Crux should not have come here, he should have turned around at the first sign of the now unfortunately familiar glow and marched his butt right back home. But he'd had a thought, a stupid, dumb thought. He'd often prided himself on being less impulsive than his siblings, more collected, better at sorting through the consequences of his actions before he acted... The problem was he had! Crux wasn't an idiot. He knew what the smell and sound and slow pulsing glow had meant, he'd just hoped he'd find... More.

He'd been out not even all that far from the safety of the Col when he spotted the opening in the stone. Caves, Crux was very familiar with them. But this one was different, it had a sulfurous scent and he could hear something moving, thick and slow. Lava.

And now here he was and yep he'd been right... Lava. Crux crouched at the mouth of the tunnel, watching the various flows, some coming from the roof like water falls but so sluggish, most met with the wide gurgling river of the stuff that wove through the cavern. Crux had thought, maybe even foolishly hoped, that if he went into the hell mouth he'd find answers, maybe he'd find something, anything to explain what he'd been through, what had happened to his mother, why he and his sisters had been born like this... All he'd found instead was a deep instinctual fear that kept him rooted in place. He'd thought he could handle it, evidently the night he'd gotten the scar across his throat had left him scarred in more ways than he'd initially thought. He shouldn't have come down here, but now? Well now he wanted nothing more than to dash out of there, never see so much as a hint of lava again... If only his trembling legs would cooperate.

"Triss" & "Crux"

Sometimes Triss felt like she had a Crux-rader. She was exploring near the territory, but wouldn’t have gotten much closer if she hadn’t caught a stray scent. Something so faint, that carried over the heat of the lava and was gone the second it touched her senses. But she knew. Somehow, she knew.

She decided to trust her instincts, and turned into the territory. Heading on in, until she could see the hot red, and feel the heated air in front of her. In her lungs. The heat was dry, and left her feeling raspy. Her instincts started screaming at her, telling her to go back. But she ignored them, and plunged. Taking small, shallow breaths. Afraid that she would take the one that would set her off.

Finally, after slow and careful steps through the somewhat terrifying territory, she found him. His back was to her, but she could immediately tell that he was trembling. “Crux?” She called out, her voice a raspy whisper


"Cryptis"