Pitch black eyes are not what Iryla expects to see when she rouses Cirice, but they send a shiver down her spine nonetheless. Like she was looking at something she couldn’t quite fathom, something far larger than Cirice or this city or this world.

The moment passes.

Iryla lets out a breath and swallows. She does not point out what just happened as Cirice sleepily greets her. Instead, she keeps it to herself. When Cirice tells her what information she gathered from her dream at first Iryla’s only response is to nod.

“We need to be quick and quiet.”

She is silent as they make their way out of the inn and through the city after that, trying to focus on the task at hand and not the lingering sense of foreboding hanging over her shoulders. Though it is difficult to keep her head on straight. So difficult, she almost misses the faint sound of footsteps echoing down the street behind them, oddly keeping time with her pace and Cirice’s.

Great. This must be more serious than she assumed, if they had someone watching the inn even at night for their departure.

"Iryla… I think I saw someone behind us..."

The Half-Elf feels Cirice take her hand, and she gives a short squeeze in response. “I know,” She replies, voice low. “Just keep your eyes forward and pretend you haven’t noticed them. I’ll take care of it when we’re further from the city.” It would be better to take down their tail when there was only one of them, and the dagger strapped to Iryla’s hip feels just the slightest bit heavier.

But she never gets the chance. As they pass the exit of the city, the footsteps behind them stop and then change direction, veering off instead of following them into the night.

“Shit.” She curses softly under her breath and picks up her pace. “We need to hurry, now.”

"Hurry? Okay." She ups her pace to match Iryla's, her heartbeat quickening as they start rushing forward. "Sh-should I get ready for a fight?" She's a little jittery about the prospect. "You're not going to swallow anyone whole, are you?" She jokes, trying to keep herself together. 

The ever-present Bamboo Forest looms ahead of them, the thick stalks offering a degree of protection and shelter from detection. They're on the path, nearing the darkness of the forest when Cirice sees movement in the shadows. "Iryla, they're in the forest, what should we do? What do they want from us?" She puts her hand to her mouth and pulls off her glove, stuffing it into the top of her corset as the runes down her arm begin to glow with violet light¹. 

They break into the forest at a run, both of them expecting to be beset immediately by attackers but they aren't. It's quiet, eerily so. The darkness of the forest is almost oppressive, even with dark vision². Tension builds as they keep going, but after a while they slow down a little, getting a bit tired. Cirice is huffing a little, out of breath.

"I-I think we lost them?" Its probably just wishful thinking but she hadn't seen anyone in the trees for a bit, but the run had felt like an eternity. "H-how much farther to the ruins?"

---

1Death Swipe
2 Night Sight

“I don’t know if we’ll have a fight on our hands yet, but you should be ready for anything.” She advises, before the other half of what Cirice said catches up with Iryla nearly making her trip over her own feet. “Sw-Swallow someone?”

She doesn’t linger on the confusion that statement brings, she can worry about it later. Right now she needs to worry about their pursuers, and how to escape them. Next to her she sees a strange violet light coming from Cirice and she curses softly under her breath.

Thinking quickly, Iryla unclasps the cloak from around her shoulders and drapes it over Cirice to hide that light away, for now. The less visible they are the better, though Iryla has a sinking feeling that whoever is following them likely knows exactly where they are, and more importantly exactly where they are going.

She can tell that Cirice is starting to lag from their sprint, and Iryla too feels the strain on her lungs and legs and the burn of exertion. She holds a finger to her lips when Cirice comments that they’ve likely lost them and shakes her head silently. She doubted it would be so easy. Any tracker worth their salt would have an easy time following their trail with the run they just made.

“Not far.” She whispers. “Keep your eyes and ears open. I don’t think we’re alone.”

Iryla keeps her eyes forward as she continues to move, not sprinting like before but certainly walking quickly. She doesn’t relax even as they break through the bamboo and into the clearing of ruined walls she had passed before.

“There may be some kind of entrance around here to a hidden room, if your dream was correct. We need to be quick.”

Cirice clutches at Iryla's cloak with a stunned expression, blinking at her. She blushes at the gesture, the tips of her ears turning pink. Iryla must care for her a lot to cover her with her own cloak. But she doesn't have time to decipher the meaning of this, they're in danger. 

They've slowed down considerably, allowing her to calm down and catch her breath. Cirice is trying as hard as she can to be vigilant and ready for anything, so when they break out of the trees and the ruins stretch out old and decrepit in front of them she doesn't even gasp, not even a little bit. There are pillars laying on their side, once tall and beautiful marble columns now covered over with vines, dingy grey flagstones lay crumbled and cracked and half jutting out of the ground in places where the earth settled strangely around them and crumbling statues with faces that have eroded in time. This was once was likely a temple to Lunala, but for some reason it was abandoned a long, long time ago. There aren't many walls intact but there is a small, relatively viable corner of building that appears to have once had a roof over it that has long fallen away. 

"That looks like the most possible place for them to have an entrance. I don't see anyone around. Maybe if we're quiet we can get in without being seen." She whispers softly, pointing to the corner she noticed. "Do you see anyone?" 

She doesn't see anyone lurking around, maybe they were being overly cautious...

Iryla’s heart begins to race with anticipation as they approach and search the ruins. It was only a matter of time before they were confronted and she could feel it. Even so, she kept her wits about her. Searching in the darkness was no trouble for her eyes which peer into the night as easily as day¹. But she has no luck in her search for an entrance, or alcove, or anything until Cirice calls her over what once must have been a covered part of the temple yet had now rotted away.

“It’s our best shot.” She murmurs, looking at the crumbling walls before she starts to search.

This ruin had probably been picked over time and time again for years now, ever since it was first abandoned. So she looks to the ground instead. It feels almost futile at first, and when she is about to call out to Cirice and tell her they should leave before they’re caught here, she finally finds it. Covered in dirt and weeds she sees the outline of what might be a stone trap door. Her suspicions are confirmed when she pushes on the ground and it slides open with the rough sound of stone on rock.

“Cirice!” She does not shout, though her whisper is loud in the night air. “I found it, come on, we need to hurry.”

Iryla doesn’t wait for Cirice before she begins to descend into the darkness, feet carefully moving over ancient stone steps. Her descent is quiet and steady, though not entirely silent. She wasn’t quite as skilled yet as Zarius or Cyran or even Snow in that regard.

When she reaches the bottom she finds herself in a dusty corridor. Covering her mouth with her sleeve, she peers into the darkness before her.

Something about this felt too easy, but they had no other way aside from forward now.

---

^{1. Dark Vision}

Iryla doesn't waste any time descending into the darkness, right behind her Cirice feels a chill go up her spine. Something about this place feels... Wrong? But... familiar perhaps. Cirice ignores that uncomfortable thought and files that away somewhere deep within her mind, the little place that is for things that are not to see the light of day again. 

Her steps aren't soft and quiet like Iryla's and she flinches and nearly falls on the stairs as her boot slides against the stone with a scraping sound. The corridor below is dusty and she has to swallow a cough and hide her nose behind Iryla's cape. The uneasy feeling gets more oppressive with each step but they keep creeping forward. The markings on her hand and face glow with the violet light, casting their shadows slightly ahead of them and in the slight glow they see something shiny laying on the floor. A thin wire lays against the stone catching the light and looking oddly new and out of place in the dusty corridor. Someone has been here before them.

"Iryla I have a bad feeling about this..." She clutches Iryla's elbow tightly. The ledger must be further in though, and they can't have come this far and leave empty handed. They creep further in and hear distant voices chanting in unison. They aren't alone. 

The sound of chanting gives Iryla pause, as does the silver remnants of a trap in their wake. They were.. definitely not alone here. But Iryla had a feeling that they had never been alone to begin with.

Her mind whirls as she tries to think of what to do in this situation. Cirice wasn’t as quiet as Iryla could be, and the glowing was still a problem even with Iryla’s cloak covering her form. That meant sneaking into where they were going as a pair would be more difficult.

But Iryla could take the risk of going in alone.

She stopped walking and held up a hand to keep Cirice from moving any further.

“I need you to wait here and watch for anyone coming down this corridor.” Iryla looked over her shoulder and leveled Cirice with a heavy, serious look. “If you see anyone but me, you need to run. I’m going to see if I can find the ledger you were talking about, if I find it, I’ll come straight back here and we can make a run for it together. But if you don’t see me return, don’t stay here.”

This would maybe be a stupid move, but Cirice had magic, something that Iryla was sorely lacking, and stood a better chance of escaping on her own than Iryla did and going to get help if they needed it.

She didn’t give Cirice a chance to disagree after that, she simply turned her face forward again and began to creep forward as silently but quickly as she could. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she crept through the corridor but she kept herself steady, even her breath was near silent. Though that was partially because she didn’t feel like she was able to breathe.

Then- There!

A room off of the corridor, the inside of the room was almost too dark to see through, but Iryla could see what looked like the remains of bookshelves and pillars crashed onto the floor. And in the middle of the room, highlighted by a stream of moonlight from a hole in the ceiling she could see a stray book, clearly worn and weathered looking even from a distance.

A little on the nose, and maybe too good to be true. But Iryla wouldn’t look a gift horse in the mouth.

She scurried forward to grab the book and tuck it away in her bag before turning right around to return to Cirice’s side with a small but relieved smile on her face.

But when she gets back into the main corridor, she doesn’t see the figure approaching her from further down in the darkness.

"You did it!" Cirice whispers excitedly as Iryla returns with the ledger in her arm. She smiles and then gasps, raising her hand above Iryla's ear, the runes on her hand glowing brightly as she looses a bolt of pure violet energy at the figure coming their way¹. It strikes the figure in the arm, a dagger clattering from his hand into the ground as he yelps in pain, dozens of cuts opening up across his shoulder and forearm.

"INTRU-" The man starts to shout before she shoots him again, this time in the face, effectively cutting off his words. 

"Run!" Cirice half-whispers to Iryla, "You go ahead, I'll cover you!" She pushes Iryla past her, walking backwards as best she can, prepared for more people to come after them. The runes all over her arms and face flash and the shadows below her morph and twist and a small creature of shadows and moonlight that looks like some strange amalgamation of rabbit-deer-bird forms². 

"Protect us Ur! Keep them from following!" Cirice shouts at the little creature and it runs towards the man, latching onto his ankle with tiny, razor-sharp fangs making him scream. She turns and runs after Iryla, not as fast as her friend but carried by the adrenaline of the moment. They book it out of the ruins and burst into the forest, tearing through the path as fast as their legs will carry them. It doesn't seem like they're being followed too closely, Ur may be small but he can hold his own for a little while. As they're just about to the city a shadow moves in the forest beside them. Cirice jumps, shadowy claws ready to swipe³ as a panda bear lumbers out of the forest beside them, munching on bamboo and gives them a blank stare.

---

1 Inflict Wounds
2 Summon: Minor Minion
3 Death Swipe

Cirice’s quick movements catch Iryla off guard and she nearly stumbles into the other girl. She doesn’t get a chance to really look over her shoulder over to see what exactly Cirice does to their pursuer but the sound of their cut off shout gives her enough of an idea.

She then hears Cirice shout to someone named ‘Ur’, but she does not even try to look back to see what’s going on. She just runs as fast as her legs will take her, up and up, out of the darkness and back into the cold night air of the surface world.

‘Thank the heavens.’ She thinks privately to herself.

Pausing only for a moment, waiting for Cirice to catch up to her before she continues to run with the other girl by her side this time.

They.. They made it out? They both made it out. Somehow. But she did not feel as if they were safe yet.

Cirice nearly attacking some of the local wildlife nearly gives Iryla a heart attack, but she’s so relieved it’s nothing serious, not a cultist coming out of the shadows to attack them again.

“Cirice! Come on.” She tries to urge the other girl forward again as she brings them around away from the main entrance to the city.

It isn’t glamorous, but a storm drain on the side of the city wall is just large enough for them to sneak through without being seen and into the city streets. She wasn’t sure if she would need an alternate escape route too and from the city when she had first arrived, but she was glad that she had sought one out before finding Cirice when she arrived now.

Iryla doesn’t dare lead them back to the inn they had just been staying at, a pity, as the room had already been paid for. But who knows what eyes were waiting for their return now.

Instead, she goes to the slummier part of town, looking for an inn that would still be open for travelers late at night and would not question their state of dishevelment.

She does release the breath caught in her lungs until both of them are tucked away in a room, safe for the moment.

"W-We.. We made it.."

"WE MADE IT!" Cirice throws her arms around Iryla in relief and excitement, squeezing her tight. "You were amazing!"

Her eyes are shining with admiration. "I can't believe we got in and out with only one person seeing us! You were so sneaky and cool!" She squeals. "We got the ledger, we had a great adventure!"

She pulls back and takes off Iryla's cloak and sets it aside, the weight and anxiety falling away from her from their flight. As the adrenaline fades and they can relax, fatigue washes over her. "Oh wow, I'm tired now. OH We can have our slumber party now!"

The ledger intrigues her but she's a bit tired to worry about that now. Its theirs, they're safe and they can read it at their own leisure. Though... there is a slight draw pulling her towards the book in Iryla's hands, the chill having raced up her spine as the book was pressed between them when she hugged her. Whatever is inside will lead them to even more adventure and even more fame and glory, but that can wait until tomorrow. For tonight...

Cirice flops on the bed and looks at Iryla with rapt attention, "So tell me more about you!"

Iryla squeaks when she is squeezed tightly in Cirice’s arms. That was not what she expected to happen as soon as she had a moment to breathe.

She wheezes a little when Cirice lets her go and she tries to regain her bearings, but her heart was still racing from the journey back here to safety and it was difficult to relax. She likely would not sleep for quite awhile after this, but she was used to running on little sleep at the very least. Constant vigilance was not an unfamiliar state to her either.

But Cirice seemed more than happy to quickly move on from that harrowing experience, already chatting away happily in a manner Iryla could just barely keep up with in her current state.

“I… We… Well.. We certainly tried to sneak.” Getting caught at the end was not exactly in Iryla’s plan, and it would likely spell trouble for them later down the road, but for now they were both safe and she could accept that as a small win.

“...You.. Want me to tell you more about myself? Should we not read the book we risked our life for first?” Not that Iryla could read it. She would have to rely on Cirice for that part, but it seemed like Cirice wanted to wait.


Iryla sits down on the edge of one of the beds in the room and tries to breathe evenly, willing the adrenaline in her to fade away into a calmer state before she looks down at the ledger in her lap.

There were words on the front of it, but of course they were symbols she had no hope of reading. Hopefully, if she was lucky, she could get Cirice to read this outloud without revealing her illiteracy.

"Okay, you're right, I was just getting ahead of myself. Let me read it!" Cirice smiles and scoops the book out of Iryla's lap, opening it with a happy grin. "But I'm not letting you off the hook for telling me more about you!" She teases and starts to read aloud from the ledger.