Cyrus set up their small camp, and as they ate dinner, Lyda asked him how long they could expect to take to finish the ruins.

"Other than me," he told her. "No one's ever tried them solo before. Groups usually take two to four weeks for ruins this small. It really depends on your luck and how many naps you stop to take. One group that did this set of ruins took nearly two months because they were sleeping sixteen hours a day."

"We've only been here a couple of days," Lyda said. "And I can sympathize with them on that, Cyrus."

"It really does depend," he shrugged. "A group of three humans managed to complete a set of ruins twelve percent larger than this one in three days. That's the quickest any set of humans has ever managed to complete a set of ruins in, no other group has managed one in less than a week, regardless of size."

"Okay," she said. "So you're saying there's no way for me to tell how long it would take to complete."

A statement, not a question.

"Correct," Cyrus told her. "I, personally, could complete the largest one in under a day, with only some boosts to my speed due to walking time. The average time taken to complete it is one year and four months. Keep in mind, though, that this is time inside of the ruins. I'd be in it a couple of hours outside, while most would take more than a month and a half."

"Got is," she said. "So this is your favorite one?"

"No."

"You said you like to nap here."

"I do," he told her. "The unique feature of this set of ruins makes it perfect for that. My favorite one is a little more than four times as large as this one, and is more like Aunt Lena's place for most of it. Lots of water. I like islands."

"You live in a city," she pointed out.

"I discovered my love of islands after settling in there," he shook his head. "Moving with the triplets would have been troublesome back then, and it's too much effort to deal with them now. Maybe if they're done causing big problems, I might move onto an island. Or ask Aunt Lena to make me a reality marble."

Cyrus began thinking over what his reality marble would be like, if he had one of his own. From there, his thoughts traveled to what type of world he would prefer to have, if he were a godking. He lost himself into those thoughts, unaware of the rest of the world until morning, when he began preparing breakfast, only then becoming aware that Lyda was sleeping on the bedroll he'd spread out and completely naked.

When she woke, Cyrus gave her a curious look.

"Why did you sleep naked and without a blanket?" He asked. "Wasn't that a little chilly?"

"Yes!" She laughed. "I was trying to get your attention, Cyrus. You mentioned possibly asking the Silver Oracle to make you a reality marble… then went completely silent and didn't talk again. I figured you were deep in thought, so I tried to get your attention in various ways. In the end, I figured you'd at least notice I was cold and give me some warmth, only I guess you passed out and didn't realize it."

"No," he felt his face heat up. "Sorry, Lyda. I got distracted by my thoughts."

"I noticed," she told him, laughing again. "You've done that quite a lot since we met, I've gotten used to it. I just figured that this time, you might not ignore the naked woman who looked cold."

"Sorry," he mumbled.

"It's fine," she said, then began dressing and sat beside him. "It's my fault for thinking you'd act differently than you normally do, then passing out in the chilly night."

They ate breakfast, then Cyrus broke down the camp as Lyda began searching through the ruins of the buildings in an attempt to find the next clue or path forward. He watched her for several hours, before she stopped walking around and began staring at a partially-damaged wall.

After nearly twenty minutes of staring at the wall and touching it in various spots, Lyda walked over to Cyrus, her lips curved down in a slight frown.

"Cyrus," she said. "That wall is strange."

"Strange?" He asked. "How so?"

"Most walls," she said. "Are three, maybe four feet at their peek, except maybe in a one-to-two-foot section in a corner, or at a doorway. That one goes from eight feet in height down to a little less than four feet over an eight-foot span, with another four feet of it at just four feet tall. That makes it strange, but what makes it really strange is that some of the stones light up when I touch them. And yes, I know you said to not touch the walls, but I figured this one had something different from traps on it. The problem is, I can't figure out what's with it, other than I can reset the glows by pressing six of them in a perfect hexagon pattern. That was on a whim, just because of there being Hexagons, people with an affinity for all six elements, and I'd noticed that there were a few spots where the bricks could be said to be arranged in a hexagon, even if it wasn't obvious. I know I wanted to do this mostly on my own, Cyrus, but… could you give me a little help? Just a hint of some sort?"

Cyrus thought over his answer carefully. Lyda had experimented with the wall, he had noticed her doing that. She'd figured out how to do the reset without discovering the plaque which hinted at it. There were several things which he could say, but he didn't know which of them would prove useful to her without giving her too much of a hint.

In the end, Cyrus decided on a single word to give her as a hint.

"Layout."

"Layout?" She asked.

"Layout," he confirmed.

"Hm," Lyda thought over the word, before returning to the wall.

Cyrus watched as she examined it, using his empathy to check her emotions at the same time. She was deep in thought, with only mild confusion. After a few minutes, however, he felt her begin to realize something, then she began to wander through the ruins once more.

After exploring the ruins for another hour, the tiring Lyda began tapping on bricks on the wall, looking at several rooms before returning to it and tapping more.

The young god nodded slightly upon seeing that. She had figured out the clue, all that was left was for her to input the correct code.

Lyda finished tapping in a sequence, and Cyrus watched as all of the bricks of that wall glowed for a few seconds, before every brick on the wall expelled a blast of water, thoroughly soaking her. He was amused to find her immediately set back to work, walking through the ruins and tapping more bricks on the wall.

The second time she finished, Lyda began floating in the air in a bubble of gravity which suspended and slowly rotated her. She waved at Cyrus when the trap let her face him briefly, her hair spread around her in the disturbed space.

When the trap ended twenty minutes later, Lyda joined Cyrus for lunch, then returned to attempting to solve the puzzle. Her third attempted resulted with her disappearing from Cyrus's sight, and he pulled out a book to read until she returned from that stage's chapel.

Lyda returned and immediately began exploring the ruins and tapping on the bricks once more, her fourth attempt ending with the air in front of the wall heating up rapidly enough that Lyda found herself soaked in sweat within moments, her clothes becoming plastered to her.

She waited for the trap to end before walking to Cyrus and changing into the offered clothes, drinking water to rehydrate herself.

"I know I'm on the right track," Lyda told Cyrus. "But this is taking way, way too long."

"It took one team nearly four days to make it through this stage," he told her, and her eyes widened. "They the spent the first one before figuring out how the wall functioned. You figured out the reset function before finding the plaque, which is a first."

"You had to see the plaque?" She asked.

"I'm excluding myself," he told her. "I can just read the magics of the place, which makes it much easier to figure out where to go and what to do. Just by looking at the wall the first time, I was able to tell every single combination set into it and what each one did."

"I'm going to make one more attempt," she told him. "Then it's dinner time. Seriously. This is taking a lot of time, and this lethargy spell is making it hard to focus."

"Good luck," he told her, then began cooking at Lyda returned to work.

He contemplated telling her the effect of the spell was lightened up on her, but decided against it. It wasn't as if she actually needed to know, and he knew she might become a little upset to know there was an additional benefit for her.

Lyda's fifth attempt ended with sparks of electricity dancing over her, sending tingles through her body and rendering her immobile for ten minutes. When the trap ended, she rejoined Cyrus, digging into the steaks he cooked up.

"Do you keep fresh food in your warehouse?" She asked. "You seem to have an endless supply of it here."

"No," he told her. "The ruins have their own storage areas, some stages of it have resource chests to supply adventurers with food, water, and possibly supplies. They're only there when someone is nearby, pulled from a separate reality marble with a time suspension spell preserving everything inside. It's actually a single reality marble storing stuff for all of the ruins, since most of the supplies are the same for all of them. Then there are smaller sections in it for ruins-specific supplies."

"Stuff is teleported between ruins?" She asked.

"All the time," he told her.

"Oh," she said. "I didn't realize that. This is good, by the way."

"Thanks."

"How often does someone attempt these ruins?" She asked.

"Not very often," he answered. "Though there's a tendency for someone to try while I'm in here. Kylnar says it's coincidence, that Rynovar isn't doing it to screw with me, but who knows?"

"You're skeptical?" She asked. "You think Kylnar might be lying about that?"

"I wouldn't put it past Rynovar to trick Kylnar about that," Cyrus told her. "Kylnar would have told me, he knows it's frustrating for me to lie down for a nap, only to be interrupted by someone who's been here long enough to know the spell, worried that it might have taken me while I'm alone, with no one to find me. I nearly started sealing off this place while I was inside until Kylnar begged me not to. The fact that a party came in a little bit ago, even when I'm not here to nap, suggests it might actually be coincidence. Rynovar wouldn't set another party on us just to mess with you attempting the quest, the quest is something he takes quite seriously. That's why he's bribed me not to give you too much help."

"Rynovar has bribed you?" She asked. "And it's to not give me much help? Wait, didn't your mother say Rynovar asked the Silver Oracle to suggest it to you?"

"I don't remember?" Cyrus answered. "I thought it was Mother, but maybe it was Rynovar? I've had a lot on my mind, since my brothers did that thing, and the kiss, and anyway, it's irrelevant. No, he bribed me into not just giving you the missing tokens I could easily procure for you, such as the Mystery Token, Elemental Token, and Forest Token. Just the Dungeon Token. That was the bribe."

"What did he bribe you with?" She asked.

"A rare collectible I've been trying to track down," he answered. "Mint condition, still in the packaging. That's why Kylnar visited me at the shop, to deliver the bribe request for Rynovar. And to place an order for some recospheres."

"So not the 'you can't just tell her how to do the ruins' kind of bribe, then," she said.

"And to not give you advice on certain areas of the ruins," he told her. "But there's a reason for that, and I won't tell you why until after you complete them. You will end up in at least one of them. That's a guarantee."

"Oh," she said. "Anything else?"

"No," he answered. "Just those two things."

"What's the collectible?"

"A golden Josh Manakao figure in the original box, mint condition," Cyrus said. "The last part wasn't stated, but Kylnar would have told me if it wasn't."

"A children's toy?" She asked. "He's bribed you with a children's toy?"

"I did tell you I was looking for it."

"I know," she started laughed. "I'm sorry, Cyrus, it's just the idea of a bribe is usually something a bit more than a children's toy. You're really simple sometimes, you know that, right?"

Lyda immediately turned serious, and he felt her concern and worry through his empty.

"That's not meant to be an insult," she told him. "I know it might be taken that way, but-"

"I'm not seeing it that way," he told her. "Were you planning on making another try tonight? Or just relax with me until morning?"

"That depends," she told him. "Does relaxing with you come with warmth?"

"I have a blanket."

She cleared her throat.

"I meant with your body."

"Oh," he said. "Yes. "But we can use a blanket, too."

Cyrus moved onto the bedroll, and Lyda joined him. He pulled a blanket over them as he spooned her, wrapping an arm around her, before just enjoying the feel of her against him. She fell asleep almost immediately, but Cyrus remained awake, marveling over how easy it was to handle her against him at the moment. Just months ago, he wouldn't have been able to manage a single touch, and had barely managed to have sex with her.

Now, however, he could handle not just sex with her, but spooning her, hugging her, and holding her tight. He made a mental note to thank his mother for putting him in her path and her in his once everything was over, then allowed himself to fall asleep, waking when morning came.

Upon waking, Cyrus found Lyda missing from his embrace, though he could sense her over by the wall, sitting in front of it, deep in thought. Letting her wonder over things, he got up and began making breakfast.