Chapter 7
Fear of the Dark
Will looked around and tried to gain her bearings. She was tied up, that much was easy to tell. She was somewhat surprised to find that she was held by no more then ordinary ropes. With all the strange magic around her, she figured that her captor could find something stronger then ropes to hold her.
She tested the strength of her bonds by twisting, and was surprised to find a weight hanging from her neck. She soon realized that it was the Heart. Why, she asked, would they leave her the Heart? She didn't know much about kidnapping, but she was pretty sure that you weren't supposed to leave your captive with her most powerful weapon. She tapped into her quintessential power, and allowed the lightning like force to spread across her body. It had no effect on the ropes. Perhaps they're not just plain old ropes, she thought to her self. Ordinary ropes would have been burned up by her powers, but these held their ground.
She decided to use her powers in a different way. She focused her energies into the Heart, and used it to light up her cell. She found nothing in it. The room was merely four walls that surrounded only her. She wasn't quite sure what she expected, skeletons hanging in the corner perhaps, but she did not find it. Despite her situation, her curiosity had gotten the best of her. Where was she, and what could they possibly want from her?
Will did not have to wait long for answers, for within minutes, someone entered.
"Hello Will." Jack said, entering the room, "We need to talk."
Jack then did the one thing that Will did not expect him to do. He released her.
As soon as she dropped to the ground, Will unleashed the most powerful blast of energy that she could, hitting Jack square in the chest. She maintained this attack for a few seconds before the energy faded.
"Did you really think that would work?" Jack asked, seemingly unfazed.
"Did you really think I wouldn't try?" Will replied. "Besides, it seemed to work before."
"You will find it much harder to defeat me in my own realm, child." Jack said.
"Is that why you let me keep the Heart?" Will said. "Or are you just really bad at your job."
"Do you know what I'm here to do?" Jack said, ignoring the question.
"I assume you're here to take the Heart of Kandrakar." Will said, trying to sound brave. "Through any means necessary."
"That is what both you, and my masters expect me to do." Jack replied. "But it is not what I'm going to do."
"Why not?" Will asked. "Wait a second, your masters? Someone controls you?"
"Sadly, yes." Jack replied. "And that is why I will not harm you today, girl."
"Then why are you here?" Will said.
"I am here to ask for your help." Jack replied.
No matter how many times he had seen it, the Spire had the same effect on Sparrow as it did on anyone else who laid eyes upon it. A sense of sheer awe and amazement, although with Sparrow, this awe was laced with sadness. Even the Guardians, who had seen their fair share of wonders, had to stop and admire the tower before them.
The sheer scale of the Spire alone was enough to make anyone look twice, but it was more then just its physical attributes that made it special. Waves of emotions seemed to be emanating from it. Hope, love, and willpower were the strongest, but rage and fear were beginning to grow.
"Well, it lives up to its name." Irma said once she caught her breath.
"And it certainty seems evil." Cornelia said.
"The Spire takes no moral stance." the Hero said. "It fights for neither good nor evil. It simply does what it was created to do. It is the hands of men that shape it to either harm or heal."
"Uh huh." Hay Lin said, unconvinced.
"Hero!" Came a voice from behind.
The five members of the part spun to find an old woman making her way towards them. She was dressed in a hooded cloak that obscured her face, but the girls could still make out a bandage that covered both of her eyes.
"Theresa." The hero said. "It is good to see you are well."
"It is good to find you healthy as well, Sparrow." Theresa replied.
"Um, want to introduce us?" Cornelia whispered to Sparrow.
"Theresa, these are the Guardians. Their leader has been taken by a masked foe. We believe this man to be the Jack of Blades." Sparrow said, giving a short recap of the past days events.
"Jack? He is back?" Theresa exclaimed with a sense of fear that Sparrow had never heard before in her voice.
"We believe so." The Hero replied. "Tell us, have you sensed anything from the Spire these past few days."
"There have been rumblings." Theresa said. "From the other side. I did not think much of it. How have these incursions been hidden from my sight?"
"No offense lady, but…" Irma said, staring at the band covering Theresa's eyes.
"I am blind, not dumb." Theresa replied, staring directly back at Irma. "Despite my physical limitations, I can still see farther and more clearly then you could ever hope to."
"Theresa is a seer." The Hero said. "Sometimes, she can predict events before they happen."
"The reason that this rag now covers my useless eyes is because of Jack." Theresa said. "He blinded me as a child. A disadvantage I have learned to overcome."
"So you can see the future." Irma said. "Awesome!"
"Yes, which is how I know of you, Irma Lair." Theresa said. "Although for some reason, all of your futures a hidden from me by some powerful energy."
"Probably the Heart." Taranee said. "Speaking of which, it's kinda why we're here."
"She will have been taken to the void." Theresa said. "And it takes none of my powers to deduce that. If Jack takes a victim, it will be to his realm. It is doubtful she is still alive, and if she is, she probably wishes she wasn't."
"I refuse to believe that." Taranee countered.
"We all do." Hay Lin added.
"Theresa, you know of the black substance that was surrounding Jack?" Sparrow asked.
"No." Theresa replied. "But I am curious as to what you speak of. Describe it in great detail."
And so Sparrow told Theresa everything he knew about Jack's return. About where and when he had appeared, and the strange behavior in which the liquid covering him behaved. The girls added information now and then, although nothing that Sparrow could not have said himself. Still, the Hero did not mind the interruptions. Anything that kept the Guardians from thinking about their leaders fate was beneficial.
"Well?" Sparrow asked when they were finished. "Do you know what it could be?"
"I believe so." Theresa said, "And if I am right, then Jack is the least of our worries."
"Wait a second, you're telling me that the guy who kidnapped Will is not our biggest problem?" Cornelia said.
"Yes." Theresa said. "And it is as I feared. Listen, all of you, as I speak of the Corruption."