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Gwen was absolutely and utterly terrified by this giant harpy creature that was now bearing down upon her. Ryujin had told her about these sort of creatures existing out in the depths of the wild, but had not expected to encounter one so soon into her tenure as a Communicator, and was far too exhausted and cold to think as to how to rationally. She was about to just try and dodge and make a break for it when the bird was suddenly speared clean out of the sky by an arrow. Gwen’s head turned with a start to see another individual approaching. Another Communicator. Or at least, what Gwen assumed to be another Communicator, unless the random hikers of New Hampshire carried around bows to shoot down wild bird monsters. 

The girl walked over, offing the harpy with another arrow to the head, before approaching Gwen. She wasn’t too intimidating, Gwen supposed. She was a bit older than Gwen and her musculature more well-defined, but overall she looked very approachable. She took the young woman’s hand, pulling herself to her feet. [color=PaleTurquoise]"Gwen,"[/color] the 18-year-old said with her best attempt at a chipper smile. [color=PaleTurquoise]"Thank you so much for the help,"[/color] Gwen said, taking a glance back at the harpy that was bleeding out on the ground, staining the white snow with a dark maroon froth. [color=PaleTurquoise]"I didn’t bring a weapon, because, you know, I wasn’t [i]told[/i] that I was going to be attacked by flying birds."[/color]

[color=00a99d]”You are beyond stubborn,”[/color] Ryujin said in the girl’s head. 

[color=PaleTurquoise]"Anyway,"[/color] the younger girl continued, shivering slightly in the cold, [color=PaleTurquoise]"thanks again. I owe you one, big time.”[/color] Gwen didn’t know exactly how she could pay this woman back, but she’d figure it out. She did save her life, after all. Before she could ask for the redhead’s name, however, another woman approached the duo, appearing out of nowhere. She was larger and apparently very French, and she began speaking to the two in French. Gwen looked at the woman like a deer in headlights. [color=PaleTurquoise]”Umm...oui oui?”[/color]
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Teddy ran his fingers along the carvings of the wall. It was fascinating. It seemed to be some sort of painting, like a cave painting, depicting the Olympians and Egyptian Gods meeting atop a massive cloud. The details of the image were strangely both archaic but incredibly precise and smooth. No regular mortal could have ever carved something like this, something so precisely created and etched into the cave's walls. Teddy could tell that the doorway was made by some sort of divine presence. 

As he examined the mysterious wall, though, he heard a voice behind him. Teddy turned his head, looking at the girl standing before him. She was around Teddy's age and fairly tall, with a sword hanging from her hip, standing in the middle of a deadly spider-infested cave. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who Teddy was dealing with. The youth gave a curt nod to Akeno, his lips tightly compressed as he thought of what to say. After leaving her question in the air for a couple of seconds, he responded with a simple, [color=SlateGray]"yeah,"[/color] before adding, [color=SlateGray]"Me too. Think I'm figuring something out here..."[/color]

Teddy pressed his hand against a large carving of the sun in the middle of the etched portrait, and there was a loud rumbling sound as the wall began to part right down the middle. A confident smirk on his face clear as day even in the darkness of the cave, Teddy stepped back as the painting split open in the middle, revealing a large hidden chamber behind the wall. Unlike the rest of the cave, this chamber seemed to have been crafted by some other figure, with perfectly even, polished stone walls equipped with scarlet flickering torches. [color=SlateGray]"Ladies first,"[/color] Teddy pined quietly as he examined the hidden corridor. 

As he took his first steps into the corridor, Teddy quickly stopped as he noticed something on the other end. Two glowing green lights, vastly different from the flickering torches that lined the corridor. Teddy had a realization in his heart of what was about to happen as he saw the creature slink out from the darkness. It was a cobra. A very large cobra, as tall as Teddy, perhaps, with a body that winded into the dark recesses of the corridor. 

Teddy held up the torch as he stepped back, looking at the creature, which seemed to be preparing to make a move. [color=SlateGray]"Looks like they wanted to test us,"[/color] Teddy said with a certain sense of familiarity, standing lightly on his toes as he looked over to his fellow Communicator. Evidently, the Gods were not afraid of putting them in life-or-death situations off the bat. This was a message and a test. A message to tell the Communicators that they were not special, but disposable- and a test for the Communicators to prove the Gods wrong. 

[color=SlateGray]"I hope you know how to use that thing,"[/color] Teddy was, gesturing to the sword as the massive cobra reared its head back, preparing to bite. [color=SlateGray]"And I hope you’re not afraid of snakes,"[/color] [hr][hr][/center]