Lucia resisted the urge to scream look out, as the husks had already been alerted of Khast's presence, and she didn't wish to attract them herself. For now, she had the element of surprise on her side. It was not every day that one saw a husk that could speak, it frightened her horribly, as it seemed that if they did not obtain the cure, that would be their fate as well. It was a fate worse than death.

She first decided to deal with the threat of the collecting group of husks, as she believed that Khast would be able to take care of the immediate threat behind him. She rummaged through her bag for her shimmering gold silk and magically unwound it. Her right hand covered in blue and white sparks, she pointed her finger at a chandelier away from the two of them aiming at the chains that held it up and loosed the bolt of lightning. Providing that the husks were attracted to the sound of the crashing chandelier, it would grant them enough time to escape before they realized it was nothing.

With a startled cry, Erratus whipped around to see a cloaked figure assailing him from the other side of the bars.
"Mmmm-masssssk! Where!?" As furious hands reached out to mangle him, the thief hung down from the ledge. With a swarm of husks below him and one extremely agitated one above, he wasn't in the most ideal position. Before he could be overwhelmed, however, he heard a loud crash coming from somewhere nearby. He and the husks turned toward the sound. The thief saw a chandelier that had, either by chance or by design, fallen to the ground. The husks, however, recognizing only the loud noise, began wandering toward it. A few of them still remained more interested in Erratus, but enough had gone that he could safely drop down and escape.
However, despite his good fortune, he was unsatisfied, and would remain so until he had what he wanted. The thief made immediately for the ramp that led up to the caged area and approached the gate. Making sure to stay well out of the reach of the husk within, he began to talk to it.
"Hey, you." He said, quietly enough that it was the only one that could hear him. Then, once he had its attention, "You want the mask? Well, I have it. I have it right here. But... I'm not going to give it to you." He wasn't sure whether the thing could understand him, but he would know soon enough whether his ploy would pay off.

"You want the mask? Well, I have it. I have it right here. But... I'm not going to give it to you."

Every step was uneven, each breath began with a gasping inhale and ended with a delayed and halted release. The husk approached Erratus slowly before bumping its body against the metal enclosing that separated the monster from the man.

"I... I want to-" The husk began to speak softly is a raspy voice as its hand carefully reached through the bars in an attempt to close distance between itself and Erratus.

"-see it. I need to see it." The voice was growing desperate as its outstretched fingers flinched and curled. "Once more... Before... Before I lose it... What did it look like?"

_____


Lucia's diversion seemed to have work, most of the swarm had gone to investigate the fallen chandelier in the corner, though some had seemed to completely ignore the event all together and slowly they followed Erratus' quick movements. The remaining Husks that tagged along after Erratus were the last of the pairs trouble though, Lucia's actions had caught the attention of husks all throughout the academy and slowly small groups began to flood in from both the openings in the bottom floor and the top floor with many of the newly joining husks taking immediate notice of both Erratus and Lucia's positons. Things were beginning to go south quickly, if the pair remained where they were for much longer they would soon be overrun and forced from the academy. Action had to be taken quickly...

"Khast!" called out Lucia, any hope of them quietly traversing through the school now gone "Forget about the book! We must head for the vault!" Trying to think positively, Lucia once again resumed her frighteningly treacherous task of leaping from bookshelf to bookshelf, the growing murmur of husks seeming to continually grow louder and louder as each moment passed.

At least, it meant that the majority of the husks would then be trapped in the library; that is, should they manage to seal the entrance to the library and escape with their lives, mused the girl as she hurriedly scampered from one bookshelf to the next. Once again she found herself rummaging through her bag for her silken lightning shawl, though she was quite stunned at how small her prized fabric had shrunk in such a small amount of time. This adventure of hers had demanded much of her powers, but she wasn't willing to use up all of this particular cloth, at least not yet. As such, Lucia personally felt that she had no choice but to call upon the ambient magic within and around her as she had been taught by Gonye shortly before. Besides, where else for one to train in one's use of magic, than in a magical academy?

She looked once more toward the stairs that led downwards which Gonye had indicated to prior to their massive screw-up, though also taking note, that a few husks were also leaving through that entrance as well. While she presently didn't have the opportunity to calmly gather the magical energies around herself, she was familiar enough with the sensation to feel the growing energies welling up within herself. Raising her hand so that the palm faced the small gathering of husks, she released a gale of wind, similarly to when she first conjured magic for herself, to blow the husks out of her path, and provide a route for her and Khast to exit down the flight of stairs. Thankfully for her, rather than feel sick to her stomach, or weakened by the exertion of magic, she was fairly fine, albeit a bit strained.

Erratus instinctively backpedaled as the husk inside of the cage approached him. Any second now, the creature would go into a frenzy and tear the gate right off its hinges.
"I.. I want to see it. I need to see it." The thief backed even further as the husk reached out through the bars. "Once more... Before... Before I lose it. What did it look like?"
The nomad's eyes widened as the creature spoke. This sudden display of emotion took him completely off guard. There was a sense of great yearning that radiated from it, making it seem all too human. What were these things? But now Erratus's bluff had been called, getting into the cage was going to be a problem.
"Khast!" The thief turned at the sudden shout. What was this fool doing, trying to agitate the husks even furth- He was cut off mid-thought by the large group of husks migrating toward the exit. "Forget about the book! We must head for the vault!"
"Damn it!" He cursed. If they didn't go now, the s**** would be blocked off to them for who knows how long. There was no choice. He turned back to the husk in the cage.
"I'll be back." He said before turning and sprinting down the ramp. Quickly, he scampered up the nearest bookshelf and across the sea of lifeless shells. He arrived at the staircase in time to see Lucia clear the way with a large gust of wind. After pausing a moment to ponder how terrifying her powers seemed, he took the opportunity and jumped down to the stairway before it could be overrun again, where he stopped to wait for Lucia.

Though Lucia had successfully cleared the way for Erratus time was still of the essence, and before him laid a path completely unknown. It was impossible to discern just how far the stairs would descend. Gonye had claimed that what they were seeking was on the bottom floor of the city and that the academy was linked to the underbelly of the city via a pillar like support, but was it possible that this was the passage Gonye had eluded to? The stairway was wide, dark, completely enclosed, and seemed to curl about the innards of its container as if it were some kind of serpent, writhing about a twisted cage. There was very little time to think about any of this though; the husks that had been knocked off their feet by the sudden gust of wind were gradually returning to their feet- and the creatures that had not been affect by Lucia's magic were already advancing nearer and nearer, simply disregarding the fallen others and climbing over their bodies.

Hitching up her skirt Lucia ran like her life depended on it, for it surely did, and she followed after Khast into what she hoped would lead them to the vault that they were looking for.

"Don't stop! Don't stop!" she yelled as she ran past Khast, too afraid to look behind herself or stop for even a moment and discover a horde of husks following their descent. She was tempted to simply loose a bolt of lightning and cause a cave-in on the passageway that the husks were pouring into, but she did not desire to draw any more attention to their suicide mission.

"Don't stop, don't stop!" Lucia tore past Erratus like one of the bolts of lightning she liked to make such frequent use of. Yelling and hiking up her skirt in a way that could only be described as comical, the thief couldn't help but be slightly amused. This was hardly the time, though. With one last backward glance at the husk in the cage, he took off down the staircase after the girl. Through all the danger bearing down on them, however, his thoughts were dominated by the mask the creature had mentioned.

-And just like that the pair vanished deep into the enclosed staircase as they frantically attempted to outrun their constantly massing pursuers. With each hurried step Erratus and Lucia both plunged deeper and deeper into darkness. Thankfully the stairs were left relatively intact after all these years and were, quite frankly, easy on both the foot and those with clouded vision. Each stair was perfectly space, the spiral of the staircase was constant and gentle, and the drop after each step was consistent, though the staircase itself felt... continual, as if it were never ending. It felt like the pair had been traveling down the stairs for an eternity before they reached the bottom, their exit...

Imposing would have been a good word to describe it, or perhaps even pretentious could have been used at one time, though that accessory would have been better kept for the building's heyday. Never the less what Erratus and Lucia stumbled across once they reached the bottom floor of the Academy was no less amazing. An incredibly large room, much bigger than even the entire guild hall back in Harengoth, or at least it seemed. The expanse itself was covered in vegetation, water, and general decay. Floors had come apart and were replaced by grass, weeds and vines had begun to crawl upon the walls, and large holes had formed in the ceiling where water from the still ongoing rain leaked slowly in from small cracks that existed on the upper levels of the city. Another interesting addition to the room was bodies scattered all about the room, hundreds, perhaps even thousands laid sprawled out across the floor, against the wall, and even piled up near entrances and exit ways. Many of the corpses appeared to be wearing the same armour Ostarius' soldiers had been wearing, and still others wore armour that looked completely foreign to the pair. But just as all of their new surroundings were being taken in something out of the ordinary became immediately apparent, the staircase which had dumped them out into the dead center of this room sat just in front of another room that was covered in moss, and debris. But on the face of this closed off room there appeared to be a large door, with a circle-like depression carved into it... was this door to the vault?. The pair had little time to inspect the room further as the sounds of moaning and groaning began to grow audible behind them, the husks were still coming.

The stench of death had been overwhelming since the pair had entered the building, but the sheer quantity of decaying cadavers lining the entire chamber radiated a smell that hit even Erratus like a freight ship. He suppressed the urge to gag and took a cursory glance around the room. Aside from the piles of bodies littered across the floor, the thief immediately took note of several entrances and exits to the room, though they were largely cut off by mounds of corpses. However, there was one especially large gateway that set directly in front of the stairway. There was a round indention in it, one that immediately struck him as remarkably similar to the carving given to him by Gonye. He wondered what it could mean, then stopped wondering what it could mean since it was fairly obvious. This was their goal. Whatever it was Gonye wanted was behind this doorway. Considering the moans of the dead seemed to be closing in, he hoped that there was an exit in it as well. Otherwise, they would have no choice but to deal with the horde of undead bearing down on them. They could hide now, and make a dash for the stairs once there was a chance, or they could go straight for the vault and be trapped. A myriad of possibilities ran through his head, but none of them had a happy ending. Entirely at a loss, he looked to Lucia in hopes that she had a bright idea.

Lucia came to a sudden stop as the horrid scene came into view. The most horrible thing however was that she wasn't afraid of what could've done something like this, but rather could they be sure that everyone here was truly dead. The fact that there were multiple exits to this particular room wasn't comforting either. To her, these were just more entrances for husks to use, should even more of them be alerted by their presence within the forsaken academy.

"We have to hurry," she spoke in her usual soft tone, though her voice was understandably tense, considering the situation they were presently in, "That is most likely the vault that Gonye has asked us to find, use the key to unlock it and we'll enter. Once we are inside and have retrieved what he has asked of us, I'll have to be a bit creative with this ambient magic, or I'll use the remaining strands of lightning to blast our way out."

Erratus gave a brief nod, then launched himself at the vault. He really didn't have any choice but to trust that Lucia knew what she was doing in this situation. Quickly, he withdrew the carving and slammed it into the engraving on the door.

Tick... Tick... Tick... Tick...

From within the door the sounds of a low pitched, monotonous ticking could be heard as the the entryway's internal locking mechanism grasped tightly to the carving that Erratus had deposited. It took some time, but after a few seconds the ticking ceased and the lock slowly and uneasily began to turn until the carving arrived at upside-down position. The room remained silent for some time once the carving arrived at this position. Only the cries of the still out of sight husks could be heard until, without warning, a weighty cracking noise blurted out from the door and a complex array of teal lights scattered from the center lock zigging and zagging in incomprehensible directions towards the four corners of the door...

It was at this exact moment that Lucia once again experience the same feeling she had felt when Gonye had originally unveiled the carving to the pair: a pulse... But unlike before there was more than just one pulse, there were numerous pulses that continued to escape in steady waves and Lucia was able to visually interpret these pulse as they expanded outwards from the carving and passed through both Erratus and herself, continuing on until they vanished into the corners of the gigantic room. And as each of these brilliant teal pulses passed through Lucia she slowly became overwhelmed by a feeling of 'empyreal' energy. Lucia felt as though her body had slipped away into some state of pure ecstasy as her heart began to race, her limbs became light and feathery and her muscles contracted sharply, then eased ever so slightly into a state of absolute looseness... until the carving shattered... Falling to dust the carving came loose from the lock and turned to dust as it spilled upon the ground. Lucia was quickly brought back to reality once the carving shattered, though her heart continued to race and feelings of something similar to withdrawal overtook her as the overwhelming and absolutely prodigious power slowly escaped her body.

Gradually the teal lights faded from the door and the lock convoluted backwards towards its dormant position. After a few moments the door folded inwards slightly allowing Erratus to push apart the two folds that made the large door revealing a long hall lined with 7 open passages, three on each side and one at the very end, glass cases, and shelves. The timing seemed almost too perfect as the husks that had been pursuing the duo commenced to pour out from the stairwell...

Erratus wheeled around as the distant din of the husks grew into a dull roar behind him. They had already reached the bottom of the stairwell and were once again bearing down on him and Lucia.
"Quick, through the door!" The thief called out, beckoning the girl to follow with a wave of his hand. She seemed a bit dazed, though. He hoped it was nothing serious.

Lucia watched impatiently as the door clicked, the husks would be arriving at any moment! Suddenly, the door seemed to come to life, and she watched in awe as the bright lines of light began to cover the door. It was once the door was fully covered that Lucia began to feel herself slip away, her mind began to reverberate; she could see waves of energy emanating from the door, her heart seeming to beat along with every pulse. She seemed to rise higher and higher, filled with an ecstasy she had never felt in all her life, or at least, not in a very long time. It reminded her of her youth, the days when her parents were alive and well, at that moment it felt like they truly were. That all was well in the world. Then it stopped.

She nearly gasped, as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown in her face. Her heart felt empty and her world flooded with darkness as she remembered where she was once again. Her eyes shifted about the room as she seemed to recall her present situation, her dire and near hopeless situation, oh what she would do to return to that state of happiness...of power.

Lucia barely noticed the husks pouring in behind them, but the thief's callings called her attention. She ran towards the vault, not entirely hearing what Khast had said, and still feeling disembodied with each footfall.

"Go on" she mumbled "I'm-I'm following" her mind continued to clear though she didn't feel that she was in the right state of mind to lead them away from the husks, or find what they were looking for.