Submission (#5016) Approved

"Just admit that we're lost." 

"Shut up." 

"I could, but it won't change the situation." 

"I swear to god, I'm gonna bury you."

"Hah, you're cute, I'd like to see you try." 

Greywind turned around and snarled at Shimmer, but the Dire Elnin just towered over him with a telling smile. "Go on. Give me one good reason to teach you a lesson, punk, and I'll do it." Her voice was soft as velvet but he could tell she meant every word while her muscles tensed and she was watching him closely in case he made any rash decisions. For a brief moment Greywind considered his options, but it wasn't worth it. Not while he was soaking wet in the middle of the wastelands during a thunderstorm. Whether he liked it or not, Greywind needed Shimmers help on this quest. Picking a fight with her now would just put him on his own ass, he knew that much, and with a low growl and a glaring side eye, he turned around again.

The rain came down heavily on both of them, while the storm clearly tried its best to knock him and Shimmer, who was annoyingly as steady as a rock and seemingly unbothered by all of this, over. 
"We need to find shelter-" His words were almost swallowed by the howling winds and strands of his long hair came undone from his braid. The stormlands were unforgiving and being careless could cost him greatly; he couldn't let Shimmers words bother him like that. 

"Lead the way, genius. This was your brilliant idea after all."

...Dire or not, he would end her. 

For better or worse, they had been traveling together for the past week and somehow neither of them had decided to kill the other one...yet. They had left Cinder behind in Devara, together with the kittoms, since the journey would've been too demanding for them. Greywind wasn't sure what would've been the better deal; taking care of a bunch of crazy kittoms that would insist on visiting the waterfalls every day or wandering the vast dunes of Ahza with a Dire Elnin that would love nothing more than to push him into a sandy abyss. Somehow, slowly but surely they had made their way across the country unharmed, trying to take breaks whenever they could near the rivers while the Eldertree of Ahza loomed at the horizon at all times, like a silent spectator. 

Crushing thunder echoed across the sky as both Elnins managed to find cover in a spacious cave system. In between all the rain they had finally spotted something promising and Greywind knew they had a better chance of reaching their destination while being underground.
"This is so huge-" Shimmers voice carried through the cave, and bounced off the walls and shallow ponds, as they carefully wandered deeper into the caves and tunnels, embedded with skeletons of all sizes. "When standing on top, you'd never guess that there is such a thing beneath all those hills. How did you find this?" Her voice was quiet, but Greywind could hear her without problems. His thoughts started to wander and his paw paused for a moment before taking the next step.

"... I didn't. It was by accident, with someone else... a long time ago.. "

His voice was heavy and Shimmer noticed how his ears sunk a little, and she decided it was best not to ask any further questions. The last thing she needed was to truly set off this maniac.  

Greywinds soft glowing horns guided her, as he led her deeper and she started to wonder how far these caves stretched underground. Eventually they reached an enormous cave, with the sky partially revealed. Rain and sand fell down, leaving muddy puddles on the floor that got washed away soon after.
Oh and what a floor it was.
Made out of smooth crystals and glass soft to the touch, pulses of light ran through it and emitted a soft glow. Shimmer let out a small sound of awe as she carefully stepped onto the warm floor, while Greywind continued his way to the colossal skeleton that filled the middle of the room and parts of its giant ribcage reached through the ceiling; exposing a good chunk of it to the raging thunderstorm above them. White, blue and purple crystal clusters grew all over the blackened skeleton, while veins of minerals ran through it. 

"I've never seen anything like this!" Shimmers voice was filled with wonder, which elicited a small smile from Greywind, as he remembered his first time seeing the crystal skeleton. He sat down in front of it and let out a small sigh, as if still trying to get rid of the last tenseness held up in his body. "The crystals have grown even bigger since the last time I was here."
Shimmer appeared next to him and studied the giant fossil. "Well, I can see now why you wanted my help... Ain't no way a scrawny slinky boy like you could break off any bones from this." 

"Thank you for that observation, Fish Rear."

"Anytime, Shrimp." 

Greywind could hear her voice dripping with glee. "But for real, what am I looking at here exactly? I thought crystals are normally found in Zevija?"  "Usually they are, yes. But these ones did not grow due to volcanic activity. I believe the skeleton belonged to an ancient magical beast and ever since the ceiling caved in and exposed it to the thunderstorms, I think the lightning hitting the bones set some sort of magical and chemical reaction in place. Just look at the glass ground. You can definitely tell lightning likes to strike this place in particular, and even- HEY!"
Greywind noticed out of the corner of his eye that Shimmer held out her paw and was trying to touch one of the crystal clusters. He instantly slapped her paw down with quite some force behind it and placed himself between Shimmer and the skeleton.

"What do you think you're doing-!?", he growled, his voice razor sharp. "Do you have a death wish-!?"
His ears laid flat on his back and he glared at Shimmer, who snarled right back at him. What had gotten into the white Elnin!?
"Do that again, and you'll lose that paw, you freak-", she warned him and tried to push him out of the way, but Greywind snapped at her.
"Shimmer-! Don't!" He raised his voice and didn't budge. "If you touch those crystals with your bare paws, you'll be electrocuted-" 

Shimmer, who was close to losing her patience, finally backed away. "What are you talking about?"
"I just told you those are not normal crystals. The energy from the lighting is still trapped inside and releases at the slightest touch." Something Greywind had learned the hard way and as much as he despised Shimmer, this was not part of the plan. He relaxed a little and went to grab tools from the bag they were carrying. Small little metal utensils with magically enforced handles that would provide a safe way to discharge the crystals and bones they wanted to collect. 

"Here-... we will need these and I've also packed special woven bags that can safely hold onto them." 

Shimmer furrowed her eyebrows in annoyance and watched Greywind unpack the bag, displaying the tools on the glossy floor and sorting them."You know, you could have led with that information." Her voice made it clear that she didn't enjoy being kept in the dark about this little but deadly detail. Greywind stopped sorting the content of the bag and looked up in surprise.

"I didn't... anticipate... you would go straight for them.."

He sounded hesitant and caught off guard, before he snapped back to his senses. "Just don't do that again and you'll be fine." A faint smirk unfurled on his face. "And now help me with this. We need to discharge the crystals before we can test if you actually have more muscles than brain cells. We both know you can't wait to break some bones."

"I'd really hoped they would be yours, windbag."

Over the next few hours both elnins worked surprisingly well together. Although it took some adjustments, as Greywind was used to working alone and he could have sworn Shimmer tried extra hard to nudge him to the brink of his sanity. But as predicted, she was an immense help with breaking down the bones, which had turned quite brittle over the last centuries, due to being exposed to the elements and getting hit by lightning repeatedly. And yet, without her it would've been impossible for him to break them apart. This was a job for two, just like the last time he was here.
Greywind was deeply lost in his thoughts collecting the last bone shards, while Shimmer stood a little to his left and packed the bag - when the roaring thunderclouds collided right above their heads.
His ears rang, while he stumbled a few steps backwards. The air shifted abruptly and Greywind could sense the impending danger, but it was too late. Lightning came crashing down and hit the only thing in its way; the giant skeleton right next to him. Sparks of embers rained down on him as the lightning traveled through the skeleton and finally dispersed into the ground. 

Eerie silence followed, while Greywind was still in shock and breathing rapidly. 

"Watch out!"

Shimmers voice rang through the cave, before loud cracks and a growl followed. Greywind didn't even have time to look up and process what was happening. All of the sudden he was body slammed onto the glass floor, his head spinning, but a big paw prevented him from sliding further. Huge boneshards cascaded all around him with thunderous noise and once again his ears rang, while the floor was rumbling, but for some odd reason Greywind didn't get hit by anything. His eyes were closed and his senses all messed up, so it took him quite a moment to finally notice the heavy breathing next to his ear and the warm body right above him. 

"You okay-?" The voice of the Dire elnin was quiet and she sounded out of breath. 

Greywind opened his eyes, his vision still not focused, but he could make out the blurry frames of Shimmers worried face hovering very close in his peripheral vision. He blinked and moved his head a little, until he finally realized he was lying between Shimmers massive front paws; she had protected him from the falling debris and shielded him with her body. 

"... but ... wha-...?" 

The smaller one struggled to find the right words; his head suddenly felt empty and it wasn't due to the dizziness.

"Why-?" 

His voice trembled and all his disbelief and confusion was packed into the whispered question. He just couldn't understand. Why would she risk getting seriously hurt in order to save him? Why not just push him out of the way and hope for the best, if anything? She hated him! Their friendship was basically non-existent and only very vague, mutual courtesy stopped them both from clawing each other's eyes out. ...right? 

"Because Cinder would be devastated if you'd die for real, you idiot-"
She hissed and was clearly still rattled by the events herself. "And believe it or not... I don't actually want you dead either. And I still owe you from before." Shimmer carefully stepped back a little and looked over his body, looking for injuries, while Greywind stared at her, his expression still displaying confusion and distrust, and Shimmer realized that Greywind was not used to being the one being protected. 

Her gaze softened a little and she delicately nudged his ear.
"Hey now... you bought me with you for a reason now, didn't you? We came all this way together and we will leave here... Together."