And even closer we come to the ending :) Sorry, guys...it's still Monday to me, though TECHNICALLY it's 2am on Tuesday XD


Emily cautiously glanced about the strange arena, watching as the colors along the back walls danced around in odd patterns. Her father had told her that Lemuria was a dangerous, unstable, and ridiculously strange place, but she hadn't pictured this. Was any of what she was seeing real at all, or was it all made up of some strange, celestial energy?

She heard noise behind her as Siamak turned in her direction with his sword in his hand. What the heck is he doing now? she asked herself nervously. He stepped forward to the strange sculpture before them on the balcony of the arena. The sculpture had a slit in the middle of it, like something belonged inside of it. Siamak held his sword before him, looking it over fondly. "What are you doing?" Emily asked, hoping the interruption would stall him.

He glanced her way. "Taking back Lemuria," he replied.

"I don't understand."

Siamak glared at her for a moment, as if trying to decide whether she was being sneaky or truly curious. Then, he lowered the weapon to his side. "Thousands of years ago, before the war between the Lux Veritatis and the Dark Arts, I was here, ruling Lemuria valiantly. Thousands of years ago, I was the most powerful. Thousands of years ago, this place –" He gestured about the arena. " – was my home, was my kingdom." He turned to face the arena, as if gazing over it with a fondness he'd lost thousands of years ago. "I made a choice when I was seventeen years old – to join the Lux Veritatis in the war, to stop the Black Alchemist and the Nephilim army. I left this place to fight for what I believed was right. I left this place to help people like you."

Emily's bound hands wriggled absently against her body. "Seventeen years old?" she asked. "Why would you leave this place to join war if you were just a kid?"

"I was the most powerful psychic alive," he explained. "I was powerful enough to defeat the enemies at hand." He held his gaze with her, solemn slowly creeping into his eyes. "At least…that's what I'd thought. I thought I could single-handedly defeat the Black Alchemist in the war – then, the psychic world would be at peace again. Lemuria was once a safe haven, a majestic place for all psychics to be. Now, though…" He slowly gazed out over the collapsed kingdom. "…it's been reduced to this. I never wanted any of this to happen."

Emily carefully watched him, trying to decide whether or not this boy was still a threat to her. She'd never seen him so…broken down. Sure, she didn't exactly know him, but he'd seem to have underlying bad intentions overall. Now, though…was this regret she was seeing in him? Maybe even pain…? "You were fighting alongside the Lux Veritatis brothers, weren't you?" she asked quietly. "They were your allies…?"

He continued to face away from her, slowly dropping his head. "They were," he said. "I got caught in the blockade, caught in the crossfire between the brothers and the Cabal. After thinking for so long that I was the farthest thing from destructible, I failed." He quietly sighed. "They buried me in the fig orchard in New Zealand – that was my home. I was dead…but I wasn't gone."

"I don't understand…" Emily said softly.

"My body was dead," he explained, "but I was here in Lemuria. I've been here in Lemuria for thousands of years, though not quite in the way I'd been before the war. I was trapped inside, decaying away just as Lemuria was. If you could've seen Lemuria the way it had been thousands of years ago, you wouldn't have had any fear about coming at all."

"But…" she said slowly. "When we went to Cappadocia, you awakened. It was like you were waiting for someone to find you."

"Waiting?" he scoffed. "Hardly. Everything was like a bad dream. In a way, I hoped no one would ever find me." He slowly faced her. "The Lux Veritatis brothers moved my body to Cappadocia in the hopes that the Cabal would never find me and bring me back to use for their own motives. I was here in Lemuria the whole time, trapped just as Karel is now. When you found me in Cappadocia, I had no choice but to awaken."

Emily slowly looked down, trying to figure out what to say. Then, she looked up at him. "It sounds like you were a very noble ruler thousands of years ago."

A soft smile crossed his lips. "I was," he agreed. "I would've done anything to protect the other psychics."

She searched his eyes carefully. "Then what is all of this?" she asked quietly. "Why are we here? You can rule Lemuria once again, without…" She stopped herself, trying to think of the right words to say. "…without causing all of this destruction."

He faced her, the look of solemn replaced with anger and revenge. "It's too late for that, Emily," he said flatly. "All of my work, everything I stood for, my home itself…it's all been taken advantage of. Why should I feel sorry for what I've done?"

"Because the pain you went through is now being placed on other people just like you," she said. "You said you would do anything to protect other psychics – why has that changed now?"

"Because they're the ones who brought this upon themselves," he said in a low voice.

"Karel has caused all of this mayhem," she argued. "Not me, not my parents, not the other brothers – no one but Karel. Punish him for what he's done, don't punish everyone else. Be the ruler you were thousands of years ago."

Emily held his gaze, hoping that somehow he would listen to her. He stared deep into her eyes with a look of atonement that apologized for what he knew he already was going to go through with. Then, he raised his sword to his side, turning towards the sculpture before them. "I'm not that person anymore," he said regretfully. "I tried to be a valiant warrior, a noble leader. It didn't work. Now, this is the price to be paid."

Siamak inserted the sword into the slot of the sculpture. Emily took a fearful step backwards, wishing she could just run away and never look back. The sword moved forward to the top of the slit, as if mechanically controlled from within the sculpture. Then, Siamak slowly turned to face her. "Now, it's time for you to help me," he said. "Power the sword."

Emily shook her head fervently. "I'm not going to help you," she said, backing away. "This is crazy."

Siamak glared at her. "Do as I say," he said more firmly. "Don't make me hurt you."

Siamak stepped towards her as she continued to back away – to where? The only thing behind her was a cement wall. She slowly slumped to the ground, fearing that death was just around the corner. She closed her eyes, deciding it would be better to die honorably than to live cowardly. She heard the green energy power up in Siamak's palm, knowing it was meant for her. Then, they heard a voice. "Siamak!" it shouted.

Emily jerked her head up. Dad? she thought. She quickly rose to her feet, disregarding Siamak. He stepped to the edge of the balcony, glaring down at Kurtis below. "You've interfered enough!" he chided. "Get out of here, or stand by for the destruction coming your way!"

Kurtis grinned up at him. "Quitting is for cowards," he challenged. "And taking potshots from a balcony above is for cheaters."

"Then a cheater I'll be," Siamak retorted. "There's nothing else that you can do, Montsegur. She's already here in Lemuria. She's going to help me take over once again."

"Lemuria will be like it should be," Kurtis shot back. "Trashed."

Siamak glared hatefully at him. "Enough of this nonsense," he muttered. He turned towards Emily, but Kurtis stopped him once again.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" he asked.

Siamak irritably faced him. "If it's your untimely death, then of course not."

"The Sword of Light," Kurtis said.

Siamak's glare quickly fell away, replaced with shock and confusion. "Where is it?" he demanded.

"With Croft," he said. "She's around here somewhere. I entrusted it to her, that way if you kill me, at least the sword will be safe."

Emily's face knit into confusion. Croft? she thought. Why was he referring to her so…absently? Emily cautiously glanced about the balcony, looking for a way out. It seemed that the only escape route was off the balcony, and she certainly didn't master any levitation skills. She would just have to jump and hope for the best, and she would have to do it quickly before Siamak either killed her father, or forced her to power up the sword.

Siamak continued to eye Kurtis, then he folded his arms over his chest. "How about we make a deal?" he said casually. "I promise to return your child safely to you once everything is over, so long as you bring the sword to me."

"As tempting as that sounds," Kurtis said, "it doesn't exactly benefit me."

"Not the survival of your precious daughter?" Siamak asked, slightly shocked.

Kurtis glanced Emily's way, then turned back to Siamak. "My daughter is of my concern and mine alone," he spat so scornfully.

Siamak powered up an orb of green energy in his palm. "So be it, then," he said. "I'll just kill you, and then the Croft woman, too."

He shot the energy towards Kurtis, but Kurtis merely lifted his hand, stopping the energy with his telepathy. Emily saw this as her window of opportunity. She ran towards the edge of the balcony, then leapt forward, hoping she wouldn't break any bones once she fell below. The closer to the ground she came, though, the more fearful she felt. Then, just as she was about to strike below, she stopped, floating just a foot above the dirt. She looked up to see Kurtis reaching a hand towards her, a look of boredom and loathe in his eyes. Emily kicked her feet around, struggling to break free. "You can let me go any day now!" she chided.

He lifted an eyebrow, then released his psychic grip, dropping Emily to her knees on the ground. She glared up at him, unsure of why he was behaving so…irritably. Then, she glanced up just in time to see Siamak shooting a bolt of energy her way. She gasped, then quickly rolled forward, dodging the attack just in time. "Stop fooling around," Kurtis demanded. He shot another surge of energy towards Siamak, just enough to stun him, then jerked Emily to her feet and shoved her forward down the corridor. "We need to get out of here."

Emily quickly staggered to her feet, rushing down the corridor without a second question, nor a second glance. Kurtis was hot on her heels – although she had no idea where she was going in the first place. Emily ran until she couldn't feel any oxygen in her lungs anymore. Then she stopped, bending over as she heaved for air. "Where are we going anyway?" she asked between breaths as Kurtis stood beside her. "Where's Mom?"

"Somewhere around here," he muttered.

"Then let's get going!" Emily urged.

She stepped away, preparing to move further down the corridor, but felt a grip on her entire body. She fought to turn her head away to see where the force was coming from. When she faced Kurtis, a hateful glare was upon his face. "What are you doing?" she asked fearfully.

"Making sure you don't cause any problems," he said lowly.

He lifted her from the ground as she kicked her feet in the air, struggling to find a base to touch. "Dad, put me down!" she demanded in fear. "You're hurting me!"

"Dad?" he scoffed. "Just because we're related doesn't mean I'm your father."

She searched his eyes in confusion. "What?"

"You were a mistake, to say the least," he spat. "Once this is all over, I'll be glad to be rid of you. And your mother."

Her eyes filled with tears. "You don't mean that…" she muttered.

"I do mean that," he argued. "Sorry, Emily. I guess your idea of a happy little family isn't going to fly."

Tears spilled over her cheeks. "Why are you doing this?" she said quietly.

He narrowed his eyes at her, then jerked his hand backwards, sending her towards the back wall. She slumped to the ground, unconscious. Kurtis approached her, towering over her with an evil glare. "I hope you like it here in Lemuria," he muttered in a voice not his own. "Because you're never leaving after this is over."


Seeee...Siamak wasn't ALWAYS a bad egg...