For a long beat, the cave is silent; then Blake clears his throat.

“Y’know,” he calls out from beyond the ruin wall, “A light source would be real nice right now.”

"Yeah, it would," Jenna snarks, "If the earthquake didn't kill my phone."

"Have you checked?"

"Well—no, but I have got ears."

Allen quirks his brow and turns his own torchlight on, temporarily illuminating the room. Knowing Blake, he's rolling his eyes right now.

"Wow, congratulations," Blake snarks back, his tone full of disdain, "Allen, could you grab her phone? Jenna's being a drama queen again."

"Hey–!"

"Already on it," he says, getting to his feet and heading towards the cavern entrance, "And stop fighting, we're all adults here."

"Yeah, Blake," Jenna barks out a smug laugh, "Stop fighting."

"Jenna."

"What?"

Allen redirects the flashlight towards his face so that she can see how unimpressed he is for herself. He can't see the expression she makes in response, but Jenna's lack of reply tells him all he needs to know.

He turns his attention back to finding her phone.

If those two ever go a full day without getting into a fight, he might actually give them a prize.

───※ ·❆· ※───

The flickering stops. 

Godien blinks. 

“What the…?” he mumbles under his breath, craning his neck towards the Lord and Lady statue standing directly adjacent to the prayer platform. He could've sworn the soul stone was... no... he probably just saw it reflecting the light from the stained glass ceiling. He turns back to the medallion he'd been gawking at through the glass.

Then again... it wouldn't hurt to take a closer look. He's never really taken the chance to look at the old stone up close, anyway.

Godien initially hesitates before he begins to cautiously navigate his way around the shallow moat, one step at a time. He's careful not to touch the water as he follows the narrow ledge around the room, coming to a halt behind the life-sized statue and peeking over its shoulder to get a better look at the stone.

It's a dark, smooth burgundy stone that doesn't look too different from a Tembellikan bloodstone – if he ignores the egg shape and the black stripes. They say it predates history itself... which makes sense, with it being a rock and all.

He's almost tempted to touch it, but stops himself before he even begins to reach out. Father Faolan would not take it well if he tried to manhandle the first gift daemonkind had ever received from the Gods.

Godien shakes his head and steps away from the altar. For once, he's choosing self-preservation.

Father Faolan is terrifying when he's mad.

───※ ·❆· ※───

Allen picks up Jenna's phone and returns it to its perch – nary a scuff in sight. He turns its torchlight back on and the cavern is dimly illuminated once more.

Crisis averted.

───※ ·❆· ※───

“We seek entrance, that’s our right," Jenna strikes a dramatic pose in the centre of the sun and moon mosaic. She flings her arms open wide, "Faith confirms our lives–!”

“What are you doing?” Blake balks, looking completely baffled as he steps out from behind the partial ruin wall.

Jenna blinks, her arms temporarily frozen in place in a pose that Allen can only describe as an incredibly strange sumo squat. She grins and dramatically wiggles her fingers.

“Summoning a demon,” she says, her tone a little too smug for the sheer nonsense coming out of her mouth.

Blake and Allen just... stare at her in response.

"What."

She hits them both with a double thumbs up and a wink. Allen looks away to preserve what's left of his sanity.

"Right..." Allen mutters under his breath, reaching for the tablet with his free hand. Ana crouches by his side and hands it to him with a wry smile, "Thanks."

"You're welcome!"

Allen then turns back to Jenna with a raised brow, "Also, you're doing it wrong."

"Hah?"

He gestures towards her whole... whatever she is doing right now.

"You're..." Allen resists the urge to roll his eyes as he speaks, "'Demon summoning' thing. You're doing it wrong."

“How the heck would you know if she’s doing it wrong?” Blake balks, "Is this something you people do for fun? Summon demons?"

"No, obviously," Allen retorts, shooting Blake a baffled look of his own, "Do I look like someone who would—"

He stops and pinches the bridge of his nose.

“The translation—she’s doing the translation wrong,” Allen continues, "Also, look me in the eyes and tell me that," he gestures towards Jenna with his phone, "Looks like a successful 'demon summoning' ritual to you?"

Jenna glares at him in response, having clearly finished with her 'ritual' by now.

Allen hides a quiet chuckle behind his phone.

"Yeah, fair point," Blake replies, dusting off the shoulder of his tan coat.

"Hey!"

Ana makes a grabbing motion towards Allen's phone. He hands it over without any fuss.

"Hey—what do you mean 'hey'?" Blake snarks, cocking his hip, "I'm not the one who tried to 'summon a demon' while pretending to take a sh—"

"Okay, okay, that's enough!" Allen interrupts with a sharp clap of his hands, "Would you like this tablet translated or not? Because if we are looking at alternate options, then I'd like to vote we start heading back to the car."

Jenna groans, "Yes, Mum."

"Huh," Ana says, eyes glued to the screen of Allen's phone—she giggles, "This translation sounds less like a summoning ritual and more like a drunk trying to open the front door.”

Blake snorts, looking intrigued, "What's it say?"

Ana clears her throat dramatically and puts on her silliest voice.

"We request access to our rights," she recites with a dramatic flourish of her hand—the Park siblings are already starting to laugh, "Faith confirms our lives," she pulls her arm back to her chest, "Gehenna... is open now."

Ana then flips the phone around for Jenna and Blake to get a better look, not that Jenna needs to read it again.

"See? It's nonsense," Ana continues with an amused smile, "Sorry, Jenna. I don't think a demon is coming home with this one."

Blake bursts into laughter as Allen gently retrieves the phone from his sister. He switches the note from the app's original translation to the one he'd been working on before Jenna... distracted him with her antics.

He finishes the last line and turns his phone around to give the others a better look.

We seek entry as per our right.

Our faith strengthens the path.

Now, may Gehenna be opened.

“It's not perfect, but this seems a lot closer to what it actually means," Allen says, lowering his phone, "I'd hazard a guess that it's more of a... prayer or a meditation chant."

"Did the Ancient Romans meditate? I thought that was more of an eastern thing," Blake comments, scratching his head.

Allen shrugs, "Don't know. I have a BA in Linguistics, not History."

"Whelp, looks good enough for me," Jenna says, shooing Blake off the mosaic circle so that she can take centre stage again, "Ahem."

Allen can feel a groan building in the base of his throat as she snaps into another one of her ridiculous poses. This time, it seems like she's taken inspiration from an evangelical television host, with the way she looks like she's about to perform a 'miracle' on Blake's head. Either that, or an exorcism.

“To the demons on the other side, we beseech thee!” She calls out, her voice echoing throughout the cavern, “We seek entry as per our right!”

"What the heck are you doing? Get off me!" Blake snaps, trying to push off to no avail, "You're messing up my hair!"

“Our faith,” Jenna cranes her body back like she's seen the light—or snapped her spine, "Strengthens the path!”

Despite his best attempts, Blake just can't seem to escape the death grip she has on his forehead, “Get off of me!” 

Allen’s lips tremble behind his right palm as he resists the urge to laugh. Ana doesn’t.

The earth begins to tremble beneath their folded legs—the Lasker siblings’ laughter  disappears in an instant. Allen and Ana share a wide-eyed look; Allen shoves his phone into his pocket and jumps to his feet as she plants her palms on the ground to steady herself through the earthly rumble. As soon as he’s as stable as he’s going to get, Allen helps Ana to her feet and pulls her into a one-armed protective hug.

With his other arm, he reaches over to a nearby half-ruined pillar and grips it like his life depends on it. Ana holds his knitted overshirt tight enough to pop a few stitches, the pull of the garment putting pressure on the back of Allen’s neck.

"We need to get out of here!" Ana shouts as the trembling escalates towards a deep rumble—the torchlight illuminating the room begins to shake. The fertility jug wobbles dangerously on its stone step perch.

"No, we have to stay put!" Jenna shouts back, immediately dropping to the ground and covering her head, "Just get down, cover your head, don't move if you can. We have to wait it out—"

The fertility jug tilts, falls towards the edge of the single step separating the ritual platform from the cavern ground before—crash! 

"Ah!"

Allen winces as a flying shard of ancient fired clay shoots past his ankle and leaves a searing cut in both his tan trousers and his skin. He resists the urge to curse—not in front of Ana.

"Oh, this is great," Blake snaps, "Thanks for getting us trapped in a cave during an earthquake, Jenna."

"Me? You followed me down here!" She snaps back, "How the hell could I have predicted there was gonna be an earthquake? What is wrong with you?"

"Guys, this is not the time!" Allen stresses as the shaking causes his knees to buckle—Ana barely manages to catch him before his face meets the stone, "Please."

He squeezes the back of Ana’s dress in a silent thanks.

"You're what's wrong with me!" Blake shouts at Jenna, "You're the one who insisted on 'exploring the tunnels' and made us all come down here!"

"You didn't have to stay!"

"Of course I did!"

"No, you didn't—"

"Please, for the love of God, would you two just shut up!" Allen shouts, the echo loud enough to be faintly heard over the earthquake itself, "We are in the middle of an earthquake and you two are squabbling like bloody five year olds—may Gehenna be opened just so I can get away from you people!"

The trembling stops.

Silence.

The others stare at Allen with wide eyes and slack jaws as he pants from the adrenaline rush. He winces and closes his eyes.

"I'm sorry, I didn't—" He starts—stops, and sighs, "I didn't mean it like that. I just—"

Stones begin to tremble. The silt covering the ruin begins to sift in place like flour in a siv. Allen’s ankle throbs from the sudden trembling before—the earth screams as the room starts to shift like jelly on a plate. Cracks appear at an alarming speed through the floors and up the walls, forming a pattern akin to a crude, stone brick wall—the stone above Jenna’s head creaks.

Allen barely manages to bowl her out of the way before a thick stone slab smashes into the ground where she stood. Someone screams. Blake clutches Ana to his chest like his life depends on it, pulling as close to the cavern wall as he can—crack!

Barely audible beyond the earth’s thunderous roar, Jenna’s phone is flung from its perch on the half stone wall and smashes into the floor—the cavern is plunged into darkness. Allen clutches Jenna so tightly to his chest that his knuckles go white despite her steady gate being the only thing keeping them still on their feet. His ankle aches, his sock sticks to his shoe.

"Allen, Jenna!" Ana shouts, throat cracking in distress. 

“We’re over here!” Allen screams back—he shouts as the earth buckles his knees and suddenly he and Jenna are falling—

“Allen!”

Stone shifts beneath his sprawled feet as Jenna holds him up in the most life-threatening dip of his life—a deep, ominous cracking sound echoes throughout the cavern, drowning out the trembling roar shaking the limestone walls. Allen scrambles to stand, to regain balance, slipping on the drops of his own blood as Jenna tells him to stop squirming already—his foot lands on nothing. 

Allen’s blood turns cold. 

“Ah!!”

The ground disappears beneath their feet and suddenly they are falling, they are screaming—Allen can’t see anything, but he can hear his sister’s screams and Blake’s terrified pleas for her to hold onto him in the same way Jenna is clutching to Allen so tightly that he can barely scream, he can barely breathe.

For a split second, Allen can swear he feels his sister's familiar fingertips brush against his own as he reaches his untrapped arm out towards the unmistakable sound of her voice. He spreads his fingers as wide, as long as they can go and he reaches—

He's so close. 

He's so close, he can feel it.

She's right... there…! They’re both right there!

Something slams into the back of his head and his vision turns to white.

He doesn't feel anything else after that.