Eryn ran as fast as she could.

She could hear men and creatures shouting and screaming behind her as they either chased her or fought back, protecting her. She dared not look back. Her armor was making it very difficult to run as fast as she needed to, and her sword was still a bit too heavy for her. Blood and tears covered her vision, but she pressed on.

Why was this happening? What had she done to deserve this? What had she done that her people deserved this? The earth shook heavily beneath her feet causing her to stumble. Eryn righted herself before she fell and pushed on.

She was running through her ancestral catacombs, the place her mother and father should by rights be buried. But that wasn't going to happen now, was it? They were gone now, and there was nothing she could do about it. There was nothing she could do about any of this. Or, at least, that's what she kept telling herself.

Eryn ran through the many tunnels of the catacomb. She knew this route by heart since her father had made her practice this escape for such an instance since she was a little girl. Wasn't she still a little girl? She felt like she still needed her father.

Eryn kept running, and the screams kept following her. Soon she arrived. She turned a corner that ran right into a dead end. Stepping up to the wall, she quickly ran her hands up and down a pattern of bricks, each brick lighting up as she touched them. Then suddenly the floor shook lightly beneath her and she stepped back, letting the brick wall slide apart like a door. In front of her was the river that ran under the castle. There was an escape boat waiting there for her. It was here only in case of emergencies for the royal family. In case of this.

She quickly turned around and started the same sequence of brick presses on the wall to the right. After her hands were finished, the brick layer sealed the opening back up. And sealed the screams away. Eryn stood there for a moment, shaking heavily, and wiping tears and blood from her eyes. She didn't have time to mourn. She could do that later. She had to escape. Eryn rushed to the boat, made sure the store of emergency provisions was safely there, threw her sword into the boat, and quickly hopped in herself.

Eryn began paddling as fast as she could. She followed the river as it flowed beneath the castle. Every few minutes or so she could feel the boat seem to rock of its own accord and pebbles and dust fall around her. She kept paddling even as she worried that the castle might collapse around her. 

After what felt like hours, Eryn found herself nearing a small exit. She was worried that this exit had been found out and heavily guarded. By what, she couldn't be sure. She'd never seen creatures like these before. They were the things of nightmares.

She inched her way to the exit as best she could in the creaky wooden boat, and stopped just before reaching the end. She froze, listening for anything that might be guarding the exit or wandering nearby. She heard shouting, screaming, and the earth rattling, but all of that seemed at least a mile back behind her. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes, she paddled as hard as she could, trying to get the chaos as far away from herself as possible.

Eryn paddled on and on until her arms couldn't handle it anymore. She slowed to a stop and began to cry. Now that she could cry without fear of being found, she let loose and didn't hold anything back. Everything she knew was gone. Her family and friends were gone. Her home was gone. She was the last remaining member of the Javehr royal line. And she had failed her kingdom. Eryn shook with grief and fear. What was she supposed to do now?