Her back slipped across the metallic surface for only a moment before she found herself landing against a hard collection of dirt and dust.

Iliya coughed until her throat burned, pushing herself up on hands and knees with wisps of hair falling in front of her eyes. The darkness left a lot to the imagination, but from what she could tell, she'd landed in a tunnel.

A loud thud landed beside her, forcing more debris to erupt into the air as Sorein landed next to her.

"Brilliant idea, Irie," he groaned, rolling onto his back. Iliya could only manage to make out those silver eyes in the dark. "Why don't we simply throw ourselves down?"

She grunted her response, still coughing out dust.

"From here on out, it was your decision to follow me," she rasped, stumbling to her feet.

Iliya reached out a glowing hand, offering to help Sorein stand. He only considered it for a moment before his eyes widened.

Taking a deep breath, Sorein slowly looked away from her and to the cavern beyond. "Iliya," he whispered in warning. "Whatever you do, don't move."

Her body tensed. "Why..."

Slowly kneeling, Sorein's blade materialized in his hand. "When I say duck," he said calmly, staring her dead in the eyes. "You duck. Do you understand me?"

Iliya barely tipped her head in answer.

"Duck!" He yelled.

She obeyed, scrunching down to her knees as Sorein slashed above her and carved through the head of a giant demon. Black sludge sprayed everywhere, spattering against both the floor and their backs.

Bile coated her tongue as the scent of sulfur swept through the air.

"That's disgusting," she muttered, clenching her teeth. Iliya winced at the stains on her jacket. "Gods, if this is in my hair..."

Sorein was silent, staring at the black tar on the ground. Iliya watched his hands clench before he carefully tucked them behind his back and focused on her. His face was still haunted despite his best effort.

Standing up, Iliya fought another groan when she stepped straight into a pool of what she could only assume was blood.

"Come on," she said, golden light cascading off her body now. "Let's go."

Still, the Prince glanced from her down to the network of tunnels. Iliya didn't want to see the amalgamation of fear and realization warping over his features, but she knew. She watched as those bitter jokes he'd made morphed into reality.

Just as she needed the truth, he'd needed this to be an illusion.

Wiping her hands off on her pants, Iliya reached out and grabbed his elbow. Without tugging or forcing him forward, she would still need to get him out of here.

"What is it?"

He blinked, his jaw working itself raw. "As I tried to tell you before..." he muttered, eyes transfixed on the tunnels behind them. "I'm not fond of... this..."

Sorein gestured around them as if it answered the questions piling up in her mind but Iliya only tilted her head to the side.

"What? The Taqrias?"

His vision cleared a bit more, his attention drawing to the grasp she held on his sweater.

"Tunnels," he corrected, watching her carefully.

Iliya's brows furrowed before she looked back over her shoulder. "You mean confinement?"

He nodded, clearing his throat.

"Let's go," he muttered, pulling them both forward. "The sooner we find what you're looking for, the sooner I can leave the cesspit."

Iliya fought a small smile, warmth rising in her chest. "Why did you come with me?"

Sorein refused to look at her as they continued. "You shouldn't be down here alone."

From the strain in his voice, Iliya wondered if it was best not to speak at all, afraid of unsettling him more. She mapped their route with small scuff marks kicked into the floor, hopeful nothing would creep past and disturb them.

She couldn't see any more Taqrias but that didn't mean they were gone. The deeper they went, the less sulfur she smelled.

"The journal was left on my bed..." she began absently, offering the information as collateral for his company. "I don't know who left it or why... but it contained stories, descriptions, even maps of Niorier. The more I read, the more it spoke of a vault created around the time of my birth..."

"And you have no idea who left it there for you?" he asked, voice slightly hoarse.

She shook her head. "It came with a card, but the signature was only two letters. Initials I'm assuming. They said if I wanted to know more about– me? then I needed to find this vault."

Sorein hummed to himself, vigilantly marking their surroundings. "You trust the book?"

She shrugged. "I don't know... But it seems they were right about the tunnels."

He nodded. "I suppose, but don't you think this could be a trap?"

Iliya hadn't thought of it. Her family appeared discontent with the truth for some reason. If they wouldn't tell her, then she'd have to learn on her own.

"Rhydian and Ezre will have my head if this goes wrong..." he muttered, though she suspected it was to himself. Still, he kept her close to him, still prepared to draw his sword again.

They passed several other gaping holes, paths that stretched outward in multiple directions and caverns of pitch black. 

She felt the muscles in his arm flexing every time the tunnel began to crumble or one of them missed a step.

"Have you ever been to Toskapel?" she asked, chancing a glance in his direction.

He shook his head. "No, though my father told me many stories about his brother," Sorein said, gaze slipping down to meet her. "The first born of Nimian and Heithos, King of Toskapel."

Iliya hadn't heard many things about Toskapel. Chiori Faire was an active, lively country with relations stretching across every sea, but the only resident she'd ever met was Qudja.

"Would Qudja know more?"

Sorein chuckled. "Given she lives there, I would hope so. Why?"

"Because the jou–"

Iliya's sentence died on her tongue as a large silver door stood between them and the path.

Taking after a true vault, the circular door was smooth and bolted with Therisi engravings wrapped around the handle. A thin line of plated gold framed the door, ripples of light reflecting the mana emanating from Iliya, herself.

Without thinking, she crept up to the door and placed her hand on it.

Foreign magic sizzled and burned against her palm, repelling her.

"Iliya, I don't know how you think you're getting into an ancient vault without a key," Sorein said, sighing. "Didn't the journal tell you how to get it?"

She swallowed uncomfortably and looked at her hand. "The journal..." she murmured, one finger tracing over the bracelet holding her rings on.

"Yes, the journal," he said again. "Did you remember to bring it with you?"

She hadn't needed to. Her instructions were very clear. But as she continued casting strange glances between her hand and the door, Sorein's face seemed to drop. Iliya didn't want him to ask questions, not when she didn't even know the answers herself.

One by one, she wiggled the obsidian rings off her fingers, feeling them dangle slack against the chains connecting to her risk. Everyone before had told her of the honor she'd had, the privilege to wear them.

Yet there was something particularly freeing about unclipping the bracelet and feeling its absence sweep over her.

Her shackle now tucked into the small satchel she'd brought with her.

Iliya knew Sorein was watching her intently, gaze fixed on her now free hand. She attempted to mask the strange markings now reflecting against her skin, illuminating with her mana. Her body pivoted slightly as she sidled up to the door.

Taking a deep breath, Iliya reached out and pressed her palm against the metallic surface.

She watched in strange awe as the runes along the door swirled to life and flooded into her palm.

Iliya's body tingled with static, the barrier sucking into her hand in a soft gust of wind. She pulled back, staring at her skin as prickles began to radiate up her arm.

Gone.

Vanished into thin air.

"Neat trick," Sorein mused. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

Heat rose on Iliya's cheeks as she reached out with the same hand and gripped the handle. It twisted with ease against her.

"No," she murmured back. "I don't know how..."

The Prince looked at her with a puzzled expression, but chose to say nothing as they entered what appeared to be a tiny office.

The room was no bigger than a closet, with a long desk pressed against the back wall. A small shelf of potentially four books hovered over it. To Iliya's surprise there was nothing else, with barely more than enough room for the door to swing open.

A rumbling rippled down the walls, dust falling from above them.

"What was that?" Iliya asked, her head whipping back to face Sorein.

He eyed the ceiling warily. "I don't know..."

The softness of his voice terrified her more than the harsh tones she normally heard. She noted that his hands were still tucked behind his back as if they were the only give away he was afraid.

A frown pulled at her lips.

The sooner she could grab those books and escape, the better.

Iliya pulled them down one by one, maneuvering them into her bag until it was crammed tight. Another rumble shook the earth this time, her gut clenching in sync with the noises.

"I don't think reading these here is such a good idea," she murmured, backing out of the vault.

It was then she noticed he hadn't even followed her inside. Sorein lurked in the doorway, watching where he could still glare at the darkness rippling from behind them.

"Iliya," Sorein said, his voice dangerously soft now. "We need to leave."

Pulling on her rings again, Iliya didn't understand until the smell of sulfur wafted through the damp air. She nodded, reaching out to grab the vault door and forcing a sharp ring broke out.

Quakes rocked the ground, stirring the crumbling walls and amplifying the sound of gargling hisses.

Her hand refused to grip the handle, repelling like a magnet against the forcefield. Throwing her hand with all her strength only amounted to her shoulder barking in pain.

"Shut the door!" Sorein snapped, his blade materializing in his hand. "We need to leave. Now."

"I can't!" Iliya cried back, attempting to punch through the barrier.

"Move," he ordered, shoving her out of the way.

Sorein was able to grip the handle, but the door refused to budge. He ripped back as hard as he could and still rented only the loud hum of metal.

"Your rings," he shouted, trying and failing to keep his voice down. "You put them back on before shutting the door."

Iliya cursed herself, fumbling with her hand as a screech broke their attention. She glared at the terrible sludge-covered figure and used her free hand to slam a wall of golden light into the Taqrias face.

Sorein stood in front of her, giving the silent order to finish closing the door as he fought them.

She concentrated all her energy into ripping the rings off again and slamming the vault door closed. The world around them shuttered with the force, boulders caving in from the ceiling and nearly smashing Sorein's blade from his grasp.

He dodged it with a disgruntled hiss and sliced the head off another demon.

"How many of these do you think are hiding down here?" she called out to him.

"We have to get out of here," he ground out, ignoring her. Sorein tore into another small entity, cutting its arm off and then its leg. "Now."

Behind him, one of the large demons reared up to claw into his back.

Iliya choked on her scream, throwing herself between the Taqrias and his awaiting spine as she slashed downward with a strike of golden fire. The creature roared angrily and swatted at her as she ducked again and ripped into its waist.

Sorein was staring at her in horror as she brawled with the demon physically, bathing herself in mana and sparring as if she were fighting Ezre or Rhydian.

Iliya kicked out, sweeping the creature off balance and ramming it into the wall behind her.

She knew she had no weapon to summon, no ivory or steel. Only the mana pumping through her veins, singing the same melody as her heart pounding in her ears. A battle song.

Iliya punched her molten fingers through the Taqrias chest and ripped out shards of the Aphyre, crushing them in her hands.

An explosion blew sludge outward and caused another quake, cracking the wall in front of her straight into the curved roof above.

Gritting her teeth, she knew she had seconds to move at best.

Iliya's body betrayed her as another chunk of gravel and rock broke free from the ceiling and collapsed.

Squeezing her eyes shut, Iliya braced herself to be buried completely.