Olivia's sleeping habits were hard to change. She was always awake right at Burning, no matter how late it had been when she fell asleep. That was the same case here. She was the first one awake, and she honestly wished she wasn't.
Her little spark of hope that everything had been a dream was stomped out as she stared at the dirt ceiling. Her shoulders hurt, probably from sleeping on a dirt floor. Her fingers, which had been slightly sore before, felt stiff; they hurt worse than when she had fallen asleep, and it had spread to her wrist. That was her left hand, though. Her right hand felt similar to what it's counterpart had felt like the previous night, though she was pretty sure it hurt more.
All in all, this was a shitty situation. And she was stuck in it.
Olivia pushed herself up. The fire was still burning, but hadn't spread. Jesse was asleep beside it, curled in on herself and using her arm as a pillow. Reuben was sprawled out against her torso. Lukas had fallen over at some point in the night, and was lying on his side with his back against the wall. Olivia shifted around to spot Axel, who was still wedged in the corner. The engineer sighed, turning to watch the fire.
She should probably put that out, now that she thought about it. They had no use for it anymore. The only issue was that she didn't have anything to carry water in. She pat her pockets a moment, thoughtfully, them paused.
She still had Petra's bag.
Hopefully she wouldn't mind it getting a little wet… Considering the water stains on the leather, she doubted it. Olivia pushed to her feet, stepping around Jesse and quietly easing the door open. The chilly morning air wafted in, and Olivia suppressed a shiver. She glanced back at the fire, noting it's slight fluctuation, and stepped outside.
She stumbled back, nearly stepping on Jesse, as an arrow shot out and stuck itself in the wall.
Olivia stared at the arrow for a solid minute, then let out a long sigh. Of course there were monsters that were safe from the sunlight. There were trees everywhere. It was just her luck too; this always happened. She would try and go out before anyone else, to do something or go somewhere since the mobs had burned off. And Axel never believed her when she came hauling herself up the ladder again, sometimes with a couple of scratches or covered in dirt, because there were mobs still out and she couldn't defend herself.
She weighed her options. She could wait until someone woke up and could help her out without risking an arrow to the head. She could make a run for it. She could wake someone up. Or she could try stomping the fire out. Her safest bet was to wake someone up; probably Jesse, since she always had some kind of weapon on her. And if she moved, she'd probably be in the fire.
Olivia peered cautiously outside. Sure enough, there was a skeleton under a nearby tree. It spotted her immediately, and started forwards. The second it left the shade, however, the skeleton caught fire. Olivia peered at it for a moment as it flickered red, too preoccupied to try and attack again. It rattled aggressively, turning in circles as if that would help. Then, with a final rattling hiss, it tumbled over and disintegrated into smoke. A single bone was left in its place.
Now that the coast was clear, Olivia could safely walk back across the clearing to the small water flow. She flipped the bag inside-out, then carefully dipped it into the water. The bag picked up water easily, but it didn't want to hold it for too long. She lifted the bag up, noting the liquid coming from the bottom, then stood. She put her hand on the bottom to stem the water leaking out, and hurried back to the hut.
She softly pushed the door closed with a foot, then turned to the fire; Jesse was still about as close as she could get without becoming part of it. Which meant she needed to move her. She sighed, then knelt down and moved her left hand to shake the other's shoulder.
She may have been imagining it, but the second she touched the other, a jolt of pain shot through her entire arm. She jumped, rapidly pulling her hand away and grabbing her wrist with her other hand, dropping the bag as a result. The water spilled out across the floor; most of it ran over the nether block and put out the fire, but some ran into Jesse's face.
Jesse shot up, spluttering and wiping rapidly at her face. The sudden movement startled Reuben awake, causing the piglet to squeal. The squeal woke both Lukas and Axel up; the blond jumped to his feet, looking around wildly with wide eyes, while Axel flinched, grunting in surprise and sitting up straight.
For a solid minute, no one said anything, the others slowly regaining their bearings as they took to understanding what had happened. Olivia slowly released her wrist and lowered her hands into her lap. Jesse finally stopped trying to wipe her face, and turned to look at her.
"What happened just n-now?" Olivia shot her a sheepish smile.
"I was trying to put the fire out and, uh… I dropped it." She motioned to the bag beside her, then rubbed the back of her neck. Jesse blinked at her, then sighed.
"I thought w-we were being attacked or something…" She stretched her arms out in front of her, stifling a yawn. "That's a relief…"
"Well…" Their gazes lifted to Lukas, who was rubbing the back of his head. "We needed to be up now anyways. Good a time as any to get started." Axel shifted to his feet behind her.
"Yeah, you're right," Olivia mumbled through a stifled yawn. She pushed to her feet, careful not to touch anything for fear of the pain coming back, and scooping up Petra's bag. Jesse pushed herself up as well, running a hand through her hair and moving towards the door. She opened it, paused, then glanced back at Olivia.
"W-why are there arrows in th-the door?" Lukas leaned forwards to see. Olivia shrugged.
"A skeleton was under one of the trees," she said simply. Jesse blinked, then shrugged, and left the little hut. Axel was the first to follow, then Reuben, with Olivia close behind the piglet and Lukas bringing up the rear. As the door shut behind them, they looked around for a moment.
"Where do we start?" Axel glanced down at Jesse. The other woman glanced around briefly. Considering it was light out, it would be much easier to find where they needed to go.
"There." Jesse motioned to her left; Olivia followed the motion. A good few meters away was a stone brick pathway, leading around a corner. She raised an eyebrow, looking back at Jesse. They all shared a glance, briefly, before Olivia turned and stepped past Lukas, making her way towards the path. The others followed behind her.
As she turned the corner, she lifted a hand to block the sunlight from her eyes. Ahead of her was a stretch of path, not leading to anything obvious. A couple of trees were scattered around them, some higher up than others. As she walked, movement to her right startled her, and she spotted Axel, walking quickly with a somewhat agitated look on his face. Olivia glanced behind her, spotting Jesse mumbling something to Lukas, who scratched the back of his head. Jesse turned, moving towards them, while Lukas moved off to the side somewhere.
"It doesn't seem to go anywhere." Olivia placed her hands on her hips. "Now what?"
"Maybe we're just n-not looking in the right place yet?" Jesse offered, shrugging awkwardly. "We haven't been-"
"Hey!" Olivia looked up to her right, where Lukas was standing at the top of one of the little hills. He was peering at something to her left. "There's something over that way!" He gestured with a hand. Olivia followed it, but couldn't see anything.
"What is it?" She looked at Lukas again.
"Some kind of… Building, I think." He looked down at them. Olivia blinked, sharing a glance with Jesse.
"L-let's get a closer look." She motioned to a dirt wall, vines running up the surface of it. Reuben hopped down from the block he was standing on and followed close behind her. Olivia followed behind the piglet, glancing back as Lukas hopped down from his perch.
As Jesse reached the wall of vines, she grabbed onto them, fingers curling around the gnarled strands as she hoisted herself up. She hooked her foot into a little hold and continued climbing. Lukas passed Olivia and followed suit beside the other woman. Axel pulled Reuben under his arm, and started up the vines on Jesse's other side. Olivia grabbed the vines, and her fingers ached worse as they curled, as if complaining. She ignored them, starting up the wall. Her shoulders ached with the effort as well, and she simply quickened her pace.
As she pulled herself up onto the platform of dirt, she saw it. A giant stone building, gold and glass embellishments with gaping holes throughout the top. It was obvious it was old; pretty much everything still standing was practically crumbling as they stood there. Giant cracks ran up the sides, and based on the lack of path to it, it had sunk far into the ground. It looked ancient, to say the least. And it very well could be; the Order of the Stone had apparently disbanded before she was even thought of, and by now it wasn't surprising the massive structure they had used was as beat up as it seemed.
"Let's…" She glanced at Jesse as the other spoke up. "L-let's be careful." She motioned forwards, and the group started moving to the ledge. Axel jumped down first, Reuben still under his arm, and was followed closely by Lukas. Olivia tensed and followed suit.
It was a decent drop down; enough to make her think at the last second that she shouldn't have jumped. She landed, hard, and nearly fell over. Someone grabbed ahold of her arm, holding her steady for the few seconds it took to regain her bearings. She glanced to her left, where Lukas was standing right beside her with a hand around her upper arm. She gave a nod of thanks, straightening up. He let go. Jesse was right behind her, landing and stumbling forwards a few steps. Her arms stuck out to catch her, but she never fell. After she stood straight again, they started slowly towards the building, gaping at it in amazement.
"What is this place?" Axel's mouth hung open as he eyed the glass decoration at the top of the doorway. Olivia lifted an eyebrow.
"That's what we're trying to figure out." As she spoke, they paused in place. Jesse started digging through her pockets.
"It's the temple of the Order of the Stone." Olivia glanced at Lukas incredulously.
"Lukas, are you sure?" He glanced at her, shrugging awkwardly. Jesse pulled the amulet from her pocket, holding it up in front of her for a second as her gaze flickered from it to the glass.
"H-he's right, look." She motioned to the amulet with her other hand, then to the glass. Olivia glanced between them as well. Sure enough, they looked almost exactly the same. Her eyes widened.
"Holy crap," Axel breathed excitement seeping into his words. She glanced from him to Jesse.
"Do you think they're in there?" Jesse shrugged. Axel grinned.
"Let's go in and find out."