Rubble, Beginnings, What else?~Tegan and Aero

Ves nodded as she listened carefully. So they'd have to find a way back to surface. Not to mention where the heck were they exactly. She understood underground caves, but she hadn't heard anything of them since she'd been here. Of course, that didn't really mean anything. There were a lot of things she knew little about around here. It really shouldn't surprise her at all. She stifled a yawn as she thought over what he'd said. Of course, in the silence of the tunnel, she'd heard his mumbled words and confusion covered her expression. She would have asked about it, but she wasn't really sure what to say. Maybe she'd bring it up later. Still, they'd have to come up with something.

Ves carefully expanded the ball of fire enough to lite a little more details of the tunnel. To be specific she was looking for something that would burn. While it was true that she could summon this fire, so long as it was lit and floating by her magic, it was a constant drain of energy. She needed something to keep the fire going on its own. She looked around and walked a little bit around. "Do you see anything, that could maybe keep the fire going?" she asked softly. She sent the ball around in small circles around them. Searching for what may be down here. "Then maybe we can try to find somewhere more comfortable. That is si- Vann, if you want to." She'd almost slipped again.

He noticed her slip, how could he not? But he just smiled to himself. At least she was trying. Turning to the task of finding something burnable he scoured what part of the tunnel was available in the light of Vesperia's magic and found some bone-brittle drift wood that had likely been here for an uncounted number of many years, washed through the tunnel at a point in time when the cavernous space was still used. Gathering the most salvageable bits, he brought them to the mage, trying not to think of what sort of filth that the wood probably would have been sitting in before being deposited here and left to dry for hundreds of years. "Will this do? I don't know how long it'll burn for, but I suppose we'll just have to hope that there's more the longer we walk." And who knew how long it would take them to find a way out? Racksom was not a small city, and if these water ways crisscrossed the entirety of the city and a hundred or more feet down, who knew how many miles of subterranean caves there were? He could only hope that they would find a way out before they started getting delirious from lack of food and water. "If you don't have any ideas, then I suppose we should keep walking."

Vespira let the ball of fire sit in the middle of the tunnel and tried her best to get the light to spread enough for them to actually be able to see. Working with so much magic at once would have been horrible if not for the rest she'd had earlier. She looked around, trying to find something that would just give her a break of trying to sustain the fire the entire time. She honestly wasn't finding much that would work at all, of course that's when Vann called her attention back to him. She retreated back to the light and looked at the drift wood he had. She nodded her head.

"This will work for now, thank you," she said softly. She moved the ball of fire to the wood, and let it catch. Once it did the entire ball of flame sat on the wood. The way she did this was so that in reality only a small fire burned the wood, but the ball of fire was seen to sit on it. This kept the wood to last longer, but the ball of fire cast more lighting. She smiled. "Um... Vann," she said releasing the constant flow of magic but keeping the one spell in place. "How big do you think down here is?" She couldn't help the small bit of fear in her voice. She was starting to get nervous about getting out of here. She knew how to keep herself floating, but only a little bit off the ground. She knew how to do little things with her magic except healing. She knew a lot about healing, and also water. But, if it came to trying to get them both out of here, she wasn't sure she could sustain the ability to keep them both off the ground for a long period of time.

He was relieved when the wood caught fire, unsure it it would work but glad that it did. The relief was quickly washed away however with the gravity of the situation, and he sighed at Vesperia's question, running his hand through his hair briefly and considering the situation. "I have no idea." He replied honestly, not seeing how lying could benefit either of them. "I walked for a few hours yesterday… er, well, I suppose it was yesterday. This tunnel it just… keeps going. I didn't even know there were tunnels under Racksom before we fell in. But we're not getting out by standing here, I know that much. Let's keep going." He nodded toward the darkness of the tunnel leading away from them and started walking that way. "Oh." he stopped mid-stride and looked at her over his shoulder. "Thanks for saving me yesterday. During the fall, I mean. I would have been crushed by those rocks-"

The rest of his reply was cut off when a strange slithering sound came from the depths of the tunnel. At first he simply stared into the darkness, wondering what in the world made that sort of noise. Falling rocks? Rushing water? It didn't seem plausible, then the noise resolved into the sound of scurrying feet punctuated by squeaking. Was that really-?

The first rat leapt came into view on the edge of Vesperia's light, quickly followed by a large number of similar rodents, all the size of large dogs. Immediately his hand went to where his sword would normally sit on his hip, groped the empty air and looked down, only to realize that he wasn't armed. Fear washed over him, and he retreated a step. "Unless you have a spell that can wipe them all out, I suggest we run. Now."

"Oh," Vespira said looking a little downtrodden. She wondered if they were ever going to get out of here. It was just so big. She felt a feeling of hopelessness and her eyes went back to the ground. Honestly though, she figured there was one upside. At least she was trapped with Vann. He seemed like he was nice enough, and he hadn't tried to hurt her yet. That was always a good sign. Not to mention she did rather like him. He was a gentlemen much like the men she'd grown up with. Akar, Canice, the men in the Tarz. They all seemed to nice. Here, everything was so different, it was almost scary.

When he stopped mid-stride, she nearly ran into him, but quickly adverted off to his side a little. She looked up at him confused about why he'd stopped. There didn't seem to be anything in the way or a different path to take, so what then? She blinked when he started to thank her, and her checks grew a little red with embarrassment. His thanks were cut short though when a noise echoed up the tunnel from the direction they were going. Ves felt a bit of hope that maybe it was a way out, or even help, but that hope was quickly crushed when it was getting louder. She backed up a little then, sort of hiding behind Vann. She still felt a bit uncomfortable in close proximity to him, so she stood about a foot away from him.

Ves gasped when the large dog sized rats appeared in the fire's light. Her eyes widened and fear gripped her as she stared into the first one's face. Not to mention the rest of them behind it. At first, she felt numb, like she couldn't move, then Vann's voice snapped her back into reality. "I'm sorry," she whispered quietly. "I'm only really good in healing magic and water. I can only do small stuff. Yesterday was just luck." She figured that was true because she'd never tried to do anything that big before. Nor use her magic as an offensive. She backed up a few steps then would turn and run. She'd look over her shoulder at the rats. "I can probably push them back if they get too close, but otherwise I'm afraid I'm pretty useless."

"Then we run!" Without waiting or asking for permission, Vann grabbed Vesperia by the wrist like he had before and took off in the opposite direction. Why she hadn't started running the second she realized that they were about to get attacked by a horde of hungry dog-sized rats was beyond him, but there was no time to talk or think about it. They just had to go. He didn't know where he thought he was running, he only knew that if they stopped then he was going to be fighting off the rats with a bit of drift wood and praying for something magical to happen that would save them again.

If the rats didn't catch up, eventually they would end back up at the crash site where the road had caved in and got them into this mess in the first place. If they could keep running for that long, of course. But what would happen then? There wasn't a way up from the tunnels, and even if there was, they would probably just get captured and sent to the labor yards. The answer to this particular problem appeared quite suddenly as a section of darkness that clung to the wall in the face of the torch light, an adjoining tunnel that he had missed the day before when he'd been walking in the dark. Willing to take a chance, he veered sharply into the tunnel, letting go of Vesperia briefly to catch himself agains the wall instead of crashing in. He took another running step forward, but his foot didn't touch ground and the unpleasant sensation of taking a sudden drop seized him. He fell through the air in a terrifying second of free fall, then his back hit stone and everything was plunged into darkness again when he dropped the torch, sliding down a man-sized tunnel that plunged him farther into the belly of the earth.

A moment later, Vann suddenly shot out of the mouth of the tunnel, landing on his feet and then flung head over heels by his own momentum, scraping his chin on rough rock and finally coming to a halt opposite of the slide, dazed, winded, and not entirely sure if he was alive or not.

Vespira ran with Vann, knowing full well that this path was only going to lead them to dead end. While she ran, she pushed air behind her in order to keep her pace with him, and thought of ideas on how to keep the rats away from them. She contemplated washing them away with the only magic she truly was useful with. Water. The problem with that was the fact that it'd take a lot of energy to conjure that much water into the tunnels. Also, she'd have to blast it somewhere, though ice would provide a bit of a blockade. And also be cold. She frowned when the realized how weak she was in her magic. Sighing, to herself she tried to come up with another way, and nearly didn't stop when Vann let go of her for a moment, but she quickly skidded to a halt to round the corner he came upon.

He took a step forwards and fell into the ground. "Vann!" she called, fearfully. The rats were close, she could hear there claws against the ground, and stood there for a moment trying to think of what to do. Carefully, she created a dim flicker of a light on her finger tip and looked at the hole in the ground. Focusing air under neath her, she dropped down it, holding herself in place long enough to seal the opening with summoned water and then freezing it into ice. Her concentration faulted as she let the small light on her finger tip go out, and the air below her dropped her onto the slide. She squeezed her eyes shut and slid down the huge tunnel, keeping her teeth clenched. She felt nothing under her and for a moment she wondered if this was the end of the tunnel, or the start of a new slide.

She the hit the ground, not as lucky to land on her feet, and bid a barrel roll across the ground till she ended up running into something hard, which she guessed was Vann seeing as it hadn't really hurt as much as the hard floor had against the skin of her arms and legs. "Ow," she whined softly as she felt the sting of her wounds. Of course, she guessed she'd had it a little easier than Vann did seeing as he hadn't known about the hole in the ground in the first place. Carefully, she picked herself up and keeled on the floor, creating a small ball of light above her head as she did so. Without doing anything else she looked directly at Vann and in a small voice asked, "Are you alright?"

It took a long minute to realize that he was staring directly at the mage-light overhead, and when he did he closed his eyes against the stabbing pain that it sent through his eyeballs and directly into his brain. Dear gods, please let him be dead. His head was throbbing and the coppery tang of blood filled his mouth, probably from having bit his tongue when he was flung across the room after exiting the slide. Slowly he tried to get up, only to realize that the weight on his stomach was preventing him from doing so. Reluctantly he opened his eyes and saw Vesperia getting off him and rolled onto his side, resting his head against the cold stone below them.

"Alright… is not the right word." He finally managed to say after gathering his breath and his senses, spitting out some blood distastefully and sat back on his knees, meeting the mage's eyes. "But I'm alive, and that's what's important." Vann looked around the chamber that they had been spit out in, the high vaulted ceiling uneven with jagged stalactites hanging down like so many teeth. The floor was uneven as well, obviously not refined by man. Around the walls were deep holes of black, indicating further caves that split off from the cavern that they found themselves in. "We must be in some caves…" He said unhelpfully, only realizing that he was stating the obvious after the words had left him.

Vann rose to his feet unsteadily, bracing his hands against his knees to get all the way up. The sound of the rats coming after them had disappeared now, which was a good thing. It gave them time to work, and hopefully there wouldn't be any more unfortunate surprises. "Well, at least we're out of the sewers." He said with forced cheerfulness offering a hand up to Vesperia. "I suppose we should keep moving."

Vespira had shut her eyes focusing on her magic while Vann investigated the area they'd come out in. She focused her magic on the areas where she felt stings or scrapes. Anything that might be wounded she could sense, and she healed herself easily as if nothing had ever happened. It didn't drain her at all, one good thing about having learned healing magic well enough. When she finished she opened her eyes to see Vann struggle to his feet. She frowned. If alright wasn't the word, then she knew she could help. But she wasn't entirely sure if he wanted her to or not. Then again, he probably didn't know she could. She took his hand, her magic already sensing where he might have been scrapped up in the tumble down here. And any bruises or scratches.

"Um, Vann," she said softly, looking down shyly. "I can heal you..." she said quietly. "If you want of course," she added quickly. She wasn't used to being a healer except for herself, so she didn't know if she needed his permission or not. She'd done secret healings and such, but when they were secret she defiantly didn't need permission then. They were almost always unaware she was there anyways. They'd think the people who were called 'healers' had done the work. In reality she was better than them and had finished what they started. That was nothing like now though. This was the first time she was offering a choice, to someone who was completely aware she'd do it. "It wont take but a second," she added. She lightly picked her head up and looked up into his eyes.

He was surprised by Vesperia’s forwardness, looking down at her hand a bit curiously. He wouldn’t have thought that she’d be brave enough to take his hand. As much as he disapproved of women being forced to avert their gaze in a man’s company, it was sort of cute the way she did it. Smiling at her shy tone, Vann gingerly took a knee, still letting Vesperia hold onto his hand so that they could be at eye level. When Vesperia looked up to meet his gaze he squeezed her hand gently. “If you could, that would be great.” He replied, smiling gently despite the fact that he was hyper aware of all the aches and pains coursing through his body. Wherever they were going to end up, it would be a far shorter journey if he was patched up properly and not hobbling along like an old man.

When their eyes met, Vespira's checks burned softly and she adverted her gaze, letting her hair fall a bit back into her face. She shut her eyes, and let her magic go to work. It would seek out anything that required healing. Old, new, it didn't matter. The magic surged through Vespira as she opened herself to Vann through the touch of his hand in hers. She released the magic into him, and where ever she sensed an injury it went to the spot and patched it up. It really didn't take that long, a couple seconds, and then the magic retreated back into it's master. Ves opened her eyes and carefully turned to almost look at Vann again.

"There," she said softly. "Feeling better?" she asked quietly. She was glad her hair still partially covered her face because she knew she was blushing. She could feel the warmth in her face. She didn't make a move to get up, or let go of his hand, not entirely sure what to do now. So she remained silent while she waited for Vann to do something. Anything. She wondered if she should drop his hand and stand up, or wait. The more her mind reeled with thoughts of what to do, the more nervous she got and she returned her eyes back to the ground. 'Maybe not moving is a bad idea... and I should move away form him...'

He'd been healed before by Vesperia, but he hadn't exactly been coherent the last time. Now that he was aware of it, he couldn't help but to be a little marveled. The brief warmth that flooded through him sent such a wave of relief that he could hardly keep up with the sensation of all of his wounds closing up at once. The sensation of simply not hurting anymore took a second to get used to, and in the quiet of his mind he heard a sigh. It took a second for Vann to realize that the Voice had been the one to make the noise, the presence seeming to watch the process with something akin to amusement.

'For all the strangling rigidity of the threads of the elder loom's bindings, an skill once mastered is a force to be reckoned with.'

Damn. He'd half hoped that cracking his head would get rid of his mental problems, but that apparently was asking for too much. "Much better, thank you." He replied to Vesperia's question and noted the huge blush on her face. He almost asked her about it, but stopped himself and got to his feet while keeping hole of her hand. "It seems that I'm all better now. Come on, I'll help you to your feet, then we can get out of these blasted caves."

Vespira looked up at Vann when he spoke again. She smiled slightly and nodded her head. She allowed him to help her to her feet and she released his hand as soon as she was standing again. Trying to distract herself from the emotions she had just felt, she quickly dusted off her skirt and then made sure her shirt was alright. She blinked and looked around. There was technically only one way to go, but she was beginning to wonder just how far below ground they were now. That, and what else could be laying in wait ahead.

"Lead on," she said softly. Trying to sound a little braver than she felt. To be honest, she was a little terrified this entire cave system would collapse down on them. She knew for a fact she didn't have the energy to maintain enough magic to keep them from being completely crushed if that happened. Vespira would follow Vann as they'd begin to head out. She realized she felt safer around him, something that kind of surprised her, being she hadn't felt safe since she was a little kid. Ever. She blinked thoughtfully as she mauled over that thought. She actually felt safe, despite everything.

"I'm… not sure where to go." He admitted freely, looking at the cave beyond them in the light of the magic ball that floated overhead, and he simply lingered near Vesperia for a moment, trying to decide the best course of action. Rescue was probably out of the picture, and they were going to die in here if they didn't find water and food. "I suppose we'll just see what happens." So, picking a direction, Vann started walking, watching his step since the cave floor wasn't exactly even like it had been in the tunnels above them. The last thing he wanted was to trip and sprain his ankle or something. Vesperia didn't look like she had worn herself out yet, but he had a feeling if he haphazardly ran through the tunnel and continued to drain her strength through healing magic that she'd soon pass out again like she had before with the rocks. Not to mention that he wouldn't very much enjoy experiencing the pain in the first place.

The eerie silence of the cave was starting to get to him, and if his previous experience with the tunnels overhead was anything to judge by, they would probably be down here for a while. So, he did the only logical thing to be done in such a situation. "So, I know that we've met briefly before, but I don't really know much about you, other than you're a mage and you were stuck in Racksom, like me. Where were you from, originally?" Some conversation always helped to take his mind off of tedious things, and trekking through a dark tunnel definitely counted as tedious in his book.

Vespira followed after Vann easy. She made sure to watch her own step, cautiously testing the ground with each step. For whatever reason she felt like any step could cause them to head deeper into the center of the earth. Swallowed forever into this darkness, and no one would even know where to look for them. She had to push those ideas out her head, least she let her fear hold her in place and keep her rooted. Still, she knew to be more aware of everything. She felt rather useless with her magic. With no water near enough to play with, she'd have to take it from the air, and that could also potentially cause problems. However, it would be better than dying.

When Vann spoke, it caught Ves off guard. The silence was something she was accustomed to. So much so that she didn't even notice how uncomfortable this could be to other people. Walking along in dead silence. She looked over at Vann for a moment, thinking over what he asked. A spike of sorrow filled her voice as she spoke. "I was born in Harglen and played around Tarz a lot... Till after my 4th birthday." She had her eyes back on the ground as she finished speaking, watching the uneven ground as they walked. Her mind on distant memories. "What about you?" she asked without looking up. "Where are you originally from?"

He considered Vesperia's words as he navigated his way forward, the ceiling above them suddenly dropping lower so that the rock above almost touched the top of his head, making him stoop unconsciously even though he still had a few inches to spare. Even though this was obviously a painful topic for the mage, Vann was just glad that he wasn't going to be left all alone with his thoughts and whatever other jabbering was going on his head from the Voice, though just having a conversation probably wasn't going to be able to drown out that particular nuisance. "I'm from Yarrowitz, myself. It's sort of funny that we're from opposite parts of the island, isn't it?" He smiled for Vespira's benefit, looking over his shoulder briefly as he did so before continuing with his story. "But there were family issues amongst my siblings. My mothers was at the end of her rope with our behavior, so she had our father split us up. I got sent to a monastery near Didenne and grew up there afterwards." He supposed that he was supposed to be feeling sorry for himself, but he really didn't. The years training with the monks had given him plenty of time to emotionally distance himself from from the event and cope with the initial feeling of abandonment. Now, it was just a part of his history, and his tone reflected that.

"I'm not entirely sure how I got here to Racksom, I just sort of woke up here at the tail end of that huge battle a week ago." He shuddered at the thought, but would say no more on the subject. It was hard enough explaining his memory loss to himself, let alone another person. "But if it's not too painful to talk about, what happened when you were four? Did your family have to move?"

((I'll leave it up to you to do something in the next post :3 ))

Vespira watched the ground as she followed Vann. No one had honestly ever asked her about her past. No one had ever cared enough to ask at all. The idea of reliving the memories of her past wasn't high on her list of things she wanted to do, however, she would almost prefer she wasn't the only person to know it's burden. "My father died a few days before my birthday. He was killed in an accident when he was demonstrating weapons for a client." She paused for a moment as she tried to remember that one day. "My brother, Akar, and I were in the back yard the day when I left home. Two men came to the door, and mother tried to get them to leave. They did, but threatened to come back unless we paid them. They ended up coming back later that night. They killed my mother and took me. They knocked my brother out, and I don't even know if he's alive. I lived with these men in Quinsilla till King Zartear showed, and that's how I ended up here. I owe the king my freedom."

Her eyes stayed on the ground as she felt hot tears in her eyes. They'd probably choked the ending of her story, but she'd refused to not tell the entire thing. They spilled down her checks, but she ignored them. From around them came the noise of shifting rocks. Vespira stopped for a moment confused. It almost sounded like the tunnels themselves were starting to shift, and in the process, like the... Dust started to fall from above them as the rocks above their heads started to move. Vespira moved closer to Vann just as the rocks behind them broke free from the ceiling and came crumbling down, causing the ones closer to them to fall as well.

It was an odd notion for him to hear that the conquering who had come with his armies and destroyed half the city was for her a liberator. Obviously, she had never been part of the labor yards, or he seriously doubt that she would be of the opinion that the King was this great noble man. Then again, Zartear had spared his life and given him in service to Andyr, and for that Vann could only be grateful. At least it wasn't his head on a pike, which given his two meetings with the warrior king could have very likely been a reasonable outcome. By the tremble in her voice he could tell that it had all been an emotionally challenging experience and could deeply sympathize with the girl. She'd had it rough.

Vann was about to offer his condolences for what little they might be worth when the girding of stone on stone snapped him abruptly to the issue at hand. His heart jumped in his throat when he saw the large chunks of stone and immediately reached back, grabbing Vesperia's wrist. "Run!" He yelled, tugging her forward and started off down the cave. She might be magical, but he didn't think that she would be able to prevent an entire cave from collapsing on their heads. The last thing he needed was to be crushed under a rock with an unconscious magic user to worry about.