I don't own Skies of Arcadia
===
Lake bent down and pried open the loose tile she had tripped on. Dust and smoke wafted up, covering her in dust and causing her to sneeze. She covered her face with one hand and tried to peer into the darkness, but she couldn't see anything.
"RAVEN?" she called out, worry now completely filling her entire being. She had a sinking feeling that he had stumbled in there and she didn't want to go in. There was only one place that it could lead to and she never went into that area.
"RAVEN?" she tried again after getting no response. She turned every which way. There was absolutely nothing except for a few fallen trees and the shrine. He couldn't have gotten in the shrine without her knowing so there was only one way he could have gone.
She glanced in the pit, a distasteful look marring her face. She had no choice but to go in and she wasn't happy about it.
She sat on the edge of the hole and let her feet sink into the darkness. She felt down with her feet for anything to place her weight on but there was nothing. Shrugging her shoulders, she slipped all the way in and let the darkness claim her.
She landed on a soft cursing object. It could only be one person. "Great, it's you," she proclaimed as she pushed herself up and dusted herself off.
"Nice to meet you too," came the drawl of Raven. She could barely see him in the nearly dim light and was thankful for it. It meant that he couldn't see her clearly nor the blush that stained her cheeks. "Where are we?"
Lake frowned. "The bottom of the shrine, I think." She took a few steps away from him and stumbled on a pebble. His hand darted out, grabbed her shoulder, and steadied her. Lake quickly pulled out of his grasp and whispered a hurried, "I'm fine."
"We need to get out of here," Raven said impatiently. He was starting to tap his foot and it was getting on Lake's nerves.
"WILL YOU QUIT THAT?"
"QUIT WHAT?"
"THAT INANE TAPPING? DO YOU HAVE PROBLEMS?"
"I HAVE PROBLEMS? WE WOULDN'T BE HERE IF IT WEREN'T FOR YOU?"
"ME? YOU STARTED IT YOU JERK!"
"I STARTED IT?"
"ARE YOU TOO DUMB TO REALIZE IT?"
"You little--" Before Raven could finish his sentence, the ground started rumbling. Instinctively, he grabbed a hold of Lake and wrapped his arms around her to protect her from the falling debris.
"What's going on?" cried Lake as she poked her head out from between his arms. She looked up, her eyes clashing with Raven's. He was so close that she could see the soft flecks of brown within the sea of red despite the darkness. He seemed to be thinking on the same lines; he didn't break eye contact. There seemed to be something--some emotion--swirling in his depths, something she couldn't quite decipher.
"How the hell should I know, dolt?"
Whatever magic that Lake had felt had quickly dissolved. She pushed him away, trying to recover her composure. "We should find a way out."
Raven was still staring at her. "Good idea," he said after a moment.
They searched around the darkness, finding almost nothing in the dim light. Lake's eyes felt strained and tired that they were stinging every millisecond. Finally, she leaned against the wall just to rest.
Rocks burst from the wall, just next to her head.
The wall melted away revealing the lower portion of the shrine. A huge soldier that looked to be made of rock, was stumbling toward them, it's arms swinging back and forth. Suddenly, it brought one of it's arms up and a wave of light soared from it, slamming into Raven's stomach. He fell back, grabbing his abdomen in pain, his face twisted in anger.
"MOONS, GIVE ME STRENGTH!" Lake cried as she called on her magic. Light swirled beneath her feet as power surged inside her body. Fire appeared, swirling above her head the descending upon the monster. The monster appeared to stumble backward and hesitate.
By that time, Raven had recovered slightly and was feeling inside his boots and other areas of his body for his daggers. He threw them at the monster, damaging it more.
"What is that thing?" he cried as he dodged one of the soldier's flailing limbs.
"I don't know!" Lake was silently cursing herself for leaving her weapon behind. Who knew that a monster of that magnitude lived in the shrine. "I think it's an old guardian. It must think we're enemies!"
"But Dyne and I've been here many times. We've never seen this monstrosity!"
By that time, Raven noticed that Lake's face was screwed up in pain and she was grabbing her shoulder. "Moons, give me strength." A soft light spilled over Lake and she felt a hundred times better. She smirked her thanks at her semi-friend and tried to find the soldier's weak point.
Raven, returned it for a second as he sprinted behind the guardian. He threw one of his daggers distracting it.
Slowly, it heaved it's large body around, trying to find Raven's quick movements. In the meantime, Lake cast another spell, this time ice.
Ice appeared over the guardian's body, halting it's movements completely. Raven closed his eyes and prepared himself as he performed a special move that he had nearly perfected. "ALPHA STORM!"
When the battle was completed, the guardian burst into flames and broke apart. It landed in a large heap across the ground and stopped moving.
Lake walked up to it first, kneeling beside it. "Why do you think it started working now?" she asked, her fingers trailing over the head of the guardian. It began to shake once again and Lake pulled away.
Raven saw it and frowned. "Let's get out of here first, before we discuss anything."
He turned to leave, heading toward the staircase. His foot was hovering over the first stair when he heard a slight gasp from his companion. He turned around, readying for another battle, but froze when he saw Lake's pale face. "What is it? What's wrong?" he asked in one breath.
Lake pointed to a small portion of the ground that the guardian sat over. Raven got down on his knees and shoved the boulder aside to get a better view. On the ground there were a few words inscribed in the old tongue, something that only a few people could read. He wasn't one of them.
"Ooo!" he said, sounding sarcastic. "Squiggles!"
Lake punched him in the shoulder and said, "It's a prophecy, dolt. It says: Those who--" she squinted slightly and cocked her head. "It says quarrel, but I think it means fight…the…?"
She ran her finger down a few more passages and stopped dead in her tracks.
"What else does it say?" Raven asked.
Lake gulped and turned to stare at Raven. "It says that the 'guardian' that we've fought wasn't a guardian. It's called the 'Matchmaker' and if two of the opposite sex fight him and win, they will face utter happiness followed by utter grief…" Lake turned her eyes away and whispered the next few words. "After, they marry."
===
Aika nearly dropped the journal. She couldn't believe what she just read. It took all her willpower to keep from screaming out loud. Didn't she fight that huge boulder with Vyse on the day they got that moonstone?
"Hey Aika!"
Aika glanced up, slipping the book beneath the blankets that she wore for warmth. "V--Vyse! What are you doing here?" It was too much of a coincidence. Why in the world had he appeared out of nowhere when she was just thinking about him.
Vyse gave her a 'gee, Aika, you've been out here too long' look and said, "It's my turn to keep watch…" He trailed off into silence and his eyes narrowed. "Hey, what are you hiding?"
"Hiding?" Aika could've bitten her tongue off. Vyse knew her well enough to know that if she started repeating words, she was guilty of doing something.
Vyse gave her a sly grin as he took a few steps closer to her. She quickly stood up and took a few steps back. "Don't you come closer," she threatened, her eyes blazing as she tried to think of a way out of this situation.
"And what will you do?" Vyse asked. He pounced, his arms easily sliding into the blanket and reaching around her waist for the object that she was hiding.
The blanket slipped off Aika's shoulders, exposing her to the cold. Aika shivered in Vyse's arms.
This innocent little act caused Vyse to back away from her quickly. Pieces of crumbled paper were in his hands, apparently from the diary, and his face--Aika would never forget this--was as red as her hair.
"It's my watch. You better get inside quickly…" he mumbled as he picked up the blanket and threw it at his best friend. "You feel cold."
