Pacifist's Run. A legendary dungeon, a challenge known far and wide, only surpassed by the mythic Starstone Test of Absalom.<br/><br/>So of course things had gone horribly wrong almost from the word "go."<br/><br/>Artorius' head was pounding as he received his traditional morning wake-up call of Mink lapping at his face, the firefoot fennec whining anxiously – small wonder, once Artorius' heterochromatic eyes opened. It was pitch black. Or, at least, it was pitch black for Mink, who couldn't see without a light source in sight. Less of a problem for her master, however. Flat on his back, he could see dark walls stretching up high beyond his sight, and, sitting up, he'd find Mink and himself were in a long, broad hallway, no one else in sight...<br/><br/>Atlas and Yasmind'r had been bicker-flirting more than usual that morning – nerves, maybe? Up until now, the quartet had succeeded at acting as a well-oiled machine, but even so, the prospect of Pacifist's Run was... daunting, to say the least. That might have been why the normally keen Yasmind'r missed it (though, in fairness, they had<em>all</em>missed it), or maybe they'd underestimated the dungeon or overestimated themselves and one another; there was no way of saying for sure exactly how it happened.<br/><br/>Some sort of symbol, some type of rune had flared beneath each of them, and as he watched their forms start to become less distinct, almost translucent, like they were fading away, Artorius realized it was happening to him, too. The distance between them seemed to stretch, subtle at first, but rapidly growing more noticeable over no more than a few seconds as everyone seemed increasingly out of reach, not that that stopped Atlas. The last thing Artorius could remember through his pounding, throbbing headache was the sight of Atlas lunging... not for Artorius, but for Yasmind'r.<br/><br/>Artorius' reverie was interrupted, however, by a distant<em>thunk</em>ing noise, still distant for now, but steady, like the drip of a leaky faucet... Though... was it just his imagination that it sounded like it was starting to get closer?