Dark and Light – Chapter 3
By Ultima66
We walked into the hot room. Around us, small pools of lava collected here and there, and dangerous toxic vents came up from the floor.
"We're here," I said.
"Wow," said Crystal, "This place is amazing."
"A bit, yeah. Well I'm here for the cerebes so let's get moving," I told her.
I gripped my claw tightly and a blue swirl appeared around it and vanished. It now suddenly became lighter and less air resistant. Then, I focused for a second as a large effervescent symbol appeared parallel to me and above Crystal. We both felt much lighter than before, almost like being in low gravity in fast motion. Crystal conjured a few angels which poured what seemed to be liquid energy on top of the both of us. I felt an aura of light surrounding me, and what seemed to be a heightened sense of awareness. Then I saw a pillar of pink and white shoot up from under Crystal then vanish. She then created another angel holding a wand that sprinkled some magical dust over her.
"You know, this is pretty ridiculous," I told her.
She smiled, and struck at a jr cerebes, sending two claws of energy tearing at it. Another claw sent the small bulldog head to the ground. A tooth fell on the ground, as well as some money.
I saw a cerebes ahead. Jumping a little towards it, I let loose two of the steelies and they sank into its back, but it turned towards me and held its paws up, ready to slam the ground. It caught me right when I landed, making me fall on my back, and the quake also hit Crystal, who's magic seemed to have deflected most of the blow. A wave of green washed over both of us, and my pain suddenly left me, purged out by a warm glowing light. Crystal motioned me to stop jumping, and I got up and started flinging more and more knives at it without attempting to avoid the cerebes' attacks, simply letting myself get pushed back a little with each impact, Crystal healing the pain before it even started.
After a few rounds of stars, the cerebes fell, a shaggy red mass, the entire room way to hot to tell if the red was blood or it was naturally from the fur, as the extreme heat made everything red. A tusk fell out of its jaw. "I've never fought a cerebes before," said Crystal, "It seemed pretty strong."
"No worries. Normally I'd just try to be fast on my feet to avoid the shockwaves, but since you're here, I guess I can make do with just standing my ground," I told her, "Hey, duck!"
I saw a firebomb behind Crystal. I quickly threw four knives at it. Crystal half turned around and half sidestepped to look at what was behind her and to dodge the flying knives that were sailing a bit too close to her at the moment. The knives flew past her and hit the ball of fire in its core, burnt cinder part. It quickly became little more than a small charred ball laying on the ground.
"You okay?" I asked her. She nodded her head.
We continued to take down the cerebes, slowly and one-by-one. After about an hour, as another cerebes fell down, I noticed a large white shape on the ground where the large creature fell, the color distinct from everything else in the cave. I walked over to it and examined it.
"What is it?" asked Crystal, stepping closer. I now saw a long black handle with a spiral of white coming down it.
"This is... a dark ritual!" I exclaimed, taking it in my hands. I looked at her, smiling in what we had just found, and then I noticed her face was really red. "Whoa, Crystal," I said, "Are you gonna be okay? You don't look too good."
"Don't worry, it's nothing. It's just a bit hot, that's all. Wow... a dark ritual. This will make us rich, if we sell it," she said. Still, I was a bit worried about her condition.
"Well this is exactly why I wanted to come here. Beautiful," I said, elated with my luck.
"I wanted to come here to be with you..." she said, her voice trailing off at the last few words. I heard a the sound of something falling down behind me, and I quickly diverted my attention from the staff to Crystal, my eyes widening with fear. Quickly, before I even thought about it, the words left my mouth, "Oh my god..."
Silence.
