On to the next~!
Vreagon grunted, rolling over as the sun came through the windows. The sounds of the farm outside finally brought him out of his rest, his eyes glaring up at the cows, "Will you all just stop complaining!" he shouted, getting only another long 'moo' in response.
Sitting up in his bed and stripping out of his bed clothes he ran a hand through blond hair, exhaustion still moving swiftly through him and refusing to leave. The guilt was hardly bearable. How could they have left Mnem there to die? And who knew what would happen now that he was gone. None of them knew how it all worked, so they couldn't replace him – chances were that nobody knew what he did.
Mor burst into Vreagon's home, out of breath, his eyes panicked. "Vreagon!"
"What?" Vreagon snapped, annoyed that the noise was getting this loud already. So much for a relaxing day.
"Ari. She's gone. And so are her weapons."
Vreagon froze. He'd had the feeling for quite a while now that she would snap and run back to the Stronghold, would find the portal and try to save Mnem. He squeezed his eyes closed and sighed, putting a hand over his eyes. He didn't want to go back to that place. It was absolutely terrifying there – and who knows what was waiting for them now?
But Ari was family. She was the closest thing to a sister he'd ever had.
"…Get ready. We're going back. I'm sure that's where she went."
Ari stepped down into the stone, brushing away moss and spider webs. It was so painfully quiet here… She hated it.
Regardless of the silence she moved through the Stronghold, shuddering with every cold burst of air. She could hear… shrieking. Turning sharply she barely caught the flash of silver before another shriek caught her attention behind her. She let out a shrill yelp as more silver creatures howled and slithered toward her.
Run
Ari ran, gasping for breath as she struggled to remember what directions they had taken to leave the stronghold originally.
And when that doesn't work?
She could feel the creatures gaining on her, one biting into the flesh of her ankle. She took another right, hearing the bubbling of lava.
Run faster.
She took a sharp left and ran up a set of stairs, stopping above the starlit portal. Lava was everywhere – she was definitely in the right place. More shrieking. More screaming. More anger.
She jumped.
Mor and Vreagon could hear Ari running through the halls. Her yelp had been unmistakable. The two moved quickly through the halls and followed the footsteps in the dust as well as the messy slithers of the Silverfish. They knew where she had been headed, anyway – following the footprints was just a second check. Soon enough they found themselves standing before the portal, watching Silverfish as they jumped into lava, screaming as they exploded. Vreagon winced and curled his lip, walking to the portal slowly. He gulped. What would be waiting on the other side? Had anything even changed?
Mor clutched his hand, looking up and grinning. "Hey. Come on, shouldn't we save our family?"
"…Let's go."
They followed Ari's example, jumping into the stars.
