[center][color=a36209][h1][b][u]Lacain[/u][/b][/h1][/color][/center][hr]
Chuckling lightly as she blurted her compliment, Lacain smiled at her for a moment before assuring her that it was fine. The embarrassment and awkwardness didn't last long, luckily enough. However, not so luckily he had to make a decision as to whether or not he should bring her along. Yet, before he could make the choice, she decided to stay behind. He glanced back at her as she took a seat, his expression a mixture of grateful and torn. [color=a36209][b]"Alright...if you're sure,"[/b][/color] he said before pausing a long moment, still looking at her. Finally he turned away, braced himself, and said [color=a36209][b]"I'll be back."[/b][/color]

He then strode past the point of no return. When nothing happened he continued on, straining his senses to detect any danger. The magical energies surrounding him appeared to be in flux, it was unsettling, like some kind of magical anomaly or the like. Eventually and strangely without incident, he found that the cavern opened up into a large chamber. At the far end on a rune inscribed pedestal and upon it sat what appeared to be a sphere of white light so bright that whatever caused it was hidden by its resplendent glow. Staring in awe, he noted that the magical flux was strongest around the sphere. [color=a36209][b]"What is this,"[/b][/color] he wondered quietly as he slowly made his approach.

He noticed, that despite his proximity to the strange anomaly, his uneasiness had faded almost entirely. It was strange, he mused, thinking that perhaps whatever this was had simply not wanted Iyl to grow near to it. Frowning at the thought, Lacain grew impatient with the object, his respect for what power it might hold fading as he considered the possibility that it might bear ill will for his friend. His gait quickened and he soon found himself washed in the light of the sphere. Now that he was closer he found that the runes carved upon the pedestal glowed faintly, their light somehow not lost in the greater luminescence of what he could now see was a ring. Reaching out, his frustration having fled him, Lacain felt his energies collide with those of the ring and the runes beneath it. Briefly the energies fought his own, but despite their intricacy and the ancient power that had been stored within them, they could not stop him from pulling the ring from the pedestal and into his hand.

As the artifact left its place, all illumination fled from the cavern aside from a far more subdued glow, which emanated from the ring.

Gazing down upon the strange ring, Lacain wondered if he should slip it on or not. It was only when he felt the whisper of his master's consciousness that he knew it was not to be done here.

Nodding as if in response to the man, Lacain gathered his energies and conjured a shock of cloth, which he wrapped the ring within, before stowing it in his coat. Turning away from the room, Lacain headed back the way he had come, a serious expression on his face.

After several minutes he returned to where he'd left Iyl, if unwillingly. He looked at her, then nodded his head in the direction of their exit. [color=a36209][b]“Let's go...I can feel the magic draining from this place,”[/b][/color] said the man, reaching down to help her to her feet.

As she rose, the cavern shivered and a terrible creaking could be heard all around them. [color=a36209][b]“Quickly,”[/b][/color] he said, before he took off at a brisk pace, heading in the direction of the exit. While he could have possibly risked transporting them beyond the cavern, he didn't dare try, as if any of this place's magic remained, they might end up embedded in stone, their bodies merged on the deepest level with the material.

So it was that he did not use such a spell, either within the cavern, nor to exit it. Hopefully they could escape before the place came down upon them.

Hopefully.