Aeterna - IC

[Katrix]

Regius

After a lot of flying Sidna finally made it to Regius. When she got there she got someone to check her wounds.
They were alright and would heal after some time, but she could't come into any fights in a few days.
Altough she wasn't very happy about it she accepted it. She had a lot do do after all.

She began gathering information on what had actually been happening he past days.
First she looked up the boy and his mine. The boy's name was Jason stone. The father, Thomas Stone, was killed by guards for resisting to hand over the mine.
Apparently the mine had been mining titanium. It was probably destroyed now tough because of the taboo flame.

The next thing she did was to hear what they had gotten out of the new prisoner. When she found out he escaped she was furious.
Why did this have to happen all the time now?

After waiting for some time HM's troops made it home. She heard what they had seen and added it to what she already knew.
Seki was uncounscous and wounded heavely. There had also been another person walking with them in addition to Phenom.
This was bad. Al the most wanted people in Aeterna grouping together. The only good news was that Otori was caught.

[S121]

The Fissure

Jason followed closely behind Kris, but it was a little hard to see. It was dark and cold, that's all that Jason could figure out.
Jason touched the stone walls and would try and find his position in the halls, but it was difficult.

After getting tired of being in the dark, Jason spoke.

"Hey Kris? There's nothing flammable in the air, is there?", Jason asked her as he thought about the various dangers of underground mines.

There were many dangers to mining underground. One such danger was methane. Just a single strike from a pickaxe against stone could cause a whole tunnel to ignite and explode in the presence of methane. Even breathing it would be bad. It could suffocate a person, given enough time.

[wonderweiss]

At last, as HM was waiting outside, the assassin carrying Otori came around.

"Sir, I have brought the boy."

"Very good job. Now then, place him in the questioning room. Afterwards, you are relieved of your duties."

"Wh-what?"

"Yes. I need to find replacements. But don't worry, if you're ever bored, we may need training teachers or demonstrators in the training squad. But otherwise, you may need this to relax."

HM handed him 1000 gold coins.

"Sir... thank you, very much."

"Now, now, hurry up and finish your duty. You have a girl waiting on you, remember?"

"Y-yes sir!"

The assassin took off. HM immediately headed inside after him.

"Oh, actually, I need you to do me one more favor after this.

"Yes sir?"

"I need you to find commander Sidna and tell her I need her here."

"Aye, sir."

Otori was placed in a chair, tied up. Now to wait...

[Kristia]

The Fissure

"There is no gas here, but that isn´t the danger you should be worried about, check this" Kris said taking a little match and lighted it on, as soon as the match was lit she threw it to a corner and many creatures ran to the source of light like if they were starving

"The creatures of these caves aren´t used to light so they attack anything that creates it, but if you let your eyes adjust and look at the ceiling you will see your light" she pointed up as some crystals were emitting natural light "Those crystals emit enough light for human vision and the creatures don´t bother to touch it, but the light goes away if a stronger one is close to it" she showed the example by throwing another match stick to the ceiling, the light of some crystals disappeared as the flame got close, and took their time to lit up again as the fire disappeared.

"The outpost is close, just don´t draw your weapons, these guys are passive, but if you threat one of them, you can say goodbye to your flesh, isn´t that right little one?"" Kris said as a small rodent got on her shoulder, the creature looked peaceful, but it had sharp teeth and fangs. The huntress took a piece of jerky and gave it to the rodent and it ran away to eat its food.

[S121]

The Fissure

Jason looked up and saw the crystals on the ceiling. They were a purplish-blue and gave off just enough light for Jason to see, now that his eyes fully adjusted. He then turned his attention to the ground and observed the various creatures in the dark. It didn't seem as if they would attack, perhaps because of how many people were in the group. They would most likely attack a lone person, so Jason was thankful for at least being safe with his group.

Jason then turned his attention back to Kris and spoke.

"Yea, you don't have to worry about me attacking anyone.", Jason said to Kris as he looked at the stone walls.

[Kristia]

The Fissure

"If you want the sack of blame, you can have it, I was just saying in general" Kris said calmly looking at the many paths, she stopped taking a little rock and threw it to a wall making many echoes around the caves, she let her ears do their job as the sound went on. Finally she took a cave and kept walking

"If you may be wondering, there is no map of this caves, I tried to do one, but it is useless as one of the creatures makes more and seals others, so we are following the echoes of the caves, the further they go, the more chances we have that it will be sealed and viceversa with the less echoing ones, so we are taking the middle ones instead" The huntress explained while reaching what looked like a pitfall

"Well here it is the outpost" Kris pointed to what looked like a botomless pit

[S121]

The Fissure

Jason looked incredulously at the giant bottomless hole, then at Kris.

"You.. You want me to jump.. in the hole?", Jason asked Kris in a tone matching his facial expressions.

[Kristia]

The Fissure

Kris just laughed and said "Remember when I told you about no one trying to reach my outposts? this is part of the reasons" she said taking her arrow and bow, strapped a rope on it and shooted to the ceiling. Kris then strapped herself to the rope and then looked at Jason "You do have to jump, just wait for a moment" she said jumping into the darkness

The huntress and the unconscious fire magician fell into the hole but soon got the swing from the rope and entered a tiny hole just fit for a person to walk while crouching, she then tied off the rope and fired another arrow with that end to Jason´s location getting stuck into the wall close to him "Strap yourself wit the rope and jump, I will catch you" she said

[S121]

The Fissure

"Strap yourself wit the rope and jump, I will catch you.", Kris said.

Jason looked down the dark hole and decided to jump instead.

(Why not?)

Instead of grabbing the rope, Jason jumped straight down the hole. Just when it seemed that he would hit the ground, Jason used his speed magic and slowed down his fall, landing gently on the ground.

Jason then looked over to Kris and smiled.

"Just one of the perks of being a speed mage.", Jason said in a positive tone.

[Tewi_Inaba]

The Fissure

Seki had been riding on the back of the huntress for quite a while now. Occasionally she would mumble to herself in a quiet tone only Kris would have been able to hear and only if she was listening. Things like “Anna” or “ice cream “and the occasional grunts and moans. After what she had been through one would expect to have nightmares, however it seemed while she slepted her dream matched the beet of Kris’s heart. Calm when her hear beets normally and more chaotic when it speeds up.
As Kris moved down into the pit, Seki held to her, feeling as though she was falling in her dream which caused the reaction. “mh.. the floor’s gone” She mumbled quietly in her slumber.

[Kristia]

The Fissure

Kris looked at the miner on the ground "What a good landing, but I suggest you to get up here before you get devoured" Kris said from the hole in the wall at 3 meters high from the floor, then she pointed to some little holes on the corners as there was some growling in them

The huntress pulled the arrow from the rope and tossed it to the floor "Take it before you get eaten!" she said as a big mole-like creature appeared from one of the holes

[S121]

The Fissure

Jason's eyes widened in fear as he saw the mole-like creature emerge from one of the holes.

Jason grabbed the arrow as it flew through the air. As soon as he caught it, he threw it at the giant mole. He then augmented the arrow's speed and sent it at speeds much faster than even a crossbow could achieve. The arrow planted itself in the mole-like creature's hide, causing it to screech and allowing Jason enough time to use his speed magic to jump and enter the hole Kris was in.

Jason took a deep breath and spoke.

"What the hell was that?", Jason asked Kris in a tone of disbelief.

[Kristia]

The fissure

Kris looked at the arrow hitting the mole and sighed "Perfect, they will cause tremors around the whole caves for days " she said cutting the rope before too much could be wasted

"That was a cave mole, they are the ones who made these caves, and your act of violence just made them mad already, we must move before they start searching for their agressor" she said walking through the tiny hole in a crouch position , her head almost touching the ceiling, after some meters the hole got bigger and then they got into a sort of big cavern with with enough light coming from yellow looking crystals making the ilusion of having real sunlight, some trees could be seen in the light patched areas and on the top of one of the bigger ones was a house made of wood and rock

But to get there, the bottom part of the cavern was filled with water and the group was on top of pillars way towering the water surface "That is the outpost, follow me and use thee ropes, no need for any accident" she said already shooting some arrows with ropes on the gaps to swing herself and Seki to the house.

When she reached the outpost, the huntress put the fire magician in a bed made of leaves and wool

[Kilelicus]

Fissure - 9:24 AM

Phenom was the last one into the tunnels, after the ranger and the miner. He followed closely, listening to every word Kris said. She knew these tunnels far better than he ever would. But he was more for the overworld than the underworld. He glanced around, feeling the accusing eyes of the creatures that inhabited these tunnels.

As time passed, they came to the hole in the ground that led to Kris's outpost. Phenom, not confident in his ability to survive a rat swarm, complied with Kris's suggestion to descend via the rope. As he reached the tunnel below and traversed the ropes to the outpost, he looked over at Kris.

"So uh... what convinced you to make an outpost down here?"

[S121]

Fissure - 9:24 AM

Jason entered the room Phenom, Kris, and Seki were in.

"So uh... what convinced you to make an outpost down here?", Phenom asked Kris.

"Probably the man-eating R.O.U.S.es. They make for good guard dogs.", Jason jokingly said to Phenom.

He then went over to look out the window. Jason was amazed by the bright crystals lining the ceiling. Not only was it as bright as day in the cave, there was also vegetation too. He may have spent a lot of time underground, but he had never seen anything like the scene before him.