It had been close to a month since Synshlee and Oonugh left Hunter's Village and began the long trek through the Forest of Mirrors. It was a dangerous detour, and Oonugh warned her that their journey would be prolonged through it, as the forest liked to shift and warp paths, making them much longer than necessary. They had stocked wisely before leaving the Village, but Synshlee found herself growing increasingly weary with every day they fought against the ghosts and spirits of the forest. Her right arm was becoming increasingly stiff every day she lifted her swords, and her balance was being thrown off when she put herself in battle. Oonugh knelt beside her as she tried to catch her breath, the Lizardman Shaman she had just killed groaning and twitching near her as death approached it.
"Are you going to be ok?" he asked, looking at her in gentle concern. Synshlee smiled weakly at him, a single drop of sweat dripping off her chin as she raised her head.
"I'll be fine. Just an old annoyance paining me." she managed out. Oonugh said nothing to this, but held a hand out help her stand. Ever since they left Hunters Village, she had been growing strangely...feminine, was the only word he could think to describe it. It was a noticeable difference from the loud, spoiled girl she'd been prior. No longer did she rush headlong into battle, but lingered back a bit, fully sizing up the monster's capability before taking it on in a fight. She seemed to walk slower as well, but her determination to enter the Giants Cave had not wavered.
They finally exited the Forest one bright morning, Synshlee not masking her relief and laughing happily. It was only a full day of travel from there on until they reached the Cave she knew. Her journey was going to end soon. She would find the sword, and her purpose would be clear, and then she would have peace. Oonugh watched as she danced and twirled in the meadow outside of the forest with an unreadable expression. She laughed and danced like her ancestors once did with their Light Elf brethren, unashamed and unburdened.
It was almost dawn of the next morning when they came upon the Cave entrance. "Cave" would probably not be the best describing word of this place, as it was built of strange blocks that had green glowing, pulsating veins etched into the stone. Strange symbols decorated the rocks. The bridges leading to the cave seemed to hover of their own accord, held up by invisible forces that no one had the knowledge to even begin to fathom. Large cat beasts and bear beasts milled about outside of the bridges with strange demons that looked to be one giant eye with four claws drawn up close to it's body. Among both all of these were large balls that hummed and glowed with ethereal light. Synshlee gulped while looking at the beasts, her heart suddenly pounding in what she couldn't distinguish as anticipation or fear. She and Oonugh were crouched behind a large..plant of some sort. It had a trunk with a circular top, so it was hard to say what it was exactly.
"These beasts won't be a problem to get by." Oonugh murmured. "It's what's inside the cave that you have to worry about. Just stay with me, we're going to have to fight our way through until the very end." He looked at her fully then, concerned. "Can you manage it?"
"I can do anything by you." Synshlee said, smiling genuinely. Oonugh gave her a half-smile and touched her cheek with his great hand before standing.
"Let's go." he commanded, taking his spear into his hand. Synshlee nodded and they both bolted towards the bridge that would lead them into the cave. Too intelligent to just be mere monsters, the beasts guarding the bridges came at them growling and swiping. Synshlee cried out as the paw of one cat-beast caught her back, but didn't stop running unless it were to finish off a beast that Oonugh couldn't handle. Synshlee's arm burned, but she persevered, despite the wounds she was receiving. The fighting seemed to slow then, for a moment, and through blurring vision, she saw Shilen standing peacefully on the bridge leading into the caves. Shilen held her arms out, her face kind, like a mother reaching for her child. Synshlee's breath was loud in her ears, the only sound she heard as she blindly ran towards the bridge, away from Oonugh's protection. She didn't hear him shout, nor see the beasts coming for her, she could only see her Mother Goddess reaching for her. The image disappeared as Synshlee reached the bridge, and she collapsed into an unmoving heap.
She roused to consciousness again some time later, and found herself lying across the lap of a dark elf healer who had her eyes shut in concentration as she healed Synshlee's wounds. She sat up holding her head, shaking the fuzziness from it and looked around her. They were in a large room, strange carvings and the pulsing, glowing veins criss-crossing the walls.
"You're in the Giants Caves." a woman said, answering before Synshlee even formed the words. Synshlee's eyes widened and she looked around, frightened.
"Oonugh?" she called, her heart pounding.
"I'm here." he said, right next to her. Synshlee shut her eyes hard and re-opened them. She could see the healer, and the room..but why couldn't she see anyone else?
"Your spirit is returning to you, please hold still." the healer said. "You will not be able to see the living until you've completely returned."
"The living? Are you saying I'm dead?" Synshlee cried, trying to stand up. She felt the familiar warmth of Oonugh's hand as he gently clasped her arm and pulled her to him in a gentle, yet protective hug. She tried to find comfort from this, but it was hard, as it appeared to her that she was being embraced by air.
"You were dead, yes." Came the first female voice. "But not completely. Zraa managed to bring you back from Shilen before she completely embraced you." A sharp pain shot through Synshlee's right eye, and she clenched both eyes shut until it subsided. When she opened them again, Oonugh and a Dark Elven fighter with spiked bangs hanging over her face came into view. Zraa, the healer, stood up next to the fighter, her hair different but her face identical to the warrior's.
"You...you're Terebel's mothers." she exclaimed, sitting up and pushing herself from Oonugh gently. The twins looked at each other expressionlessly.
"Yes, we are." Zraa said. "I am Zraa, and this is my sister. You may call her Hydrosfear." the healer introduced, her voice strangely emotionless.
"That's a strange name…" Synshlee thought aloud.
"It is not my real name." Hydrosfear said. Oonugh helped Synshlee to her feet, but the instant she stood straight, she bent over in pain once again. Her arm and her stomach hurt her. The arm she could understand, but why her stomach..?
"Yes. You should leave this place." Zraa stated, watching her with an unblinking stare. "You are pregnant. It was unhealthy for the child to go through the stress of its parent dying, you should leave here and rest someplace until it can be safely born." With that, she and her sister turned away from the dumbstruck Orc and Elf and walked deeper into the Cave.
"W...Wait!" Synshlee cried, taking a step after them. They paused and turned to look at her in unison. "I came here for a reason, and I've traveled long months to get here. I won't leave until I find it!" she said boldly, waving an arm in emphasis. The twins glanced at each other.
"There is nothing for you here." Hydrosfear said.
"Yes, nothing. The Giants have nothing you could wish. Leave them in peace." Zraa agreed.
"Yes they do!" Synshlee shouted stubbornly. She was silent for a moment as the twins stared at her blankly, their gaze chilling. "A sword!" she finally said. "A sword that can kill a god. I left my homeland and my child behind to search out this sword..." Suddenly the dream that Shilen had given Synshlee came back to her in startling clarity, and she remembered exactly what she had set out to do. "I've been seeking out this sword to destroy the wind god Sayha for the insult of leaving me pregnant with his child years ago when I was but an innocent girl." she said, her voice strangely calm and mature. "The sword is said to be left in the legacy the giants left behind. There is nothing in Cruma, this place is the last possible place it could be." Oonugh's eyes widened in surprise, as she had never told him that she had a child before. Let alone the child of a god. The twins looked at each other again.
"You believe the Giants have this that you seek?" Zraa asked. Synshlee nodded once.
"Come with us then. We shall lead you to them." Hydrosfear said, taking the lead. Zraa waited until Oonugh and Synshlee had begun walking before taking up a position behind them.
Synshlee noticed as the walked, that the beasts and lesser giants scattered about the caves were strangely blind to their presence and milled about as if it were completely natural that they were there. She gave Oonugh a questioning look, and he shook his head. "The beasts scattered when the one known as Hydrosfear came out of the caves as well." Oonugh murmured.
"The beasts will not harm you while we are here." Zraa said from behind Oonugh.
"But why not..?" Synshlee asked curiously, looking around him at her.
"We are the messengers the Giants have set out into the world." Hydrosfear answered for her.
"We came here some time ago to seek out the wisdom of the Giants, and became their handmaidens." Zraa finished, in the same tone. Oonugh inhaled a sharp breath, an expression Synshlee had become familiar with as his gasp.
"But what of your son?" Synshlee asked, looking at Hydrosfear.
"We have since dispatched someone to care for him, as our calling is here now." Zraa answered. Had it been any other circumstance, Synshlee knew her temper would've flared up at their strange turn-speaking long ago, but for some reason it didn't seem to bother her as much. Perhaps it was the anticipation of finally getting sword, or her newfound 'condition'. The twins led them deep into the caves, until they faced a large hole that labored breathing emanated from. Hydrosfear and Zraa stood on either side of the hole, facing the pair, and Synshlee slowly made her way forward. Oonugh reluctantly let go over shoulders, his own eyes wide at being face-to-face with something of ancient times. There was a loud intake of breath, and the thing inside of the hole began speaking in a raspy, slurred voice.
"Who goes there?" Hydrosfear said mechanically, in translation. "Why have you come this far into our home, Elf? Have you come to laugh at our misfortunes? Have you come to try and slay us in the name of Einhasad?" Synshlee took a breath, her legs shaking with fear that she didn't even realize she felt.
"No, Ancient One, I have come seeking the blade that the Dwarven Smith created for you, ages ago, that is said to hold the power to slay a god." she managed to say in a bold tone, her voice wavering just a little. There was another sharp intake of breath from the hole, and then the unmistakable sound of laughter.
"Seek the blade?" Zraa said this time. "Foolish little one. That blade has not been in our possession for years. Do you think, you disgusting little ant, that if we had the blade, we would have submitted to Einhasads wrath all those years ago? Do you think we would be huddled in here, hiding in fear as our kin, one by one, goes mad, if we had a blade such as that?" There was more laughter.
"Get out." Hydrosfear said now. "Get out before I call my kin to eat you and your companion. You were lucky our messengers brought you to me, as I am the only one left who would've wasted their time speaking with foolhardy beings like you."
"But where is the blade then, if it is not here?" Synshlee asked, despite the insistent tugging on her arm from Oonugh. There was a rumbling as the Giant in the hole shifted, and Synshlee saw the glint of red-lit eyes as it looked at her for the first time. It came forward just enough so she could see it's face, and her eyes widened in fear. A scream choked inside her throat, and she took a few steps backwards.
"GET OUT!" Both Zraa and Hydrosfear shouted in concordinance to the Giant's roar. The whole cave began to shake, and Synshlee found her legs would not move. Oonugh picked her up and bolted for the entrance. Now without the Giant-blessed escorts, the monsters noticed them, and took off in close chase.
"Synshlee, reach into my pack and get the scroll with the key on its seal." Oonugh shouted, blows from the monsters falling on his back. It had been a long time since he feared for his life in battle, but he had to make sure Synshlee...and their child...lived. Synshlee fumbled for the scroll with numb fingers and pulled it out. She recognized it, it was the spell for the dimensional magic that the Gatekeepers used. Such a scroll was rare, and highly expensive. Without a second thought she broke the seal upon it and read the incantation there, just as beasts blocked their exit, slowly converging upon the pair.
"HURRY!" he roared. Synshlee sped through the last line, and light surrounded her, taking her away from the cave and leaving her blinking in the bright light of the City of Aden. She pushed herself to her feet shakily, and scanned the market square she'd landed in for Oonugh. The spell was to take both of them, wasn't it?
"Oonugh?" She called, her voice cracking. She blindly ran through the crowd milling around the merchants set up about the square. "Oonugh?" she cried, louder. She panted a few times, scanning with her eyes before sinking to her knees. "NOOO!" she shouted at the top of her lungs, before curling up and crying mournfully. Several people stepped out of the crowd and reached out to her, but Synshlee didn't feel their hands or hear their voices. She could only hear herself, crying like some wild thing.