Kai clicked his tongue but didn't argue further. He adjusted the strap of his weapon and moved deeper into the ruins, boots crunching faintly against scattered stone and dust.
Vael, still perched lightly atop his head, tilted his feathery head to the side, his eyes scanning the path ahead with restless flicks.
The deeper they went, the colder it got.
Not the kind of cold that came from temperature, but from stillness, from age.
Stone pillars stood half-crumbled, vines crawling through cracks, and time had gnawed away at every corner.
Then suddenly he halted and expanded his essence, sensing the traps ahead.
"Great..." Kai muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Couldn't be as easy as just grabbing it, huh?"
Vael let out a faint, amused chirp and shifted slightly on his head.
Kai arrived at a collapsed stairwell that twisted downward.
The ceiling had partially caved in, letting strands of weak sunlight leak through.
