[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

As she came back to herself, Zora heard Alistair settling onto a pile of rubble close to where she was crouching and felt a tremor of relief go through her which she tried to ignore, though from his snort she supposed she had at least grimaced. She hoped he would assume it was whatever she had seen in the vision rather than his presence that had affected her so much.

"So what was it this time" he asked, sounding bored.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Zora stiffened and counted to ten in her head, trying to force herself to believe that it was better if he was bored than if he was still angry, despite how he had rushed to her side when he thought there was danger. She frowned and let the piece of wall fall to the ground from her hand, trying to think of what she could tell him that would be believeable but wouldn't get his hackles up.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

She stood, and looked around her for any other fragments that she should pick up before they explored deeper into the Cathedral. "It was just - there were so many flashes of life in the Cathedral, and then I saw it crumble and decay. It was sad." As she had predicted, Alistair snorted but to her surprise he held his tongue. She glanced over to see him fold his arms and lean back against the wall, keeping an eye on the edges of the room.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Zora stepped carefully over to a glint she saw reflecting the firelight, which lay partially covered by a large chunk of ceiling. "Come here and give me a hand with this" she called out to Alistair, squinting at the object; it seemed to be made of some sort of dull metal, though it was quite rusty and only a sliver of shine could be seen through the dirt. She pulled out her dagger and used it to scrape away a little of the dirt.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

It seemed to be some sort of old, rusty knife; Zora peered at it, trying to decide whether she wanted to risk the visions that this might come with this object. She could only see a little of the blade, and it was possible it could bring forth visions of grand dinners and comfortable dining, or it could have been used for darker purposes and bring forth nightmare-inducing visions of death and sacrifice - Zora had heard the old stories about this place, after all.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

With a grunt, Alistair stood and stretched, watching as Zora peered at something that lay half-trapped under a chunk of ceiling. What it was, he couldn't care less, and he resented being used as some sort of heavy lifting machinery whenever the mood struck her, but the sooner he did as she asked the less whinging he would have to listen to - at least she was quiet when she was stuck in her visions.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

He stalked over to her side, long legs making the journey in only three strides, and squatted down to heft the chunk of ceiling up onto it's edge before letting it drop backwards with a very loud 'thump'. Zora pursed her lips, but chose not to make a comment, believing it would only aggravate what was a tense situation. She hated his carelessness with debris, being of the mind that there may be any number of undiscovered artifacts lying around that could be damaged by his actions.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Zora took in a deep breath before laying her hand on what she could now see was a knife that had once been ornately decorated, though now whatever binding the handle had borne had clearly rotted away some time ago. Immediately, she was overwhelmed by a sense of power and dread, and watched in horror as the knife was weilded in too many dark and bloody rituals to count, her insides squirming as her eyes filled with tears.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

She shuddered and blinked her eyes to clear them, forcing herself to continue watching though she could hardly bear what she was seeing. She felt sick as the visions continued, but she took some small comfort in that they didn't seem to be in the Cathedral; the feeling she got was of a place far away, with the rituals being conducted by a race of people she didn't recognise wearing elaborately decorated robes in dark colours.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

As she watched the dagger being snatched by a young explorer, she breathed a sigh of relief; it seemed that although this was an artifact with a dark past, it had been brought to the Cathedral to be cleansed, rather than used. Her conscience was satisfied, and as the visions cleared and she became aware of the world around her, she picked up the knife carefully by what was left of the handle and lifted it as she stood.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

"You're crying again" came Alistair's gruff voice from somewhere to her right, and Zora immediately rubbed her eyes again with the back of her wrist; she had initially tried to describe her visions to him, when they first began travelling together, but he had very quickly shut that down stating his disinterest in anything that wasn't happening in either the present or in the very near future. She had scoffed at his disinterest, but still responded when he occasionally asked about her visions.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

"A troubled artifact" she said as briskly as she could, willing her voice not to tremble as she spoke. "Lots of dark history; seems it was brought here to be cleansed."

"Odd for it to have ended up here" came Alistair's curt response, surprising her; he had not taken an interest in a single one of her finds until this point, and it made her burn with curiosity to know why he had chosen this rusty old knife to be particularly interested in.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Alistair noticed her surprised expression and sneered, making no attempt to keep the derision out of his voice. "This is the entrance" he said, gesturing to the edges of the walls around them. "It's been picked over for who knows how long by how many people; don't you think it's odd that something like that is just lying here, waiting to be discovered?" He folded his arms, having spoken his thoughts, and resumed his watching over the debris that made up their surroundings.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Zora frowned, and studied the knife more closely. She hated his condescending attitude, but he was right; however good a find this was, it simply should not have still been here to be found, and that unnerved her a little. She thought back to his charge into their camp earlier, and the whispers she had been hearing on the wind, and shivered.

"You're right" she said, peering down at the rusted blade, "But I'm still going to wrap it up and take it back with us."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Alistair snorted. "Of course you are" he said, all but rolling his eyes. "After all, it didn't kill you instantly, so there must be some value in it. I'm sure you can learn so much by studying a rusty old sacrificial blade that really shouldn't have been here."

Zora scowled at him, and began to walk over to their tent. She reached into her pack and withdrew a length of bandage, which she carefully wrapped around the knife and secured with a tight knot.