Chapter III

After the Key!

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I am off to DeVry to study telecommunications, so after this story is finished, I will be entrusting the preacher of my church, Max Hulk, with my story writing. He has a profile on fanfiction.net, I believe. Anyway, keep enjoying my swan song!

---Spoon

In an explosion of white light, Mark, Paul, and Marin arrived at the Interdimensional Council Temple. The Elder, Jeremy, and about 20 delegates from other dimensions were there.

"What's going on?" Mark asked.

"Ah, I see you rescued your friend." Jeremy said with a smile. "Well done."

Paul detected a coldness to Jeremy's smile, but ignored it as Mark was filled in on the situation.

"We know that the great Evil wants a key of some kind to enter our temple." Jeremy said. "Therefore, we want you three to go find it, and bring it to us before she can get to it."

"Where exactly is it?" Mark inquired.

"It is deep within the Subrosian underworld."

"That's in Holodrum, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"Will it be dangerous?" Marin asked.

"Yes. Many monsters have begun appearing. It seems Subrosia is the Evil's old home."

The trio shrank back in fear.

"Is Nayru safe?" Mark quickly asked.

"Yes, for the time being." The elder answered.

"Perhaps it would be best to bring her with you, though." Jeremy quickly suggested. "Just in case she becomes threatened."

"That's fine." Mark said. "Are we going now?"

"Yes. I will send Mark to Labrynna to collect Nayru, while Paul and Marin start out for Holodrum, which is the gateway to Subrosia. The Key should be easy enough to find, though I've heard rumors it's guarded by a monster of some kind. Should not be a problem, however."

Paul turned to Marin. "I guess we gotta save the world again, huh?"

"Oh…" She buried herself in his arms, trying to hold her tears back. Mark's head was a whirlwind of thoughts… protecting Nayru, fighting the evil, finding the key…

"Come, time runs short." Said Jeremy, descending the steps and coming towards them. He stopped in front of Mark, eyeing the 18 year old boy suspiciously.

"What are you looking at?" Mark asked.

"There is something I am sensing within you. New feelings for somebody… almost like love…"

Mark gulped but was silent.

"Perhaps you did not heed our warnings, Mr. McManson?" The elder chimed in from the platform. "We warned you not to have any attraction for those not of your dimension."

"I don't care!" Mark exploded, finally having enough of all these restrictions. "It was your fault for making me come here in the first place! I didn't mean to fall in love with Nayru, it just happened! So just fuckin' drop it, okay?"

A smile seemed to play across Jeremy's face. "This will be discussed at a later time. Right now, there are more important matters." He clapped his hands twice, and a beam of golden light came from the ceiling.

"Return to Labrynna and bring Nayru to Holodrum with you." The Elder told Mark.

Another beam came down next to Paul and Marin.

"Take this one to Holodrum and find the entrance to the Subrosian Underworld. The closest one is in Spool Swamp."

"Yes, sir." Paul said, putting his arm around Marin.

"Then may luck be yours!"

Mark stepped into the light, and after the wind subsided he was back in Labrynna once again.

He opened Nayru's door and looked in. She wasn't there, but he saw a note on the table.

"Mark… please come meet me on the east shore when you return. ---Nayru"

Mark immediately set out for the east shore, and he found Nayru sitting by the water. She turned when she heard him arrive.

"Sit down." She said softly. He obeyed.

"I know that there's a great evil approaching." She said. "And you've come to take me from here, to protect me."

Mark nodded, saying nothing.

She turned to him. "But before we go, I have something I need to say, and something I need to do. I must say this: Mark, the minute I saw you, when I saw the way you looked at me, I fell in love with you. I couldn't help it. And I want to stay by your side forever, no matter what that entails."

Mark felt tears in his eyes. It had been the first time a girl had said that to him. He turned to look at her. "I love you too, Nayru. I'll never leave you, even if I have to stay in Labrynna forever."

He thought she would smile, but this only seemed to sadden her. "Now there is something I must do." She said.

Mark quickly found out what it was. Nayru threw her arms around Mark and kissed him, letting her feelings from the very beginning finally come out. He didn't hold back either, and it seemed like they would kiss forever.

Finally, Mark looked up at the darkening sky. "Come on, we should go."

"Okay." Nayru said quietly, standing up. Mark punched H O L into the cell phone, and took Nayru's hand as they both disappeared.

Paul and Marin were waiting for them in Spool Swamp, where Paul moved a rock to reveal a swirling vortex.

"Come on, Subrosia is through here." Marin said, and they all jumped in.

After a windstorm almost as worse as traveling through dimensions, they crashed on the rocky ground of the Subrosian Underworld.

"So where do we start looking?" Mark asked.

"The Key should be at the end of the Summit Cave, on this mountain." Paul said, consulting a map. "The cave entrance is about a half mile north. Let's go."

Mark and Nayru slipped their arms around each other as they walked.

Finally, they reached the cave and plunged in. It was dark and damp inside, and the cries of various creepy-crawlies echoed off the walls.

After an hour or so, Nayru said, "What's that?" She pointed to a faint light around a bend in the tunnel.

"I don't know." Paul said. "Let's check it out."

After passing the bend, they gasped. Sitting, shining brightly on a pedestal, was a large, golden key.

"They key of evil…" Nayru whispered.

"I don't see a monster anywhere…" Paul said. "Let's grab it, then get out of here."

Paul darted forward and grabbed the key, and after he did so, a brilliant light shot from the pedestal, and who should rise from within but Vire himself!

"I've been waiting for you! Gar, har, har! You are so kind to get the key for Veran!"

"Veran?" Mark gasped.

"Yes! The sorceress of shadows! I have been guarding her key, as I certainly can't take it off the pedestal. But now that YOU have, I'll take it off your hands!"

Vire shot a brilliant laser blast at Paul, but the boy held up his new iron shield, and the blast bounced off it and rebounded into the stone ceiling.

"Curses!" Vire snarled as the cave collapsed, and Mark pushed Nayru out of the way as an avalanche of boulders tumbled down.

When Mark opened his eyes, he saw that the rocks had formed a wall, separating he and Nayru from Paul and Marin. Nayru seemed to have fallen unconscious, so Mark sat beside her and held her, hoping she wasn't dead.