[table][row][cell][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/NkHShyh.gif[/img][/center][right][color=gray][sub][color=6699CC][b]Location[/b][/color] [color=white]—[/color][i]The Canadian Frontier, Some Years Ago[/i][/sub][/color][/right][/cell][cell][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/VlXuH1U.gif[/img][/center][/cell][/row][/table][center][color=6699CC]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/color][/center][indent][indent][color=gray][i]It was a promise broken.

[color=6699CC]"Look out!"[/color]

The cavern rumbled like a giant's final breath. It shook rock and stone, caving in on the motley group of companions. The archer had been split off from the pack, blockaded by a pile of impassable earth. Had Rauni taken one more step further, she might've been caught beneath the rubble herself.

[color=#d59d76]"Rauni!"[/color] A voice shouted, one that she had long since cherished hearing. Yet instead of the sweet, honeyed words Rauni was used to, the son of Mars now held the tone of panic and desperation. [color=#d59d76]"Hold on!"[/color]

[color=#b1f7d8]"This..."[/color] A legionnaire began. She tugged, pulling away at the pile alongside their comrades. [color=#b1f7d8]"Damned stone! It won't budge!"[/color]

[color=#de05bc]"It has to! Keep trying!"[/color]

To no avail the group tried to clear the obstacle, chipping away at boulder and rock with all their strength. And yet, their combined efforts struggled and failed to accomplish anything. Each and every stone they removed was replaced by seemingly more that fell from the ceiling, firmly keeping them separated. 

[color=6699CC]"Stop!"[/color] Rauni called to her allies in a desperate plea to save their strength. [color=6699CC]"I'll find another way."[/color]

An uncomfortable silence was held between both parties. Only the sound of dripping water echoed through the cavern, seemingly louder the longer the silence lasted.

[color=#d59d76]"Rauni."[/color]

[color=6699CC]"Yes?"[/color]

[color=#d59d76]"Just don't go dying on me."[/color]

A slight, soft smile caressed her lips. Rauni placed a hand against cold stone, as if she had felt out for his rugged, calloused hand.

[color=6699cc]"Felix, you idiot,"[/color] She gently spoke. [color=6699cc]"You know that's my line."[/color]

[color=#d59d76]"I know, mea vita."[/color] 

She swore that she could feel him reaching out, the palms of their hands meeting each other. 

[color=#d59d76]"I know."[/color]

And so, Rauni turned away from Felix, unaware of the coming horrors she would soon be witness to.

The cavern was a maze, the jagged rock winding for seemingly miles. Each twist and turn looked the same, as if she had been traversing in a circle. Perhaps she had been, having long since lost track of time. Little sunlight could creep within the dark depths of the cavern, and so Rauni had been travelling largely blind. Even the slightest data signal for her phone was unreachable, leaving her unable to contact Felix or anyone else in their group of adventurers.

But then, as she neared a large cavern, the rumbling began once more. Thundering. Shaking. Booming.

Rauni took cover behind a massive rock, and peered from her hiding spot. The cavern appeared to be some kind of room, with crude furniture and supplies strewn about. A towering cyclops entered the cave, humming to itself in its toddler-like speech. Rauni could only figure that this must been the creature's den, and knew that she needed to warn the others that she had found the target they been tracking all this time. If they were going to return victorious to the Legion, they needed to formulate a plan.

Before she could attempt to sneak away, however, a familiar face caused her to pause. Cast across the cyclops' shoulder had been Felix, his body mangled and half-chewed. 

No. It couldn't be.

Rauni stumbled in shock, kicking rocks across the ground on accident. She could only look on in horror as her longtime fears came true; the cyclops dropping her lover's corpse in a pot of boiling liquid and who knew what else.

[color=white]"Wot's dat?"[/color] The cyclops questioned, now alerted by the noise. He looked around the cavern, and stared back at Rauni. [color=white]"'Nother halfie for dah stew?"[/color]

The cyclops received no answer. Every moment she had treasured had been busy passing through her head in rapid succession. The dreams of a quaint future in the New Roman countryside. The countless starlit nights in each others' arms. Even the little things—like the time Felix won her a stuffed toy at the games, or when he accidentally made a massive mess trying to impress her with his cooking skills.

And then, she saw red. It was all gone. It had all been stolen from her. From Felix. From them.

Her father's temper flared within Rauni. It called for vengeance, whispering away in her ear. There had been no other thought within her head; her wrathful anger focused only on the cyclops. Unconsciously, she had begun to churn a howling, fierce storm, feeding on the primal breeze and water that had long ago carved the cavernous hallways they now stood in. Debris and makeshift tools were sent flying into the air, scattering across the cyclops' den. The temperature within the cave plummeted, freezing the boiling pot of legionnaire stew that had begun to slosh from the wind.

Without uttering a word, she launched her wintery furor at the cyclops and sent it hurtling backwards. Rauni then reached for her bow, and launched arrow after arrow in rapid succession. She could feel the skin of her hands turning raw from the endless volley she fired, but Rauni refused to cease until the bow string snapped under the constant pressure. 

Still, even fresh out of arrows, Rauni wasn't done. She cast the broken bow aside, and drew her spatha from her belt. 

[color=white]"No more!"[/color] The cyclops begged for mercy. [color=white]"No more!"[/color]

Mercy? It got none.

Rauni unleashed flurry after flurry. There was little rhythm to her swings; her vicious anger and lesser skill with the Roman blade giving way to wild motion more fitted to a barbarian than that of a legionnaire. She swung and swung, cutting away at flesh and bashing into stone. When it, too, finally shattered, only then did Rauni move for the kill, using a broken table to jump upwards and plunge the battered blade deep within the cyclops' singular eye.

As the cyclops fell to the ground, Rauni, too, fell with it. Her hands gripped tightly around the blade's hilt, holding on as they both went plummeting downwards. She didn't make a sound as the cyclops drew its last breath, her prior furor now dissipating into confused anger. Her head and thoughts had become fuzzy. The sound of television-like static rang in her ears, and regardless of how many times she tried to drone it out, the noise refused to go away.

Rauni didn't know how to react. She wanted to cry and wail. She wanted to curse Felix's name for dying and leaving her behind to suffer alone. She wanted to stab the cyclops more; to desecrate the creature's body like it had done to Felix. She wanted to pull Felix out of the now frozen soup, as if he could still be alive. There was a million things she wanted to do, and yet Rauni found herself unable to process any at all.

And so, Rauni, sitting upon the cyclops' chest, sat in silence. She could only stare blankly off into the darkness of the cavern, listening to the uncomfortable sound of dripping water.[/i][/color][/indent][/indent][center][color=6699CC]▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅▅[/color][/center][right][sub][color=6699CC][b]Interacting With[/b][/color][color=white] — [/color]N/A[/sub][/right]