AN: Sorry this was late. I have no good excuse.

Chapter 6

The Search Begins

Steve's hands moved all over the keyboard in the control room. The computer screen on the wall showed a picture that was changing with each passing moment. With each touch of a button, Steve added more detail to his picture.

"You're quite good at that," said Marina, looking over his shoulder.

"Thanks," he replied. "I had a similar program on my computer, at home." If Steve had looked behind him, he would have seen a very confused group of people. With the final punch of a button, what was one object, now became many, arranged into a circle.

"Okay." He stepped away from the screen. "This is what we're looking for. At least, I think it's what we're looking for. It's how I got off the last world I was on. My home has the same structure; we call it Stone Henge."

"So this is some magical artifact," Ashley inquired.

"As far as I know."

"I looks kind of like that monument in Baskar," Marina chimed in.

"True," Kanon replied. "But if Steve is telling the truth . . . " she glared at him. "The structure should be extremely old. The one in Baskar is relatively new."

"Also," came Brad. "The one in Baskar is just a single structure, not a bunch in a circle."

Marina hung her head in shame, but Ashley quickly came to her defense. "Still, it's worth checking out. This thing may have something to do with the guardians."

Marina quickly perked up. "So are we going to Baskar first?"

"No," said Ashley. Everyone looked puzzled. "If there is something that I learned from our first adventure, it's that Irving and Marivel's research was key. We should check Irving's books first. If we don't find something there, the best move would be to ckeck out the Seije Region. Their library may have something on what we're looking for."

Marina watched in awe as Ashley spoke. There seemed to be a spark in him that he rarely saw anymore. It was as if new life had been breathed into him.

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Steve sat at the desk in his room, scowering over a few of the books from Irving's library. He was so focused that he nearly fell out of his chair when a knock came at the door.

"Yeah," he called while catching his breath.

"It's Marina. Can I come in?"

"I don't know. Can you?" he called back.

"May I come in?"

"I don't know . May you?" There was silence for a moment, on both sides of the door.

"I don't know how to answer that," Marina called.

Steve opened the door, with a smile. "That's okay. Me neither." He motioned for her to come in. She walked in and sat down on the bed. "What's up?"

"You said you wanted to help me and Ashley, right?" Steve nodded. "Then I need some information about Ashley."

"Shoot."

"When Ashley was talking today about what we were going to do, I saw something. There was a . . . fire that he had that wasn't there before. Do you know what I'm talking about?"

Steve sat down and leaned back in his chair. "He's on an adventure," the boy replied, as if that would explain everything. Marina, on the other hand, was now beyond puzzled. She was confounded. "He's excited."

"But we weren't fighting anything. What is there to be excited about?"

"You still don't get if," Steve sighed. "Yes I will admit that fighting is a big part of adventuring, and probably the most exciting part, there is more than just that. Fighting is only half of the adventure. The other half is the mystery. Most of the greatest adventures sprouted from mysteries.

"If you look at most of the ruins that Ashley, Kanon, and Brad explored, you would often find an impassible trail. With that trail often comes a riddle, or only partial instructions as to what to do."

"So It's another mystery," Marina cut in.

"Exactly. Adventurers are always looking for the harder puzzle, or bigger reward but let's not get into that." Marina gave a small giggle. "Without the harder puzzle, the skills of the adventurer get rusty in solving them. Ashley is excited because my predicament is quite puzzeling."

"Does that mean that I'm going to have to start answering riddles, too?"

Steve laughed. "It couldn't hurt."

"But, I'm no good at them."

Steve Smiled warmly. "There are ways to build such skills, but is's getting late, so here's the deal. We'll play a little game." Steve began flipping through one of his magic books, before finally landing on a single spell. He began encanting the words to a spell. The door began to glow a faint purple, before dying down.

"You are now the only one able to take me out of this room for any reason. The catch is that you can't do that until you answer my riddle all by yourself."

"All right," came Marina sounding a bit nervous.

"Good. Here's the riddle:

I chase away the darkness,

when it comes to call,

But when the sun is in it's place

I am no use at all."

Marina stared at him blankly. It was obvious that she had no clue as to the answer. Steve stood and grabbed the doorknob.

"Think about if a while. Good night, Marina." Marina got up, still obviously puzzled, and walked to the door.

"Good night," she replied sweetly.

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Knock Knock

"Identify yourself," came a dark voice.

"Steve? It's Brad."

"Only one may enter this room," the dark voice came again. "The one with the answer to my riddle. Seek her out and have her answer."

"What? Steve, what's going on?" Brad reached for the doorknob. A crystal encasement formed around the knob.

"Only she can free me."

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Marina paced back and forth across her room. There has to be some answer to this riddle. I chase away darkness, when it comes to call.' Well, light chases away darkness. But when the Sun is in its place, I am no use at all.' Maybe it's something that makes light. Wait! That's it!

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Marina ran out of her room and right into Brad, knocking him down.

"Where are you off to in such a rush?" he asked, still on the ground.

"I'm sorry, Brad. I have got to go free Steve." Marina picked herself off the ground and started quickly walking toward Steve's room.

"From what?" Brad yelled, exasperated.

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"Identify yourself," came a dark voice.

"Uh . . . Marina?"

"I chase away the darkness,

when it comes to call,

But when the sun is in it's place

I am no use at all."

"You're a candle," Marina stated confidently. A purple crystal encasement around the doorknob, but after a second it dispeled. Marina took hold of the knob and opened the door.

Steve stood in the middle of his room. His legs were twisted in a way that Marina didn't think was humanly possibly. "Congradulations," he said as he staggered/danced/hopped in the center of the room. His face was somewhat twisted, and changing every second.

"Would somebody please tell me what's going on," came Brad's voice from the door.

"Love to," Steve replied, face twisting even more. "But later. I made the mistake of locking myself in this room before going to the bathroom. Excuse me." Steve ran passed Brad and down the hall.

"Come on, Brad. We can talk about this over breakfast." Marina gave him a soft smile as she led him to breakfast.