Cyrus opens the door to his room, shuts it, and feels his body immediately grow weak. His muscles relax, his eyes flicker, and his legs become shaky. Cyrus’s body slumps over against the doorframe, his head uncomfortably pressing against the adjacent wall; completely passing out. 

Hours after finishing her meal, Cyrene lay in her bed, glancing at the ceiling. At the edge of the bed, she kicked her feet to and fro, her heels bouncing off of the bed’s soft texture.  

Cyrene reflects on her brother’s performance against the wild Tripwires and starts to feel a bit restless. All that lying around only proved to provoke her boredom. She performs a cheeky roll out of bed and looks around her room, but there was nothing of particular interest. The young girl starts playing pretend. She raises her right arm; her hand clasps onto her imaginary blade, and her head turns left and right, surveying the area more diligently. Cyrene swings her arm, making whispered effects and battle cries with each stroke. She jumped and hopped about delving deeper into her horseplay. She snaps her head to the left and points.  

“Over there!” She calls quietly. 

She cocks her arm back to swing her blade and takes a step forward. Unfortunately, she ends up driving her pinky toe on one of the legs of her bed. Her entire body jolts up, shocked. Her lips pursed as she screams inside her mouth to deafen the noise.  

“MMMMMMMMMMMM!” 

Her eyes shut tightly as she hops up and down on one foot, both of her hands grabbing onto her left pinky toe in an attempt to soothe it. During her mild tantrum, she hears the sound of scratching outside of her window. The young girl stops and composes herself. She observes around her room to find the source of the noise. She hops over to the window in her room to have a peek outside. She looks about, and to her bewilderment, she finds a Tripwire; its claws scratching against a tree several feet away from her window. Cyrene’s eyes widened. She ignores her current pain and ducks low by the window. 

Unaware of her location, the Tripwire stops scratching against the tree, turns around, and bolts back into the nearby forest. Slightly alarmed, Cyrene takes a step back, her heart racing.  

“What’s one of those things doing here?” She thinks, feeling a bit panicked. "Did it follow Cyrus back? Is it looking for him so it can hurt him? What if it comes back again and hurts the villagers? I should wake him up..."   

She takes a peek outside of her door, but does hear him shuffling inside his room. It is deathly quiet throughout the household. She tip-toes through the tight hallway, the old wooden floorboards creaking slightly with each step.

"Cyrus..." She calls to him gently. "Cyrus...!" 

No response. She reaches for her brother's door and turns the knob.

THUD

Cyrus' body collapses onto the floor's hallway. Cyrene jumps back and away, covering her mouth with both of her hands to conceal a screech that nearly left her mouth.

"Papa...!" She gasps.

Cyrene scampers to her fallen brother, dropping to her knees to check on the state of her kin. Her eyes wander onto him. Judging by his strained face, she could tell he was completely exhausted. She delicately runs her hand across his silky hair, getting a closer look at his weary eyes.

“You must still be so tired…” 

She examines his entire figure until her eyes fall onto his sword, still attached to his waist. She stares at the blade for a moment, takes a deep breath, exhales, and moves to it. Cyrene leans over, unclips his weapon from his waist, and grabs it. She carefully lies the blade’s edge across her palm and examines it. Her mind is instantly enveloped with imagery of her brother’s countless battles of monsters pouring out from the forest. She clutches the blade's handle, then brings the sword to her side, imitating her brother’s stance. With his sword now in her possession, she looks down at her brother, still sound asleep.

"Don't worry. I won't let these monsters hurt you!" She whispers.

The little girl kneels beside his head and kisses her brother on the forehead.

"I'll return to you safely. This, I swear to you," she smiles.

Cyrene stands up and moves back into her room. She shuts the door behind her and opens the window. The girl leaps to the branch of the nearby tree, and carefully makes her way down the bark. She spots the set of tracks left by the Tripwire and follows them, diving confidently into the forest. 

“Beware monsters! Now you face the might of the huntress!"  

Only several minutes after Cyrene ventured into the forest on her own, her brother slowly began to awaken. His eyes gradually opened to the envelopment of darkness around him. He groans as he lifts himself up. 

"Urgh..."

The hunter's body aches, having slept on such a hard surface. His gaze wandered from left to right. He massages his forehead with his hand, having felt something damp on his skin.

“Perhaps I shouldn't have pushed myself so hard..." He mumbles.  

He stumbles a bit from getting off the floor. Rubbing his eyes with his fingers, he comes to a sudden halt as his hands run across his waist. His sword was missing. The hunter looks to his sister’s room across the hall and calls her name.  

“Cyrene?” 

He lightly turns the knob and peeks inside her bedroom. Upon an abnormal sighting, his eyes burst open and he swung open the door. He frantically looked around the room, but to his dismay, his sister had disappeared. His sharp eyes spot the ajar window and he rushes over to thrust it open. He leaps to the lower branch, then jumps down to the ground, making sure to break his fall. He peers around again but spots nothing. He crouches and his eyes aim lower, looking down to the ground. First, he spots tracks of Tripwire prints, and next to it, a set of smaller footprints. He gently runs his fingers against the small footprints, the texture of the dirt indicating that the prints were fresh. Suddenly, Cyrus felt lost in a whirlwind of hectic thoughts and emotions. The light in his eyes is replaced with a deep, looming shadow. His hand claws the small footprint; his nails tearing through the dirt. His head darts upward, glaring down the path the footprints lead to, the Silent Grotto.