The smelter tunnels breathed heat like a dying beast—old, stale, metallic. Their footsteps echoed down stone corridors that twisted like the ribs of some buried titan. Garruk's boots drummed a steady rhythm as he led them through the tunnel. The collapse behind them still roared in Eryndor's ears. His chest burned and his mana drained significantly but still manageable, as he could control the Scripture's skill better now. The scripture under his skin pulsed faintly, like a predator scenting something, stay alert.
"Keep going," he said while panting.
Garruk's voice rumbled ahead. "These tunnels… they're said to snake beneath half the Bastion. With all the branching nonsense down here, the one we're on now should spit us out somewhere in the forest."
Lirien murmured, "Good. It reduces their chance to find us."
Garruk snorted softly. "I doubted it will stop Varric, especially when Looking for you, Boy" Garruk corrected, while turn his eyes toward Eryndor.
"Varric's pride took a beating."
Eryndor huffed a mocking laugh. "He hit the pillar, not me."
"That's exactly why he's angry," Garruk said with a smile. The satisfied one.
Eryndor didn't deny it and replied with a grin.
The tunnels narrowed, widened, dropped, climbed. Rusted pipes hugged the ceiling like veins, dripping ancient condensation. At some point the heat faded, replaced by a subtle draft whispering forward and the welcoming fresh air then after walked for a while, they finally saw moonlight.
They emerged from a crooked stone hatch half-swallowed by vines. The forest greeted them with cool night wind, the hiss of crickets, and the distant murmur of unseen streams. A world that felt alive compared to the dead breath of the forge. They moved deeper between the trees in caution, avoiding the possibility of varric and his men pursuit.
Inside the forest, Lirien halted and pointed toward a ridge. "Cave. fifty meters."
Garruk sniffed. "Dry air. No beasts that I can smell."
"Good enough," Eryndor nodded. "let's take a break there."
The cave was shallow but defensible. Moss clung to its edges, and faint mineral glow shimmered deeper within harmless old crystal dust, not mana touched. They set no fire and kept on vigilant, keeping the darkness close. Lirien wove a thin shell of shadow around the entrance, a veil that bent light just enough to blur their presence.
Only when enough times pass and ensure no one was chasing them, they slumped against the stone wall, felt relieve as once more they could escape a disaster. Eryndor groaning softly. The scripture beneath his skin rippled in faint gold before settling.
Lirien, sat beside him, eyes sharp. "Your plan worked, but still, almost suicidal."
"You really do complaint, huh" Eryndor chuckled.
"How did you do that?." garruk glanced at Eryndor and asked,
Eryndor titled his head "Do what?"
"How did you not dead back there,"
"Do you have a skill of Teleportation or something?" Garruk pressed. He was genuinely curious because he knew Varric strength well.
"That is a secret" Eryndor replied. Putting one finger to his lips. "Secrets make a man you know."
Both Lirien and garruk could only exchanged glances,
"Crazy bastard" Lirien muttered. thoroughly Annoyed. While garruk shook his head, speechless.
They then processed to ignored him. After a while, when silence settled, Garruk finally asked,
"So. What now?"
Lirien looked at Eryndor, and he was already staring at the cave floor, thought churning.
"Varric surely is not dead." Eryndor said slowly.
The pulse of The relic still ghosted his senses from time to time, like an echo engraved in bone. Even the memory of its presence made the scripture shift under his skin, as if reaching for something. As if something inside him recognized it. And that make him more curious then ever.
He then looked up to Lirien then Garruk. Seeing they still waited his words, he smirked and said lightly,
"Well, we could run," his voice casual. "Varric's probably will, or is tearing the mountain apart right now looking for us."
"Outrunning him, will be hard" Lirien said.
"I agree…" Eryndor raised a brow, then he smiled. Amused of what he was going to say
"Well," He said with a thin smile," Because escape will be hard anyway, why don't we hit him first."
"So you suggest we ambushed them?" Garruk choked.
"Boy, this time your plan was certainly suicidal" he looked at Eryndor as if he was a madman.
"Earlier we almost die, and now you want to repeat it again?"
"Not against the whole Guild, assuming they all survived" Eryndor corrected. " We still have time, we can make a plan to to take something they care about."
Lirien's eyes narrowed. "You mean the relic."
Eryndor smirked then nodded.
Garruk exhaled. "If they survive They'll guard it even tighter."
"That Varric bastard certainly will."
"Good," Eryndor said. "Makes them predictable."
"Does it?" garruk muttered in doubt.
Lirien was listening in silent, when she suddenly asked Eryndor,
"Why do you want it?"
Eryndor paused, hesitated. he had thought about it and concluded that He couldn't tell them yet. that earlier every time the relic throbbed, the scripture beneath his skin answered. The two called to each other like matching halves of a forgotten rune. He even does not know anything about The Scripture that crawled beneath his skin yet. So he shrugged lightly.
"Call it revenge, we can mess him up badly if we success."
Lirien didn't believe him. She was not that clueless, But she didn't argue.
Garruk scratched his beard. "Messing with Varric sounds lovely right now. But if we just do it recklessly, possibly we will face greater danger than when we were in the tunnel."
Eryndor leaned his head back against the stone wall,
"Tomorrow morning I or we can stealthly went to the collapsed tunnel and see whether they survived or not." He said casually.
He then turned toward garruk. and shrugged,
"Or maybe, we will be lucky, as they are all dead, and we can just dig to find the Relic"
Garruk could only rolled his eyes from his remark.
"Varric wants us dead." Eryndor suddenly said. His demeanor was serious.
"He'll get what's coming to him," Garruk muttered.
"Or he already have" Eryndor said "Well, I hope he haven't, as I want him to understand that he messed with the wrong people" A malicious smile curled his lips.
"You're not doing this for revenge." Lirien finally spoke quiet, measured.
Eryndor blinked, then chuckled,
"I am pretty sure I am Lirien"
Her answer was only steady yet curious stare, She wanted to ask about his identity, his strength, the strange, overwhelming skill. Even the golden lines that occasionally flickered on his body. Faint, but visible, if one really paid attention. They held each other's gaze in silent. eryndor with his calm yet teasing smile , and Lirien with expresionless face but sharp eyes.
Eventually, Garruk, clearly felt uncomfortable with the awkward situation stood, stretching. "We should leave at dawn then." he said with a yawn then headed toward his spot.
"Dawn," Eryndor echoed, he turned toward his spot, not before flashing lirien a quick, infuriating blink. Lirien could only glared, snorted softly and walked to her own corner.