Raagh...the date of the Percy Jackson movie release is here. I want to buy it just to BURN it...JEEZE, I hate it! =;; You have NO idea how much they screwed it up if you haven't seen it, or vice versa. Everyone should be freaking DEAD in Camp Half Blood! But no. ALL of Greek mythology has been screwed over because they FELT like it. Persephone isn't in the Underworld during the summer. You can't see a god's true form or you turn to ash. Percy saw it freaking TWICE, and is still alive. Hades doesn't WANT more people in the Underworld. There's way too many as it IS! = .= Screw the people who thought making the movie this way was a good idea. It's not. You screwed yourSELVES over by already making Percy too OLD for the PROPHECY THAT THIS SERIES IS BASED ON, all to just put some lovey-dovey BULL CRAP in—which reminds me. They were GIVEN the Minotaur in UNDIES in the book, and they even managed to screw that up. It wasn't funny like Percy Jackson is supposed to be. It was just stupid. Sorry for the rant, but it's STILL not out of my system. I thought that it was impossible to make a movie that was worse than Eragon, but they succeeded several times over.
(Miffin Note: Actually, they made a movie even worse than the Percy Jackson movie, although some people may disagree with me. Have any of you seen the pathetic excuse for an Avatar (the Last Airbender, not James Cameron's) movie? If you have, you know what I'm talking about).
Disclaimers:
-The Percy Jackson and the Olympians series belongs to Rick Riordan.
-Eon belongs to me. Don't take her or I'll sic Aisu on you...who is also mine.
-Ashirai belongs to Worenx. Don't take her either.
-Burger King and Totally Spies don't belong to me.
-Tony refers to Tony the Tiger from Kellogg's Frosted Flakes. Not mine.
NOTE! The 'monster' that attacks Eon in this chapter is from an accident that occurred in Book Three: The Titans Curse. I just thought that it should reappear, since they vanished after the book...just like Percy and Annabeth's grey hair streak. That book seems to be ignored a lot...
朱: Is the kanji for aka, which means red/crimson in Japanese and 黒 means kuro, black.
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Chapter 3:
I Have Some Psychedelic Dreams
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The room smelled like cigarettes, despite of the laws against them in public places. Guns lined the walls along with huge mounted animal heads. My stomach churned uncomfortably, either from the guns or the disgusting smoke fumes. Either way, I hated this place.
Slowly, cautiously, I approached the counter in the back. A chubby, albeit muscular man sat on a large solitary bar stool behind the counter, chewing mercilessly on a lit cigar. He looked extremely intimidating with all of his tattoos and bulging muscles; when his eyes turned to me though, his face contorted into a terrifying scowl and he mashed the cigar between his teeth like fresh meat. I had to use all of my willpower to approach the giant.
"No minors allowed." He growled. He reeked like smoke and I could see that all of his teeth were yellow or missing. He looked like a monster (figuratively...I hoped).
"I'm looking for hunters," I squeaked.
He sniffed and took a long drag from the cigar, exhaling out his nose. My eyes watered when the smoke blew past me, and I had to force myself not to cough or gag.
"Hunters here. There. Everywhere. No minors allowed. Shoo." His glare intensified.
I knew that I was already making a fool of myself just by being in this...place, but I was pretty limited for options. I could either find these "hunters" that Apollo had mentioned, or walk through three provinces in the slim and desperate hope of finding Ashirai, the one person that I did NOT want to see/crawl back to any time soon. Oh, and walking three provinces in Canada is like an Ironman tournament. Canada's not exactly small. That helped narrow down my options even more, since I had so many to begin with. Hah, sarcasm. The weapon common to all kids and teens (and sadly, the only one I had at my disposal) in the world over.
"I need to find hunters." I met his glare with my own.
Seeing my unwavering determination, I must've gotten through to him. He finally stood up, walked around the counter, and literally kicked me out of his shop. I sailed through the air a good ten feet and slid another three across the grass. When I finally stopped, I learned that the gods really hate me, because it started to rain. I would've wondered how this day could possibly get any worse, but I knew by now that that would only jinx me. I needed all the luck I could get, which didn't seem in very high supply at the moment.
From the look of the clouds, I could tell that the rain wasn't going to let up any time soon, and being a rather short fan of staying dry, I hightailed it back down the road until I reached a cheap-looking motel. Home sweet not home, I thought when I opened up the door to my room and was greeted with the (un)pleasant scent of rotting wood and mildew. I shook out my hair and used a towel (that I wisely chose to buy) to dry off, then redressed in my final pair of clean clothes. After Apollo had ditched me in the Burger King parking lot two days ago, I'd been stuck in this place, budgeting my money to the best of my preteen ability. I would've been broke by now if I hadn't chosen to bring my iPod and violin with me. With my 'unique abilities' (as Ashirai would kindly put it...assuming that's even possible) of mimicking music and voices I hear, I managed to make a pretty penny in the subway station by singing and playing remixed versions of my playlist. Folks just love throwing their money at small children, y'know? Not that I was calling myself small, 'cause I wasn't. That means you.
So I had four hundred-some dollars and five golden coins to work with now. Great. Now what?
"Stupid rain...stupid hunters...stupid...stupidness..." I knew that I only had myself to blame for the situation I was in (and maybe Apollo for driving/flying me to the middle of nowhere, but it'd probably be best not to mention that to him...), but why would I do something stupid like that? Blaming others makes the world go 'round. Then maybe the sun helps out a bit too... Either way, I was determined to somehow find someone else to blame for the insane mess that I was in. Someone who hopefully wouldn't have the power to blast me into a million pieces, that is...
I lay down on the bed, listening to the patter of raindrops outside. It was a soothing sound, or as soothing as the sound of thousands of gallons of water rushing down from the heavens at a velocity that could crush someone in a large enough volume could get (maybe I forgot to mention that I don't like water?). Closing my eyes, I relaxed, and for the first time since I left home, I willingly let myself drift off to sleep.
It was cold and dark. I could smell salt water, though I wasn't sure why. Screwing up my eyes, I tried to see through the immense blackness that surrounded me, but to no avail. I started to walk, carefully feeling the ground until the sound of someone crying echoed around me. Pausing, I tried to pinpoint its direction, but it was like finding a needle in a haystack...with my ears. Finally I closed my eyes (though I realise now that it was rather pointless in doing so) and chose a direction at random, carefully feeling my way at double-pace.
The sobbing became louder, though I never seemed to get any closer to anyone.
"Hello?" I called, but only my voice echoed back at me. There was no reaction from my miserable mystery mourner.
It seemed like hours before the sobbing finally stopped, and my ears were grateful when it did. I looked around the darkness again, but still couldn't make out a thing. If someone really was here, they either didn't want me to see them or forgot to pay the electrical bill.
"What did I do wrong? Why me?" The voice sniffled. It belonged to a girl, probably between the ages of ten and twelve.
"Try paying the bills on time! It's normally a lot brighter then..."
"You did nothing wrong..." A new voice hissed, ignoring my comment. It drew my breath away; unlike the girl's voice, it wasn't very determinable. I couldn't tell if it was male or female, young or old, or even if it was human. My body started to tremble. I felt like I shouldn't be here...
"The gods abandoned you. You gave them everything, and they give you nothing in return." I could imagine the voice circling the girl, slowly, like a predator closing in. "Come...I will give you all that you ever dreamed of..."
The girl was silent, but I knew that she'd already been drawn in by the strange seductive voice. I felt like obeying it, and I didn't even know what it was! The gods had never given me anything until recently, and that was only a headache. Why should I care about some prophecies that I'd never even heard of?
"All I need of you is one little favour..." Suddenly, I felt something icy-cold brushing up against me. On instinct I kicked and pivoted away, but nothing was there (that I could see, at least). Shivering, I realised that whatever this voice was, it wasn't only concentrating on the other girl. It knew that I was here. It knew that I already submitting to its will.
I shook my head, trying to clear it. I felt a little dizzy. What was going on with me? Where was I?
"What...do you want me to do?" The girl asked timidly. I could imagine the faceless entity grinning. It had won one of us...that was all it cared for.
My eyes snapped open and I bolted up. My entire body was shaking. Sweat poured down my face in rivers and my heart crashed against my chest. I felt like I had gone ten rounds against the griffin again. Weakness throbbed in my every muscle.
"What...?" I swung my legs over the side of the bed, instantly regretting it. I had to bite my lip not to cry out from the sudden burst of pain. It felt as if I'd been running nonstop for hours. My calves and thighs burned, and my chest and lungs didn't feel all too hot either. "Urgh..." I forced myself to stand, supporting my weight by holding onto the bedpost. Carefully, I stretched out my cramped muscles until the throbbing almost completely disappeared. It took over twenty minutes.
What was that? I'd never woken up feeling like I was hit by a bus before...except for that one time that I was hit by a bicycle, but that's another story entirely. Why did I suddenly hurt now? Apollo had healed me after the demon pigeon invasion, and I hadn't seen a single monster since. So...was it the dream?
It was probable enough, considering how real it felt...though I hoped it wasn't true. I had just found out that I was a half-blooded freak, for God—the gods' sakes! For all I knew, it could've had something to do with my prophecies...the thing I was trying to run away from. Creepy nightmarish visions were the last thing that I needed at a time like this.
"Alright..." I managed, looking out the window. The rain had stopped, but I had been out for longer than I thought. The sun had long since vanished and the moon was in full view. I'd slept the day away. There would be no money-making tonight, and I was pretty sure that I was too shaken to try sleeping again either.
After a hasty decision, I gathered up my hoody, blanket and pillow and jammed them into my bag. I pocketed the drachmas and cash and pulled out my snazzy griffin sunglasses from the side pocket. I hung them on my shirt collar. The violin case fit snugly into the bag and I zipped it up. I deemed everything else unnecessary for finding the hunters, so I left it behind.
I returned the key to the guy in charge and hit the road (well, more like I limped off—that dream had been a doozy). The lights soon vanished behind me and I was all alone in the dark. I tensed a little, then put on my shades.
Anyone who passed me would either think that I was blind or stupid. Personally, I thought that I had the coolest pair of shades in the world. Not only do they look stylish, they're way more than just a normal pair of sunglasses. Everything was clear as day for me with the sungalsses on. They worked like night-vision goggles (possibly a sick pun from the gods), and the left dial on the edge made them work like binoculars, zooming in or out without ever looking any different outwardly. Spinning the right dial seemed to do nothing though; I had yet to figure that one out...
Hours passed before exhaustion hit me again like a freight train (or a bike. Don't laugh, those things hurt). My legs ached too much to go on, so I wandered away from the roadside to the edge of a small forest and leaned against a tree. When I realised just how tired I really was, I slid down to sit on the partially damp grass. I guess that vision-dreams take a lot more out of you than you'd expect.
My break lasted another half hour or so before I was hit with an idea, one that actually made sense for once. Instead of looking for people who knew hunters, why not check out the woods and find one myself? Hunters go into forests all the time, right? (As you can tell, I'm not much of a hunter...) The throbbing had subsided enough for me to move again, so instead of waiting until morning (a logical idea), I stalked into the woods, ready to possibly meet my first hunter. Emphasis on possibly.
Remember how I just mentioned that waiting until morning was a smarter idea? It was. I wasn't in there for ten minutes before it came at me. If not for my griffin glasses, I wouldn't have even noticed it at all. As it was, a fierce claw ripped into my shoulder, splattering blood everywhere. I screamed in agony and turned to the beast, clutching my ruined arm tightly as it starred me down, its golden eyes slit and locked onto my own. Slowly, it began to prowl around me, its feline grace making its pawsteps soundless. Its long copper tail brushed the ground silently in anticipation. I could smell the blood on its breath, it was so close.
Blood pulsed out of my wound, soaking my entire left side. It burned like a thousand daggers continuously stabbing into me at once, but I couldn't afford to concentrate on it right now. The giant cat continued to circle me, trying to get behind me for a finishing strike.
Why does this always happen to me now? I couldn't help but wonder. I had no weapon, my left arm—my good arm—was completely useless now, and I was face-to-face with a sabre-toothed tiger, something that I was positive was supposed to be extinct. Just a demigod's luck, I suppose.
A low growl rumbled in the beast's throat. Two huge canine fangs hung out of its mouth, contributing to its glowering stare (I wondered if those were heavy—no, bad Eon! Worry about that later!). Its muscles tensed and I knew what was coming next. With a mighty roar, the king of the forest leaped into the air, claws aimed down for my face.
How did I counter my newfound foe, you ask? Simple: I panicked. What else could I do? A three hundred pound (extinct) cat with killer instincts, and deathly sharp fangs and claws was going to skin me alive and eat me. Or was it the other way around? Either way, I knew I was doomed. Since I really didn't have a lot of time for creativity in this sort of situation, I did the next best thing.
I screamed. Loudly.
I'm not sure how I managed it (luck, I guess) but before the tiger landed, I managed to dodge right below its belly. Its hind paws missed my nose by millimetres. Then it was time to panic again, because it had clearly decided that it wasn't done with me yet. With a snarl, the beast whipped a claw under itself, raking it up my back.
Well, as you could guess, that hurt. A lot. I'm not sure how I managed to stay conscious, but I'm certainly glad that I did. Unconscious, I'd be nothing more than a slightly pulpy pile of meow mix right now. Because of the angle of the claw though, my back wound wasn't deep enough to damage my spinal cord. That allowed me (with great difficulty) to dive out behind the tiger and race for the trees. The felid snarled its irritation, giving (a short) chase before pouncing, swatting me down onto my stomach and pinning my arms with its huge claws. I could feel its hot breath against my neck as it sniffed me. The tiger was too heavy to shake off, not to mention the claws digging painfully into my arms. I was completely helpless.
What a LOVELY way to end off the day...and my life. Man, I still hadn't beaten that game that I had gotten last month!
It seemed satisfied that I'd be a decent midnight snack when it finished sniffing me. I could feel it jerk its body upwards for the killing strike, and hear the audible click of its canine fangs when it opened its mouth. Then the impossible happened. It roared loudly and staggered off me, both shocking and cutting me at the same time. Without a second thought, I ignored my now bleeding arms and pulled myself to my hands and knees, my left arm feeling numb from blood loss. My vision was doing loop-de-loops and I heard yelling and footsteps and more roaring. Gritting my teeth against the pain, I forced myself onto my feet and staggered to a tree, holding onto it tightly with my good arm for support. More yelling echoed around me. I could swear that someone was issuing orders, but I had no idea who, or if I was even still alive at this point.
I shook my head a little to try to clear the dizziness. Everything had a lovely reddish-tinge now in my griffin glasses, though I wasn't sure if I'd taken a head wound during the confusion or if it was just the blood loss doing its thing. Either way, feeling safe (or as safe as I could get) for the moment, I took a look around. My jaw dropped, quickly followed by myself because I stupidly forgot to hold onto the tree.
"Ow..." I whimpered, though I barely felt anything other than constant throbbing pain by this point. I was more interested in the ten or so girls armed with longbows and daggers racing around the confused tiger. It snarled and dived at one of them, but she easily evaded and scored a long slash down its side. The beast howled in agony and clawed at another girl, just to be shot in the paw with a silver arrow. Did I mention that they were all about my age or teenagers? Wow, I needed to eat more protein or something. They had skills (in my defence, I also had skills—just not the kind that would help me in a life-or-death situation, like this one).
"Alright, girls! Let's finish this!" A new voice barked above the snarling from somewhere behind me. With a grunt I turned toward it, and I was sure that I was dead.
Walking up to me, decked out in all black save for a silver circlet on her head, was Ashirai...but not. She had the same sky-blue eyes, black hair and gothic fashion sense, but her face was off a bit, and there was no red streak in her hair. She also looked like she smiled once every ten years because she didn't have Ashirai's "I hate the world" glare. Her T-shirt said "Death to Barbie".
"Are you alright?" The Ashirai clone asked, though it was quite clear to both of us that I was not. She looked me over for a second and bit her lip, somehow seeing how bad I really was for the first time in the half-light that the moon provided. I was afraid to even think about how bad I looked. It felt bad enough. "Here," she knelt down and offered me her shoulder, but I inched back. Her eyebrow cocked and I heard a loud yelp and thud behind us.
"Oh god, not another one...or gods? Go—ah whatever..." I managed and collapsed onto my back. Thunder roared in the background. If the gods were mad at me, so be it. I'd apologize later. The girl was looking over me, concern on every inch of her face. My brain finally registered my position and an insanely powerful bolt of pain shot through me.
Then everything went black. Again.
The smell of old, musty air greeted my nose when I came to. I was lying on my back, but there was no pain. Am I dead? There was no way to tell unless I opened my eyes, but I had no will to do so yet. It was oddly peaceful like this. Silence filled the air around me and I could smell the sweet scent of autumn grass. Out of curiosity, I twitched my fingers. Each responded, a good sign that I was in one piece, at the very least. My head shifted to the side and the dead grass poked into my cheek. Time...to wake up... My eyes slid open slowly. Somehow I wasn't surprised to find myself in the middle of a field of black grass. Pushing myself up, I noticed that the sky also was cut off by a layer of stalactites and rock. I was underground. That only improved the likelihood that I was really dead.
I looked down at myself. Everything was in place, and strangely enough, I seemed to have no scars from Tony's grandpa up a floor. It was as if the fight never happened. Pft. I wished.
My attention then shifted back to my surroundings. The field stretched on to as far the eye could see, and seeing that nothing in this dreary place seemed all too worthwhile to do for an eternity, I started walking. I had no real destination in mind, but my legs continued on as if possessed. Every so often I heard bits and pieces of conversations all around me, but I never saw anyone. Only shadows. It was as if nothing ever existed here except for me...or maybe it was the opposite. I shivered at the thought.
I don't know how long it was, but I eventually found out where my legs were taking me. The grass shifted to rock and a huge rip in the earth lay before me, swallowing up what little light this strange place had. It was both terrifying and enticing at the same time. As I approached it, Greek symbols appeared in the stone around it. Though I couldn't read them, I knew that they were warnings. Hades, one of the few Greek gods that I knew of, didn't want anyone near this place; yet I was too fascinated to turn down my chance at seeing the inside of this beastly hole. What's the worst that could happen? An eternity of nothingness? Watching an eternal Totally Spies marathon was a way worse fate.
I stepped up to the rim of the pit. The thing almost seemed alive; air was lightly sucked in, then regurgitated back out, blowing my hair around wildly. I couldn't explain it, but I could somehow sense a cold malevolence coming from within the depths of the hole's gut. It looked like someone else had decided to take a dive into here after all. I guess I was the rotten egg.
I jumped.
Complete and utter darkness surrounded me. I heard voices: yelling, crying, howling, swearing, whispering...but I couldn't tell where they were. The only thing that I could tell at all was that I was plummeting down at a breakneck pace, but I wasn't even sure what direction I was going. Everything seemed wild and confused in this place. One minute I could swear I was going down, then the next I was heading left. It felt kind of like I was sky diving, only with no parachute. If there really was a bottom to this place, I'd very likely go splat.
After a while, I began to grow accustomed to my new surroundings. It wasn't like there was much to learn. Darkness enveloped me entirely. Every so often I'd shoot another direction, and confused voices echoed all around me, though the voices never seemed to be intended for anyone in particular. That was, at least, until it spoke to me.
"A peculiar choice, child..." The strange voice from my vision-dream hissed into my ear. Lazily, I tried swatting it away. "You choose the darkness over the light. Why?" No good.
I thought about it, but nothing came to me. Why did I jump? It wasn't as if I gained anything from it, and I'm pretty sure that I still had the entirety of the Underworld to explore. So...why?
"Dunno..." I murmured, shifting my arms behind my neck and my leg over my knee. It wasn't worth brooding over.
"Is this what you truly wish for?"
I grimaced. What I wished for? What kind of question was that?
"Dunno." I repeated, "Had no plans, got no plans."
The voice was silent for a moment. "Your apathy is astounding. You hide from your fate instead of becoming the hero that you are meant to be. You ignore your own potential for lazy, selfish desires." It hurt a bit to be scolded by something that could very well be a figment of my overactive imagination. That didn't make it any less true though. Truth be told, apathy was the one of the only things that I was ever good at, save for mimicking sounds. Having ADHD was my excuse. If I couldn't concentrate on something for longer than ten minutes, why waste energy? "You have the courage to leap into the darkest depths of Hell, yet not the will to find your way back out. Beings much stronger than you have been trapped here for an eternity, yet you who are capable of exiting selfishly use this place as an escape from your troubles, even after all of the sacrifices made to get you this far."
My stomach churned painfully as the memory of Aisu resurfaced. I grit my teeth hard, not wanting to give in, not wanting to allow the voice to win me over so easily, but it was impossibly hard when it knew what buttons to press. Did that girl make a sacrifice for me too, just like my little Aisu? How many others had?
"Then what...do you suggest I do?" Like a sixth sense, I could feel the bodiless entity ripple around me, excited to have finally won. Of anything, I could imagine the Cheshire cat's grin on its faceless lips. It rippled some more and wrapped around me like a protective cocoon. My body tensed, ready to fight off this...thing if it tried anything funny, but being completely blinded and it having no actual form made that plan a little...useless. There was a shifting feeling in the current again, but I felt the entity tug me away from it, guiding me elsewhere.
A little buzz ran through my chest when light appeared in the distance. As we got closer, I found out that the voice had no intention of actually leading me outside, like I had assumed it would. Instead, it had brought me to an ancient stone room surrounded by twelve obelisks, each holding a torch. The entity dropped me on the floor and swished around me and the flames, though never seeming to get very close to the center of the room; it was brighter there than all of the torches combined. I had to shield my eyes when I looked at it, but I could make out six short pillars surrounding a seventh, slightly taller one. Floating above each pillar, save for one, was a glowing sphere. Clockwise, the pillars held: the missing orb, black, purple, green, blue, yellow and crimson in the middle. It didn't take a rocket scientist to tell me why I was here. This was a test for me. One of these spheres was mine, but which one?
"So...you gonna tell me which one to take or not?" The voice remained silent, though I could sense it shivering with anticipation. Just what were these orbs? Why did they glow like that, and what did they do?
The voice was going to give me no help though; its silence made that clear. I wasn't even sure if it knew the answer to my question itself. With a sigh, I approached the pillars, shading my eyes from the intensity of the light. Once I was closer, I noticed that the orbs weren't the same size. The center orb was the largest, just smaller than a bowling ball, and the size of the others diminished in the clockwise pattern, black being the second largest and yellow the smallest. I assumed that whatever colour the missing sphere was, it was either equal to or slightly smaller than the crimson.
I circled the pillars once out of curiosity. Nothing really stood out about them other than a few Greek symbols etched into each, though I had no idea what they said. I think it said something like "eat dirt" or "I waz here"; some crap like that. I stopped in front of the purple orb's pedestal and stepped up to it. I could hear a strange ringing sound in the back of my head but ignored it. Slowly, I cupped my hands around the orb, only to find out the hard way that purple had an attitude problem. Energy surged up from the orb and blasted me clear across the room. I landed hard on my backside and called the entity a rather rude word in Japanese before getting back up and trudging back to the pillars. So if I chose the wrong colour, I'd be blasted. Lovely.
"You could've mentioned that to me before I chose one..." I growled at the voice. It shivered and shifted around the obelisks some more. Maybe I was imagining it, but I think that it was glad that I didn't get the purple one...
So I chose the blue one next. The ringing returned in my ears and I paused this time, my hand hovering over the orb. After a brief moment of hesitation, I backed off and moved for the green. The buzzing returned, stronger than the blue, but weaker than the purple. I assumed that the strength of the buzz determined the strength of the blast. Either way, that was three down. My eyes shifted to the yellow.
The entity shivered again when my hand approached the yellow orb. There was no buzzing in my ears, and I think that it noticed that too. It began to shake and ripple more, as if irritated at me for some reason. I was about to demand what its problem was when a powerful shock came from the orb and blasted me away again. My bodiless friend calmed down when I sat up. What was its deal? I walked back to the pillars.
Only two spheres remained now: black and crimson. An icy claw gripped my gut. The colours were foreboding, and they were a lot bigger than the other orbs. Getting shocked by one of these would be no picnic...
"朱, 黒...朱, 黒..." I mumbled to myself. My eyes shifted between the two orbs. Slowly, I reached out for the black orb, only to have a beehive attack my eardrums. My hand retreated instantly and I looked back to the entity. "It's not black...is it?" There was no response. With no other spheres left, I stepped up to the center pillar.
My breath caught in my chest when I looked into the orb. Crimson light washed over my entire body, making me look like I'd bathed in blood. The thought sickened me, and I wanted to turn away, to reject it, but I knew that the entity would never allow it. I could feel it shivering, goading me on in its speechless way. It wanted me to take this orb. It had wanted it to be taken all along. Nothing else mattered but this one sphere. ...Why?
My hands trembled when they cupped around it. There was no buzzing. In fact, it felt kind of nice. It had a warm, welcoming feeling, like a hug. This thing truly was mine, whatever it was. All I had to do was take it back...
I finally poured all of my courage into my fingers and grabbed the orb.
As soon as my hands touched it, it dropped, filling the dip in the center of the pillar perfectly. Heat began to pour into it as I tried to tug it out of the hole, but this thing was way heavier than a bowling ball. After finding that pulling it out wasn't going to work, I forced my foot against the stone side of the pillar and yanked with all my might. Slowly, it began to shift toward me until there was a light "plup" sound. Then it came rolling into me, smashing into my chest and winding me.
"Mrng...this is about time when—" Just on cue, the room began to shake violently. The obelisks shuttered and collapsed, their torches extinguishing with their defeat. I had a weird feeling in my gut when I watched the final one shatter when it met the ground, its torch spinning off into the darkness that nibbled on the edge of the room. Either I was going to lose my lunch, or I'd better get away from central pillars.
I decided to go with the latter.
Crawling and rolling from the weight of the orb, I took cover near the final fallen torch-bearer, just in time to watch in fascination as a huge crimson beam shot out from the central pillar. Around it, the remaining five spheres glowed brightly and spiralled up after the flare, a trail of light in their respective colours racing after them. Tears came to my eyes from the brightness of the light show, but I couldn't look away. Whatever I had released, it was the coolest thing that I had ever seen in my life.
The room settled when the light show vanished. A faint red glow came from the red sphere in my lap, the only source of light left in the room. It was no longer enough to see passed my hands and the obelisk that I was perched on.
"There...I have it..." I glared over at the voice.
"Well done..." It shifted around me slowly. "So it begins..."
"What begins—UHCK!" I grabbed my chest when a powerful burst of energy ran through it. Tears stung my eyes, begging me to cry. "W-what the—!" Another burst ran through me, more powerful than the last. I closed my eyes tightly and hugged onto the sphere, hoping it would sooth the pain. That was when I noticed that there was something wrong with it...
My eyes snapped open and stared at the orb. The glow was getting weaker and weaker, and it was beginning to lose its form.
"W-what?" Another shock came and I gasped for air. I grabbed the orb and shook it desperately. "Don't go! Don't go!" It didn't want to listen. The glow faded entirely and the darkness surrounded me again. "STUPID DISCOUNT SPHERE!" I cried when it shattered in my hands, shards falling away into nothingness. Another shock attacked my chest.
Shorter than I would've hoped…most of my chapters are around the 16-page mark, but this one is only 10, skipping rants, notes and disclaimers. That's still decent enough to make a chapter though…
This chapter was actually originally intended to be a MUCH longer chapter, combining this chapter with the next, but quite a bit happens between the two, so I split it up for everyone's convenience…especially Miffin's…she'd hit me if I gave her a 30-page chapter to edit… *Hides*
(Miffin Note: No offense, but I do not want to edit another 40+ page chapter again)
So…hope you liked it, and you know the drill! R&R please! Thanks you, pukos!
