Me: My first chapter on lighthouses. Hurray for me!
Scorch: Is it challenging?
Me: Yes it was challenging for me to write a lighthouse chapter. I'm not good of thinking of puzzles. The lighthouse itself isn't challenging due to the fact it is the first lighthouse.
Eddy: That is a bummer! I want challenging lighthouses and more action scenes.
The night went by quickly because the adepts were very tired. As the moon rose, daylight shone through the Inn's window. Piers, a not so deep sleeper, woke up first. He told everybody else to wakeup. Garet was still sleeping with breadcrumbs all over his mouth. Jenna slapped him and finally Garet stood up. The clerk said,
" Good morning! Is there anything I can do for you?" Isacc replied,
" Do you have map that charts this world?" The clerk took out a map from a drawer and said,
" Here's a map of Luna Gaia but it will cost you 50 gil." Felix took out his money pouch and handed the clerk 50 gil in exchange for the map. At least money was universal in both worlds. Everybody peered through the map. The map was very strange. The only thing on this map was a huge circular piece of land surrounded by an ocean. They noticed cities dotted across the map yet there weren't any signs of lighthouses. Isacc signaled to the clerk to come over. He asked,
" Have you heard anything about lighthouses in this area? Has anybody else asked you this question?" Clerk answered,
" Umm... There was a guy with dashing blue hair with a blonde girl that asked that particular answer. I told him to head south. When it started to snow, he should see a lighthouse in the middle of the snow field." Everybody said thanks and immediately left town. They walked south for an hour but saw no snow in their path. They just continued walking until Felix said,
" Do you think she was lying? I haven't seen any signs of snow." Isacc answered,
" If she lied to us, she would've lied to Alex too. After all she said the same things both times."
" I'm just worried that Alex bribed her to not tell us the correct information." Garet got impatient and said,
" If she didn't tell us the truth, we will be stuck here forever." Just after Garet said that, snow fell from the sky. The temperature dropped drastically. They could see in the distance a huge snow plain. Ivan with his keen vision and the psynergy "reveal" showed him that there was a speck of light about 3 miles away. Everybody quickened their pace to reach the lighthouse. It didn't take them too long to reach the front of the lighthouse due to their experience of running in their last quest. A further inspection of the lighthouse showed that that the color was silvery blue and it was gigantic compared to the Sol lighthouses. They entered the lighthouse with great enthusiasm. As they entered the door shut behind them. The insides were dark, damp and cold. They saw a stone tablet 5 feet away from them. Everybody rushed to the tablet. The tablet in an eerie voice said,
" Ye who seeks to climb the Neptune lighthouse must use their prudence, healing and patience to succeed. Failure to do so will lead to death. Good luck, young adepts." The tablet disappeared and Garet said,
" Damn! I don't have any of those 3 qualities. Does that mean I will die?" Ivan was laughing and said,
" Now, now don't worry, Garet. If you don't have those attributes doesn't mean other don't have those qualities. We'll support you." Garet took that as an insult and snapped,
"Are you saying that you are prudent, patient and have healing powers?" Ivan was ready to clobber Garet when Piers stepped into the middle and said,
" We can't climb this lighthouse if we are divided. You guys should no better." Ivan and Garet said their apologies. The adepts proceeded into the next room. There was another stone tablet. Felix quickly went towards to the tablet and read,
" Your first challenge is to solve a puzzle. There are 5 switches and 5 blocks. To proceed to the next challenge, you must carry the blocks on to the switches in the right order. If you are wrong, you will challenge an above average monster. Good luck adepts of renown!" Everybody was thinking about the order of the switches. This was trial and error with consequences, which had nothing to do with prudence. Ivan suddenly had an idea. He said,
" Remember what the tablet said? We can trick the system by using our feet to trigger the switches. That way we can do trial and error and not waste our time battling tough monsters." Felix replied,
" Nice thinking, Ivan. Let's number the switches from left to right 1,2,3 etc... The first combination I want to try is 2,4,5,3,1." Everybody followed the exact orders. They tried and tried for at least 30 minutes. Ivan's job was to keep track of unused combinations. Felix's job was to remember the right combination. Everybody else's job was to step on the switches. Eventually the door opened. Felix said the combination was 4,3,5,2,1. Garet volunteered to carry the blocks onto the switches since he was the only one with the carry psynergy. Ivan said jokingly,
" You better not get this one wrong or you would be stupid." Garet replied,
" Don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing. The first switch is 4." He used his carry psynergy to carry the block and motioned it to the 2 switch. Everybody yelled don't do it but Garet couldn't hold much longer and dropped the block. Jenna yelled at Garet,
" What were you thinking? You even said it was the 4 switch, why did you put it on the 2 switch?" Garet whimpered,
" Sorry, everybody. I thought it was the 4 switch from right to left." Ivan said sarcastically,
" That's great, I had to jinx it by saying you were stupid." Isacc frantically replied,
" You might want to turn your backs and see what I'm seeing." Isacc pointed to a three-headed chimera. Everybody unsheathed their swords. The chimera made its first move and slashed at Garet. Garet dodged in time and counter attacked with his Excalibur. The monster growled in pain but it only seemed aggravated. It let out a fire stream and scorched everybody. Piers and Mia were lying faintly on the ground. Isacc came to Mia's side and asked,
" Are you hurt? Do you need some help?" Mia spoke softly,
" The fire attack weakened me severely. My powers here are seemly useless even though we are in the Neptune lighthouse. Neptune is the god of sea but why do I feel weak?" She fainted for the time being. Piers stood back up painting. He was severely injured. He cast pure ply on himself and he was back in the game. While Isacc and Mia were having an emotional talk, Garet, Ivan, and Felix were battling a head of the chimera. Garet unleashed legend, 3 wind swords came out of the sky. It pierced the heads severely. Garet, Ivan and Felix slashed the heads in unison. The monster was eliminated. Isacc went out of battle and cast revive on Mia. Mia woke up and gave a long kiss to Isacc, her savior. Everybody pretended they weren't watching. Garet carried the blocks correctly and the door opened. They proceeded into the next room.
They saw a tablet and it read,
" Good job on the first challenge now for the second challenge. You must use your healing powers to survive the gauntlet. When you travel the straight path to the next door, there will be traps in every corner. Eventually you will be hit and must need healing to proceed. Save your psynergy until you really need it. Good luck adepts of the renown."
Mia and Piers didn't really like the challenge. It seemed like they were going to use their psynergy to it's extreme. They were already severely weakened by the power of Neptune and had no intention of tapping their psynergy. Jenna noticed their troubles and volunteered to be a healer. She had aura spells that could help the party. Isacc, Garet, and Felix went in the front to absorb most of the damage. Everybody else followed closely behind. They walked for 5 seconds and suddenly poisonous arrows shot from all corners. Isacc unleashed Granite and Garet unleashed Flash. These 2 nifty djinns absorbed a lot of the damage but eventually their powers wore out. Isacc, Garet, Felix took heavy damage. Mia came up to them and cast pure wish. Everybody quickened their pace to get out of the gauntlet. Suddenly a troll appeared in front. The frontrunners weren't faced and went kamikaze on the monster. The troll was easily destroyed and they continued. Spikes rollers now appeared on top of them and on the bottom of them. It took good maneuvering to get past these spikes. Everybody got their timing down except Garet. He tripped and the spikes cut his legs. He yelled and Jenna came to his side and healed his leg. The flesh reappeared and the blood came back to his leg. They kissed and continued running. Eventually they got out the gauntlet. Everybody panted from running so hard. Garet said,
" Yeah! We escaped from hell." They went into the next room and saw another tablet. It read,
" Getting tired yet? This challenge will measure your patience before jumping to the next room. You will stand on a platform. The platform is small and you must wait until you get your timing right. There will be many platforms whizzing by. One of the platforms will lead you to the door. The others will not. You have one chance. Failure to complete this would lead to death. Good luck adepts of the renown."
They jumped onto the platform and waited for the right platform to come by. It became very obvious to them that there was a certain pattern that these platforms were moving. Ivan being so smart solved the pattern and jumped across to the door. He bragged,
" Piece of cake. The pattern is simple. When the pattern restarts, jump on the 4th platform." Mia, Jenna, Piers, Felix jumped across. All were left were Isacc and Garet. Garet couldn't focus his eyes on the platforms. He thought it was the 4th platform and started to jump but stopped himself from making a mortal error. He lost his balance and was going to fall off. Everybody gasped.
Me: Will Garet get back his balance? Turn in next chapter to find out. (you know what is going to happen, so I'm not saying anything)
Scorch: Is it challenging?
Me: Yes it was challenging for me to write a lighthouse chapter. I'm not good of thinking of puzzles. The lighthouse itself isn't challenging due to the fact it is the first lighthouse.
Eddy: That is a bummer! I want challenging lighthouses and more action scenes.
The night went by quickly because the adepts were very tired. As the moon rose, daylight shone through the Inn's window. Piers, a not so deep sleeper, woke up first. He told everybody else to wakeup. Garet was still sleeping with breadcrumbs all over his mouth. Jenna slapped him and finally Garet stood up. The clerk said,
" Good morning! Is there anything I can do for you?" Isacc replied,
" Do you have map that charts this world?" The clerk took out a map from a drawer and said,
" Here's a map of Luna Gaia but it will cost you 50 gil." Felix took out his money pouch and handed the clerk 50 gil in exchange for the map. At least money was universal in both worlds. Everybody peered through the map. The map was very strange. The only thing on this map was a huge circular piece of land surrounded by an ocean. They noticed cities dotted across the map yet there weren't any signs of lighthouses. Isacc signaled to the clerk to come over. He asked,
" Have you heard anything about lighthouses in this area? Has anybody else asked you this question?" Clerk answered,
" Umm... There was a guy with dashing blue hair with a blonde girl that asked that particular answer. I told him to head south. When it started to snow, he should see a lighthouse in the middle of the snow field." Everybody said thanks and immediately left town. They walked south for an hour but saw no snow in their path. They just continued walking until Felix said,
" Do you think she was lying? I haven't seen any signs of snow." Isacc answered,
" If she lied to us, she would've lied to Alex too. After all she said the same things both times."
" I'm just worried that Alex bribed her to not tell us the correct information." Garet got impatient and said,
" If she didn't tell us the truth, we will be stuck here forever." Just after Garet said that, snow fell from the sky. The temperature dropped drastically. They could see in the distance a huge snow plain. Ivan with his keen vision and the psynergy "reveal" showed him that there was a speck of light about 3 miles away. Everybody quickened their pace to reach the lighthouse. It didn't take them too long to reach the front of the lighthouse due to their experience of running in their last quest. A further inspection of the lighthouse showed that that the color was silvery blue and it was gigantic compared to the Sol lighthouses. They entered the lighthouse with great enthusiasm. As they entered the door shut behind them. The insides were dark, damp and cold. They saw a stone tablet 5 feet away from them. Everybody rushed to the tablet. The tablet in an eerie voice said,
" Ye who seeks to climb the Neptune lighthouse must use their prudence, healing and patience to succeed. Failure to do so will lead to death. Good luck, young adepts." The tablet disappeared and Garet said,
" Damn! I don't have any of those 3 qualities. Does that mean I will die?" Ivan was laughing and said,
" Now, now don't worry, Garet. If you don't have those attributes doesn't mean other don't have those qualities. We'll support you." Garet took that as an insult and snapped,
"Are you saying that you are prudent, patient and have healing powers?" Ivan was ready to clobber Garet when Piers stepped into the middle and said,
" We can't climb this lighthouse if we are divided. You guys should no better." Ivan and Garet said their apologies. The adepts proceeded into the next room. There was another stone tablet. Felix quickly went towards to the tablet and read,
" Your first challenge is to solve a puzzle. There are 5 switches and 5 blocks. To proceed to the next challenge, you must carry the blocks on to the switches in the right order. If you are wrong, you will challenge an above average monster. Good luck adepts of renown!" Everybody was thinking about the order of the switches. This was trial and error with consequences, which had nothing to do with prudence. Ivan suddenly had an idea. He said,
" Remember what the tablet said? We can trick the system by using our feet to trigger the switches. That way we can do trial and error and not waste our time battling tough monsters." Felix replied,
" Nice thinking, Ivan. Let's number the switches from left to right 1,2,3 etc... The first combination I want to try is 2,4,5,3,1." Everybody followed the exact orders. They tried and tried for at least 30 minutes. Ivan's job was to keep track of unused combinations. Felix's job was to remember the right combination. Everybody else's job was to step on the switches. Eventually the door opened. Felix said the combination was 4,3,5,2,1. Garet volunteered to carry the blocks onto the switches since he was the only one with the carry psynergy. Ivan said jokingly,
" You better not get this one wrong or you would be stupid." Garet replied,
" Don't worry about me. I know what I'm doing. The first switch is 4." He used his carry psynergy to carry the block and motioned it to the 2 switch. Everybody yelled don't do it but Garet couldn't hold much longer and dropped the block. Jenna yelled at Garet,
" What were you thinking? You even said it was the 4 switch, why did you put it on the 2 switch?" Garet whimpered,
" Sorry, everybody. I thought it was the 4 switch from right to left." Ivan said sarcastically,
" That's great, I had to jinx it by saying you were stupid." Isacc frantically replied,
" You might want to turn your backs and see what I'm seeing." Isacc pointed to a three-headed chimera. Everybody unsheathed their swords. The chimera made its first move and slashed at Garet. Garet dodged in time and counter attacked with his Excalibur. The monster growled in pain but it only seemed aggravated. It let out a fire stream and scorched everybody. Piers and Mia were lying faintly on the ground. Isacc came to Mia's side and asked,
" Are you hurt? Do you need some help?" Mia spoke softly,
" The fire attack weakened me severely. My powers here are seemly useless even though we are in the Neptune lighthouse. Neptune is the god of sea but why do I feel weak?" She fainted for the time being. Piers stood back up painting. He was severely injured. He cast pure ply on himself and he was back in the game. While Isacc and Mia were having an emotional talk, Garet, Ivan, and Felix were battling a head of the chimera. Garet unleashed legend, 3 wind swords came out of the sky. It pierced the heads severely. Garet, Ivan and Felix slashed the heads in unison. The monster was eliminated. Isacc went out of battle and cast revive on Mia. Mia woke up and gave a long kiss to Isacc, her savior. Everybody pretended they weren't watching. Garet carried the blocks correctly and the door opened. They proceeded into the next room.
They saw a tablet and it read,
" Good job on the first challenge now for the second challenge. You must use your healing powers to survive the gauntlet. When you travel the straight path to the next door, there will be traps in every corner. Eventually you will be hit and must need healing to proceed. Save your psynergy until you really need it. Good luck adepts of the renown."
Mia and Piers didn't really like the challenge. It seemed like they were going to use their psynergy to it's extreme. They were already severely weakened by the power of Neptune and had no intention of tapping their psynergy. Jenna noticed their troubles and volunteered to be a healer. She had aura spells that could help the party. Isacc, Garet, and Felix went in the front to absorb most of the damage. Everybody else followed closely behind. They walked for 5 seconds and suddenly poisonous arrows shot from all corners. Isacc unleashed Granite and Garet unleashed Flash. These 2 nifty djinns absorbed a lot of the damage but eventually their powers wore out. Isacc, Garet, Felix took heavy damage. Mia came up to them and cast pure wish. Everybody quickened their pace to get out of the gauntlet. Suddenly a troll appeared in front. The frontrunners weren't faced and went kamikaze on the monster. The troll was easily destroyed and they continued. Spikes rollers now appeared on top of them and on the bottom of them. It took good maneuvering to get past these spikes. Everybody got their timing down except Garet. He tripped and the spikes cut his legs. He yelled and Jenna came to his side and healed his leg. The flesh reappeared and the blood came back to his leg. They kissed and continued running. Eventually they got out the gauntlet. Everybody panted from running so hard. Garet said,
" Yeah! We escaped from hell." They went into the next room and saw another tablet. It read,
" Getting tired yet? This challenge will measure your patience before jumping to the next room. You will stand on a platform. The platform is small and you must wait until you get your timing right. There will be many platforms whizzing by. One of the platforms will lead you to the door. The others will not. You have one chance. Failure to complete this would lead to death. Good luck adepts of the renown."
They jumped onto the platform and waited for the right platform to come by. It became very obvious to them that there was a certain pattern that these platforms were moving. Ivan being so smart solved the pattern and jumped across to the door. He bragged,
" Piece of cake. The pattern is simple. When the pattern restarts, jump on the 4th platform." Mia, Jenna, Piers, Felix jumped across. All were left were Isacc and Garet. Garet couldn't focus his eyes on the platforms. He thought it was the 4th platform and started to jump but stopped himself from making a mortal error. He lost his balance and was going to fall off. Everybody gasped.
Me: Will Garet get back his balance? Turn in next chapter to find out. (you know what is going to happen, so I'm not saying anything)
