Myst POV

Why…why…WHY! Why did I agree to this disastrous plan? What is so disastrous about this plan you may ask? EVERYTHING! Well, except for the part where I win! I don't mind joining forces with Ash, but Tancred and Lysander! Why do I put up with this? Why?

End of POV

The ruin looked especially eerie tonight, the moonlight reflected off its red walls and cast long shadows across the solemn faces of the students assembled outside it. Myst guessed that she would have to tie Ash down to prevent her from running away, Ash was scared of the dark. She denied this, claiming to only be afraid of the fiends that hide in the dark. Myst had packed a small bag with some useful necessities: Band-Aids, two long, white bandages, an apple, 2 slices of bread, a box of matches, some twigs, a rope and a torch. Okay, so it wasn't too small, but it wasn't big.

"Myst, I don't think I can do this…" Ash murmured nervously, fear was evident in her voice.

Myst turned incredulously towards her "Of course you can!" she soothed, taking on the role of supportive (yet ever so slightly irritable) friend.

"Oh fine then. Let me rephrase, I don't WANT to do this!" Ash repeated,

Lysander appeared, seemingly from nowhere.

"Nice try Ash, its compulsory. Hey Myst, how about sharing the supplies in case we get stuck?" Lysander grinned, oblivious to his girlfriends despair.

"Fine, then." Myst relented, she would much rather be using the supplies on Ash and herself, instead of wasting them on losers like Tancred and Lysander.

With Lysander's pocket-knife, they quartered the apple, split the twigs, halved the slices of bread and shared the matches.

"Burning...shiny!" Ash's face lighted up at the prospect of burning matches, she always had a box on her at home, but it seems that they where left behind.

"Ashelin Elinor Evans! Under NO circumstances are you going to use those matches in a situation that is not dire!" Myst lectured. Ash's face turned crimson at the mention of her full name.

"Ashelin?" queried Lysander. Ash swung around, grabbed Lysander by the collar and yanked him down to eye level, "If you don't have a death wish I suggest you don't say those three words… Ever…" she whispered lethally. Lysander nodded mutely.

One by one, the art, drama and music students entered the ruin, this year the school had decided to merge the departments to create one massive ruin game, the medal was no longer at the centre, but towards the back of the ruin.

Myst had made a mechanism with some spare material to make a headlamp out of her torch. Ash thought she looked ridiculous, but Myst said it was 'practical'. There were tiny gaps in the roof of the ruin, where moonlight seeped through, Ash kept to these moonlit tunnels, dragging Lysander, Tancred and Myst along.

"Okay, the first thing is best put first. We need to find that medal, before anyone else does. Clearly, THEY don't want US to find it. A Medal that promotes special treatment in the wrong hands - a recipe for disaster." stated Ash.

"What makes you think it's anything special? Its not like anyone will find it… especially not us." grumbled Tancred.

Myst tried to picture a birds-eye map of the ruin, but there was something in the way. She tried again. And again. Finally, there came a voice:

Being a naughty girl are we? No cheating, that's against the rules Mystic A. Archer, I would of thought better!

I've heard of a persuasive conscience, but this is ridiculous. Come on, give me the goddamn map!

No.

NOW! I HAVE A PYRO AND IM NOT AFRAID TO USE IT-ER HER!

You still think I'm you conscience? Oh dearie me, I thought you'd figure it out by now...

F-figure what out? Give me back my powers! I don't care who you are, but I have friends..! f-f-fr...

"..F-friends that will help... will help me…" Myst whispered before everything fell into oblivion and her vision faded into nothingness.

In other words…

She fell unconscious.

"Myst? MYST! Don't let me slap you..! I don't need much of an excuse! Come on, this is not funny! Wake up! Wake up!" Ash was extremely worried. Myst wasn't the type to talk to herself then collapse. The talking to herself part was Ash's specialty.

"What don't tell me you didn't already notice she's a lunatic." One guess for who that was. (TANCRED)

Then, a swirling light escaped from her chest, and the murky swirls became a face, ageless wrinkles twisting into an evil, hollow smile. It spoke: "Oh, my. What HAVE I done to poor little Mystic? She'll never be the same. I have compressed her, used her body," she turned to Tancred; "When you look into those staring, beautiful eyes, it's my soul you desire. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! You won't get her back, not if I have anything to do with it. She's too powerful. I have a girl with way better potential to use her powers. I've been feeding them to her you know. Her name is - Oops, I've said too much! What a big mouth I have!" She flashed an evil smile.

"Bring her back! She's not the only one who's powerful! I'LL TOAST YOUR SLIMY WRINKLES!" said Ash.

"Oh, you want to hear her? You want to hear her scream?"

Ash turned pleadingly to Lysander and mouthed 'you have to do something' and he nodded. Abruptly, his ancestors came, with spears and drums and all their glory. They wrestled the ruthless spirit, and soon took her to the ground. The spirit winked, and then disappeared into thin air.

When they turned around, Myst was awake, but looking a little pale. "What happened? Why am I lying down?" she questioned.

"First, you have to tell us everything you remember." said Tancred, he seemed a little embarrassed about what the evil woman said to him about staring into Myst's beautiful eyes.

"Well, I tried to conjure a mental map of this ruin, when my conscience stopped me. We had a bit of an argument, and then she said she wasn't just my conscience. I said I had friends what would help me, and that's all I remember. I doubt that makes much sence. Now, WHY am I lying down? I'm perfectly fine, and I hope you didn't use the supplies I gave you in vain Ash!" She glanced at Ash's share of matches.

They were all black.

Ash went magenta. Myst sighed. Pyromaniacs.. They seem drawn to me. Next time I look in the mirror, I'll search for a magnet.

"Well, she definitely wasn't your conscience. She said to us that she was going to feed your powers to another endowed girl. Then, Lysander worked his magic…" Ash paused to kiss Lysander swiftly on the cheek "And she disappeared. You seem a lot stronger without that woman around. She said the last few months it's been her you've been talking to…"

"Well, she certainly likes to lie. Okay, let's get out of here. Who's with me?", asked Myst.

"I certainly am. Medal, Schmedal, lets blow this pop stand!" replied Ash.

They turned to the exit, when enormous boulders fell from the roof and blocked their way out.

Typical. Just bloody typical

"Okay, to business. I will go with Lysander to get that wretched Sue! Myst, you stay with Tancred, and see if you can shift that boulder. Mystic A. Archer! If anything happens you call me! Stick together guys, and good luck. Also, watch out for superman, he is transsexual!" Ash declared, everyone gave ash a weird look before the girls shared a final hug.

And then Lysander and Ash strode into the darkness.

Ash POV

Now, if I were an evil wretched conscience wannabe, where would I hide? Oh damn this. I think I'll ring Myst to see what's happened. It's been hours… DAMN IT, there's no bloody signal. I tried texting. This is what I said:

Hey Myst we've made no progress. What about you and Tanc? Found anything cool? Like a partly decomposed dead body? are you ok? Sorry Myst, to leave u alone with Tanc was cruel. I didn't have a choice. Message back if you get this.

I hope everything's okay, and I hope they got my text. Minutes passed, still no reply. Finally, I was glad to hear my phone telling me I had received a text:

Ash I will kill you. Honestly, you think sorry is going to cut it? Yeah we're fine... No progress in lifting the bloody boulder. Wait I think weather-vane found something. I'll message u soon.

I take great joy in causing Myst great pain.

End of POV

Lysander called his ancestors up, to track the spirit down, but he had no luck. Ash even had the pleasure of meeting them, though she was too terrified to understand what they said. Lysander had described them as 'not too talkative'. Ash was really scared now. It was midnight by her watch, and she was being tempted to make a roasted apple sandwich. She held off until they were both having full-on hallucinations of hot-dogs and tacos, and sparingly ate an apple sandwich- half each. They still had half of the food left over for next time. A little bit of making out ensued due to the boredness.

Meanwhile, Tancred and Myst were anything BUT bored. Myst was right; he did find something- the medal. It glistened in the torchlight, and it read in pewter letters: RUIN GAME WINNER, 2006. Underneath, it said Bloor's Academy, and then in even smaller print it said: London Quality Medals. Myst took great pleasure in handling the medal, knowing the privileges it would unlock. They were about to fall asleep, when Myst's phone rang. Here was the conversation:

"Hello?"

"Hello?"

"Myst! Don't ask me how we got signal, there's not much time. But she found us."

It was Ash. No shit sherlock.

"Sue? Oh my god! What happened? What did she do?"

"Well, first she possessed Lysander for a few minutes, but she eventually got bored. Then, she came into me, and pashed Lysander! Urgh! Anyway, I think she's coming for you. Be ready, I don't think she's alone. I heard a girl's voice, and I know who is was. It was- "

"Yeah? it was?"

There was a huge smash, at the other end, and a series of yells. The first belonged to Lysander, then Ash, then came the sound of drums, and a roaring fire, then came a girl's scream. Indeed, the voice was very familiar, and Myst certainly know whose voice it belonged to.

"Tancred, this is what we need to do. Maybe with my telekinesis, and your wind we could make some boulders fall on our arriving visitors. Kapeesh?"

"Yeah, whatever. But, how do we know this person doesn't have powers of their own?"

Myst looked into his eyes. For the first time, she realized he had green eyes. Myst liked green eyes. On normal circumstances ash did too, but tallness was a turn on for Ash, so it wasn't a shocker that she was attracted to Lysander.

"Trust me, I know who that person is... And how dare you question me like that? Like I don't know what I'm doing. Nobody questions me. Ever. Get it?"

"Got it..." Tancred wondered why Myst had changed her attitude so quickly. But then, he thought it was also safer for them to hate each other than to... well, anything else.

The Game's over Sue! I have friends as strong as my enemies. How could such a person posses the capacity for my powers? They're mine, and always will be. Reveal yourself!

Sue did what she was told. Another girl revealed herself also. But, it wasn't who Myst thought. It was Mariah Bloor.

Myst was in shock. MARIAH? Well, she originally thought it would be Emma Tolly, but MARIAH? Well, she certainly was NOT going to have HER powers.

"Oh, in for a bit of a shock, Myst? Poor little Tancred can't help you now. He is of no help to me anymore. I now have powers of my own!"

"Such as?" asked Myst. Tancred was just standing there scratching his head trying to figure out when he had EVER been a help to Mariah. Then, Mariah picked up a rock and flinged it with all her might at Myst's head, all with her mind. Myst felt dizzy, and then blacked out.

TO BE CONTINUED IN 'INTO THE RUIN' CHAPTER 2

Ash: Heh, Myst can't join us tonight.

Me: DAMN YOU MARIAH!

Ash: Ignore the nice pyro lunatic... LISTEN TO ME! THE BITCHY PYRO LUNATIC!

Me: HaHa, you're only a fictional character..

Ash: Damn you!