Riddik and Akhmin come through the entrance to give everyone a rundown of the situation. They'll be on a steady but narrow path down a hill and through a cavern filled with crystals. Alex looks up from his thoughts and imagines all the sparkly stones just waiting to be poked and researched. His eyes squint with glee as he smiles feintly and cheerfully at the thought lingering above. Seff cocks their head in wonder as Elkhra shows disinterest. 

Akhmin steps in on this announcement and reveals the plan and route he wants to take. "We are going to see my old friends next to the outer quarry entrance, off the side and inner wall of a floating island... we can rest there." Riddik is still unknowing of this meetup and acts frazzled but accepting of the unexpected trip. He then sets the next course after Akhmin is finished speaking. "Eh...w-we are... we're also going to Talann, a town built of metal and on trading. We will also descend from there toward the abyss... Termigann..." He interlaces his fingers and gives a quaint little cute smile. Elkhra, again, uninterested. Alex is excited but... also curious why everyone is so unhappy with Termigann... especially Elkhra. He seems to have been through these places before. Also... who are the Kymera?

Riddik goes on toward the front door behind his desk without question or comment as Akhmin sits next to Alex. "So... read anything?" Alex looks to the floor and up to a couple of titles. He replies with a sigh. "Not sure..." He stares at the book with which cannot be opened and starts making a slightly angry and dulled face. Akhmin looks to where he's focused. For a moment he reads the title. His eyes widen. "This..." He gets up and touches the title, looking at the pages. He knicks one to check the integrity. Alex is astonished at the audacity he had after what he'd been told but the realization of this book's age is... unbecoming. Did Riddik lie? Akhmin frowns a bit and puts it back where it was, pushing it all the way to the back, staring. His browline now lowered, pupils small. Alex could feel a tense struggle within Akhmin's core and yet he looked so calm as he sat down. 

What was Akhmin to do next? Will he just... forget about it? Was that important, even? Alex is pondering this moment and isn't letting it go. It bothers him knowing something and not being able to just instantly speak aloud. He also doesn't want to speak. Speaking feels... wrong somehow. Was he forgetting an event in his life? His past? It felt... like he had to evade an oncoming scythe of wind. That wind would commit stress to his muscles, a vortex in his stomach. He'd feel faint. But... what would happen if he spoke... what if that was worse? He kept quiet the whole way into the cavern. The darkness gave him comfort as well as watching everyone doing their own thing. Observation is a task he most loved but also, often, disliked when it was a choice he had to make afterward that would change the tide or flow of a moment... this gave the same feeling as the first problem. The same issue. Connected by string. Pulled simultaneously with a thread he had to try and seperate. 

Alex fell silent the whole way into the crystalline caverns and as the light followed through the gemstones above, it flickered unto the windows and shimmered onto Alex's eyes. He blinked a couple of times as his sight pierced through a blunt ray of light and revealed their destination. That whole time, however, he also felt another presence. It wasn't a being. No animal nor thing. It was a mere resonance behind stone. Something isn't quite right about that tunnel.