Darkness had finally finished clouding the dusk of a brand new night. With night full upon them, Lyun and Yhzia began their approach to the Obsidian Halls.

An unfortunate side effect of taking a shuttle to a place that gets plenty of traffic was that the vehicle had proven to be too busy to even think within. Fortunately, it wasn’t as if Yhzia had signed them up for a guided tour or anything, they would have time to themselves for the moment as they just looked around at their own pace. The Obsidian Halls, the place was practically a museum, a fact that became more obvious the longer you looked at it. The whole thing was simply a monument to the cultivation process of this otherwise dead world. There were even wings of the place dedicated strictly to that very idea. Such areas were even the more populated sides of the whole experience, something Lyun didn’t feel was a high priority at this point. However, one of the most important parts of Ruixsi cultivation remained the exact feature that brought life to a dead world, the legacy of the Kyuemu and its foundation of the elements. For something that brought life to the world, it wasn't exactly the most lively area of the Halls, but she certainly would not complain about such details. The silence would give her an opportunity to think, the chance to figure out some new inspiration that would finally address her life’s greatest concern, the acquisition of success and prosperity.

“Are you tired? Do you need a break first?” “No, just thinking. Sorry about that.” “No problem, just let me know if you need a break, we can stop at any time.” The blob that was Yhzia was just concerned about Lyun’s actual nature. Lyun was an elf, after all, her slanted ears and the spiraled iris of her eyes giving such away. Being an elf implied that her own stamina wasn’t as up to par with a human like Yhzia. Of course, Lyun also knew that her own senses were in turn far superior to Yhzia’s, so there would be things the elf spots that the human misses. She generally suspected that their coats made it even harder for her human friend to see around her too, which then would make them lucky that no one had crashed into a lamp post or anything yet. Considering such, she quickened her pace into the facility of choice and took away some of her protective coat. It was really awkward that this side of the obsidian halls wasn’t even in a shelter, leaving them to keep up their coats the whole time. Passing through the main gates, struggling against the stiff hinges that clearly haven’t moved for a while, she found that the interior was actually even worse. All of the elements still felt very thin, all of them except one. The place was an obvious inferno, made worse in the heavy coat they wore. Sure, such a coat was actually capable of protecting them, giving slight protection against the heat, but was mostly there because of the other elements, somehow feeling even worse than outside in the exceptionally thin air.

“My word, why is it so hot here?” “It actually makes sense, the foundry for all Kyuemu was always in history forged in fire, baked in the most incredible heat. The intensity of heat forms some of the purest of shards.” “So.. this place is some kind of smeltery?” “Either that, or it is trying to impress us with that type of experience.” “Ah.. neat.” “Wait, this was all your idea, didn’t you do your research beforehand?” “This may have been just an impulse of an experience, if we’re going to be honest about it. I may have just been quickly scanning for something that seemed like it would interest you in order to convince you of the idea. Besides, this is fun too, exploring new places gives some of the best kinds of thrills.” Yhzia’s honesty brought back Lyun’s headache all of a sudden, realizing that the plan was to not plan. Sufficiently disorientated, but still taking the lead, it was a while more before the two realized that they had actually lost track of where they were. The place simply had no signs at all either, absolutely nothing anywhere to provide any form of guide or anything. Lyun pressed through another stiff black stone door, getting the impression that much of their circumstances was starting to feel uninviting.

“Hells, it’s like they didn’t want anyone here or something.” “Wait, they didn’t?” “Why would you ask me, you.. wait.. are you telling me that there is an actual chance we’re not allowed to be here?” “Huh, never thought of that.” Lyun couldn’t even get angry, she didn’t even bother asking Yhzia any questions about this whole idea, just going along for the ride herself. Blaming each of them equally for this, Lyun turned around and returned to the door behind them. However, from this side, she found herself unable to get the door open at all, even with Yhzia’s help. Sure, she could have opened such a door with the right instruments, all stuff she had left back at the workshop. That would have been another mistake, going so unprepared like this. Of course, instrumentation was her strength, going with nothing was the most stupid thing she could have done. Well, she had one thing, she had her cell on hand, something she could use to call for help. Pulling it out though, she discovered the thing was completely unresponsive. Was something interfering with such an instrument that much? There wasn’t the time to dwell on the idea, they needed an alternative somewhere before the heat became too much for them to bear.

“If we can’t go back, maybe we can go forward? Certainly this can’t be the only way back up, there would be others, ones that would be bound to work.” Yhzia took the lead at this point, her determination being the last guiding beacon. Lyun fell in step behind her, shocked that she had yet to notice that they had been going deeper underground the entire time. Resolved to take more attention to their surroundings, Lyun took the chance to watch the scenery that they were traversing beyond. The halls were all made of a pitch black stone that somehow seemed to deny even darkness to the halls, a faint glow lit nothing in particular as they kept going. The walls were a blend of natural and artificial, clearly a place that was carved into a foundation that had occurred naturally, the walls being perfect lines but their path being nowhere near as straight. There were even countless forks and choices of paths before them, no clear sign which one was better than others. Lyun certainly did not know this secret of the Obsidian Halls, something she might care to look into once they safely escaped. However, as they started to suffer worse and worse in the heat, her thoughts shifted less towards the ‘when’ and more towards the ‘if’.

“Do you think we’ll make it through this?” “I think doubt would do nothing for our chances, at the very least. Keep going, I’ll keep looking out for anything suspicious that might prove helpful.” “The blessing of elven eyes, huh? I guess it would look bad if I wore down first too, huh? Sure, we’ve got this.” Yhzia was expressing the doubts Lyun was keeping to herself, having only just told herself the same message. Despite doubt, hope eventually glimmered in the distance, a faint color that stood out through everything else. Certainly, it wasn’t a normal color, the deep purple flicker was its own form of intimidating. The fact that it led towards a stairwell going upwards again finally became their own candle of hope, a candle that burned brightly until it ended in a caged metal seal. Lyun tried to force this cage open without any success either, Yhzia keeping up the fight as Lyun went to rest for a moment. So close, yet so far. Lyun slumped against the wall, a large loose portion of it collapsing with her. She felt absolutely helpless in her circumstances, hardly capable of making a difference at all. As is, they weren’t even allowed to be here. If they got caught, just how much trouble could they get into? The bars they faced now could simply become the bars they face later. If that happened, her only chance would be to insist on her ignorance, claim she had gotten lost in the exhibit, certainly that would be easy to understand, right?

Having distracted herself again, Lyun wasn’t aware of what Yhzia was doing right up to the great crash that resounded in that moment. Having also noticed the impressive stone Lyun had set free, Yhzia had picked it up and used it with force against the bars of the cage. The black stone didn’t just crash into it, it visibly made the bars fold over it, warping the very metal itself. After brutally destroying the cage in their path, a sudden siren could be heard in the distance above them. So.. the cage was somehow rigged to an alarm, and they had just tripped it. Breaking and entering, there was no way they were going to get out of this now. Yhzia’s pride seemed to have missed this point, the girl was excited in her success as she grabbed Lyun’s hand and led the way forward.

“Well, now we’re doomed.” “What? No, I did it, we’re going to get out of here now. Come on, what happened to doubt having nothing for our chances.” “I’m doubting nothing. I’m absolutely certain we’re doomed. Now, if we fail to escape this place, we’re going to get caught and taken away and.. that will be that.” “Oh, so it’s easy, we just need to slip out without getting caught then, right?” “Easy!? What exactly is so easy about slipping past the wardens?” “We did it to get this far, right? Just need to do it one more time, right?” Lyun clearly made an optimistic monster out of Yhzia. Of course, when they walked in, no one was watching. Now, with the sirens going, the moment they stepped outside, they would be caught. Yhzia was clearly unwilling to see the logic in all of this, keeping herself blind to such obvious facts. However, reality would not be so easy to ignore. The passage they had found did not even lead to the surface, it ended in a giant glowing chamber filled with purple smoke, a massive pitfall in the middle of the chamber going far down into the abyss of nothing below.

At the far end of the chamber, sitting ceremoniously atop a pedestal, was a suspicious stone fragment, visibly glowing purple. Wandering closer to the stone out of a sense of curiosity, Lyun discovered the stone was like a slice of a stone bowl, the effect making it appear as if such a stone was like a purple crescent moon. Lyun had no idea what this thing was about, she’d never even heard about it before. She knew, whatever it was, it was here for a reason, and it would be best to simply keep such wonders where they belonged. Knowing this, she simply sat down at the base of the pedestal, waiting for the inevitable. Yhzia however got concerned at this, worried that this was a sign Lyun had collapsed, and had rushed over to help. In her blind hurry, she lightly knocked the pedestal, the stone atop it falling forward towards Lyun. Lyun managed to catch the falling stone with her right hand, bracing the pedestal with her left arm before the whole thing managed to fall upon her. Alarmingly, as the stone made contact with her arm, the entire arm quickly started to lose all sense of color, growing rapidly ashen pale as it crawled along her arm.

Still in a fit of panic and worry, Yhzia turned her attention to the very alarming effect the stone was having upon her friend, grasping the same arm in some form of her ongoing determination, some sort of intent to help. With such a presence, the pale of her arm stopped progressing against Lyun and turned instead on Yhzia with a renewed vigor. In a blink of an eye, Lyun found herself standing beside a pale statue of Yhzia, the fragment itself nowhere to be found. In another instant, a slight twitch, the statue that used to be Yhzia shattered into fine dust, leaving only her possessions behind.

It felt like an instant suspended in time, where in one instant her best friend was still there beside her.. and in the next she was gone. In that instant, Lyun discovered a depth of depression she had never even gotten close to before, still uncertain what had even transpired.