Level 2 + The Three Staircases
Sublevel 1 + The Cold Light



When the darkness grew less and the light grew more, the three young girls found themselves standing before three staircases, one going straight up, one curving away to the left, and one curving away to the right. Presea was nowhere in sight.

"I suppose we take the stairs," Fuu murmured. She pondered a moment before adding, "I believe each of us is supposed to take a different way."

"Okay... I'll go this way." Hikaru started for the leftmost staircase, but as she put her foot on the first stair, she was thrown back, crashing painfully to the stone floor. She sat up, rubbing the back of her head and moaning, "What was that for?"

Umi glanced down at the redhead. "Maybe we can only take a certain one." She tried the one on the right, and she was not hurt. "I guess this is my staircase."

Due to the process of elimination, it was determined that Hikaru would take the middle staircase and Fuu would take the left one. The three girls said their goodbyes, then headed up their respective stairs.

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Umi's climb was over a red carpet draped upon the steps. There was a slick wooden banister on the right side of the tunnel-like staircase, which she trailed one hand on. Red and white candlesticks were lit inside glass bubbles on the walls at intervals of every two feet or so, lighting the hallway pleasantly.

Hikaru's travel was not so easygoing. There was no banister, and while Umi's steps were wide and carpeted, the ones in Hikaru's path were narrow and high and cold, bare stone. The walls were bare as well, with only crude torches widely spaced, so that she traveled in dimness or darkness most of the way. The air was dank and musty, and a foreboding grew in her heart as she climbed, and Nova delighted in it all.

The contemplative Fuu did not have a pleasant climb, nor a dismal one. The staircase she was in had low, broad, smooth steps of polished wood and smooth, simple railings on each side. Little chandeliers hung from the high ceiling, lighting the way well. Soft white cloth was draped in low curves between the windows.

Yes, there were windows, high, peaked things of a Gothic sort of style, narrow and tall. They looked out upon strange sights which troubled Fuu somewhat. There were gardens of bright red foliage in which bright spots of light shimmered and zipped through the misty air. There was a room where a tall, thin, black-clad man paced anxiously over bare gray stone, a white, dog-like beast trotting behind him. In another window was a high waterfall. At the top of the cliff over which the water spewed was a gathering of men wearing earthy-brown cloaks and hoods, and the men threw large, lumpy bundles down into the rushing waters. There were other things, too, but Fuu soon lost track of the bizarre and unsettling spectacles.

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At last, Umi came to the end of the stairs. She stepped out of the tunnel into a small, long, narrow room. The floor was bare stone with a strip of red carpet running up the center, and at the end of the carpet was a high chair turned backwards.

She began striding across the carpet. The walls were bare, the floor was bare, and the only light came through two narrow windows placed on either side of the chair. Cold, pale light streamed in, and tiny bits of dust danced in the light.

At last, Umi stood at the back of the chair. She stared at the ornamently-carved wood, summoned her voice, and asked, "Hello?"

"Come around," said a dry voice. Umi obeyed, stepping off the carpet and around to the other side of the chair.

A little man with lavender hair and bright blue eyes sat there. He was dressed simply in long robes of white, and in his hands he held a rolled-up piece of rough paper, tied with a blue ribbon. "I am Clef," he said plainly. "You are Umi, and you have reached the second level of the game."

Umi nodded. "That's right. What do I have to do?"

He looked up at her. "This is the First Elimination. Either you or one of the other two participants will be disqualified from the game. The only way that this can happen is through death."

Umi balked. "D-death?!" she stammered. "You mean, I'm going to die?"

"Not if you win the game." Clef stood and began to walk down the red carpet. "Come," he said. "I will show you what you must do."

Uneasiness growing in her heart, she followed him.

At the end of the carpet, Clef opened a small door where the staircase had been before. Inside was darkness, and he walked in. Umi followed, and the door slammed shut behind them.

"Eilidh!" Brilliant light immediatly illuminated the darkness. Umi found that she stood behind Clef on a narrow white platform, and far beneath was deep, dark water. She swallowed nervously, glancing around at the four wide walls, then up at the high ceiling, trying in vain to determine the source of light.

"You will regain the Light of Emeraude," instructed Clef, pointing down towards the water. "In the water live the Cellach, a race of aquatic people. They have stolen the Light of Emeraude, and it is your task to retrieve it." His icy eyes grew serious. "But heed this warning: The Cellach are violent and fiercely protective. They believe that the Light is rightly theirs, though it is not, and will not give it up easily."

Umi fidgeted. "I have to go down alone?"

"Yes."

"But... don't I get scuba-gear or something? To breathe underwater?"

Clef smiled. "You need no 'gear.' You can already breathe in the water."

"No, I can't."

"Things are not the same here as they are in your world." Clef touched her arm gently. "You will be all right." He handed her the rolled-up paper. "Here, take this with you. It is a map so that you can find your way around the Cellach city."

Umi smiled a little, accepting the paper. "Thank you." She turned to the side of the platform. "How do I get down?"

"Jump."

She drew a deep breath. "Okay..." Umi looked back at Clef. "If I make it out, will you be here?" He nodded. "Okay... Thanks again." And she leapt off the edge.

Umi fell down, down, down, her long hair streaming behind her, clutching the map to herself protectively. The fall seemed to last an eternity, but at last she slipped into the water with barely a ripple.

Taking an experimental inhalation, Umi found herself able to, as Clef had told her, breathe in the water. She didn't know how, nor did she question it; rather, she tucked the map in her gun clip and swam down into the murky depths.

After a short while, a faint light became visible below. Umi swam faster, finding that she was approaching a bizarre city. The Cellach city.

The spindly buildings rose up from the seabed, carved of pink, blue, green, yellow, and white rock and coral. Water-lights, blue fire that burned in the water, shone out from lamps that lined the smooth sand that served as a street. Umi spotted what must have been young Cellach playing in front of a small, stout, pink coral house. They had skin in shades of pale greens and blues, ranging from nearly-white to the soft blue of the sky. Their hair was all twiggy and black, with seashells and carved coral clips stuck in. They were little, and they were playing a sort of game where they sat in a circle, five of them, and threw tiny pebbles into an upside-down scallop shell.

Umi touched her feet to the sand, and a sort of gravity held her down as though she were on land. She crept behind buildings, avoiding the Cellach children, and headed towards a huge white stone building that had cryptic lettering painted on. She had a feeling that the white building was where she wanted to go.

Hiding near the white tower, Umi pulled the sapphire ribbon off the rolled-up paper, then opened the paper. The black ink showed her that the white building was, indeed, where the Light of Emeraude was stowed.

Umi tucked the map back in her gun clip, then stealthily moved towards the building. She peered in a low, round window, spotting a Cellach woman standing in front of a curtain woven of seaweed, a thin spear clutched in her long fingers.

The young girl took her friction gun from its clip, pressing her thumb down on the charge button. However, instead of the heat meter ticking up slowly, the gun emitted a strange clicking and whirring, followed by a strained, high-pitched wail. Umi saw the guardwoman snap her head up and spot her before the gun exploded in her hand.

Cursing, Umi reeled back. The thick glove she wore protected her flesh from damage, but the heat of the explosion was searing all the same.

Looks like I have bigger problems, she thought, seeing the guardwoman running out the door.

As the Cellach woman came around the side of the building, Umi climbed up on the windowpane, tumbling through and crashing to the floor inside clumsily. She scrambled to her feet and dashed for the seaweed curtain.

"Stop!" the Cellach woman shouted, but Umi didn't heed her. She pushed the curtain aside, passing to the other side of it.

As the green curtain fell back into place behind her, Umi found herself unable to move. Before her, on a little pedestal, sat a glass bowl with a delicate domed lid set over it. From within the bowl, a cold white light shone out.

She stared at the light, mesmerized. It was beautiful, compelling. Her fingers twitched involuntarily.

This was the Light of Emeraude.

Umi forced her body to move forward. With a trembling hand, Umi reached out, wrapped her fingers around the knob on the lid, and removed the glass dome from the bowl.

She knew no more.