Not a second later, the child moved a step backwards and the mask appeared once more under the crystal. Puzzled, you turned around to face the child, but they were now standing right in front of you; their face inches from yours. Startled, you fell backwards, but you managed to support yourself upwards with both of your hands. As the child stared at you, you glanced back in fear. They were made out of the same material as the crystals that surrounded you, making your needle sword useless. Your eyes darted around the area, as panic began to take over you. Taking a step towards you, the child swung their tail more while the mask disappeared.

Seeing the mask vanish once more, a light bulb seemed to go off in your mind. 'No it couldn't be' you thought to yourself, staring up at the child. Summoning all your courage, you stood back up. Standing your ground, you towered over the child's intimidating form. The child noticing the determined look in your eyes stopped their movement.

"I've decided that I'm not going to retrieve the mask from the bottom of the crystal," you stated, waiting for the child's reaction.

"Oh, so you'll stay with me until you die. Company is so nice."

"That's not what I meant. Instead, I'm taking you with me."

Your exclamation rung through the child's crystal ears and a strange look crossed their face. Silence dominated the chamber, each second ticking by without any hesitation. As if your statement finally sunk in, the child suddenly ran at you. Before you could react, they pinned you to the ground. The sharp point of their tale hovered dangerously over your throat, ready to strike within a moment's notice. Though, pushing your fear to back of your head, you stared up bravely into the child's eyes.

"You think you can take me back. I will not belong to some master who's too weak to protect me. I'm free here and I think your corpse will make good company."

"How are you free if you're imprisoning yourself within these small confines? Don't you want live company? Wouldn't you like to have a proper home again? Surely you desire to return to the world outside of this cave."

"I've tried to cross the barrier. Don't consider me stupid, human."

"I can cross the barrier."

The child seemed to consider this. Their ruby red eyes flashed in contemplation while their tail slowly drew back from its place over your neck. You could feel the fear seeping into your mind, not knowing whether the child would kill you or spare you. There was no weapon you could utilize, so everything was left to your reasoning with the child.

"Hmm, that might work. However, if it doesn't work you will remain here forever with me."

Nodding in response, you watched as they got off of you. Standing up, you followed the child out of the chamber and back into the darkness. Though, to your surprise the child's crystal skin now shone brightly in the dark part of the tunnel. Letting the light of the child guide you, you soon made it into the lighter part of the tunnel, noticing all the fallen crystals from before. You even noticed the one that still wore your blood on its solid form. Your arm was still in pain, but you would have to wait to give it better attention. The two of you pressed on and soon saw the barrier.

Narrowing your (e/c) eyes, you tried to see if Lucian had defeated the monster from before. Though, you could not see the monster nor could you spot Lucian in the chamber beyond the barrier. However, you had no more time to think on the matter. The child stole your attention, as they rested their right hand on the barrier. Upon contact, they were repelled as a bright light traveled through the barrier and shook the area.

"Well now the time has come. If this doesn't work, you know the future that awaits you."

Soon after the child's words left their lips, crystal shards burst across the tunnel. Covering your face, you awaited for the impact of the shards. To your surprise none of them hit you. 'Well at least they were considerate' you thought to yourself. Uncovering your face, you saw a single glowing blue shard on the ground. Picking it up, the crystal morphed into the mask piece. Before you could do anything the mask piece flew at your face and attached itself. You could feel the mask connecting to your skin and the pain was near unbearable. Wanting to cry out in pain, you waited for the process to be done. Feeling the mask become a part of your face, you walked through the barrier, taking the mask piece with you.

Reaching the other side of the barrier, you sighed in relief; glad to know that it worked. Though, the child or mask couldn't cross the barrier, you could. Thus if the mask became a part of you, then it could go through the barrier as well. Now standing in the chamber on the other side of the barrier, you felt the mask detach itself from your face, turning back into the blue crystal, which shone brightly in your hands. No scar was left on your face from the mask. You had won against the child and now the mask piece belonged to you, or rather to Lucian. With your goal completed, you glanced around the chamber for Lucian. Your eyes landed on a form standing over a giant corpse. Recognizing the familiar head of raven black hair, you went to go over to him.

However, before you could approach him, he turned around, noticing you. Lucian soon stood right in front of you, taking your right arm in his hands. He started to untie the makeshift bandage that rested on your arm. You winced, as his fingers glided over the wound. Running his left hand over the wound, you felt a warmth travel through your arm before noticing the wound completely healed. After finishing his work, his eyes locked onto the blue crystal now resting in your left hand.

Without any warning he took the crystal from you and examined it carefully. A smile played at his lips until his gaze fell on you.

"Marvelous work my pet. Though, I'm wondering how you received an injury on your arm. I did give you a sword for protection," he stated while blood splatter from the creature rested on his clothing, making him look all the more intimidating.

"The tunnel began to shake and the crystals began to fall. One of them cut my arm. I couldn't really use a sword against a falling crystal, besides the sword wouldn't even pierce any of the crystals."

"Hmm, interesting."

Taking the pouch from you, he pulled out the needle while holding onto the crystal. Handing the pouch back over to you, he changed the needle into a sword. With an effortless swing, he slashed through one of crystals around the barrier. Your eyes widened, confused at the weapon's new strength. Lucian's purple eyes locked onto you with a strange look in them.

"Were you lying to me, my pet?"

"I don't understand, before it didn't even really scratch the crystals. I swear that I'm not lying."

Sighing, he walked up to you and returned the sword to a needle, placing it back into the pouch that rested in your hands. He turned away from you for a moment before rolling up the sleeve of his shirt. Pressing the crystal shard into his skin, it molded with his skin, becoming secure in his wrist. Showing no sign of pain, he glanced back at you.

"If you were lying that's fine, but just don't do it too often. However, you did get blood on my jacket. That cannot go unnoticed."

You hadn't even noticed the blood on the jacket, but focusing your attention on it, you saw the red substance on the gold embroidery. Before you could utter a sorry, Lucian had already removed the jacket from you and you could instantly feel the cold wrap itself around you. Shivering slightly, you watched as he glided his fingers over the stained fabric.

"Thankfully this can be fixed easily," he said, snapping his fingers while the stain disappeared completely.

Setting the jacket back onto your shoulders, he smiled down at you and lowered his face until he was only inches from you. A blush swept across your cheeks, as you tried to pull away from him.

"Shall we leave this place? I think you've had more than your share of it."

"Yeah," you muttered, remembering that awful image you saw earlier.

Looking away from Lucian, you didn't notice him closing the distance between you two. Before you could do anything, you felt him rest his forehead against your own. Your cheeks flared up in color, as you attempted to get away from him. However, he wrapped his arms around your waist, securing you in place.

"Lucian what are ...".

He shook his head and interrupted you, saying, "Shh, it's time for you to rest, my pet. Now get some rest."

His purple eyes locked onto your (e/c) orbs, as you slowly found yourself getting lost in his gaze. Your vision faded from you, as you closed your eyes and drifted off into sleep. Lucian watched you fall asleep, as your figure fell limp in his arms. Picking you up bridal style, he looked down at you with a gleam in his eyes. Having you so close to him pleased him greatly while he stared at your vulnerable state. He wanted you to never leave his arms, but sadly he had to deal with other matters. The council had another useless meeting that evening and he would have to attend. Though, once he had all mask pieces, nothing would interrupt his time with you.