{-Llewel-}

He noted how Tinath sulked the rest of the way until they reached the entrance. She seemed nervous; the closer they got, the more she looked around their surroundings, and her hawk cawed rather affectionately before rubbing its head against hers. It was like she feared them all going in there as much as she did the thought of telling them why—when, really, a good explanation was all Zetai would need to listen to her. It was strange, compared to the other things she’d done. Even if she was right, this wouldn’t be the first time the twins were in danger with her around.

Kadol motioned them all to come closer. He was able to open a map and show them, this one having more details on the inside of the building. “There are two identical passageways here, splitting off close by the entrance. Along each hallway are several rooms; some may be locked but most of them you should be able to enter. I assume there are four artifacts in this area in total, two on each side of the hallway. After you find both of those, you can continue to follow the hallway. This grand room right here should be where the last artifact is.” He closed the map. “You’re welcome to collect all the artifacts or just one or two of them. I will stay out here and give a signal either when you collect all five or one of the groups have left.”

He pointed to Zetai and Reynneak. “Since it will be more efficient to split into teams, you two are the leaders. The other two will have to choose which one they want to go with.”

“Wouldn’t it make more sense for them to go together?” Llewel asked. “They’re more familiar with each other, and I’m more familiar with Myr. Not that we wouldn’t be fine like this, but it would probably be a lot better…”

“I understand your point, but I can’t do that,” Kadol said, shaking his head. “The code says I’m supposed to pair you up based on Player ID. Since it appears that neither of the two of you have them, and the other young woman has already completed the quest, this is how you have to be paired. The doors will only open if they recognize a player is there.”

Myr glanced back at Tinath. “Are you sure you don’t want to come? Then you can see for yourself that there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I’m going to stay here with Kadol,” Tinath decided. She gave a cautious glance towards the building. “There’s something else I need to do anyway.”

“If you’d just tell me what you were worried about, I’d probably listen to you,” Zetai remarked.

“It’s the only thing that’s going to get her to listen to you,” Reynneak added. “Trust me, she’s not going to turn away from something unless the danger of it is right in front of her.” He paused. “And then some.”

She punched his shoulder in response.

“Somehow, I kind of doubt you’d believe me even if I came up with a better reason…” Tinath mumbled. “It doesn’t matter. Do whatever you want, what I say isn’t going to change anything.”

“You should get going,” Kadol prompted after a moment. “There’s less people here than usual, from the looks of it. If you hurry, you’ll be able to get everything that you need without having to worry about running into someone.”

“I’ll go with Myr,” Zetai offered. “When we meet back up again, I better see that you have both of the artifacts on your side.”

“I’m not searching every room if I feel pressured to get out,” Reynneak pointed out, more casually than anything else.

Llewel, however, was vaguely more confident in their abilities. “As long as they’re not hidden somewhere weird, we’ll be able to get all of them.”

“They should all be rather obvious,” Kadol said. “David’s group wasn’t necessarily one for being cautious, nor much reverence for the pieces of the civilization that came before us. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were all on some giant pile of research materials somewhere completely random.” He glanced towards the door. “I’m sure that, for one reason or another, they didn’t do it here, though. They’re likely all in different rooms, but you shouldn’t need to do much to uncover them. There shouldn’t be anything in the locked rooms—those are reserved for other things.”

“Other things?” Llewel asked, hesitantly noticing the kind of look Tinath had after it was brought up.

“That’s nothing for you to worry about,” Kadol assured them. “As I said earlier, there’s no one here besides scholars. You won’t run into any serious problems… you may even be able to talk yourself out of any, if you do happen to run into any of them.” He gave some kind of knowing look between all of them. “Unless you’re much more than what you seem to be, that is. Then you may have a problem, but only if you let them believe that you’re something out of the ordinary.”

He gestured towards the door. “Go on, heroes. Find the artifacts that have been taken from us; remind them of the easier way for both groups, if you come across one of them. But do try not to get spotted. Remember the reward that’s in it if you can find all five of the others!”

The four of them nodded and Tinath stepped further away.

Zetai was the first to approach the door. “Remember we’re heading back to Kyirius City and talking to Relenri after this, so let’s get this done quickly.”

Only a step behind her, Myr smiled at Llewel. “I’ll see you when we’re back together.”

He wondered if it would ever get easier to just let her leave his sight, without knowing where she’d be or what she’d run into. He didn’t even know if he wanted to get used to it. But there was nothing he could do here aside from assure himself that she’ll be alright, as long as Zetai was with her.

“Zetai’s probably going to get annoyed if we take a while to finish,” Reynneak said, walking in himself and motioning for Llewel to follow him. “We shouldn't stay too far behind her.”

Llewel nodded and followed him through the opposite hallway than where the girls had gone. All he did for a little while was take in their new surroundings; plenty of doors, no windows, and hardly anything to distinguish this side of the hallway from further down. From where he stood now, it seemed like it might go on forever.

His ways of distracting himself from this truly didn’t help anything. “Do you think Tinath actually has a reason to think this place is dangerous? When she took me to the other part of the forest, she hadn’t lied to me—just left out some details that probably would’ve been nice to know.”

“She could but, if she is, there’s not a lot we can do about it now.” Reynneak shrugged.

Llewel shrunk and quickened his pace to keep closer.

Reynneak offered him a reassuring smile. “That doesn’t mean you need to get worried about it, though. I’m here with you and Zetai’s with Myr, and we’re not that far apart from each other. We’ll be fine if we do end up running into trouble.”

“I’m going to try to convince myself that you’re right.” Llewel paused. “Try is the biggest part there. I don’t think it’s going to work.”

Eventually, Reynneak stopped by one of the doors and gently pushed it open. After looking inside, he went in, Llewel right beside him.

“Help me look,” Reynneak instructed. “We’ve got to make sure we check every possible place before we meet up with the girls again.” He went towards a stack of books and mumbled, “I should have asked what they looked like…”

“They’ll probably all look like the [Kyirius Artifact], maybe palette swapped,” Llewel remarked. “All the other quests we did in Anthalas that involved finding more items were all pretty much the same thing.”

It didn’t take long before they were able to find something. Reynneak picked up an artifact and, after checking its description, put it in his Inventory. “One down, one more to go. We may not even run into anyone at all, if we can find the other one as quickly as we found this one.”

“I hope so.” Llewel left the room first and Reynneak closed the door after he also left. “Do you think the girls have found their first artifact, too?”

Reynneak let out a small laugh. “Knowing Zetai? They’re probably trying to bust open one of the locked doors that they’re in no way supposed to be entering. I’m sure they’ve gotten at least one of theirs.”