From me not looking at the ground, I stepped on the first runic, which, made it light up, but luckily for me.. It wasn't a risk runic. If I had stepped on the risk runic, I would surely be dead.

Another thought came to kind: 'Why haven't I died, yet? Surely I should have.' I thought, but pushed it away, while looking at the runics.

I studied the runic I was on, and it appeared to be a flying falcon. So the theme was 'birds' and not 'canines' this time. ...Interesting.

"You okay, Shad- Woah." I heard Lucy say, appearing at my side. She stared down onto the runics..  "Can you read runics, Shadow?" She asked, but I couldn't respond. I was too deep into thought.. I had to focus. All I could do was simply nod, I couldn't speak, unless I wanted everything I was thinking to pour out right in front of her. That would be too much.

The next step was an owl, which reminded me of Winter. Then after that, an eagle, symbolizing freedom. Then the last step, was a phoenix... Which..

"Athena!" I shouted in my mind, but it turned out I shouted it out loud as well. Athena must be worried, ugh, what have I done!? We needed to get out of here, and fast!

"Oh no..." The feeling sunk into Lucy, she had been feeling what I was feeling now. She panicked, and she looked for the next obstacle besides the runics.

"You mean that kid? Yeah, we should probably get out of here, and fast. I can't even tell how many moons have passed." Echo said in a gruff voice. Now thinking of it, we all sounded sick... Hmm..

"Who's Athena?" Asked Nebulas in confusion. She tilted her head, wanting to know more.

"Athena.. She.. Well... She's a phoenix, and we left her on the surface." I stated sadly, and sighed.