The hall was identical to the last one they were in, lit by that same ever-bright beam of light above them, connected by each piece of quartz laid into the ceiling. The sound that Mo had heard while going down the steps was more prominent now. She was almost certain now that it was water, gently running within the walls surrounding them. The air was warmer now and the humidity was noticeably higher.

“You can hear that, too, right?” Mo asked in a quiet voice.

“The water? Just barely… That is water, right?” Eurwen responded, glancing over her shoulder to her companion.

“I’m positive it is,” Mo replied, eyeing the walls of the hallway. “Maybe this is connected to the brook that was near our campsite?”

“It’s a possibility. We’re deeper into the earth now, though. It could be an entirely different water source.”

Mo gave a nod and a soft hum of agreement, glancing around Eurwen now to see the hallway begin to open up into another room once more. Except this time, it was already partially lit.

A large beam of light, soft and filled with motes of dust, cast down onto a round stone platform. Standing atop the platform was a marble statue of a knight in rounded full plate armor, and in its hands held out in front of it was some sort of golden shape. In the dark, a long stone walkway reached out from them toward the pedestal and the statue itself. With it being so dark it was somewhat hard to tell

Eurwen’s pace began to speed up as she quickly approached the doorway into the room. Mo followed suit, her ear twitching slightly as she realized that this room was filled with the sounds of water. Dripping of water into a pool, the slight ripple of water, the sound of it rushing through the space surrounding them. She then looked up. The doorway’s quartz wasn’t on a swivel like the last one. Instead, it was fixed at a more downward angle, the thin beam drifting into the room toward the statue.

It was more clear, now, what the statue was holding. It was a shield, golden and regal with a large round quartz in the center. It looked like a definitive match to Eurwen’s sword. The quartz of the shield gleamed in the light but didn’t cast any sort of beam. On the pedestal itself, however, was a deep rectangular cut in the stone.

Immediately Mona’s eyes snapped to look at Eurwen’s half-cape and to the space where she knew the woman’s sword was sheathed. She then looked up at her face. Eurwen was staring out at the marble statue, eyes wide and brow slightly creased, her lips were just barely parted. Awe and almost a bittersweet relief were both present in her expression.

Mo hesitantly looked away from her, instead looking up toward the ceiling where the light was coming from. It seemed to be coming from a hole in the rock, perhaps going right to the surface. She couldn’t be sure, however, as the answer was out of view.

The sound of Eurwen’s footsteps caught her attention as she turned to see the Elven woman begin to step out onto the long strip of stone. Mo soon followed, though with a bit of hesitation.

“I don’t see any other way out from here,” she whispered, well aware of how the hairs at the back of her neck were standing on end. She could see no other entrances along the natural rock walls of the large dome-like spring they’d found themselves in. She could see whisps of steam rising from the water that surrounded them and she could feel how her clothes wanted to stick to her from how warm the room was.

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“We can check the front entrance again after we’re done here,” Eurwen muttered in almost a dismissive manner. She was soon at the pedestal itself, Mona standing just a few steps behind her. Without another word, the fiery-haired woman unsheathed the white-bladed sword and held it on either side of the hilt’s guard, pointing down toward the slot in the floor.

Eurwen slowly brought herself down to one knee, fluidly guiding the sword with her until it entered the slot. The thin beam of light cast into the room from the hallway then connected with the quartz marble in the hilt, causing prismatic light to burst outward from it in smoky tendrils and flashes, just like when they’d opened the door outside.

Mo gave a yelp at the flash of light and stumbled slightly, slipping on some of the wet stone and landing on her hands and knees with a grunt. She looked up with a squint, trying to see past all of the bright light and colors. She could barely see past it all, but she was able to take in that the light was now connecting to the shield as well, brightening the room and causing mirror-like reflections to come off of the water and up onto the ceiling. She could see Eurwen’s form against it all, still as the statue in front of her as she kept the sword in place.

After a few moments, her eyes began to adjust and she crawled a bit toward her. “Eurwen!” She called out, “Eurwen, are you okay!? Talk to me!”

Eurwen didn’t respond. Instead, the light whisped like fog from the shield and the sword both began to condense, pulling back into themselves. Mo slowly made her way closer as this happened, ignoring the electric feeling in the already warm air as she made her way onto the pedestal. Mona scooted her way around Eurwen until she could face her, but froze before she could ask again if she was alright.

Eurwen’s eyes were open wide and glowing a bright white, light flitting from the corners like flames. Her expression was one of still shock and she wasn’t moving at all. A few of the loose orange curls in front of her face were billowing slightly in a breeze that wasn’t present, and her hands were in a white-knuckle grip with the sword.

Mo simply stared at her for a few moments before reminding herself to breathe, taking in a shaky breath as she lifted a hand from the rock and started to slowly reach out to touch her. She muttered the other’s name in one faint, concerned whisper.

Just then, with Mona’s fingers just inches from Eurwen’s arm, the light finished pulling itself into each of the weapons’ respective quartz. At the same time, another flash of light appeared, this time from Eurwen’s back. Shards of light burst into the space behind her, spread wide like a shattered mirror in the shape of two bright, resplendent, wing-like shapes.

Mo gasped and recoiled, falling onto her backside as the glass-like shards appeared. She called out for Eurwen again only for a loud splash to sound beside her as a large boulder dislodged from the ceiling of the cave and landed in the water, splashing over them both. The room was rumbling now, the stone under her shaking as smaller rocks started to fall into the water.

The Beastfolk woman cursed under her breath and quickly scrambled to her feet. “Eurwen, get up! We’ve gotta get out of here!” she yelled out, looking around as water started to pour out of holes that were now present in the walls and ceilings. Just as she was about to grab Eurwen, another loud crash erupted in the room and she was barely able to keep her footing. Mo quickly turned to look up at the entrance only to see a large pile of debris completely blocking the entrance back into the tomb.

The beam of light was now gone and the light in both the shield and the sword was starting to dim along with the strange shapes at Eurwen’s back and the glowing of her eyes. She slowly let go of the sword, letting it sink fully into the slot in the ground before her eyes closed and she slumped to the ground, completely unconscious.

Mo looked around as the water continued to rise around them, panic welling in her chest. She was now left in that one beam of light coming from above, and in a final attempt to spot an exit, she looked up.

Above them was a small glowing orb, suspended in an indent in the ceiling. She couldn’t tell how deep it was, how far into the rock it went, or if there was a tunnel running off of it that they could escape from.

A deep feeling hit her stomach and she gave a soft groan of anxious worry before simply giving a deep sigh.

“Well, damn…”