Winds flowed through the caverns like they were singing to him, and he saw why. The walls glowed with red lyrium crystals, which emitted heat and magical energy he dared not touch.

  He flipped up his hood and covered his mouth and nose with his neckscarf, trying to block out as much of the crystals' acrid stench.

  "Guess while darkspawn still exists this shit does." He growled but kept moving.

  However, his steps began to slow as he felt his adrenaline draining fast. His throbbing arm was more insistent to hinder his arm movement. But he had to find the girl before his enemies did. And Servis was clearly up to no good.

  He turned a corner and stumbled upon a massive open cavern where the walls were thrumming with Red Lyrium. His heart sank with horror as he saw hundreds of people entombed alive within the crystals: some struggling to break free but they were too high for him to reach them. Magic must've placed them there.

  "I have to end this somehow." He declared to himself, feeling ire for the one responsible.

  The immediate area held mining tools and jarred bombs that would mine the lyrium once it had "matured." He snuck his way to picks and cutting tools, hoping to cut some people down. Before he had the chance, a patrol returned. Anri took cover behind a mining cart as he watched two helmeted Venatori soldiers and an elf rogue with Mythal dalish markings on her face enter. She was giving the soldiers orders.

  Anri heard a child's scream, making his heart race. The way to his exit was blocked by the enemy party. He caught sight of a torch nearby and swiftly grabbed it, tossing it at the explosive jars. The cavern shook and rang crudely as a chain reaction of explosions went off. Through the confusion, he slipped away and headed toward the direction of the scream.

  A sentry of Venatori guards approached the corridor he fled down, he activated a weaker version of his stealth ability and snuck past them. One of the guards stopped and glanced back but dropped his suspicion when orders were given to quicken the pace to the mining cavern.

  Anri followed a guessed direction, being careful in avoiding patrols and saw Servis dragging the elven girl with him. They entered into a small room, which contained shelves of tomes and scrolls. His old informant having access to the room was highly suspicious.

  "You've been here before, haven't you?" Anri said as he closed the door behind him.

  "Lavellan." Servis sighed as he turned around and pulled out a dagger, which he held to the girl's throat. "You just had to get involved. I don't know what brought you here, but you better turn back now."

  "Okay. Let her go with me and we'll leave."

  Servis let out a bitter laugh as he tossed the dagger at Anri to make him duck low to avoid it. He grabbed a scroll from the desk and dragged the girl with him. Doing a mad sprint out of the other exit at the far end of the room.

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  But a seismic tremor hindered Servis plight as the corridor walls began to crumble around them, the lyrium singing was an overwhelming screech and shrieking that aggravated the senses like nails scrapping metal.

  Servis writhed and stumbled blindly as he struggled to reclaim his senses. His grip on the girl laxed along with whatever he had grabbed. The girl scrambled free, picking up the scroll on the ground and screamed as she found herself unable to run far.

  Anri pushed through his pain to struggle forward: his vision blurred but able to see the girl's form, which was like a beacon to his darkness. He reached out and grabbed her to his bosom.

  "It's okay Little One, let's try to get out of here," he whisphered.

  The girl's screaming became whimpers as she felt safe in Anri's care. She held on to him tight as he saw another path and they sprinted down it.

  His vision cleared and the awful sound eased into background noise the further they were from the lyrium corridor. He saw a spot they could safely rest and catch their breath.

  "Are you okay?" He gently asked the girl who nodded, but he frowned when he saw her bruised arm and instantly fished for a small vial of healing liquid the Venatori had failed to remove from him. "Drink this, it'll make you feel better."

  The girl looked at the liquid and then at his damaged arm. "But, you're more hurt."

  Anri flashed her a warm smile and said he'd feel better if she was more healed. The girl nodded and drank the healing potion. Her eyes widened with excitement when she saw her arm was healed. Her expression became full of worry again when she looked at the scroll she had picked up.

  "This is what that bad man wanted." She handed to Anri.

  Anri frowned as he unraveled the scroll, then gasped when he saw a blueprint of sorts. Most of the instruction was ancient elvhen, but he was able to pick out a couple of words that translated to Rift and Orb.

  "Not good." His heart raced with fear but he saw the girl and decided to push aside his emotions and focus on getting her out to safety. He secured the scroll in his inner jerkin pocket. "Thank you. I'll keep it safe. I'm Anri what's your name?"

  The girl hesitated for a moment, biting her lip with a thought.

  "It's okay. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

  Her eyes widened with surprise. No adult had ever been kind to her, even those of her own type. Since his arrival in the cage, he was the nicest one to her and without asking for anything. She had to give back that kindness even if it was just giving her name. "Elana."

  "Beautiful name. You must be an elven princess. Fear not, dear princess, I'll get us out of here." He flashed her a cocky wink, which eased some of her worry to make her chuckle.

  Anri's expression sobered as he surveyed their surroundings to find a way out.

  Elana began to fret when she detected mages approaching their direction. "Bad men."

  "Which direction?"

  She pointed toward the north.

  "Right. Climb on my back and I'll give a piggyback out of here. Can't have my princess wear out her legs."

  Elana grinned and hopped on Anri's back, gripping him tight as he used his lone arm to keep her balanced. They left their pit stop and ran down the less infected corridors, hopefully away from the approaching trouble.