She followed in the general direction the two disappeared earlier, and stepped right into a world she had never experienced before. The two had completely disappeared into the wind, rain and a lot of failing branches, some even flying at her with violent intentions and she lost all sense of direction. She could not see much of anything because there were trees in the way. These trees were nothing like the Lear trees that she knew. These were violent and blood thirsty; lashing at her with their branches intent on violence whenever the wind grew wild. These trees were violent monsters, and those that didn’t scratch or hit her usually dumped a whole lot of water on her head unexpectedly. Sometimes the wind grew so wild that she was sure she would be blown away soon if she did not grab on to a tree. Forget the man and the child, She needed to find some shelter soon. She had read somewhere that tornado winds only got worse. Right now, she was probably in the outer reaches of the tornado.

Her eyes searched of any shelter among the bunch of rocks under which she could hide. She did not know how long she walked or if she walked in circles. After all, every place looked the same, and the winds grew wilder. The concentration of magic pressed on her brains making her light headed at times. After what seemed an eternity of struggle, and nearly being blown away by the winds, she came upon a hill. Moving closer, she searched and stumbled upon a small opening.

Saved! At last! She scrambled in, light-headed and traumatized by the storm. Glad that she was stubborn and did not giving up. Not that she had a choice.

The small opening lead to a narrow cave, the opening barely the width of a man. As she squeezed in, the pendent around her neck filled her mind with agitation. She was too tired to grumbled at the headache it was causing. She slowly tried to recover her strength. Her body was bleeding with scratches and bruises. Her cloths torn and wet. There was no way she could start a fire in this small space, that was already wet with her dripping.

The pendent pulled at her mind relentlessly. This useless piece of junk haunted her since her first contact with it. Even if she threw it away,  it would be back on her person, after about half an hour, bound by a magical contract that was forged at her lowest moment. The pendent pulled at her brain, if it wanted to communicate something important. It was up to her to interpret the strange intent of an inanimate object. It would be considered a marvel of the world that she managed it successfully. Had she not got out of the monastery castle successfully guided by it?

She quietly analyzed her situation while the storm raged wilder outside. She was in the middle of nowhere, and was quite sure that it was impossible for anyone to follow her on her nightmarish escape.  With the burnt seal in her arm, she would not be able to escape for long, but she was safe at least for now, while the Oorfan lasted.

What could it be? Was this place not safe?

She looked around the small cave. At first, she found nothing, but as her eyes adjusted to the darkness and the flickering lights of the storm, she saw a small opening that was formed by the gap of two huge rocks. She scrambled to look closer. The pendant’s pull on her mind became mild. Did the stupid pendant want her to go through the small hole?

Just then there was a rumbling and the cave shook. Before she could understand anything, the small opening to her cave was blocked by rocks. The earth continued to shake for a while after that. Her heart shook in terror at the thought of being buried alive.

She was overwhelmed in the darkness and screamed and cried as she was unable to find a balance in her emotions for a while.

She must have fainted. Even though she was still in darkness, she knew she was awake. She started her chaotic eyes, and the magic in the rocks gave off a weak light that only she could see. The small opening the pendant had shown her earlier, was brighter than the rest of the cave, and had the smell of fresh air.

She had to crawl flat to squeeze through the opening that was only as wide as her shoulders. The pendent gave an encouraging pull.  She did not have enough strength of spirit to use her magic through blood to melt the rocks again.  She had to do it by squeezing through the small opening.

The hole opened into a narrow cave tunnel. She followed the narrow tunnel to find an exit and place to rest. She wondered where the man and the child might have gone. Had they found a safe shelter? Had they found a human settlement?

At first the tunnel was dark and she stumbled and groped her way around. She could not sustain her chaotic eyes, as she did not have enough magic. As she got used to the darkness, she found contours and paths lit occasionally by a bit of light coming from the natural sky light formed by the roofs that had caved in. The light also brought with it a waterfall of rain and storm that was happening beyond the cave. The damp tunnel appeared to be a natural space formed between rocks. As she walked deeper into the cave tunnel she found a comfortable sensation trickling around her, as if the magic inside was not raw and natural but had been tamed.

The pendent around her neck that had been pulling at her mind, sent a satisfying gentle sensation. Tame magic was usually produced when a living creature processed raw magic for its personal use. Raw magic cannot be used easily by living being directly. But could be processed while eating, breathing or drinking things with raw magic in them. Chira’s pendent was like a dehydrated and thirsty traveler sensitive to the magic in the air.

She could feel the magic all through her body, as it crawled on her skin, and was sucked greedily by the pendent. It gave her a temporary feeling of comfort and bliss, healing her body and filling her up with magic. But Chira’s body was like a sieve. Magic not used by her, just passed through her.

Chira remembered experiencing this kind of magic. When she stood near her master, as he worked on weaves and spells she could feel this kind of tame magic. There was a slight difference in this magic. Most tame magic had strong intent that bound them and made them usable. The mellow feeling of the magic surrounding her in this cave did not seem to have an intent and lulled her into a feeling of security, until she realized it and she bristled.

This felt like a trap. The abuse under Jaisu Thana left Chira cautious. She was wary of anything that felt safe and comfortable. She observed her surrounding cautiously. She had heard before that there were strange plants that imitated tame magic to lure prey because tame magic was the ultimate nourishment for any creature. The wood cut illustrations of that gruesome plant had fascinated Chira when she was small. Did plants like that grow underground among stalagmites? She did not know.

Her hands brushed against something smooth and warm on the rocky wall. It was the familiar feeling of touching a weave. On reflex, it activated her chaotic eyes, and her surrounding suddenly lit up. The wall she was touching lit up with swirls of weave that were carved into the wall. It was active and pulsed under her fingers. It was a pattern she had never seen before. If it was not carved into the rock she would probably not believe that it was man made, or something man like. Could plants carve on rocks?

Weaves were what differentiated humans from other creatures. While all creatures could use magic directly by forming primitive patterns drawn with soul power, human being were the only ones who could refine it into weaves and use it more efficiently and take magic to a higher level. It is somewhat similar to how all creatures can make sound but language is purely human.

As far as Chira knew, weaves created by humans had basic geometric shapes, and resembled simple mandalas. They were created on weave boards and later anchored to the objects that needed the weave like machines, weapons or even cloths. No one could see the weave and so they created patterns in templates from which they copied and created workable weaves. Many of these weaves were family secrets and historic artifacts that were passed down from generation to generation.

The weaves on the stones in the cave were very different. They were free flowing, as if someone had taken strands of magic and weaved it into the most free flowing and amazing tapestry. They swirled and flowed freely not confined to templates and weaving boards but as if drawn with a brush as the artist went along with the flow of inspirations. Imprinting his creativity directly to the walls and the floors of this mysterious tunnel. These weaves were crude and raw like freshly tamed magic. The weave threads were as thick as her arms. She followed the weave, mesmerized. Even though this pattern was raw, it was extremely powerful. The power that pulsed through her hand was vigorous and intimidating, reminding her that the soul power controlling it must be monstrous. Her heart thudded at the strength of the power behind this weave. Her touch did not disturb the flow of the weave. These patterns were perhaps a part of a bigger weave. Who or what had created it, what was its purpose? More importantly what was the power source of these weaves? Looking at the pattern on the wall she could not make out anything, it was unlike anything she had ever seen.

The swirls grew bigger and swirled on the floor where they were anchored.  The tunnel enlarged further ahead and turned from natural caves to ones carved by human hands. Weave patterns now became cleverly placed patterns between carvings, that seemed to be eerily lit by the weave magic when seen through the chaotic eyes. And then it occurred to Chira as if an idea that was already there, suddenly got highlighted. The person or creature who laid this weave pattern could see the weave like she could. The creator had not only made a powerful weave but placed it aesthetically and precisely so that it lit the carvings on the walls as it traveled through the tunnels. Her hands brushed through unknown writings carved alongside the crude embossed statues depicting stories of everyday lives of people.