1 Ymiden 719
It had taken them fifteen trials to find the fracture in the first place, three more to properly prepare themselves for an investigative exploration, and a trial skirting about the outermost tunnels in search of wells. It wasn't until they had broken camp that they realized the shift, and by then it was too late.
"What do you mean it's not there?" Talisse snapped, dark eyes fiercely defiant.
"I mean," Barund began, hands nervously wringing at his weathered leather cap, bald head slick with the sheen of panicked sweat. "It's not there, boss. It just... isn't."
Aeryk and Ellisen shifted uncomfortably in silence on either side of Mathias, who watched the exchange with bright grey-green interest.
A third voice, deeper and darker and without a hint of uncertainty in tone drifted from farther down the tunnel. "Then we find another way out." Barund's eyes widened with horror for a half trill before Wyland turned the corner, clear blue eyes alight with determination. "When one door opens," he began, but Talisse cut him off with a roll of her eyes and dismissive wave of her hand.
"Fine." She drew a slow breath in through her lose and let it flow through barely parted lips. With a soft nod to herself, she turned her attention to Aeryk. "So which way should we start?"
His slight posture improved immediately: back straight, arms at his side, hazel eyes attentive. "Not to uh... devalue Mister Barund here or anything like that," Aeryk started, glancing at the man in question out of the corner of his eye. "But maybe we should all take a look. Just to be- you know, just to be certain."
"You're not gonna find nothing," Barund muttered, shoving his crumpled cap back onto his head. "It's not there."
"Yes, well- I mean, it's not like-" Aeryk began, but Talisse held up a dark nailed hand to stop the both of them.
"Lead the way, Barund." It wasn't a suggestion.
They moved in pairs side by side: Barund with Aeryk, Talisse alongside Mathias, and Wyland and Ellisen at the rear. Thus far, they had no chanced upon anything too dangerous, but each of them were well aware that the longer they remained within the fracture, the greater their chances became of coming face to face with undesirable emean entities. That possibility seemed to silently propel their small group forward at a brisk pace, Barund at the lead retracing his steps and searching for the markers he made along the way.
"You don't really think it's gone, do you?" Ellisen whispered to Wyland, voice just noticeable in the relative silence of their boots gently but quickly padding over the uncertain, shifting ground of the fracture's tunnel. "If we can't get out-"
"We'll be fine," Wyland interrupted, warm voice soft and reassuring. "Our return might simply be... delayed. That's all."
Their goal had been straightforward: locate the fracture, gather what wells they could safely extract, and return to Ne'Hear to sell their hard-earned wares. Mathias had been an exception, tumbling out of Talisse's dreamscape and into their merry little band well over half-way to their destination. In exchange for his services as an abrogant - and, by extension, allowing him to accompany them on their expedition -, she had offered him payment in wells under the caveat that he aid in their collection and protect their assets if needed.
Like anything involving the unbound ether of emea, complications arose.
"You feel it?" Talisse murmured, quiet enough that only Mathias was able to make out the words. She didn't turn to face him as she spoke, and he did her the same courtesy in reply.
"Something is wrong," he quietly acknowledged. His spark had been squirming within his soul for the past chime or so. It was difficult to keep track of time within the fracture itself given that light and darkness at little meaning when they might shift and change upon what seemed like whim. Still, ether had been gradually but steadily draining from one of the wells in his bag, an unbidden feeding by that foreign entity within him that had become as much a part of him as any other aspect of his soul over the arcs. That it was doing so now, outside of his authority, was concerning, to say the least.
"It's like an itch at the back of my neck," she continued, glancing over her shoulder at the pair behind them who had fallen behind somewhat, their own voices a low mumble that was no doubt an exchange of apprehension for reassurance. "And I don't like it."
"Some would say," Mathias replied, a brow neatly arced to illustrate his point. "You do not like anything."
"Some would," Talisse agreed, a slight smirk on her lips as she brought her attention forward once again. "Worst case scenario," she continued, face falling into a more serious expression, "You might have to ferry us out one by one."
"Ferry you?"
"Don't play dumb with me, abrogant." Her turn to raise a brow, Talisse finally turned her head to face him, pace slowing just slightly to keep herself from tripping over her own feet. "You popped out of thin air, you can pop into thin air."
Her logic was sound.
"About that-"
"We're here," Barund unwittingly interrupted, voice quiet but loud enough that they all might hear him without difficulty. "This is it."
And "it" wasn't much. Dark red stone shimmered like a heat mirage behind and on either side of him, a clear dead end. Aeryk, clearly testing for illusion, stepped forward and pressed against where the exit should have been, but was met with as much resistance as any of the fractures shifting walls.
"Well, it's- uh, it's definitely not... you know," Aeryk mumbled, "There."
"Then we find another," Wyland repeated, his earlier recommendation now the only real course of action given the circumstances.
"Sure," Barund grumbled, adjusting the straps of his bag where it dug into his thick, meaty shoulders. "And how d'you suppose we go about that, huh?"
"Carefully?" suggested Ellisen, a slight squeak in her voice as she piped up from the back.
"We'll split up," Talisse decided, ending the discussion as was both her prerogative and habit. "Barund, Aeryk, and Elissen. Wyland, me, and... Mister Kiwi."
"And how're we gonna find each other if we make it to an exit?" Barund questioned, brow furrowed and wispy straw-yellow eyebrows marginally more distinct in a clear expression of concern. "We're like to get lost in here if-"
"You won't," Talisse continued. "Mark the path you take, as we've been doing, but if you find a way out? Take it."
Ellisen pushed her way forward, slender elbows sharply shoving Mathias and Wyland to the side. "But, Tally-"
"Clearly," Talisse continued, speaking over Ellisen's protest without even blinking, "Entrances and exits aren't a constant in this fracture. Don't know why, don't care enough to find out at this point. You spot a way out. You go. End of story."
The others shifted in place, ranging from uncomfortable to downright baffled save Mathias who remained still, eyes bright and assessing their surroundings. For the past several bits, there had been an odd sound in the distance, but it had begun to grow closer. As Mathias continued scanning the way they'd come, Wyland seemed to notice the disturbance as well, his leather gloved hand raising into the air, silencing the group in a singular motion.
"Do you hear that?"
It was wet, like dripping only... stickier. There was a husky, labored sort of breathing as well, as if whatever was approaching held far too much mucus in its mouth to properly inhale. The sound of its approach quietly echoed off of the now sapphire hued, shimmering walls of the fracture, growing closer with each squelching schlop.
Without a word, they separated into their predetermined groups, each stepping lighter than before, breaths nearly inaudible. Talisse nodded towards the left and Barund's group hurried off in that direction. Wyland in front, Talisse in the middle, and Mathias taking up the back with his attention half focused on whatever it was coming their way, the three of them hurried down one of the secondary shafts they'd passed on their way to where the exit had been.
They kept quiet for what felt like breaks, listening for anything that wasn't the sound of their own breathing or footsteps, marking the edges of the walls with a thick, black tar-like substance here and there to remember their way. There had been no sign of the others, but with so many twists and turns in the seemingly never ending labyrinth of twisting, swirling ether, it was difficult to know if they were really in opposite ends of the fracture.
That is, until a resounding scream filled the caverns.
Talisse whirled around, eyes wide. "Barund-"
The cry was cut short with a crunching, popping sort of noise that echoed through the fracture, followed by a sickening tear of meat.
"We need to go," hissed Wyland, grabbing Talisse by the wrist and wrenching her forward. "Now."
