I am way too busy for my own good... this chapter is taking over a week to write! *sob*
...'Kay, the test is going to take a while, so expect cliffhangers!
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Before the five Adepts lay five metal doors; one a soft green, one a tranquil blue, another a raging crimson, and two in a gentle shade of violet. No one moved; the room was entirely silent. They barely breathed as they tried to accept what they had to do.
The room became decidedly gloomier as Isaac spoke the words they had all been dreading.
"It's time - we have to split up."
Mia trembled at the words - she was first, she had to leave. Taking a deep breath, she tried to convince herself that everything would be all right, everyone would make it out safely and she would see all of them again.
It didn't work.
She didn't know how long she stood there, trying to gather the courage to leave her friends, maybe leave them forever. They were the only ones she had, except for... but no, he was gone from her life now.
Finally Isaac put his hand on her shoulder, meeting her eyes with his firm gaze. She held it for a moment, drawing courage from her leader, then turned and stepped forward.
The door farthest to the right slid open, the blue door. Mia hesitated, and turned back to her four friends, eyes taking in every last detail of their faces, their bodies, their clothes. Then she turned in a flurry of blue, and swept briskly through her door without looking back. It slid shut behind her with a finalizing thud, the sound echoing throughout the gloomy chamber.
"We should probably wait a while before the next person leaves," Garet stated, "to make sure that Mia finishes first."
Various gestures of agreement passed around the circle of four, and they waited in silence. Time seemed almost nonexistent in the dimly lit chamber, but Isaac was able to estimate what he hoped was five minutes.
"Videll..." He stopped speaking there - it felt cruel somehow to tell her to leave, even though they all knew she had to.
She silently moved forward, eyes drifting between the two purple doors, then settling as the door second from the right opened. She closed her eyes, pausing for a moment with her head down, before turning her back on the doors to look upon the faces of her friends one last time.
She regarded them with sorrow, a forlorn cluster of three standing in the torchlight. The ache in her heart intensified when she met Ivan's eyes. His fear and sadness showed clearly in the amethyst depths. Tears welling up in her eyes, she ran forward and embraced him one last time, then silently broke away and dashed through her door. A single tear fell to the ground before the door sealed her away, the sound echoing throughout the silent chamber.
Ivan held back tears of his own. He half-expected Garet to make some comment, but the heavy silence remained unbroken. He stood, savoring the memory of her arms around him, and waited.
A few minutes later, Isaac stepped forward, a majestic silhouette in the torchlight. After a pause, he turned back to his friends with a warm, yet sad, smile on his face. "Goodbye, Garet, Ivan - and good luck."
The footsteps of their leader echoed through the cold room as he entered the green door, the middle door, then faded as it shut behind him.
The remaining two stood alone for a moment before Ivan moved forward. "I guess it's my turn," he said, addressing his friend.
"Don't get yourself killed," Garet ordered, voice breaking. "Or else I'll give you a good beating when this is over."
Ivan smiled. "You be careful too - wouldn't want to light your hair on fire or anything like that." His tone softened, and his smile faded. "Goodbye, Garet."
Garet could barely hear his light footsteps on the rock as he padded through the remaining purple door.
He eyed the red door, on the far left side of the wall. "Goodbye," he whispered, and walked through.
Isaac took a deep breath, and walked down the corridor that lay before him. It was very different from the room he had just left, being well-lit, and more like a hallway than a tunnel. It opened onto a large chamber lit by torchlight; the light was dim, but enough to see by.
He cautiously stepped into the room, only to find it completely empty. He was starting to look around, when suddenly doors all around the walls of the room slid open. He braced himself for an attack, but what stepped out of the doors was not a herd of monsters.
It was his friends.
Garet, Ivan, Mia, and Videll stepped into the chamber, each looking as confused as he was. They converged in the center of the room, and confused whispering ensued.
"What's going on?" "Where are we?" "I thought we were supposed to be split up!"
Suddenly their confused chatter died down, as another, bigger door crashed open. A huge beast stepped out, with three heads and glowing red eyes. Its bottom half seemed to be that of a lion, but the tail was long and spiked. White and crimson stripes ran down its necks and back, the bright colors contrasting with the deep black of its fur. It stood just above ten feet tall, and the Adepts had to strain their necks just to see its eyes.
The group slowly backed up from the monster, until their backs hit solid rock - the door which Isaac had come from had disappeared, as had all the others. Now they looked up into the face of the monster, drawing their weapons, and fanning out into a half circle around the beast, preparing for battle.
Mia started the battle off by firing chunks of glacier at the creature. It only took one hit before it retaliated, swinging its tail around to deflect the ice chunks back in the worst possible way - straight at Garet.
Isaac watched in horror as the Mars Adept was thrown back against the wall, the Mercury energy leaving him gasping for breath. Mia rushed across the chamber to help him, but was cut off by a blast of fire from the enemy. She staggered back, clothes and face scorched.
The monster turned back to Garet, this time emitting an icy beam from its middle head. He cried out once, then lay still.
Isaac turned to see Ivan and Videll firing bright bolts of purple lightning at the creature, with little effect. He fired a Ragnarok at the thing's heads. It let out a cry of agony, and started to thrash wildly at the Adepts. Before Isaac could react, Ivan was down, Videll trying to shield him from the monster and heal him at the same time. The beast howled a command, and a ball of earth and rock exploded underneath the two Jupiter Adepts, rendering them both unmoving.
Isaac's head was spinning. What could he do? Three of their number were down, possibly dying. Dead, added a voice inside his mind. He ignored it, trying to think clearly. The monster seemed invincible, and only he and Mia were left to fight it. How could he save his friends and defeat the monster? He hesitated, thoughts jumbling as he tried to decide on a course of action.
He hesitated a moment too long. The monster struck out again, this time with an immense bolt of electricity. It hit Mia directly, and she let out a piercing scream before falling back into his arms.
He felt her wrist. No pulse.
Slowly backing away from the monster, he focused his power on a Revive. It was his only hope left - he couldn't do this alone, he couldn't lose another one of his friends.
They both started to glow with a golden light, Isaac closing his eyes and focusing his Psyenergy. He felt light entering her body, but there was something strange about the spell. There was a strange emptiness inside Mia, a darkness that repelled his Psyenergy. He gasped, eyes flying open as the spell rushed back into him.
It hadn't worked.
What was going on? What was this beast, that its attacks couldn't be undone? Revive had never failed before, and he had more than enough Psyenergy left. Something evil was going on, and now his friends were gone. Reality slowly sank in. They were dead.
He was alone.
Isaac stood in the middle of the chamber, unaware of the beast in front of him. Mia's limp form slid to the ground, and the warrior let out a cry of anguish. The earth beneath him reflected his despair, rippling in anger and sorrow. As the earthquake reached the corners of the room, a strange sound met Isaac's ears.
Had something cried out? He opened his eyes. The monster wasn't attacking, it merely stood in front of him, growling in its throat. The sound he had heard was too high-pitched to have come from it. Where had it come from?
Experimentally, Isaac let out another small earthquake. There was the sound again - definitely a cry of pain. As he turned toward the source, he saw something move in the shadows.
Or maybe it was the shadows that had moved.
Raising his hand, he cast Spire into the area of movement. The shadow creature cried out again, louder this time, and the scene around him began to waver and flicker.
He fired attack after attack at the creature. Slowly it shrank, and Isaac's surroundings began to become even more unclear. Finally, the shadow creature burst into tiny shards of darkness, then disappeared altogether. Isaac blinked. The giant monster was gone. He looked down at his feet; Mia's body was gone. Looking around the rest of the room, he saw it was exactly as before - torches on the wall, light flickering peacefully. All signs of the fight were gone. His friends were gone, as were the doors they had come from.
He took a deep breath, clearing his mind. Had it all been an illusion? And how did the shadow creature cause it? It had been so real...
He let out his breath, straightening up and looking for his next path. His friends were alive. That was all that mattered.
Mia entered the darkness.
Cautiously, she made her way deeper into the blackness, weapon held in front of her. For the first time in her life, she wished she was aligned with Mars, not Mercury - anything could take her by surprise in the dark.
She took small, quiet steps, moving slowly forward. Expecting an ambush, she was surprised to find none - she had arrived at a doorway, which seemed to lead into an empty room.
Slowly, she took a single step forward, ready to dodge any ambush or trap. Nothing. She took another - still the room was still and silent. She took two more, then moved forward to the center of the room, still suspicious. Suddenly, her blood ran cold. A chilling voice filled the room, seeming to suck hope and warmth out of her body.
Hello, Mia.
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Don't you just love cliffhangers?
::shouts of protest are heard from the angry mob::
Heh, well, gotta go! Review!