The cave breathed damp heat and old dust. Isabella stepped deeper into the darkness while Glimora clung to her shoulder like a little parasite about to be sacrificed. The air smelled like something ancient. Something rotten. Something that definitely wanted her dead.
Perfect.
She lifted her torch and surveyed the rough cavern walls.
Her last task.
Redstone Powder.
Found beneath the cave floor, near the mountain entrance.
Protected by hallucination spores.
Use a wet cloth or die choking and seeing imaginary demons.
Wonderful.
She sighed loudly, the kind of sigh that carried three months of exhaustion and two lifetimes of trauma.
"Okay. Let us get this over with."
She took out a cloth from her space, poured water on it, then tied it firmly over her mouth and nose. She looked like a bandit. A sick, pregnant, tired bandit ready to wage war on powdered rocks.
Glimora stared at her. Isabella stared back.
"Do not judge me. Mama is tired."
