[Mandraiga]

As the Slynx heard a familiar voice, he pricked his ears.
'Sounds like someone is calling... Me?'

Cir'nuah cautiously rose his head bit by bit until he was able to see the wall behind the large rock where he hunkered down.

At first, he saw nothing but dust.
But then he saw something moving... And all of a sudden a bright glow.

Then he heard the voice again, definately calling for him. Shin?

Silently Cir'nuah moved to where he saw the shade of the creature. If this wasn't Shin, the Slynx would have a problem.

[Kyarra]

"Cir'nuah! Come on! Where the heck are you?" Shin called out again. He hoped that the Slynx hadn't left him behind. If he was alone he would be an easy prey for those predators outside the Cathedral. What should he do now? He had no idea. Shin laid down on the dusty cold ground, embracing himself with his tails and sighed desperately.

Maybe Cir'nuha was still there, hiding anywhere to prevent himself from getting caught. Shin could search the entrance hall for him, but he was way too fearful. He would just stay where he was and wait. If the Slynx was still around he would have to come to him.  


{16/16}

[Mandraiga]

Naturally, it is hard to see something inside a cloud of dust. If it is also dark, it is nearly impossible.

Cir'nuah, keeping a low profile, tried to find the shade of the quadruped again. As the light went off, his sight radius has decreased drastically. The stirred up dust burned in his eyes like blazes, so he closed them, in fear that otherwise they might get damaged.

'Great. Being blind does not help to find this creature.'

All of a sudden, Cir'nuah heard a call.
He turned to the direction the sound came from, and without hesitation he dashed forward, his eyes still closed. Suddenly he stumbled badly across something small, furry, and crashed into the wall behind.

His head hurt badly. Still lying on the ground, he whispered: 'Shin?'

[Kyarra]

Shin was still lying on the cold floor, as suddenly someone bumped into him. The person who bumped into him hit him hard in his offside. He whined silently. A few seconds later - it felt for Shin as if it's been hours - the one that had bumped into him said something. He whispered his name!

"Cir'?" he said not so silent. Shin pulled himself together and grabbed the pocket lamp, which was still lying next to him and turned it on. He held the lamp into the direction where the voice came from, and there he was lying on the ground - Cir'nuha!
Shin hastened over to him. "Cir'nuah! Are you okay?"


{17/17}

[Mandraiga]

Cir'nuah slowly rose his head, holding his forepaw against his front.
Slightly dizzy, he blinked a few times before he shook his head and looked at the Kuhna.
'I think I can deal with it. Back in the mountains, I got hurt often enough. Compared to that time, this is nothing at all.'
'Still, it hurts. I hope I won't delay this hunt.'

He looked at the gap in the wall, where the secret door was.

Nervously twitching his ears, he looked around in the entrance hall a last time. Then he stepped into the darkness.

[Kyarra]

Shin sighed with relief as Cir'nuah mentioned that he was okay. Before he followed the Slynx into the passage he had to get his book. "Wait for me Cir'nuha! I just go and get my book over there!" he said and jumped quickly into the direction where he had left the Slynx as he crawled through the rubble. He lifted his book from the dusty ground and buckled it onto his back, then he hastened back to his companion and followed him into the darkness

"Oh wait!" he said, putting the lamp in his mouth again "I haff a lampff!" and lighted the way through the passage. It was pretty annoying to speak with a lamp in his mouth, and his sentences weren't understandable at all. That made him hit on an idea.
"Heyy Chirr! Chan wuee go thu se dad mam agan? I am locking ffor somfing!"


{18/18}

[Mandraiga]

Cir'nuah rose his eyebrow as the Kuhna spoke.
'What? I have no idea what you said. Something about your dad? Look, there's the corpse again.'

The Slynx observed the dead person lying under the rock, or better, he observed what was left from him. Briefly sniffing on the corpse, Cir'nuah shuddered.
'Seems like it's not so long since he got hit. We should be careful around here... I really don't want to end my life by being flattened by a rock.'

[Kyarra]

Shin rolled his eyes and shook his head as Cir'nuah mentioned that he didn't understand a word he said. As they approached the dead man Shin put the lamp down on the ground at the dead man's feet and tried to open the loop on his shoes.

"This is exactly what I'm looking for!" he said while he fiddled at the knot of the loop. It took him some time but somehow he managed to open the tight knot with a claw and drew the shoe lace out of the dead man's shoe. He wrapped the shoe lace around the lamp and tied it up on his head.

"Tadaaaa!"

{19/19}

[Mandraiga]

'Excellent idea. Though I doubt the light will scare away this beast that might still follow us...'

As the Kuhna moved his head, the room got enlightened. Cir'nuah looked around, seeing massive pillars ending in the darkness and impressive, most probably religious engravings in the dirty wall. Once colourful, now dust-covered shards of glass were shattered all over the floor, the old windows were closed with masonry, apparently long ago.
The Slynx wiped the dust off of one of the shards, revealing a brilliant yellow color, reflecting the light of the pocket lamp.
'This must have been a beautiful place... I still wonder what exactly has happened here.'

[Kyarra]

"Without fail!" the Kuhna answered as Cir'nuah mentioned that this must have been a beautiful place in the past.

Shin made a few steps away from the corpse and turned his head from the left to the right.
"I guess it won't be long until the dawn is breaking. Let's go and investigate this room,  maybe we will find another room or a stairway which is leading upstairs to another level."

Shin turned around to the Slynx and accidentally dazzled him with the pocket lamp.


{20/20}

[Mandraiga]

Cir'nuah closed his eyes when the light of the pocket lamp hit his eyes.
Dazzled, he made a few steps backwards and all of a sudden he felt there was no more ground under his paws. The Slynx growled unhappy when the world turned upside down.

After a moment of falling, seeming like an eternity for him, he hit the ground again.
'Found your staircase...', he mumbled.

[Kyarra]

Shin immediately ran towards the stairs Cir'nuha had fallen down.
"Cir! Are you okay?" he shouted into the darkness. The Kuhna bowed his head down and tried to find the Slynx with the lamp on his head.

There he was, sitting on the dusty ground. "Phew, there you are! Are you hurt?"
Shin stepped downstairs to his companion to make sure that everything was okay with him. Then he looked further downstairs. The stairway Cir'nuah had found obviously leaded deep down into the darkness, Shin wasn't able to see where the stairs ended.

"Wow!" he said "Where might these stairs lead to?"

{21/21}


((Sorry for letting you wait sooo long!))

[Mandraiga]

'Don't worry, I'm used to fall down. Happened nearly every day back in the mountains.'
Cir'nuah sat down and shool his head. The dust tickled his nose and made him sneeze.
His eyes quickly adapted to the darkness. At the lower end of the staircase he saw dust-covered stony floor. And paw prints.
Cir'nuahs large blue eyes widened as he realized that he most likely found a trail from the being he saw before he even met Shin and entered the Cathedral. 'There are no footprints leading back. It's trapped!'

'Shin, this seems like some kind of dungeon... And, guess what - footprints!' The Slynx turned around, looking directly in the eyes of the Kuhna. 'I think we're getting closer to this creature I saw before...'

He quickly descended the staircase, skipping multiple stairs at once. Landing hard on his paws, he stepped inside the corridor, seeing nothing but stony floor, stony ceiling, stony walls and the paw prints. Cir'nuah sat down and waited for the Kuhna to come by.

[Kyarra]

Shin was a bit scared about the new situation. He slowly stepped down the stairs towards Cir'nuah and stopped right beside him.

"Are you sure that this is safe? I mean.....that could be a dangerous creature!"

He shivered all over his body, so that the light of the lamp wagged nervously around.
>I really really hope that Cir' knows what he's doing here!<
Shin tried to swallow the lump in his throat, but everyone could see his fearfulness.
Then he slowly turned around to the Slynx

"Okay.....what is your plan?"


{22/22}

[Mandraiga]

As Shin mentioned that the creature could be dangerous, Cir'nuah smiled and patted the Kuhna gently on the head.
'I think it is. It most likely is. I mean, that's what a hunt is for. Don't worry too much about this, I don't think defending myself is so much different than protecting someone else.'

The Slynx followed the cone of light on the dusty wall with his eyes. As he saw the pale light, he remembered his past for a brief moment . He remembered himself, simply sitting on top of a rock formation and gazing at the moon.

'My plan? Well, following the paw prints, of course. There are none leading back, so I highly doubt this creature has already left.'

He looked down at the still trembling Kuhna.
'Shin. You're not the only one being afraid of this. But without this litte bit of fear, without excitement like this, life would be pretty boring, wouldn't it?'