Rynth: Four Beats

| 5th of Teryusin — Year 362 of the Cycle of Synthesis, Grand Cycle ??? |

Raoul frowned, taking a tentative step to the left. Idri shifted in the same direction almost instantly, raising her arms up even higher. He sighed and shuffled to the right on his next attempt, only for the girl to catch up to him effortlessly and stand in his way even more resolutely.

To say they had a large gap in their physicals was an understatement; short legs or not, it didn’t take more than a few seconds to understand that any effort he would make to bypass Idri would only end with a cramp in his legs and the pout that was forming on his best friend’s face to sour even more.

“Okay, I give up,” said Raoul, raising both his hands in defeat. “Why are you stopping me, Idri? The gap’s not that large. We both know I could cross it given a few steps.”

Her lips quivered to form her response, voice coming out completely lacking in any measurable confidence. “I… no, no you can’t. If I let you try, you’ll only fall again into the river and hurt yourself.”

“You’re still guilty about that? Don’t be. And besides, if I do fall, you’ll just catch me again, won’t you?”

She gasped at the uttered promise-reply, and for a moment her arms drooped down in near-defeat, only for them to be forced up again in a more hesitant guard.

“Let’s compromise,” he pointed to the opposite bank. “How about a piggyback?”

“Like you used to do for me when I got hurt in P.E.?”

“Yeah, exactly like back then, only you for me this time around. I want to get to the opposite side, and you don’t want me to get hurt. If you’re still terrified of me failing from my own error, then I’m going to rely on you to make sure we get to the opposite side without taking another bath.”

Another gasp. That was the second time in a short while that he had taken from the promise she had proposed and used it against her in a well-meaning way. She had to admit that he was winning in both fronts of logic and emotion. For a few short seconds Idri’s mind frantically searched for a way to refuse him, but couldn’t. Finally she allowed her arms to fall before giving him a shy nod.

“...okay, fine.”

The silk of her robes touched the ground as her legs bent. Shooting an unsure look at Raoul, Idri positioned her body at a comfortable angle. The former sighed at the reality of the situation, but begrudgingly planted his weight on her back. His arms found their way around her neck, momentarily forcing a yelp out of her lips.

As expected, despite Idri’s smaller frame and unsteady posture, there wasn’t much strain on her face nor tightness in her muscles even after a few seconds of carrying him.

I’m five foot nine and weigh one fourty. Raoul marvelled at her lack of effort. Is she even trying?

There was no need for a running start or warning. The moment she straightened her body, Idri stepped forward and leapt. Raoul held his breath, momentarily losing his perception of depth in the scant few that they were airborne. The parabola’s trajectory was crossed. Idri easily caught onto the edge of the bank—and with a simple twist of her waist—rotated sideways to allow him to set his own footing on the narrow platform. Anticlimatic-ness aside, the both of them had made it to the other side without a hitch.

“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that strength of yours,” Raoul muttered, inching a bit closer to the wall. “It’s inhuman.”

“Is it unladylike? Cali probably would lightly chide me for it.”

He shrugged, placing his hands on the wall. His eyes quickly covered all the surfaces that were reachable and before long his palm landed on a particularly loose stone that didn’t offer any resistance. A click followed, and from which the source of the sound the stoic wall opened up. Dust and the scent of untouched adventure wafted from the depths of the pitch black hallway that led inside.

“Really? I wouldn’t say so. I never understood assigning personality traits to genders. Plateri Profisame is the deity of the home and hearth, and yet he’s a man. On the opposite end, Rodovere of the Land is a feminine deity, and she’s regarded as the most manly of the gods.”

She brightened up at his words and gingerly followed him inside. Raoul quickly weaved his hand to bring forth Conjure Flame and breathed deeply before continuing onward.

From behind, a zip and a cut sounded, and Kranstor attached itself onto Idri’s back like a foot to a snug shoe.

“I really like Sefis Everat,” replied Idri. “There’s a lot we don’t know about her, even if she’s the goddess of our Cycles. We’re like best friends in that way. I still haven’t found anything about my past.”

“I’m sure we’ll find out details eventually. Rynth is big, and we have as long as a time we want to look for your past. What do you think your past was like, Idri?”

She hummed in jolly thought, allowing her mind to conjure up the most fantastical of situations. “Maybe… a princess of another country? I recall learning in high school about Ereae’s monarchy. Wouldn’t it be nice if I was royalty?”

The path continued on for longer than they had anticipated. A few bad memories flared up in Raoul’s mind of that day’s morning. Even hearing of a “path” in his head was enough to leave a bad taste in his mouth. It wasn’t all terrible, and it was true that the results of that entire meditation session leaned more on the side of good… Nevertheless, to him, leaving it in the back of his mind for at least a few days was the best that could be done for his mental wellbeing.

“I could see you as a princess,” he replied. “But the Ereaean royal family doesn’t take well to white hair like yours or mine. I believe it was something in their history about a band of similarly-haired thieves that wreaked havoc on their museums for an entire year. There’s been a stigma against the color since then.”

A blast of hot air left Idri’s nostrils. “Hmph! Never mind then. I never wanted to be Ereaean anyway.”

Raoul couldn’t help but chuckle. They continued to follow the narrow stone path for what seemed like ages in relative silence.

Idri broke the silence first.

“Hey, it’s only come to my head right now, but wouldn’t this be classified as a dungeon?”

Thoughtful musings. Raoul combed through his head the necessary information to classify a dungeon. Pre-Inquiry textbooks felt that the best way to describe dungeons was in one single condensed sentence.

“A dungeon is a naturally occurring or constructed locus of anomalous magic wherein hostile entities, hazardous environments and artifacts may be found.” Keeping in mind the ‘may’ that inched just before the end of the definition, the three requirements weren’t always required to be present for a site to be declared a dungeon. The layman preferred to dub any labyrinth with a clear entrance and a unique layout to be more than enough to satisfy their shallow requirements for a dungeon.

Going by the more common and widely-used definition that was the second, then indeed they were in a dungeon.

“I suppose. The clear entrance and unique layout—the lengthy hallway—then we would be in a dungeon.”

“Hehe, it’s like we’re on an adventure, then. It’s our first dungeon discovered. I’m pretty sure as the first Pioneers here, we get to name the dungeon if it doesn’t already have one, right?”

“Correct. And there hasn’t been one. It’s been… just narrow. What name would you give it?”

Idri pondered on the question openly, her finger tapping on her chin every two seconds. “Mm… Narrow Hallway? I’ve never been good with names, Raoul.”

His entire vision blanketed in orange before he could even react.

“Hold that thought, something’s coming.”

Just then—fwoom, like a spotlight bursting to life. Both Raoul and Idri flinched, instinctively raising their forearms in front to shield them from the sudden flash of light. Then a whoosh, like the blowing of the west wind resounded from all around them. Even hindered, Raoul could vividly sense the Jati flowing all around them. He raised his free hand and called on his conviction, already sparing no effort to bring whatever was happening onto his side.

Unfortunately, his Driving was slow to respond when he himself was unsure what was happening. There was no travel time. The dark hallway disappeared from sight, as did the sudden light.

They stood in a niched room of gray stone no taller than five meters high. Behind them, a single wooden door, slightly ajar, creaked in the silence. To the middle of the room, a single pedestal built entirely of hardwood stood resolute, and on its surface was a prosthetic arm entirely of metal.

Raoul turned to the girl at his side. “Are you okay, Idri?”

“I’m… okay, Raoul,” she replied, rubbing her eyes vigorously. “That was sudden.”

“Teleportation…” Raoul muttered out, piecing together the truth of the situation with the aid of the slight headache and vertigo he was feeling. “We must’ve activated some kind of mechanism that teleported us here.”