The Trials Continue
Previously:
Karma held out his hand to try to reach for the sphere but stopped when he saw his friend's terrified face.
"What's wrong?" Karma asked. Blake just pointed, which led Karma to turn around, and instantly adapt the same face Blake was wearing. Right in front of the pair was a large fish-like monster, with rows of razor-sharp teeth, and to beady black eyes. The light highlighted some of its grotesque features, and only then did Karma realize the light was attached to the monster on an antenna. Blake stuttered, seemingly unable to come up with the right words.
"Just my luck," Karma choked out.
Present:
Karma's instincts kicked in, and he hurriedly grabbed Blake, propelling both of them away from the horrendous beast. The monster sped after them, repeatedly slamming its jaws together.
"I don't want to be caught in those chompers," Blake exclaimed, Karma agreed. "Can't you just use the water to kill that creature?" Blake asked. Karma reached out his hand and manipulated the water around them to crush the monster, or at least hinder its movements, but the beast pushed through it.
"It's not going to work," Karma replied. Blake huffed in disappointment.
"At least we only have to deal with one," Blake said. As soon as the last word left his mouth, more lights started to appear in the water. Blake paled and Karma face-palmed.
"Way to go," Karma said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Karma pulled Blake along as the two weaved their way around the huge creatures, dodging their sharp teeth left and right. Karma swam into an open spot, and formed a barrier around the immediate area, blocking off any intruders.
"Ok, this barrier won't last for long, and we don't even know what we are supposed to do right now," Karma said worriedly. Blake held out his hand in a fist.
"This is what we know". He raised one finger. "One, we are trapped in a water-filled room, with terrifying sea creatures that want to eat us". He shows a second finger. "Two, each of those big creatures have a lure that glows a different color." He lets out a third finger. "And three, this place is completely dark, meaning the goal could have something to do with the lights". Karma nodded thoughtfully.
"So, we are screwed?" Karma asked. Blake smacked the back of his head.
"Think optimistically," Blake reprimanded. He held out his hand, and his red string appeared, wrapping together into small aquatic creatures. After he had made 7 of them, he blew a red mist onto them from his mouth. As the mist cleared, in place of the strong models were 7 creatures that looked similar to the creatures in the room.
"I'll have these guys scout the area," Blake told Karma. Karma released the barrier, and the creatures swam away. As soon as the creatures left, a light could be seen getting brighter.
"They are heading this way," Karma said, pulling out his sword.
"Let's try to seclude one, and find out a way to defeat them," Blake said. Karma nodded, and grabbed his friend, before rocketing them away from the terrifying creature. The monster persistently chased after them. As Karma swam, he realized that they weren't in just an open room, but there were corridors and rooms. 'Sunken ruins?' he questioned.
The monster was gaining on them, and Karma realized that they wouldn't be able to outswim it. He threw Blake out of the way and raised his sword. He brought it down, making it collide with the monster, who attempted to ram into Karma. The impact sent Karma flying, but he quickly steadied himself. 'Not enough power' thought Karma. He swam to the monster again and added a push to his sword as it collided into the creature's face. The attack didn't even make a dent, and Karma was yet again blasted back.
'I need more power' Karma thought. He was in his element. He could bend this environment to his will. How could he incorporate that power into destroying this monster? The creature let out a high-pitched screech, before charging at Karma, opening wide to show his rows of razor-sharp teeth. Karma couldn't form a shield fast enough, but right before the monster sunk its teeth into its prey, a spiraling spear made of string impacted into this side of it, throwing the creature off-guard.
Karma turned to see Blake. Blake now had flippers on his hands and feet.
"Just used my ability to slightly change my form," Blake explained. Karma nodded. Both of them looked back at the monster. "Try spinning the water around your blade, that should add some more power," Blake suggested. Karma nodded and concentrated on his blade. The water around him began to spin, and at a rapid pace.
Karma charged, holding his sword in position. As he made an impact, the sword pierced the monster's armor, stabbing it deep inside. The monster struggled a bit, trying to buck Karma off, before ceasing all movement. Karma dislodged his sword from the monster.
"What did you think of that?" Karma asked curiously.
Blake smiled. "It's how I increase the damage of my attacks, it makes it easier to pierce things," Blake explained.
The duo swam over to their work and looked over the corpse. Then looked over at its lure, which was glowing a bright red light.
"I say we take it," Blake said. Karma complied, cutting off the lure and holding it firmly in his hand.
"What do we do with it then?" Karma questioned. He turned around to look at his friend, who was holding up a hand motioning him to be quiet.
"I got it!" Blake exclaimed suddenly. "My models have been scouting the area, and have found 5 slots. Each one has color in an ancient language over it, and it's the perfect shape for the lures".
Karma nodded his head, showing that he understood their objective.
"You can read ancient languages?" Karma asked.
"I'm not a treasure hunter for nothing," Blake said pridefully. Blake formed a model that swallowed the lure and swam away.
"Four more to go".
Karma lunged at the creature and sped his vortex around his sword. The monster was destroyed on impact, slamming into the wall behind it, before floating lifelessly. Kamra hummed in approval, before cutting off the lure. He pushed the lure to Blake, who summoned a model and let it go on its way.
"We need one more, but I haven't seen any more of these creatures. Suddenly, the room lit up, blinding them after being in the dark so long.
"I guess the lures helped light up the room. Karma looked at a wall in the room he was in, to see it start to rise. "Ooh, a secret passageway," Karma exclaimed excitingly. Karma and Blake swam into the now opened room, to notice that it was even darker than the last room previously was.
"Sheesh, can I have some light," Blake exclaimed?
"I thought vampires didn't like the light," Karma told Blake. Blake shook his head disappointingly.
"The correct term is Archexile, and that is a common misconception. We 'vampires' have nothing against sunlight, water, or garlic. We don't even drink blood. We just use the energy force of our enemies to strengthen ours," Blake ranted. Karma sighed.
"Boooooring," he whispered, making it loud enough for Blake to hear. His Archexile buddy was about to go on another rant but was interrupted by a loud guttural growl. Karma looked around, before spotting a small glowing light.
"We found the lure, wanna go get it?" Karma suggested.
"You do it," Blake exclaimed. Karma huffed, before making his way to the light. 'This room is very open' he noticed. As he got closer, he didn't notice any sign of a creature, which he found strange. At this distance, he could usually see the outline of the monstrosity. He finally completely reached the lure. He looked around and noticed that the lure was attached at the bottom of it, by a dark blue fleshy material. 'I have a bad feeling about this. He was about to cut off the substance when he heard Blake start to yell at him.
"What did you say?" Karma yelled.
"That's its tongue!" Blake yelled back. It took Karma a moment to process the information. 'If the lure was attached to its tongue, that could either mean that it had a very long tongue or….' Realization flooded into his mind, and he looked around, trying to feel the currents that swam around him. As he did that, he paled. He hadn't seen the outline of the monster because it was huge. Its entire mouth could easily swallow a large ship, and with large sharp tentacles to boot, this was not something he wanted to face, and he wasn't completely sure he could.
Karma turned around to swim away, accidentally brushing his hand against the lure. A loud growl was released from the monster, and its lure rushed down into the bottom of its mouth. Karma saw its teeth rapidly close in on him, and didn't have time to react. Right before the monster's teeth plunged into his skin, a red string wrapped around his waist, and pulled him away from the attack. Blake pulled Karma to him, with a shit-eating grin on his face.
"I'm getting deja vu," Blake teased. Karma just shook his head.
"How are we going to kill this thing?" Blake questioned. Karma looked around, and his eyes lit up. "I take it you have an idea?" Blake asked. Karma just nodded.
"When I say now, put up a guard around you," Karma said. Blake looked at Karma curiously, before nodding. Karma started to say something else before his face twisted into worry and pushed Blake. No later, a barbed tentacle rushed past the two.
"Guess we are starting," Blake exclaimed. Karma gave him a thumbs-up, and the two propelled themselves away from the area, dodging tentacles left and right. Karma weaved between the offending limbs, cutting some of them off when he could. It didn't matter to the creature though, as the limbs almost instantly regenerated.
"You got to wonder how they got this thing in here," Karma mumbled to himself. He rocketed himself to the ceiling of the room and plunged his sword into it. He closed his eyes in concentration. A tentacle plunged at him, only to be blocked by a shield made of string. Karma shot Blake a thankful look. Karma went back to concentrating, putting all of his quake powers into this tremor.
"Now!" Karma screamed. He let loose the tremor, forming cracks in the ceiling. He grabbed his sword and swam away before the ceiling collapsed, and huge pieces of debris fell on the monster. Karma, once again, was pulled by Blake by his string, this time into a protective sphere. Karma and Blake waited inside the sphere, hearing the destruction outside, and the screams the monster was letting out. They waited a little longer until silence could be heard. Blake unraveled his shield, and the two swam towards the corpse to the monster, buried under countless piles of debris. Blake wrapped his hands with his string to form too large claws and used them to pry open the jaws of the beast. Blake reached in and grabbed the lure.
"Nice," he said to himself. Karma and Blake moved to the last slot and put the lure in. The lines that ran through the opening started to glow a white, and a door started to open.
Suddenly the king's voice could be heard. "Trial one, complete," his deep voice boomed. Just as soon as the voice appeared, the surroundings became quiet again. Karma held out his fist, and Blake looked at it curiously.
"Put your fist on my fist," Kamra explained. Blake complied. "I call that a fist bump," Karma said. Blake smirked. "How original," he said in a mocking voice.
"Well, let's go in," Karma suggested.
Blake POV:
The pair walked into the newly formed door. They looked around to see a significantly smaller room. This time, the room was illuminated, and sitting in the middle of the room, were two green crystals, one on the right, and one on the left. Blake walked up first, two the crystals, and noticed a sign next to them.
To brave the dungeons, where treasure shall wait,
Just strength will lead you to a terrible fate,
One must have trust in their companions and friends,
To know them well will help you not meet your end,
This device will help you share what's on your mind,
You'll be one step closer, the sword you shall find
Your past, your life, will be revealed
After this trial, your fate shall be sealed
"Does this mean-"
"We have to look into each other's past," Karma said, interrupting Blake. His friend looked at him with concern.
"Are you ok with this, I know there are some things you didn't want people to know," Blake said worriedly. Karma smiled.
"You have saved my life at least 3 times just today, I'm willing to spill my life story," Karma said confidently. He put his hand on one of the green crystals. "As long as you're cool with me peeping into that mess you call a life, then we should be good".
Blake chuckled, before resting his hand on top of the second crystal. The crystals started to glow, before the light-flooded their eyes, making them unable to see. A second later, it seemed that they were no longer in the room.
Karma POV:
Karma moved around, and saw his body move, but didn't feel it. He had been in this state enough times to know where he was.
"It seems we are in my consciousness," Karma said. Blake awed at the pure white surroundings.
"Looks like your mind really is empty," Blake exclaimed. Blake started to laugh before he suddenly felt something slap his face. He looked at Karma, to see him smirking. "How did you slap me from there?" questioned Blake. Karma gently tapped his forehead.
"Me head, my rules," Karma said. Blake huffed in annoyance.
"I guess we should get started," Karma said.
Blake POV:
If someone asked Blake what he thought his mysterious friend was hiding, his last answer would be a half-god that has saved his planet not once, but twice, and being sent on dangerous lethal quests at the young age of twelve. All Blake could do was stare, mouth agape, as he watched his memories play by. Blake thought of teasing Karma about the blonde girl, Annabeth, as it took them so long to get together, but he decided against it, seeing the obvious tension that appeared every time the girls showed up on the screen.
They were at the part of Karma, or Percy as everyone called him, saved a defenseless demigod (he was amazed he could say that so normally like having a parent that is an immortal deity was normal) from a pack of hellhounds. He could see Karma's mood dramatically decreasing as the kid, Jameson, made his way into his memories.
Blake saw how Percy's life continued to go down, being blamed for crimes that he did not commit. His friends leaving him behind, his girlfriend cheating on him, and then his own mother asking him to leave her family alone. Blake wanted to reach into the memory and give that Jameson a piece of his mind. He couldn't believe that the people that Percy put his life on the line for would ditch him so quickly. No wonder he wasn't keen on sharing his past.
He watched Percy almost end his life before he was saved by 2 of the deities that felt like they owed him, and Blake was so grateful for them. He saw Percy live in solitude for 2 years, before coming across some ruins and being transported to a new planet. 'So all this stuff was new to him huh' Blake thought to himself.
He watched Percy, who had just become Karma, save the planet from an unjust ruler, and be transported to a new planet, where he heard about the life swords. He then watched as Karma met the dashing young vampire (totally not Blake's words), and the rest of his life up to this point. As the memory ended, Blake looked at Karma.
"You…. definitely have an interesting life," Blake said cautiously. Karma laughed a dark laugh.
"Definitely interesting," he said darkly. Blake looked with concern.
"Look, I'm sorry-" Blake wasn't able to finish his sentence before Karma interrupted him.
"You don't need to apologize. I'll get over it eventually, and I'm so far away from those back-stabbers, I don't need to worry," Karma said reassuring his friend. Blake smiled.
"Well then my half-god friend, ready to view my life," Blake said cheerily. Karma chuckled.
"I guess," he said.
Karma POV:
Karma watched the life of his vampire friend and realized something very crucial. He had no idea how old he was. As he continued to watch his life, he saw how he worked to support his little sister, Irene and began to suspect that he had a sister-complex. He questioned Blake about it, only for his friend to immediately try to reject the idea.
He watched Blake get a premonition about Irene's death, and successfully prevent it, gaining the ability to manipulate the "red string of fate". He watched him train, and work to strengthen his ability, before leaving home to become a treasure hunter. Karma saw Blake promise, Irene, to send as much treasure as possible. He watched Blake's many conquests, and got a multitude of priceless treasures, and sent them back to his sister.
He watched the sis-con (Blake insisted that he didn't call him that) hang out with his sister and try to prevent her from becoming a guard but getting beaten up in the process. He watched Blake learn more about ancient civilizations, and learn new languages. Karma could admire his friend's determination, and by the time he got to the part where he met Karma, he was surprised. As the memories ended, Karma looked to Blake.
"You're over one hundred!" Karma exclaimed. Blake smiled shyly.
"Yeah," he said quietly.
"I didn't know you were such an old man," Karma said. Blake grinned.
"That isn't that old for Archexile's," Blake argued. Karma just shrugged. 'Can't judge a book by its cover' Karma thought to himself. The duo was suddenly brought out of Blake's mind, and we're back in the real world.
"Second trial has been cleared. There is one trial left," the king's voice boomed.
Karma smiled and looked at Blake.
"Ready to end these trials?" he questioned. Blake smiled as well.
"I guess I am Mr. Half-God," Blake said. The pair walked into the now opened room, ready to give it all they have.
(Hello readers, we have reached the 10th chapter, making it into the double digits. Hooray. To commemorate this special mark in our journey, at the beginning of the next chapter I will be answering any questions the readers have, so feel free to ask questions in the reviews. For some reason, I have to wait several days to see the reviews that have been posted, so I will be doing this over the next few chapters. Thank you again for reading, and I hope you will stay tuned for chapter 11, Facing Your Fears.)