Written January 22nd 2022 11:44 PM

“Ailith, come here now!”

All the air was suddenly gone from the room. Feyra looked over to where Xiv had yelled from and saw Ailith sprinting towards them, leaving Gregor stunned behind her. She watched as Xiv swung their hand at Ailith, the brunette dissolving into mist and disappearing through a hole in the wall after the vampire they had been fighting, all in a matter of seconds.

Panic.

The edges of her vision went white, and Feyra’s heart seized. She took a final shot at Gregor and then ran as fast as her feet could carry her to where Ailith had just been standing. She was vaguely aware of the rest of her friends taking down their former ally before running from the room, somehow magically tracking Ailith’s movements, but Feyra couldn’t leave. She wanted – no, she needed– to go after Ailith. She needed to make sure Ailith wasn’t about to be ambushed by more vampires.

Looking through the small hole, she could see that Ailith was too far ahead of her, and there was no way she would be able to follow after her, not with the magic and abilities available to her right then. Realizing what she needed to do, Feyra ran from the room, following her friends to where they had stopped in the yard behind the old manor.

“Just 60 feet down from here,” Ace was saying, trying to stay clam. Talus immediately started digging with his favourite pot, determined to get to Ailith. Feyra spotted Xiv standing apart from the other two and ran to them.

“I need to get down there, Xiv. What do you have that can get me there?” Feyra asked, eyes locked on the spot Ace was pointing at. She could feel Xiv studying her for a brief moment before nodding, apparently having pieced together what she was planning. They started pulling random supplies out of their bag and handing them to her. She just hoped the miscellaneous potions would actually help with whatever was waiting for her down there.

“I can cast haste on you, which will help get you there faster,” Xiv explained while digging through their bag. Feyra knew in that moment they were on the same page, and felt so much affection for the strange creature that had slowly become one of her closest friends. She began to ready herself to cast her spell, but the panicked voice of the young cleric interrupted her focus.

“Shouldn’t we just wait, or try to find another door in? Sending another person in could be bad. Or-” Ace didn’t get a chance to voice another option.

“I don’t care! I am not leaving her alone down there. I can’t! I just… I can’t leave her!” Feyra had never yelled like that at anyone, let alone Ace. She could see the hurt in Ace’s eyes, but nothing else mattered in that moment than getting to Ailith.

Feyra had never felt this sort of fear before. Sure, she had known fear – when she realized she had no memories of her childhood, when she found out Gallan had died and she was truly alone in the world. Even when she had to avenge her parents against the Corvus family, but all of that had been a different type of fear. This, right now with Ailith… this was like one of her senses had been taken away from her, and now part of her was unable to function. She had gotten used to Ailith’s presence, always beside her, always a constant, and now she would do anything she could to get it back.

Feyra felt Xiv casting their spell and felt a rush of adrenaline that she knew came with being hasted. She closed her eyes and completed her own incantation, feeling the strange weightless sensation of being ethereal washing over her. She let herself drop through the ground where Ace had pointed.

“I’m coming Ailith. Wait for me.”