Previously in NWC-
Luna unintentionally awakes a monstrosity. Medusa, acting on pure instinct, forces Luna out of the room and begins fighting the monster. The battle rages on until Medusa is finally forced in a position of helplessness as she watches a sword crafted of bodies come screaming towards her. Meanwhile, somewhere else in the ruins...
Back in the currently locked room, CeCe and Reno pant for air after running for their lives. Despite neither of them actually seeing any sort of entity, they both felt the same chilling presence staring at them from the hallway. Reno had pushes himself in a corner, holding the torch out in front of him and CeCe was pushed up against him, gripping him for dear life. They both waited for something, anything, to happen. Their hearts raced as they slowly managed to calm down. Reno steps away from the corner and CeCe lets out a breath of relief, finally working up the nerve to explore the small room. On the wall to Reno's right was the door through which they entered. Across form him, in a small nook, was what appeared to be an ornate bird bath. The small pillar had a stone bowl atop a stone pillar with complex images depicting a figure standing over many praying individuals. The figure had the same sigil they'd seen earlier carved into it's head. To his left was another door, leading further into the ruins. CeCe let's out a breath of air, walking around to shake off her nerves as she exercised controlled breathing. Finally, she turns to Reno and speaks. "That was close, wasn't it?" She speaks with a forced tone of energy, trying to raise both of their moods.
Reno nods his head, sighing. "A bit too close. It's a good thing you know how to pick locks, otherwise whatever was watching us would've had us!"
CeCe giggles and nods her head. "Old locks like these are no problem! You could probably pick one too!"
Reno tilts his head with amusement, nodding. "Really, you think so?"
CeCe nods her head and pulls out her lockpicking set again. "Sure! Wanna try it on this other door? I don't think either of us want to return the same way we came, and this door looks like it's the exact same one as the one we came through. I'll kind of walk you through it and we'll see what you got! Locks as old as these are easier to open than they are to close, in all honesty!" CeCe tosses Reno the lockpicking set.
Reno makes his way over to the other door, crouching down so he's eye level with the lock. "I just stick it in there and start moving it?"
CeCe nods her head enthusiastically. "Yeah! Stick the one with full bend in the bottom and apply pressure while using the curved one to push the pins up!" CeCe watches as Reno clumsily fumbles with the lock, trying to unlock it. She giggles, smiling as she observes. "You're getting the hang of it! You're almost there, just stick it in farther and push it up!" The lock clicks, twists and unlocks. "That's it, you did it! Nice job, Reno!" CeCe high fives Reno and puts her set away, peering into the now open door.
Reno watches her, waiting for her to step into the hallway. After noticing she wasn't making any move, he sighs, taking the first step and holding the torch out in front of them. "I've got the light source, so I'll lead, just tell me which way you think we should go." CeCe quickly begins lightly clinging to the back of his shirt, clearly still nervous about running into another presence, or even worse. Immediately outside of the room they're met with an intersection.
"Let's go left!" CeCe points to the left, causing Reno to being walking down the path. The path is straight forward, with only two corners and no offshoot paths or rooms. They come to a wall with another one of the bird baths. "Hmm, a dead end?" She lets go of Reno, walking over to the bird bath and inspecting it. Maybe we need to fill this with something?" She slowly turns to Reno, giving him a terrified look. "I'm sorry Reno… I need your blood!" She playfully act like she's going to attack him which causes him to juke her, stepping past her and holding his hand over the empty birdbath.
"Yeah right, this will do fine." Reno uses his water magic to fill the bird bath. Once it's full a previously hidden sigil lights up on the wall. A large stone begins moving out of their way, displaying what was behind. To their surprise they find the room in which they had originally escaped. "So there was a way out, it just locks on one side!" They sigh, angry that everything they'd just been through technically could have been avoided if they'd found this entrance before. With no other option, they turn around, returning to the intersection and going down the path straight across from the door. They explore this path for a couple minutes before coming upon a dead end. Slightly irritated at the waste of time, they return, going down the last remaining path, the path coming right out of the door. They go down the path, making a right a ways down. To their unpleasant surprise, they find multiple dead ends. At this point. They've run into near 20 dead ends, their anger and anxiety growing by the second. "DAMN IT!" out of frustration, Reno kicks the wall. To their surprise, an echoing scream rings out, causing them to huddle in a corner, CeCe pressing against him with fear. They stare out into the empty hallway, expecting something to come and attack them at any second. Finally, after not hearing it for a bit, they sigh, getting out of the corner. They begin making their way back, returning to the door. "I think we need to go this way." They backtrack, remembering the ways that didn't lead to dead ends. "Then we go past these two intersections. Then, we went left, but everything lead to a dead end. So that leaves going right, because straight ahead is an immediate dead end." They go right, feeling like they're making the correct decision. As they continue down the path, they hear the screaming again, the volume slightly louder. They jump with fright, but instead of hiding in a corner, they listen for the sound of the voice. "It definitely sounds like its coming from this way. Of course, it's the same way we're going! What else would it be?!" Reno sighs, making his way further into the ruins.
CeCe follows behind, her head on a swivel. "Reno, I know I paid you to be here, but I wanted you to know I really appreciate you being here."
Reno glance behind him to observe CeCe frantically checking behind them. "You must REALLY hate undead."
"They're the worst! If you die then stay dead! I'm so going to have a word with my informant if we get back."
"When, not if. We'll make it out of here, even if I had to break rule 1 and dig straight up." Reno begins walking again, making sure to take it slow so CeCe can take her time.
CeCe looks at Reno with confusion. "What? What are you talking about?"
Reno sighs, shaking his head. "Don't worry about it, it's an inside joke." He looks away in disappointment, remembering that nobody will ever understand his references in this universe.
CeCe temporarily forgets her fear, focusing on conversing with Reno to get her mind off of things. "You're a bit odd, you know that?"
"Thanks?"
"I can't really put my finger on it, but something about seems different than most people! Maybe it's the fact that you seem like you lived under a rock your whole life? The fact that you live with a floating ball of light and a tentacle creature? Or the fact that you've yet to put a hand on your sword that's attached to your hip, almost like you're not used to having it? You were either sheltered or you're just dumb."
Reno stops and looks at CeCe, a look of annoyance on his face. "Medusa is NOT a 'tentacle creature'! She is a VINE creature!" He looks at her with genuine annoyance.
CeCe studies his face, looking for any hint of a joke. Finally, she starts giggling. "That's what you're mad about? Not that I called you dumb or said you live under a rock? You're only mad about me mislabeling your adorable little kid?"
"What is with you and Luna and calling her my daughter? I'm the one who's keeping an eye on her so she doesn't get into any trouble, or get hurt, or go hungry, or thirsty. I'm not her dad!"
CeCe covers her cheeky grin, cackling. "Okay, buddy."
"That's it, I'm using you as a meat shield at the first sign of danger."
"NOOOOO!!!" CeCe clings to Reno, near tears.
"Ahh! Stop pulling on my shirt! I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"
CeCe buries her face in Reno's back, shaking slightly. "That's messed up, Reno! You know I'm afraid of the undead!"
"What if the ruins had other stuff? Like, let's say, wolves?"
"I'd kill 'em with ease!" CeCe pumps her arm in the air, smiling.
"But not undead?"
She shivers, shaking her head and making an 'X' with her arms. "Stop, stop, stop, stop! No way!" She subconsciously gets behind Reno as they reach a door. Reno reaches for the door, sighing. "Not in a million years!"
"What kind of-" Before they're able to continue their conversation the loud screech they heard earlier rings throughout the halls once more. This time, however, the screaming is much louder. In fact, it was apparent that the source of the yelling was not too far from the door they were about to enter. A shiver runs down both of their bodies as they look at each other with wide eyes. Reno, in a panic, says a single word. "Run."
TO BE CONTINUED...