After Orynn had ensured that Lexi had eaten and drank something and checked her dressings, he led her by the hand out of their small room, and through Narcissa's workshop.
Lexi steeled herself for the worst, but it seemed that the room had already been subjected to extensive cleaning and there were very little signs of her ordeal remaining in the room.
The collection of grisly items stored in jars that filled the shelves that lined the walls however, made Lexi's stomach churn. The so-called craft of a fleshcrafter called for more items of things once living than any other spellwork that she knew of and for some reason, the more obscure a bodily part, the better.
She repressed a shudder as she passed yet another disjointed head with a mismatched face stitched haphazardly onto a head that it clearly didn't belong to, and tried her best to ignore the selection of eyes that lay at the side of it but as she reached the doorway, she sucked in a lungful of air, only then realizing that she had been holding her breath the entire time.
The stink of fleshcraft filled her lungs and she swallowed the bile that rose of its own accord as she followed Orynn blindly through the warren-like corridors until they came to a vast staircase cut into the surface of the rock itself.
He chirruped a series of noises as he gestured to the stairs and proceeded to descend into the darkness.
"Wait! I can't see so well here," Lexi called out as she rushed forward and gripped hold of his arm tightly, blushing furiously as his eyes squinted in that happy little shape that he had made with them before with the simple action of thanking him.
He huffed a little as he began to descend again, what she took to be a happy little noise, and Lexi could have sworn that he was holding himself far more proudly than he had been previously.
They moved slowly, the darkness all encompassing until they reached the bottom of the staircase and a row of flickering torches sprung to life at a wave of Orynn's hand.
Lexi couldn't hold back the gasp that escaped her lips at the revelation that this creature was capable of wielding fire, only a few Daemons that she knew of were capable of that and they were high level…deadly and dangerous and charming to a fault.
Was it the same with Orynn?
Had he lulled her into a false sense of security purposely with his almost primitive behavior?
Lexi swallowed nervously, her mouth suddenly dry and she was unable to rid herself of the knot that had suddenly appeared in her throat. What if she had been wrong about trying to win this unknown woman and her supposed son to her side?
What if this was a test set by Eromaug?
She chewed the inside of her cheek nervously as these questions and more swirled in her mind. She felt the absence of her souls keenly at this moment. She had always been able to trust her gut feelings on things but now, she felt nothing inside. Just a dull aching void in the place that her normally vibrant souls had resided, where Narcissa had so brutally sealed her souls.
A terrifying thought suddenly occurred to her. Had sealing her souls also sealed the bond to Allen and Greyson?
Lexi's heart lurched painfully at the thought but she didn't have time to dwell on the fact as the caverns suddenly filled with the echo of a deep rumbling.
Orynn's eyes lit up, his irises glowing as the spines that had been hidden under his hair rose to stand rigid and he trilled a response back.
Lexi gawped at him despite her efforts not to. It was such a strange sight and Orynn was most definitely a creature of which she had never seen before. She had already made up her mind that for the time she was stuck here, she was going to find out as much as she could about this race and if they needed a safe haven to retreat to..then she would do everything in her power to deliver that.
Orynn turned to suddenly grin at her, his scales more prominent in the light of the torches and she smiled back, her heart inexplicably suddenly filled with warmth.
"It's been so long Lexi…" the female voice intruded into her head, the excitement palpable in her voice, "I really have dreamed of this day almost every day. I had almost given up hope."
"I still don't know who you are though." Lexi answered hesitantly, speaking out loud as Orynn chirruped happily at her side, "I feel as though I should know you, the sense of familiarity…but…I don't know..."
A rumbling chuckle echoed down the cavern and although it hinted at something dangerous, Lexi felt no fear at all.
"You will know Lexi…as soon as you see me..you will know. It's not far now, Orynn will guide you in. I would come to meet you myself but...well…I cannot." the voice replied sadly.
"Are you hurt?" Lexi asked, her brows furrowing in concern for this being that she had never met, "Do you need help?"
A deep rumbling sounded again as they reached the doorway.
"No, child. Not anymore," the voice answered confidently, "Not now that you are home, where you belong."
"You keep saying that," Lexi sighed as Orynn fiddled with the heavy lock on the gargantuan door, "But, this isn't my home."
"Maybe not, child, but you…you are everything that I need to call a place home…"
The doors opened slowly as Orynn strained against their weight, pushing them inwards and revealing another cavern swallowed almost entirely by darkness.
The air was stale in here, as though the doors hadn't been opened for a long time and Lexi took a hesitant step inside, her stomach rolling with anticipation.
Orynn strolled past her quite happily, chirruping excitedly as he did so and receiving short rumbles and deeper chirrups in return.
He paused turning to face Lexi as he reached his hand out and waited for her to take it in her own and as she did so he waved his hand, the torches around the cavern springing to life in an instant.
There, in the center of the room, with a colossal chain secured around her neck, lay a being that she had never thought she would see again, a creature that she had only recently become familiar with again in her lost memories.
Her heart caught in her throat as a strangled cry of surprise fell from between Lexi's lips and she fell to her knees, her eyes clouded with tears and utterly overwhelmed with emotion.
"Bella…"