They walked carefully as they headed down the stairs into the dungeon, the stench of death getting stronger each step that they took. Myne dismissed her wings, the area too small for them to be of any use, while Izen summoned her shield, the magic now manifesting in bright whites and blues, tendrils of energy flowing over its surface. She had been experimenting with what she could do, improving her reinforcement of both her weapons and herself, and toying with a new weapon form. If Myne’s dream was anything to go by then she should be able to do a lot more, but learning to weave the magic in different ways was proving to be difficult, so she was probably a long way off from being able to do what she wanted with it. Having said that, it was getting easier little by little the more she practised. She wasn’t sure if she was weaving the magic correctly, or if she was missing something important in its use, but without a tutor it was down to trial and error. Myne had been helping her how she could, but their magics were both quite different, and were used in different ways. She was confident that eventually it would click tho. It was just something that she could sense.

A ward collapsed as they entered the main chamber of the dungeon, bloodied bodies scattered all over the floor, a demon sitting in the middle of it all. It resembled a humanoid lizard, its scales a purple black, its eyes glowing a fierce red, and its long sharp claws caked in blood. It made a noise between a growl and a hiss as it looked up at them, its razor sharp teeth glinting in the low light.

“The pet of the trap,” commented Myne sarcastically, as she tensed.

They dodged to each side as the demon charged at them, the stone of the stairs shattering under its claws, Myne then stepping in with a fist charged with her flame to its midriff, before she dodged back, the demon slamming into the adjacent wall with a howl and the small of burnt flesh.

“Well that worked,” smiled Izen, not giving the demon a chance to react as she swung at the demon, the magic around her arm changing into a blade that cut deeply into its tail as turned to avoid the blow. “As did that, sort of,” she added. “At least it got through its hide.”

The demon retaliated with a counter attack, impacting solidly with Izen’s shield just as she managed to reshape her magic into it, throwing her back as she then followed through with an uncomfortable roll to try and take her right out of its range, the bodies hindering her progress. Their training and experimenting was definitely paying off, but even still it wasn’t to be underestimated. There was still a wide gap between them and their enemies.

The demon rushed Izen again, claws raking across her shield as she raised it in defence, pushing her back against the wall. The size of the room was both helping and hindering them in this battle. A bolt of energy burst out of the shield in response to the demon's attack, briefly stunning it and causing it to step back, temporarily put off balance. A trick that she had borrowed from Alice. Myne retaliated by slamming into the demon again from the side, the impact from her fiery blows sending it flying across the chamber and crashing into the wall, her flames continuing to cling to it. Shaking itself free of the debris the demon charged at them again, furious but also cautious, feinting a swing at Myne before it followed through with another at Izen, her shield barely catching it and causing her to tumble off to one side, Izen’s dragons keeping themselves well out of range. It then lunged again at Myne, its jaws barely missing Myne’s shoulders as she ducked underneath it, following up with a kick that the demon used a nearby body to take the impact of. It might be slow, but it was learning and adapting quickly.

Another feint, bite and lunge, the demon continued its attacks, targeting Myne as she had less apparent defences than Izen, Myne managing to narrowly avoid each attack while trying to keep away from the walls. The demon staggered again as Izen managed to get a hit in from behind, energy discharging from her shield again as it impacted with the demons head, Myne using the opportunity to again close in with a flurry of kicks before she jumped back, then to the side as the enraged demon charged straight for her, claws swinging widely. Her flames were still eating away at it, and given enough time they might be able to bring it down on their own, but it would take longer than they were likely to survive the battle for if they just waited – the demon's hide and natural magical defences resisting the flames as best it could. She would need to learn to intensify her flames considerably for use against the creatures of the night, but she had only possessed the magic a short while.

Izen rushed to her side, pouring magic into her formed shield, trying to increase its size.

“I’ll try and block its attack for you,” Izen declared, moving in front of her and towards the demon, taunting it as she did so.

The demon, now obviously feeling the pain and quite enraged, took Izen’s bait, charging straight for her, running straight into the shield, its claws and teeth trying to get a her from behind it as Izen dug herself in, its claws scouring her armour as she twisted to avoid it being able to land any blows on more vulnerable areas. Myne took the given opportunity, coming in from the side with a fist charged with with intense black flames, an uppercut to the head sending it spiralling back and crashing into the floor, Myne following through with an aerial kick and heel drop, the flames biting into the demon. She jumped back again as the demon sluggishly picked itself up off the floor, took a few steps towards them and then collapsed as Izen’s newly formed scythe cut cleanly through its neck, the blade an intense and brilliant white. The battle was finally over.

“We did it,” Izen declared, panting, and letting her weapon dissipate. The battle had been intense and draining, especially with the amount of magic she had been pouring into her weapons. She knew her body could handle significantly more than that, but she hadn’t had a lot of practice doing it, and her weaving was still very inefficient. Too much wasted power. She needed to get a lot better.

“That we did,” agreed Myne, smiling, her flames also fading. Use of the flames was a little too addictive. As the flames themselves were the raw manifestation of her alignment they were easy enough to call forth, but they were very hard to control, and they also caused her hunger to grow. She would feed later though.

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They made their way deeper into the dungeon, Izen’s dragons settling back onto her shoulders again. It was fortunate that they were so light in their chibi forms, or they’d be stuck with flying all the time. Now out of the adrenaline of battle the sight of all of the bodies was making Izen feel queasy. Myne had a sour look on her face, likely as she recognized many of those lying around them. It was near the back of the dungeon that they found what they were looking for, ironically in the same room in which Izen and the Witch had been locked up. Lying in the middle of the floor was a Rider, badly beaten, her breathing irregular, hoarse and ragged.

“Cammine!” Myne said as she rushed over to her, lifting her up and cradling her. “What have they done to you?”

Izen looked around. There was no sign of her dragon, and the wounds she bore weren’t done by the demon they had just fought. Why had she been left her as bait?

‘They had to leave someone, or we would have just avoided the dungeon altogether,’ Ashling answered, even though Izen already knew that.

‘She must have done something that pissed her captors off,’ Light conjectured. ‘Or she was just unlucky.’

“She’s a very straight laced girl,” Myne added to the conversation. “But I also told her what I was up to when I left, so that could be part of that. The ironic bit is that she was a healer, and now she needs the treatment.” Myne looked crestfallen. “She’s not going to survive long otherwise.”

‘What was her gem?’ queried Light

“She was a light gem. A very uncommon aspect.” Myne answered.

There was a sudden pause as realization suddenly hit Izen.

“Wait, what, you can hear Light Myne?” she asked.

Myne blinked, the realization hitting her as well. “Huh. You’re right. It just seemed so natural, that I didn’t think about it.”

‘You two are deeply bonded and connected now, in many ways, and that carries over to hearing us. Her drinking of your blood probably plays a part in that too,’ Light answered.

“It’s kinda weird, thinking about it,” Myne mused, then looking serious again. “Can you do anything to help her?” she asked of Izen.

‘Izen should be able to do something at the least,’ stated Light

‘Her alignment encompasses Cammine’s after all,’ agreed Ashling.

Izen knelt down beside Myne and Cammine, placing her hands lightly on the dying Rider.

“I have no clue what I am doing, or even what I should do, but we don’t have the time either, so I guess I’ll try something. If she survives this then she’s going to have to teach me her trade.” Izen creased her brow in concentration, bringing forth her magic. Closing her eyes, she concentrated on the form and nature of her magic, feeling the power of Dawn flow within her. A primal power Lyrissa had said. Dawn is made of many elements she thought to herself. It represents beginnings and creation, warmth and comfort. She sifted through the magic, trying to separate it into its many parts, looking for the first ray of light that heralds the beginning of a new day, the end of the night and another chance. Finding what she hoped was a spark of it she brought it to the surface of her body, and then let it flow through her body into Cammine’s.

‘Wow, you’re glowing,’ observed Ashling.

Izen opened her eyes, to find that she was indeed radiating light. The glow of her magic settled into Cammine, and her breathing settled down and softened, and her body seemed to relax a little, as if she was transitioning to a peaceful sleep.

“It’s done something at the least.” Myne said. She stood up, carrying Cammine in her arms. “We should get back up to the surface.”

Izen couldn’t agree more.

They lay Cammine down in a soft grassy patch when they got out of the dungeon, Myne sending her magic out through the temple complex again.

“No one else here at all,” she confirmed. “They beat us here, but why do this?”

Myne sat down on the grass beside Cammine.

“There were definitely no magic users amongst the dead, and no more Riders. Cammine’s dragon is gone too. It was a beautiful Sun Dragon, a small golden creature, and very gentle.”

Myne shook her head.

“They guessed we would come here, which is likely going to make it even more difficult for us to approach the Clan. I’m sure Sorene’s already talked to the council.”

“Unless they had ulterior motives for what they did here,” Izen mused. “All the magic users are missing you said, ditto for the rest of the Riders, and no sign of a fight.”

Myne glared at the ground. Zorthac would have hell to pay.

“Since we’re here, we may as well rummage up some additional clothes and supplies,” Myne said after a little while. “It doesn’t look like the others will be needing them in any great hurry. We’ll head over to he dorms.” Not that she was sure if she would be wearing Skeon again any time soon, as she was certain that it was no longer compatible with her armour, and she had discovered that while she could feel Izen’s warmth when they embraced and lay together, she was otherwise oblivious to fluctuations in temperature. A feature of her new form she guessed. But she would need something to wear when she dismissed her armour.

Izen picked up Cammine, and then they headed over to the dorms, Izen trailing behind Myne as she rummaged through the rooms of various Riders, locating what she was after and stashing it in another satchel that she had reclaimed from her former room. It was interesting to see how the Riders had lived, their quarters looking just like that of any other person that Izen had seen. The eerie quietness and the knowledge of what lay in the dungeon continued to play on her mind though, and she was more than ready to leave by the time Myne had gathered all that she wanted.

“We’ll head back to the others. I’ll try and do some more healing, or whatever it was that I managed, but we may well need to work out some sort of alternative. I really have no idea how effective it is. We’ll see what Cammine can tell us once she recovers enough and awakens.” Izen looked thoughtful as they walked away from the buildings. “And then we’ll take it from there. She might be able to shed some light on what happened, and we’ll be able to make an informed decision on what to do next. Approaching the Clan isn’t going to be fun.” Izen sighed.

Myne nodded in agreement. Things had gotten even more complicated, fast, and she had a really bad feeling about it all.

They had just loaded Cammine onto Light’s back on the outskirts of the temple complex when there was a rustle from a nearby patch of dense foliage, and a dingo-like Night Beast burst out and charged towards them.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” swore Myne in fury. She glared at the creature, her magic swelling up inside her in response to her rage, a column of black fire suddenly forming around the creature, engulfing it completely, only ashes remaining when the flame dispersed as quickly as it had come.

“Oops,” she murmured, as she then proceeded to climb aboard Light, embracing Izen from behind as her emotions settled down. Her hunger was starting to gnaw at her now though. Myne sighed.

Light took to the air, heading back in the direction of the rest of the party, Izen doing her best to keep Cammine stable as they flew.