Ok, you got me. I'm not good at writing summaries. I've changed it so that it's a little easier to understand. Feel free to write one for me if you think you can do better.
Chapter 10:
"Are you sure this is the way you went with Kraden last time Jenna?" Isaac asked.
Jenna surveyed the landscape around her. The pit was at least ten miles across and nearly half as deep. The Golden Sun baked the already parched landscape. No green was seen upon even the closest inspection. Everything was the same shade of light tan. The remaining soil filled the cracks that existed between the large, flat rocks that followed the curvature of the crater. It was likely that the soil was transmuted to rock by the heat of Alchemy's release.
Satisfied that she had her bearings, Jenna replied:
"Yes, this is the same route we took last time."
Isaac didn't know what 'route' she was talking about. It seemed to him that they were just clambering over rocks in an apparently arbitrary direction. The view looked the same to him as when they had crested the rim over half an hour ago, but he trusted Jenna's sense of direction. Normally his psynergetic rapport with the earth giving him an increasing sense of foreboding was a bad thing, but in this case, it meant he was getting closer.
A few minutes later, Jenna stopped and indicated: "Here."
"No kidding." Garet replied.
Indeed, there was no mistaking the towering doors that stood encircled by the earth of the basin wall. The antique-looking doors were twenty feet tall with arched tops. They were made of exotic timbers that sported a pale emerald color, held together by rugged steel bands. They all felt the malicious power radiating from within.
However, there was something that Jenna had to point out that the others didn't notice.
"Look here. See how the dirt is packed and caked up like that, but there's a space between it and the door? That means that these doors were opened recently."
Isaac knew what she meant. "And, knowing Kraden, he's inside."
To Felix, the course was clear.
"Garet. Knock." He ordered.
Garet nodded and stepped forward. Isaac and Jenna jumped aside as they saw he was preparing a psynergetic attack. Garet's fireball collided with the door and gave off a satisfactory explosion. However, he may as well have thrown his glove at it for all the good his attack did to the door.
"Let me try Garet." Jenna said. "I think this requires some finesse."
Garet held up a hand to stop her.
"Did I say I was finished?"
Isaac could feel the temperature spike as Garet prepared an attack of ten times as much power. Jenna could take the heat, but the others were forced to step back as the force of the heat labored their breathing.
Garet thrust his hands forward and an enormous Heat Wave attack leapt from them. Though the others were standing some ten yards away by now, the heat of the attack dried their skin and made the tips of their hair curl. Isaac could hear a hiss as steam escaped from the water skin around his belt.
Garet lowered his hands and ceased the attack, the flames slowly dissipating. As Felix watched the flames dance across the surface of the door before going out he said:
"You know the strange thing is, that's exactly what I meant."
The failure of Felix's apparently sound plan was realized when the smoke cleared to reveal the doors, smoldering in places, but still quite solid.
As the others approached the doors Isaac appeared deep in though, saying:
"It shouldn't be this hard; he wants us to get in."
Before anyone could ask who 'he' was, Isaac stepped up to the doors.
"Mia, here." He said, pointing at a seemingly meaningless spot on the door.
Taking the hint, Mia stepped forward and shot a jet of water from her Crystal Rod. The water steamed and sizzled as it splashed against the hot metal band on the door. As the ash cleared away, a small bronze plate was revealed, contrasting the dark steel of the door's reinforcing bands. It was old and worn, but there were some minute etchings in the surface.
Summoning the only metallurgy expert at his disposal, Isaac called for Jenna.
"What can you tell me about this plate?"
Jenna leaned forward, her practiced eye taking in every minuscule detail of the metal.
"This wasn't here the last time, when we found the door that is." She said. "From the patterns and moldings on the edges I'd say this is some kind of sign or plaque. The text is worn; I'll try to repair it."
She summoned the flame barrier she used for forging and pressed her hand against the plate, feeling for the ridges of possible, worn-away text.
There was a sudden flash. Jenna was thrown backward, but the flame barrier protected her hand. Mia rushed to her side, but she appeared uninjured.
Isaac heard a crackling behind him.
"OW!" He yelped as a glowing spark hit him in the back of the neck. He whirled to face Garet.
Garet held up his hands. "It wasn't me!" He said. "Look!"
Isaac turned back to the door. The surface of the small plate sputtered and sparked as writing was burned into the surface by some unseen force. The strange writing continued until the whole plate was covered in an ancient script. "It's written in cucarian; the archival script of Sol Sanctum's historians." Isaac said. "This shouldn't be too tough" Isaac had been deciphering that language for years. He leaned in to look closely at the letters.
en rest la ĉambro nepre. ..u la hororoj de kemis esti mAlligita kondukŝnuron al sur la mondo refoje, la posedantoj de ĝia potenco renkontos tie ĉi decidi la monda sorto. de pLumo aŭ de glavo, ĉiuj varde ekzistos de kio estas dEcidita tie ĉi. - burheX
"Strange… I can read it, but there's something more here…"
Jenna giggled. "You sound just like Kraden. Well what does it say? That seems like a good place to start."
Isaac translated from the plaque:
"Within lies the chamber of necessity. Should the horrors of Alchemy be unleashed upon the world once again, the possessors of its power shall meet here to decide the world's fate. By pen or by sword, all Weyard shall exist by what is decided here.
Barcax"
"What's so interesting about that?" Garet asked.
"There's the odd capital modern letter here and there. And there was a historian named Barcak, but his name was spelled with a K. I find it hard to believe that he would misspell his own name when signing his work."
Isaac pointed at the erroneous letter with his finger. When he touched the plate, he found that the letters weren't hot at all, though they glowed as if they were heated. At his touch, the X disappeared.
"So that's it." Isaac touched the other three out-of-place letters. "He always was one for subtlety."
"Who are you talking-"
Jenna was cut short by the loud rumbling and creaking as the doors swung inward.
Isaac and Felix both tensed as they instantly recognized the vibrations as the same ones they had felt that morning.
A deep voice, akin to the deafening roar of the doors, but in a measured and purposeful tone issued from the dark doorway.
"Welcome young ones. You have come in search of something. How fortunate, since you also possess something I seek."
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This is either going to turn into a battle, or a really intense watermelon-eating contest.
Anyway, since you guys like Alex's super-evil so much I think I'll put in a chapter where they talk before the battle. I might even get it done tonight, stay tuned!
