Keeping my shields up, I manoeuvre my way towards Nin and the others. Shots of all kinds and loose spells tear up metal and rock alike. Each step closer I get, the less screams there are. A small group ahead suddenly fly away, a dark figure looming over what little remains of their position.

Speeding up, I reach Nin and bring my shields down to grab his wrist. He probably blinks in confusion at me and I start to tug at his arm, pulling him away. Thankfully, he obliges me and we hide around a cavern corner so I can get my thoughts together. I look back on the way I came, overwhelmed by what I discovered back that way.

"N-Nin... Nin! I need you to be careful, please!" I beg, unable to get my head in order. I don't know why, it's hard to say, it's needlessly hard. My chest feels tight and my tongue is breaking down. It should be simple, just tell him about the discovery.

"Careful? Liada, I'm fine, we're not in any danger." he says, a point which he only emphasises when he throws a pebble out to a target. Metal thunders open and something shatters at the far end. Somehow, the body slumping manages to get this far.

"No-no-no-no! Not us, the cave... Back there, back where Baltanthan is!" I tell him and he looks that way, our scuffed-up friend making me worry. He's gotten into a fight since I left, something's gone down in that room. Everything in there, what's happened to it!?

I rush out into the open, intent on checking up on everything. Nin's grip yanks me back and my eyes lock onto the signs of magic still in the air. I follow the trail and gulp at the cloud of dust formed from the cave's wall at the far end. Nin starts to pinch my armour and I feel where his grip has crushed some of it.

"Don't run off like that." he warns me, stepping out into the open to go back into the fight. Unable to get any words out, I leap for him and bring us both to the ground. He scrambles about, gently pushing me off and staring.

"Back there!" I cry again, pointing back to where he needs to go. I can't allow the artefacts of my people to be destroyed, not when I can't seem to find any trace of them in the rest of the world. I will never get back to the airship again, whatever the reason is for this stuff being here. I need to, no, -must- protect it.

"If it's not something that needs putting down, it can wait!" he snaps, getting back up to rejoin the fray. His body starts to shift into position and I can feel the magic within build up. Raising my palm just as his heel rises, I put a shield in his way. He smashes into it, crashing back down with a groan of pain.

"JUST STOP AND LISTEN TO ME!" I scream down at him before he gets a chance to shout his anger.

"Then tell me properly what it is." he growls, his patience wearing thin with each tightened knuckle I see.

"My... My... My people... There are traces of the ddrai'och in this place. Back there, the way me and Baltanthan came. The stuff of my people is here!" I finally manage to get out, everything but my hand calming down. He needs to come with me, he needs to see that I am telling the truth.

Nin's body relaxes.

His tongue clicks, "Guess some god has been listening."

"I'm being serious Nin, me and Baltanthan found a trove of stuff. Not only that, this entire cave, my people made it so many years ago." I explain, frantically pointing back the way our friend is. I watch as he sits down, rubbing his head before I turn to Nin as he probes my shield.

"We clear the chamber, then we look. This situation is too dangerous for us to be wandering about. Stay close and grab him to do the same." Nin explains, his body reacting too fast for me to extend the shield wall. I let it fall, its presence no longer needed and I clutch my arm tight. I look back to Baltanthan and shake my head, choosing instead to follow Nin.

The battle seems to be almost over and done with, anyway.

What seems to be the final few soldiers of the enemy are killed and I quietly shuffle behind the trio. The three meet up and all but Nin seem to have some kind of thrill in their voices. Though, how they deal with it differs a lot. That insufferable thing is more than happy to find a demented allure to it all.

Taking a step closer, I frown as they begin to move into what looks to be another tunnel. Growing angry at how intent they are with dealing with these forgettable humans, I throw up a barrier, blocking them all from interacting. The three look at me while those beyond the shield retreat further into the cave. Inerish in particular shows me just how miffed she is, her blade alight although she is safe right now.

"What are you doing?" she asks when the distance between us is cleared. I match her glare, lifting my visor so she can see it. I don't care what she tries, I am not letting this barrier fall until they have all listened to me.

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"Stopping you from destroying this place." I point out, some mild delight coming to mind because I can condescend her a little right now. But, unfortunately for the petty part of me, this is not why I am doing this. There is something far greater right now that needs to be addressed and it is more important to me than most other things in my life. I can't let this slip by, not for anything.

"Stop me...? Did you not pay attention in the slightest to what I have explained before we got here? This is a burial site for weapons of mass destruction! I will not have them loose and in hands that will use them against Thrurstradtur-Suhurlodst!" she snaps increasingly, her free hand clapping against my armour. Backpedalling with each strike, I watch its shape become increasingly deformed into a wide but shallow dent.

My blood boils, "BECAUSE THIS ENTIRE MOUNTAIN IS A TOMB FOR MY PEOPLE! THESE WEAPONS, THESE ITEMS, IT'S ALL DDRAI'OCH!"

She scoffs and shakes her head, "I couldn't care less."

My mouth opens up, I throw aside my helmet and my armour lights up with power. Why am I even shocked or surprised? She's been tormenting me every chance she's had and now I've just given her the perfect thing to do. She's going to make sure this entire mountain falls apart just so I cannot keep any form of memento for my lost people.

She starts to smile and I scream, the amulet flaring while my mind gets to work. Taking every lesson I have learned so far from the others, I truly surround them in its power. I don't dome them off, I trap them in a ball. Its edges force their way around and I start to feel God's power grind against itself.

They try to tunnel their way out and quickly find out that I have grown wise to their tricks. Moving my arm forward, I have the magic seal up that door they wanted to go through. They can stay there until I am done at least recovering something. I need to figure things out, understand what this place is and if there's a way I can save it!

"Liadanann, what're you doing?" Nin asks, the one thing that can make it out of this shield having no problem reaching my ears. I sniffle, cleaning my eyes a little and getting closer to him.

"I can't let you three destroy this place... I can handle Baltanthan without my magic. But, if you're not going to listen, then I am keeping you all in here until I am done with this. I can't let everything here be buried... Not again..." I explain, turning around and hurrying off towards the one friend I can possibly count on. He's helped me so far, I just hope I can keep trusting Baltanthan for the moment.

"WHATEVER YOUR WORST FEARS ARE, DDRAI'OCH, I WILL MAKE THEM REAL! DO YOU HEAR ME!?" I hear Inerish shrill, the sound of her slashing sword accenting it. Scoffing one final time her way, I arrive back at my friend who cannot be asked. He looks up at me, his hand stuck between wanting to touch the back of his head and not.

"So, what's the plan?" he asks, seemingly a little dizzy and I frown about, unsure if there's anything we can use to help him out. I can't even see any bandages so we can at least cover up the wound.

"You are going to be ok?" I ask, moving around to see how bad it is. There's a lot of blood, but, I can't tell how deep the wound is. At the very least, his hair is still intact and there's no clear slash or cave-in. I want to hope though this is not something I am comfortable leaving to chance.

"I hope so..." he goes, shaking his head and getting up with my help. He wobbles a bit, his legs suddenly losing their strength to the point of jackhammering.

"Is there anything I can do?" I ask him and he shakes his head again, his hand patting my armour.

"You can make sure to tie up that hair of yours." he remarks and I smile a little, taking note at how much is flowing freely now that my helmet is lingering in the dirt back there. However, it's fine, we can do this. Nothing a good shower and a visit to the hairdressers won't fix.

"Ok. But, uh, the plan..." I say, losing my train of thought as we start to head back into the room. My eyes widen and I look at the pile of rusty parts and the mess this room has become.

"Some knight came barging in, our magic clashed and it triggered some kind of... Metal man." he explains, his hand gesturing at what seem to be blast holes.

"A robot." I correct, glancing down at the wreck Baltanthan's magic left it in. Reaching down, I grab the power gem and roll it against the energyless one I've been carrying. The difference is night and day, one is dull, a deep colour it shouldn't be. And, while this other one is not in the best of shape, cracked and chipped, it at least has the green glow.

I pop them both into a box holding some of the other stuff and get started organising it all. Baltanthan joins in and we quickly get it sorted, several piles of stuff forming because of it. I shuffle a knocked-out metal panel in front of the boxes to give them some protection and nod, satisfied. Baltanthan groans and uses his magic on the door.

"Your assailant came from in here?" I ask and he nods. Using the power of the amulet, I create a small shield to hold in front of us and we begin the trek into the quiet tunnel. Whatever likely decorated these halls is probably now in boxes like those we just stacked. I'm not sure how to feel about such looting of my people's ancient homes.

Even though this is apparently a military facility, we still lived here.

The tunnel opens up into a grander chamber, one filled with row upon row of empty machines and closed-up workbenches. Nostalgia floods me and the kind of equipment I was trained with is spotted ceaselessly. It seems quiet enough as well, so, I let my shield down and Baltanthan steps out into the open. His staff at the ready, we venture a little more onto the grated walkway.

"Any idea what this is meant to be?" he asks, his eyes catching more so on the abandoned parts lying about. One in particular is the gun of one of the basic soldierbots. In fact, most of the things in this chamber are for their maintenance. Opened-up frames with dead, little arms and all kinds of magnetic and once-upon-a-time high-voltage sockets.

"It's an engineering bay..." I guess, my memory fuzzy when I catch sight of some Ddrai'och writing. If I am to assume anything, though, this is very much meant for soldierbots. A whole army's worth could be looked after in a place like this. Though, with how long it's been underground like this, it's anyone's guess as to how much remains, let alone functions.

I grip the handrail tightly, looking about for some stairs.

"I hope you're able to focus enough for us to look intently." I tell my friend, smiling a little at him while he blinks back a headache. He nods, eventually smiling and we head for the way down, the ancient metal rattling underfoot.