One issue arose rather quickly in trying to cross the river. The barrier travelled with Cira, and even if they wanted to risk the weight of all the mages, it would not be large enough to cover everyone in line. In truth, her group was larger than she usually liked in her day to day, but that couldn’t be helped now. They were valuable members of the expedition and had all contributed one way or the other.

“Let me just see,” Cira stuck her hand outside the barrier and made an uncomfortable face, “Eughh, it feels kind of gross. How strange.” She quickly popped her head out and shook it around as if hanging her head out the window of a moving ship. When Cira withdrew, she rubbed her hands through her hair and made a noise like she expected to find muck of some sort. “It won’t kill us, but it would be a bad idea to sit in it too long… Alright.”

Cira spent most of one second carving a simple rune in the air. When she finished, a Lamplight appeared. Fueled by the last few hours-worth of collected shadows, it burned brighter than her students’ and took on a golden hue because Cira enjoyed the morning sunlight.

Sadly, there were those who interpreted it as one of the Saint’s holy suns.

“Amazing…” Marko’s breath caught in his chest.

“And so fast!” Ike gazed into it rapturously from a couple feet away.

Shores couldn’t help himself either, “Even I can tell—"

“Enough, guys.” Cira spent a very short amount of time repeating the process and all of a sudden had thirteen more Lamplights. “Everybody gets one. Just send a little mana into it and it will follow you around.”

“If you can cast it so much better and instantaneously…” Tawny chided, “why haven’t you been doing that this whole time?”

“I could cast Lamplight by drawing it on your chest in bat guano,” Cira had a long list of sorceries she wanted to refine to the same degree, but time felt so short these days, “It has always been about allowing my students a chance to grow.”

“What…?”

“See you on the other side!” Cira flashed them a smile and took her first step onto the bridge. Followed by a very careful second onto her wooden leg. Her hands firmly gripped the two ropes to her sides, but they weren’t as tight as she would like.

It’s okay. Just focus, and be careful… There’s my very third step. Things are going great. Now I just need to bring my peg forward again and—

Cira’s wooden leg got caught between the ridges in the rope, and she tripped, completely losing her footing. She dangled precariously to one side but felt herself being ripped in half trying to hang onto both sides.

“Lady Cira!” Shores valiantly ran over to help because she had only made it three steps—she was well within range. However, when he stepped onto the rope, it scraped against Cira’s side and her right hand slipped. “Noooo!”

He meant well, but this was all his fault. “Dammit, Shooooores!”

No problem. I could swing across the river like a spider monkey. I’ve been training my agility all my life for this moment—

“Shiiiit!” Alas, Cira’s hand was wet from trying to play around with water. She tried to swing herself around to grab the rope with both hands, but it slipped away.

“I’ll save you!” Shores was already diving in before Cira even touched the water.

“Brother.”

“I know.”

Eros and Lero also jumped off the edge and Cira finally entered the river with a splash. She held her breath preemptively, but the current was strong. In seconds, Cira was swept beneath the waves.

This is bad. I’m in no shape to explore an underwater cave. Wait, what happened to my ring? Does Nanri still have it? Damn.

Cira was as good as dead. Why the Undine couldn’t have just given them a ride was beyond her, but she had to do something quick.

This sure seems bad, but… It’s reminiscent of my bed in Nymphus. Why is that? This isn’t the time to nap, but… maybe I can relax for a few.

While Cira let the water gurgle around her, a shadow passed over her. It was Captain Shores being dragged along with the current. The sorcerer’s rest was short and sweet.

Don’t go too far, now. He had drifted a fair distance ahead and if Cira weren’t the owner of the barrier, he may have kept going forever unnoticed, his corpse getting lodged somewhere deep underground or dumped into the sky below. She could only see his hand as he nearly escaped to the dark waters, but Cira reached her hand out and stopped him.

Not with her hand. The gesture was just a reflex. He was too far away to grab physically, but that didn’t stop her. It felt so natural, in fact, that she didn’t even realize what she was doing. The next step of course was to pull him in. He was surely having a fright, so the barrier would hopefully make him feel better.

Suddenly Cira felt something grab her arm and jerk it up violently. She swung around with a reflexive fist that suffered no resistance from the water only to stop inches from Lero’s face. Oh…

He was deep in a panic, and Eros swam right past the two before latching onto Captain Shores. The brothers were accomplished swimmers, and their bodies were coated in a faint cerulean glow as they kicked rhythmically through the water to reach the surface, refusing to be swept away.

Once they broke the surface the brothers gasped for air and started shouting to each other, “The Saint is safe!” There were cheers from somewhere distant beyond the shadows.

Cira breathed in too, but for some reason her body wasn’t vying for air as desperately as the brothers.

“Shores is out! We gotta get him—to shore!” Eros held him in a bear hug and back-paddled away. They must have been closer to the other side because that’s where he disappeared to.

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“Are you okay, my Lady?!” Lero now cradled Cira and carried her ashore in the same fashion.

Godsdammit… How did it end up like this? Cira could not feel how perfectly her peg leg was notched onto the cable above. Because it was made of wood…

“I’m fine, I can take it from here.” So embarrassing… Some sorcerer I am.

“Nonsense. We’re already there.” Lero dragged the sopping wet Cira onto the banks and started patting her down for wounds.

“Come on, cut it out!” Cira scurried out of his reach and was finally back on two feet. There was sincere concern in his eyes, but he pulled his hands back shrunk down anxiously. Gah, I can’t leave it at that. “Thank you for jumping in when you did, Lero—and Eros. I knew I could count on you in… such situations. I’m fine though, really.”

Unlike the winded mage, Cira’s breath was even and steady. As Lero buckled beneath the weight of actual praise, Cira pinched her wet robes and pulled them away from her body. Because of the set’s nature as a very long ribbon, she was wrapped in many layers of soaked fabric. She didn’t mind the water’s presence per se, but it was cold and heavy.

In the next few seconds, the water all started bubbling out and ran down her robes like they were made of glass. It pooled at her feet before making its way back into the river.

“Hm. That worked nicely.” Cira said, dusting off her freshly dried shoulder. She turned around to look up the bank where it inclined back to where the path should be and found Eros desperately shaking his unconscious captain. “How is he?”

He glanced at the two approaching with tears in his eyes, “He’s… he’s breathing, but he won’t wake up!”

“Let me see.” Cira leaned in and placed one ear on his chest. “His breaths are deep and seem unhindered. I don’t think he has any water in his lungs at a glance. What the hell happened to him?”

I wasn’t down that long, was I? The cheers from Rictor’s rope bridge didn’t sound far away.

“Captain Shores… He hit the water wrong. Knocked all the wind right out of him, then I watched him get tossed around by the waves.” Eros clenched his fist as if he were on Shores’ death bed, “If we were only moments later, we may never have seen him again.”

Good thing I—huh… Was that really my power? To think, it’s even more innate than using Aquon. How can an undine just throw a gift like this around so lackadaisically?

“We’re lucky you got to him in time.” Cira replied, “Just be glad he’s breathing. You’ll have to carry him until he wakes up.”

With a firm nod, Eros scooped up the unconscious captain and threw him over his shoulder, supporting him with one hand so he could still wield his staff.

“We should regroup with the others.” Lero suggested and climbed the banks with his Lamplight cast out in front of him.

Right on cue, however, the perpetrator approached from beyond the shadows.

“L-Lady Cira!” Rictor threw himself to his knees, “I’m so sorry!”

“Why are you apologizing?” Cira felt herself turning red and looked away, “Let’s just never speak of this moment again.”

It was, in short, embarrassing. The average sorcerer did not pride themselves on agility, but Cira did, to some degree at least. Nothing was more disgraceful than taking three steps then falling into the river—in front of everyone. She should have been able to dance across a single rope with a pile of books stacked on her head. This was a tumble Cira wanted to leave in the past sooner rather than later.

“I said get up.” Cira continued. Even though she hadn’t said that, she thought it was implied. The tomb was dark, and it did not take long to leave everybody behind. She was able to enjoy a brief moment of tranquility before the others came rushing up behind her, then another from ahead.

“Your Grace!” Marko appeared from the abyss and knelt with his sword glimmering in holy light. “I’m so glad you’re okay!”

Cira sighed at their progressively haughty titles. Do they think they’re being subtle?

“Go on,” Cira waved him away, “We will wait for the others at the bridge.”

They ran into Gil on the way and when they reached the bridge, Jimbo was hopping off onto solid ground. He was far more deft with a wooden prosthetic, and Cira found this to be a very pitiful thing to envy. Kuja was last across because she took it nice and slow. Nobody gave her grief for it, of course, though the brothers were prepared to dive back in just in case.

The old one had a few choice words for Cira about her recklessness, and Tawny made sure to help them sink in as Cira struggled to brush off her ridicule. Once that was settled, the party was once again traversing the shadows. Despite their cluster of Lamplights and Cira’s domain, the hike was remarkably dull.

Just as Undina claimed, the goliaths avoided them—like a plague. According to what she saw in the cerulean light, Cira figured her shadow lens had range enough to see to the far wall. A few hundred feet at a minimum, yet the gleaming white concentrations of darkness scarcely showed themselves. Each time Cira caught a glimpse of one, it would quickly disappear behind some unseen obstruction.

As if they could feel Cira’s gaze, none dared even peek. It was a little bit of a letdown, but Cira figured it was better to have such powerful entities keep their distance. Still, having semi-friendly creatures cower before her was never a good feeling.

As the tomb had fallen to a state of decimation from the mere existence of these beings, there was nothing to see as they spent the next few hours walking further in. Despite the crew’s lively conversation, it was a very isolating darkness. As if the world had disappeared and they were walking through an endless void. Lulls in the conversation made for tense silence, and nobody could help feeling a little on edge as time wore on.

“Oh, good.” Kuja clacked her staff on the ground and came to a stop, “I was worried we missed it.”

The path down was in the center of the tomb, else they would have had to walk twice as long. With no landmarks it was difficult to tell, but they now stood before a staircase. At the bottom was where the Archaean’s long forgotten Cairn of Spirit lay. Beyond that was, well, a little rock and then the sky again. Cira’s goal at long last.

After exchanging a glance with the crew, Cira led the way. That much was only appropriate, but it seemed quiet. Despite the crushing darkness, there was no eminent mana surging from below like she felt from those waves of heat earlier. Everything seemed still, and dead silent.

This staircase was much shorter than the last few, and they quickly found themselves at the bottom. Cira took a few steps and felt herself digging in. She kneeled down and picked up a handful to let it fall through her fingers.

“This isn’t like the ruined stone from above.” Cira tried and failed to peer into the distance. Even though her barrier had been gaining power this whole time, it was noticeably smaller since they descended the stairs.

“We are beneath the mountain now,” Kuja replied, “and you will find no graves here. We have reached the seed bed from which Lost Clouds lush forests once sprouted. The Cairn is not far. Follow me—”

“Wait.” Cira stopped her with a held out arm, “I don’t like this.”

“Why?” Jimbo tossed a Sunbearer Coin into the dark, wasting it. “See? No slimes or nothin’. Wouldn’t we see whatever’s down here anyway?”

“Not necessarily.” Something troubled Cira to no small degree. A certain absence of a very important part of this journey. If it wasn’t above… “There’s something in here with us. Don’t let your guards down.”

Unfortunately, Shores had yet to wake up, so Lero would be useless. Depending on what was down here, that wouldn’t even matter.

It was too damn quiet, and with soft dirt beneath her feet, Cira couldn’t even hear her own footsteps. She was about to throw some test shots into the dark to see if any hit when the room shook followed by a deep, unsettling laugh.

“I knew this day would come.” A gravelly voice carried across the shrouded chamber. Against the backdrop of silence, it carried through the air as if from every direction. His voice rippled through the shadows like waves of mana. Cira whipped her head back and forth and didn’t see so much as a trace. “So, thieves have finally come to plunder my home.

“Such disrespect.” With a gust of wind, a man appeared from wisps of shadow. Tall, and shrouded in dark robes with a hood that hid his face. All Cira could see was the pulsating mana behind his eyes. They shined bright through the lens of her barrier. “Do you think I can let this go unpunished?”

“D-do you know this guy, Kuja?” Gil asked nervously.

“No.” Cira cut him off, poising her staff to strike a quick rune with the flick of her wrist. “This man is no Archaean. However, Kuja, I believe we have found the one responsible for defiling your ancestor’s remains.”