2412 Crescin 23, Reshpe

The Temple of Earth changed as much as the element it represented, which meant never. Lufi, back in her old robes as a priestess, pinned her blond hair up, muttering a curse under her breath. Never mind how she used a god's name while inside a sacred site. These spindly locks have to go. Maybe she'd burn in hell later.

Her sandals scratched against the pinkish marble floor, careful of making too much noise. The guards never checked who came and went in the servants' quarters, so it was easy to sneak in and out of her old post. As for her coworkers...well, she'd deal with them when she has to.

The rim of her wicker basket bounced against and dug into her waist with every step she took. The apron she tied around her waist did nothing to block out the aggressive knocks, so she gritted her teeth and sucked it up. It's nothing. The show must go on. It didn't have the time for mere insects like her.

Which alluded to everything she felt during this caper. When she met the team, she got along with them almost immediately, but being with them every fortnight for capers and during her down time, their micro habits and mannerisms started grating on her. The more she knew them, the more the qualities she never looked for in a person floated to the surface like toxic waste.

Not that she blamed them for having it. They have their reasons, and Lufi has hers. Sure, she was a tad richer than when she first started receiving minimum wage in the Temple, but it should have never been her sole reason for sticking with a bunch of barbaric thieves and secretive operatives.

The twins and Faw, she could manage. Since they're barely past their passage, she could influence them and keep them in line. But how could she tell off a former soldier in the Potentate's army, a spy whose face they had never seen before, and the freaking Crown Prince, himself?

And from there, a clear rift between their lives could never be denied. If Lufi hadn't acted out and risked pushing Ariden's buttons, she wouldn't have gotten the real reason she had to go back to this stale slab of rock and set her sights on its allegedly prized artifact, if that thing even existed.

The twins were somewhere outside the Temple gates, doing what they did best, which was providing them ways out when things go sideways. It's not a requirement for every caper—there were times they walked out of a mission the same way they walked in—but this was different. If Ariden's information was to be trusted, if they were caught here, they'd either greet Pidmena immediately or get thrown into Brittlewood.

Which fate would be worse? It's troublesome when she couldn't decide.

"Dorellan!" a stern voice rippled off the Temple's expansive corridors. It's a voice and a person Lufi never, ever, wanted to encounter again.

Slowly, she whirled to come face-to-face with her overseer, Mailah. "You called, Frin?" she said, addressing Mailah in the title fit for her rank. The prickly witch hated anything less, anyway.

Mailah braced her hips and jerked her chin at the basket by Lufi's waist. "What are you doing?" she asked. "Where have you been?"

Lufi faced her overseer fully and prepared her tongue for the fakest story she spun in her entire life. "My grandmother needs someone to take care of her in old age, and I'm the only one in our family capable of moving across the territory," she said. "I'm really sorry for my absence. I promise I'll make it up to the others. Thank you for covering my post."

"Oh, we're not covering anything for you," Mailah said, amusement lacing around her voice. "I let the statues in the main hall gather as much dust as they can so you'll feel the days you thought you had the luxury of taking breaks. The same policy applies to the other girls, don't worry. Are you heading there now?"

As if. Lufi has had enough of this tyrant, but she couldn't say it to Mailah's face. Instead, she swallowed against the lump in her throat and plastered a smile on her face. "It's my pleasure to be back, Frin," she said. "I'll get to the statues as soon as I can."

A satisfied look flattened the overseer's face. "Good," she strode forward and shouldered Lufi on the way, as if they're in the crowded halls of the servants' municipal behind all of this grandeur. Then, Mailah turned back a few strides off. "Oh, before I forget—the ceiling, floors, and the windows are all in need of a good rinse. I expect them to be done in a week, alright? I was told the Potentate will be coming from Otralo. Of course, we want to show our best work, don't we?"

Lufi opened her mouth to answer, but Mailah sashayed off with a gait she thought contributed to her appeal, when in fact, it made her look like a cantering tamus in the streets of Jehnasson.

But why did she care about pleasing Mailah to keep her job here? She's got a better one, and it made her live like a Crown Princess. Sure, it might kill her one day, but that's the fun of it. They never really know which hour would be their last. That's better than spending every daylight hour doing the same damning thing over and over.

So, Lufi waited until the overseer's frame disappeared in the upcoming corner. Then, she tore off into the opposite direction of the main hall, tackling the familiar twists and turns until she came to a bend she didn't recognize. Even as a priestess since she developed the ability to hold a rag and pour liquid off a bottle, there were places people of her caliber were prohibited in. She'd bet her entire loot that one of those places was the hall where they keep the Earthshaker.

Her teeth ground against each other as she gripped the basket's rim harder and strode onward. The corridors in this part of the Temple bore lesser ornaments, which reduced the need for cleaners like her. No wonder this part never made it to the list of priorities. It's just so...empty.

Only her internal map and general understanding of the place saved her from forgetting the way back to the corridor she was familiar with. As she took more rights than lefts, she made it to a narrow arch. Beyond it lay a dim alcove that could have been another room, except there were no doors. Did...did they store the Earthshaker inside?

Lufi whirled left, right, and back. For fortweres on end, this was the only interesting thing to come her way. Nothing but pink walls tainted with random wisps of gray and gold surrounded her. Even the lanterns nailed into the polished marble were sparse, plunging the entire space into a dimness uncharacteristic of the main halls. It was deeper than she expected too, with the absence of sunlight streaming from outside. No windows. Which meant no quick escapes.

She hoped the twins got that impression too.

A sharp breath disturbed the nearest flame inside the glass-paned lantern when she took it in. She didn't come here to sightsee nor do Mailah's never-ending list of chores. The diamond. She had to find it.

The alcove now held her interest. Gold gildings decorated the frieze carved on the edges of the arch, and Lufi had to stop herself from reaching up and testing if she could slap it with just a tiptoe. It's probably higher than she estimated, and she didn't have time for that.

Where were the guards? When she worked inside the Temple, she couldn't recall seeing armor people farther than the main hall. Most soldiers came only to pay respects to their patron god and nothing more. And if Lufi made it here without encountering any hindrances, it meant either the Temple relied on something else to guard their treasure or Ariden lied to them about the importance of this jewel. For all Lufi knew, they were after a dull rock all this time.

What's a worse fate than that?

Still, she couldn't deny the desperate look to have gripped Ariden's face that day, when he practically begged them to help him. With his hair in more disarray than Lufi was used to, what's to stop her from agreeing? They didn't need to be a witch to each other just because of secrets and who got to know which.

Ariden has his, and Lufi treasured hers. Everyone has their mysteries, and it's not anyone's job to uncover them. Tria, maybe, but what business did the spy have with Lufi's past when she was a nobody in a vast sea of earth sprites?

Well, whatever. Focus on the mission. It's what's going to feed her, not her feelings.

She lowered her vision in the trail dimension, tracing the wisps of traces curling in and out of everything. The alcove's darkness ate away at the vibrance of the colors, which, in itself, was weird. Was this inky veil part of the Earthshaker's protection? Possible. What else was Lufi missing?

A silver glint flitted off a huge mass of quivering red and brown trails, wrapping around Lufi's chest and legs before going back to its parent bundle. What was that? Some kind of scanning? If so, that red and brown mass could only have been...

A gasp escaped from her lips as she tore her senses off the trail dimension to regard huge statues of scowling soldiers flanking the inside of the alcove, ready to smite anyone who came through the arch. Their swords, even though hewn out of stone, were good enough to pound an intruder to dust. But...why didn't they?

Now, Lufi didn't want the gruesome scenario to happen to her, but a sneaking suspicion itched at the back of her mind. Maybe the statues were a diversion, and that the scan was for something else entirely. Something...

Her eyes widened as it clicked. Not much time, then. If she was right, her trail and every detail of her form would have been sent to the proper authorities. Those armored people didn't need to be here to guard their treasure. They simply needed to monitor the hidden dimension—one most people would never think about in their lifetime.

And if her trail was found here...

"Liode's loins," she cursed under her breath as she hurried through the dim room. Her footsteps rang in her ears, as if the thickening ink around her aided it. What's happening? Why did it feel like slogging through sand?

She lowered herself to the trail dimension once again. This time, the darkness had eaten most of the colors around her. Which shouldn't be possible unless a spell to lower the quality of magic on a space was in place. By the looks of it, they did have it in place. How stupid of Lufi to have never seen it coming?

A flash of white followed by a huge squirt of ink-like cloud stopped her in her tracks. What in Xyndall's name...?

She stalked towards the source of the light which the darkness seemed eager to leash. A loud thud knocked against her knee, followed by a throb of pain. It forced her out of the trail dimension and back to the usual reality with nothing but a budding annoyance curled in her gut. What was this stupid thing doing in her way? She should—

Wait.

She squinted through the inky veil and made out a silhouette of a glass box set on a golden pedestal. The edge of the cubical platform was what caught her knee, and resting on top of it was...

"No way," she breathed, setting her basket at the foot of the pedestal. Her voice drove a bit of the dark spell away. It gave her a quick view of the lone jewel sitting at the center of the glass box. "No freaking way."

It's a white diamond the size of her hand, starting from the tip of her finger to the line between her palm and her wrist. It'd be hell to try to pick up with one hand. She doubted it's as light as a feather either. But it's there, and it existed.

This was the Earthshaker.

Lufi braced the glass box and attempted to dislodge it from the pedestal. Didn't budge. Of course. That's expected. Slowly, she ran her fingers from the glass down to the spot where it met the pedestal. Something bit at her fingertips. Something edged...and shaped like a keyhole.

"Got you now," she said through a smile picking the corners of her lips up. She crouched and felt around for her basket. With only her memory, she brushed the bundle of clothes she placed atop the real tools she'd be using.

The cursed darkness made it harder, but she made out the lump of clay she brought. With a bit or reorientation, she found the keyhole again and stuffed the squishy wad over it. Her magic flared to the surface. It's a bit muted and lukewarm, but that was maybe due to the darkness spell. Her teeth gritted together as she sent her magic to the clay and pushed the material to take the nooks and crannies of the mechanism inside the pedestal. A mold. That's what she was tasked to get.

Crouching so close to the keyhole, Lufi noted the complex turns and how deep it seemed. Faw's lockpicks wouldn't work as well here, especially when this one's made of a harder material. Her flimsy sticks wouldn't make a dent here.

But the girl's resourceful, so they should be good. That's why they needed the key first. That way, Faw would be a second plan in case the first didn't work.

The mold encountered all of its possible routes, forming one strange key. She snapped her fingers, and the clay hardened, carrying the shape of the key. While she could turn it right here and check if it'd turn, she wouldn't. Clay was hardly as strong as the slab of golden rock the pedestal was made with. Returning with empty hands was an unforgivable sin.

Once the mold's top got chalky, Lufi clasped it and began pulling out. Slowly. Carefully. Then, the darkness evaporated, leaving her with the full view of the jewel's glow. A yelp flitted off her lips as a bright white light slapped her eyeballs. The darkness. She needed the darkness! It disappeared. That meant...

Another curse zipped into the wind as she tugged at the mold harder. It grated against the mechanisms. They knew she was here. Someone's going to check. It's only a matter of time—

No. No. She'd make it out of here. If she could just get this mold to detach from the lock and maintain the shape of the key.

"Who's there?!" a loud but deep bellow echoed from beyond the alcove. "You better have your hands up behind your head!"

Xyndall's asscheeks. This was bad.

Lufi jiggled the mold. Come on. Left, right. Up, down.

"Again, stand up with hands in the air!" the voice called again. Footsteps bustled from the empty corridors, the echoes bouncing around betraying nothing of their number. Cursed bare corridors. Why did they exist?

The mold snapped free, giving her a full view of the convoluted key. It's a long rod with random spikes around it and those spikes had more random spikes jutting out of them. Like a brush.

More footfalls stormed through the corridors. Lufi shoved the mold into the basket, and bundled the white clothes back on top. She hefted the basket and retreated closer to the statues. Her earlier analysis told her they'd never move. Guess she'd find out for certain now.

She planted her foot on their pedestal and heaved her form behind the wide leg of her chosen statue. Her eyes dragged down the length of molds, dust, and patina staining the rock. Ew. These needed to be brushed.

The armor people made it inside the alcove, piling inside to the point of congesting it. A sea of bodies and weapons made the glass box in their midst look insignificant. They looked around, maybe checked the trails curling in and out of the place, but Lufi fingered the cloaker Ariden gave her before heading out yesterday. Who knew it'd come in handy?

Finally, the soldiers, having found nothing and failing to notice a lithe girl hiding behind a stony leg, retreated out of the room. A false alarm, they claimed, muttered under breaths loud enough for Lufi to hear. Within seconds, she was all alone again.

Then, just as the darkness came back with a vengeance, Lufi slipped off the statue and out of the alcove. Next stop: Cutlass Headquarters, Otralo.