songerein | closed ⚡🌠 where the pulse of the land offers no respite

[She does as she's told without question, stepping so that she's more or less behind him rather than tucked at his side, which is easy when she can simply duck below his arm, and she continues to hold onto him for both balance and for support, one hand gripping his cloak while the other balls into a fist at the ready in case anything does leap out of there...

As she watches that light dance around between his fingers, she gives a firm, sure nod.]

Ready.

[With a nod, he peers through the hole again. There is definitely a thick atmosphere of nightmare energy within... Which only makes him wonder not only what made it, but what is down there to make it continue to permeate so much.

So with some focused concentration, he expands the lightning in his hand to create another lightning orb. However, a thin strand remains connected to his finger, almost like a string, and he then slings it out through the tunnel.

He has no idea what's there, but he can at least use this to get a sense of how deep it may go. And at the very least, the strand of lightning can keep the tunnel illuminated a bit. So on and on that orb will fly through the tunnel, bouncing every now and then when it hits a wall...]

[Everything remains still, silent, save for the crackling of the lightning as it travels. Tifa holds her breath, waiting for a sign of something—anything—that might give them a hint of what could be down there. Even if it is a roar or a rumble, it would at least tell her that her hunch was right... but the further it travels, the quieter everything seems to become...]

Looks like we might be in the clear... [A pause.] Should we go inside?

I'm still hesitant... But since there hasn't been a reaction we should be in the clear.

[A worried look at her.]

Sure you'll be all right?

[She meets his worry with a sheepish, though reassuring smile.]

I'll be okay.

[As long as he's there with her, is what her eyes say, before they sharpen again and she's the one that starts to move first to his side from behind where she'll reach for his support.]

Might be the only chance we got, yeah? I'm sure the researchers'll be glad to hear about whatever we find.

[He can't help but be wary. There's something about this nightmare energy that pricks at him in a way that it hasn't before while down here, even at the reactor. It sends his nerves on edge, like it's trying to reach into him. But he shakes it off when she moves and nods. Whatever it is, he—no, they can handle it.]

All right... But I'll go first.

[Always looking out for her, even when he doesn't have to...

She won't fight him on this one and lets him go first, leading her up to the large, broken wall. She shivers at his side, the nightmare energy so thick that it pricks at her, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. It has... an eerily familiar feel to it, though not one that she can easily place. It sends a chill up her spine, and coils around to her chest, and she finds herself out of breath for just a moment before she remembers to take a deeper one...

It's hard to see anything inside, even with the light, but the closer they get, the more she can spot those scratches upon the walls and, more importantly, on the ceiling, where there's another hole broken into it, likely leading to another system of tunnels... or maybe even up to the ground floor.]

What do you think this place could even be...?

...I'm not sure.

[At least the tunnel is large enough for them to walk through, though he has to crouch a little so his ears don't scrape against the ceiling. He uses his lightning orbs to help light they way, where they can clearly see the grooves of those claw marks. Slowly he reaches out touch them before withdrawing his hand as if burned, the nightmare energy still present and thick. It surprises him, really, as he's never felt anything like it before.]

I'm not even sure if the creature made these tunnels...look, here.

[He crouches down closer to the ground to point another set of claw marks, ones made for digging. Touching it doesn't give off the same feeling, in fact it's a bit calmer.]

I think it's using tunnels already made, possibly even overtaking it as its own. It's not uncommon for animals to do so.

[He then notices the entrance growing wider...and the nightmare energy getting thicker.]

...Careful, I think we're almost at the end.

[She glances up at him, worried, when he touches one of those marks. She can feel it, too... though rather than her skin, it burns her insides, as if she's trying to breathe in burning hot air, and it's hard to tell where her own ends and the tunnel's energy begins, all of it mixing together into something suffocating.

And when he crouches...

Her lips press together at his observation.]

... Like the bats, maybe?

[It's mostly a quiet realization to herself, though still, they don't know if that's true... but whatever is down here, it no doubt would have pushed all other life out, and even further up. Probably why the Orkilins finally started to notice the strange activity of the bats, even when it could have been happening for much, much longer.

She'll take his hand now, both for support, and to support him, and she'll start to limp towards the entrance at the other end... As if things couldn't get any darker, they somehow do, the light of his orbs practically being swallowed up as they approach.

Any more, and she fears they might just go out completely...]

Still quiet.

[Far too quiet for her liking...

However, when they finally reach it, the claw marks in the walls double in both number and deepness, so deep that the shadows cast on them from the light make them that much more obvious to the eye, and past the entrance will be another open cave, though it's hard to tell how big it actually is.]

[And once he steps into the cave, the loud crunch under his boots make him stiffen for a moment. Had he not been holding Tifa's hand to support her he might have jumped right back into the tunnel, but as it is there's a moment where his nerves feel as if they're screaming at him to turn back and run.

It's rare.

Very rare that he ever feels such a sudden flash of fear, but he swallows it down. With the nightmare energy as it is, he can't even say for sure if it's not the atmosphere that's affecting him. So regardless of what Tifa might say or do, he'll take that last step in, that crunch once again audible before he forces the light to shine out. It takes a lot of effort, and he needs to tap into the nightmare energy to push it out, causing the light to have a cold blueish tint to it.

And when it's all illuminated....

....

It's actually not that terrifying.

If anything it's just like stepping into a common animal predator's den, with bones and hide of its prey scattered about. Hard to really tell what, but it litters the floor. What makes it so eerie is the thick silence that permeates through the cave, along with the darkness and heavy atmosphere of nightmare energy.

The cold light extends all the way to the ceiling, revealing more holes and tunnels the creature that lived here must have used. He also notices something shimmer along the walls...like a crystal?]

[Tifa, on the other hand, is properly startled by the sound of something crunching under his boots, and then the feel of something under her own. Her gasp is loud enough that it shatters through the silence, echoing through the cave. She had expected something, but not that—not stepping on the bones of long-dead creatures, no doubt... though from how torn apart they are, she can't tell what they used to be either.]

...Eustace...

[Her voice is strained, and her fingers tighten around his in reaction, and she goes completely still, as if even another, single breath will disturb this eerie quiet. That it will awaken whatever it is that clearly lives here...

And given the size of the scratches all over the walls, and the way everything is absolutely shredded apart, it's something big, and something hungry. They knew that before, but this only confirms their suspicions.

Looking around some more, she finally sees it—the crystals that line the walls and crawl all the way up to the ceiling. Fragments of it, or perhaps it's all buried under the rock—she can't tell from here, but as the light tries to spread, and Tifa adds to it with her own fire, dim as it is, it shimmers all the brighter.]

Why...?

...Wait.

[As Eustace peers closer at the crystals, his eyes widen. At first he thought they were the usual crystals, but now he sees why they have to keep pushing their dreamotion out and why the nightmare energy energy is so thick. When one of his orbs comes close to one, it immediately disappears, as if sucked into it. Briefly the crystal will shine, but then it will cloud over...and darken.]

...What's going on...

[Another quick cast and they can see more of these dark crystals, shimmering only when the dreamotion passes over before it darkens.]

[Well. If there is one thing that will put her ill at ease, it's that.]

That's not right...

[Tifa tests it as well, though not with a flame, but with a flower that appears when she opens her palm. The poor thing looks like it is barely clinging to life, the light so dim that it hardly casts any light on her fingers... but it's just enough to show the difference when she lifts it closer to the wall...

The nearest one several feet up is the one that shimmers, and the starflower's light dies before it shrivels up in her palm... only for the shard to grow black once more.

She stares down at the dead, dry petals before brushing them out of her hand.]

Where is it all going?

...I'm not sure, but I think the crystal is absorbing it...

[He frowns as he stares at the crystals.]

It's possible all this nightmare energy is affecting how they work, but can't say for certain. I'll take a few.

Are they...?

[There's some doubt to her voice, because the way that they had darkened only seconds after absorbing it has her wondering if there's something else going on. It doesn't seem right... shouldn't a normal crystal shine more after taking in that sort of dreamotion, rather than completely snuffing it out within a blink and then... nothing?

Tifa steps closer to him.]

Are we sure we should be taking them...? I don't like this, Eustace...

The only way we'll know for sure what's going on is if we take a sample back.

[Though he also understands her reservations...]

We could send a message back to have someone meets us with a device that could hold it before taking it into the city for study. But this may be our only chance to collect it.

[And he's right, too...

If they come back again later, they risk whatever it is that lives here being back to greet them, and at least they can handle a few crystals, right...?

It's not as if this is the first time they've dealt with this much nightmare energy, right?

Though, that thought has her stomach turning. The last time that they had, it was back in that cave in the Wildlands... Back in that cave where...]

... Alright. But let's be careful, okay? I...

[The rest of that thought hangs in the air between them, but Tifa draws it back.]

How are we even going to break it free? I could try, but my leg...

[A small shake of his head.]

I can handle it. Just keep an eye out in case the owner returns.

[Owner of this then. And pulling out his dagger, he'll take a breath and step to the wall, using the blade to help dig and pry out one of the crystals. Even when he touches it he can feel it trying to suck out his dreamotion, so he has to quickly draw back and keep some distance while he quickly chisels away.]

Do you have your bag? We can carry it in there for now.

[Even Tifa can feel it the closer she gets, and so she steps right up to Eustace and presses herself almost desperately against him, as if to share their dreamotion with each other, or strengthen it, or anything that she can do to help combat the way these crystals try to drain them both, him especially.

She almost tries to force some starflowers to bloom, or to let her fires flicker to life, but maybe she shouldn't. It might just feed more of it into the crystals... and then what?]

I do, yeah.

[She slides it off her shoulder and pulls it open, only to find some shrivelled flowers where the starflowers she packed had once been.]

You think whatever is down here is using all this for something?

I don't know...

[A light grit of his teeth as he maneuvers his blade before he finally feels the crystal loosen. He almost reaches out to hold it, but then stops himself.]

Hold it under the crystal, I'll have it fall in.

[Nervous as she is, Tifa moves closer and lowers the open bag beneath it, her eyes on Eustace the entire time while he lets it slip in.]

Is your hand alright, by the way?

[He flashes her an appreciative small smile before he grits his teeth and briefly grabs the crystal to pry the rest of it off. Immediately he feels that attempt to draw out his dreamotion, but he feels something else as well. A cold chill that somehow... Blocks it? No, not quite, but there was definitely a reaction that leaves him staring at the pitch black crystal in the bag before he works to pry off one more, which goes quickly since it was right next to the one he took.]

It's fine... In fact, the nightmare energy I have may be helping.

[Those flowers that had been in her bag practically turn to dust the moment the crystal falls in, and Tifa frowns down at it along with him, feeling the full effects now. The way that the air thickens, how it grows both cold and hot at the same time, and how it tries to draw upon both of them, even as it sits at the bottom of the bag. There's nothing protecting them from it—it's just a cloth backpack—so she's still a bit wary of carrying it all the way out, but...]

Think you can share some of that...?

[A wry grin as the next crystal falls and he'll take the bag from her.

But...hm.

A low, thoughtful hum before he focuses that nightmare energy from within. It's cool, quick, as if eager to be used, and soon the bag is enveloped by a translucent blueish blackish membrane. While they can still feel nightmare energy, it's now his own so the effect is more subtle.]

I'm not sure how long I can keep this barrier up, but it's the best for now.

[Oh, she hadn't meant that for real, so she's a bit surprised by him creating that barrier. Nightmare energy or not, it bears that familiar signature of his—one that, although it still leaves her a little on edge, it's less so than what the crystals are giving off. A small relief, but it doesn't come without a warning from her...]

Just don't push yourself too hard, alright?

[She'll start to close up the bag.]

That should be enough? Not sure we should even be carrying more than this.

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