The images vanished, Caera's face cutting through the blurring fog until all that remained was the cave, its amber veins, and her. But the memories remained.

"I... I saw..." Blackness yanked him down, and buried him in its grip.

~~Mia~~

The rest of the hike to the spire was uneventful, kinda. Nothing attacked them, and none of them expected anyone to, either. In the valley, they were 'safe', as Adron put it, complete with air quotes. No reason for them to look behind them, or maintain a perfect formation, but that also meant they were more free to glare back at Mia and give her the stink eye.

They didn't...