Celine woke as she heard the footsteps running towards the room's entrance. Chi also heard it and turned towards the source of the sound.
"About time-"
She stopped when she saw Ket helping the limping Lia.
"What happened?! What's wrong with Lia?"
Ket responded angrily. "Two girls. Blue and red hair. The red one shot Lia with some weapon."
Pae wrapped a fabric around Lia's wound. "…sister…"
Chi turned to the crest. "We must open the passage, before the circle is broken."
The girls all knew she was right; all except for Celine. "So you'd take the risk of losing your friend, your sister, for this god-forsaken revenge mission? Some family you are."
Lena looked sadly at Celine. "Celine, we've had a vow for as long as we've known about this. We will help our sisters complete the circle, no matter what the cost. Lia agreed to this as well."
Pae placed her hand Lia's forehead. "She's fading."
"We have to hurry," Ket replied. "Sisters, to your places."
Pae set Lia on the at one edge of the crest, then stood near her also on the edge. She pointed to the ground next to her. "Celine, stand here."
Celine complied, and the second she moved into position, the cavern seemed to implode with bursts of light all around them. The sound was deafening.
"Do not break the circle!" Chi yelled. "Stand your ground, sisters!"
The event seemed to end as soon as it began…the lights faded and the sound stopped ringing in the cavern. All of the girls were dazed, and everyone but Chi sunk to the floor.
As soon as the light faded from Celine's eyes, she looked up at the walls of the room-and realized they were no longer there. The once small room now extended in endless direction.
Straight ahead, past the crest, there was now a walkway in the spot that used to be a wall. The walkway seemed to be extended over…nothing. What had happened to the walls had also happened to the ground around the crest. They were now just on a large ledge with a death-invoking drop for a wrong step.
Lena was the next to stand. "The passage…"
Ket followed. "…I thought this day would never come."
"Sisters…"
They turned to Pae, who was sitting next to Lia. The young hurt girl was trying to hide her pain, unsuccessfully. She clawed at the air and moaned softly.
Lena's eyes dropped. "Lia…"
Chi stared at Lia, and then quickly turned to the walkway. "S…sisters, take Lia with us. We need the circle together to open the door."
Celine couldn't take it anymore. "That's your sister! Why don't you care about her?! You've sent centuries with her, neh? So stop pressuring the damn circle thing and help her!!"
She stared at Chi's back, and then spun around to face her. "Are you-"
She stopped when she saw tears in Chi's eyes. The black-haired teen's eyes were in a daze, and then focused on Celine. She moved several steps forward, effectively hiding her emotions. "I said, let's go! Hurry!"
Ket and Pae helped Lia to her feet, and they all followed Chi down the passageway. After a moment, though, they began to hear erratic footsteps, the sounds of running. Ket was the first to turn to the original entrance.
"It's them! They're the ones who hurt Lia!"
Her eyes flared with rage and she moved backwards, nearly bringing Lia to the floor with the unbalanced weight shift had Pae not caught her.
Chi called to her. "Ket, we must hurry. All of the sisters must be able to complete the circle, if they can hurt Lia, they can hurt you too."
Ket looked back at her with contempt. Then, without a word, she placed a hand to the ground and raised it slowly, evolving the dirt into the shape of a small dragon. As soon as it had gained shape, she enveloped breath into it. Immediately the summoned beast rose into the air.
"After them!" The beast flew down the passage way. "That'adda slow em down," Chi said, and then she turned and caught up with the others.
----------------------------------------------------------------
My side hurts, Chisato thought, as she ran at full speed down the passage with Rena. My side never hurts. Why does my side hurt now? We haven't even been running that long.
"So these sisters want Celine. Why, exactly?"
"I don't know," Rena said, between breaths. "All I heard was that they were doing something, something that they'd been planning too long to lose now."
"That can't be good…", Chisato said solemnly.
"Look, that tunnel has light. Let's go that why, those girls are probably there."
They turned the passage, but stopped in their tracks as they saw a figure in the hall ahead. It looks almost like a mini-dragon, Rena thought. To confirm her thoughts, it's wings began to flap and it roared up the tunnel directly at the young girl. Chisato quickly had her gun at ready and fired a shot at it, missing it by inches. It turned it's attention to Chisato and blasted fire at her hand. Her gun dropped to the floor, and Chisato ducked to avoid the things talons that were also aimed at her face.
The threat extinguished, the beast turned it's sights on the smaller and more defenseless girl. It was on her almost immedietly, and it was all Rena could do to keep it from clawing her eyes away.
Chisato was up in a flash and grabbed it by it's back. She pulled it gently away from Rina, then slammed it to the ground. Upon impact, it shattered, once again returning to dust.
"An illusion…," Chisato mumbled. "Come on, Rena! They want us to waste our time!"
She picked her gun up off the floor and raced down the tunnel, Rena close behind, sparing time only to seal her cuts and sooth Chisato's hand.
They reached the crest but didn't pause, and ran as fast as they could without falling down the bottomless passage. Near the end of the walkway, they could see a small alter in the distance. Six figures could be seen near it, with one leaning against another.
"Those are the sisters," Rena said, "I know they are! We have to stop them! They said they would be hurting the lives with the consequences of their actions!"
They ran to about 10 feet from the girls and was about to yell for them to halt their actions…
Then everything began to swirl...and fade…
~