has wanted to bring it up anymore. Really, in trying to use my own ice to slow things down, I only made the wound even more serious.” Ayzherie sighed, reflecting upon her own regrets.
“Anyway, this is why I wanted to come with you too, to actually save my saviour with the ice that had failed myself. Don’t worry, I’ve been practicing a lot over the past while, and technically I’ve already been helping you with my gift, why do you think our exit wasn’t slippery at all. All of that kinda vaporized on the stone instantly though, but I didn’t put that much into it. A condensed sample of this volume could endure a lot more. Then again, we’re about to face a lot more, so I have no idea how this is going to go. At the very least, better than having nothing, right? Now, using the flasks doesn’t need much from me, but filtering this stuff is terribly exhausting. I have no idea how much we need, but every flask I filter is going to leave me needing a break afterwards. Sorry, I actually finished this one already.. I just needed the extra time to relax and recover my stamina. I still need a moment, but it’s up to you if you want to wait out here while I work on filtering a few more, or if you prefer to work in the heat of the action.” Ayzherie went silent at that, finishing her own recovery as she had actually started sounding very worn out.
“I’m still not convinced we’re even safe here, there is danger no matter where we work right now, and right now Sryine and Vwyx are pushing hard to give us as much time as they can. We can’t afford to waste time, we’ll have to move. Just let me know when one of your flasks are running low, so that we can find a good opportunity to prepare another.” Riyxia had made her decision, she didn’t even feel the need to explore the details. A gift of ice for the heat, that could actually be nice in so many different ways, but in all circumstances they still needed to get inside quickly. Ayzherie recovered promptly and led the way back inside, her hand forming mist over the flask she still carried in it. The air itself appeared to sparkle around them soon afterwards, the general feeling of heat diminishing at the same time. A frost aura, not bad at all. However, even the floating sparkles in the air hissed as steam once they contacted the obsidian of the walls. Riyxia wasn’t even certain if Sryine’s augmented frost would have been enough to drive the heat back, clearly they were approaching a flame far greater than the traces of her own.
After walking a while, the flask started to run dry, so they stopped for a break as Ayzherie prepared a replacement, enduring what was left of the original flask while they prepared to use another. During the period of wait, Riyxia heard a sudden sound from somewhere nearby, muffled panting and faint mumbling, then a soft impact. Riyxia rushed ahead to investigate and found a person in a mask collapsed on the ground, their hands marred with burns and their body overheating dangerously. Riyxia provided some rushed healing and tried to bring the fallen person the last few Uyns towards the frost aura. The individual on the ground stirred quickly after, not having completely lost consciousness.
“Hells, your’s was not a face I had expected to find around here, Successor. You put me at a bit of a disadvantage too, as it seems my power armor just doesn’t work in this environment. Not much actually works in these tunnels, really, not even people. You’re still far too easy on others, already healing my wounds before even knowing who I might be, then sharing your frost with me like this.” “Liyuzhe!” “Oh, now you put up a bit of a guard. Far too trusting, really.” “I know you can’t be trusted at all, especially your singing. I’m warning you, no singing.” “Now, that’s much better, a much more rational reaction. I mean, I’ve heard you’ve picked up some singing for yourself, got a whole lot of people caught in your melody too, really taking from my spotlight there you know. Then again, once the melody ended, chaos broke loose, and everything went wrong. That’s what happens when you just trust everything to just work out, when you trust everyone to just be rational. That’s not how things work, everyone has their own reasons too, that’s why no one has the same rational.” Liyuzhe climbed to her own feet, keeping her distance from the other two, but taking a moment to take in the slight cool being provided. After a moment more, she pulled two things from her pack and threw them to Riyxia.
“The cold helps, but there are still particles in the air that are dangerous, you’re going to need to filter the air so that it doesn’t kill you from the inside. Not that these masks do that much, they aren’t even proper instruments.. wouldn’t work at all if they were. Still, even a little air filtration is better than nothing. Okay then… So I’m guessing you won’t care to go into details why you’re even here, and I hope you can see why I’m not going to be willing to do the same either. I would normally press you to get out of stuff that doesn’t involve you, but there is no way someone would come into a place like this without a good reason of their own. I’ve actually been here a while, already gotten used to the network of tunnels, but my stay has been rather taxing as a result. You might want to secure your goals with haste, and get out of this place.. before it claims you just as the flame took Khyzae. If you’re willing to share your cold and help me find the last step of my search, I’ll make sure to help you get to where you need to go too. Fair trade?” Liyuzhe held out a hand, searching for a truce during circumstances that would not provide the best situation for conflict. Riyxia considered the same context, she really didn’t like Liyuzhe was around here either, that would spell out any number of problems she would certainly dislike later. However, if she didn’t agree, she would either have to struggle in this environment to deal with Liyuzhe, get her brought out, slowing her own search in the process, and only result in Liyuzhe returning later to complete what she wanted. If she just simply left terms neutrally, Liyuzhe would go off on her own, still probably complete what she was doing, and still take her expertise away to the detriment of the speed Riyxia was hoping for. Any other solution changes nothing except for slowing everyone down, which itself endangers her friends. However, in accepting her offer, there was also the concern that her offer was simply a trap, to slow them further with even more dangerous delays.
“That would involve trusting you, I’m not even sure about that one.” “Ah, fair enough, no promises is probably better. Keep the mask, or don’t, your choice. I’ll just stick around, make use of this cool spot I found, maybe mumble a few times every so often. If you mumble stuff too, that’s cool. I’ve done most of my stuff here as is, so it won’t be much of a problem for me. If I just found a deep chasm that looked like it would go down far deeper than I could ever hope to survive myself, I would be done. Ah, yeah, that does sound suspicious, doesn’t it? Yeah, I’m looking for that, it might be best if we kept a fair distance from each other around such a thing.. for each other’s safety, of course. I could think of a number of other such situations where we would want to be careful, but the fact that I’m still standing is proof enough to me that you’re not just going to waste effort saving something like that later. I suspect you might.. probably rationally think that I could very well want to delay you or something, any number of ways to make things harder for you. Just be aware, I know you are her Successor, and I’ve witnessed that you know what that means in turn. For Khyzae’s sake, you have to at least survive.” Riyxia was surprised to hear Liyuzhe’s voice break midway through that statement, a feeling that Liyuzhe just couldn’t suppress nor properly express.
“We’re looking for.. something. I’m not actually absolutely certain what I’m looking for, but I’ll probably recognize it when I find it. There are certain qualities that help with figuring it out, but I’m not sure such things are wise to discuss.” “Probably not. If it’s something specific, it’s probably at least something that stands out, else you would have found it ages ago. Anyway, my path goes in deeper, deeper might be where you find odd things, but it’s up to you if you want to follow along.” Riyxia cautiously followed behind Liyuzhe, still on alert for any traps. Ayzherie was keeping quiet, simply allowing Riyxia to make her own decisions, and followed along with the outcome. Noticing that the cool was following along, Liyuzhe slowed down a bit, giving herself a bit more of an opportunity to enjoy the slight change. From there, they continued their gradual descent, the heat only getting worse, the passage only getting harder. At one point, they were forced to climb down a wall, making direct contact with the stone with their hands. Riyxia properly healed everyone else’s hands after the incident, but obviously could not heal her own.
“Are you going to be okay? Those are some pretty serious burns, and we’re only going to end up with more on the way back.” “I’ll be fine, this is something I have to do, it’s not like I’m going to let a simple injury slow me down.” Liyuzhe froze for a moment, staring at Riyxia. In that moment, with those words, Liyuzhe could transpose the woman before her with a very similar one from her childhood, using almost the same words with her broken arm in a rough sling. This wasn’t Khyzae, this was only her successor. Liyuzhe was reciting the thought in her head, as if she was trying to convince someone with the idea. Pushing to clear her thoughts, she turned away and continued forwards. After waiting again for yet another flask to be prepared, Riyxia was getting alarmed to discover that they had actually depleted over half their total stock. This would inevitably mean that they would not have enough supplies to return, they would have to struggle a portion of the trip without access to such comforts. With that in regards, there was considerable hope that they might finally reach their destination soon.
After a couple more breaks, the three of them finally emerged into a massive wide opening, the room stretching far ahead of them in a major circle. The heat was also almost completely unbearable, even with a fresh flask in effect. Liyuzhe made her way forward towards the center of the room, stopping at the edge of a drop that descended into a faintly glowing darkness, an almost purple haze swirling down below. Liyuzhe pulled out a small object from her possession and threw it into the haze below, her last goal in this insufferable cavern completed. A feeling of relief passed over her as she looked around the room, a glint of light catching her attention on the other side. Liyuzhe went over to it, drawn by her own curiosity, and stopped before it in amazement. Before her on the slate black glowing obsidian was a dark purple hollowed quarter sphere, like a fragment of some supernatural bowl, the shape and how it was standing looking almost identical to a crescent moon. Liyuzhe reached out for the object, her hand stinging immensely in pain as she got anywhere close to it. Riyxia caught up eventually and took account of the same strange stone, seeing exactly what had lured Liyuzhe to it. It had to only be a coincidence.. it wasn’t even possible for Khyzae to have orchestrated this one.. was it?
Riyxia took her turn to reach for the object, even a close proximity to the object feeling incredibly refreshing for her. As she lifted it and added it to her possessions, she felt her spectre stir and move once again, her strength having fully returned to her.
Luminaeris 