6-5a: The Tests

Not again.

Within the first few seconds of being subjected to a total darkness, this was the singular and most horrifying thought that had pierced straight into Syaoran's mind. The last time something like this had happened, he had been subjected to a nightmare in which he had almost lost his true love. It had been merely an illusionary dream world created by the water spirit, granted, but it had been a place where they had all been brought so very close to their breaking points. The only thing that had managed to save them was Eriol's last-second intervention. With Eriol actually being with them this time, they would not see that chance for rescue again. The only thing Syaoran could consider were the consequences of his actions should he be forced to endure another such scenario...

To avoid having to experience that tragedy again, he instinctively lit up an elemental flame to cast away the darkness, and at the same time he silently begged to whatever god that would listen to make this not be a repeat of prior events.

The fire that he held was just barely bright enough to reach to the far edges of the rock-formed room, but that was all he needed to set his fears to rest. Everyone was still all present with him, standing exactly where he had left them when the lights had gone out, and only the heavy sighing of a released, captive breath showed his relief. He eyed each of them intensely for any signs of injury or trauma, though, just to be safe.

Once he had verified everyone's condition as acceptable, however, his light became dwarfed by four larger flames that had spontaneously come into being from the four corners of the cavern-like room. Those free-floating fires lit their surroundings enough to make his own flame redundant, and so he doused it in order to save his energy for later.

Looking back towards the entrance where Sakura was already exploring, he watched her peek her head around the corner carefully. The deep frown of confusion that he could see on her face when she pulled away from the corner said more than enough, though she came back and revealed to them her findings anyway.

"The entrance that we came through is gone. It's just a dead end, now," she told them. Her concern for their predicament was rather obvious within her tone.

Syaoran nodded slowly, trying to keep an eye on all directions at once, "Yeah, and I think we all know what caused it to disappear, too. You feel that?"

Sakura reflexively checked her senses, and found that she could feel the presence of a powerful entity. It was nearby, perhaps, but at the same time it kind of wasn't. It was... it was almost as if she were literally inside that entity. Considering the condition of their surroundings, and what they could possibly be up against, she reasoned it out quickly enough, "It's a trap... a spirit is doing all of this, isn't it?"

Eriol, who was trailing along the far walls with both his hand and his magic, nodded affirmatively, "Undoubtedly, the earth elemental, the only one of the two that remains to us that could make a cavern appear unnoticed in the middle of a busy museum like this. Not only is its base presence similar to the other spirits that we have encountered, but everything we are seeing here is also is starting to look a bit familiar now, as well. I think that Clow Reed was also subjected to whatever we're about to face, though his memories again refuse to tell me as to what we should expect."

"But from what I could sense last night, the earth spirit was still extremely deep underground," Sakura told them, "How could it have come this far in so short a time?"

"Elemental spirits can travel the extent of their own domains within the time it would take us to make a single footstep, much in the same way that light can travel at seemingly instantaneous speeds," Syaoran explained to her, then stopped to think for a moment as he caught on to her actual meaning, "Wait a second... you could actually sense its presence!?"

Sakura nodded slowly at the change of topic, "Yeah. I noticed it just last night when I was talking to Kero. He tried to get me to notice something else, but instead I found that I could sense two powerful entities somewhere out in the town. One was far underground, and the other was scattered all over the place. It was strange, since that was the first time I had noticed them without them actually giving themselves away."

"If you were able to sense them, then it may mean that they are starting to become strong enough to the point that they no longer fear us," Eriol surmised, leaning against the nearby wall as he thought to himself aloud, "If that is the case, then we will have to be extra careful with what we do here. In particular, it would seem that we fell right into this spirit's trap. We might be subjected to anything, if it has as much power now as I suspect."

"In any case, we should see about getting out of this room," Syaoran said, while reading over the plaque on the wall for probably the third time, "And we should probably start here."

Eriol pulled away from the wall he was reexamining and walked over to the plaque to analyze it for himself, "If my guess is correct, what we will have here is another test provided to us by this spirit. Yet unlike before, where the mermaid-like water spirit tested us against our own fears, this one will test us directly with riddles and puzzles."

For all except Eriol, the memories of what they had been forced through during their stay at the beach returned unbidden for the second time within the last few minutes, greatly enhancing their collective desires to find their way out of this mess as soon as was humanly possible.

Tomoyo, while making well and sure to keep close to Sakura, ran through the riddle on the plaque again, "'The second star... the false moon...' maybe these are referring to the sources of your powers?"

"In which case, the solution will likely revolve around Sakura and myself," Eriol noted.

Sakura, whom had moved to examine the stone platforms in the middle of the room, spoke up, "Don't forget about the last part: 'merge sky and earth to make the way.'"

Syaoran held up his hand to stop her, "One thing at a time. Let's figure out what your powers have to do with this, first."

The riddle made mention of her own powers, which got Sakura to pondering upon the thought of there being a second star, "Maybe there's supposed to be another person that can use the Power of the Stars?"

Eriol was inclined to disagree, "No, that won't be the case. Clow Reed intended for that power to be under the sole ownership of yourself and your descendants, and ensured that only your bloodline would have control of it. There will be no other with your type of magic."

"If we looked over the cards, maybe they could give us some kind of clue?" Tomoyo suggested, "If the riddle is saying something about the second and false forms of your powers, then maybe they mean some other kind of representation of yourselves?"

Some other kind of representation...? Sakura thought to herself, then realized that she had a couple of cards that could create images. In specific, to make another representation of her powers, or perhaps even herself...

"Oh! The Mirror card!" she exclaimed, "The riddle says something about a second star, so maybe I can use the Mirror to create a copy image of myself!"

Eriol followed along with her train of thought, "That may very well be, but consider the next part of the riddle: the false moon. A mirror is an illusionary reflection of the one that it is facing. As an illusion, it is not real. You have the right idea, but I think it would be more suitable to my side of the riddle."

"Don't you have another card that can copy things?" Tomoyo asked, "The Twin, wasn't it?"

With Tomoyo's question, Sakura knew that they had found the answer, "Tomoyo, you're a genius! Twin can create an exact copy of me, instead of making a reflective mimic like Mirror would. Should we try it?"

"I do not see any harm in trying," the sorcerer replied, lifting his key into view. Sakura copied him, releasing her own key alongside and summoning her Twin card as he did the same with his Mirror. When the ethereal winds had died down, they found an extra Sakura and Eriol standing beside their respective masters.

They waited for a moment, seeing if anything within the room would react to the magics, until Sakura finally broke the silence, "So now what? Nothing's happening..."

Eriol stared into the center of the room where the stone platforms were stationed, "We may have found our answer to the riddle, but my guess is that we still have to offer up our answer. These platforms may be how we are supposed to do that."

"All right, but be on your guard," Syaoran warned them, "We don't know what those platforms will actually do."

"We'll be careful," Sakura told him, then nodded to both Eriol and the two cards. Understanding their task, the two sets of twins stepped up onto the platforms, while leaving the final two on the far right empty.

For a time, nothing seemed to be happening. Sakura was just about to ask about what they were supposed to do next, when she noticed the lighting around them dim considerably.

"Well, so much for that," Syaoran muttered, pointing to a corner of the room. Everyone else turned to examine the area that he was indicating, and noted that where there once before had been a bright flame, there now only rested a thin veil of darkness.

"Maybe that's how it keeps track of our incorrect answers?" Tomoyo guessed.

"It is, and I don't think we want to find out what will happen if we answer incorrectly three more times," Eriol told her, as he and his copy stepped off of their two platforms.

"Well then, what about the last part of the riddle," Sakura reminded them, "about merging the sky and the earth?"

Eriol sighed to himself, "I am loathe to admit that I am at a loss as to its possible meaning. However, we should work with what we have."

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked him.

He walked along the perimeter of the cave-room until he was on the far side of the platforms, "Well, consider that there are six stations in total. If we include our summoned friends, here, there would be six of us in total, as well. Either the answer involves all six of us and we are just missing a key part of the riddle, or the test requires that we all take part to represent a unified answer. Such possibilities seem the most likely, anyway."

"So you're saying that we should all take a platform, then?" Sakura asked, receiving a verifying nod from the sorcerer in turn.

Syaoran, however, chose to err on the side of caution, "And if it's a wrong answer again?"

"Then we still have two more chances remaining to us," Eriol replied calmly, though it was an answer that Syaoran had not been expecting. It also was not one that he had wanted to hear. Still, there was little to be had in continually arguing the idea.

With notable caution, Syaoran and Tomoyo both joined the two pairs of sorcerers upon the platforms, filling out all six stations as Eriol had requested. At the very same instant that Tomoyo – the last person to act – stepped up onto her platform, the wall in front of them shimmered slightly. The visage of an archway appeared in the rock, forcing the rock within the arch's boundaries to slowly fade away from sight until they could see into another room beyond it.

This, in turn, forced a small, rueful sigh out of Eriol, "And once again I find myself being compared to him."

When questioned by Syaoran, Eriol revealed his predicament, "More memories have come to me, now that we have solved the riddle. As chance would have it, Clow Reed had once met up with a philosopher that had described the laws governing those born with magical power in two ways: those who could manipulate this power to great effect, and those who were born only with a spark of it. He had referred to those with control – a typical sorcerer or magician – as those of the sky, while people with only a spark of magic – just enough to grant them a spiritual essence, or soul – were marked as those of the earth. It was a play of beliefs on the differences between gods and humans in Norse mythology, I think.

"I suspect that this earthen spirit, like its brethren, believes me to be Clow Reed, and in turn expected me to remember such a detail. Thus, I once again find myself being mistaken for a man that has long since been dead. It is not entirely surprising, but it is still extremely vexing."

"Again with the hidden truths," Syaoran muttered, "I should hope that Clow Reed is pleased with his efforts, because I'm sure not."

The point of their attention changed suddenly when the three remaining flames within the room gathered themselves together, floating their way along the roof of the cavernous room and through the archway that had appeared within the otherwise solid rock wall to fully light the new area beyond. From what they could now see of it, it was another cavern-like room that was similar to the one they were already in. From their current position, though, they could make no further analysis of its condition.

"Come on, let's follow them, before the wall starts to close," Sakura suggested, starting her way quickly, albeit carefully, into the next room. She made very sure to stay close to the walls and out of any potential danger.