Naomi kept her eyes averted from the gore saturated cave, hands shaking as she hovered over Cassien's body with a healing light. They both knew he hadn't sustained any injuries during the fight, but neither said anything; it kept her mind distracted and made her feel the tiniest bit better - she preferred to see gold than crimson at this moment.

After some time, he pushed her hand down gently. "I think we should stop here, conserve your energy. I'll see if they have anything useful on them."

"I'll help," she replied, though her eyes still remained downcast.

"It's alright if you don't," Cassien kissed the top of her head and stood.

He checked through pouches and packs, ruffled through burlap sacks to find bits dried food that had been tucked away. There was little more than skimpy rations and bone dried flasks of liquor, though he pocketed a spare dagger.

Naomi watched him as he moved, as if this was an every day occurrence to shuffle through carnage. But it had been his life before everything - it wasn't as if Cassien had never killed, never participated in active combat before. She knew with certainty that he didn't have the luxury of picking and choosing his battles, to deal with the aftermath by his lonesome. But now with her by his side, she could change that choice for him.

They were a team.

She forced herself to her feet and padded over to the thin man with the flail buried in his chest and prodded his pockets.

Cassien glanced over his shoulder, a protest forming from his lips. "You don't have to do anything."

She kept searching, ignoring the squeamish feeling in her gut. "I know. But I want to."

His lips pressed into a thin line, but he didn't fight her.

Her fingers caught on something thin and square, tucked away in the pocket of his pants. "Found something."

She slipped out a crumpled square of paper and carefully smoothed it out. The writing was messy and barely legible, but it was clear from the numbers and written names that it was some sort of guard rotation for the ambush points. They scanned it together, able to determine that the next checkpoint would have five assailants this time. There was a third point as well, but blood had soaked through and obscured the writing.

"Since the alarm bell didn't get rung here, they won't be expecting anyone to come through," Cassien said with approval that something had gone right for once. "We'll have an advantage."

"Then we should go as soon as possible."

With corpses looted and their stomachs filled with scraps of food and water, Cassien pushed the manmade door, its cheap hinges creaking as it opened. It was the entrance to another corridor of darkness, winding but wide enough for a small group to march through freely.

"Do you think the others are okay?" Naomi asked in a wary voice. It had been some time since they were all separated, and not on a good note. She didn't even want to consider the possibilities of what could've happened since.

"Thom's too stubborn to die without a full audience to witness his legacy," Cassien answered. "Aryn's probably fine - he's the most levelheaded. But Darius is too proud to be the first to go. And I have dibs on killing him first for what he did to you."

He glanced back. "Are you thinking about Kaelen?"

He knew her well - Naomi nodded. "About whether or not she went through with Alistair's plan."

Cassien sighed, and she could tell he was searching for the best words to convey honesty without unnecessary cruelty. "We'll know soon enough."

That marked the end of their conversation.

Their boots crunched over gravel as Naomi's light orbs shimmered ahead like a mark of clairvoyance. It didn't take long before the stale, earthy air shifted to acrid fumes and something metallic and sharp.

Naomi had grown to recognize the nauseating scent, as depressing as it was.

She immediately snuffed her orb and dropped to a low crouch behind Cassien, inching forward in sync as if they had become accustomed to the tactic. The lingering smell intensified, and Naomi fought the urge to turn in the opposite direction for what she was expecting.

She steeled her nerves as they rounded the corner, and her breath caught.

Blood and bodies.

Like a sheet of glistening ruby blanketed over lumps and mangled limbs.

The air was still and the space of the room even more rigid - lifeless, save for their own newly arrived presence. The cavern area was set up almost identical to the previous checkpoint, up to the threshold and alarm bell that hung above it. Each body was dressed in the recognizable Seravethian leather straps and emblems. The smell was almost overwhelming, and Naomi forced down the bile that threatened to spew.

Cassien crouched beside one of the corpses and turned its head, then the next and so forth, scanning between each one.

He tilted back one of the heads to expose the throat, the skin stained red. At the source of the bleed was a clean, horizontal cut that spliced just below the sharp of their jaw.

"Every single one of them had their major blood supply cut. They probably bled out in less than a minute."

It took Naomi a second to understand his implication, and another to gather the clues of the room. Despite the copious amounts of blood in the room, the majority of the men's weaponry were still sheathed. Even the alarm bell didn't have a single fingerprint marred on its brassy surface.

"This had to be Darius," Cassien said firmly. "Rogue's work."

"I think so too," Naomi's stomach tightened at the hope that the others remained unharmed. "Who else could've taken out five guys without so much as a struggle?"

Golden eyes flicked to her with a hint of amusement. "I took out six."

"It's not a competition, my love," Naomi wrinkled her nose. "But if it makes you feel better: you're the better fighter."

His lips quirked upwards, satisfied. He regloved his hand and stood, offering it to Naomi. "The bodies still feels somewhat warm, so they can't be too far ahead. We should get a move on if we want to catch up. I assume they might've stumbled on an illusory path of their own if they got ahead of us without setting off the first point."

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She nodded in agreement before taking his hand, meticulous of where she stepped. They set off once more, their pace more brisk and unguarded at the assurance that allies had already cleared the path ahead. Even without her orbs summoned, filters of light seemingly swept through the tunnels with no source, enough to light the path forwarding without stumbling.

Moss and gnarled vines began to make their appearance once more, their feet hitting the occasional splash of a shallow puddle from water that dripped from stalactites; the air grew thicker, moist with damp heat with wisps of white blossoms that curled through stone cracks.

Naomi's foot landed in another puddle at the same time of an unmistakable clang of metal against metal up ahead, followed by a bloodcurdling warcry. The two exchanged a single glance before pushing their legs hard off the ground, bursting ahead.

At the end of the tunnel spat them out into an open expanse, and Naomi almost halted in her tracks at the beauty. It was as if the landscape of an exterior grotto entrance had been picked up and moved underground. She might've forgotten that they were still within the lower depths of the Syheris Canyon, if not for the jagged rocky ceilings that spanned nearly fifty feet high. Ripples of white light reflected off a semicircle of deep crystal blue waters that stretched from wall to wall of the cavern, broken only by a wide crescent of solid stone along the far side. Faintly luminescent flowers grew in clusters within thick bundles of moss that covered the ground - and it would have been beautiful, if its white petals were not stained with gore.

On the rocky shore, Thom and Kaelen were pressed back-to-back in a defensive stance as five heavily armoured men surrounded them. Kaelen's teeth were bared as she swung an axe out in a wide arc, catching the chink within one's bronze plated armour and ripping out a chunk of flesh. Thom held a battered shield in his hand, catching one blow after another that had been meant for his skull. The two of them looked like they had taken some hits each, though not too worse for wear. Bloodied warriors laid unmoving all around the cavern floor - clearly having been killed very recently.

"You traitorous bitch," One of the warriors with slick dark hair snarled, raising a mace. "The king will put your head on a pike for this!"

Kaelen parried with the handle of her axe, teeth bared. "I'd like to see you try to take me to him."

In the background of them was a fifteen foot high ledge that sat above the shimmering waters. A blur of black smoke slipped in between three more enemies of lesser defensive armour. Darius - moving with two daggers held like twin fangs - drove both blades into the chest of one man, too quick for the others to catch up.

He kicked both feet up to plant against the man's ribcage, forcing his weight downwards as he ripped his weapons free. The momentum of the motion sent the Servarthian tumbling backwards, and Naomi watched as the man plunged in freefall into the water below.

The water swallowed him in a heavy catch. Amidst the aquamarine blue, a red bloom spread with a single body flosting up in its centre.

Aryn was crouched low to the ground, his silver hair specked with bits of blood but otherwise unharmed. His eyes were bright with concentration, fingers pressed against his temple; though Naomi was not a target of his powers, she could feel the faintest aura of a gutwrenching grief mixed with despair and terror. Even that was enough to make her heart ache for a moment - she couldn't imagine the full force of such an emotional state.

It took her a second to realize he was projecting the feeling onto the Seravethian warriors by the way they staggered in their attacks, their balance fumbled, an endless stream of tears blinding their vision. A few crumpled to their knees with a hand clutching their heart, body writhing for several seconds before dropping entirely, motionless.

He had no need for physical weapons - the torment of emotional attacks was just as painful.

Cassien turned to Naomi and kissed her so quickly she didn't have a chance to return the gesture. "Poke in where you can, but don't draw too much attention to yourself."

Before she could respond, he surged towards Thom and Kaelen, unsheathing his longsword with a chilling arc of frost trailing behind. With his free hand, Cassien sprayed a wave of ice beneath the Seravethian warriors' feet before making a clenched, upward motion - the icy surface shook and splintered upwards with thin, razor sharp points, skewering flesh and bone.

Blood spurted outwards in a bloody shower, and Thom held out his shield like an umbrella from the rain. At that exact moment, Kaelen let out a roar and cleaved her axe downwards, her attacker dropping to the ground like a sack of rocks.

"Couldn't resist the urge to show off, huh?" Thom huffed, but he was smiling with relief. "Took you long enough. Knew a little fall couldn't have taken you out."

Movement caught in the corner of Naomi's eye - a man limping with a final desperation towards Aryn, short sword raised. At that exact moment, both her and Cassien shot out a beam of energy that pierced two searing holes through him. The man dropped with a thud.

A hollow feeling settled in her stomach at her action, but strangely enough, she didn't feel as nauseous as she thought she would. It had helped that the decision came down to either the attacker or Aryn - plus, Naomi sorely chose to believe that Cassien had the killing blow, anyway.

Thom looked at Naomi and whistled. "Wow. Didn't think you had it in you. Nice to see you alive and well, Rosenthorn."

He reached out to Cassien with a clap on the shoulder, and Cassien pulled him into a tight one-armed hug. "That should be 'Naomi' to you."

"Yeah, yeah. Good to see you, too," Thom chuckled.

Kaelen rolled her shoulder in a stretch, her toned arms flexing. "Good timing."

Naomi swallowed, unsure of how to feel. On one hand, she still felt the sting of a ghostly anger. But her more forgiving side urged her to let go, to look at things more rationally. Here she was, still fighting on their side, against her former allies. She had every chance in the world to turn the tables with the Cobra King's men behind her.

But she didn't.

Naomi surprised herself and strode forward, holding out her palms towards Kaelen. The red haired woman almost flinched, but remained planted in her spot. A warm, soothing light floated around her, minor cuts sealing and seeping a reddened bruise from her cheek.

"So, I take it you've decided who you're fighting with now?" Naomi said cheekily, though her words were serious.

Kaelen let her axe hang limply to her side. "I decided that a long time ago."

"Forgive us if we're not so inclined to believe you," Cassien cut in sarcastically just as a scream pierced in the background, a dark blob dropping into the bloody waters with a loud splash. "You don't exactly have a good track record."

"I don't," Kaelen agreed evenly with no defensiveness in her tone. "But here's my fresh start."

It was strange - maybe it was the dim, warm light of the expanse that shone on her, or the unfamiliar look of remorse written in her face. But the fierce and once ill tempered warrior woman had a certain softness to her features, and even her body's posture was more relaxed than Naomi had ever seen even in the aftermath of a fight.

She looked lighter, like she had been freed of a burden that had weighed on her even before she had arrived in Tudor.

Cassien's jaw tightened with a rebuke, but he caught the look of Naomi's eyes - and settled the venom on his tongue. "…Don't think that this means we've forgotten what you did."

"I won't forget."

Aryn jogged up to the group, his lips curling up at the sight of Naomi. His lean arms embraced her in a friendly squeeze. "You're alive. Oh, thank Lunare - no - thank you."

"You would've done the same for me," Naomi mumbled into his shoulder, hugging back with pure relief.

"Yeah, thanks for almost dragging my girlfriend down a cliff with you," Cassien interrupted, but there was a touch of humor in his voice. Aryn pulled away from Naomi, and the two men briefly paused in a joking smile before exchanging a quick hug of their own.

"I'll try to avoid doing that again."

"That would be appreciated."

Black smoke curled up and around the group, a familiar accent breaking through. "Having a reunion without me? I'm hurt."

A stony feeling settled on Naomi as she turned to see cool sea foam coloured eyes staring right at her. She didn't move first, unsure of what to say. Cassien went stiff and broke away from Aryn to stand in front of her, ceasing their locked exchange.

His tone shifted to a dark, almost angry growl. "You don't deserve to even look at her after what you did."

Darius peeked from around Cassien's broad frame for a second. "Look, I want to apologize-"

The frantic toll of a bell sounded, and everyone froze for less than a breath's time before whipping around at once to the source.

At the exit of the expanse was the alarm bell, severed from the rope of its post; at the base laid a barely surviving warrior, a heavy trail of blood streaked from his torso. Naomi's eyes tracked the blood to find it had come from a pile of Seravethians that had been killed in a crumpled pile.

She realized with horror that he had dragged themself over with the last bit of energy. Her body reacted a split second before Cassien, with two glowing fingers pointed outwards - but it was too late.

The man - just before a bolt blasted through his skull - shook it with his final breath, sounding the alert that the king's esteemed guests had arrived.

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