Chapter 6! This fic is getting a really small number of hits, and a really small number of reviews, too. So please review! It's appreciated!
The story so far: Now, the guild has just finished the second stage of the test, and they have made it further than they ever thought they would. The secrets of the castle have just started revealing themselves, and it won't be long until the true challenges begin.
/-- --. -/ Gale \- -. .-.\
The guild exited the Hall of the Knight and entered a large room. The stone pillars surrounding it were crumbled, and there were large jagged holes in the ceiling. Ancient ceramic pots stood around the well-lit room, and at the centre stood a huge fountain. Water still pooled in its three bowls, though it no longer flowed between them. At the foot of the fountain were four statues of armour-clad men. Sunlight streamed brightly in from holes in the ceiling.
For a moment, a strong breeze washed through the room from one of the wide holes. To Distantlight, it felt like a reassuring reminder that they were still not disconnected from the world.
"What do we do here?" Crystalriver asked the stone lion. They were all already beginning to regain trust in it.
"This is the offering room," the lion said. "The fountain is magical. You must obtain four medals, four scrolls, four bowls of olives and four bottles of wine, and place them in the proper combination at the feet of the four gods' statues. One offering for each god. If you get it wrong more than seven times, the gods will send their wrath upon you." Crystalriver nodded thoughtfully, looking around at the guild.
"We're ready," she confirmed, turning back to the stone lion. Immediately, it glowed, and the scrolls and medals appeared on the ground around the fountain.
Then, a strange thing happened.
The wind began to howl, whipping up the little pieces of chipped stone on the ground. From the objects, black ghosts began to rise, like black sheets with tattered and frayed edges. A loud moaning filled the hall, and the wind was suddenly swirling around them.
"This…this shouldn't have happened!" the stone lion gasped. The guild members glanced at each other.
Distantlight backed away as the black things appeared and began to fly around on the gusts.
"Ghosts…Black Knights and Myst Knights," Starfieldsky murmured in the wind's midst, drawing out her axe. The ghosts began to pick up the scrolls and medals. Stricken by fear, the people ran, shouting for help.
"Don't fear them! Fight!" Crystalriver shouted, whipping her staff around in a spell. After a few hits, it sank to the ground, defeated. The medal it originally held fell from its body and rolled on the ground. The mage picked it up.
More ghosts were appearing from everywhere; they were teeming in their hundreds, moaning and swirling around. Distantlight was trapped, helpless, in the middle of the room with the fountain—the fountain! Quickly, he scrambled up onto the first bowl, while all around him, the others fought the ghosts.
Tearing his eyes from the battle below, Distantlight continued to climb, up onto the second, the third, till he was safe.
Then when he reached the top bowl and placed his hands on it, the reflections in the water suddenly began to change, to become more colourful. And he watched, stunned, as the images and sounds of the past showed within.
"Get lost!" shouted a thin, skeletal figure in the water. It advanced on a richly dressed man with a crown on his head. "I will not follow the orders of a human, no even the king!"
"Ergoth…you were made to serve," the man replied. "You were made to follow orders!" He held out a staff. "If you do not do as you are told, I will be forced to destroy you!"
The thing laughed. "Destroy me…you always threaten that! But you never did that, did you?" Then, it reached forward and snapped the staff. "I'm not stupid. I've learnt your tricks. And I know it's time I claim this land for myself!"
The man opened his mouth to retort, but Distantlight knew he could not. He had lost all power over this creature, this Ergoth.
Finally, he spoke. "I have…failed my nation. I shouldn't have made you…"
Ergoth laughed, rising up. "You can't stop me. No one can stop me!" he roared.
"But it's my duty to make sure you don't ruin my country. It's all I can do in apology…you may leave your prison when someone comes to free you. Till then…"
Then, he gave a loud shout, and a powerful white energy rushed from his body, out his mouth, flying out through an open door behind him. At the same moment, he sank to the stony ground, dead.
"So, Sharen III kills himself, for no reason too!" Ergoth laughed, floating through the door into the next room, the throne room. "He's even stupider than I thought!"
Distantlight pulled his head away, too shocked to speak. Was this really what had happened in the past? How Sharen III had died?
Looking back into the water, he saw darkness washing through the room like a wave of wind, through the castle. People ran, but died before they could reach the doors. And the darkness spread outwards into the island.
At the heart of it all, Ergoth was sitting smugly on the throne.
But too late, it realised that it was slowly sinking into the throne, which shone with the white energy that Sharen III had created. Soon, nothing was left but a magenta shard of gem that had been at the core of Ergoth before. Rubian.
The image vanished, and only the reflection of the broken ceiling remained inside the water.
Distantlight looked away and saw that the Black and Myst knights were gone, and everyone was holding either a scroll or a gold medal, except Starfieldsky.
"Hey, get down from there," Crystalriver called to him. "We're waiting for you. And we still need to find the olives and wind. But first, we've got to get you off there."
Not wasting a moment, Distantlight jumped nimbly down. But he could not stop thinking of what he had just learnt. Ergoth had caused the Sharenians' downfall. And Sharen III had killed himself in order to stop Ergoth from continuing the damage it had done. Even so, he had been too late, and all the Sharenians had died, every last one.
Without realising it, tears were appearing in Distantlight's eyes. He blinked, and they were gone.
Ending was lousy. I know that. Please review now! I need reviews!
By the way, my profile reached 1000 hits two days ago. That rocks.