Chapter 21: Angel Village

Will and his friends made their way forward off the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day, and the sun was almost blinding. Or, at least it seemed that way after how long they had been in the underground tunnel. They did not know it yet, but the tunnel they had traveled through led them from Mu Island to the shores of eastern Laurasia, the huge continent that stretched over the Northern Hemisphere.

A few minutes after wandering off the beach, Lilly noticed a dirt path leading inland. "Maybe we should follow this and see if it leads to anybody or anywhere." She said.

"Sounds good to me," Lance said. Let's do that."

Will had begun to suspect something was up between Lance and Lilly. The two always seemed to go along with each other's ideas, and they had been talking to each other more and more as the adventure progressed. Not only had that, but Lilly's earlier feud with Kara died down to the point where it wasn't really relevant anymore. Lilly's change in demeanor was shocking to Will. No longer the headstrong adventurer she was back in the Incan Ruins, she had become calmer and overall much happier. Perhaps the near-death experience in the airplane, which she took particularly hard, had hastened the transformation.

About two miles up the path they came to a clearing on the plains. There were several ladders leading underground within the cleared area, and there were rocks surrounding what appeared to be houses dug out of the ground.

"Oh, not more underground tunnels!" Erik shouted.

"Hey, there's a sign over there." Lance said. He went up to read it. The sign read "Travelers, please use this room. Thanks. The Angels of Angel Village."

"Angel Village?" Will asked.

"Does this mean that there are actual angels living here?" Neil asked.

"I don't know." Lance said. In either case, I'm tired. We should rest here."

Neil agreed. "Everybody, let's gather inside and rest a spell." He said.

Kara started walking over to the left, away from the others. "I want to see the angels and explore this place! I've always wanted to see an angel! If nobody else wants to come with me, then I guess I'm off."

Will tried to dissuade her from going off on her own, but it was to no avail. He told her to just be back by nightfall. Some of the others criticized Will for letting Kara leave on her own, but Will ignored their complaints. When Kara had her mind set to do something, there was simply no stopping her. Only later would he learn the heartbreaking severity of his decision.

Inside the underground travelers' quarters, Will was confronted by Lance. Apparently, his inhibitions regarding him and Lilly were not incorrect.

"Will, I need to talk to you about something." Lance said. "It's about Lilly."

"Anything Lance." Will said.

"I've changed on this adventure too, and Lilly is a big reason why. Will, I seem to have developed feelings for Lilly. But, I'm not really sure how to tell her."

"Perhaps you should get her a gift." Will said.

Lance thought about it a bit. "Yes, that's a great idea. But what?" He thought it over for a short while. Three options flashed into his mind, a bouquet of flowers, a necklace, or a sweet kiss. "Will, what do you think about these?" he asked.

"Lance, I think a bouquet of flowers would be a great gift for Lilly." Will said.

"Great, that's what I'll do then. I'll find a nice group of flowers somewhere and I'll gather them up for Lilly. Thanks Will. It's good to have friends.

Following this conversation, Will talked to Neil and Erik. It was evident that they were just glad to be off their feet in a decent home again, even if it was below ground. The rest of the afternoon was a blur. He thought about his father, and where the next mystic statue might lie. But as the sun began to go down, he started to think about Kara. He wondered why she hadn't come back. They went to bed that night with Kara still nowhere to be seen.

Day 68 –

"So you wish to be painted." Ishtar asked.

"Yes."

"Okay then, give me your best pose, and we'll start." Ishtar said.

Will awoke early in the morning, before everybody else. He noticed that indeed, Kara had not returned during the night. Although he had been keen to let Kara go off and do her own thing, her not returning concerned Will greatly. He feared something had happened to her. He immediately left the room and went back up to the surface. He walked across the clearing over to the entrance of Angel Village. As he climbed down the ladder into the underground settlement, he privately hoped for the best.

Upon entering, he noticed two angels chatting next to an underground river. They saw Will walk toward them. "And who might you be?" the angel wearing black said.

"My name is Will. I come from the town of South Cape."

The other angel spoke. "Welcome to Angel Village. We are the angels, a race of descendants of the island of Mu. Our ancestors had lived on Mu for generations, before they dug an undersea tunnel and traveled here, to Laurasia."

"So you came through the tunnel too?" The other angel asked. "We live underground because we cannot survive in the bright light of the sun. If we are exposed to sunlight, we will perish."

Will thanked the angels for their welcome, and moved on to a lower level of town. He came to a hard steel door, which was guarded by another angel. "And who might you be?" the angel asked him.

"My name is Will, of South Cape. I have come to Angel Village to search for a companion of mine."

"Well young man, I might be able to help you." The angel said. "Are you searching for a young woman named Kara?"

Will was suddenly relieved. Apparently the angel knew something of Kara's whereabouts. "Where is she?" he asked.

"Yesterday, Kara came through here, wanted to be painted by our great painter, Ishtar. I told her that Ishtar's studio was several rooms past this door." Will charged forward toward the door, but the Angel stopped him. "However, I must warn you, there are demons of darkness within this section of Angel Village. Only the strong of body and will survive is this dark corridor."

A chill ran down Will's spine. Kara might have been injured or taken captive by the demons, or perhaps worse. "Let me pass. Now." He said.

"If you must go, I will open the door for you." The angel said. She opened the door, and Will passed through into a dark hallway. There didn't appear to be any demons in sight, but that didn't mean they weren't there. Suddenly, a bat dived down from the ceiling and attacked. It flew right into Will's face, stinging his eye a bit with the impact. A big group of bats dove down next. Will took a few shots, but was able to smack several others with his flute. The bats were difficult to deal with since they were small and hard to see in the darkness. Will decided to let them be and traveled into the next room. In this corridor were two jewel boxes, both of which had been opened. It was a sure sign that Kara had already passed by. He knew that she would never pass up an open jewel box without taking anything inside.

Behind the jewel boxes were several skeleton like creatures, similar to those that he had fought against in Edward Castle's prison. Will knew how to deal with these demons, or so he thought as he attacked with his flute. But the demon reacted violently, and it charged straight at Will after taking a shot from his flute. The skeleton knocked Will down with a shoulder block. Will picked himself up off of the dirt floor and re-engaged the demon, eventually defeating it. As he progressed down the corridor, he was beginning to wonder how Kara could have possibly made it through such a treacherous area. His heart started to sink.

After turning a sharp corner, Will raced into a wind tunnel. For whatever reason, the wind blew very hard in this particular tunnel. He had to practically sprint across the dangerous tunnel, which was filled with lizard demons as well. Once again, he thought of Kara. Could she make it across such a dangerous area? She could run pretty fast, of that Will was certain, but she would have had to avoid the demons too. Finally, Will reached the end of the wind tunnel and slid through a doorway on the left. As it turned out, the room he slid into was Ishtar's studio. He tried to pull up, but ended up bumping the small bench where Ishtar was working.

Ishtar got up and dusted off her wings. For an angel, she was actually quite small and dainty, but she did have a temper. "I take it you're the one who has come for Kara." She said strictly.

Will didn't say anything. "Very well then, here's what you must do. The people who are painted are consumed by the painting. One must complete four trials in order to return them to their original state."

Will was absolutely horrified by what he was hearing. He ran out of the studio and turned to the left. He went through the door and saw a beautiful painting of Kara on the wall. After admiring it for a few seconds, he turned around and walked back to the right, where another angel was blocking the entranceway. The angel was Ishtar's apprentice. Not knowing what he had to do, he walked back into the studio.

"Are you ready to begin the task of recovery?" Ishtar asked. "If you complete the four trials, I'll give back the girl."

Will looked at Ishtar with all the fury of a raging bull. "I intend to succeed." He said.

Will walked to the right and entered the first room. Ishtar's voice echoed in the room. "Study this room well. When you think you've mastered it, leave and enter the next room to the right." The room had a table with two chairs in it, and had an orange jug sitting in the corner. It was fairly plain. He looked over the room, and then left and entered the second room. He immediately noticed that the jug in the corner was blue, not orange. Ishtar's voice echoed again. "Show me how this room is different." She demanded. Will picked up the jug and held it high above his head. "Correct, the jug has changed color. Move on."

The third and fourth rooms had the same result, and Will quickly passed on. The fifth and sixth rooms were trickier though. The fifth room had the same chairs and table in the front, four jugs in the corner, and it also had two statues and a jewel box along the back wall. He examined the jewel box, which had a medicinal herb inside it. Will took the herb and entered room number six, which had the exact same appearance as the room before it. "Show me what is different from the room before." Ishtar demanded. Will didn't know what to do at first. Without thinking or answering, he walked up to the jewel box. He opened it, and it contained a red jewel. A smile beamed across Will's face as he held the jewel high in the air. "That's right, how have the contents of the jewel box changed?" Ishtar asked.

The seventh and eighth rooms, which were filled with Ishtar's best paintings and sculptures, appeared to be exactly identical as well. But in the eighth room, Will noticed a faint breeze that blew his hair around. When prompted by Ishtar, Will placed his hands on his head. Ishtar congratulated Will and called him back to her studio. When he arrived back in the studio, Ishtar gave Will a jewel box. "Inside this jewel box is magic dust. If you truly love Kara, you will spread this over her painting and kiss it. You must tell her to not to be so hasty in the future."

Will felt like beating Ishtar senseless for taking Kara captive, but instead he thanked her and walked into the room with Kara's portrait. He spread the magic dust over the painting, then paused a second. "Kara, please return to your original form." Will said as he gently kissed the painting. There were several flashes of light, after which Will noticed that the picture of Kara was now a blank canvas. He noticed Kara enter the room from the doorway.

"Will, sorry for running off like I did." Kara said meekly.

"Kara! You make me so mad!" Will screamed. "Have you no brain, you could have been killed!"

"Waaahhh!" Kara cried as she ran into Will's arms. "I screwed up real bad. I'll never run off from you guys ever again. I'll never forget what happened today."

Will held her close. He wasn't sure whether to smack her all the way back to South Cape for getting into such trouble, or whack Ishtar for clearly seducing her into a trap. He settled for taking Kara back to the others, where he stood back as Lilly, Lance, and Neil ripped into her soul for her misdeed. Strangely, as Kara was grilled by the rest of the party, Will couldn't help but feel sorry for her.