Evelyn listened as Douken talked to himself in his tent, feeling a bit awkward about what to do or say. This, in part, was why she usually preferred to be alone. She was relieved to see him return, being careful not to show this on her face but standing up perhaps a bit too quickly. Evelyn nodded as Douken explained he would be leaving his tent behind for later. Although headstrong and focused, Evelyn didn't really give much time or energy to think ahead about practical things like that. She often found herself pulling all-nighters, sleeping in trees for safety, and going days without a proper meal. But she was used to this, and there was probably something about being an elf that made her physiological needs somewhat different to that of a human. Or perhaps she had mildly abused her body for long enough that she never stopped to question whether it would be more helpful to treat it better.

Evelyn followed Douken's lead down the steps. She observed his spell casting light on the tip of his spear. "I know how to walk," She said, a little aggravated by his kind advice - because, of course, kindness was somewhat painful for Evelyn. Still, she took out her torch and held it with her left hand, holding out her right with palm faced upward. She mumbled some unintelligible phrases under her breath, and a small palm-sized flame erupted an inch above her right hand. Evelyn dipped the tip of her torch into the fire until the flames took to it, then waved her right hand to discard the remaining flames. Working with the element of fire was only a recent skill she'd picked up, but it seemed to calm her - to be able to handle something so wild, angry, and dangerous.

The steps seemed to last forever. Evelyn could no longer see the light of the entrance. Suddenly it occurred to her that perhaps Douken had not heard much about these tunnels. It wouldn't be safe to explore with someone who didn't understand what they could possibly be up against. "We need to be careful down here… this place is full of traps, strange beasts… dangerous things that no other person has lived to tell the tale about."

"As with all other tales about the Ancients," Douken sighed as a response. "Seriously, why are the Ancients so strange with these network of chasms, chambers, and temples? I mean, did they really live dealing with these puzzles on a day to day basis, walking around dangerous beasts and traps as they lived their lives, or was it a case of 'Oh hey, we are going to die off soon. Better make some elaborate system to stop intruders.' I mean, if it was a treasure vault, I would expect the traps and locks be near there, but why place a dart trap in a door that simply leads to a mess hall? To protect food that had rotted away years ago?"

While he did not mean to rant, it did help time pass a bit more quickly as the natural light was no where to be seen, leaving the two explorer's methods of light to fill the small range of space. But still, even then, he would have expected to have seen some type of end to the staircase. What, were they headed down to the core of the world? Were they going to walk into the realm of Death and hang out with the deity? No…. it didn't feel right. So much that he used his spear to carve a line into the stone wall as they kept going doing. As if he had a suspicion.

"So, if you know about the area, how deep should this chasm go?

Evelyn seemed to have been lost in a trance herself, not really listening to Douken until he asked her a direct question. She was feeling uncharacteristically sleepy, but her lethargy approached her so slowly that she barely recognised it until now. She must have picked up on Douken's suspicions as he carved a line, suddenly remembering a conversation she had had with an old, somewhat neurotic elvish woman a while ago. "I spoke to this woman, once, who claimed to have been directly descended from the Ancients. She said that her family had passed down stories about these tunnels for generations. I disregarded her at the time, but now I wonder… She told me a poem. But I forget how it went…"

Evelyn considered the seemingly endless stairs, and abruptly stopped walking as she finally remembered. " 'Beware, the unending stare of the dragon's eye… Take care; the toxic air will make you die.' …What if by "stare"; she really meant "stairs"? What if they really are never-ending? And… the air seems more… straightforward…" Evelyn began to feel dizzy and had to sit down. She pulled her cloak over the bottom half of her face so as to minimise direct exposure to the apparently toxic air. But what she couldn't understand was why Douken did not seem to be affected? Was it something as simple as the fact that he was human? Were there some poisons that the Ancients had not wanted to work on humans, for whatever reason? Or was it that only those who entered the tunnel in search of treasure be affected? Or, did Douken have some other rare and strange ability that Evelyn was not aware of?

"We have to… get out of here." Evelyn struggled to say.

"Aren't we all descendants of the Ancients?" he muttered to himself quietly before taking note of what Evelyn talked about, stopping for her when she did, eyeing such an ill face on her. Was it because of the "toxic air" she mentioned in her poem? Why was he not feeling inflicted at all? It made no sense to set a trap meant to ensnare a single race of people, especially since humans were not known for any tolerances to, well, anything. Unless…

"Maybe the dragon's stare means both," Douken suggested, looking up. "I mean, why would it talk about a dragon if we see no sign of it?" His suspicions grew more as she slid down, feeling ill. "It seems this illusion is stronger than what I had expected," he suddenly stated, looking up, "and I think there is a dragon here causing it." Drawing out the steel fan on his belt, his fingers on the hand holding the spear charged once more. "I know you are not feeling to well, but I want to be ready for another fireball spell. Just be weary of the bright light…"

Again, his hand traced upon the fan, drawing the same symbol that he drew on his fan… except for one exception. Instead of the curved lines after the fork, they were straight. Once the rune was drawn, Douken was quick to flip the fan around before holding it towards the ceiling, just in time before a massive flash of light filled the room.

It seemed that the pair were inside a tube of fog that ran down the stairwell, but what was more important was the figure of a dragon staring down at the area with smoky gems for eyes. While the light did not last too long, it was hopefully long enough for Evelyn to break the illusion via breaking the dragon's eyes!