Aaemelis

“Virtue! Virtue! Virtue!” The obsidian walls echoed back Olen’s vow. The crowd of Haedians shifted in response, and their black chains rattled in the darkness. Olen breathed heavily after her outburst, hackles raised and legs steady. The skeletal elder in front of her seethed. “Ignorant fool! Blind follower of the light!” he spat, his hissing voice spilling with contempt. “The only heretic here is you!” The elder spun around, the chains around his neck lashing the air like a whip, and Olen was sure he was attacking now. Instead the Elder stood with his back turned to her, raised his head and thumped the ground with his tail. He whispered something to the crowd in a voice that was so raspy Olen couldn’t make out the words, but she figured it wouldn’t bode well. The Haedians reacted like an electric shock had gone through them – they stirred in a wave, whispers and change flowing through them. Confusion shook Olen temporarily out of her rage, and she remembered Cailu’s presence again.

Olen tried to pierce the darkness ahead with her gaze. The feline-type pupils she was born with had always helped her navigate the night, but now she was deep below ground, and the glowing crystals that had lined the cave walls at the beginning of her journey had grown small and infrequent, until they had disappeared altogether. Even Haedian-made sources of light were scarce in the tunnels they were navigating now. Cailu, whom Olen could barely see or hear a few paces ahead of her, had guided her true thus far, but his warning of the clan to come still echoed in Olen’s thoughts: “It is up to you to be steadfast, or to submit. Be careful.” Cailu had seemed unexpectedly nervous, and that in turn had planted a seed of uncertainty in Olen’s heart. They were escorted by three members of the Keepers clan. Under normal circumstances Olen would have gladly welcomed the additional company, but the Keeper Haedians were clearly on edge and anxious to turn back. The tunnels were large enough for