Chapter
Six
Somewhere a faint humming sound buzzed in the back of
Sage's mind pulling him from the darkness of his dreams. With an
effort, he threw off the web of sleep and opened his eyes. His vision
was a little bleary and the deep darkness that surrounded him made
very little visible. He could vaguely make out the shape of a glowing
staff. The light from the staff showed other armored bodies lying
nearby and was what looked like a large, white blob. Sage rubbed his
eyes vigorously and when he looked again, the white blob was gone and
Anglarana was laying in its place.
"Anglarana?" She
sat up and smiled at him. "Yes?"
"Where are
we?"
"Justin's domain, I do not know exactly where."
Sage nodded wearily and moved toward the closest person to wake him
up. "No, let them sleep," Anglarana said softly. "They
will need their rest for the upcoming battle."
"But
we could be in danger right now." Sage looked more than a little
distressed.
Anglarana shook her head. "For now we are
safe. I will know when Justin or his minions come for us."
Sage
sat back pacified, but was not in the least restful. "So now
what?" Anglarana shrugged mildly. "Nothing for now. Once
the others have fully rested, we will leave the dungeon. I do not
think we should attempt to fight him here. Rather, we should only
find a way to escape." Sage nodded solemnly.
"Do
you know anything about this castle to help us get out?"
Anglarana frowned and shook her head. "Only a little, I have
been here only once before; but in little better circumstances."
She smiled ruefully, "Perhaps there is one thing we can do to
upset his plans, even if we cannot get away."
"What's
that?" Her smile turned into a mischievous grin.
"I
know how to get to his power source. My people may not be the most
attentive and focused group that ever wandered upon the earth, but we
are observant and have a very long memory."
"Tell me
about your people." Sage said suddenly although his eyes told
her that it was a question long burning in his mind. Anglarana
paused in thought and her eyes became shadowed. "We are an
ancient race that were created to watch over this planet and the
living things upon it." She spoke slowly, as though she were
choosing her words carefully.
"Like the Clan of the
Ancients?"
"Sort of, we have a similar purpose. The
Clan of the Ancients and my people have been friends for a long
time."
"Are there any more of your people?"
Anglarana's eyes became hollow and sad. "Yes and no. Others
still live; but, as far as I know, they all sleep somewhere still
holding Crynis' prison."
"But he was freed by
Justin, why are they still guarding an empty prison?"
"I
do not know, theoretically they should have awakened and gone out to
recapture Crynis. Either the spell failed, or they are dead."
She managed to keep her voice even, but her hands shook slightly and
her eyes dilated. Sage smiled at her reassuringly,
"I'm sure they're still out there somewhere. After we get out of here, we can look for them. We need all the help we can get." Anglarana smiled at him and glanced thoughtfully at the other Ronin Warriors.
"Maybe..."
After
a few minutes of comfortable silence, groans could be heard as the
other guys woke up one by one.
"Man, where are we?"
Rowen asked sleepily.
"Looks like some kind of cell or
something," Kento replied.
"That it is, Ronins. But
now it is time for us to leave." Anglarana picked up her staff
and stood. The Ronins followed suit. "Now, stand in a circle
around me and join hands." Once the guys had done as she said,
Anglarana held her staff over her head. The mark on her forehead
shone brightly and the light flowed over her staff and formed a
bubble around the group. "Call upon the power of your armor."
The light was so bright that the Ronins had to shut their eyes and
look away, it almost had a sound to it. Anglarana's voice was steady
and calm, reminding them of what they had to do.
"Armor
of Halo!"
"Armor of Torrent!"
"Armor
of Hardrock!"
"Armor of Strata!"
"Armor
of Wildfire, Dao Chi!!"
As each warrior called upon their
armor, their own respective color shone around them. Once all off the
armors were charged, their colored light streamed into the staff
combining with the silvery green light of Anglarana. When the colors
combined there was a bright flash of pure white light that
temporarily blinded the Ronins.
When sight was again restored
to them, they were in an empty room. Three of the four walls and the
floor were made of gray, damp stone. There was no ceiling, but the
walls extended so high that they could only faintly see the blue sky
above them. The wall opposite from where they stood was a large sheet
of black crystal. Except for the hole in the ceiling, there was no
other visible way of leaving the room. Anglarana smiled to
herself.
"Hey, I thought we were leaving this creepy
place!" Cye remarked, looking around nervously.
"No
way, we still need to kick Crynis' butt first!" Kento replied
cheerfully.
Anglarana laughed, "Not yet, Kento. And we
are leaving; this is the only exit in the castle that we can take, if
memory serves." Everyone looked up wearily. "There are no
door or windows in this place, the perfect prison for his captives.
We are relatively free to move about, but with no way out. Except for
this room. Justin needs the light and air of the outside world to
touch his crystal wall."
Ryo walked up to the wall and
put a hand on it. The wall shimmered and briefly turned a shade red.
Ryo quickly withdrew his hand and rubbed his palm on his leg.
"Tingles," he said sheepishly when everyone stared at
him.
"'Tis' an artifact of power. It will show someone
whatever he or she wishes to see, as long as it is a place where the
wind may go." She walked over to the wall. "We must hurry,
for this is a very guarded place. Justin will be aware of our
disappearance shortly, and will come here first." Anglarana
whispered a word to the crystal wall. It shimmered then disappeared
to reveal a large room beyond it. Without missing a beat, she walked
purposefully into the room. The others joined her reluctantly; no one
particularly wanted to stay in Justin's castle any longer than they
had to.
As they walked, they saw the liquid-filled tubes with
people and demon soldiers floating in them. Ryo shivered, so many
lives were wasted in here, and for what?
"What are all
these people doing in here?" Rowen asked. Without slowing down,
Anglarana replied, "They are simply existing; nothing more than
batteries for Justin to feed on."
"So he's like an
energy vampire?" Kento asked nervously. A sweat drop formed on
his forehead as he stared down the endless rows of living beings.
Anglarana stopped in the very center of the room, she looked a little
perplexed.
"What is it?" Ryo asked, coming up to
stand beside her.
"I'm not quite sure what to do next.
Perhaps a massive jolt of energy to destroy them?"
"No!
Those are living people, we can't destroy them!" Sage protested.
Anglarana nodded, "Then we have to find a way to free
them."
"How?" Rowen asked.
"I only
know how to free them one at a time. We don't have the time to free
them all, and I don't have the energy." She laughed, "I'm
sorry, I guess I led all of you in here without a plan." Kento
grinned at her, "Hey, you're doing better than any of
us!"
"Let's just get out of here, we can worry about
freeing these people later," Ryo gently said.
"Hold
on a minute! You guys have gotta' see this!" Rowen called out.
He was standing in front of one of the center tubes. There were gasps
of amazement as the guys all assembled around it. There, floating in
the eerily glowing liquid, was Anubis. His eyes were closed and he
looked very peaceful. Kento spun around to face Anglarana. She was
staring more at Anubis' clothes than at him. She had a strange
expression on her face.
"You said you could set one of
them free, right?" She nodded and moved toward the tube. "If
that is your wish?" The Ronins all nodded emphatically.
"Is
he still alive?" Ryo asked quietly. Anglarana placed a hand on
the tube and nodded.
"Yes, Justin needs him alive so that
he can steal Anubis' energy." She closed her eyes and her face
became strained. "His wounds are very bad. I can keep him alive
for a while, but he will need to be healed, and quickly."
"I
have the power to heal," Sage offered. In response, Anglarana's
mark began to glow. Its light flowed to her hand and could be seen
snaking through the liquid and enveloping Anubis.
"Now!
Break the glass!" Kento raised his weapon and began pounding on
the glass. It cracked, then shattered spilling the fluid all over the
floor. Anubis fell forward, almost colliding into Anglarana. Rowen
and Ryo were ready, however, and caught him. The light faded away;
except for the faint misted rays that lightly coated Anubis' body. He
was still dressed in the robes of the Ancient One.
Suddenly,
the room began to violently quake. "We must leave now. Justin is
on to us," Anglarana said wearily, holding a hand to her
head.
"Are you all right?" Cye asked, offering a
hand. She nodded, "Yes, I'm just a little tired. We must hurry,
we have little time left." Everyone raced out of the room into
the small block of sunlight of the room beyond. They heard a grating
sound and looked up. A panel of rock was slowly closing over the
hole. "Quickly, do as you did before! Lay Anubis down before
me." She raised her staff, which was already glowing brightly.
"I will take care of the rest." Rowen lay Anubis at
Anglarana's feet and joined hands with the others. They all called
upon their armor as before and again they were surrounded by a bubble
of pure white light. Justin appeared in the room just in time to see
a shot of white light speed upward and disappear through the narrow
gap remaining in the ceiling. The stone ceiling closed the rest of
the way with a loud clapping sound that echoed and reverberated
throughout the room.
Justin slowly walked into the still-open
inner room. His boots crunched on the broken glass and he stared
grimly at the smashed tube that had once contained one of his most
important energy sources. He smiled humorlessly, "You are wiser
than I thought, lady. I must make sure not to underestimate you in
the future." He turned around swiftly and stalked out of the
room.
Four people stood outside of a castle in the
Nether Realm. One man turned toward the woman holding a staff with
rings on it. "Are you sure that light was from the Jewel of
Life?" The woman nodded solemnly. "I am positive, and we
must go to investigate." The others nodded their agreement and
prepared for their journey back to the realm of Earth.
