Eight Intertwined

24 - Clearbrook

Cyrus decided rather early on that he missed the Flatlands. 

That wasn't his way of saying that he was dissatisfied with his life traveling throughout the realm. In fact, he was more than happy with the way that he was wandering from place to place alongside the rest of the group. However, he had never left Atlasdam behind prior to this quest, instead spending the first thirty years of his life within the confines of the city's walls. There had never been a purpose for him to leave, and so, he had stayed. That meant that he was only at all accustomed to the wildlife and climate of the Flatlands, and the rest of the continent remained a mystery to him. 

Perhaps it would have been less accurate for him to say that he missed the Flatlands. In truth, it was more a matter of him suddenly coming to realize just how much he detested the snakes that laid in wait in the darkest corners of the Cave of Rhiyo. His staff never left his hand, and he was ready to flick out an ice spell at a moment's notice if one of the beasts dared to lunge in his direction. 

His hatred towards the snakes had started when one of them attempted to slither beneath the place where he was going to put his foot as part of their trek through the cave. As soon as Cyrus' foot collided with something that was most certainly not the stony ground of the humid cave, disgust began to rise up from deep inside of his body. He could have sworn that he was going to be sick before he stumbled backwards, nearly falling into Olberic along the way. Alfyn cut the snake in half with a quick slash of his axe as soon as he realized that the creature's teeth were bared in preparation for a bite. Tressa was the only one with exposed legs out of their party, so the snake would have only made contact with leather if it tried to bite into Cyrus, but he was unsettled regardless. As the snake's dead body revealed a small pool of blood that seemed almost purple in the Ember's silvery blue light, Cyrus did his best to swallow back his bile and focus on placing one foot in front of the other as they continued their journey towards the infamous blotted viper. 

In other words, Cyrus hated snakes, and he didn't think that he was ever going to change his mind. 

Ophilia was normally at least somewhat remorseful when it came to killing wildlife that lashed out on their journeys between towns. She preferred to let the monsters live and retreat when possible, but she held no such feelings of optimism towards the snakes. Instead, her lip curled up in distaste each time that one of the monsters dared to get even a bit too close to her, and from there, she reached with an explosion of light magic. She didn't want to get close enough to use her staff, not that Cyrus could blame her. He wouldn't want to risk that either. 

If there was one blessing that Cyrus was willing to give to the Cave of Rhiyo, it was the fact that the ground was mercifully dry. The Caves of Maiya had not been quite so kind, and the ground had squished underfoot the whole way there. Despite how close it was to the river, the Cave of Rhiyo was dry the whole way through, the black rocks of the cave's interior so smooth that in better lighting, one could have seen their reflection in it. 

"We should be getting closer to the end of the cave," Olberic declared after they had been inside of the confines of the cavern for a few minutes. Those simple words were music to Cyrus' ears, and he did his best to not sigh out of pure relief at the fact that they were going to be free of the cave and all of its snakes soon enough. Cyrus yearned for the simple beasts of the Flatlands all over again when he remembered where he was; at least the Flatlands' monsters, while dangerous, were not capable of inflicting statuses such as poison. 

Ophilia nodded slowly and let out a sigh. She was the only member of their group who had been given a reason to use the herbs that cured poison that Alfyn had provided. A snake had gotten in a lucky hit on her earlier in their quest through the cave, and she had immediately doubled over with pain contorting her expression. Primrose wound up throwing an arm around Ophilia's shoulders before grabbing an herb haphazardly and practically forcing Ophilia to start chewing on it. The other four members of the group focused on defeating the wave of snakes that had come their way before swatting at a few bats that called the dark cave their home. Once Ophilia was feeling better, they kept walking, but she seemed all too eager to ignore what had just happened for the sake of her own mental stability.