The path was little more than pale stones that had not been covered by vegetation.

Bel grabbed Heln's arm and shook it, eyes wide, mouthing something that might have been, "not a terrible idea." Heln shrugged a bit. Bel's expression turned to something that probably meant "Really? This is what I get for trying to share this moment with you," before letting go of his arm.

The deeper they went, the thicker the canopy became, until only tiny spears of silver-blue light made it to the ground. Bel made them stop so she could pick flowers and insisted on having Heln put them in her hair, where they continued to glow softly. She tucked one behind Heln's ear and stuck another in Rhyss's braid when she wasn't looking.

Heln thought for a minute that he saw fireflies, but it was far too late in the season even above ground, and none of them were moving the right way. Unlike fireflies, these creatures floated along in the gentle breeze like little balloons.

When they got closer to one he realized it was pure magic, a tiny illumination bubble. It even had a magical signature. He thought he recognized it as part of the script on the tunnels.

Which made him shudder a little bit, wondering if each one signified someone who had created the protection scripts, and how long they had lived after that. If he hadn't been essentially the first line of defense he would have closed himself off.

"You okay?" Bel asked. "You got all tense there."

"Just… lots of magic." Heln wasn't lying, not really. "From what I can tell no one besides the two of you have actually done magic down here for ages, but there's still so much."

"That's… hm."

Heln wanted to turn around to see what kind of face Bel was making, but he kept trudging forward, trying to force his shoulders to relax. The path became more defined, the stones showing pale and hard among the leaves like bones, and the trees around them taller, their trunks as straight and tall as pillars, branching out far above the forest floor. If it wasn't for the light and the pewter color of the bark, Heln could have believed that they were outside, though the scent of the forest was subtly different in a way he couldn't describe. He wasn't even completely sure that it was a physical aspect of the smell, or something that had to do with the way everything felt; like a place that had been well tended to before it was abandoned.

He swore that if he stopped and listened long enough he would be able to hear something, maybe the trees, but it was quiet other than the soft gossiping of trees and in the distance the chirping and buzzing of strange insects. At least, he hoped they were insects. The thought of giant spiders roaming around under the trees occurred to him, but he didn't see any webs.

Maybe giant man-eating spiders didn't have webs.

He really needed to not think about that.     

"I wonder how trees are growing here." Bel broke the silence after what felt like hours. If Rhyss was annoyed by it, she gave no outward sign. "I mean, tree roots, moss, mushrooms… but trees? Magic can do a lot of things, but… I don't know. And they're all so beautifully spaced here, it's like… I don't know."

"There is a lot of magic here." Heln said. "Old scripts, most of them are a jumble, they've been layered and relayered so many times, maybe that's how they've lasted this long."

"So, you can't tell us who laid these scripts, then." Rhyss said, slowly. "Too bad, it might have gotten us a name or two on who is sending those… things."

"Rhyss, even if I could… it doesn't work like that, I have to know who is setting the magic. A signature isn't a name, it's a feeling, a… a culmination of someone's essence." Heln was borrowing definitions from his text book, but it was the best way he had seen to describe it. "Who they are, imprinted on their magic. Besides, I can tell you that if anyone who helped with the magic here set up the clay constructs then you wouldn't be bringing any of them to justice. They're all dead. They have been for a long time."

He didn't feel the need to mention the bubbles. Even if the signatures were clearer, he still knew, deep down, that the owners were gone. Gone and probably long forgotten along with the cavern they were in.

"Eugh."

Bel summed up just about everything he was feeling with one syllable. It was almost impressive.

"That doesn't help us, then." Rhyss shrugged. "But thanks for trying. With any luck we'll find out who created them while we're down here."

"That… that doesn't sound like luck."

"Speaking of, since you mentioned it, I might have possibly been thinking about that, and I have a theory about how the constructs are able to operate without a power core." Bel sounded like she'd been waiting for someone to bring up the subject of who created the them for at least a few hours. "So, I'm thinking that somewhere, maybe down here, maybe up above, I mean does distance really matter when it's up or down, but anyway there's a main power core, right? So, it controls all of the them from afar, yeah? Well, someone using the main power core controls them, anyway. Could explain why you can't sense who's doing it, Heln. But! It would be pretty hard to hide, with as many constructs as I saw at one time it'd have to be roughly the size of two Helns. Maybe even bigger."

Heln wasn't sure how to take being used as a unit of measurement. "Okay?"

"You're the tallest." Bel reminded him. He had maybe an inch on Rhyss, so he'd give Bel that one. "So as big as two of you. Anyway, it'd be some sort of crystal, probably green like their eyes, glowing, all that good stuff. Covered in magic script, too. Really pretty hard to miss, so, there's your lead, Officer."

"If you're right, then I'll thank you," Rhyss said.

"My genius is unappreciated," Bel muttered.

"I appreciate you." Heln told her, and he actually was sincere. He honestly knew very little about construct creation. It was well outside of the scope of any abilities he would ever have, and Bel's theory sounded smart to him.

"Thank you! Alternatively, just because it needs to be said, they're ancient, were activated somehow and actually have no master, which also makes sense because I can't think of anyone who would go to this much trouble to attack three teenagers, even if I'm exceptional. You two aren't bad yourselves, but we're still teenagers."

"Ancient?" Heln glanced back at her.

Bel sighed and rolled her eyes a bit, moving faster to catch up to him, apparently deciding that being the rear guard was not really for her. "Appreciate your history, little brother. Legend has it in ye olden dark days times that constructs were basically sentient. I mean now we just use them in the fields, but they used to be guards and stuff so that people could be freed up to do important things. No offense, Miss Guard Trainee."

Rhyss made a noise that sounded offended to Heln, but Bel didn't seem to notice.

"Of course, it's probably the same basic concept, just the power core is more advanced than previously expected. Y'know, since the they are basically just dirt piles on legs?  So basically the ancient theory is technically right, but in a 'they're not actually permanent sort of way." Bel sounded thoughtful, at least. "Still, not sure why they chased us down here. Maybe it's all one big training exercise. 'Keep the civilians safe while you face near insurmountable odds in ancient tunnels' sort of thing."

"It's fascinating that when you start talking you almost sound intelligent, and then without fail it devolves into brainless drivel."

Heln did his best to disguise his laugh at Rhyss's comment as a cough. He didn't think Bel was convinced.

Rhyss slowed down. The path was wide enough for the three of them, even when a tree grew so close to the path that the stones had been heaved up by the roots. Bel reached across Heln to swat Rhyss's shoulder, who sidestepped her easily enough.

Heln laughed at that, but it faltered quickly.

Something had hit his sense, so quickly he wouldn't have been sure that it happened if it hadn't left a staticky feeling on his skin. He paused mid step, turning his head to the side like it would help.

"You hear something?" Rhyss asked.

"Shh."

Whatever it was, it was gone. All he could feel was the room and the strange scripts. Trying to reach out made him feel sick.

"I thought… it's gone now." He rubbed his forehead. A headache was taking up residence behind his eyes and seemed content to pound there. "Nothing dangerous, I don't think, I didn't really get a clear reading on it, though."

Rhyss had pulled her knife out while he had been trying to focus and seemed reluctant to put it away. "Well. Let us know if it comes back. We should probably be quiet, anyway, we're getting close to the center."