Raeyla followed closely behind the group as they left Hotto, her mind swirling with concern for Serena and Connie's father. So much so that she hadn't heard Veronica at first.
"-er. I need to know what everyone does. I use a staff," she said, catching the brunette girl's attention. She shook off her thoughts and focused on the conversation.
"I fight with a sword." Halden replied earnestly. His tone carried a sense of quiet purpose, still getting used to the weight of the responsibility on his shoulders.
"Knives." Erik said bluntly, raising a hand slightly to show one of his trusted blades.
"Bow." Raeyla added, gesturing to the weapon securely strapped to her back. She caught Veronica's eyes and gave her a small nod.
Veronica seemed satisfied for the moment, her expression pensive as she thought through their capabilities. Erik, pragmatic as always, picked up on her intent and continued explaining.
"We've been running a basic strategy so far. Halden takes point, I've got his back, and Rae takes care of fliers or anything that tries to surround us," Erik said, his words direct.
"If you're a magic user, we can split that responsibility." Raeyla suggested.
Veronica grimaced, a sheepish grin appearing on her face. "Ah ha, about that. My magic is a little limited at the moment. I need to get back to where they took me to get it back," she confessed.
Erik scowled immediately. "Why didn't you tell us that sooner?" he snapped, his frustration palpable, and Raeyla felt the same way. Had they gone into battle with their previous assumptions, someone could have gotten hurt.
Veronica huffed defensively. "I need to get to my sister! And you lot wouldn't have been able to figure it out without me! So I lied, big deal."
Raeyla's eyes narrowed at the girl's defiance. Though she understood the desperation behind the blonde's actions, the lie still bothered her.
"That's really dangerous. Someone could've gotten hurt." Halden chimed in softly, a note of disappointment in his voice. Raeyla thought of how this was the first time he had openly chided anyone in their group. He was usually so gentle and patient, but even he recognised the potential danger Veronica had put them in.
Veronica's face softened, as if she felt the sting of Halden's words more than Erik's. "I told you now didn't I?" she mumbled. "I can still fight - just, it'll be more close combat for now."
"Stay between me and Rae, then," Erik commanded, his tone sharp but steady. "If anything gets past me, you and Rae handle it."
Veronica nodded, and Raeyla noticed the lack of resistance for once. Perhaps the weight of the situation had finally hit her. Raeyla, trying to be patient, looked down to meet Veronica's eyes.
"I'll be shooting at whatever we're against, but if anything gets past the boys it takes priority. If there are multiple, I'll shoot either the left one, or the flying one. If you are in trouble, shout for help. And no more lies."
Veronica huffed again but nodded. "Not that I'll need help, but I'll keep it in mind. If those boys do their job, I won't have to worry."
Raeyla saw Halden's shoulders slump slightly at the comment. He was still gaining confidence, and Veronica's jabs weren't helping, but she decided to let it slide for now.
As they moved across the rocky valley, it wasn't long before their strategy was put to the test. A group of orange slimes began to close in on them, accompanied by a large creature Raeyla had never encountered before - a large, green-skinned djinn with a rest vest. It carried a bizarre bongo drum with a demonic face etched into it, the drum's laugh echoed as it approached.
"Focus on the big guy," Erik called to Halden, and the young swordsman nodded, stepping forward to engage the djinn. Erik and Raeyla split off to the right to take care of the slimes, while Veronica hovered behind Erik, torn between helping him or Halden.
The slimes attacked in unison, leaping toward Erik. Raeyla became focused as she loosed a series of arrows, knocking the slimes back and keeping Erik free to strike with his knives. Erik moved fluidly, always making space for her to shoot, dodging and slashing with precise, practiced efficiency.
Together, they cut through the slimes with an almost instinctual rhythm, Erik's strikes hitting where Raeyla's arrows did not. When there was only one slime left, Erik darted in for a quick slash before stepping back, allowing Raeyla to take the final shot. Her arrow hit its mark, disposing of the last of the slimes.
Raeyla's gaze shifted toward Veronica and Halden. It was clear that they were struggling. Veronica was trying to keep up with the djinn, but her lack of magic left her vulnerable. Halden fought with determination, but his strikes lacked the same precision Erik had.
"We're here! Halden, go left, I'll take right!" Erik shouted as he dashed forward. Raeyla quickly nocked an arrow, her eyes scanning for an opening as Veronica took a few steps back.
At the sight of two more opponents appearing, the monster slammed its mallets against the drum, creating an eerie beat that echoed through the valley. Raeyla heard something approaching her from behind and she spun quickly to see an orange slime hopping dangerously close. She drew her bow and loosed an arrow, taking down the slime before it could get to them.
"Aim for its drum!" Veronica shouted to the boys, having noticed that the drum was calling more monsters to the area. Raeyla turned back around to face the monster and waited for a shot to aim at its bongos.
The boys attempted to break the drum, but their attacks kept missing the target as the djinn dodged and weaved. Raeyla watched from the back of the party, watching carefully. When the opportunity finally came, she took her shot and managed to pierce the drum with a small hole, and was made bigger when the djinn mistakenly tried to use the drum shortly after. No longer able to use the drum, the djinn became flustered and was soon overwhelmed by the group's combined efforts.
As the monster fell, a victorious mood settled over the group. Erik smirked, flicking his knives clean. Raeyla tried to search for arrows she could reuse and Halden sheathed his sword, standing a little taller after successfully defeating a monster.
Veronica however, learned a lot in that fight. "How long have you been fighting together?" she asked, her voice carrying a tone of curiosity.
"Erik and I have been running together for three years now." Raeyla responded calmly. "Halden joined us a few days ago."
"Well, that explains a lot." Veronica crossed her arms and looked at Halden unimpressed. "Do you even know how to fight?"
Halden's face flushed slightly as he scratched the back of his head. "I'm still learning," he admitted. "I didn't have to fight much until recently."
Veronica threw her hands up in frustration. "Wonderful," she muttered, but held back from saying any more. Despite her irritation, Raeyla noticed that there was a bit of patience in her voice - something that was different than when she spoke to Raeyla and Erik.
As the day wore on, the group encountered several more monsters. The open valley made it difficult to avoid being seen by enemies, and it forced them into multiple battles. While the day was tiring, Raeyla found the benefits of it, Halden was gaining valuable experience. With each fight, he grew more confident, choosing his targets more effectively. It was clear the boy was starting to see the logic in how Erik and Raeyla fought - he could handle tougher foes while Erik took care of the quicker ones. It took some trial and error, and more than a few lectures from Veronica, but the group steadily made their way across the valley.
Veronica led them toward a small river of boiling, sulfuric water. The smell was thick, and the landscape around them felt as dangerous as the bubbling water. A large log lay across the river, serving as an impromptu bridge. After crossing the bridge, Raeyla watched as Halden nearly lost his balance, giving the group a heart attack until he was able to steady his balance. Once safely across, they moved toward the path that led between the mountains.
Raeyla took up the rear as they continued. Halden lingered slightly, his attention drawn off the path. She followed his gaze and spotted a strange, pale white creature sitting on a distant rock. It was human-like in shape but unsettling in appearance, with short legs and long arms that dragged on the ground behind it. Its black eyes stared out toward the group, sending a shiver down the girl's spine.
"What is that?" Raeyla asked Halden, who shook his head in return.
"I'm not sure. A monster, maybe?" He suggested, his brow furrowed in confusion.
The two exchanged a glance but couldn't come up with an answer. Raeyla then called out to the others. "Hey, Erik, Veronica - do you know what kind of monster this is?"
Erik turned to look, his sharp eyes scanning the area. "What monster?" he asked, not seeing what the girl was talking about.
The brunette turned back to the rock where the creature had been, only to find that it had vanished. Her heart skipped a beat at its sudden disappearance.
"It was right there… a pale, white creature," Raeyla said, pointing to the rock.
Veronica frowned in confusion. "Doesn't sound familiar to me. You sure it was a monster?" she asked, her tone tinged with skepticism.
"I saw it too," Halden added, backing Raeyla up. "But it's gone now."
The others exchanged a few uncertain glances, but without any clear answers, they decided to push forward, hoping that it wasn't following them.
After a short while, they arrived at a cliff overlooking crashing waves once more, the sound and scent of the ocean filling the air. The rocky ledge reminded Raeyla of the area where they'd first left the Door of Departure.
Veronica continued to lead them along until the group came to a winding path, which eventually led to a stone archway built into the mountain.
"This is it," Veronica said with certainty. "This is where they took me and Connie's dad. My sister must be inside."
She approached the heavy stone doors, straining to push them open. Halden quickly stepped in to help, and together they forced the doors apart, revealing an ominous place within. The ceiling was high, and the walls were made of stone bricks. Flickering candles lined the hall, their dim light casting long shadows that stretched across the room.
Raeyla stepped inside carefully, her senses on high alert. The air was thick with tension and though no immediate threats were present, she knew that there would be somewhere within the stone hallways. She exchanged a brief glance with Erik, who gave her a nod, showing that he was ready for anything.
"Do you remember where you escaped from in here?" Halden asked Veronica softly, his voice laced with concern. The blonde girl nodded quickly, her face showing determination.
"I do. I can lead us down there. This way." She stepped forward into the dark without hesitation. Erik's sharp gaze looked into the room before speaking up.
"Hold on," He said, his voice steady but firm. "We need to change up the strategy."
Veronica stopped, a scowl immediately forming on her face as she turned to him. Halden also halted, curious but uncertain. Raeyla knew what Erik would be suggesting.
"Is it like when we were at the Kingsbarrow?" Halden asked, glancing at Raeyla and Erik for confirmation.
Erik nodded, "Yeah. Same deal."
Veronica crossed her arms, her expression one of impatience. "And why exactly do we need to change anything?" she challenged, her voice carrying its usual sharpness.
Raeyla stepped in then, able to explain things clearly to her. "In places like this, there are too many corners where monsters can hide. We need to be more careful."
"So," Erik continued, "I'll go first. Raeyla will be right behind me, Halden takes the rear to watch our backs, and Veronica - when we give you the signal, you can tap Halden to get his attention and keep noise to a minimum. We need to be more careful."
Veronica scoffed, placing a hand on her hips. "Seems a bit excessive, don't you think?"
"We can't see what's in the next room," Erik pointed out, his tone matter-of-fact. "If we alert one monster, we risk alerting them all."
Halden, trying to mediate, added, "We'll avoid fights where we can."
Veronica sighed, rolling her eyes, but nodded. "Fine, if you insist."
With their plan set, the group moved in formation through the stone halls. Erik led the way, his steps silent and careful, while Raeyla followed closely, her bow at the ready.
The archer's sharp eyes caught sight of the monsters as they moved through the rooms. She noted a green bat flying across a distant hallway, similar to the ones from Heliodor's region. A mollusk-like creature slithered in the far corner of a room they passed, its shell stretching as two eye stalks shot up from either side. Most unsettling of all was a walking corpse - half-decomposed, its flesh hanging loosely from its bones, clothed in what once might have been a light tunic and blue trousers. Raeyla couldn't help but wonder who the person had been before their transformation into this cursed state.
She tore her gaze away from the eerie figure, following Erik as they moved deeper into the dungeon. They carefully navigated down a narrow hallway when suddenly Raeyla felt the ground shift beneath her feet. Her eyes widened in alarm as the floor began to tremble.
"Erik-!" she started, but he had already noticed, his eyes darting to the ground beneath them.
"Get back!" Veronica shouted from behind, her voice loud and urgent.
Raeyla tried to jump forward, but her footing betrayed her - the stones beneath her were crumbling away. She gasped as her heart leapt in her throat. Erik, realizing he too wouldn't clear the collapsing floor in time, reached out for her hand.
"Rae!" he shouted, his voice filled with concern.
Without thinking, the girl stretched out her hand, her fingers locking with his. Erik yanked her closer, pulling her toward him and wrapping his other arm around her just as the floor gave way beneath them. They tumbled together as gravity took them into the darkness below.
"Erik! Raeyla!" Halden's voice echoed faintly from above, filled with panic. The world spun for Raeyla until a sharp pain in her back stole the breath from her lungs, and everything went black.
She wasn't sure how long she was out, but when she awoke, the sound of Veronica's voice was ringing in her ears. "Oh come on, where are you!? We have a situation up here!"
The brunette groaned softly, blinking away the haze of unconsciousness. Erik lay next to her, half-buried under rubble. He stirred, groaning slightly as he lifted his arm to push away some of the stones that had fallen on them.
"Are you ok?" Raeyla asked him quietly. She tried to move, testing her limbs. Her body ached from the fall, especially her arm and leg, but nothing felt broken thankfully.
"Yeah" Erik replied, unwrapping his arms from around her to shove more of the stones away. "Bruised, but fine. You?"
"Same," Raeyla replied, though she winced as she moved.
"Rae," Erik said with a frown, his voice uncharacteristically soft. "Your head is bleeding."
She reached up, feeling a warm wetness on her forehead and felt the cut. She brought her hand down to look and saw the blood. "One of the rocks must have hit my head," She told him, worrying slightly about the wound.
"Here, let me-" Erik began, but was cut off by another shout from above.
"HELLOOO! Little help here!" Veronica shouted at them, forcing them to look up.
Raeyla looked up and caught sight of Halden swinging his sword at something she couldn't see. She could hear a monstrous gurgling sound above and realized that the monsters must have heard the noise.
The two thieves exchanged a glance before both of them scrambled to their feet. As they looked for a way out, Raeyla noticed movement in the shadows in the room they were in.
"Erik.." She said in a serious tone, gaining his attention.
A creature - a mannequin made of clay and mud, its limbs jerking unnaturally as if controlled by invisible strings - was making its way toward them. Erik immediately drew his knives and stood in front of his friend, while she took the bow off of her back and readied an arrow.
She took careful aim at the joints of the mannequin's limbs, trying to cripple the monster's movement but having trouble with blood dripping down into her eye. Erik moved in quickly, taking advantage by slashing the weakened limbs that she shot at until it fell to the floor, unmoving.
She quickly wiped away the blood when she caught sight of another threat who was seen moving to attack on the far side of the room: a goblin dressed in blue clothing, perched atop a six-legged beast with a skeletal face. The goblin raised its sword high above its head, kicking the sides of the beast to make it charge toward Erik.
Raeyla quickly tried to shoot at the goblin, but found that it moved too quickly for her. Erik dodged the beast's first attack, but the creature's tail swept at his legs, sending him tumbling to the ground. Without hesitation, Raeyla took a few steps forward and fired another arrow, hitting the goblin in the shoulder to draw its attention away from her friend.
"What ARE you two doing there?!" Veronica called out from above once more, agitating the brunette archer.
"A little busy here!" She responded loudly, watching as the beast and its rider turned toward her to charge. She jumped out of the way but landed rough on the uneven stones. She grit her teeth, trying to get up quickly, but had to instead roll to avoid the goblin's wild swing.
"Hey! Over here!" She heard Erik's voice shout from behind the monster. He jumped up, plunging his dagger into the goblin's back before attempting to drive the other into the beast's eye. The goblin screamed at the injury and swung its sword wildly, barely missing Erik as it fell off the beast.
Raeyla took the distraction as her chance to scramble to her feet and reach for her bow that laid on the ground beside her. She shot another arrow at the monster's skull and watched as it crumpled to the ground, lifeless.
"Easy." Erik quipped, flashing her a tired but cocky grin.
She offered a small smile in return and looked around to where they fell. The area looked much the same as where they were above, and luckily there were no more monsters around for the moment.
She steadied her breathing and raised her bow to the upper floor where Halden and Veronica were still engaged in battle. Erik couldn't help, but she could. "Halden, bring it closer!" she called up to him.
A moment later, she caught a glimpse of Veronica's figure baiting the corpse forward, her movements precise as she thrust her staff to provoke it. Raeyla's eyes locked onto the patch of blue hair, telling her that it was one of those walking corpses, before releasing her arrow. Silence filled the air for a moment, putting the girl on edge.
"You got it!" Veronica called back down before running forward out of sight, putting the older girl's worries to rest.
Erik, meanwhile, was already pacing the lower level, scanning the area for a way out. Raeyla stayed in her position in case she was needed anymore. At one point, Halden's voice reached her ears, but she was unable to tell what he was saying. A moment later, both Veronica and Halden appeared at the edge of the opening, peering down at them.
"We got them! Thanks, Raeyla! Are you both ok?" Halden spoke. Scanning down below and noticing Erik was not there.
"We're fine! Erik's looking for a way back up!" She shouted in response, resisting the urge to touch her wound again. She didn't want Halden to worry for her. She glanced toward Erik, who was now standing at the far end of the room, staring down a long, shadowy corridor.
"We'll need to check this out." He called back, his tone serious.
She nodded in return before looking back up to their party members. "Stay here! We're going to look for an exit!" she instructed Halden and Veronica before hurrying to catch up with Erik.
The hallway stretched longer than they had initially anticipated. It ended at a massive stone door, sealed shut despite their combined efforts. After several failed attempts to move it, they went back to tell Halden and Veronica that they needed help to open the door from the other side.
They went back to the door and waited, giving them a chance to relax. Raeyla took the time to carefully clean her forehead, wincing as she pressed a cloth to the small wound. Erik, who had been helping her, reassured her that it was already closing. His calmness helped ease her worry, though her head still throbbed slightly. She appreciated his practicality in moments like this - it grounded her.
It wasn't long before a loud knock from the other side of the stone door was heard.
"Raeyla, Erik! Are you there?" Halden's voice, though muted, was unmistakable.
Erik stepped forward, banging his fist against the door. "We're here! Push the door!" Erik shouted, stepping back to allow them room.
Raeyla exhaled in relief as the door creaked open. As it swung outward, Halden and Veronica appeared on the other side, safe but looking a bit worse for wear. Halden had a few scrapes on his hands, and both of them were dusted with dirt. Veronica stood with her arms crossed, looking distinctly annoyed.
"You guys alright?" Raeyla asked.
"We got ambushed after you fell," Veronica hugged, glaring at Erik. "What took you so long?"
Erik shot her a glare, his temper flaring once more. "Cool it, brat. We got ambushed too," he snapped, his tone sharp and defensive.
Veronica opened her mouth to retort, eyes narrowing, but Halden quickly intervened. "I'm just glad everyone is safe," he said, his voice calm yet happy. Raeyla, feeling a headache creeping up, silently agreed with his sentiment, grateful for the peace.
The group pressed forward through the stone halls, their movements more cautious as they navigated back toward the upper level. When they finally reached a set of stairs leading upward, Raeyla felt a wave of relief. After battling a few of the strange snail-like creatures, they approached another stone door. This time, Halden and Erik worked together to push it open.
Sunlight flooded into the massive room as they entered. Tall stone pillars framed a circular fountain that sat below an open ceiling. At its center stood a grand statue of an angel, wings folded peacefully against its back, hands clasped over its chest. The sunlight glittered off the water, casting a serene mood over the room.
"That's one heck of a fountain to be hidden away down here." Erik murmured, letting out a low whistle of appreciation.
"What is this place?" Halden asked softly, his eyes wide with wonder.
Raeyla was about to respond when Veronica gasped sharply, drawing their attention. "Wait, over there!" she cried, her voice suddenly frantic as she bolted toward the far right side of the room.
The brunette followed the direction Veronica was running in, her heart dropping as she saw what had alarmed her.
Lying motionless on the ground was a tall woman with long blonde hair, clad in a green dress.
"Is that Serena?" Halden asked, his voice trembling with both hope and fear.