A Sign in the Stone (A.S, OPEN)

[ColArana]

Ranuen hopped onto Swift's palm and sprang on up to her shoulder, for easy transport. He was alert to the potential of a trap and hoped he'd be able to spot one before it got to them. Watching the shadows of the trees for any signs of motion or movement. He became astutely aware of the near supernatural silence. "Do you feel that?" Ranuen asked Swift, a chill going up his spine. The figure they were following unsettled him, even though they were clearly meant to follow. He didn't feel the figure meant them harm-- at least presently. But he was still very unnerved being in its presence.

And that was before they reached the dark shape in the shadows. A gigantic stone temple... Ranuen had heard of it before, but had never come this deep into the rain forest to seek it out. "Okay, now I really have a bad feeling about this..." He admitted. Then grinned. "Only thing to do is to check the place out and see what's so important in there, right?" He commented.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"Yeah..." Swift momentarily turned away from the apparition to warily look around at the hushed rainforest, facing the light again soon thereafter. "I feel that."

And as chilling as the feeling was... she still found herself inexplicably drawn to the glowing figure. She wasn't even sure why. She just knew deep down that she needed to see what it was leading her to.

Soon enough, the spirit stopped, prompting Swift to slow to a halt as well. She gazed ahead at the looming stone structure, squinting slightly out of curiosity as she examined the silhouette. Sure, it was an ominous sight, this ancient, decrepit temple in the middle of a rainforest, hidden deep within the thick foliage and the dark of the night... but the longer she stared at it, the more... familiar it seemed.

"I... I think I've been here before..."

[ParamountKeymaster]

The specter nodded, staring at Swift with a firm look of grim yet gentle urging. Then he faced forward again and continued to lead her towards the temple, his pace just as steady, his expression just as resolute. He stared up at the magnificent stone building, his shoulders giving a slow, subtle heave as if he was breathing a silent sigh.

He halted at the open door. With a wave of his hand, the vines obscuring it moved aside to grant them access. Then he turned back to Swift, politely gesturing inside like a valet opening the door for her.

Finally, the spirit sunk back into the earth, the crack sealing entirely the moment the light vanished within it.

[ColArana]

Ranuen glanced at Swift at her musing thought. "....Really been here or... well..." Somehow Ranuen didn't think Swift meant that she'd visited the temple in the past as a tourist. "Like... in a dream or something like that?" And then, as soon as the spirit opened the path for them, it was gone, leaving naught but the gaping void of the temple entrance before them. Ranuen patiently awaited Swift's answer to his request for clarification, before continuing. "Do you think maybe there's an answer to what's going on in there, somehow?" He added.

A smart person would not have likely entered the creepy stone temple. A smart person would have turned around walked out of the rain forest and hid at home in bed. But that... probably didn't apply to either of the two in front of the temple that night. Certainly not Ranuen at least. "Well.... We're not gonna learn what's inside that temple way out here, will we?" He proposed.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"No, I mean like... actually been here before..." Swift mumbled as she slowed to a stop in front of the temple entrance, watching as the specter cleared the doorway and motioned for her to enter. Swift took a deep breath and nodded slightly, her nerves adequately braced, then turned to the spirit to ask it –among other things– what they were doing there, only for the light to start fading away.

"H-Hey, wait...!" Swift yelped as she watched the light retreat into the crack it emanated from, the earth sealing itself upon its disappearance. Her ears flattened with concern and disappointment, the fingers of her outstretched hand slowly curling inward. "I... had questions..."

Well... seemed like the things she wanted to know would have to be answered via exploration. As such, Swift stared into the temple, her sensitive eyes quickly readjusting to the darkness as she did a quick scan of the front hall. If the spirit wanted her to go inside, then what choice did she have? She wouldn't know what was going on until she gave it a shot.

"Guess not..." she answered Ranuen as she stepped into the temple with gripped fists and no hesitation. Time to see what insanity awaited them.

As she calmly strolled through the hall, taking in the ancient stone architecture and the plant life that had grown in the cracks and along the walls, eyes peeled for even the slightest disturbance, Swift continued to elaborate, "My friends and I went on a hike through the rainforest not too long ago. If memory serves me right, we stumbled upon this exact temple and decided to take a peek. After a while, we started to get the feeling there was something hidden beneath this place. Something... big... and threatening. Eventually this noxious fog started to fill the place, so logically, we bailed. Then my boyfriend fell into a bog and things got kinda weird from there... but that part's not really important."

She stared ahead warily. "What matters is that we oughta figure out what that spirit sent us in here for quickly, because I don't know what we crossed paths with last time, and I'm not excited to find out if it's still in here."

[ColArana]

And they were in. Swift seemed extremely disappointed about the spirit's disappearance, for reasons Ranuen wasn't sure why. Questions were all well and good, he supposed-- or rather, answers, but he for one was relieved to see the spirit disappear. The thing gave him the creeps, and he felt much more at ease without it hovering around... Even if they were going right where the spirit told them to go, it sounded like. "I'm err.... I'm sure you'll find the answers inside... Or that's probably what it would have told us. Didn't seem the talkative type." He told her awkwardly, as if uncertain what to say to her to try and lift the woman's spirits. He gazed into the temple, his own human eyes adjusting more slowly than Swift's. He'd probably be reliant on her for the first little while, as right now his eyes couldn't discern much more than basic movement extremely close to them. His ears had things a little easier, but still.

Swift exposited what had happened the last time she was here, and Ranuen listened intently, doing his best to take in the things that might await them. "Something big in here? ....Interesting!" It would be hard to see in the darkness but Ranuen was grinning. Anything big and dangerous always sounded fun to Ranuen. When it came to life or death struggles, he couldn't help but rise to the challenge. As he did with all things in life, meeting his problems head on, and with vigor.

And when things went south, there was always the tried and true method of running the other way as fast as you could. "I don't like the sound of the noxious fog though.... That sounds... dangerous. And not something dangerous that we can stab or burn." He glumly admitted. "But who knows. Maybe that big secret in here, is what we've been sent in here to find. Maybe it can help us? Or maybe it's a clue to what's going on."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

"I... guess I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case, but I'm honestly hoping it's not. After killing those dang wyrms, I've just about had it with violent confrontation for one day," Swift muttered, still looking around for even the slightest clue of what she was supposed to do in here. "And whatever the case is, I'd still like to make this as quick as possible. This place... smells bad."

It might not have been noticeable to Ranuen, given that on the surface, the temple smelled exactly how one might expect it to: like stone, plants, still water, mold and decay. Nothing out of the ordinary. But Swift's wolf nose detected layers of something foul. Something wretched. The potent, burning stench of toxic fumes. The tang of decay, that of something more rotten than dead plant life. The cold, festering stink of... something... She wasn't sure what, but it was bitter, dirty, and unpleasant on a multitude of levels.

She slowed down and turned her head to the side, noticing a staircase. Whatever that smell was, it seemed to be at its strongest there.

And to her dismay, as soon as she realized this, she felt a voice deep down inside issue a gentle yet unmistakable command.

There.

"Well... guess we're going this way." With a light sigh, Swift began her descent, slowly and cautiously for fear of slipping on the awkward, lopsided stone steps. And... also because of what she might find, but she hid that much pretty well, all things considered. Yeah, it stunk down there, but really, after everything she had been through and everything she would inevitably go through this week, what was the worst that could happen?

[ColArana]

Ranuen grinned. "Well, if you've had it with violent confrontations, I can take the next round for you." He offered, as they went deeper. Naturally, Ranuen did not inherently notice anything out of the ordinary in the deep temple. He might, perhaps, have felt a greater presence within. A sense of foreboding, or sense of being watched. But minute and peculiar sounds or smells were not possible to pick up on with his human nose or ears. Perhaps he did notice it on some level, but not enough to make note of it.

Swift had decided on a course, and Ranuen checked their path. "Fair enough. My eyes are still adjusting so you lead the way." Not that he had much choice, sitting on her shoulder anyways. Though it was true that his eyes were beginning to adjust. He was beginning to make out shapes and shadows in the darkness, though the lack of light made this difficult at best. In a worst case scenario, he supposed, he could use his own pyrokinetic abilities to create light to see though. Maybe even blind anything that lived down here. Living in the depths of this temple for so long.... anything down here must be extremely sensitive to light.

Of course, as they'd near the source even Ranuen would start to pick up on the noxious fumes. "Ooof... what is that?" He asked. "Starting to smell like something died down here."

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Swift awkwardly grimaced. "Well, if we happen to come across something dangerous and you're up for the challenge, I guess I appreciate the gesture. As long as you don't wear yourself out for my sake..."

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Swift found the floor of the hall to be doused in about an inch of still, muddy water. She hesitated on the last step, cautiously dipping her toe in and experimentally swishing the water around, stirring up the dirt and algae. She wasn't too keen on the idea of wading through it (especially considering what she knew about the diseases festering in this part of the rainforest), but now more than ever, she felt drawn to the dark depths of the temple, compelled to continue onward. As such, steeling her nerves, Swift stepped into water and kept walking, light sloshing sounds echoing off the walls of the flooded hall.

As she marched ahead, the rotten odor became so strong that even Ranuen could smell it. Likewise, the stench was becoming so overwhelming that it was taking just about everything in Swift's power not to vomit from the intense burn that the fumes inflicted on her nostrils and throat. "Well... maybe whatever was lurking around down here is dead now. Best case scenario." She covered her mouth and nose, tears welling up in her eyes. "Ugh... Whatever on-high power is leading me down here better have a friggin' good reason for it...!"

Her ear twitched when she heard some light splashes and a squeak nearby, turning to discover a large rat. Not exactly helping her frustration, even as she growled at the pest as a means of relief. In return, the rodent hissed back at her, then scampered down the hall, disappearing around a corner.

A corner that Swift was starting to realize had light on the other side...

[ParamountKeymaster]

As they rounded the corner, their eyes adjusting to the dim light, Swift and Ranuen found themselves in an incredibly spacious and foreboding room. The stone walls were lined with carvings, most of them obscured by the vines and moss growing from the cracks. The water on the floor sunk into a sort of pool at the center of the room, portions of which were so toxic that fire was dancing across the surface. In a far corner, a dark shape was resting in the sludge, buried beneath the tangled mess of rotting plants and... jewels that floated in the water.

The rat from before circled the room, sniffing the pool of waste while cautiously wading in the shallow end. Eventually, it came to a halt near the overgrowth of dead flora, plucking a bit of garbage out of the water and nibbling on it...

CRASH

Until an enormous clawed hand erupted from the pool and slammed down upon the unsuspecting rodent, the floor cracking beneath it upon impact. Shortly thereafter, a large, dark, reptilian head slowly rose above the surface, its sickly yellow eyes gazing down at the rat as its hand scooped the little creature up by the tail and dropped it into its fanged, gaping maw.

After devouring its snack, the beast turned to face the hanyo standing slack-jawed in the doorway. It gradually stood up, shaking the vines and jewelry off its dense black hide, flapping its worn, leathery wings to remove what was left. It slowly approached Swift, staring down at her with its glowing eyes and a razor-sharp sneer, its talons clacking against the stone and the water swishing in small waves as it was pushed by its tail.

"Wellllllllll..."

The dragon stopped and leaned its great head down, its horned, gaunt, skull-like face but a few short feet away from Swift.

"What have we here?"

[ColArana]

Ranuen grinned, both cheerfully and confidently. "It's no problem at all. I enjoy a good challenge and a good fight!" He was largely quiet after that, keeping his senses keen to the surroundings. He heard something... was it splashing? Water... Or liquid of some kind. He couldn't seem much, but he did see the barest glints of reflection in the dark fluid before Swift as she approached and checked it. His eyes not having adjusted near as well as hers, the light in the distance was actually immediately noticeable to Ranuen. "...Well, if that light is any indication... We're real close now." He saw the rat at the same time as Swift and winced, recoiling on her shoulder slightly. "Ugh.... Can't stand rats..."

Ranuen had had more than one bad run-in with a rat that looked at the shrunken duelist as a quick meal, and that... that hadn't been fun. So it was rather hard to feel bad for it, when something smashed the rat into dust, and a giant reptilian head devoured it.

....Wait.

....Ah crap.

"Is that... what I think it is?" Ranuen asked, his eyes growing wide. Reptilian.... jewelry.... unspeakably ancient... Powerful and formidable. Ranuen could practically taste its power... Or perhaps that was the noxious fumes around himself and Swift. Either way. Once its great wings unfurled there was only one possibility. "D-Dragon..." Ranuen said, gazing in amazement. There was... a DRAGON down here!? This was... this was....

AWESOME. Ranuen could hardly contain his excitement, as he practically trembled with glee on Swift's shoulders (admittedly perhaps mistaken for fear). He was willing to let Swift have the first answer to the dragon's query of them, as she seemed a little more in the know than he did, but damnit this was a real dragon! Ranuen couldn't possibly let himself be left out for long!

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh crap...

Swift tensed up, eyes wide and ears flat the moment that clawed hand arose from the pool, immediately making it clear to her what they were up against.

She remained frozen as the dragon lumbered towards her, leaning in close enough for its toxic breath to nearly suffocate her, prompting her to move only to turn her head and gag from the revolting smell. When she faced forward again, staring into the dragon's glowing yellow eyes, Swift did so with a hard gulp and a stern look. Yes, she was panicking inside –while she had been around dragons before, she quickly got the feeling that this particular beast wasn't the friendly type– but she had to maintain a strong outer image. Make it clear that she wasn't one to be trifled with either.

"Hello," she firmly said to the dragon. "Sorry to bother you. We were lead down here by a mystical force to find... something. I'm not sure what, but I can assure you we have no intention of stealing anything of yours, sir. We're just here to inspect, then we'll be on our way."

[ParamountKeymaster]

"Now, now..." the dragon calmly, politely insisted, lifting his head back up and resting a hand right in Swift's path. "No need to be so hasty. It's been so long since I've had company. Or at the very least, company with decent, basic intelligence... or survival instincts."

He gazed around the room and began a slow pace, eyes ablaze, tail gently sweeping the waters. "It must've been a long, tiresome journey to reach this place. To traverse the precarious terrain at this unholy hour and navigate this decrepit old temple. And for what?"

The dragon suddenly lunged at Swift, slamming his hand down between her and the door behind her, his snout dangerously to the hanyo. "Because some on-high being convinced you that something special awaited you down here? That you would discover, perhaps, an ancient relic or a prophecy on the wall? Something... powerful and world-altering to justify your quest?"

With a sharp exhale potent enough to sting Swift and Ranuen's skin, the dragon raised his head again, gazing down at his guests with a coy, fanged smirk. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news... Well... No, I suppose I don't. But I speak only the truth when I say that I have explored every crevice of this temple, and all that remains here are the scrawlings and trappings of a bygone, primitive society. There is nothing for you here... half breed."

[ColArana]

Ranuen could sense Swift's fear. Well. He had promised to deal with problems if she wasn't willing to fight, hadn't he? The swordsman placed a hand near his sword hilt on his belt, ready to draw it. Though a dragon... Well.... maybe this wasn't the fire breathing variety? Ranuen had heard tell of dragons resilient to fire. Which wasn't great for him, when fire magic was his specialty, beyond his basic enhancement magic. He could see though, that Swift was trying to put on a strong face for this confrontation-- something he could respect. He didn't detect the fear in her voice that he could feel in her body. As good a bluff as any, he supposed.

As the dragon lunged and slammed its talons down, blocking their escape, Ranuen was off Swift's shoulder in an instant, and trying to push her behind him, as he transformed back into his human form. His sword was out, drawn in a flash. Ranuen had his fair share of problems. Recklessness, stubborn, average-at-best intellect, a failure to understand higher level problems, but in situations of danger, his reflexes were honed and sharp. Ready to go at a moment's notice. "How about we just give the lady a little space, okay?" He said, carefully phrasing his wording as a suggestion rather than an order. If Ranuen remembered his lore stories right, dragons were prideful beings, and wouldn't take well to having a mere human try to give it directions.

He also didn't miss the insult, but didn't have the luxury of glancing back at Swift to check her reaction to it. He had to be watching for any minute sign of an attack. At this range, milliseconds mattered, and failure to read such a sign would have dire consequences. Still, he let Swift handle the talking, since the dragon's statements had been directed at her, rather than himself.

[Pink Moon Wolf]

Yeah, Swift had anticipated the dragon's taunts. She was used to pompous beasts with a propensity to toy with their victims before striking. She was hardly even deterred when he attempted to block what seemed to be her only exit, further implying that her journey into the temple had been for naught. All of this rolled off her back rather easily.

Then the dragon snarled those two words...

Half breed.

Immediately, Swift's blood began to boil. Ears erect, fangs bared, claws tense, yoki coursing through her veins. Yet even now, she managed to stay calm, merely emitting a low snarl as she cast a sharp glare at the wall. And while this reaction was minimal, inside she was seething. This decaying old fossil had the gall to...?

And then Ranuen leaped off her shoulder and assumed his previous, human height, pointing his sword at the mighty beast. Taken aback and brought back down to some level of reality, Swift anxiously looked between the two, questioning what she should do. Ordinarily, she had no issues drawing blood if the situation called for it, but against a dragon and with a guy she had only met with somewhat glaring weaknesses, perhaps it was best to play it cool and not take any risks. Or at the very least, wait until the crap officially hit the fan to throw anything back. She had to be careful around this thing.

After all, whatever she was looking for... it was near. She could feel it.

"Dude, it's cool," Swift murmured, turning to scowl up at the dragon. "Well, if there's nothing for us in here, then perhaps we should just go."