The next morning, before he and a few others entered the cave, Ailn stopped by the old house to give Elenira the portrait. He wasn’t all that surprised to see the grieving elf trying to drown her sorrows in liquor.

  “Veenlyn, huh?” Ailn asked. “Better than anything from our old world, Elenira?”

  “...’s the worst,” Elenira mumbled. “Like drinkin’ sp’cy dirt.”

  Head resting on the table, curled into her own arms, Elenira stared vacantly off to the side. “Noué’s fav’rite…” she slurred. “Couldn’ act’ly hold her liquor though. She was jus’ bein’ a tryhard.”

  “Yeah, she seems like the type,” Ailn said, walking up and dropping the art tube on the table. “This is yours, now. You painted it, anyway.”

  It rolled over the table until it was right near her. Then with a push from Elenira, it rolled away.

  “You don’t want it?”

  “...G’nna throw up ‘t some point…” she replied. “Move it.”

  Sighing, Ailn took the art tube and put it on a high shelf. He couldn’t stay, but he felt pretty bad leaving her like this.

  “‘m fine…” Elenira said quietly. She closed her eyes and looked like she might fall asleep. “The talky count’s daughter… you brought her?”

  “Safi?” Ailn asked. “I did.”

  He winced, thinking back to this morning. Conrad had insisted that he come along and join the adventure—only for Safi to tilt her head and ask ‘don’t you have work?’

  “Pro’lly need her…” Elenira said. She breathed in deep through her nostrils, as if that would sober her up, and peeked one eye open.

  “Are you really not coming with us?” Ailn asked.

  “‘f I go ‘n… “ Elenira closed her eyes again and sighed. “...I don’t thin’ I could come out…I hardly came out las’time.” The curtness in her voice sounded miserably lucid, despite her slurred speech. “The ‘llusion in th’antechamber got stronger after she died… ’S too much for me… I’d en’ up curlin’ up there, forever, just… starin’ into the water…”

  Ailn held his temple, feeling a headache coming, almost like her hangover was contagious. “Did you mean to give me that hint?” he asked.

  “...Oh,” Elenira’s eyes opened again with an expression that said ‘oops.’ “Wha’ever. It won’help.”

  Her eyes began to softly glow gold, but the light within them was dim. Their luster was erratic, dazzling only in glimpses like jewelry examined by candlelight.

  “I really…” Elenira trailed off, falling silent for a long while. And only when her eyes came into focus, as if she saw something behind Ailn, did she finish her sentence. “Outdid m’self.”

  Despite himself, Ailn glanced casually over his shoulder. The timber house looked the same as ever, of course, and he rubbed the bags under his eyes tiredly. He needed to head out before he got any more caught up in her wallowing. Drunks tended to turn introspective right before they got messy.

  “Alright, Elenira,” Ailn said. “I need to go—”

  “Y’can have my eyes,” Elenira said. She was looking clearly at Ailn. “You wan’ them, right? Eyes from people like… us.”

  Ailn stopped in his tracks. “...I do.”

  As he met Elenira’s gaze, he didn’t realize his emerald eyes were beginning to faintly manifest, shifting quietly toward teal.

  “There’s a drawin’... in Noué’s vault,” Elenira pushed herself up with some effort, letting out a quiet groan. “The las’ piece she ev’r—ever finished. Tell me what it is, and... I’ll give up my divine eyes.”

  “That’s all?” Ailn asked. His brows furrowed as his eyes flickered.

  “Tha’s all…” Elenira said softly. The gold of her irises briefly reflected in the teal of Ailn’s. “I don’... don’t need to see it.”

  “...Alright,” Ailn said. “I’ll tell you what she drew. I promise.”

  Both their eyes dispelled.

  “She tol’ me it’s only f’r the one who could—understand her,” Elenira said. Her voice warbled, while she gave him a crumpling smile. “Only… them.”

  Her ears drooped. Her gaze cast down. And even though her fake smile stayed plastered on, her voice came out small and bitter. “Jus’... tell me whattshe drew. I… deserve at least that much.”

  “...You do,” Ailn said.

  He waited, and let the moment pass. But he really did need to get going.

  “I’m off, Elenira,” Ailn said. He turned around, giving her a backwards wave. But before he walked out the door, he knocked on the frame a couple of times. “Drink some water, alright?”

  In the chill of the morning, Ailn and company made their way through the shallows of the side channel. They were headed toward the cave that Renea had found the day prior, dressed in oilskins amenable to getting wet: linen tunics, cloaks, and even footwear, all treated with beeswax.

  Except for Ailn. His geomisil clothing was already waterproof.

  Trudging and wading alongside Ailn and Kylian, Naomi questioned the cave’s serendipitous discovery.

  “You mean to tell me, with a mere half a day’s search, you two happened upon the legendary vault?” Naomi’s eyes narrowed. “How is it you’re so certain?”

  “Look, I found Safi, didn’t I?” Ailn asked.

  “My suspicions, Duke eum-Creid, do not stem from doubting you,” Naomi said coolly. “Rather, the opposite. It is your unnatural efficacy which is odd, no? I find it… inexplicable.”

  “...Uh, have I wronged you somehow?” Ailn asked, grimacing as his foot met mud.

  “No,” Naomi’s eyes softened rather pitifully. “You have not. Forgive me, my momentary envy. It seems I still cannot loose the way it narrows my mind.”

  Already aware of the general direction, Naomi walked on ahead, her face creased by self-reproach, and her movement stiffened by embarrassment.

  “Man, between her and Ciecout…” Ailn watched her walk off. “You really know how to find the difficult ones, don’t you, Kylian?”

  “...There have been worse,” Kylian said, brows knitting as he glanced at Ailn. With a sigh he looked back towards the direction Naomi had walked, the furrow in his brow easing into a pensive gaze. “The little time I’ve spent with her made it clear she can readily regain her stride.” A hint of worry returned. “Though I find myself wondering if she’s taken the wrong lesson to heart by striding so far ahead.”

  “She who travels fastest travels alone, huh?” Ailn remarked.

  Lagging slightly behind, Renea traveled neither fast nor alone. Her expression troubled, and her thumb already bit in confusion, she did her best to engage Safi in conversation.

  “I don’t—I don’t think… umm, I’m not certain that… coupling should be done that way…?” Renea’s expression wrinkled further, as her pupils seemed to shake and shift ponderously. “No, from the start, people don’t just act like er, well… studs and mares… But then… I suppose some noble lineages try to…? Oh no… I think we just reinvented something bad…”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “When you think about it, ark-Chelon’s gonna make rocky, windy types, like stoic and capricious at the same time maybe if that makes any sense, but also if the dad was good at mining and smithing and then the mom’s from sil-Kytsune, and she’s good at weaving then the kid would be the ultimate artisan, wouldn’t they?” Safi yapped happily. “But then they’d have to go to mer-Sereia to build ships and learn how to use holy aura and build snowmen at the duchy eum-Creid?”

  The five of them—Safi, Renea, Naomi, Kylian, and finally Ailn himself—made for an interesting crew, to say the least.

  ‘... Safi… enjoys… hypothetical children…’

  Right. There were six of them, actually. Ailn had forgotten to count the shadowy creature that kept Safi company.

  At any rate, he did his best to ignore their conversation, because he was starting to doubt his decision to bring them along at all.

  Given that there was no penalty for wrong guesses at the antechamber, it made sense to bring along a few extra bright minds—especially ones with varied perspectives. He’d even considered inviting Sir Dartune, since he was a sharp knight who grew up in Sussuro.

  But he ultimately decided against it, just because it felt like it would throw off the group dynamic. Sir Dartune seemed sick of everything Sussuro, anyway. Everytime he so much as caught sight of the river, he’d scowl and shake his head as if the water had somehow wronged him.

  Speaking of those who’d been wronged—just as they neared the cave, Ailn spotted a certain bird that had clearly been nursing a grudge.

  ‘Krawwww!’

  “Today?” Ailn groaned. Almost unconsciously, he found his hand twitching toward the hilt of his blade.

  Ailn’s temptation to opt for the convenient, overkill response thankfully never came to bear. The heron, seeming to think that Naomi was the leader since she walked at the head of the group, swooped over her and lunged from above.

  Naomi was having none of that. A jet of water struck the heron from the left. Then another from the right.

  “GO.” Naomi’s command was curt.

  ‘KRAWWWWW!’ And the heron’s indignation was loud. It flapped its wings out wide, making itself as big as it could. Anger met anger like two goats on a bridge.

  “King of your little fief, I see,” Naomi muttered. Her jets of water relentlessly knocked the heron from side to side. When the heron finally flinched and withdrew, seeming to shrink in its retreat, she couldn’t help but give it a parting line. “Ah. Seems the pompous heron and I are kindred.”

  Ailn winced. That last comparison was straight-up self-flagellation.

  “Aww,” Safi frowned as she walked up, raising her hand to shield her eyes as she watched it fly away. “Poor birdie.”

  Realizing Safi had seen that petty spectacle, Naomi flinched. Then withdrew. Crossing her arms, she again walked ahead of the group, seeming to shrink in her retreat.

  “...Yeah, that one was on her,” Ailn said.

  “Yes,” Kylian sighed. “Yes it was.”

  There was genuine fear on Naomi’s face as she stared at the cave entrance. The confident, practical mage was shivering.

  “This… this was not here yesterday,” Naomi said. “I’m certain of it.”

  Could she feel something in the air? Or was it just disquiet over the cave’s inexplicable appearance? Ailn wasn’t sure, but beside him Kylian also seemed uneasy.

  “There’s stale air inside this cave,” Kylian said. His voice was soft and reflective, but his eyes were sharp. “We should be careful.”

  “Duly noted,” Ailn said.

  ‘...I’ll guide…’

  “Cora says, um, watch out for gators, I think?” Safi tilted her head. “Do we have gators in Sussuro?”

  The cave had water flowing through it—rather, the water had likely carved out the cave in the first place. Whatever the case, it meant Cora could escort them through. Ailn wasn’t sure whether he should feel relieved or terrified.

  ‘...where I say don’t go… don’t go… okay…?’

  Ailn’s brows furrowed. This excursion had already hit some rather chilling notes. “Cora’s going to keep us safe,” Ailn translated for the group.

  “From… from the gators…?” Renea asked timidly.

  “...Yes,” Ailn said, deciding to keep it simple. “Let’s go.”

  The group entered, all of them taking care not to slip on the slick limestone surfaces. It was a fairly steep descent. The stream of water, the small trickling remnant of the conduit that had once cut through the cave, flowed on ahead; they could hear the water’s sudden drop somewhere deep inside, the echoes of the splashing water reaching all the way to the cave’s entrance.

  The daylight dwindled behind them as they went further in, until it finally disappeared. Now, there was only their lantern light.

  Ailn felt Renea silently grab onto his sleeve. Glancing back at her, she almost looked calm; expressionless, except for the tenseness in her jaw.

  “You alright?” Ailn asked.

  She nodded.

  “Are you, really?” Ailn sighed.

  After a moment, Renea quietly shook her head.

  Right. The lanterns. When they’d gone through Varant’s catacombs, the tunnels were all lined with evenly spaced, mounted artifacts to light the way.

  In this cave, though, if their lanterns all somehow broke at once, they’d be left in complete darkness—just like Renea had been in the hidden passage.

  “We have Kylian’s holy aura, too,” Ailn said, trying to reassure her. He rubbed the back of his neck, unsure if this was helping. “So we’re good as long as no one knocks him out.”

  Renea’s grip on his sleeve loosened.

  They reached a ledge, where the water cascaded down like a small waterfall. This was what they’d heard echoing from the cave entrance.

  The drop off was about ten feet, and Ailn looked down dubiously. He had actually brought some rope, but…

  “I can see stuff down there,” Safi chirped. “It looks like treasure? We already found it? Or is it a fakeout maybe?”

  She was right. Down at the bottom was a medium-sized cavern. Clearly, at some point, it had been used by humans—there were barrels and barrels down there, and even a few iron chests.

  It looked like a hideout. An old one.

  Naomi, whose earlier shivering had largely disappeared, suddenly shuddered. Kylian’s eyes sharpened at the sight of the vestiges of human activity in the cavern. And Renea clutched on Ailn’s sleeve tightly.

  “There is a feeling of misery coming from down there…” Naomi muttered. “I can only imagine those must be smuggled goods, correct? Though, they would have to be centuries old.”

  “I can’t substantiate that,” Kylian said honestly. “But my instincts do tell me it’s dangerous.”

  Then came the sound of Cora’s gurgling voice. ‘...don’t go down there… we don’t need to… and you shouldn’t…

  “We’re not headed that direction,” Ailn said. He furrowed his brow. Was her voice coming through clearer? “...Cora says it’s a no-go.”

  He decided to be straight with it. If the shadow creature says don’t go, then they don’t go. A few theories were running through Ailn’s head as to why not. But there was no reason they had to find out.

  That said, he didn’t urge the group on just yet. Though Kylian and Naomi had been relieved to hear the group wouldn’t descend, they were still surveying the cavern.

  “To hide away this deep in the cave…” Naomi’s head rose, and she calmly took in all of her surroundings. Her eyes moved with purpose, even as her expression knitted with terrible realization. “They would use the whole network, no? And I… very much doubt they were only moving wines and spices.”

  Ailn raised his lantern, trying to cast its limited light as far into the cavern as he could. The three investigative minds of the group peered into the dark, considering the implications—but their thoughts were interrupted by Safi’s happy laughter behind them, followed by the sound of an odd guttural gurgle.

  It was hard not to feel a chill, as they all turned to look at the clumped mass of shadow in the water, whose tendrils had playfully wrapped around a giggling Safi’s foot, while a shivering Renea stood a few feet away.

  Cora led them deeper into the cave.

  The path wasn’t exactly labyrinthine—in fact, it was pretty straightforward. There weren’t any major forks or branches. Just caverns and nooks, odds and ends that were deemed off-limits by Cora.

  “There’s so many gators down here,” Safi let her gaze linger down one of these dark byways, bewildered.

  ‘...Watch your step, Safi…’

  “Yeah, I had a really big breakfast!”

  Ailn nearly jerked his head back in disbelief. Cora’s voice wasn’t just getting clearer. It was becoming irrefutably human. Where once she’d been nearly completely obscured by harsh static, now she only sounded slightly muffled.

  Her alto voice didn’t yet ring out clear and true, but there was a person underneath the gurgle.

  He wasn’t sure what Naomi was hearing, but the clearer Cora’s voice became for Ailn, the more anxious Naomi seemed to turn. The mage’s ‘furtive’ glances at Safi and Cora were increasing in frequency and decreasing in subtlety.

  If Ailn were being perfectly honest, his misgivings weren’t any less than Naomi’s. It didn’t do any good to worry about it now, though.

  Something curious happened as they went on through the cave. Shafts of light started to intermittently break up the darkness. After their initial descent, they must have started on a gentle upward incline which brought them closer to the surface.

  At times, the focused beams of sunlight piercing through almost looked like solid, white pillars. When the crevices were wide, the light would lose its focus and scatter, just enough to create a small, bright stage.

  And all throughout, there was a steady stream of water flowing, sometimes fighting softly uphill.

  Then the light was gone, indicating they were once again on a descent. Soon, they came into a wide chamber.

  “...We’re here…”

  Ailn halted. The chamber hadn’t particularly stuck out to him. But then again, he wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting to find. According to Elenira, the penultimate chamber contained Noué’s unfinished masterpiece.

  Slowly, Ailn raised his lantern as he approached the chamber wall, his breath catching as he realized the scope of what Noué had been trying to finish.

  He looked up. The ceiling rose at least twenty feet high. With just his lantern light, he couldn’t see the wall behind him, nor the end of the chamber ahead. That meant it stretched well more than thirty feet in either direction.

  From wall to ceiling, the entire chamber was a gigantic cave painting.