UltimateHeroEric: Just type it again. Please! Pretty please!
SakurAssassin: Can't you just copy and paste our conversation from yesterday? It'll be the same thing.
UltimateHeroEric: Not quite the same. It won't have you feelings of awe and admiration.
SakurAssassin: I wasn't aware I showed those feelings of awe and admiration the first time.
UltimateHeroEric: Please? Pretty please with sushi and tuna and all the other smelly fish things you like on top?
SakurAssassin: You actually remembered.
UltimateHeroEric: I did, didn't I! I must be some sort of extraordinary, thoughtful person. A person who tends to think of others before himself. A person who will lay his life on the line to save those he cares about.
SakurAssassin: *sigh* You're my hero. Again. Are you happy now?
UltimateHeroEric: Extremely :) So, when are we going to get to this next boss so I can save you again, sassy pants?
SakurAssassin: You'll know it when you see it.
If my memory served me correctly, we should be able to see it any moment now. We were nearly to the border.
UltimateHeroEric: Holy introverts, sassy pants! China must really not like company.
We had made it. Right to the edge of China. The Great Wall stretched for miles on either side. We stood at the edge of the gap between the jungle and the sheer face of the wall.
SakurAssassin: Only certain company.
We could hear the wind blowing from the unknown on the other side of the wall.
UltimateHeroEric: Well...this is anticlimactic. This isn't the sort of deal where we have to wait for them to attack us, is it? Because that went so well last time.
SakurAssassin: We're not exactly at the boss's chamber yet.
UltimateHeroEric: So, what? We have to climb the wall?
SakurAssassin: Not very plausible. You don't exactly have your superpowers anymore, despite your undeniable heroness.
UltimateHeroEric: -.- I don't really see a door either. Do you?
SakurAssassin: Nope. No door.
UltimateHeroEric: Then, what are we supposed to do?
SakurAssassin: If we can't go through it, and we can't go over it...
UltimateHeroEric: Under it?
SakurAssassin: :)
I stepped out into the gap and closed the distance between the wall and me. Eric followed behind, watching for any attackers that might jump us.
Now which brick was it? I scanned the identical bricks stacked up before me. Let's see, if that rock was right there, then the brick I would need to press...there it was!
SakurAssassin: Watch your step.
The ground slid out from Eric's feet. He quickly shuffled to the side as the stairs to the passage way were revealed.
UltimateHeroEric: Ooh, creepy dark passages...
SakurAssassin: Do you have a problem?
UltimateHeroEric: No. No problem at all. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.
SakurAssassin: Besides, you know, a boss trying to kill us.
UltimateHeroEric: Besides that. I'm sure there's not going to be mummies or anything. Let's just get this over with.
This wasn't exactly like Eric. He never wanted to just get a boss over with. Maybe my game wasn't as interesting as I thought. I don't know why that made me sad. Criticism was good. It would help improves my games for the future. Maybe because I had just felt like these moments in the game had been so perfect, if only from Eric's reactions. Funny how I judged my games worth based on the reactions from this one player rather than the statistics and data given to me.
We descended into the darkness. There was no light to guide us. We couldn't even see each other.
UltimateHeroEric: Oh God, why did it have to be so dark? Where are you? I can't see you, sassy pants.
SakurAssassin: I'm still glowing, aren't I?
UltimateHeroEric: Barely...oh there you are. It's easier to see you when you stand still.
SakurAssassin: Just try to focus and follow me. We should be getting there pretty soon, and there will be lots of light.
And sure enough, the fire light from the chamber shone through.
UltimateHeroEric: I thought you weren't supposed to go towards the light. At least, that's what they say in the movies.
He didn't seem to mind what he has just said. We both entered the room filled with light from the bright torches. We stood upon a ledge overlooking a sea of stone guardians.
UltimateHeroEric: Look at all these statues! Are we going to have to play a giant game of chess?
SakurAssassin: No, but you should probably keep your eyes open.
UltimateHeroEric: Cool. We've got all this light now, so we can go and explore more.
Eric took one of the torches hanging from the wall. You could the grind of stone against stone as the thousands of statues turned to face us.
UltimateHeroEric: Oh snap
The stone soldiers only needed one glance. One glance was all they needed to know that we weren't here on exactly friendly terms. And it probably didn't help that Eric had drawn his guns and started shooting for their heads.
UltimateHeroEric: The bullets keep on ricocheting like crazy! How the hell are we supposed to kill these things?
I jumped down into the stone filled chamber. I avoided the swinging limbs of the statues.
UltimateHeroEric: Sassy pants. Earth to sassy pants. Can you read me? I thought I said that the bullets were ricocheting like crazy. They might not be able to see you, but I won't be able to tell where my bullets fly.
SakurAssassin: Then you should probably stop shooting.
UltimateHeroEric: Is this one of those you know something I don't know because you're some hotshot game worker?
SakurAssassin: Perhaps
UltimateHeroEric: -.-
Eric stopped shooting and jumped down to join me in the stone mob.
UltimateHeroEric: I don't know what I'm doing...
He ducked and dodged every thrust of the statues.
SakurAssassin: Just don't attack and don't get hit.
UltimateHeroEric: What'll happen if I get hit?
SakurAssassin: It'll hurt
They were still trying to kill us, but their movements were slowing.
UltimateHeroEric: Dude, is it just me, or are we getting faster?
SakurAssassin: The statues are getting slower. Since we're not attacking any more, they have no reason to defend.
Eventually, all of the statuses stopped moving. They weren't in the same tight formation they were in before. I wondered what the next people who stumbled in here would think. We were able to limbo our way through the chamber easily enough.
At the other end of the chamber was another room. Besides for the entrance, the walls on the inside were lined with fire. The flames sprouted from the oil moat around the room and reached all the way up to the stone ceiling.
On a giant red cushion in the middle of the room rested a large long white dragon.
UltimateHeroEric: I am getting a major sense of déjà vu. Didn't we already beat this guy? I shot at that one patch, and boom, he was dead. I was all heroic and everything.
SakurAssassin: The other one was black. This is a different dragon.
They really were beautiful creatures when they weren't throwing the world into chaos. I ran my hand down the pearl scales of the sleeping dragon.
UltimateHeroEric: Isn't there a phrase let sleeping dragons lie?
SakurAssassin: Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus
UltimateHeroEric: See? You must have passed out on your keyboard or something. I don't understand that boring gibberish.
SakurAssassin: That was Latin for the phrase. But I sort of have to wake him up. He is the boss after all.
I found was I was searching for. On the dragons back near one of the hind legs was a single alabaster scale. With the tip of my finger, I rubbed it clockwise and counterclockwise until the body shivered beneath my touch. I retracted my hand, and the dragon shrunk. The scales folded under and under themselves, revealing a set of bright orange clothes. The clothes belonged to the body of a little boy, about six or seven. His hair was white just like his scales.
The last of the scales to go were in his eyelids. He peeled them back to reveal a black fire. The fire gazed from Eric to me and back.
"What of my brother?" the little boy asked. "There's no use telling lies. I can see into your pasts."
UltimateHeroEric: I killed him
His answer was simple, but I couldn't help but notice the bravery behind it. Eric couldn't have any idea what would happen next, but he didn't lie to this child.
"And of the temple?" He looked to me for this answer.
SakurAssassin: Burned to the ground on your brother's accord
He closed off the fire in his eyes. His closed eyelids caused his long eyelashes to rest on his cheek. "The world is filled with such violence and chaos. What is the point to all of this needless madness?"
SakurAssassin: It's true. The world is filled with disappointment. It can be so horrible, you can hardly stand it.
UltimateHeroEric: But sometimes, out of the chaos, something spectacular happens. The birth of new possibilities. Of new life. Of happiness you could never dreamed possible.
I looked to Eric. I didn't even need to finish out what I was typing. He had gotten it. He had understood. The cycle of destruction and rebirth.
Tears started streaming down the boy's face. Much more than was humanly possible. "Well then, may the world be be abolished to bring about this new life."
SakurAssassin: Run!
Eric and I barely made it out of the room before the boy's pixels exploded everywhere in a torrent of water. The levels were rising quickly.
UltimateHeroEric: How is that fire following us?
I almost forgot about that.
SakurAssassin: Oil and water don't exactly mix. The fire is floating in the oil.
UltimateHeroEric: That's lovely. I wonder what will get us first. Burned or drowned to death.
I climbed up onto the shoulders of one of the stone soldiers and leaped spryly from head to head. Eric followed my lead.
UltimateHeroEric: Uh...they're starting to come back to life
They were starting shift and move below us. Our balance on top was made that much harder
SakurAssassin: That's sort of the point.
As the statues came back to life, they swarmed around us. As they climbed on each other to get to us, they formed a barrier, a sort of damn to hold the water back. They wouldn't last long. We needed to get out of there quickly. The water was getting too high. Even on top of the statues, my feet were splashing.
We didn't have to climb the ledge to get back to the tunnel. We could swim there. We'd be able to run through the tunnel but not for long. Explosions resounded though my headphones.
UltimateHeroEric: What was that? Do they have a rock cannon?
SakurAssassin: Hurry up or we'll miss the opportunity!
The water was only up to our ankles in the tunnel, but it was climbing fast. Halfway through, it was already to our knees. By the time we got back to the stairs, it was already at our hips. The explosions were already more frequent.
SakurAssassin: Go on out ahead of me, Eric. You've got to see it.
Eric didn't question any further. Curiosity probably got the better of him. He crawled up the stairs ahead of me. He reached down and promptly pulled me up after him.
The water came up from the stairs and seeped out from the edges of the bricks of the Great Wall. The ground he rested on was made soggy and muddy. But most spectacularly of all were the lights. The fire from the oil had found the hidden reserve of fireworks. They broke through the eroding wall and exploded colorfully in the sky. Eric was in awe as he looked up at them.
SakurAssassin: So. What do you think?
UltimateHeroEric: Wow! This is fantastic! This game is fantastic! I don't think I have ever seen something so beautiful in my entire life.
He looked over to me, taking his eyes off the sky for once.
UltimateHeroEric: And you, sassy pants, are the most fantastic of all.
SakurAssassin: Really?
I could feel immense pride filling my chest. I don't think I had ever felt this happy, especially by just viewing another person's happiness. Eric really liked it. He really liked the game. The initial worries that I had were all washed away.
UltimateHeroEric: Really.
His character held his hand out to me. A little pop up appeared on my screen. "UltimateHeroEric would like to shake your hand."
I clicked "accept."
AN: *snaps* Barely missed it. I wanted to get this out by the 10th for the Chinese New Year. The end of the year of the dragon. Who am I kidding, I just got really busy. Sorry you had to wait a little longer on this update. I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to leave me a little review. Or a big review. And have a happy lunar New Year!