Chapter 10 – Sacrifice

Sorry about the wait, this one needed a little TLC ^^' A big thank you to my BETA for her super help. You're a lifesaver Shiny! :)

"So, what do you know about this Fireflower?" Shadow asked to fill the silence.
"How much do you know about Greek mythology?" Aeronniell asked.
Shadow shrugged. "Not much."

"Well, in the Greek legends, there's a river that passes through Tartarus known as the Phlegethon or the river of fire. It was used to heal the, uh... 'Residents' of Tartarus so that they could be punished over and over again. The water, or fire rather, from the river fed and watered a normal lily until it became the Fireflower with the ability to heal," Aeronniell explained.

"Fascinating. When did you figure this out?"
"Did you guys think that you are the only ones with a library? Aqua went to do some extra research for me whilst you three were out fighting."

She paused abruptly. "I think we're at the first test. Look," she said after a while, pointing to a large rectangular slab of rock up ahead.

There was a large gap in the center of the slab, it looked like a window to the abyss. Aeronniell couldn't help but strain her eyes, searching for a pair of yellow eyes or an enormous clawed hand. Forcing her wild imagination to the back of her mind, she shuddered and looked away from the slab.

Shadow walked up to the rock and blew the thick layer of dust away from it, revealing the inscriptions beneath. "Hieroglyphics? I can't read these!" Shadow grumbled in frustration. Suddenly, slowly, the inscriptions began to glow a pale red. Shadow stared in amazement as the unrecognisable symbols fizzled away, leaving standard english behind.

"That's... weird!" Shadow exclaimed.
"What is?" Aeronniell asked.
"Didn't you see? The writing just... changed, it sort of dissolved," Shadow explained, still surprised. "That's... pretty clever."
"Woah, if there was hieroglyphics then it looks like we are the only ones who have gotten this far for a long time... So, what do we have to do?" Aeronniell asked.

Shadow quickly read the instructions and snorted. "Oh, great. Apparently one of us has to put our hand in the hole as a sacrifice," he throwing his arms up in the air.
"You mean like chopped off?!" Aeronniell exclaimed.
Shadow nodded grimly. "That's what it says."

A silence began to creep forwards towards the two. "All right then, let's get this over with. I'll do it," Shadow announced.
"No, Shadow you can't-" Aeronniell beseeched.
"I can and I will, Aero. Besides, you can't heal yourself but you could heal me. It's the best way. It's no good one of us dying before we get to this damned Fireflower," Shadow interrupted.

Aeronniell stood in silence for a moment. She knew that there was no arguing with Shadow when he planned to do something, but that didn't relieve her conscience of letting him do this for her.
"All right then," Aeronniell muttered, lowering her head. "But I'll do it, if you don't want to," she added, a little louder.

Shadow ignored her comment and went down on one knee in front of the stone slab. He stared at the hole in the stone, it looked like a great black gem had been embedded into it. Looking at his hand whilst it was still attached to his arm for the last time, Shadow eventually closed his eyes. Slowly, his shaking hand inched its way into the foreboding gap in the rock. Cobwebs brushed past his fingers, sticky and cold. His entire hand was inside the crack, but there was no sign of an end to the tunnel.

"This is insane," Shadow muttered turning his head away from the slab, battling his way through the thick cobwebs, his hand finally met something firm. He jolted away from it as he built himself up with fear and dread. Biting his bottom lip, Shadow hesitated for a moment more. Raising his hand to the void-like gap, grinding his teeth together in agitation, he threw his hand inside. In one swift moment, his hand seized the lever in a death grip and pulled.

An almighty scrape of metal on rock was heard. There was a slamming noise; Aeronniell clamped her eyes shut as she expected to hear a heart-tearing scream… Yet nothing came, instead the only noise was the great stone door sliding out of the way.

"S..Shadow?" Aeronniell asked, her voice overflowing with fear. She dared herself to open one eye.
"I'm... Fine," Shadow managed. He seemed to be in a state of disbelief and complete shock.
He slowly pulled his arm out of the rock and seemed even more surprised when his hand was still there.

"It was a trick. It was to see if we were willing to do it," Shadow managed. The longer he looked at his hand, the more relieved he became as he allowed his initial anger to seep away.
Aeronniell also began to allow herself to settle down, trying to ease her pounding heart.

"Are you complaining?" Aeronniell smirked feebly , masking her anxiousness with humor.
"No," Shadow said quickly, in reply to her half-hearted remark. "Come on, Let's get going. We don't have all day," he added.

As he headed towards the next room, Aeronniell noticed that he kept clenching his fist, as if to check that it was still there.
"Are you sure you're all right?" she asked warmly.
"I'm fine.. Just startled, I guess," Shadow admitted. "It's not every day I'm willing to give up a hand."

Aeronniell nodded and walked beside him. This was only the first test, and Shadow is on edge... We're doomed, she thought to herself, as her hands wandered towards her necklace to seek comfort.
Shadow looked at Aeronniell as if reading her thoughts. "We'll be fine, they're probably just trying to get us to back down."
Aeronniell shrugged "Well they're doing a good job," she muttered. A smile of amusement escaped Shadow's lips.

Both hedgehogs suddenly froze into place as they saw what awaited them in the next room.

Shadow managed to speak first. "That's... IMPOSSIBLE!..."

So, that's test one. Four to go. Let me know what you think :)