Chapter 14 (Holly hell!)
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When they reached the entrance, the room in front of them was quite strange. Aife thought that with an Ocean Temple it would be full of water or something close to that. Instead it had rows of, well what looked liked, holes in the ground. Long rows of darkness ran beside them, and strange wooden poles stuck out of the walls. The walls were a deep blue with strange designs on them and the floor had round navy blue tiles.
Aife pulled out the new Ocean Temple map and began to scan over it. She flipped through the other pages and frowned. For every floor the one above it was exactly the same, parallel.
"I guess the Wise One wasn't kidding after all..." She muttered to her self. "Alright, so... If we go up here... Then we go to the next floor above us... There should be some sort of entrance that will lead us to the lower levels." She looked at him through her hair that fell over half of her face.
He nodded, and his eyes glanced at her before the started moving.
The next room they came across had four stone tablets, each one stating a certain number was above it. A weird yellow bobble headed thing wondered up to Aife, it started to spark, then it's entire body was covered electricity. She was about to cut it down when something grabbed the end of her sword.
She tuned to see Byrnes claw holding it from cutting down the strange yellow monster.
"If you touch that you'll end up shocking yourself. Just move away from it." He said.
She sighed and glared at the creature.
"I'll get you next time..." They started to move around it when she called back, "Just when you think you're safe, I'll come back and get you!"
She heard Byrne sigh beside her and he grabbed her head to turn it towards where they were walking. She pursed her lips as they turned the corner.
"Don't manhandle me... That thing was asking for it." She told him as she started to walk backwards to face him.
He shook his head and brought his hand up to run it through his hair.
"Must you always-" Aife started to raise her hands in defense at the coming accusation but he never got to finish, because something made a clicking noise, and Aife let out a slight scream as something burned past her raised palm.
She looked down at her hand to see a large gash, with red already pooling down from it. An arrow had cut her.
"Bloody hell." She muttered.
She looked to the wall and saw a small hole, then something moved in front of it and she heard another click.
Her eyes widened and she moved back and bumped into Byrne as another arrow shot out and hit the wall.
"Shit!" She heard another click of an arrow moving in place inside the wall. Along that same wall were a few other holes, most likely filled with arrows ready to be shot out at any one who approached.
She wiped her hand on her tights, removing some of the blood, though it continued to bleed. She tried to hide it from Byrnes intense gaze.
"Let me see." He told her, grabbing her wrist.
"No, it's fine. We just... Have to find a new way to walk through this hall." She told him while moving away. He didn't look convinced. "I'm fine!" She chirped, spun around, and raced through the arrows that were launched at her. She ducked under a few and twisted away from others, her hair whipping around her wildly as she finally reached the end of the hall. 'Hell yeah... That was epic...' She smiled back at him. "Your turn." She told him. "Let's see if you're any good at arrow dodging."
"Heh." He smirked slightly.
And, with a slow cat like grace, he walked through the hall. He lifted his claw and the arrows bounced off like nothing. His eyes gave her a lazy amused stare.
He walked right up to her and raised an eyebrow.
"That's-... That's cheap." She finally told him, they started towards the door and she made her hand (the non bloodied one) into a claw like shape. While mimicking his own slow walk. "Oh, look what I can do with my claw thingie, I can block arrows and look completely dangerous at the same time!" She said in a deep voice, mocking his own.
He rolled his eyes.
"You're just jealous." He said.
"Oh, don't flatter yourself." She grumbled as they walked up the stairs.
They walked through the hall and turned to their right where Aife almost fell into a dark pit in front of her. She caught herself and moved back a step.
There was a wooden block thing on the edge and a few more arrow shooter things on the wall.
She pulled out her map and began to search where Carben had told her where the lower levels entrance would be.
Apparently, it was on the other side of the wall, in the center of the room.
"We can use this block to get past this pit." Byrne told her.
She frowned at the block.
"Okay... But if it falls I'm going to kill both of you." She warned him.
"I assure you it's safe." He told her and stepped onto the block with her.
She held onto his shoulder pads with a death like grip as the block lurched forward.
"Byrne, lift your claw!" She commanded. He did so and blocked the arrows that were fired at them. They made a clinking noise and fell into the dark pit upon hitting his claw.
The block lurched to the side and into the next room, where the lower levels entrance should be.
But there was no flooring where the entrance should have been. Instead there were four purple switches surrounding the area where they were suppose to go.
"Shit..." She said.
"What?" Byrne questioned.
She sighed. "We... We're going to have to jump." She told him.
"What?" He repeated.
"We have to jump into the center of this pit to get to the lower levels." She told him as they edged closer to the center.
"Are you sure about this?" He asked.
'No... With my luck will hit solid ground and be squished. Or land in a pool of water...' The last though made her shudder.
"I don't see any other way to get down there." She told him.
"Hang on." He told her and his grip around her waist tightened.
"Wait-" She never got to finish because Byrne jumped off the block with her.
She screamed and buried her face into his chest as the air whipped past them.
They didn't seem to fall for very long before water splashed against them as they fell into a pool of water.
Aife gasped as she felt water engulf them both. 'FUC-!' Her mind screamed as the sickening feeling of cool water pulled her and Byrne down. She held her breath and closed her eyes, and she could feel Byrne start to kick them up towards the surface. Or at least, she assumed it was to the surface.
The black water that surrounded them felt like sharp, frozen, jagged knives that were clawing at them, trying to bring them farther down. She held back everything inside her that wanted to scream and gasp for air, it started to feel like something was putting pressure on her chest, her whole body was becoming stiff from the frozen water, and her lungs begged for air.
After a minute they finally broke through the water and they both gasped for air.
Aife started to hyperventilate as she began to panic. She choked and coughed up water that had gone in her mouth and was splashing against her face. She continued gasping, unable to think or see clearly.
"It's okay!" Byrne told her. "It's okay, just breathe. I'm going to swim us over to that ledge, just relax, and breathe." He said, trying to stop her from over panicking, while holding her head above the water.
Her head spun and her body started to shake, she grabbed onto Byrnes neck with an iron grip as he moved them towards the ledge he had saw.
There was a torch lightning up the ledge and Byrne pushed Aife out of the water first before climbing up onto the ledge after.
She dragged herself from the water, and pressed her cheek against the cool stone of solid ground. Her pulse hammered through her shaking body and she closed her eyes, trying to control her ragged breathing. She pulled her sword from her back and let it fall beside her. As well as the maps. How they managed to survive, she had no idea.
Byrne was also breathing hard, then he reached over to Aife. Her skin felt hot and cold, and she was finding it difficult to breathe, as though her lungs were freezing and shrinking at the same time. She closed her eyes tighter, trying not to think about being in the water.
"Aife? Hey, it's okay, we're out of the water now." He told her.
When she didn't respond he scooped her up into his chest, and wrapped his arms around her protectively. Though his embrace was also cold.
"It's okay. Just breathe. You're okay." He murmured in her ear. He rubbed her arms with his hands, trying to keep her warm.
She wrapped her hands around his neck, feeling his wet hair and cool skin. Her skin felt like ice, and her bones started to become more stiff from her frozen wet clothes.
"It's... Freaking... Cold..." She got out through chattering teeth.
Byrne started to pull her tunic off of her shoulder.
"What are you-?" She started.
"Your wet clothes will only make you colder. And... Body heat is the best way to... Keep warm..." If she wasn't freezing cold she might have blushed at that but at the moment she didn't give a damn.
He undid the buttons on her tunic and peeled it off her. She shrugged it off and placed it beside them, her body shaking uncontrolably. He unwrapped his scarf and threw that, and his claw, to the side as well. He carefully lifted her tank top off, trying not to frighten her, but she didn't care, or feel embarrassed, no, all she felt was her frozen clothes becoming heavier and more stiff. The tip of his fingers trailed up her sides as he pulled it off her. Once that was off, and she only had her bra and tights on. He yanked his own shirt off, revealing his finely crafted muscles.
He pulled her closer, wrapping his huge arms around her to allow their body heat to warm each other. Skin against skin. She placed her hands on either side of his neck, feeling his quick pulse race under his skin. His arms tightened around her and pulled her closer as he rested his head against the space between her neck and shoulder. Water from her hair trailed down her back, and she shivered.
Byrnes body loomed over her, keeping her away from the frigid air. She moved her arms and hugged his back tightly, breathing in the warmth coming off his neck. His skin was starting to feel warm, allowing her own frozen skin to feel like it was starting to melt.
She had never had herself this exposed to anyone, or even had anyone this close. She could hear every breath he took and his heart beating a slow rhythmic pace, the sound of it helped relaxed her. Having him so close didn't bother her, their skin against each other was comforting to her, something about being this pressed against him was... Soothing and exciting in a way.
They stayed like that for about half an hour, until they could feel their fingers again. Bit by bit their blood started flowing through their veins, allowing their bodies to heat themselves. They couldn't even speak to each other because their throats seemed to be laced with frost. But it all started to melt away now. As though they were starting to melt into each other. Her fingers lightly traced over the maze of his back, and he pressed his lips against her neck.
"Are you still cold?" He breathed against her neck.
She shook her head.
"Jumping was a dumb idea..." She muttered.
"Hm" He pressed his lips against her lower jaw. "Aren't your legs cold?" He asked.
She smiled slightly. "No way, mister. You're not getting me out of my pants that easily."
He chuckled. "What a shame. Then, I suppose we'll have to wait here a bit longer so that we don't die of hyperthermia." He said, pressing his lips against her shoulder.
She shivered inwardly at that.
"And what about that precious tear you so desperately need?" She said in a teasing tone.
"... It can wait." He told her.
"Really?... Hmm, I don't know, Byrne, aren't we on a time limit?" She tried to pull herself away to bug him.
He growled, and pulled her closer while pinning her against the ground. She hissed at the cool tiles against her skin, and he brought his arms around her back to shield her bare skin from the floor. All while holding himself just barely off her.
"You're not getting away that easily." He whispered in her ear.
She giggled. "Oh, really?"
He gave her a dark smile and gently brought his lips on her own. He pulled at them in a demanding sort of way. She kissed him back softly, then pulled away after a second. He gave her a confused look.
She bit her lip. "I... We should get out of this temple." She told him quietly, kicking herself mentally.
His eyes looked a bit disappointed but he sat up and pulled her with him anyways.
"You're right. We should not be fooling around." He told her.
"I didn't mean-.."
He cut her off. "I know but... We still need to finish this." He avoided her gaze as he spoke.
'Dammit... He seemed as though he was almost happy... And now I've ruined it...' She knew they couldn't stay here but she also didn't want to pull away from him so quickly.
They stood up and collected their clothes. They weren't as wet as before but were still cold none the less.
She pulled on her tank top then slowly put on her tunic, hissing at how cold it felt sliding against her skin. She saw Byrne twist his scarf tightly to drain the remaining water in it.
She saw that the so-called ledge they were on wasn't a ledge at all but a hallway. A few more torches were lit down it before the hall made a turn to the left.
She grabbed her sword and the soaked maps, which were hardly readable now.
'Wonderful...' She squinted at the map, the one that told them which floor they were on but the ink was too smudged together to read.
She started foreword and Byrne followed as he readjusted his claw.
They walked down the hallway then turned left, the new room was covered with water, with only a few stones that created a path into the next hall.
She shuddered as she saw something snake just barely underneath the surface. There were a few torches along either side of the room.
"Do you want me to go first?" Byrne asked, seeing how much she hesitated.
She nodded and he moved in front, hopping onto the stepping stones. She jumped onto the closest one as he moved onto the next one. She waved her arms around for balance. Again something moved beneath the water, she squinted at it as it almost started looking like a fish approaching her...
It jumped out at her, tiny sharp teeth bared, and she barely had enough time to pull her sword out and cut it in half. When the demon fish hit the water it turned into black/purple smoke then disappeared. Byrne turned back to look at her.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"Don't freak out but... I think there are demon fish in the water." She said, looking around at the water.
"Just ignore them. We need to get to the next hall." He told her.
She rolled her eyes at him, and something in the water moved toward Byrne.
"Hey, Byrne..." She called over as she hopped onto the next step.
"What is it now?" He turned to her, half annoyed.
She smirked slightly as the demon fish thing launched itself at him. Reflexively he used his claw to swipe at the fish that threw itself at him, and it automatically exploded into black/purple smoke.
Byrne glared at the spot where the fish had come from, then glanced back up at Aife. His eyes grew wide.
"Aife, don't look behind you. Just move over here, quickly." He urged her, watching the space behind her.
She didn't have to look behind herself to know what was there. A swarm of those demonic fish things swam over to them.
Aife jumped onto the next stone and then the next, quickly, as did Byrne.
Byrne reached the new hall, and Aife jumped beside him. He lifted his claw and created a purple energy shield as the fish jumped with their mouths wide open. They hit the force field with a pinging noise. A few exploded, while others simple fell back into the water.
"Holly hell..." Aife muttered.
The fish were gross looking. They all had red eyes with yellow irises and sticky black scales that were coated in a green substance of some sort. She could practically see their bones showing through their thin skin.
Once the fish finally stopped hitting against the shield, Byrne put his hand down and they turned and left down the hall.
"That was... Dark magic, wasn't it?" She asked him, giving him a sideways glance.
He nodded but kept his gaze foreword.
She huffed. 'Back to the old Byrne...'
The next room they reached was round and had a deep blue spiral on the floor and a pedestal in the center. Something about the room seemed off. A black tear floated above the pedestal, and every step they took on the floor was silent. Even as Aife stomped her foot on it, the floor remained silent. Byrne approached the tear and was about to grab it when Aife stopped him.
"Wait." She said. "Don't touch it." She walked up to the tear and examined it.
"What? We've found it. Now we can leave." Byrne stared at her in confusion.
She frowned at the tear.
"Don't you remember what the Wise One said? The rooms below us are parallel to each other. This is a decoy. If you touch it, then..."
"Then what?" He questioned.
"I don't know! Something bad will happen?"
He sighed. "Fine. Lead the way to the real tear then."
She looked around the room until she saw the exit. They headed towards the door and as they reached the door, bars snapped closed in front of it.
"It can never be that easy, can it? Why can't things just be simple?" She questioned at the bars angrily.
They turned around to see the so-called tear start to glow a deep blue, then it exploded. The black shards flew across the room and stopped just in front of Aifes and Byrnes eyes, before falling to the ground.
The flat diamond shards then slid to the center of the room and started to form a strange creature thing. It was very tall, cloaked in black with long thin gray arms and it had crooked/jagged teeth hanging out of it's flopped open jaw. The spot where its eyes should have been was covered by a black cloth that had a red eye painted on it. It turned to Byrne and Aife then pointed at them before it shrieked.
The cloaked demon beast crumpled to the floor and left behind a black circle. Aife pulled her sword out, and Byrne readied his claw, they slowly moved foreward.
As soon as they were a few feet from the door, the cloaked monster spun from the ground behind them and slashed it's bony hand at them.
They were able to jump away in time but it hit Byrne. Byrne was able to swing his claw up and block the demon thing from pushing him back.
Aife saw the demons back was vulnerable and quickly slashed her sword at it's bony spine, which knocked out a large piece of it.
"Eww." She made a disgusted face at the sickening crunch and snap its spine made when it fell back together after loosing a part of its spine.
It screamed and whipped itself towards Aife, completely ignoring Byrne.
Aife brought her sword up and was able to hold it from crushing her but the force was too much. It slashed at her with its other claw and she was flung towards the wall with an 'oof'.
White hot pain ran through Aifes back and splotches danced across her vision. She kelt on the ground and groaned before she started to stand.
She saw Byrne luring the demon thing away, and was firing dark magic at it while jumping from side to side to avoid being pimp slapped.
"Get its spine!" Aife yelled at Byrne. Seeing how hitting its front didn't do anything.
Byrne glanced at her then looked back at the creature. He fired dark magic right into its face, then jumped around to its back to swipe his claw at it's spine in one fluent motion. When his gauntlet smashed against a piece of its spine, it shattered, and flew off it's back, making the demon even shorter.
Aife raced up to it as it disappeared. After a minute of it not reappearing Aife wondered over to the pedestal. She was about to poke it with her sword, when the demon rose from the ground beside her and screamed at her.
It slashed it's hand at her, to which, she was able to block, and she continued to hold back the force of it.
"Byrne! Pretend to destroy the pedestal!" She yelled at him.
"What?!" He yelled back as he charged towards the demon.
"Just do it!" She yelled.
She heard him growl in annoyance as he changed direction and charged towards the pedestal. As soon as he was about to smash the pedestal to bits the demon turned its attention to him. Which gave Aife enough time to drive her sword into its gut.
Byrne turned towards the demon and fired a huge orb of dark magic at it. The demons body became stiff and it started to shake wildly. Aife ripped her sword out of it mercilessly. Black blood oozed out of the demon as it screamed and whipped around the room violently, smashing against the walls and gripping at it's head.
Finally it let out a bellowing screech and exploded into black shards, which froze in the air before sinking into the floor.
Aife was breathing hard, her ears ringing, as the doors re-opened.
"Are you okay?" Byrne asked, looking out of breath.
She nodded. "You?"
He nodded and they both headed towards the door.
The new hall had a thin layer of water covering it, and sticky green seaweed covered the walls.
They stumbled upon a few monsters and demon fish things that were easily disposed of.
The found another stairway that led downward. Once they reached the new floor, the water on the floor reached up to their knees.
Aife tried to calm herself, thinking that they were almost here, don't look down, and other things to comfort herself with. The water around them was black, with gross sticky floating plants floating just beneath the water. A few torches on the wall lit their way through the narrow hall.
Aife felt something brush past her leg and she shuddered, holding back a scream.
They turned to the right and then to their left, and found a large doorway. Byrne pushed open the door and gestured her to go first.
The room they entered looked like a very large dome, drawings of fish outlines covered the walls and round blue tiles covered the floor. In the center of the room was a round pool of water, with a navy blue spiral swirling around the rooms floor.
Aife took a step foreword and heard a ringing noise. She froze and looked around. She took another step and heard another ring. She looked down and tapped her foot against the tile, a ringing noise echoed through the room.
She gasped. "Musical tiles..." She whispered.
She tapped the floor again then started moving foreword as she twirled about, dancing to the sound of each ring that went out every time she touched the floor.
She giggled when she saw Byrne raise an eyebrow at her.
"What?" She asked.
He shook his head, while trying to hide his smile. She walked right up to him and stood on her tip toes to see him at a somewhat equal eye level.
"Care to join me?" She whispered right in front of his face, their noses almost touching.
"I'd rather not." He told her, smirking slightly.
She smiled. "Are you sure? It's not often that I ask someone to dance with me." She said.
"Hm, I'd think that I'd rather watch..." He said.
She rolled her eyes and lightly punched his chest.
She moved towards the pool, a ringing noise echoed through the room with every step she took.
"Why do you think this floor rings?" She asked him, staring into the pool.
"I doubt it's for decoration. It's probably there to alarm something." Byrne started walking towards her, his feet making ringing noises, the water in the pool began to quiver.
"Great. Now you've jinxed it..." She told him, moving away from the pool as it started to bubble.
Byrne gave her a confused look and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted by a loud roar. In the middle of the pool a very ugly creature screamed at them.
The thing had, what seemed like, a million tentacles each one having an eye at the end. It had black scales, similar to the fish, covering it's arms and body. It had an enormous mouth that screeched at them, and inside it was a giant yellow eye that was completely blood shot. Its head ducked back under the water.
"Eew." Aife mumbled as she took a step back, making the floor ring out.
One of its arm things swung itself at her and she jumped over it.
It did this again, and Aife stabbed her sword into it. It jerked its tentacle away and screeched at her as its head popped back up from the pool.
Byrne shot his dark magic at the eye, and it blocked it by bringing its tentacles over its face. But the tentacle that took the hit started to disintegrate and they turned into ash. The creature bellowed in pain and ducked its head back under the water as its arms also went under.
For a second everything was silent, until Aife moved a step.
A single ring echoed through the room and the creature burst from the water and swung all of its tentacles at her.
She was automatically thrown to the side, and landed against the wall, then fell to the floor. She felt tears prick at her eyes from the sudden pain that shot through her arms and side.
Byrne tried to move towards her but the creature swung at him too with all of its arms. He blocked it and they both froze as they tried to force one another back.
Aife raced towards the creature, and with a yell of fury she smashed her sword down on its tentacles.
It screamed and whipped its tentacles away from them, half of them were missing now and a few barely held on.
She smirked. But was knocked to the ground just before she saw its arms start to swing around the room.
Byrne laid on top of her and kept her head covered from the creatures thrashings.
Once it disappeared under the water, Byrne slowly moved off her, he tried to help her stand up but another ring echoed out from their movement and the creature burst from the water.
Byrne growled and let go of Aife as he charged towards the creature.
Aife watched as Byrne launched himself at the creatures open mouth and thrusted his claw, which was covered in dark magic, into its blood shot eye. While his claw was in its eye, he shot out his dark magic and the creature screamed. Byrne was flung off and the creature started whipping its body back and forth as it exploded into black shards.
All the shards froze in mid air then retracted back into the center of the pool, where they formed a black tear. The tear lightly floated above the water and had a dark blue aura.
Aife and Byrne were breathing hard and neither of them moved for a minute.
"Nice one..." Aife said. "Way to take one for the team." She gave him a thumbs up and winked. She started to get up with shaky legs.
He rolled his eyes and stood, then walked over to her to help her stand up properly.
Once she was standing Byrne moved and snatched the tear into his claw.
"Alright. Are you ready to leave?" He asked her as she approached.
"Hell yeah." She said.
He wrapped his arm around her and they were both engulfed in a blue light as the room around them became blurry.
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A/N: Yay! Done! And I'm over my writers block! ^_^
Oh and the ringing floors are from Phantom Hourglass, also owned by Nintendo.
Srsly... How awesome would it be to have ringing floors? Gah! Now I want some for my room...
Oh and I must credit the fabulous Wingscutdarkness for the 'body heat' scene/idea. ;)
Alright! My advice for you is:
"Always be yourself.
Unless you can be a unicorn...
Then always be a unicorn."
(I saw this posted up at this hospitals recipient both... XD And I couldn't resist sharing...)
:/