A powerful gale travelled from the north bringing with it dark clouds. Iris heard the powerful element long before it caught up to her almost like if she was being chased by a giant. She felt her tall body becoming a sail of sorts as she stumbled forward from the unexpectedly strong force pushing on her. The black glass began to flake off and dance on the wind as Kia’s head shot upwards in alert. If the undead mage’s form matched closer with her feline behaviour her ears would have perked up in vigilance alongside her eyes which searched the empty grassland for something.
“Something happened?” The tall risen asked the pale girl whose body reminded her of her severely injured mana circuits, forcing Kia to lie down again.
“The wind.” The undead barely responded, too exhausted to hide her worries, which danced on her face like dark shadows, staining her presenting face with ugly expressions not fitted for her.
Iris tightened her grip on Kia before picking up speed to a full-fledged sprint. The great open expanse of tall grass rippled like waves on the turbulent high sea, offered no shelter in sight for the undead. Regardless of this fact, the risen ran as fast as she could hoping she could perhaps stumble onto a safe refuge she searched for the last four days. The elf sensed the howl of the wind coming from behind her shift slightly. Turning around she saw a great blanket of dark clouds covering the entirety of the sky. Under the clouds, Iris saw something fall down onto the ground in plentiful numbers but it wasn’t rain rushing to fall onto Niuran as the faint sound of dull thuds hid itself in the wind roar. Unable to outspeed the elements, the sound of ice shattering onto Iris’s body filled the air. With all honesty, the horrendous weather was the least of the elf’s worries as she leaned her body forward, shielding the girl with her body. As the elf crested a gently rising bulge in the landscape and ran down its southern slope she felt her leg land on something other than solid dirt. Without hesitation, Iris casted Shakles Off, she couldn't permit herself to fall with her strangely quiet mistress in her arms. Firmly planting her boot on the ground the risen used all her force to push herself forward.
"!?"
Instead of being propelled forward Iris's leg disappeared into the ground dragging her body down with it. She watched her world spin before coming to suddenly as her back slammed into the rocky ground. A white veil quickly covered the elf's vision with a light yet stiff touch. Her racial attribute kept her clear-minded allowing her to see her fall. With one move she threw the veil off of herself just as it pressed her harder into the ground.
Standing up again and gazing dumbfounded at the sight in front of her, Iris watched as the roof held up by spiderweb began to collapse onto the once perfectly concealed lair. Pulling her spear from under the pile of dirt the risen turned on her heel but saw nothing but silk-covered walls and a tunnel leading down with bones scarred haphazardly on the floor. She stayed still for a moment waiting for the owner of the lair to crawl from the depths of the tunnel but whatever had lived here seemed to not be home.
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"Mhhhhgr!" A muffled scream from between her arms jerked the elf's body to move again.
Seeing no other option for survival Iris left the hail-stricken surface behind and scurried into the dark tunnel. Not far into the darkness the deafening sound of the outside first muffled before becoming nothing more than hushed whisper her keen ears picked up through the soft, black soil. Thinking the danger had ended Iris looked down and saw her mistress curled into a ball from which an opaque smoke slowly rose. Dark red patches were scattered on Kia's bare skin resembling the aftermath of an acid spray rather than the light rash Iris was experiencing. Most of the black scale disappeared from Kia's arms exposing the darkened bandages underneath.
The tall elf tried to shift the girl into a more comfortable position but as she did her white linen shirt was pulled alongside the girl who froze into a motionless statue. Slowing her pace to a peaceful stroll through the streets, the elf looked closer and saw that the cold undead had stuffed her mouth with her shirt and had bit into it with her teeth while squeezing her eyes shut as hard as she could. With a heavy heart, the elf decided to leave her mistress alone knowing there was nothing she could do to ease her pain except going further inside the tunnel.
The semi-circular tunnel was wide enough for two or three knights to comfortably ride through with about a meter to spare above them. The tunnel was completely covered in a grey-white spiderweb which surprisingly didn't stick to her shoes like she thought it would but rather crunched under her heels. From where the wall touched the floor up, a thick blanket of this web held up the earth above while the floor was covered with a single layer of much more sturdier string which felt almost like walking on uneven cobblestone.
The elf's eyes squinted as the darkness proved too dark for her night vision to handle, leaving her with a blurry vision as her eyes struggled to peer past the complete void extending past the ghostly purple light emanating from Kia's chest.
"Woah." The tall risen stopped before she looked upward as in front of her a great spider almost completely blocked her path.
A purple glow reflected off of six black beads surrounding a pair of human-like eyes staring at the space in front of them with a stone-cold stare. Great fangs gleamed in the ghostly light with multiple soft colours from between its curled mandibles. Iris extended her spear in front of her but the spider's vertical pupils haven't shifted even a little bit continuing to stare blankly at nothing in particular.
The longer Iris stared at the behemoth the more its strange and eerie eyes drew her attention. The brown irises sparkled with many colours like dwarven gems seemingly by themselves. Exactly like the dragon's dominating eyes are described by the bards in inns and taverns. She wondered why would a spider have the eyes of a dragon but nothing she came up which that could justify their existence.
"How big was the thing that ate you?" Iris whispered to herself as she walked passed the dead behemoth with most of its thorax bitten off with one bite. She rubbed her fingers together getting rid of the dust settled on the smooth carapace of the spider in a thick layer of dust.
Behind the dead spider, the tunnel suddenly expanded to twice its size. Iris jumped off the ridge onto the bottom of the larger tunnel. The new tunnel was oddly shaped with a ringed pattern evenly spaced every two steps inserted into the hard soil around them. The creature who ate the giant black spider must have not been the only thing digging tunnels underneath the earth as a slightly smaller tunnel without the oddly shaped walls intersecting with their tunnel, blocking of the way forward while opening two more paths.
Iris stood still in the "T" shaped intersection unsure of what to do and waited for Kia to start moving again.