I follow Garricks route into the cave, along a trail of glowstones he's dropped to light the inside. His are Lux-based, and emit a pleasant pink tint that makes the freezing cave feel at least marginally more inviting. The walk down the path never narrows the way I would expect a cave to, but instead stays about fifty feet wide and maybe thirty tall. It is, without question, the largest and most unnatural “cave" that I've ever seen. It's only after walking for a couple minutes that we break out into a wide-open space.
It's roughly circular with alcoves near the back at clearly deliberate intervals. The walls are marked with crude scratchings, like someone carving notes or something similar, and opposite them on the far side of the room, I see two knee-high stacks of stones with shimmering purple light coming off of them. Finally, in the rear of the room, near the stone piles, the ground is giving off a shallow metallic glint.
First things first, though. I lay Serafina down away from the main entrance to get out of any infrequent winds and set about digging in her carryall pack and take out a sleeping bag and blanket. Getting her into the sleeping bag would be difficult while she remains armored, so instead I lay it out as a sort of mattress, put Serafina atop it and drape her traveling cloak and then blanket on top of her.
"Nyss." I walk up after settling Serafina fully. "What do you make of these?"
Garrick gestures to the standing stones. Looking at them closer now, each stone stack has a different overall color and shape. One is made of bright red stones and is short and fat, even if containing the same number of rocks. THe other is yellow focused and taller and thinner. Atop each sits a beautiful and gleaming stone about the size of my palm both glowing a deep amethyst. Each also sits in the middle of a sea of what appears to be melted copper.
"With the copper flooring, and the essence stones, I would guess a shrine or pair of cairns."
Garrick nods. "I think you're close. But not considering our discussion from yesterday."
I run through our conversations. The most prevalent was the dragons, which Garrick described as being…metallic. My breath catches when I realize what he's implying. "What, you think this is what remains of the dragons you heard about?" The ground around me suddenly feels macabre, like we're standing on someone's grave. I back up off the copper pool until I'm on stone again. Looking at around with greater scrutiny, everything in the room has a fine layer of sooty blackening that I'd not really noticed before due to the low light.
Garrick merely looks on, solemn. "And with two cairns and such a large pool of coppery metal, the scorching on the walls but not the stones?”
My heart sinks a little further. "Then the cairns or shrine or whatever came around after whatever killed the things that lived here. They look polished, even. So whoever came here after the…calamity must have known the dragons, and pretty well, right? Why else set up cairns with essence-bearing stones at their apex?"
"That's what I'm thinking. My assumption — and I'll be frank in saying that it's founded on little more than speculation — is that these dragons possessed breaths of flame, like the stories, and when they used them on the Calamity, it turned it on them in kind. Elementals are better at dealing with their native essence, but with a Calamity simply absorbing everything thrown at it? Everything done to it would only empower it. The only feasible option would be to run, if they knew any better."
Garrick says the words like a terminal diagnosis and I nod in response. I'm finding it hard to meaningfully add to the idea, so I excuse myself a moment to inspect somewhere else to collect my thoughts.
Garrick tilts his chin at me in understanding and affirmation, so I walk over to the markings on the wall. They're crude, slightly more than stone-scratched etchings. White marks on stone leaves most of the intention up to interpretation, but at least a couple of them depict some large winged creature, while others show a pretty clear depiction of a bloodshot eye in greater detail than anything else drawn. Each eye looks painted with irregular purplish dyes that have rivulets of red running through them.
It's…hard to make much of, but the repeating imagery of the eye sends a chill down my spine. "So…" I turn and take a wide route back to Garrick, but as I pass by a rocky outcropping I feel a tug of essence pressure. I stop and turn, dropping my prior thought. There's a very slight ripple in the air here near the rocks…
I reach out to touch it and my hand passes through effortlessly, disappearing from my sight, seemingly like I'm sticking my arm into a sheer rock face. Curious, I draw a knife quietly and stick my head in, coiled to leap back if needs be.
But when I pop past the illusory wall, I see nothing but a small alcove. I could probably tuck myself into here, but it would be uncomfortable with my height.
"Found a hiding spot. It might explain why there was a survivor around to make cairns, rather than some stranger or friend wandering in." I don't say the other thing: that it's clearly too small for anything remotely approaching the size of what Garrick is describing. A small drake-sized creature could, though. So. A child, even if a different type of one than I'm used to seeing. "It's small enough that a child could hide, or be hidden, there."
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
I thought it would be impossible for Garrick to frown more deeply, but he manages. "Well, I think we have a pretty decent idea of what went down here, and what to expect moving forward." We both convene near the entrance to the chamber, a little ways away from Serafina to not disturb her. I speak first, "If it has access to not one, but two, gates can you even fight it?"
Garrick sets his jaw before responding. "Probably. Having a wealth of Ignia will allow it to fight very aggressively, but from these dragons it would likely have only gotten the ability to breathe flame — which is far from ideal, but also not unique. Otherwise, the longer I let it stay ahead of me, the more it will learn, and we can't let that happen. There's a nonzero chance that these have been here longer than we think, and the scorching is part of some sort of ritual. If one survived, it would be believable."
"If that's an attempt to make me not worry, it's the weakest I've ever heard you make, Garrick."
"I'm not trying to blow smoke, Nyss. The thing you described fighting was a man with a single calamitous limb. I'm just admitting that there could be other options, because I doubt if something about as capable as the average person, even bolstered, could hold their own against two gate-bearing creatures. And maybe I'm trying to be hopeful."
I acquiesce. As always, Garrick makes good enough sense that he's hard to argue against. "Alright, Garrick. How do you want to handle watches?"
He looks thoughtful for a bit. "You both will have a long journey ahead of you. I'll stand the watch tonight. And before you argue, consider that if you get into a fight you'll be fighting for two people."
I'd been about to say something about it, and Garrick calling me on it irritates me to no end. Doubly so because he's right. "Right. If you change your mind, you'll know where to find me."
With that, I head over to near Serafina and put my back against the wall, sliding down with a hushed grind of my armor against the wall. I raise my knees , pulling my cloak around me tighter, and lean my head down on them and shut my eyes.
Sleep comes and goes far quicker than I'd have liked, but when I sit up — having curled onto my side at some point in the night — I smell and taste grilled meat on the air. Looking around, I see Garrick working his little grill over a small fire. The smoke from the fire is drifting up and pooling in the domed roof of the cavern before flowing up a seemingly deliberately carved channels in the ceiling that I failed to notice last night.
I'm also outright cozy, which makes me realize that someone gave me an extra blanket at some point. "Morning, Nyssa. Sleep well?" Serafina is sitting a few feet away, having been apparently sitting close to me while I was asleep, also missing her extra blanket. She's currently flicking through her codex in the low light of the cave with the soft light highlighting her cheekbones and laughlines. It also strongly accentuates her void black eyes and the slight rings of essencelight around them.
"I did, are you warm enough? Your body is going to be fighting to keep enough Ignia around to heal." I begin to lecture before realizing who I'm talking to. "... Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you wouldn't know that. Just after yesterday…"
"Watcher Above, Nyssa. What sort of wilting wallflower do you think I am? You expressed concern for my wellbeing, I'm not annoyed or bothered in the slightest." She shakes her head and gives me a wry smile. "But I'm plenty warm. You, on the other hand, were rattling in your armor in your sleep, shivering. You needed it more than me."
"Ah. Thanks, then. So—"
"And if you're about to apologize for apologizing, just save your breath." The snip comes out sharply and cows me immediately. Instead, I nod at her as I heave myself off the ground
"Anything of note, Garrick? Where'd you get the steak?" I stride over, trying to distract myself from the immediate flub as soon as I woke up.
"Cave out to the mouth was dead silent all night. The most dangerous thing I saw last night was an big weasel of some variety or another in its winter colors. It was not the source of the steak, either, to be clear. I just stock myself up with fresh ingredients whenever I head out."
Serafina limps over, walking on her stave for support. "I believe you're the only person in the Vigil who brings exclusively travel rations, Nyssa." The comment carries a smile, but still makes me feel a little embarrassed to be hearing it the second time in as many days from different people.
She doesn't seem to notice my reaction at least. "When do you want to head out, Nyssa? As my knight in muted-black-and-stealthy armor, I figure you should be the one making the calls."
"I was thinking as soon as we've eaten. We have a lot of ground to cover before we get anywhere near a town. The nearest town to here that'll still be reasonably on the way is Burrowvale. We'll make it there and then pump the brakes until you're healed. Then onwards to Kharbon from there. Sound alright?"
Garrick chimes in first. "Burrowvale is closer but also entirely overland with no roads. Silverbrook is on the main road and the road is reasonably accessible from here. Even if it'll be another day of travel." I settle my face into a neutral expression as tightly as I can. The suggestions strikes a nerve, so I work to not show it.
"Be that as it may, the roads around here aren't much safer on average than the wilds. If I can cut our travel time in half, I'll do so gladly. Less exposure to the elements, and I can easily carry Serafina if the trail gets too rough for her current condition."
Garrick raises his hands in mock defense as Serafina joins, "I trust Nyssa's judgement. You needn't worry so much Garrick. She's more than earned my faith in her judgement in the last couple days."
Garrick nods and returns to cooking, leaving Serafina to look at me with a smile. "I've always wanted to visit Burrowvale anyways. I've heard they've got a fairly unique environment there. I read that they worship little critters as aspects of the Rootmother so there's all kinds of cute little things running around. It seems like a nice place to relax for a bit."
Over the next half hour, we all eat, with Serafina keeping up a conversation between both Garrick and I. She carries herself with a level of gregarious energy that dispels some of my lingering animosity over Garrick correcting me earlier.
But once the meal is done — fresh grilled meat served with some similarly grilled veggies and seasoned with something spicy that Garrick likes to keep around — Serafina and I walk out of the cave with Garrick.
"Alright. As soon as I know something, I'll send word to the keep. With regular check-ins, if I can." He turns to face Serafina directly. "I think this warrants Lan's talents if they should free up in the near future. Another skilled tracker would be a significant boon."
Sera rolls her shoulders in thought, wincing as she does. "Last I knew they were still out on a long-distance check-in far north, but whenever they return I'll see about getting them tasked if nothing has come up regarding it to bring it to closure."
He then looks to me, "Nyss, keep in mind what we talked about the other night. Take care of yourself. It was nice catching up."
I nod, "Stay safe, Garrick."