In the Eldarion ruins.

  The two of them retraced steps, returning to the first room they entered, then the second, third, and finally, back to the fourth. Ophilanna's manipulation at the pedestal changed things ever so slightly, though this was.. a miss. Again, she changed the cubes, and this time, the rooms felt... different. Not physically altered, but imbued with a new sense of potential?

  The emptiness no longer felt quite as stark, devoid of meaning.. instead, it felt more expectant, as if waiting to be revealed.. to show its hidden purpose, its secret.

  In the fourth room they entered, which was mostly reconfigured, Ophilanna did notice one thing that changed:

  There was a faint, ever-so-invisible seam in one of the smooth walls, nearly invisible to the naked eye. Now, it was subtly highlighted by the altered energy flow within the structure. So, daring, she approached the wall, tracing the nearly imperceptible line with her bare fingers. While it was cold to the touch, she enjoyed feeling the flow of mana, the energy.

  "Erica..?", she murmured excitedly, "I believe that there is a hidden chamber here."

  Next, the girl focused her magic into channeling a gentle pulse of mana along the seam.

  With a soft click, the section of wall now slid inwards, suddenly revealing a narrow opening: it was a doorway into a space that was previously concealed.

  While stepping through this hidden doorway, they entered a chamber markedly different from the stark, geometric rooms they previously had seen and explored.

  This room, in particular, was still crafted from similar stone, but it felt drastically different: it was lived in. A simple, wooden desk stood against one wall, surface covered in dust and scattered parchments, while a narrow bed, crafted from elegant, but now rotten wood, stood in the opposite corner. It had a straw mattress that flattened with age. Seated at the desk, slumped over a half-written page with dried ink adorning a feather, was a skeleton.

  It was likely the person responsible for.. this puzzle, this ruin.

  As soon as she noticed the skeleton, a chill ran down Erica's spine, despite the absence of any sensible threat to them. Within the chamber, the stale air felt very heavy, weighing on their shoulders and reeking of time and solitude, being a silent testament to a life lived and ending in this desolate place.

  Wary, she kept her sword raised, sweeping her gaze across the room and searching for signs of danger or movement.

  Ophilanna, on the other hand, seemed drawn to the desk, fixating her gaze on the skeleton slouched over the stack of parchments scattered all over it. Cautiously, the girl approached the desk with revering movements, to kneel beside it and gently examine the remnants of wizard, its bones brittle with age and bygone eons. The skull was tilted slightly downwards, as if still contemplating the half-written words on the parchment before it.

  Now, with careful consideration, she gathered all the parchment pages, her fingers brushing against the small, ornate ring slid over the skeleton's thin, bony index finger.

  With great interest, Ophilanna slid it off the wizard's remaining bones and picked it up, to examine it closer.

  It appeared to be crafted from a peculiar alloy of silver, intricately worked with ancient, elven designs. Set in was a small, dark gemstone that seemed to enjoy absorbing any surrounding light.

  Next to where the ring was, nestled among the parchments, there rested a crystal roughly the size of her palm under a half-open book, that hid the gem. This crystal pulsated with a faint, inner luminescence, it was an almost soft, ethereal glow, mirroring but the gemstone on her book, Der ?ther.

  Finally, the girl's gaze fell upon the parchment collection beneath the skeletal fingers. Whichever path her eyes traced, it was filled with elegant script, mostly difficult-to-read Eldarion, written in a flowing form of prose. Her eyes widened as she began to decipher the faded words.

  "Erica", she murmured, a tinge of sadness betraying her wonder and excitement, "This.. is a diary, written in Eldarion. It was the diary of a.. magician, a recluse, from.. long ago, at the very least one, no, two thousand years, I think."

  In response, Erica lowered her sword slightly, much of her apprehension slowly giving way to a sense of melancholy, the sadness visibly touching her. "A thousand years..? Or more?", she echoed, but barely audible. "Who was he?"

  Ophilanna began to read in a soft tone, translating the ancient Eldarion so Erica even could even hope to understand.

  "I see... he was called Fyndel, and was a seeker of knowledge? Recluse... one that sought solitude and enlightenment in his little, geometric sanctuary. Wait...", she paused, tracing the writing in the book with her finger, "here he writes of experiments, magical discoveries, and the ultimate quest for understanding. Furthermore.. the entire structure.. is a magic circle..?"

  Her gaze drifted around the chamber, taking in the simple desk, spartan bed, and the quiet, eerie decayed body. "He must have been here, alone, for a very, very long time."

  "A magic circle, huh..?", Erica ponders, taking a look around the room.

  While Ophilanna continued to skim the diary, suddenly, an ominous grinding sound echoed through the chamber. Erica trips, a shout ripping her friend from focus.

  "Ouch.. what is this?", she raises her sword at the entrance to the room that just closed and hissed.

  The room's entrance closed with a heavy thud, one that reverberated through the stone floor.

  Suspense grew as Ophilanna looked up from the diary, obviously confused at the circumstances.

  "I.. I don't know. Think it's a trap. It did mention the entire structure is a magic circle.. so when you tried to leave, it must have activated. But I'm not sure. Let me read on how we could escape."

  Erica glanced around the chamber, eyes widened in alarm and being on edge. "Let's hope we can get out.."

  Where the section of wall had slid open earlier, it was now all but seamlessly closed. The seam has completely vanished, too, and the stone surface, once more, appeared perfectly smooth and unbroken. Yes, they were undeniably trapped in there.

  However, even though panic began to prickle at Erica's edges, her training kicked in, suppressing the rising tide of fear.

  "Stay calm", urged her friend with a firm voice that attempted to mask inner unease, "there *must* be another way out. Let's see..."

  On the other end, Erica turned around any and all objects not bolted down for a hint on how to escape. Her gaze swept across the walls, floor, ceiling, to detect any possibly hidden mechanism, or for any clue to their escape.

  As she searched, a new, more insidious threat quietly manifested. It began with a faint, nearly indetectible hissing sound. With the second, it filled the chamber, and soon, a foul stench followed, making itself known to the experienced swordswoman, proud of her excellent senses.

  "Ophi...", she tugged at her friend's hem, "I think we have a problem."

  The faint, but acrid stench turned Ophilanna's nose upside down once she was alerted to it. "That... smells horrible.. it's a poisonous gas", she remarked while reading from the diary, "but I have a way to buy us some time."

  Watching her with curiosity, Erica idled beside Ophilanna, as she prepared to cast a spell. Even though her mind was racing from the thrill and danger they were subject to, she managed to successfully channel her magic, raising her hands and focusing her will, to draw upon the ambient mana from the structure.

  Forth sprang a shimmering, faint, blue force field, one that surrounded them like a gigantic bubble. In fact, it was a protective prototype of shield magic, one that was able to deflect the encroaching gas for the time being.

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Luckily, it creates a pocket of breathable air within the chamber. Time was running out for the two of them, though.

  Gasping, Erica stared at her. "A forcefield..?", though relief quickly flooded her features and momentarily eclipsed her panic. "That's amazing thinking.. when did you even learn that? No.. more importantly, how long do we have?"

  "A little tinkering and theory can do a whole lot! It was something teacher and I worked on. It was my homework. Hopefully, it'll last us until we're out."

  Beads of sweat were forming on Ophilanna's forehead, as she concentrated.

  "This magic.. is really potent, and not very optimized. It's.. draining, even though I'm using the ambient energy. Let's hurry!", she strained, voice tight with effort. Despite not even basing it off her own mana, she could feel her own energy reserves dwindling rapidly. The force field was a constant drain on her stamina. "I think...", the girl's eyes darted around the chamber, "there must be a clue.."

  Frantically searching and darting around desperate for any clue or hint of an escape route, Erica was panicking. Meanwhile, Ophilanna flipped urgently through the pages of Der ?ther, hoping to find anything of note. Naturally, her mind and heart raced as she searched for knowledge, spells or other ways to escape this daunting situation. The girl's fingers brushed against a passage she had only skimmed earlier.. something about light, perception.. filtering?

  An idea sparked in her mind. It would be a desperate gamble.. nay, a long shot born of desperation and rough, nascent understanding. "Erica..", Ophilanna gasped urgently, straining herself as she went. "The book speaks, in a paragraph, of light magic.. specifically, perception and filtering."

  Erica, struggling to understand, and Ophilanna, struggling to articulate the complex magical theory in simple terms, both seemed to breathe raggedly. "Perhaps.. perhaps we can, uh.. see something hidden if I alter my perception of light?"

  Erica, with her search yielding nothing of note, turned to her friend. She wielded an expression that mixed desperation with hope. "Light magic? Filtering..? What are you talking about, Ophi? Are you sure this will get us out of here?"

  "We have no other clue, do we?", she took a deep, shuddering breath, focusing her remaining energy to draw upon the fragmented knowledge she so exhaustedly and tirelessly gleaned from Der ?ther. Then, she closed her eyes, visualizng the passage in the book and recalling all the symbols, complex diagrams, and the spell.

  Focusing on her inner vision and not on the physical light of the chamber, the candles that cast rays of fire in all directions, she instead concentrated on the subtle mana that permeated the stone walls, all being residual echoes of ancient enchantments.

  With graceful maneuvering, she attempted.. half-heartedly, though.. to filter her perception, isolating specific *types* of light, specific wavelengths, to see beyond the visible spectrum, being able to perceive hidden layers of reality previously locked away from her eyes, woven into the very fabric of the structure.

  Slowly, hesitantly, she opened her eyes. With the energy left in her, she would be hard-pressed to maintain this state for long.. or else, she would risk losing her sight. But, in an instant, the world around her had shifted. When they were grey before, the stone walls now shimmered, the air around them vibrating with unseen, curious energies. They turned into patterns, faint lines and glyphs emerged quietly, all etched into the stone in ink that was invisible to the naked eye, now being revealed to Ophilanna and her magically enhanced perception.

  She saw a code. "Erica..", the girl breathed with awe, feeling a surge of adrenaline in her that momentarily eclipsed her growing exhaustion, "I see it! It's a code! Written on this wall! In.. in light!", she pointed at it, but her friend had thought Ophilanna went mad. "I don't see anything.. are you okay?"

  With her fingers, Ophilanna traced the luminous glyphs with her finger, writing them down onto the notebook. She produced a still image, being able to show it to Erica, who was confused at the different visions between them. Both of their minds raced, and the clock was ticking. While not very experienced with codes and translation, she tried and surmised that the code could be turned into actionable instructions. "It's.. a sequence of gestures.. to cast a specific spell."

  In a moment, Ophilanna strained herself to mimic the gestures with her hands, weaving her fingers through the air as gracefully as she could, to channel the very last of her dwindling mana reserves, ultimately replicating the patterns of light she had seen written on the wall.

  Soon as she completed the sequence, there went a final, resonant hum and it echoed through the chamber, and beyond. Hissing sounds that filled the corners of the room abruptly ceased, and the gas escaped through new cracks in the ceiling. With another low, grinding rumble, the section of the wall that was closed now opened to reveal a dark passage beyond, to a rush of fresh air, blessedly clean and much more untainted than the stale, humid air of the room, flooded into it, dispelling the unpleasant fumes.

  Erica stared at the result, saying nothing, but stepping closer to Ophilanna. Her eyes were wide as tree trunks, filled with disbelief, but also profound relief. "Ophi.. you did it!", she coughed and started to cry, trembling with great emotion, "you did it, you're amazing! I knew you would!"

  Both of them huddled together and Ophilanna comforted her friend's saline tears. She sagged against Erica, the forcefield now dissolving and her body trembling much with exhaustion. Though not letting that discourage her, she wore a rather triumphant smile on her lips. "Light magic..", she murmured, with a weak voice, but it was filled with satisfaction, "I did it.. Teacher.."

  Catching herself again, Erica noticed Ophilanna passing out from exhaustion.

  "You did amazing. Let's get out of here, before we get trapped again.. hup..", she picked her friend up and carried the girl on her back.

  The passage beyond the hidden chamber took them back to the beginning of the cave, which emerged into the all-too-familiar shadowed entrance she first encountered. Erica stumbled out into the fresh, relieving air, blinking against the much brighter daylight to gasp in lungfuls of clean, invigorating air.

  To her, and maybe that was just imagination, the entire forest seemed to welcome them both back, as birdsong now sounded like a joyful celebration of their escape, both safe and sound.

  Not having to wait very long for her to wake as she sat Ophilanna up straight, Erica also sat down next to her best friend for a long moment at the cave entrance. They caught their breath, allowing the lingering tension to dissipate from their tenuously stressed bodies. Slowly, the adrenaline receded, as memories of the near-death experience they overcame flooded their brains, leaving them shaken, though.. exhilarated.

  "We really.. survived. Thank you..", Erica turned towards her friend, who leaned against her, "for.. saving me."

  In return, she leant against Ophilanna, who cracked a smile. Where they had faced danger and confronted the great unknown, the two of them also emerged victorious, with their spoils as well. This seemed to strengthen their bond as well, by the shared ordeal.

  "Well," Erica finally remarked to break the comfortable silence with a wry smile playing on her lips, "that was.. more eventful of a side quest than I had anticipated."

  Chuckling back at her softly, Ophilanna's eyes moved to meet Erica's. Gently, her hand wandered to her friend's, meeting it like a key would a lock, and it all fell into place.

  Their exhaustion naturally gave way to a sense of quiet satisfaction. In a sudden moment of realization, Ophilanna broke free from their constellation, rummaging through her bag for the ring she had taken with her. "I took both the crystal, and the ring.. and I think, Erica, I'd like you to have this ring. It matches with the book," she wore a pretty smile that betrayed her embarassment, "it'd suit you. Both as.. you know.. a woman, and a warrior.."

  Taking far too long to process the words of Ophilanna, Erica blanked out, staring at her friend. When she finally understood her words, both of their faces flushed.. and they avoided each other's gaze for a moment, until Ophi beckoned for Erica's hand, touching it gently. Quickly, she slid the ring on her finger, flashing a smile as she did so.

  Then, both of them rose, brushing off loose dirt and leaves, moving on from the encounter they mastered together. Seemingly trivial what seemed ahead of them, the herb gathering and exploration they planned for the rest of the day was child's play compared to this, overshadowed by the experience they shared just now. But the day, they thought, was still young, and the spring landscape called for more.

  Hand in hand, the duo resumed their hike, but with lighter footsteps this time.

  Their spirits were lifted by the adventure and all the echoes of ancient magic, near-peril that faded into the background, being replaced by the quiet joy of companionship and a vibrant promise of awakening spring.

  Together, they walked, and as Ophilanna glanced back towards the distant woods, a thoughtful expression clouded her features. "Three more months, hm?", she murmured, the words were not a question, but moreso quiet contemplation of the shifting tides of destiny, the unspoken anticipation of journeys she had yet to experience. But when the time would come, she wouldn't be alone, having a reliable partner by her side.