Azir awoke to the feeling that a rock giant had grabbed him in it's enormous, craggy hand and was currently shaking him vigorously. A distinctly unpleasant feeling, that was fortunately dispelled, by the equally unsettling realization that the mountain beneath him was falling apart. Once more swamped by persistent visions of beams and swirling particles, he was even further unsettled to notice that the two discs of light had passed over their respective horizons to the north and south. He knew that to be so, as he could actually see the horizons, framed by much heavier concentrations of light. To the north, the light was clear and sharp, stabbing into his eyes. To the south, the light was deep and warm. Strangely, the longer he looked to the South, the more he swung from fatalistic resignation to intense self loathing. As the platform under him started to slide down the mountain, he drew deep on his years, finding a heavy sense of responsibility. He squared his shoulders and the light stirred around him. With some muttered words, he disappeared.

As they approached the burrow, Cutter spoke up again. "Now I'm fairly confident nothing is down there, unless it's very capable of covering it's light." Mico seemed comfortable with that but Felix hesitated, hanging behind them a bit. "How sure are you that nothing could hide from you?" Cutter once again ignored Felix and she glowered at his back. "I swear you've been ignoring me all day you big grump." Cutter's voice was harsh. "It's a pointless question. We have limited information and no way to gather more." He looked back at her, sighing at the hint of tears in her eyes. "Come now, I am confident in my ability to protect you. You can be sure of that, ok." Felix nodded, blinking a little. By the time the two of them looked forward, Mico already had his upper body halfway down a hole.

"What do Brightshards look like again?" His voice was heavily muffled. Cutter stifled an uncharacteristic laugh at the sight, clearing his throat before calling out. "They're closer to the centre of the burrow." Mico wiggled in place, legs kicking awkwardly for a second before pausing. "Could I get some help?" At that, both Cutter and Felix lost their composure. Felix's high laugh contrasted with the deep barks emitting from Cutter's bent over form, both echoing over the hard ground. Despite her amusement, Felix moved fairly promptly to help extract Mico, moving to the other side of the burrow Mico had stuck his head down into. Her attempts to help however, interrupted by fits of giggling, weren't achieving a great deal. Waving her aside, Cutter stepped forward and bent to lift the irate boy by the waist. As he did so, Felix's laughter cut off suddenly. "What is that?"

Cutter spun to look where she pointed, accidentally giving Mico a bit of a rough landing. On the horizon behind them, once again obscured by the rising heat, was a disturbingly familiar shape. Cutter's face was grim. "Quickly now Mico, 20 paces that way." Jumping to his feet and snagging his pack, he measured out the distance as best he could. Cutter, right behind him said, "Another 5 paces actually." As Mico arrived on the spot he looked around, failing to spot any burrow entrances. Cutter already had his pack on the ground and was unstrapping a tool from the side. With a long wooden handle and bladed metal head, it was clearly for breaking ground. Mico said, "Do we have time?" as Cutter started swinging at the dirt where he'd indicated. In between swings Cutter said, "Even if it is following us, it doesn't properly have our trail yet. That's at least a few hundred paces north of anywhere we would have passed through." Somewhat reassured, Mico dropped his pack and unstrapped the tool strapped to it. Using the wooden handle and wider metal scoop, he started clearing loose dirt around Cutter's strikes. They made quick progress as Felix's eyes stayed fixed on the shape in the distance.

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After a few minutes of hard, sweaty work, they broke through to a larger opening, the ground collapsing a bit around the hole. As the dust settled, Cutter leant over and peered down before holding out a hand, which Mico grabbed. Holding firmly to Cutter's wrist, Mico lowered his feet into the roughly Mico sized opening and started sliding down. In a feat of strength, Cutter was able to step forward and place a foot on either side of the hole. From there, he was able to lower Mico almost to his chest. Mico took one more look down, "I can drop from there." He said confidently. "Are you completely sure Mico? The absolute last thing we need is an injured ankle at this point." Mico nodded, releasing his grip on Cutter's wrist. Straining to lower him an extra half a pace, Cutter gave a short count and then released. Mico's feet hit ground almost immediately and he ducked down. "You should see at least one milky white, crystalline structure." Cutter called after him. Passing down the tool he'd been using to break the soil he said, "Use the head of this to pry the largest chunks you can get." A long 30 seconds later, punctuated by some strained grunting, Mico's head emerged. He had a huge grin on his face. "We're good to go!" Cutter gestured to Felix, "Come stand in front of me." She complied quickly and he grabbed her hand. "Lean out and grab onto Mico. I do have rope and anchor points but if we can get him out the quick way all the better." Cutter set his feet firmly and she glanced back at the horizon briefly before focusing back on Mico and stepping to the edge of the hole. Carefully, she squatted and leant out. This gave her just enough reach to grab Mico by the hand. Cutter waited a moment as Mico stretched a little further, getting a firm grip on Felix's slim wrist. Cutter started slowly stepping backwards, muscles straining. As he did so, Felix clenched her teeth and started straightening out. Mico did his best to help, using his free hand and legs to try scrambling up and out. With a sudden rush, his upper body popped up over the edge of the hold and he released Felix's hand.

Nervous he'd slide, she grabbed onto the back of his shirt. Fortunately, he had no trouble scrambling the remainder of the distance, going straight to his pack and throwing it on. The other two also strapped in, Cutter glancing around rapidly. Once everyone was ready Cutter quickly started striding off. "We're going to head straight south and probably push through the night. It will be a bit awkward to end up at the foot of the mountains , but at least we'll be out of here sooner, assuming we're still alive. And on that cheery note, the small group proceeded to march for just over 20 hours straight. Despite the brutal pace, the shape on the horizon never disappeared, and Mico could have sworn he was hearing the occasional roar, coming from the same direction. The whole time, he kept slipping his hand into his pocket. The large, jagged crystal in there slowly grew brighter and brighter.