The storm whipping around at the base of the plateau had found its way into the crevasse, turning into a focused stream of powerful wind that made it difficult for the traveling party to stay on their feet. They'd gone further in from the mouth of the canyon hoping to escape the fury of the storm, only to find it more powerful as the space narrowed. To expediate their journey further in, to where the wind eventually died out, they had Elm up front, stomping into the snow and holding herself down, and Vine in the back, reaching ahead along either side of the party with his Semblance and holding onto Elm. The rest of them held onto Vine's stretchy arms to stabilize themselves. It was like this that they hurried as much as they could to get as far as they could from the source of the torrential wind.

The snow covering the ground was thick and heavy, sticking together so that it didn't get blown around by the wind, but when the wind did catch on it and send some flying up into the air, it came in a large clump that slammed into Vine or Clover. Ruby was glad for the extra shield the two men offered, but when the snow hit one of them it broke apart and the small grains of hard snow would fly at the rest of them as a gritty powder and more than once Ruby, Weiss, and Jinn had been hit in the eye or gotten some in their mouth. They had no choice but to keep moving to get out of this place.

Eventually, Ruby realized that the wind was indeed dying down. Whether it had just exhausted itself blowing through the narrow passage, or enough of it had been flung out the top, Ruby didn't know. Since she didn't exactly know quite how wind worked, she couldn't make an informed guess. All she knew for sure was that it was dissipating more and more as they traveled further into the interior of the plateau. They kept walking.

The top of the crevasse opened up to the sky, though when Ruby looked up she saw a lot of places where snow or ice had covered over it like bridges, though they were most likely not strong enough to support a person. Marrow and Harriet would have to be careful not to step on them. As it was, while the wind grew more manageable, Ruby began to notice streams of powdery snow and ice dust trailing down from above. Putting out her hand to try and catch some, she brought her hand back and inspected the powder closely. It wasn't just ice dust, when she looked more closely. It was ice Dust. That was interesting, and worth mentioning.

"General. There are Dust crystals in this canyon, and probably throughout the plateau."

Ironwood looked over his shoulder at Ruby, seeing what was in her hand. He looked up and along the canyon walls on either side of them. "You're right..." He looked back to Clover and gave him a nod.

Clover lifted his radio to his mouth. "Harriet, Marrow, I know you're already being careful, but be even more careful. There appears to be Dust crystals in the plateau. It looks like it's all ice Dust, but there might be other types."

Marrow's voice came back immediately. "Yes sir, I've seen a few crystals up here. Haven't seen any other types, though."

Harriet jumped in. "We'll be more careful."

"Good. That's all." Clover put the radio away. "This would be worth securing, though."

"Agreed." Ironwood said. "But securing sources of Dust isn't even a secondary objective right now. Don't waste time on it."

Weiss was looking over the canyon walls, and the more she looked the more she saw. There were little crystals poking out here and there, but upon further inspection she could see patches of clear blue crystal in the walls, telling her that there were huge crystals buried in the rock. She let out a sigh. "That's a shame. Setting up a steady supply chain to and from here will be a nightmare."

"I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard, relatively speaking, to anchor the plateau to the mainland."

Surprised at Jinn's input, Weiss assessed her statement for a few seconds before responding. "That would be impractical. An industrial impossibility with modern technology."

"Not really. You have the technology to do it. It could be done."

"Okay, let's grant that. Nobody's going to do it, though. There are no companies that will agree to taking that level of risk and sinking that much resources into such an endeavor. The Atlas government could make it happen, but it would be at the expense of the support of the people. General Ironwood could get it done, if he was willing to let the defense of Atlas and Mantle fall apart."

"It's not happening." Ironwood interrupted before Jinn could respond to Weiss again. "It's something to write in our reports, but there's very little that can be done about it right now."

"General." Elm drew the commanding officer's attention. "I think we can continue normally from here without risk."

"Agreed. Vine." At the general's quick command, Vine pulled his Semblance back. Shaking off what snow, and possibly Dust, had accumulated on his coat, the general looked over the others. He settled on Jinn. "So much for the wind not being able to reach us."

She nodded, shivering inside her climate gear. "Yes sir... The weather is against us today."

"Indeed it is."

The procession moved again, faster this time, but more relaxed. The constant wind continued to die down as they went further in, making their journey easier, and allowing them to pick up the pace. It wasn't nearly as long as any of them had been anticipating before they could see the canyon widening ahead of them. Both ready to step into a less claustrophobic area, but wary of exposing themselves, they approached the end of the narrow passage. Elm and Ironwood went right up to the end, staying hidden inside the passage as they surveyed the area ahead.

Clover clicked his radio on. "Harriet, Marrow, report."

Harriet's voice came back. "Sir, we're at the edge of a box canyon. From here we can see the entrance to a tunnel on the far side, possibly a whole network. There are structures on either end of the canyon, to our left and right. Do you want us to come down?"

"Hold off on that until we locate the temple."

"Yes sir. I also want to mention that Marrow has a... friend. Something has been following him for a few minutes now, but it's keeping its distance. We haven't gotten a good look at it."

"Keep me updated on that if anything develops. Clover out."

"Got it. Harriet out."

Clover approached the general. "It looks clear. Whatever that guardian is up there, it's following them, but it hasn't proven to be a threat yet."

"Good. Let's hope it doesn't mind us going inside." Ironwood waved the others to follow, and he stepped out into the wide open box canyon. "Jinn, which direction is the temple?"

"Right. It's this way." Jinn went ahead. Ruby rushed around to walk in front of her, leaving Weiss to follow up behind her. Jinn took it in stride, hurrying across the snow-covered plains. "You know this place used to be quite hot. It was almost a desert here at the height of the civilization that built the temple." She led them to one of the structures, walking around the side until an opening came into view. "Here. This is the entrance."

Ruby unfolded Crescent Rose, crossing it in front of Jinn to keep her from rushing in. "So the Relic is just in there?"

"After the test, yes."

"Test?" Ironwood stepped to her side, peering into the darkness ahead of them. "What is this test?"

"I don't know."

"I'm getting a little irritated by how little you seem to know." He held up a hand to stop Jinn from protesting or apologizing or whatever she'd been about to say. "What you don't know is not your fault. Tell me what you do know about the test. Anything that will help us going in."

Jinn took a moment to think it over. She eventually let out a deep sigh. "Yes sir. The temple will test us. Each of us will have to keep our wits about us when it seems the most difficult. The guardian of the temple has, by now, judged each of us and will challenge us accordingly. It won't kill us intentionally, but our own actions are out of its control. So be careful about using your weapons inside." With that, she pushed Ruby's weapon aside and stepped into the darkness.

Ruby looked to Ironwood, a mixture of alarm and concern on her face. "General?"

"We've come much too far to stop here." He started ahead. "We're going the rest of the way now."

One by one, they entered the ruins, with only Clover stopping to call Harriet and Marrow down to secure the entrance behind them.

At first, it was dark.

Ruby was just about to call out for Weiss, unaware that Weiss was right next to her and moments from calling out for her, when a flame burst to life. It illuminated the seven of them in a red light, revealing that the way behind them had been closed off. Another flame ignited, then another. As more of the lamps lit up ahead of them, they saw the chamber and the challenge ahead. They were standing on a ledge overlooking a cavernous room, tall pillars holding the ceiling up as the room stretched on into the darkness. Far below them, a deep, dark miasma swirled. Some sort of liquid, possibly just muddy water, with whirlpools all over. Upon further inspection, Ruby realized there were small platforms and bars along the sides of the pillars, giving them some clear path through, though the distance between them was very far in some places.

"You've got to be kidding me." Weiss griped. "This looks like a level from a video game."

"A fun one." It was Clover who picked it up. "Weiss and Ruby should be able to handle this on their own, and I think I can as well, but it looks like Vine will have to help the others."

"Yes..." Vine said, looking over the layout of the chamber. "It will be a challenge enough for you to get through without having to help someone else. This will be difficult for me to do, but not impossible, even helping the others through."

Elm grimaced at the sight before them. "I don't like this."

"You're not alone." Jinn said, staring down into the brine below them. "Those eddies will deposit us in a fountain that will spit us back up somewhere else in this chamber. Finding our way back to the path will be a whole other level of troublesome once we fall, but at least it doesn't throw us out of the temple."

"You said the temple guardian judged us, and you implied that it is the one choosing what challenge we face." Ironwood said. He waited for Jinn to face him before he asked. "I gather that the challenge has been decided now that we are in here, so tell us what we're facing. What is in this chamber?"

Jinn looked out over the chamber, through the darkness between the pillars. She could tell what this place was meant for. "Myself, Elm, and Ironwood will not be able to make it through here on our own. Ruby, Weiss, and Clover will. The challenge here will be focused on testing Vine's abilities, as he'll be the one who has to help the rest of us through."

"Vine? Why him?" Clover asked, more than a little concern that one of them had been singled out.

Jinn just shrugged. "There are seven chambers ahead of us. Each chamber holds a different challenge that will single out a specific member of the party. I still don't know what those challenges will be, or which order we'll be tested in. Just that this first chamber will test Vine primarily."

"So it's giving us the easy challenges first." Clover quipped. "Vine is the most reliable member of my team. If anyone can be trusted to make sure we all make it through this test, it's him."

"...Thank you for your confidence in my abilities. I will strive to live up to your words." Vine gave a bow to Clover.

Clover nodded, then stepped toward the ledge. "I'll go first. It'll probably be the best bet anyways, and if anything goes wrong I'll be in a better position to catch someone just in case." He looked back at Ironwood. "Does that sound good, sir?"

"It does." He agreed. "I am... in your hands. Yours and Vine's."

"As am I." Jinn added.

Elm, for her part, pointed at Vine. "Don't drop me."

"I... was not planning on it."