Just as Yve finished settling her belongings into the room, the research team prepared to leave for the site.
They gathered their papers and field gear before piling into the DUV van, Dylan taking the driver’s seat while the researchers filled the rows behind him.
The short drive offered an immediate opportunity to bring Yve up to speed on the project.
Adreian sat beside her with a thick manila folder resting across his knees, outlining the foundational details of the Owl Cave site while Harry and Emily sorted through their own clipboards.
Yve listened with sharp, genuine interest, occasionally tracking the photographs and hand-drawn diagrams spread across the pages.
After a few minutes, Adreian leaned in slightly, motioning for her attention.
Yve followed his lead, lowering her voice as they murmured over the documents.
Dylan caught the two of them in the rearview mirror.
He grunted under his breath and tightened his grip around the steering wheel.
A quiet grunt escaped him.
He forced his focus back to the road, though his eyes drifted back to the mirror a moment later.
Adreian reached into his briefcase and dropped his voice another octave.
“Can you read English?”
Yve shook her head.
Adreian nodded, a knowing look crossing his face.
“Thought you might need this.”
He pulled out a secondary set of files and handed them over.
The pages held a series of translated notes, diagrams, and annotated photographs concerning the site’s layout.
Yve accepted them with a polite nod.
“Thank you.”
“No problem.”
She flipped through the initial pages before looking back up at him.
“So what exactly are we looking for?”
Adreian pointed a finger toward a specific photograph in the margin.
“Owl Cave has layers of early human activity.
Stone tools, faunal remains, traces of occupation.
We are trying to understand how the site was utilized and what it tells us about the groups moving through the area.”
Harry leaned forward from across the seat.
“And we’re still working through some of the older material.
That’s where you come in.”
Yve looked toward him.
“Your expertise in ancient civilizations might be helpful,” Adreian added.
Harry and Emily returned to their own notes.
Adreian lowered his voice.
“And non-human civilizations…”
Yve’s eyes lifted to his.
A small smile touched her lips.
Dylan caught it in the rearview mirror.
~~~
By the time they reached Owl Cave, the team had already shifted into field mode, gathering their equipment, securing protective gear, and testing their headlamps before approaching the yawning mouth of the cavern.
Dylan took a moment to assess the perimeter.
His eyes scanned the surrounding terrain, the rock formations, the primary paths in and out, and the positioning of the personnel already working around the site.
Only after confirming everything was secure did he give a brief nod.
The researchers filed inside.
Dylan stayed close to Yve as they crossed the threshold, his attention split between the shadows of the cave and the people moving around them.
Yve, meanwhile, was already captivated by the environment.
The cave carried the weight of its age in every uneven surface and faded carving, remnants of people who had passed through long before anyone knew what waited beneath the stone.
Her light settled on a series of faded carvings etched into the stone.
She crouched near the wall, tracing her gloved fingers just above the surface without making contact.
“So old,” she murmured.
Adreian crouched beside her, pointing out the faint markings etched into the limestone.
“These are part of what we’re documenting,” he explained, keeping his voice low so as not to echo.
“Some of the markings are straightforward, but there are a few we still can’t interpret with certainty.”
Yve listened, occasionally shifting her position as he explained what the symbols might represent.
A few paces back, Dylan caught the movement.
There it was again.
Adreian leaning in close, speaking low into Yve’s space while she looked up with that engaged, receptive expression.
Dylan looked away, jaw clenching as he forced his focus back to the perimeter.
He couldn’t pin down why the man grated on his nerves.
He barely knew the archaeologist, and there was no logical reason for friction.
Yet every time Adreian stepped into Yve’s personal orbit, something in Dylan’s chest tightened with sharp irritation.
Adreian eventually rose, gesturing deeper into the cavern for the others to follow.
“There’s more farther in.”
The group moved deeper into the cool darkness.
The atmosphere shifted as they progressed, layers of earth and sediment yielding scattered animal bones and preserved remnants left behind by earlier occupants.
Yve examined each discovery with sharp, analytical eyes, careful to respect the boundary between observation and disturbance.
Adreian pointed out structural anomalies as they walked, summarizing what the team had cataloged and which sections still baffled them.
Dylan hung back several steps behind the group, his flashlight beam sweeping methodically across the floor and walls as he maintained watch over the dark tunnels ahead.
Eventually, the team reached a section of the cave that had been surveyed for structural stability but had seen little excavation.
The passage narrowed significantly, and the traces of previous excavation became sparse.
Even the researchers lowered their voices as they took in the unfamiliar markings blanketing the limestone walls.
Harry raised his work light higher.
“See this?
These symbols aren’t in any historical language we know.
Nobody has been able to read them, and no one even knows what they mean.” He swept the beam across the carved stone.
“Look at the precision, too.
They’re much cleaner than the markings near the entrance, almost like whoever made them sliced through the rock without any real resistance.
I’m pretty sure humans made those back there, but this?”
Yve studied the markings in silence.
The geometry was too precise, too deliberate.
Unlike the older carvings surrounding them, these had no signs of erosion or human alteration.
“Dylan,” she called out.
He moved to her side instantly.
“Keep your flashlight on the wall.”
Dylan angled his beam where she pointed, flooding the dark stone with bright white light.
The entire research team watched in silence as Yve examined the patterns, following one intricate line into another before tracing the continuation overhead.
For several long moments, her expression remained unreadable.
Then her brow tightened sharply.
She shifted her stance, tracing a secondary series of symbols that twisted across a fissure in the rock.
Her eyes widened by a fraction.
“I got it…”
Adreian stepped closer, his voice dropping.
“You did?”
Yve turned toward him, her tone urgent and low.
“Get everybody out of here.
Now.”
Adreian studied her face, searching her expression.
Whatever he saw there cut through any hesitation.
Without missing a beat, he turned to the crew.
“Everyone out.”
The researchers exchanged bewildered glances, but Adreian’s tone left zero room for argument.
The hazard workers began gathering their heavy gear, followed closely by the photographers and the rest of the staff.
Within moments, the narrow tunnel began to clear as people scrambled toward the wider exit.
Dylan stood his ground.
Adreian looked over at him, his jaw set.
“You as well.”
Dylan started toward her.
“Ain’t leavin’ her behind.”
Yve turned back to face him, softening her voice.
“You can go, Dylan.
I’ll be fine.”
He gave her a deeply skeptical look, his posture rigid.
Yve closed the short distance between them, stopping just inches away.
“I’ll be fine.”
Dylan’s eyes stayed locked on hers, weighing the risk.
Beside them, Adreian gave a subtle, impatient gesture toward the exit, urging compliance.
Dylan exhaled a hard breath through his nose before turning away and pointing a finger.
“Stay put.”
Yve gave him a small, reassuring nod.
Then she hesitated, her fingers twitching against her palm.
“Dylan?”
He looked back over his shoulder.
“Can I have a water bottle?”
Dylan pulled one from his pack and handed it to her.
Yve caught it, tucking it firmly against her side.
“Don’t let anyone come back in,” she told Dylan, her voice dropping into an absolute command.
“No matter what you hear.”
Dylan frowned.
“What am I gonna hear?”
Yve didn’t answer.
She just tapped the emergency transmitter.
“Don’t worry about me.”
Dylan stared at the emergency transmitter.
His jaw clenched as he considered arguing the point further, but the ticking clock of whatever threat she had just decoded forced his hand.
He gave a sharp, reluctant nod.
“Alright.”
He turned and strode down the passage.
After a few paces, he glanced back one last time, catching Yve already pivoting away to face the strange, glowing symbols carved into the dark stone.
Then Dylan vanished into the shadows of the tunnel.
Darkness swallowed the cave.
Yve’s pupils narrowed into slits, her irises taking on a faint glow.
Across from her, Adreian’s brown eyes changed in the same way.
He studied her for a moment.
“You have beautiful eyes,” he said.
“Almost…
ethereal.”
Yve looked back at him.
She offered a small, appreciative smile.
“Thanks.”
Adreian turned his focus back toward the stone.
what do you think this means?” He pointed a finger at the geometric glyphs.
Yve studied them for another quiet beat.
“Means nothing.”
Adreian frowned, turning his head.
“What?”
“It isn’t a language.” She stepped closer to the wall, tracing the pattern with her eyes from end to end.
“It’s a door.”
Adreian stared at her.
“A door?”
“Step back.”
He complied immediately, retreating several paces.
Yve measured the space between the carvings, backing up further to take in the full expanse of the design.
“If my calculations are correct…”
She uncapped the water bottle Dylan had handed her.
Without hesitation, she poured the contents over her hands, but instead of splashing to the stone floor, the liquid pooled around her fingers, shimmering and rapidly condensing into the familiar, crystalline form of her bow.
Adreian watched in silence, his expression shifting as the weapon solidified in her grasp.
Yve drew back the string.
A concentrated bolt of pure energy materialized between her fingers, casting a pale, pulsing glow across the damp stone walls.
She aimed high toward the ceiling and released.
The arrow struck dead-center into a circular marking.
Before the light could fade, she drew a second time, loosing an arrow directly into a glyph on the wall ahead.
A third shot followed instantly, striking the stone floor near her boots.
The three impact points flared, connecting through thin veins of residual energy to trace a glowing triangular seal across the entire chamber.
For one breathless heartbeat, the cavern held still.
Then the Earth groaned.
A deep, bone-rattling rumble rolled upward through the bedrock beneath their boots.
Adreian braced his stance, his jaw tightening as the roar intensified.
Somewhere deep in the earth, massive weights shifted after centuries of absolute stillness.
The horrific screech of ancient stone grinding against stone echoed through the tunnel, sounding terrifyingly like a colossal vault being forced open.
Yve’s eyes widened.
“The ground beneath should open…”
She barely had time to correct her calculations before the stone gave way.
Yve’s breath hitched as the floor dropped out from under her as she plunged straight down into the black abyss.
Adreian dove after her.
His shirt tore across his back as a pair of massive, feathered wings burst through the fabric.
They spread wide as he descended into the darkness, extending both hands toward her falling form.
“Yve!”
Below them, the blackness gave way to a subterranean lake.
There was no room to adjust her trajectory.
When she struck the surface, the impact hit with brutal, staggering force.
At that speed, the water offered little protection from the force of the fall.
The water should have been home.
It should have been the one place where her body belonged without resistance.
But the fall had already done its damage before the water could claim her.
The impact slammed through her body, snapping her head back and leaving her disoriented as darkness swallowed her.
Yve vanished beneath the dark swells, the shock of the collision scrambling her senses.
Below the surface, her human form dissolved in a sudden flash of iridescent scales as her tail instinctively unfurled to match the water.
She tried to kick upward, but her limbs went heavy and unresponsive as darkness pulled her under.
Adreian plunged into the lake seconds later, folding his soaked wings tightly against his back to cut through the current.
He swept through the murky depths until he spotted her drifting silhouette, reached out, and dragged her hard against his chest.
Kicking powerfully toward the surface, he fought the dead weight of her unconscious body and the drenched drag of his heavy wings.
When they broke the surface, Adreian dragged Yve toward the rocky shore, his soaked wings dragging heavily behind him.
He gathered her in his arms and climbed toward the breach.
“Come on…”
He forced himself upright, shivering as he shook his wings to shed the water weighing down his feathers.
The soaked pinions dragged dead weight against his back until a series of sharp, straining movements finally shook free enough moisture for him to regain mobility.
He flared his wings wide.
With a ferocious upward thrust, he launched off the cavern floor, beating his way vertically toward the upper breach.
Reaching the higher tunnel, he dropped to the stone and pulled his wings tight.
The feathers vanished back into his skin, his body returning to its entirely human state, leaving only the shredded remnants of his shirt hanging from his shoulders.
Keeping Yve secure against his chest, he broke into a dead run toward the mouth of the cave.
Outside the mouth of the cave, Dylan stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his expression hardening into a dark scowl that grew more severe by the minute.
Harry glanced over from where he was leaning against a supply crate.
“You’re too handsome for that angry face.
Quit frowning.”
Dylan didn’t even acknowledge him, his gaze locked entirely on the black maw of the entrance.
Then the ground shifted.
A deep, rolling tremor shook through the earth, carrying outward into the open air with a low, bone-deep resonance that vibrated through the stone beneath their boots.
Dylan snapped upright, taking a hard step toward the threshold.
Then Yve’s final warning slammed into his mind.
No matter what you hear.
He caught himself, his jaw clenching so hard a muscle twitched in his cheek.
The researchers exchanged wide, panicked glances.
“What the hell was that?” Emily demanded, clutching her clipboard to her chest.
Harry stepped toward the dark opening.
“We should check on them.”
Dylan threw out an arm, blocking the path entirely.
“Nobody goes in.”
“But Yve and Adreian are still—”
“She told us not to,” Dylan barked, his voice dropping an octave into an unyielding command.
The others hesitated, backing off against his fierce glare.
Dylan kept his eyes trained on the dark tunnel, every second stretching out like glass.
Seconds crawled by before Yve’s scream tore through the cavern.
Dylan froze.
Then he ran.
“Dylan!” Harry shouted, scrambling to catch up.
The rest of the team piled in behind them, scrambling for their headlamps and flashlights as they plunged into the dark.
Dylan pushed deeper, his heart hammering against his ribs as the phantom echo of her cry faded into the damp air.
Then his flashlight beam cut across a figure moving out of the shadows ahead.
Adreian.
He was carrying Yve in his arms.
His shirt was torn wide down the back, water soaking his clothes, his chest heaving with heavy breaths, and Yve hung completely limp against him.
Dylan’s eyes widened in horror.
“Yve!”
He covered the distance between them in a flash.
Adreian pulled back instinctively, tightening his grip.
“She’s hurt!”
“Give her to me.”
Adreian hesitated for a fraction of a second, and Dylan didn’t wait.
He shoved the man aside with enough force to stagger him, scooping Yve out of his arms and pulling her hard against his chest.
Dylan’s gaze dropped instantly to the dark crimson line of blood matting her hair near her temple.
A cold, heavy weight dropped into his stomach.
Without a word to Adreian, he whirled around and started hauling her toward the light of the exit.
“Get the medics!”
The moment they burst into the open air, the DUV field medical unit swarmed toward them.
They had been stationed at the staging area with trauma bags open and a stretcher already locked into position.
“Here!” a medic called out, rushing forward.
Dylan cradled her close, his breathing ragged.
“Head injury.”
The medic fell into step beside him, hands already gloved.
“Sir, we need to assess her.”
Dylan carefully lowered Yve onto the stretcher, his hands lingering for a fraction of a second before the medical team flooded around her.
They went straight to work, checking her airway, testing her pupils, and pressing gauze to the laceration on her head while another prepared an oxygen mask.
Dylan stood frozen at the edge of the cot.
His eyes never left her face.
While the field medic worked on Yve, Dylan could not bring himself to look away for more than a second at a time.
Fresh blood matted strands of her dark hair.
Even unconscious, she somehow looked stubborn, as if she would wake up any second and tell everyone they were overreacting.
The sight did little to loosen the cold knot twisting in his chest.
His gaze drifted away from the stretcher toward the cave entrance.
Adreian sat on a wooden supply crate while another medic wrapped a sterile blanket around his shoulders.
His hair remained plastered to his neck, water still dripping from the ends, and his shirt hung in ruined tatters across one shoulder.
Dylan stared at him for a quiet beat before turning away entirely.
Then his eyes snapped back.
He crossed the distance between them before he had time to think better of it.
“The hell happened to her?”
Adreian lifted his head, his brown eyes sharp.
“I didn’t do anything.”
Dylan gave a humorless huff.
“Yeah?
Leave her alone with ya for five minutes and she’s bleedin’.”
Something defensive hardened in Adreian’s expression.
“If you’re implying that I hurt her, you are wrong.”
“Then what happened?”
“I saved her.”
The answer only tightened the coil in Dylan’s chest.
Saved her.
As if that explained the crimson staining the side of her face.
“What happened?” Dylan repeated, his voice dropping an octave.
Adreian exhaled, already losing patience.
“Would you calm down?
She’s not gonna die.
She’s tougher than you think.”
The words landed wrong.
Without a beat, Dylan’s fist connected with Adreian’s jaw.
Adreian’s head snapped violently to the side.
For a single second, the entire clearing went dead silent.
Then chaos erupted.
People shouted in alarm as Adreian shoved to his feet, swinging back as Dylan lunged forward again. Enjoying the story? Read on at g.com.
Several researchers yelled in panic while field workers scrambled to wedge themselves between the two men.
Neither man listened.
“If I find out ya touched her…” Dylan snarled, straining against the arms holding him back.
“Dear heavens,” Adreian snapped, wiping a smear of blood from his mouth.
“Would you listen for five damn seconds?”
“I ain’t askin’ again.”
“You don’t know a damn thing about what happened down there.”
A soft cough cut sharply through the shouting.
Dylan’s attention snapped toward her.
The argument disappeared from his mind.
Yve.
That was all that mattered.
He tore himself free from the workers holding him and pushed through the gathering researchers without a second thought.
“Yve.”
Her eyelashes fluttered.
A weak breath hitched in her throat before her eyes cracked open, unfocused and dazed.
Blood still matted her hair, and her face pinched in pain as the field medic carefully helped her prop up against the stretcher.
“There she is,” the medic said, shining a small penlight.
“Easy now.
Don’t try to move.”
Yve blinked sluggishly, struggling to make sense of the voices surrounding her.
“Dylan…?”
The heavy knot in his chest dissolved so suddenly it almost hurt.
“Yeah.
I’m here.”
The medic checked Yve’s pupils and secured the gauze around her forehead.
Dylan stayed beside the stretcher, refusing to move farther than necessary.
When they loaded her into the transport, he climbed in after her without waiting to be asked.
~~~
Inside the moving ambulance, the medic spoke in a calm, practiced voice, guiding Yve through basic questions she was only half awake enough to answer.
Every few minutes, a penlight flashed across her eyes, another set of vitals was logged, and instructions were murmured to keep her still.
Dylan stayed out of the way.
There was not a damn thing he could do in the cramped space, so he planted himself on the bench seat across from her and watched.
He tracked the sterile white gauze wrapped tight around her forehead.
The dried crimson still tangled in the dark strands of her hair.
The way her eyelids fluttered and drifted downward whenever the tires hit a rough patch in the road.
Each time her eyes cracked open, some of the pressure inside him eased.
When they slipped shut again, it returned.
The ride dragged on, every second stretching out under the hum of the engine.
By the time the vehicle rolled up to the hospital, Dylan was already on his feet before the back doors had fully swung wide.
The stretcher rattled through the automatic sliding doors, swallowed instantly by bright hallways and harsh fluorescent lights as emergency staff took over.
Forms were thrust into hands.
Questions fired off in rapid succession.
Equipment materialized from down the hall.
Then he was not needed.
One second he was walking beside the gurney.
The next, a set of heavy swinging doors hissed shut, separating him from the trauma bay entirely.
All he could do was wait.
The waiting was worse.
Much worse.
Dylan paced the length of the linoleum corridor until his legs ached.
Every time he forced himself onto a waiting room chair, he found himself standing again a minute later.
His heel kept a relentless, frantic rhythm against the floor, and his fingers curled and uncurled into fists, looking for something to grip, something he could actually do.
There was nothing.
Just a closed door and too much time to think.
The image of Yve earlier kept looping in his mind whether he wanted it there or not.
The blood.
The dead weight of her in his arms.
The dazed, unfocused recognition in her eyes when she finally came to.
Nearly an hour bled away before the door clicked open.
Dylan was standing directly in front of the doctor before the man had taken two full steps into the hallway.
“How is she?”
The doctor glanced down at the chart in his hands, then back up at Dylan, a faint, perplexed crease forming between his brows.
If anything, he looked more puzzled than worried.
“She is doing a lot better than we anticipated.”
Dylan blinked, the words taking a second to land.
“Really?”
The doctor nodded slowly, tapping a finger against the file.
“We expected more significant head trauma given the external bleeding.
But scans show no major fractures or internal damage.
Nothing that requires surgical intervention.”
For the first time since the doors had clicked shut, the rigid armor around Dylan’s shoulders dropped an inch.
A long, shaky breath hissed out between his teeth before he even realized he had been holding it.
“She gonna be okay?”
“We’d still like to keep her under observation for twenty-four hours,” the doctor replied.
“Head injuries can be unpredictable, and we want to monitor her for delayed swelling.”
Dylan nodded once, sharp and immediate.
The doctor offered a small, reassuring smile.
“She is awake.
Tired, groggy, but coherent.”
That was all the permission Dylan needed.
“Can I see her?”
“Of course.”
The words had barely cleared the doctor’s lips before Dylan was already pushing past him down the hall.
He covered the remaining distance down the corridor at a rapid stride, weaving around medical staff and equipment without a glance in their direction, the heavy pressure in his chest finally beginning to lift.
Dylan found her in one of the curtained observation bays.
He stopped at the foot of the bed for a moment.
After the flashing lights of the ambulance, the dark trail of blood, and the agonizing stretch in the waiting room, seeing her sitting up felt almost surreal.
Yve looked toward him as he approached, offering a tired, reassuring smile.
The knot in his chest loosened, though it refused to vanish entirely.
He stepped close enough to brush against the metal rail, his eyes scanning her face for any hidden injury the doctors might have missed.
“You okay?” His gaze dropped immediately to the sterile white gauze peeking through her hair.
“What happened?”
Yve’s smile softened, her eyelids drooping with sheer exhaustion.
“I’m alive, so I’m fine.”
The answer did precisely nothing to settle his nerves.
“What happened to ya?” His jaw hardened.
“Adreian touch ya?”
She shook her head without a moment of hesitation.
“No.”
A fraction of the remaining tension drained from his shoulders in a sharp exhale.
Dylan pulled a gray plastic chair up beside the mattress and dropped into it, leaning forward with his elbows propped on his knees.
“What hurts?”
Yve considered the question, her expression drifting inward.
“My entire body…
I landed wrong, so everything aches.
It’ll pass soon, though, so don’t worry.”
Dylan stared at her, thoroughly unconvinced.
After a long moment, he gave a curt nod.
“Yeah.”
Yve watched him quietly, taking in the harsh lines of fatigue etched around his eyes and the rigid tension locked in his shoulders.
Even now, trapped in a sterile hospital room where nothing could immediately hurt her, he looked like a soldier scanning the treeline for an ambush.
Her expression softened into something tender.
“Dylan.”
“Hm?”
“I’m okay.”
Dylan gave a slow, reluctant nod, the heavy weight of the afternoon still lingering in the set of his shoulders.
Yve watched him quietly for a beat before reaching out, her fingers catching him by surprise as she gave him a light, deliberate poke right between the brows.
“Quit frowning, Mr.
Frowny Man.
It doesn’t suit ya.”
Dylan blinked, caught off guard.
For the first time since the cave, some of the worry in his chest began to ease.
She was joking again.
That had to be a good sign.
“Can we go?” Yve asked, her tone shifting.
Dylan frowned.
“Go where?”
“I’m hungry…”
He stared at her for a second, shaking his head.
“Can’t.
Doc says ya need to stay under observation.”
Yve opened her mouth to launch into an argument, but Dylan cut her off before she could even draw breath.
“I’ll get you food.
What do you want?”
Her expression brightened almost instantly.
“Lara’s food.”
Dylan raised an eyebrow.
“But she’s miles away,” Yve added, her shoulders dropping as she sighed softly.
“So, I guess any seafood will do.”
Dylan gave a small, resigned nod.
“Alright.” He stood and glanced toward the door.
“Stay.
I’ll be back soon.”
Yve nodded in agreement.
She started to lie back down, but Dylan immediately stepped in to help.
He adjusted the pillows behind her, making sure her head was supported properly, then pulled the blanket up over her.
Yve looked up at him with a tired, genuine smile.
Dylan lingered for a moment, his eyes moving over her face as if making sure she was really there.
Then he turned and walked out of the ward.