"I can't see anything!"

Zephiran spoke in a hushed voice. The air before them was musky, stale. The path was narrow. The stairway remained uneven. With effort the silver pup would try to keep his steps even.

"Let me.. try this!"

Zephiran stopped, only for a second. Calling forth his light powers, molding it into a small orb. A slight gasp of exhaustion rose in his chest. But he aimed to send the bright blue orb downwards. To guide the way. The silvered pup would wait until the other was at his side before pressing forward.

From what he could tell, the place was packed. Dug out. Nothing he could pick up on.

---

"Speaking"

The darker pup hugged the side of the staircase. His bad eye reflected on the side he hugged. While his good eye reflected towards the silver fur ahead of him. From what he could tell, he could not feel much more than the barren stones under him.

But the stones, it was not like any he had stepped on prior. Not ones ridden by a path. This one was different.

"Almost like I said it would."

Belvadair muttered in a hushed voice. But to his surprise.. The silver pup managed to form light. Out of nothing!? Making it move around to shine against parts of the tunnel. (Adding more after gm )

"Wow.."

Belvadair went to reach for what he could feel. Sense. Anything. (Adding later with roll?)

The darker pup leaped off the bottom of the stairs, bringing to stand side by side to the silvered pup. Awaiting for the one to press forward. Belvadair wished to stay behind as his shadow, in case he had to run.

---

"Speaking"

The stone walls were, as Zephiran's orb would clearly show, lined with ancient shelves--at least, one of the walls were. These shelves were wooden, and even protected from the elements as they were here, most had long since fallen away. The objects atop them had tumbled, and some had crumbled into dust. What had once been cloth or leather was nothing but powder, collapsing at a touch.

Other objects--some broken or scattered on the floor, or a very few still atop the intact shelves--seemed to be other supplies. Ceramic jars, stoppered up (at least, the intact ones) looked more functional than aesthetically pleasing. Small racks no longer held whatever had once been on them: herbs, maybe, or dried meat.

It seemed to be a supply cellar--at least to the naked eye.

But Belvadair, using other senses, would feel something slightly... out-of-place. It wasn't exactly an air flow; the air down here was still. But it was cooler to one side. Where there had been no shelves--only gray brick wall--there was a cool patch, as though it wasn't just earth beyond.

Maybe there was a way through..?

@Zephiran

Zephiran's orb showed the tunnel. Upon reaching downwards, his eyes focused on what wasn't there. Dust and ash. Items that used to once stand in the shelves. Stuff he wasn't sure exactly what it was. But he moved forward with the orb. Into the cellar. Making sure to let the orb lead the way. Shining it around the walls.

Claws clicked softly against the stones. As there was an awe from his jaws. His front paw gently brushed against one of the shelves, propping his weight upwards to see what else.

A spice rack.

Or rather what's left of one. Most turned to ash and dust. Ceramic jars that may be used to serve a purpose.

"Wow! Look at this stuff. Can you believe it?"

His voice was a mere whisper. Yet he seemed to be appalled by the way things were once organized. The softness of his tail swaying side to side. His necklace unevenly pressed into his silver fur. Cyan eyes sparkled against the unique items.

"I wonder what happened here. What this stuff used to be for."

---

"Speaking"

The tunnel emerged into a cellar. One with a wooden shelf, littered with broken or dusty pots. Ash and debris scattered along. There was little to no interest about the objects that had completely crumbled before them. But Zephiran seemed to have a different idea. The silver pup was in complete awe over stuff that didn't work.

Belvadair stayed behind, standing firmly by the entrance. His eye squinted against the bright orb Zephiran let follow him. A disgusted look painted on his face. Judgemental one.

Yet Belvadair took it upon himself to find a cooler spot to stand. By the plain gray stone wall. Watching from the shadows at what Zephiran was admiring.

"It's something."

Nothing more than a murmur to the others statements. His eye rested for a moment. Enjoying the calmness of the air. But something felt off. In his instincts this place didn't seem right. Yet he couldn't place his paw upon it.

Upon reopening his eyes, he sniffed about. Nothing but dusty and dried aged crap. Nothing he deemed worthy of use. A shake of his head, he moved forward. Towards Zephiran.

"The shelf? Probably to hold things…"

As he pawed his way forward, the air felt just a little warmer. An odd.. off set. Golden hackles rose on his back. The set off was just enough to throw the pup off. A scuffle to his voice.

"Bring that light over here. It's cold over here."

Belvadair woofed to the silver pup. Ears flickered while he turned to face the boring wall. Annoyance crawled up his fur, why was this side of the room different. Bland. Cool. Yet he couldn't get the nasty musky smell of dust out of his nose.

---

"Speaking"

"Hold on! My light doesn't warm you up."

It was obvious to Zephiran, yet he felt the wearing down of his energy. Keeping the light at his side, his muscles ached. Tight dreadful pulses. A cough muttered up out of his chest.

Zephiran moved his paws downwards. Standing onto all of his four paws. But a moment later his light shattered to nothing. Cyan eyes squinted against the sudden change of brightness.

"Is there something over there?"

Zephiran would call out in the darkness for a moment, scattering onto his paws to try and go towards the sound of the other pup's voice.

---

"Speaking"

Before he had much of an answer, Zephiran's light shattered. Well dissipated. To nothing. Leaving him with darkness he didn't want. A flex of his ears behind his skull. A silent huff. Only moving against his paws, to sit down as he woofed to the other.

"Well I guess we live here now."

There was a scruff annoyance to his voice. Yet he could hear the claws of the other scrapping towards his way. Belvadair impatiently waited, his tail thumping against the cellar floor. It was obvious to Belvadair this one didn't like being alone very much. Much less in the darkness. Who could blame him? When Belvadair can't see much, he didn't like to be alone either. But he would never say it aloud.

---

"Speaking"

If there was something here, the pups hadn't found it... yet. The cold patch of air remained odd, but otherwise, it was becoming increasingly clear that this space had been abandoned for a stretch of time they could not truly fathom.

Even the stone smelled... old. Devoid of life, almost like bleached, dead bones.

@Zephiran

"That doesn't sound half bad!"

There was a trace of happiness in his voice. As he muggled his way through the darkness, he stumbled upon a risen rock. Face first, the silvered pup face palmed into the cellar wall. A groan escaped his jaws. Moving to sit up, his body wobbly from the sudden fall.

"ow…"

---

"Speaking"

As Zephiran stood, his paw struck something... different. A little stone, just like all the others. It wasn't the one he'd tripped over: this one was almost unnoticeable, even had the light been quite bright down here.

An old mechanism kicked into motion with a slow, grinding sound of complaint; ancient dust plumed out, choking, for just a moment. Part of the wall sank back, and then to one side... the work of an engineer, perhaps, of ages past. And it was so old indeed that parts of it crumbled, breaking as the mechanism worked; the mechanism itself jammed after a beat, breaking, perhaps forever.

But it was enough.

A gap now stood, three feet wide and four tall, the wall partially collapsed where it had tried to open. Beyond... a hallway? A corridor? A space four by five feet, yawning into the darkness, filled with stale, cold air and dust.

@Zephiran