We had been walking for several minutes, Marcurio using fire to light the way with me close behind. As we walked I let my hand run loosely across the wall of the narrow cave, feeling the bumps and cracks under my fingertips. The closeness of the walls and ceilings soon had me feeling claustrophobic gave me increasing anxiety. Every time a sound would echo through the vast chambers a chill would run down my spine and I would quickly look over my shoulder only to be greeted by an endless darkness.

"You seem nervous" Marcurio said

"I just don't like the unknown. Who knows what's at the end of this tunnel or if something's been following us the entire time?"

"My goodness you're paranoid. Aren't you a thief?"

"Yeah but I don't see how one has to do with the other."

From what I could tell he smirked, but I wasn't quite sure what point he was trying to make. Letting the thought go, we moved forward.

"Watch your head here, the ceiling gets lower."

"I'm a good 7 inches shorter than you, I think I'll be fine."

Marcurio ducked into the passage and I casually followed. Once squeezed through the narrow space I let my earlier curiosities come to light.

"Why do you think the golems would go through the trouble of taking us down here then leave us to wander on our own?"

"Maybe they want us to find the artifact or spirit that's doing this to them."

"Maybe, but why?"

A low rumble shook the ground followed by stale silence. We exchanged glances and listened closely for any movement.

"What was the cause of that?" Marcurio squinted into the darkness, trying to see more ahead.

"I don't know, maybe just a tre-" The word was halfway past my lips before I crumbled to the ground. My head exploded with pain of a high screech running through my ears.

"DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" Wailed the scream. I clawed at my head and thrashed about like slaughterfish.

"Dear Talos MAKE IT STOP!"

"Make what stop!? I don't hear anything!" Marcurio yelled frantically, trying to figure out what was wrong.

Through my pain I hadn't noticed the ground yet again moving beneath me. As a second tremor passed, Marcurio was caught off guard put out his flames. Particles of dirt flaked off the ceiling and rocks already on the ground were thrown about. The shaking grew strong, the screech stronger, then all of a sudden, everything stopped. The ground was peaceful once more and the voice in my ears had silenced. My frazzled mage companion clumsily found his way to his feet and re-lit our light source. Shakily, I pulled myself into a sitting position and wiped away tears that had accumulated in my eyes.

Marcurio offered me his hand to help me up, exclaiming. "What in the name of Oblivion was that?!"

"There was a really loud scream, but I guess it was only in my mind." I tried to brush dirt off my pants, but then discovered sadly they were stained, "I felt like my head was going to burst off my shoulders."

"Good thing it didn't, that would have left quite the mess."

Still recovering, I found his sarcasm unamusing. I rubbed the temples of my head with my fingers, trying to ease the lingering headache. With my thoughts in somewhat order I tried to remember if there was anything distinctive or familiar about the noise.

"What did the screaming sound like? Did it say anything?" Marcurio asked, taking notice I was deep in thought.

"Nothing really, it was just really loud." I responded. There was something about it though, like I was hearing the words of a god of sorts. It felt almost like a summoning, like someone was looking for me or wished to speak with me. I didn't want to worry him with strange feelings though, it's entirely possible I was just trying to make something out of nothing. Something did have to cause the noise though, right?

My companion gave me a sideways look as my eyes aquired an obscure look and my brain was completley engulfed in analysis.

"We should probably keep moving," he eventually said, "that is if you're feeling up to it."

"Let's just hurry up and finish this damned quest before I lose my head altogether." I responded with a glum tone.

Along the way we found a torch, but that was just about the most exciting thing that happened in the next hour. We didn't talk much, just followed the dirty path in silence, occasionally bumping our head on a low-hanging stalactite. After all that walking we were met with a toublesome drawback.

"You've got to be kidding me." Marcurio said vexed. The path had stopped and an unmoving stone door was preventing us from continuing onward.

"There has to be a way around it." I said in false faith. There definitely wasn't another way, we were stuck.

"For the love of Talks.." Marcurio moaned, throwing his hands up in aggravation.

He slumped down on a rock and muttered bitterly to himself about what a waste of time this all was. I began to pace in front of the door, pondering a solution.

v l-s be- non f ahra do wu-du-ii- los -ex

I stopped pacing, "Did you hear that?"

"Hear wha.."

"SHHHH" I quickly shushed him as I noticed the sounds growing clearer as I stepped closer to the door.

v-n los be- n-non fo- ahraa- do wundu-ii- los bex

"The path is paved..." I whispered, taking cautious steps toward the door. Not only were the words clearer, but a slow pulse began to vibrate through my body. I slowly placed my palm on the stone.

ven los bex nunon fod ahraan do wunduniik los bex

"The path is paved only when the wounds of the traveler are opened!" I exclaimed. Coming out of my dazed state, I noticed that my hand was on some sort of carvings. Upon further examination I realized they were letters, ones that my eyes did not recognize.

"ven los bex what?" Marcurio looked at me confused. "If you're hearing strange things again would you mind telling me in a language I understand?"

I looked at the door, puzzled. I was almost sure that what I was hearing and what I was saying was in my native tongue. I felt the engravings in the stone again, had I possibly read these without even knowing?

I felt perturbed as I thought more about this, was there something in my head try to tell me something? Whatever it was, it was freaking me out. I could tell my companion was distressed by my strange outbursts as well given his skepticism.

"I said...the path is paved only when the wounds of the traveler are opened..." I watched his reaction to be sure he understood me this time.

He crossed his arms across his chest, still holding the torch loosely. "So one of us needs to put our blood on that door. A little creepy if you ask me."

I nodded in agreement, still feeling troubled by the amount of questions I had that I could not answer.

"So...get on with it. I don't want to be held up here any longer than we've already been." he gestured towards the door.

"What me?" I fretted, "I...can't...". I remembered that he didn't know about my ability yet and with everything going on, now seemed the worst time to tell him about it.

"Why?"

"I...umm...haven't eaten in a while..."

"Neither have I, what's your point?"

"I could pass out...from...low blood sugar." I figured that lie was good enough to convince him. He gave a long sigh and a terribly sarcastic eye roll before shoving the torch into my hand.

"You've already been down twice, a third time and I might have to carry you back."

Marcurio grabbed a dagger from his belt and held it up to his palm. I could tell he was trying extra hard not to cringe as he slid the blade across his open hand.

"This better work." He put his hand on the center on the stone.

nii los drehlaan

The passage opened.