"He what?"
"Shh-" Rapunzel hushed Cassandra, looking over at where Varian was showing off his new creations to Eugene. He was too wrapped up in showing off to note their conversation, thankfully.
"His memories... he's getting them back," Rapunzel clarified. "I don't know what did it, but he remembered he's an alchemist and has started to... well... alchemize?"
"We have to take him back to Corona." Cassandra frowned over at Varian, who was now trying to convince Eugene to eat decidedly toxic mushrooms with only his pills to stand between Eugene and a very nasty trip. "Raps, he made acid and thought it was a good idea."
"I know, I know, but..." Rapunzel drooped, holding her braid. "That's just normal Varian, he still doesn't know-"
"And when he does?" Scowling, Cassandra gestured over at him, looking dejected that Eugene insisted he was full. "He already has all his weapons back, we won't possibly know if he starts plotting. Maybe he already has his memories!"
"I doubt that," Rapunzel felt a small smile come over her face when she remembered earlier. His antics were cute when they weren't... well, deadly. "But I hear you, I do. But we need to find the rest of this scroll, it'd be a waste to go back now."
"Raps, he's dangerous!" Cassandra hissed, trying to make Rapunzel see sense.
Rapunzel sighed. Cass was right, but it still didn't feel fair. They had already burned the warning letter from the King, the language within indicating the extreme lack of welcome he would receive in Corona. But there wasn't anything else they could do with him...
"After we get the scroll. Then we'll take him back. Surely, my mom will know what to do." If anyone would know how to resolve this, it would be the Queen.
After several minutes of deliberation on which path to take, abruptly ended by a roughly hewn arrow appearing on the wall in the middle of the conversation, the adventuring team headed off to the Depths. Once on the path, they found and lit the sconces embedded in the walls, eliminating the need for Varian's glow lanterns... for the moment, Rapunzel assured him.
The horses had to travel single file in some places, leaving the entire group walking for safety (except, naturally, for Ruddiger and Pascal, who took the easy seats on their respective owner's shoulders). The deeper they got, the colder the air grew, thinning out and turning frigid. No breath could be seen on the air, as there wasn't enough liquid to carry it.
When the path opened out again, the caverns were stunning. Waterfalls of rock spilled from the sides and swirled towards the floor, suspended eternally in an encroaching wave. Jagged teeth rose to the ceiling, trying to meet their partners that reached down for the ground. Fluttering could be heard, as native species of small bats flittered about from group to group, unused to their new visitors.
"If I could fly, I'd hate to be stuck in here," Eugene shivered, his dislike for the cold showing. "Lovely as it is."
"Oh, don't worry," Cassandra started, a quip on her tongue. "You wouldn't be a bat. You'd be a jaybird."
"Oh?" Eugene took the bait. "With beautiful blue plumage? That's almost kind of-"
"With a loud, ugly, cry that scares all the little birds," Cassandra finished, grinning.
"Well, you'd be a vulture." Eugene shot back. "A big, bloody, bone-eating vulture."
"Cass? No," Rapunzel smiled, joining in on the game. She knew a lot about birds. "No, she'd be... a warbler, a speckled one, to match your clothes. They prefer to live on the ground."
"Oh, oh, what about me?" Varian stepped in front of her, catching her off guard.
"Um..." Rapunzel hesitated, wracking her brain. For her friends, yes, but she hadn't considered Varian's bird form before. The blue stripe in his hair gave her an idea. "A Blue Cotinga. A rare, bright blue bird."
"Oh, thanks, I think." Varian smiled, just glad to be included. "What about you?"
"Something yellow, like a canary," Rapunzel laughed, gesturing to her hair.
"A canary in a mine..." Cass started, before stopping.
"Don't those... die? As a warning?" Varian pointed out, discomfited.
"Ah. Yes. Thank you, for that." Rapunzel stated with a false smile.
They walked in silence for a bit after that, coming to a stop in front of an entryway encircled with blue glowing vines.
"Do you think this is it?" Rapunzel breathed out, approaching slowly.
As she crossed the opening, there was a great rumbling, and the two pillars shook off their dust and stood at attention, creaking as stone moved against stone.
"Uhhh, we could probably use that acid right about now-" Varian pointed out, aiming his staff at the two stone giants in a manner that could not truly be construed as threatening.
"No, wait." Rapunzel held out her hand, waving back Eugene and Cassandra as well. "Maybe they'll let us through."
Setting Pascal on one of the horses and loosing her hair, just in case, Rapunzel walked forward, past the stone guards. They didn't move.
Cassandra moved to stride after her, but suddenly the stone giants punched the ground in front of her, forcing her to jump back.
"Okay, I guess that's a 'no'." Rapunzel hazarded a guess. "Eugene?"
"Out of the way, Dragon Lady," Eugene strode forward confidently, only to get a similar response. "Oh, okay, that's okay, nothing to see here."
Cassandra laughed at Eugene's misfortune as Varian crept forward.
"My turn, I guess?" He bit his lip in trepidation, ready to retreat at any moment. He too, left his animal companion with the horses.
Eugene scoffed. "Listen, kid, if we couldn't go through with her, there's no way-"
Varian continued his approach cautiously, pace speeding up when they made no move to stop him until he stood side by side with Rapunzel. "Yes!"
"Well, I guess that settles it." Rapunzel didn't look the most thrilled she had ever been. "We'll see what is ahead and meet back with you later."
"Be careful, Blondie."
Cassandra nodded in agreement. Her concern lay in an entirely different line of thought from Eugene's.
"Try not to kill each other while we're gone," Rapunzel called behind her cheerily.
"Oh please, we're not children," Cassandra asserted. It was mildly undermined when Eugene stuck his tongue out at her in retribution.
Rapunzel and Varian travelled along the stone pathway, keeping an eye out for booby traps. Whatever defenses this place had, they didn't seem to trigger them. Finally, at the end of the path, a doorway easily swung open into a vault of some kind.
Items lined the walls, artifacts from ages past, some sinister looking, while others looked mundane, as if one could stumble across it in a shop and not look twice. Varian immediately approached these, trying to figure out their purposes.
In the center of the room lay a closed book on a short pillar, and Rapunzel approached it cautiously.
Inscribed on the pillar were the words:
'These words you must heed: take only what you need.'
"Varian?" Rapunzel called out, warning him. "Look at this."
Varian huffed unhappily upon reading. "Okay, but some people do need these things. I mean, all of this knowledge just stored away down here when we could be improving lives-"
"We should only take the scroll." Rapunzel did not want to know what sort of evil they might release otherwise. "Just... trust me, Varian."
Varian tilted his head, looking up at her, before tapping the end of his staff against the ground petulantly. "Okay, fine. I'll trust you. You've done more adventuring than I have, after all. ...I think, heh."
She laughed lightly along with him, relieved that that worked again. The Varian of a few months ago would have spat it back in her face. "Okay, so..."
Rapunzel reached for the book. As her outstretched hand hovered over it, it flipped open, pages turning rapidly until it stopped abruptly. From the book rose a torn piece of parchment, inscribed in blue runes. It was a missing piece of the scroll.
"Wither and decay..."
"What?" Rapunzel turned to him sharply.
"Wither and decay. That's what it says." Varian gestured at the parchment.
"You can... understand that?"
"Well, yeah." Varian smiled proudly. "It's kinda dark, look. 'Wither and decay, end this destiny-'"
"Oh-kay, that's great," Rapunzel interrupted him with a sense of fear blooming in her stomach. "But maybe we should write it down, instead of, you know, reading it out loud?"
"Oh. Okay." Varian looked around. "I don't have anything to write with."
"Then we'll just have to wait until we get back to camp." Rapunzel tucked the parchment into her pouch, taking another look around. She spotted a map sitting open on a table.
Upon closer inspection, it was a map of the caverns, branching between Corona, Koto, Ingvarr, and... a giant tree? She picked it up, trying to get a better look. The paths branching north led to this otherwise unmarked tree symbol.
"Uh, Rapunzel, I thought we weren't going to touch anythin-"
Varian didn't get to finish his sentence when a low rumble occurred, shaking the floor. The entrance they'd come through was rising... No, they were sinking!
"Rapunzel! The exit!"
Dropping the map and darting to the exit, Rapunzel lept into the opening, turning and pulling Varian up before the room sealed off. The two of them paused to catch their breaths. A few seconds more and they would have been trapped in the room, to become another set of artifacts.
But it didn't seem like the path was done with them yet. Scrambling back with a yelp, Varian narrowly avoided a rock-formed panel coming down between them and the door. They rushed to their feet and started sprinting, barely keeping ahead of the closing passageway. They made it back to the opening where a worried Cassandra and Eugene stood ready, collapsing just beyond the stone guardians.
Said guardians stood, walked to the center of the glowing archway, and froze at attention, the glow fading away with the stillness.
Rapunzel and Varian were both in various stages of choking back the air into their lungs when Cassandra marched up to them, lifting Varian by the shirt collar.
"What did you do?"
"Wh- nothing!" Varian insisted, struggling against her hold.
"Likely story. I knew this would happen if she went alone with you, now answer my question!" Cassandra was furious with worry, and had been since the rumbling had started shortly after the two disappeared.
"Cass, it was just a booby trap," Rapunzel interceded, though not admitting her fault in it. "We got the map piece and made it out alive, so everything is okay."
"Map?" Eugene asked, confused as Cassandra finally dropped Varian with a huff.
"Scroll. I meant scroll," Rapunzel corrected quickly. "Though we did find a map in there as well."
Varian, for his part, stayed where he'd fallen, hurt and confused. Sure he'd made some mistakes on the path, but why did Cass seem to think he'd hurt Rapunzel deliberately? Why did it seem like they were always watching for him to mess up? Why had Rapunzel tied him up to begin with? She had said a situation got out of control... did that mean him? Was he dangerous? Was he going to lose control, or something?
Terror rushed through him. Who were these people? Did they hate him? Who was he? An alchemist? A dangerous one?
What would they do to him if he remembered the truth?
"Varian?" Eugene looked down at him with concern, offering him a hand up.
Varian quashed his feelings down into a manageable ball and stuffed them deep in his chest. He didn't need to give them another reason to suspect him of... something. He plastered on a grin and reached up to accept the help up.
"Sorry, just catching my breath."
Eugene looked at him a moment more before nodding. It seemed he had managed to sell it.
But for how much longer?