Ros'Lyn sat perched on a crate stroking a large black cat in her lap, her feet swinging idly as she watched her friend carefully etch intricate runes into the stone floor with her sharp ebony claw. She sighed loudly and watched as Crestia's shoulders tensed just for a moment. A sound as if metal scraping against rock filled the cave as the etching continued, punctuated only by Crestia's occasional grunts of frustration.

Ros'Lyn couldn't help but grin, knowing she was getting under her friend's skin as she could see the intricate runes carved into Crestia's horns glowing slightly red.

She let out another audible sigh. "Lyn, if you have something to say, just say it," Crestia finally snapped, irritation creeping into her voice. "or maybe you could actually be useful and lend a hand."

Letting out another pronounced sigh, Ros'Lyn leaned back against the rough cave wall. "I just don't get why you insist on going through with... this." she said, gesturing towards the massive metallic construct in the center of the ritual circle.

It looked like a giant hastily assembled metallic crab. Its carapace was made of heavy brass plates riveted together at odd angles giving it an unevenly faceted appearance. Its legs were thin and spindly, almost insect-like in appearance, and it's oddly asymmetrical design added to its eerie appearance. The large retractable arms on the front ended in dangerous looking, shovel-like claws that glinted in the dim light of the cave. The metallic creature towered over them, its bulky body casting a shadow over the cave floor. Ros'Lyn found it unnerving, as though it were silently watching them with its lifeless metal exterior.

"If you want to prove the counselors wrong about you, all you have to do is play by their rules, and you can outshine everyone in the department." Lyn repeated her assertion for what felt like the thousandth time. Crestia paused her work and sat up, stretching her stiff back. She gazed out of the cave's wide entrance, noting the late hour.

"This isn't about proving anything to those dusty old tomes at the University," she lied, her back muscles loosening as she stretched. "This is about pushing the boundaries of magic and our very understanding existence."

It was a conversation they’d had many times over the past nine months, ever since Crestia had poured all of her focus into this project. She wasn't going to let it go to waste now. As Crestia rambled on, Lyn couldn't help but roll her eyes. She had heard it all before and knew this project consumed her friend's every thought and action. But even as she teased Crestia, she was genuinely concerned. This was a risky and likely dangerous endeavor.

Lyn sat the large cat aside and hopped off the crate, walking over to Crestia, offering her hand to help her up. "I understand your goal, Crestia," she said, her voice laced with worry. "But at what cost? You've lost your position at the university, spent all your money, and damaged your reputation for what? A gnomish machine that doesn't even work?"

Crestia accepted her hand and stood up, brushing off the stone dust from her trousers. "But it does work," she argued, running her fingers over a riveted seam in the brass vessel. "It was just a prototype and wasn't cost effective for them to mass produce. But it's perfect for the expedition."

She looked up at the tall elf with excitement in her eyes. "Who knows what lies on the other side? Lakes of fire like in the Hells? No air to breathe? Intense pressure? We have no idea, but this beauty is our best chance at finding out."

Lyn's gaze flicked to Crestia, catching the ironclad determination etched into her friend's face. A slow exhale escaped Lyn's lips as she stepped closer, her hand rising to rest gently on Crestia's tense shoulder. "Cres... there's nothing out there," she murmured, voice barely above a whisper, the words fragile in the charged air. Her fingers tightened slightly, grounding her friend. "The Realms are existence. Beyond them... there is nothing. That's why it's called everything." Each syllable of 'everything' lingered in the space between them, deliberate and weighty.

Lyn's eyes softened. "I understand how much this means to you—proving your theories, showing them you're more than your bloodline. But this? This isn't the way. You won't silence them like this." The air trembled, humming with unspoken words and the electric tension coiling between them.

Crestia's shoulder stiffened beneath Lyn's palm, a subtle flinch betraying the storm swirling within. Lyn knew the scars Crestia carried—the whispered slurs, the averted gazes. Daughter of an infernal demon and a succubus, Crestia bore the weight of ancestral sins not her own. The runes carved into her horns glimmered faintly, a silent testament to battles fought in shadows.

Yet, Lyn pressed on. The project teetered on the brink of something irreversible, and she couldn't watch Crestia spiral. "Listen," she urged, leaning in. "You won't change their minds by tearing a hole in the fabric of reality. You change it by outsmarting them, respecting the paths laid before us. Play their game. Prove you're more." Her hand slipped away, leaving warmth in its absence.

Guilt coiled in Lyn's chest as Crestia's silver eyes shimmered, not with fury, but with unshed tears. No sharp retort came. No fiery defiance. Just a silent, aching resolve. Those silver eyes, mirrors of every door slammed shut, every hushed accusation—they spoke of battles Lyn could never fully grasp. Her crimson skin seemed to darken under the weight of old wounds, the etched runes on her horns pulsing softly like a heartbeat.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

When Crestia finally spoke, her voice was a brittle thread. "I have to do this, Lyn. I have to." Lyn's chest tightened. That look—unyielding and raw—left no room for persuasion. She'd seen it before. Words would fracture against it. So, instead, she closed the space between them, arms wrapping around Crestia in a fierce embrace. Her voice dropped to a murmur, barely more than breath against her friend's ear. "I know."

And in that fragile moment, they stood together on the edge of the unknown, the world holding its breath. Their voices were both quiet and restrained, filled with unspoken understanding of each other's struggles. As they stood there in silence, Lyn felt guilt for bringing up such a sensitive topic to Crestia. But she couldn't help but ache for her friend and the constant battle she faced for acceptance.

And that was when they heard the explosion from the rear chamber of the cave followed by raspy garbled shouting that they assumed was cursing, though neither of them spoke goblin to be sure. They both chuckled, unmoving. After a moment, Crestia pulled away from the hug and tried to compose herself. Her puffy red eyes matched her fiery red skin now more than ever.

She chuckled softly, sniffling a bit, and said, "I better go check on Skrill before he brings down the whole cave down on us. But even as she laughed, there was a hint of sadness in her voice. Lyn could see the weight of it all bearing down on Crestia's shoulders, but she also saw the strength and resilience within her. And for that, Lyn admired her friend even more.

She nodded, a wry smile tugging at her lips. "Probably for the best. I'd hate to see your grand experiment foiled by an overzealous goblin before your first test." As if on cue, another muffled boom echoed through the cavern, followed by more enthusiastic goblin shouting. Crestia rolled her eyes and started towards the back chambers, her steps quick and purposeful.

"Skrill!" she called out as she made her way to the adjoining chamber. "What in the Hells are you doing back here?"

Lyn looked out of the cave mouth at the green valley below. Dusk was just starting to settle in, and she took a deep breath. Feeling something pressed against her shin, she looked down at the large cat rubbing against her leg, and she reached down to scratch behind its ear. “Try to keep her out of trouble, please.” she said quietly to the cat.

Looking up at her with large green eyes, the cat said “I’ll do my best. I always do.” Taking a moment, Ros'Lyn looked around the large cave.

She had heard the stories of the cavern known to the city nearby as The Dragon's Keep, or just The Keep for short, but she had never been up here before until recently. Most of the legends around the cavern talked about a dragon that had lived here long ago, and was defeated, or driven off, depending on which version of the story was being told.

The fact was there had never been any dragon, but the truth had been far more frightening if you understood it's purpose and implications. The cave itself had begun as a natural formation digging into the side of the mountain. Long ago a magic user had discovered a powerful untapped ley line running through the mountain, focused by the large crystal formations deep in the rock. As she looked around she could see the large crystalline structures surrounding the cavern at irregular intervals. She could feel the power pulsing through them, and it made her uneasy.

Shortly after the cave had been discovered was when the arcane university had been founded in the then much smaller nearby city of Erosil to give researchers access to this magically powered focus of untapped magical energy. The founding arcanists had enlarged the cave, carving it out into the larger cavern that she now stood in. She looked down at the smoothly polished cavern floor, and wondered how long it had taken them.

The walls, where not lined with clear shining crystal had been covered in runes, spells and enchantments meant to focus and contain the energy flowing through the space, and arcanists of the past used the space to perform rituals that required large amounts of arcane energy. She walked to one of the walls, running her fingers over the carvings, feeling the energy still flowing through them. These types of spells would normally have died out long ago, expending all of their energy, but they had been continuously fed power from the ley line, and were still standing as strong as the day they had been inscribed centuries ago.

"Why do you think the university abandoned this place?" she asked quietly to the cat that still followed her lazily.

"In the beginning they used this place to focus energy into high powered spells and experiments, but after several deaths, usually due to overzealous wizards or just plain ignorance, they banned the practice." the cat replied in an almost bored tone. "That was when they began limiting such things to theoretical rather than practical study."

Ros'Lyn focused her senses on the runes as she traced them lightly with her fingertips. She nodded as she felt the potential energy pulse under her touch, as if the power were reaching out to her, begging to be taken, and shaped into useful forms.

"But why the dragon story? I mean, everyone at the university knows the truth. We are told from day one not to come up here and try to use it." she said. He voice was almost a distant whisper as the power thrummed and called to her. "But the people around here still talk about a dragon that never existed."

The cat had begun idly cleaning himself. "The locals never really understood the power contained here, and would hear roars of power or explosions coming from misguided experiments up here and rumors of a dragon began. The faculty didn't bother to correct anyone since it tended to keep people from wandering up here and getting themselves into trouble." he said as he wiped his paw at his ear.

Shaking herself from the enticing call of power flowing through the cavern walls, Ros'Lyn looked back at the enormous crab shaped craft in the center of the cavern. "And Cres plans to use this power to fuel her experiment." she said, more to herself than anyone else.

"She does." The cat had paused his bathing and followed the elf's gaze to the craft. "And before you ask, yes, I have tried to talk her out of it, but you know how she is, and at the end of the day I am her familiar. I am a spirit of intellect, bound to her to give her aid and counsel, but her choices are her own. I can no more stop her than I can move this mountain."

Ros'Lyn nodded solemnly. "Let's just hope she knows what she is doing."