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Lavendulan had been in some pretty tight spaces in her life, including but not limited to narrow underwater caves and tight crawl spaces. Neither of which could prepare her for the claustrophobic feeling of the walls closing in around her as claws raked against the thin barrier that separated them from the shadowy figures on the other side.

There were very few things she was actually terrified of; zombies being number one on the surprisingly short list. While these semi-transparent bodies, with glowing eyes that felt like they were literally staring into her very soul, lacked any visible signs of a decaying corpse, it did take all her willpower to keep her hand from trembling and keep moving forward.

Her breathing was shallow as she stared ahead, gaze focused unblinkingly ahead at the space between his ears where the end of the hallway was at. “May-” She cleared her throat after realizing that her voice had seemed to have run away with what remained of her sense of self preservation.

The youma within her stirred in response but not in an aggressive way. Rather it felt like it wanted to take more control so she could hide within herself until they got to the otherside. “Maybe- it perceived that you needed protection…More than the other officers maybe… I don’t know” Being short herself she understood that taller, or larger, individuals viewed her as meek and needed someone big and strong to defend her.

A part of her felt like she wanted to turn back while the other wanted to just run the rest of the way. But this slow pace they were going was going to kill what remained of her nerves if she didn’t crawl out of her own skin first.

Zinkenite... the only name that sounded somewhat familiar. She had no idea what he looked like but knew, from the handbook, that he was one of the current Sovereigns. The other two he mentioned were otherwise unknown to her.

When they stepped over the threshold and out into the Rift, Lavendulan let go of his paw and fell to her knees. Even though they had made it through the hallway she could still feel their gazes like bugs crawling across her skin. They bore into her, beneath her uniform they bore past her scales into her very essence where the terrified girl hid her face away in the side of a dragon youma that coiled around her protectively.

The vulnerable exposed feeling made her want to retch, but she managed to collect herself albeit slowly. “Sorry-” she apologized quietly as she struggled back to her feet and for the first time she actually looked up and out across the expanse that was the Rift.

Awestruck, Laven just stood there processing what she could, comparing reality to what he had briefly described back in her room.

Here there be monsters and yet she didn’t feel as afraid as when they walked through the hallway to get here.

The air here was different, so unlike the oceanic breeze cooling her sunkissed skin, the atmosphere almost felt electric as it danced over her scales. Excitement blew her pupils out wide yet uncertainty pulled them back in to thin narrow slits.

She wanted to run, it didn’t matter where as long as it was away from the hallway. To explore the ruins, or climb the cliffs to where the wings youma perched. If only they had brought something, anything with them, then maybe they could convince one to fly them around to get an areal view of this new world they had entered.

Lavendulan’s hand slipped free of his but only for a moment before she threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled him into a hug. For months she had felt antsy and he had somehow given her the one thing she had truly craved; an adventure, something new, something extraordinary.

“Thank you!”

She felt like a young dragonkin, eager to jump off a cliff to try the strength of her wings and so she let him go and took a step back. Then, without much warning, she turned around on her heel and ran without care or direction. A small youma, no bigger than a parrot flew close by. It squawked at her, tilting its head curiously when she looked at it, equally mesmerized by its vibrant colors and abnormally long tail feather as it was of this girl that ran freely, a creature in her own right but only half of what it was.

It flapped its wings and pulled ahead and as she reached out for it Laven’s foot caught a crystal and with her momentum, she fell hard on the uneven gravel.

“Ow…” she groaned.

Rolling over onto her side she touched her lip gingerly, wincing when she felt a stinging sensation and saw blood on her finger when she looked down at her hand.

It was a blessing in disguise that her youma traits were not much more than horns and scales otherwise, if she had attributes like his then her tail would have been tucked between her knees and ears pinned back with an almost pitiful ashamed expression.

Laven accepted his sash and dabbed it against her lip gingerly. “I’m sorry…I don’t know what came over me.” Maybe not exactly but the childlike excitement she felt was like going to a theme park for the first time but more intense. Her mind had been blown open wide upon beholding such a place, her imagination ran wild at all the possible adventures to be had or mysteries and secrets this place had to offer. It was new and exciting and left her yearning to just get out there and see what the Rift was about.

Despite the potential dangers around each corner, despite falling on her face and kissing gravel, that need to just run feely, to see and feel everything, was hardly diminished. Except for pain… pain was definitely something she wanted to avoid.

However, this was his territory… kind of anyway. Wolframite had been here many times before, seen things she could only have ever dreamed of and although it was a difficult task, it would be wise of her to reign it in a bit.

“I feel like a little whelpling,” Laven admitted. “Perhaps I should be the one wearing this.” She tapped his collar playfully with one of her claws. “Keep me from running off like an idiot again.”

Laven’s expression deadpanned at the kinky comment he made about collars. So far away from where her mind was at and yet, oddly enough, she wasn’t entirely surprised he took it there. What she had in mind was more like those animal backpacks young toddlers wear with the leash when their parents take them to like a zoo so they don’t run off. Then again, if she gave voice to that point of view he’d probably have a comment about that too and so she just shook her head and laughed to herself.

At his warning, she looked at the bird and actually saw what dangers she was blinded to. Even as small as it was, the truth to his words brought reality into a clearer perspective.

"Ok," She replied. Running her tongue over her split lip, the metallic taste of blood let her know it was not quite done bleeding and so she pressed his sash to it. Chances are there would be a few bruises in the morning but she was at least thankful that she managed not to impale herself this time.

Crouching down she used her claws to dig the crystal cluster out of the ground and staged it away in the pocket of subspace he taught her about.

"Expending some of this energy would definitely be a good idea," Laven agreed as she rose to her feet, a bit more calm than before but clearly ready to keep walking.

Lavendulan swallowed thickly at the mention of acidic water. Duely noted… don’t go jumping into the first thing that looked swimmable. Definitely a shame because if she knew that a river and lake were literally a hallway away... There was no doubt in her mind that she would be visiting here more often since she couldn’t exactly leave the Dark Kingdom and visit Destiny City whenever she wanted.

“I might try carving one at some point after I finish my current projects, but not that one.” No, that was either going to be a shelf crystal or a glorified door stopper in her room. “Keeping it for the sake of memories since I didn’t bring anything to take a photo with.” She only ever took her phone with her if she intended to use her glamour, but since they weren’t really leaving the Dark Kingdom, Laven didn’t even think to bring it.

“Question, how do you know which youma are approachable?” The bird felt safe enough but perhaps that was due to its diminutive size. But upon closer inspection that may have been a very bad assumption. “I feel like a leader of anything would be one worth avoiding. I mean, you piss them off or offend them then either they kill you or have their brood or minions kill you instead.” The thought of being swarmed was terrifying and made her actually walk a little bit closer to Wolframite as she glanced back over her shoulder.

The size of the stinger on the youma was terrifying enough to make the spines in the back of her neck stand on end. Poison from a normal scorpion was enough to cause serious complications and they were smaller than the size of that things eye. Getting stabbed by that driver alone was probably enough to kill a person.

The sound Wolframite sliding down the hill was a bit startling because what he had said didn’t have a chance to really register in her mind since she was distracted by the obstacles in their path. However, once she realized that he was intentionally going a different route rather than him accidentally slipping down the rocky slope Laven followed after him, careful this time as to not accidentally catch her foot on another crystal and tumble into him.

“Earlier you had said that the Rift changes. How can you be sure the field is this way? Or do some places remain constant? Like the hallway… if the area changes while we’re in here, will you know how to get back to it?” While the narrow walkway scared the ever-living-s**t out of her, Lavendulan did feel a bit worried at the thought of it no longer being within view.

Behind him, Laven’s eyebrow twitched. “Probably help with these ******** mood swings.” She muttered under her breath. Caught a bit off guard by her own language she clamped a clawed hand over her mouth and looked away pretending like she neither heard nor said anything. Seemed the filter between what she thought and what was said had been rattled loose when she fell.

Thing is, she couldn’t entirely blame her youma side for her reactions as it felt like it kind of fed off certain personality quirks she already had. There were certain dangers that surrounded her career choice and hobbies; animal attacks, environmental hazards, decompression sickness even drowning. Being aware of the potential risks meant that she took necessary precautions to be safe but sometimes no matter what you do, s**t still hits the fan and things go wrong.

While she wouldn’t have considered herself an adrenaline junkie by any means, in her previous life, Marissa did have a bit of a need for excitement in her life. With that in mind, it seemed to make sense that her youma tendencies would feed off that need however what bothered her most was when moments like today happened and caution got thrown to the wind. Had he not of been here with here, Laven was fairly certain that this trip would in fact be her last.

“Have you ever fought there? In the arena. Or do you just go to watch?” It sounded like an interesting place to visit. Although, she wasn’t sure that it would be a good idea to jump in and dance with the full youma, at least not anytime soon.