Outside the temple

Nora and Brock continued down the tunnel and eventually made it outside. Somehow they must have sensed something, because the Morloks up here had gone into a panic. A tremor shook the ground, causing large stones and stalagtites to fall from the ceiling, and the temple began to groan, threatening to buckle. They both began to run down the steps madly, nearly tripping several times. Some of the meaner looking Morloks holding spears spotted them, and began pursuit.

"That way!" Nora shouted while pointing west, "we'll lose them in the vegetation!"

They fled down the street, unnoticed by most in the chaos. They passed the crude farms, and practically crashed through the wall of vegetation that grew past in the outskirts. It was thick, like compact bamboo but grass, and it cut Nora's hands as she pushed it aside in her mad escape. All she could hear was rustling, and the gibbering noises of the pursuing Morloks. Brock seemed to be heading away from her.

"Brock! Don't get seperated!" She cried out. Then she realised that it was best to keep quiet, and she continued running; she ran until she couldn't hear anything, alone in a sea of grass. She hushed her heavy breaths as best she could to focus her ears. It really was deathly silent. She haden't turned on her flashlight either; it would've been impossible to see if it weren't for little luminescent gems that glittered on the ceiling like stars. Still, it was dark enough that she couldn't see her own fingernails when she brought her hand in close. The silence, the darkness, and the crash of adrenaline, not to mention the thought of being hunted by monstrous creatures, all combined into a sudden wave of stress that made Nora want nothing more than to lie down and wait and perhaps cry a little while she was at it, when suddenly she heard a rustling in the grass not too far from her that caused her heart to jump. It was a slow and careful rustling that seemed to be getting closer.

She readied her unlit flashlight like a club.

With a mighty swing she smacked Brock on the side of his head with the flashlight, flinging him to side. He groaned as his jaw hit the ground with a thud.

"Oh shit, sorry! I thought you were one of them."

Brock groaned again as he lifted himself up off the ground. "Ugh, that hurt..."

"Sorry!"

"I guess I can't complain since you rescued me and all."

Nora chuckled for what seemed to be the first time in ages, but it didn't last and her face changed serious once again. "Are they still following us?"

"I don't think so. It's hard to walk through this growth without making some kind of noise," he said as he took a another look over his shoulder, "I ran until I reached a wall and I found a tunnel. It had the same kind of glyphs as the tunnel we went into together, before we got ambushed. I think maybe that's our ticket back to camp."

"Oh, lucky! I was worried about what we should do next."

Nora followed Brock to the place he spoke of and sure enough there was a tunnel there that was tiled with glyphs. As they walked down the tunnel, Nora inspected the baton that Brock handed to her earlier.

{if evil presence = 2}"Yes, continue on your path..."{elseif evil presence = 3}"Find the last key, quickly..."{elseif evil presence = 4}"-ree me, free me, free me, free m-"{else}"You have only just began on this path..."{endif}

Nora looked around cautiously. "Did you say something?"

"Hm? No, I didn't say anything. Did you hear something?"

She strained her ears, but nothing stuck out. "I guess not..."