To my beloved Lenora,

   Everyone knows the world we inhabit as one of Goddesses and saints, faith and holy sites. Yet none of this matters in some of its lands. One of those being the so called “Yelling Ravine” that I now find myself trapped in. As you are perhaps aware the ravine and a small relative to others province around it are unclaimed by any gods, infamous for how many saints, pilgrims and missionaries have been lost to its depths. Their cries for help are said to still be echoing in it, giving it its name. Its location though was what drew my attention to it, temptingly close to the monastery of our faith in the Everblack Woods, atop the closest mountain to its north-east to be precise.

   Of course I was as foolish as any woman to ever be called great and let my fame as the greatest saint of the Wilted Mountains get to my head. Such was my foolishness that as soon as I learned of that province I began planning an expedition to claim it in the name of our Goddess Eltara. A land of secrets with an unknown to date holy site was sure to please the One of Mysteries after all. At the time I wasn't even remotely aware of what cruel fate awaited me down this wicked crack of the ground itself.

   The journey to the location went smooth, three retainers accompanying me during the journey to what we had determined to probably be the safest way down. Our journey took 14 nights and 13 days, travelling at night as tradition dictates. There were no threats to our journey and the retainers respected my decision to embark on this conquest and didn't question it. At the time I was thankful for that, I had grown bored of others at the monastery doubting me. We arrived at the unclaimed area near the end of our 9th night of travel. The landscape of the land I had set out to claim looked like a completely barren plateau of the ridge until we set our feet on it. However as soon as we did we realized that our eyes were deceiving us for the ground was tilted at a rather easily noticeable angle. It is not an understatement to say that it felt like the top of the mountain was sinking rather than rising from that point onwards, albeit with a significantly smoother slope than the one we had to endure during our ascent. Slightly unnerved at the unnatural geography of the location we steeled our nerves and continued our journey to the ravine's entrance.

   As expected of this barren homeland of ours no flora or fauna could be spotted during our journey there, featuring but a few of the more durable species of carnivorous plants and small animals, specifically rodents and small reptiles that would undoubtedly return to the cave systems when their predators are less active. Our encounters with those rose in frequency while we continued our travels, with their most active times during our rests being slightly after dawn until an approximate hour before noon. This confirmed our suspicions of the ravine's walls bearing entrances to the tunnels that I could likely make use of myself to descend more safely. At the same time it helped me get a general idea of the life of the lower ranks of its food network, as the predators going after these animals were unlikely to be able to harm me and would likely not hunt when their own predators, that could potentially pose a threat, were active.

   We arrived at our destination on the night when the followers of the Sunlit Sprite were celebrating what I can only assume to be the Summer Solstice based on the season and their Goddess' domain. Surely you too must have noticed their festival that essentially turned the shortest night into day for anyone unlucky enough to be in their near vicinity, which thankfully didn't include us. The ravine itself was visible from the night before though, such was its size that we noticed it from kilometers away. We had set up camp at a safe distance from the edge, outside the range that the echoes reached, before the brightest hours of noon were upon us and started preparing for me to venture into the dreaded chasm. As is standard procedure when venturing into areas where supplies and shelter are or could be scarce the campsite was made to last as it would remain there until my return so that I can restore my strength before setting on the return trip or until help arrives should I need it. With that done we went to sleep for the day, ready to part ways at dusk. My last few hours before entering the ravine were spent making sure all of the camp was up to the standards it should be and sending off my retainers on their return trip.

   As soon as they departed I made my way to the edge, the echoing cries from within started being audible but until I was right next to the cliff's edge they weren't loud enough to make out their words although I did know what they probably were because of the legends surrounding this location. As such when they did become discernible I wasn't surprised in the least to confirm that they were indeed calls for help echoing from past explorers that were certainly deceased by now. After all I was the first fool to attempt this task in decades. What I was curious about however was the nature of the cries, all of them unclear on why they needed help. No mentions of any dangers to one's well being, whether they be wild animals, lack of supplies, physical harm or even the return path being blocked off. The only information they provided any would be listeners was that someone down there needed assistance and that they should descend to provide it. In hindsight that should have planted suspicion into my mind but at the time I was but disappointed that I couldn't grasp more knowledge about the threats I could face on my way down from them.

   While making those observations I was trying to identify what the easiest way down was, at least from the ones that were a reasonable distance from the camp. I was successful in locating a wall that looked climbable and that I could move into a cave in the walls from before daylight broke if I was to start within an hour at most. I set to it and while my calculations of time were off I was inside the cave before the heat rose enough for me to mind. The air there was cooler and I still had enough energy so I continued moving deeper in the cave hoping it eventually lead deeper into the ravine. Signs of human activity were present there so it followed that my hopes were not baseless. The fauna here was similar to the one in the surface albeit with some small felines, obviously the predators that lead the rodents to try their luck with the surface flora. Plant life was scarce near the entrance, just a small amount of patches of bloodsponge moss in a couple of its varieties. However deeper in and slightly after the first fork in the cave there was a large patch of some sort of root like plant I couldn't recognise hanging from the ceiling blocking my way forward, writhing ever so slightly. I inspected the area without walking too close to it and spotted at least 2 felines in different states of decomposition as well as what looked like part of a human skeleton poking from behind a corner further down the path so I checked the other two options in the aforementioned fork but alas the same problem was present in all. With that in mind I set up camp for the day and cast a divine veil over it to ensure my safety in case any predators were capable of safely traversing that area.

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   When I woke up I packed up the camp and ate some of my rations while pondering the problem I was faced with. By the time I was ready to move I had come to the conclusion that I had to find which cave had them shortest so that I could crawl underneath. There was always the possibility that just touching the plant wouldn't be enough for me to become its newest victim but I am of the philosophy that you can never be too safe with the carnivorous plants of the Drymounts. I followed my plan through and at what should be approximately 2 hours until dawn I was at a clear area again catching my breath. Throughout both scouting runs of the caves as well as my journey through the one I felt safest traversing I spotted even more corpses, some from a clear enough angle to know that it was not a plant that killed them, so I was more careful moving forwards. While this did leave me moving slower I was still able to reach a gap in the wall of the cave from which the inside of the ravine could be seen by the time I was ready to call it a night. The gap was admittedly too small for me to go through but it was large enough for me to observe that I was heading deeper as expected. Both the tactics of casting divine veils over my camps and crawling under patches of this unknown plant would become mainstays of my day to day life during this expedition.

   The next night I was confident in continuing lower through the cave. That enthusiastic start was followed by a grinding halt as snarling noises from the shadows forced me to be on my guard most of the night from as early as two past dusk. The tunnels had become labyrinthine enough that trying to pinpoint the noise's source was impossible so taking the potential threat out and resuming with my normal pace afterwards was not viable. I was more careful than usual when choosing my camp's location and applying the veil from that daybreak onwards although by now I've concluded that that was worth nothing for the most part. The night after I reached another opening into the chasm, one that was large enough for me to exit the cave this time. I was aware of the wall's low stability so I didn't think climbing down purely this way was viable but I could use it as a brief detour in case the source of the sounds I had been hearing had been stalking me and I needed to make it lose my tracks. The descent to the next large enough hole took me quite a few hours to be done with so I could feel the heat rising following sun rise before I returned to the cool shade. But the tunnel I had arrived to was quiet, if you didn't count the well known echoes of the ravine that is, and seemingly peaceful so in the end I was satisfied with my decision.

   While my sleep during that day was way calmer, the night after I started hearing the snarling again almost as soon as I was done packing. While I doubted that it was the same creature from before I was still dismayed with the fact that I still needed to move slowly and with so much extra care after I went through that trouble just a night ago.

   Moving under the weird plants, scaling the ravine's walls to avoid the mysterious predator and setting up veiled camps at day were the three activities I've been doing for the past few weeks. They have formed a dull cycle of sorts that has been eating away at my patience and sanity. I feel the onsets of paranoia that are only worsened by the absolute isolation down here. Truly not even the human remains from earlier on in the descent are around any more. Yet the echoes beckoning for help are louder than ever, setting a question of whether the acoustics of this wretched place are just this warped or if they aren't echoes at all but something else entirely, possibly an indication of a Goddess, probably of the aberrant or bestial type, that lacks a faith and followers controls the holy site of the province.

   By now supplies have reached a critically low point but I'm sure that the predator following me has been the same since the start so heading to the surface would likely see me dead. At the same time wildlife has been dwindling over time and by now I doubt I can hunt for more food so even if I did reach the bottom that I am vaguely aware is just a couple days away at most I'd end up dying of starvation on my way back. Between these two options I'd rather take the chance of death over its certainty but I still saw fit to send you this letter first.

   For you see despite my trials here what hurts me most isn't the paranoia nor the fear of death but the fact that I was never honest with you about the one thing that matters most. We grew up together and have been closer than anyone ever since. When the Goddess of Mysteries chose to guide me down the path to become her saint you joined her faith and became a priestess just so there would be no barrier to our friendship. After we both strived to better our position so nobody could tear us apart even among the people of our new faith, until we ended up with me being the Archsaint of Mystery and you being the Matriarch of Mystery in the Drymounts. Yet I feel guilt eating at my heart for our goals in reality differed and I never told you.

   In actuality I have been in love with you for the longest time. Our efforts to stay together made me oh so happy but at the same time I felt bad that you were chasing after a friend that wanted a different sort of relationship with you to begin with. I always wanted to confess my feelings to you yet without fail each time I was brave enough to do so I had another doubt spring in my mind. At the start I was afraid that you'd say no but at some point in time I stopped caring about that, I was just worried that you'd think your efforts wasted, merely an attempt to stay close to someone you didn't care for anymore. And then, having convinced myself it was for your the sake of your happiness, I decided to just never come clean about how I felt and just enjoy our friendship.

   Now that I am faced with likely death I see that I was wrong to do that. I should have opened up to you. Because if you did like me back I was actively hurting your happiness and if you didn't I was just letting you continue to build it on shoddy foundations. I am truly sorry about that. And if you do share my feelings I am even more sorry that I only told you about them now that you might lose me forever. I can't but wonder how things could have turned out differently if I had told you in the past. Would we be living a happy life together? Would I have still come to the Yelling Ravine? Would I even still be a saint or would I have retired? Or perhaps I would just not have anyone to write this letter to.

   I must now end this letter before it becomes too heavy for the messenger bird I summoned to carry. So one last time I'd like to thank you for being such a good friend to me. If I do not return alive and well within two months at most then assume I didn't make it, hold a nice funeral for me and please keep the memory of who I really was and not the idealised version others believe I am. This is something I can only entrust to you, for you are the only one that my life holds no mysteries for anymore. And once again I am sorry that up until now it used to.

Your foolish friend,  

Chastity