There were two tunnels on either end of the underground chamber, and neither of them had any labels or possessed the orichalcum petals or electrum thorns. One of them headed north, while the other, southeast, and given the fact that Yuriko remembered Synkrasia to be near the centre of the plane, she decided that they were going to use the north tunnel. None of the others protested her decision or offered a better reason to go south, so north it was.

The darkness was oppressive, and it was only because Yuriko’s Anima shed light that she could see where she was going. She invested a few motes of Radiant energy into a ball of Animus to make it glow with daylight, which illuminated the width of the tunnel, as well as several dozen paces ahead and behind. It was barely enough to keep the entire group within the light, and it would also signal their presence to anything in the shadows, but it was better than the alternatives.

The tunnel was about five or so paces wide, and clearly artificial. The walls were straight, the ceilings were properly braced, and the floor was level, even if it was covered in a thin layer of dust and dirt. It also curved very slightly to the left but was only perceptible from her aura. The tunnel was about two and a half paces high, shorter than most, which also made it practically impossible to go on horseback. If Heron stretched his arms up, his fingers could easily brush the ceiling.

With the darkness, it was impossible to figure out how far they had to go, and with the curve, they soon couldn’t see where they'd been. But, since there was only one path, they had little else to do but persevere.

It might have taken a couple of hours, maybe three or four, it felt longer, but her timesense actually said that it had been less than two, the artificial tunnel finally ended and they arrived in a cavern. The stillness of the air was now disturbed by the sound of water droplets falling on puddles, from long stalactites.

The transition had been rather abrupt, and there was a steep step down from the edge to the cavern floor. Yuriko jumped down, and her Anima stabilized her footing on the uneven surface. The light revealed hundreds of stalactites and stalagmites, with a good number already fused into pillars. The ground was somewhat muddy too, but more than that, there were treacherous potholes scattered across the way, hidden by shadows.

“Where to?” Gwendith murmured.

Yuriko shook her head. “I’m not sure. The instructions in the chamber spoke of petals and thorns. To reach Synkrasia, we should follow the petals.”

“Young mistress,” Saki stepped up next to her, “I will circumnavigate the chamber and look.”

“Thank you. But not just you. Set up a rest stop here. Heron, Gwendith, both of you explore. I’ll see what’s straight ahead.”

“What about the light?” Gwendith asked. “Animus orbs?”

“Yes, that should work. Please see to it?”

“Alright!” Gwendith agreed happily.

Soon enough, several Intermediate Binders conjured Animus orbs of varying colours. They cast myriad shadows but they also had the effect of making it easy to return to camp. Kassy and Roland approached her next, discomfort clear on their faces.

“Are you alright?” Yuriko asked politely, though it was clear they weren’t really. As she half expected, Kassy waved off the question and Rolland grunted.

“I smell filth,” he grumbled.

“What kind?” Yuriko asked curiously.

“Bugs. There are trails all over the place. More there.” He pointed towards the left, off-centre by a few degrees. “There may be a colony of those creatures down here.”

Given that the giant lightning ants lived underground, that wasn’t such a strange idea. However, with the narrowness of the tunnels, they could get swarmed easily. Ants could walk on the walls and ceilings after all. Visions of the creatures filling the tunnel while charging at her surfaced in her mind and Yuriko shuddered. While she could probably escape or destroy them, the same couldn’t be said for her people.

“Keep a sharp eye and nose out,” Yuriko said. Both of the beastkin nodded, then Kassy gave her a sideways look.

“Such a grand adventure you’re leading us, my lady. Will you reward us upon its conclusion?”

Yuriko smiled back. “Whatever you want.”

“I’ll hold you to that.” Kassy grinned.

The beastkin were excellent guards, Yuriko thought to herself, and she knew many dangers had been avoided by their skill and senses. She still wasn’t sure why they chose to follow her, but they’d been nothing but steadfast so far. It could be that the wild cat-kin and wolf-kin were simply curious. Then again, they were adventurers too, and this was indeed a grand adventure.

Once the camp was secure, Yuriko ventured out alone. Once she was past a few stalagmites, the light from the camp was barely visible. The ceiling was higher here, roughly five paces to seven at times. It was as rough as the ground, with many nooks and crannies filled with insects and small animals. There were cracks that seemed to lead to the surface, but they were too small for anything but a rat to fit through.

She saw a wide pond a couple of dozen paces away. The water droplets left ripples on the surface, and she could see fish and other aquatic critters in it. Past the pond, there was only about fifty paces of cavern left, and there was a tunnel almost directly across the one they came from. It wasn’t anything artificial though, and from what she could feel with her Anima, it had a gentle downslope.

“What’s this?” she muttered as her Anima touched something metallic a couple of inches within the rock next to the tunnel. Her perception encompassed the entire thing and she quickly realised what it was. “An orichalcum petal.”

The ornament was about a couple of inches long, and a quarter wide. She could see some inert runescript lines on it, but with no ambient Chaos able to reach it underneath the collected sediment, it couldn’t function. She used her kinesis to chip away the cover, and almost as soon as it became exposed to air, it began to give out a soft glow.

Smiling, Yuriko spun on her heels and made her way back to the camp. Saki wasn’t back yet, but Heron and Gwendith were.

“What did you find?” Yuriko asked them.

“A couple of tunnels,” Heron answered. “One was a couple of paces above the ground, while the other was a tiny one that would barely allow me to crawl into.” Gwendith nodded in agreement.

“Young mistress,” Saki called out as she approached the camp, “I found a tunnel. It looks like a mine tunnel rather than a natural one.”

“How so?” Yuriko asked.

“It’s square and there are supports and lamp hooks.” Her Shadow Guard answered quickly.

“Ah, there’s a tunnel straight ahead. And also one of the orichalcum petals buried under layers of sediment.”

“That's the path then?” Gwendith asked.

“Yup.” Yuriko looked at the others in the camp. Most looked weary, despite the relatively small amount of time walking. The oppressive dark and the idea of there being millions of MiJin of rock and stone above them was rather stressful. “We’ll leave after an hour.”

She expanded her full Anima, letting the light of her Radiant Ennoia bathe them. She also released a bit of her Mien, focused on Inspiration rather than Charm, seeking to soothe their emotions and thoughts.

The men and women who’ve sworn to her relaxed slightly. The changes in their demeanour were minuscule, but it was there. A full hour under Inspiration should help settle their nerves. Being afraid of the dark and the Underways was understandable, but being too frightened can slow reactions. In case they were attacked by the so-called anathema…

An hour later, with expressions eased and bodies relaxed, the expedition continued on its way. Some of the younger guards and civilians gaped at the underground pond, and at the odd creatures living in it, as they passed. Most appreciated the majesty of the pillars too. Most were careful of their footing, but once or twice, someone would twist an ankle and Desire would have to sing a hymn of healing.

They followed the tunnel with the petal. It stretched on even farther than the first tunnel, and it wasn’t at all straight. No, it twisted and turned, doubled back on itself a couple of times, and by the time the day ended, there was a point where they had to lift the horses on ledges to continue. The poor creatures were in a state of panic whenever they were away from Yuriko’s light, but they were as tame as puppies otherwise.

They crossed a couple more caverns, each with two or three other tunnels other than the primary path they were following. There was no sign of the blockage that Sage mentioned, and a little bit of tension left her shoulders. Still, she worried that the cave-ins might be closer to Synkrasia and they’d be forced to backtrack and find another way.

Even with those worries, there was little she could do. Even if the way was blocked, it wasn’t as if she had verified that fact. She couldn’t ask Saki to scout ahead either, as so far, each orichalcum petal had been hidden beneath sediment and she had to look for them using her Anima. If there was no cave-in and they detoured, then wouldn’t they waste more time? Not to mention that they wouldn’t know a better path either.

All of that meant that during evening meditations, she had a hard time letting go, and her shoulders felt stiff.

“Are you alright?” Gwendith asked worriedly. “You’ve been shifting to and fro.”

Heron, who shared the same meditation tent with the other two owing to the fact that he followed the same Ancient’s Way, frowned in concern.

“I’m…just worried.”

Gwendith got up on her knees and shimmied behind Yuriko then grabbed and kneaded her shoulders.

“Oh!” Yuriko gasped as Gwendith’s thumb hit a particularly tight knot.

“It’s like trying to knead iron,” Gwendith giggled. “My poor fingers.” But she didn’t stop with her impromptu shoulder massage.

“Ahn! Tha…that feels good.” Yuriko gasped as the other girl’s thumbs dug under her shoulder blades.

“Huh, this should be better done on your tummy. And on bare skin.” Gwendith looked at Heron, who, Yuriko absently noticed, was blushing. “Shoo.”

“Er, ah, yeah.” He gulped, then reached for his hip satchel and brought out a half-empty bottle, and gave it to Gwendith. “Aromatic oil.”

“You keep this on you every time?” Gwendith asked.

“Helps calm me,” he muttered as he got up. “I’ll stay outside. Don’t forget to tie up the tent entrance.”

“Ah, yeah.” Gwendith giggled. She used her Anima to do so as soon as Heron left. “Now, take that off and get on your belly.”

What followed was a rather blissful hour. Yuriko couldn’t help but moan in pleasure as Gwendith found every knotted muscle on her back and kneaded or prodded it to submission. By the end of it all, she’d fallen asleep. She was roused by the feeling of Gwendith’s lips on hers.

Her friend’s face turned redder than a sunset as she stammered an apology. “So-sorry. I… uh, you just looked so adorable.”

Yuriko blinked at a nervously flinching Gwendith and sighed, “It’s fine.”

“Oh, uhm, can I kiss you again?”

Yuriko rolled her eyes. “Later. Sleepy.”

“Oh… Alright.”

She dozed off a moment later.

It took five days of travelling down the tunnels, following the orichalcum petals. They must have crossed dozens of caverns, each with two to five branching tunnels. They marked where they entered, of course, as none of them wanted to become lost. They encountered nothing more threatening than cave crabs and scorpions, all of which were too small to be anything more than a bite.

And on that fifth day, an hour before noon, was when they finally found the cave-in. It was in the middle of the tunnel that came from a cave that only had two. And from the looks of it, they’d have to travel back an entire day before they could go through a branching tunnel, and there was absolutely no guarantee that it would lead to where they had to go.