Marcus didn’t let the mont linger for too long. As striking as the cavern was, it didn’t change where they were.
He took a slow step forward, gaze sweeping across the space once more, this ti with more caution in his steps.
"Careful," he said quietly. "We don’t know what any of this does yet."
No one really argued. The best traps are the sweetest after all.
They moved slowly together, getting into a tightly packed formation as they stepped further into the cavern. They barely managed to skitter around the edge of the lake in the middle, watching the clear surface of the water for any abnormalities.
Luna followed just behind Marcus, though her attention was turned on sothing else. The longer she stayed, the more she felt it...and by the looks of it, everyone else did too.
The air was extrely thick, so much so that it felt hard to breathe in. However, it wasn’t a pressure of so kind, no. It was pure and clean energy, seeped into each and every pore of the cave itself.
"...Do you feel that?" she asked.
Iris tilted her head faintly, her eyes narrowing as if trying to focus on sothing she couldn’t quite see. "It’s dense."
Emily shifted uncomfortably behind them, hugging her arms slightly. "It feels...heavy. Like I just grew gills and started breathing through water or sothing. Scary."
"How would you know what that’s like?" Luna tilted her head.
"You know what, never mind."
By the ti they reached the far side of the cavern, the density had beco impossible to ignore.
Marcus slowed slightly, his gaze dropping toward the ground as sothing caught his attention. Scattered along the stone floor were clusters of crystals, far smaller than the ones they saw on the cave ceiling.
"...Hold on."
He crouched, reaching toward one of them before stopping just short of contact. Almost imdiately, a strange particle started to drift toward his hand, almost like tal to a magnet.
"These crystals...they’re completely seeped in ether," Marcus started. "It’s almost like a sealed vacuum. Whatever gets leaked from these crystals is then absorbed by others."
Luna’s eyes widened, getting the implication imdiately. "Wait, wouldn’t that an—"
"It’s the perfect echo chamber for cultivating," Iris finished off her sentence.
"That kinda begs the question," Emily peeked from behind them. "How does Professor Sterling know where this was? And how co nobody else knew about this place?
"Let’s save the questions for when we get back," Marcus answered, already picking up one of the crystals. "Seems like we’ll be here for a while."
The group mostly lowered their guard.
Marcus lowered himself to the ground without hesitation, getting into a lotus pose as he straightened his back. His breathing slowed imdiately, shoulders relaxing as he closed his eyes.
Luna could see the faint particles circling around him, entering his body from the outside as the crystals blinked and pulsed around him.
Iris raised an eyebrow. "...Seriously?"
Emily stared. "He’s just—doing it? Right now?"
"...He’s not wrong," Iris muttered. "The early bird does catch the worm."
She was already moving along the edge of the cavern, choosing a different spot that seed to be just as populated with crystals, yet in an area a bit more obscured. Iris plopped down instantly, getting into the sa pose before starting to cultivate.
Emily let out a small breath, sowhere between nervous and relieved, before stepping toward a nearby cluster. She hovered there for a mont, shifting her weight from one foot to the other as if debating whether this was a terrible idea.
"...Just a little," she muttered to herself.
Carefully, she lowered herself to the ground, legs folding awkwardly at first before she adjusted into sothing closer to the proper structure.
That left Luna alone.
I could also...but let’s explore for a while
Without the others moving around her, the cavern almost felt like it expanded even more.
Luna pretty much combed the place. Her gaze shifted to the pool, its surface still impossibly clear. Then, just beyond the waterline, a small section was tucked in the back.
She frowned, inspecting it from a distance. A thin layer of frost traced along the rocks, running down until it reached the stones on the edge of the pool.
At first, it looked like nothing more than frozen residue, the kind that built up naturally in a place like this. But the closer she got, the more she caught the details.
A small patch of frost-covered flowers had taken root, sohow planted in the dirt whilst in a cave of stone. They looked fragile, almost lifeless at a glance, yet none of them had withered.
In the middle of that patch, one stood apart, larger and clearer than those around it. The cold around it was more concentrated, as she could literally see the cold mist descend from its bloom, to its stem, and finally to the ground.
Such...imnse cold energy.
Her eyes narrowed slightly as she leaned in a bit closer, careful not to touch it yet. The petals were translucent, almost like thin sheets of ice layered over one another...yet there was no sign of brittleness.
But imdiately, as soon as she did...cold started to envelope her, multiplied by the frost already inside her body.
Luna dropped to the floor, shivering and trembling. Her fingers felt numb as they tried to reach into her small satchel. After fumbling around for a bit, she finally managed to pull sothing out.
A lighter.
Imdiately, she flicked it on, its flas just strong enough for her to regain so semblance of control.
That was just from getting close...Can my body really handle it if I take this in—? If I fail to control it, the cold would flood...
I really could die.
Her grip on the lighter tightened slightly, still shivering as she moved the source of the fire around her body.
No...I’ve already fallen behind enough.
Luna gritted her teeth, glancing back at the other club mbers and how much progress they’d made.
I can’t—can’t stay behind forever. Marcus, Iris, Daniel, and Emily...they’re strong...
She leaned her head back, staring at the ceiling as she sighed.
, the prodigy? I’m still stuck at Line 2 while Aren is already way ahead...What a useless prodigy I am.
But that was when her mories flooded, and Aren surfaced on her mind. He got to where he was now, not because he was the strongest...but the bravest.
How he threw himself forward without hesitation, willing to risk everything.
If he was willing to go so far for the Core...then what am I doing?
"If I want to stand beside him..." she muttered. "My courage cannot waver."
She reached a hand out—
And touched the frozen flower.
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