Yes, we have no bananas. We have no bananas today.
(Char): I hate that song...
(Dew): There's only one thing more annoying than that song.
(Char): What's that?
(Dew): The 'bam' guy on the Pop-Tarts commercials.
Hey, I like that guy!
(Dew): Yes, but you're a moron. Hence, you're wrong.
...oh, yeah.
(Char): Just get on with it... the faster we get through this thing, the better...
All right, then, here we go.
Review Responses:
Midnight C: Don't worry... I'm actually coming to a small stretch of cliffhanger breaks. I like to throw a few in because, as you pointed out, incessant cliffs lose their effect and just bother everyone. It seems by popular consensus that I'm a chapter too late, though: the last chapter's cliffhanger was greeted with general annoyance, not suspense. Sorry, everyone!
By the way, send Shade my best... with you down to only two muses, your evil author ability might do... uhh... evil things. ...yeah.
Jupiter Sprite: Falling is a common threat, it seems. I'll have to find a new problem. Like... flying! Yes... the Adepts all fly and then... forget how to fly and then they fall! ...crap.
Charmione: Okay, the whole persuading-my-muses-to-'persuade'- me angle? It's not workin' for me. Not at all.
Depressing Angel: I know... I'm breaking off from cliffs for a chapter, maybe two, don't worry about it.
Akachi: Isn't that good, then? If the joke burns, wouldn't you enjoy that? I mean, you like fire. And burning. And more fire. So if something burns, it's probably using fire, or at least heat. So the joke burning is good, because you like burning. So, I'll start looking for more groaners. Thanks for the advice, Akachi! ^_^
And keep Jenna away from me!!
Mercury Adept: I already submitted the OSP, in case you're interested, so all that's left is for Vilya to post it. And yes, it is Tragedy/Romance/Angst. And don't kill me for it. No, seriously, leave me alone. No, put that beating stick down. Down, I said. No! No! Auuuuugh!!
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"Hold on tight; it's gonna be a rough landing!" Mokol cried over the howl of the wind. Garet held tightly onto Jenna, and Ivan started focussing his Psynergy in the hopes of creating an air cushion to soften Sheba's fall. The fall to the ground felt like eternity, but the ground closed in on them eventually.
However, Mokol seemed to be prepared for any occasion. A split second before the carriage crashed to the ground, he summoned a huge upwelling of air that caused the ten of them to temporarily float in mid-air, merely a foot off the ground. With their fall stopped, he slowed the wind and they all dropped the final foot onto the remains of the wrecked carriage. Ivan ripped his cape on the splinter of a wrecked wheel spoke, and Feizhi twisted her ankle, but aside from that, the group suffered no harm upon landing.
"What was that supposed to be, Mokol?" Jenna burst, brushing the dirt out of her hair.
"I apologize," Mokol bowed. "That is the first time that has ever happened to one of our carriages."
"And it conveniently happened when we were on it," Ivan sighed.
"Just another random mishap," Mia commented, frowning.
"I'm starting to lose my faith in randomness," Feizhi said levelly.
"What do you think happened, then?" Sheba inquired, with a puzzled look on her face.
"I cannot say. Perhaps it was another work of the saboteur. Perhaps the carriage was simply old and worn out, and couldn't handle all our combined weight," she sighed wearily, rubbing her ankle. Mia tried Plying it, but it didn't seem to help.
"Maybe your Mercury healing abilities are hindered here by the amount of Jupiter," Ivan theorized.
"Jupiter should hold down Venus' power, not Mercury," Sean pointed out, scratching his chin in confusion.
"Regardless of my ankle," Feizhi interrupted, "we are still a great distance from the city, and night is as good as upon us."
At her words, the Adepts turned to look at their surroundings. They were a few kilometres closer to the city, but they had at least three times that distance to walk the next day. Aside from the ever-stretching grove of trees to their left and the rift that lead straight down on their right, there were no geographical attractions nearby, simply a long stretch of plains.
"We'll have to set up camp here for the night, then," Felix said, eyeing the group. "Looks like Feizhi isn't going to get far on that ankle tonight, and we'll need sleep anyway." Feizhi blushed a little, and Sheba nodded her assent. "Okay, then, Garet, you grab the firewood and we'll set up plans for tomorrow. We'll have to plan this carefully." Garet smirked.
"Okay, maybe I can help," he chirped. "Tomorrow, our plan is to head for the city, and, uh…" (he bent over and picked up a wheel from the carriage) "here's your firewood. Do you want me to light the fire, too?" Felix frowned. Jenna smiled and put on a face of astonishment.
"Why, brother, did Garet just outsmart you?" she asked innocently.
"That oaf will never outsmart me," he mused, turning away from the group, all of whom promptly started laughing. Garet lit the fire and the group settled off to sleep.
********************
The sun rose the next morning to greet a well-rested yet anxious group of Adepts. Forgoing breakfast until they reached the city, they set off as early as possible, Feizhi leaning on Picard's shoulder for support.
Every so often they would come across some new type of creature that threatened them, but so far they hadn't seen anything in this world that was dangerous. Most of the opposing creatures had wings, which Mia froze with any of her Ice-based attacks, causing them to drop to the ground, immobile. They could do nothing more than shriek in protest as the group walked by.
Finally, after a morning of walking, they managed to reach the city gates. It didn't look like much, the gates were shabbily made, simply weak wood, but it was a place to rest and eat, at any rate. Mokol, however, couldn't resist grinning.
"Welcome to Keunam," Mokol smiled, guiding the group in through the gates. Mia gasped at her first sight of the city. Though the outside of the village made it look small, there was obviously some Psynergy at work, for the inside of the city was much bigger than they had first seen. Whereas the outside of the city showed only a few straw houses and a few villagers, the interior was much more developed. There were hundreds of buildings and thousands upon thousands of people. The city was bustling with activity.
Mia took a few steps out from the gates and marvelled in the sights. They had entered in a market square, with merchants running all around trying to sell their goods and people bustling from one stand to the next. Jenna ran up and clasped Mia's arm, neither of them able to comprehend what they were seeing. The shopper's impulse in them started to rise.
In the end, Felix had to come over to them and drag them back to the group so they could leave. "We have no money!" he hissed at them as he took them away from the stalls, much to the girls' annoyance.
"We probably have something worth bartering…" Mia mused.
"Like you, dear brother," Jenna frowned.
"I said worth bartering."
"Oh."
********************
Mokol took them through winding streets and alleys, but all the while they seemed to be heading up. They had left the marketplace behind, and seemed to be heading for a large tower in the middle city. It was raised above all the other landmarks and looked extremely important, or, barring that, impressive.
"Say, Mokol," Picard asked, as they walked what felt like never ending trails, "what's your trick at the gates? Why does it look so much smaller from out there than in here?" Mokol chuckled a little.
"It's a simple trick," he said. "We've found that the monsters outside tend to be attracted to large cities as opposed to small ones. By disguising our large cities as small ones with the gates, they usually leave us alone."
"How do the gates do that, though?" Ivan asked.
"It's a simple Psynergy trick," Mokol answered. "If you had felt the need to Reveal, you would have seen right through it."
Finally, the group reached the top of the winding paths (much to the relief of Feizhi's ankle) and the path that lead to the tower. However, much to Mokol's dismay, there seemed to be a protest going on. He shifted uncomfortably and turned to face the Adepts.
"I apologize for this, there are… certain problems the people have right now. They can't quite see we are acting in their best interests. Just come with me, and try to ignore them." He lead them towards the group, but before the Adepts could make their way past anyone, they were all swarmed by the protesters.
The protesters screamed and waved signs at Mokol and the Adepts. The din was so loud that it was hard to make out what they were saying. One leaped forward and clung to Mia's arm. She was about to wrench her arm from his grasp when she saw it wasn't a he, but a little girl, no older than ten or eleven.
She looked right at Mia with tears flowing from her eyes, and cried, "Please, don't help him, don't! He's hurt grandpa, please, don't! Don't!" But before Mia could ask about anything, Mokol had strode over and knocked the girl off Mia's arm with a heavy swat of his arm. Mia wanted to say something to Mokol, but he had already left her, and was beating the other protesters away. Finally, he just summoned up some Jupiter Psynergy, and blew the protesters to either side of the Adepts, where they landed quite heavily on the ground. Mokol continued walking inside, leaving the Adepts in his wake. Some of the protesters weren't moving.
"Are you coming?" Mokol shouted back, holding the door open. Mia's eyes darted around the crowd, finally falling on the little girl, who lay motionless beneath a larger man. Mia dashed forward to try and help, but a sudden gust of wind blew her and the other Adepts inside the building, and the doors shut tightly.
"What was that all about?!" Garet yelled at Mokol. "They're just innocent people, you had no right to do that!"
Mokol didn't flinch. "They knew what they were getting into when they rose their voices against the government."
"So that's it, huh? You're the government, and everyone's supposed to fear you, and do whatever you say?" Mia whispered. "That little girl was scared. She was scared for herself and… and… I don't even know what happened to her grandfather! And now she could be badly hurt!" she exclaimed. "What are you doing here?!"
"This is politics," Mokol answered simply, with no hint of emotion in his voice. "The strong must guide the weak, because the weak don't understand enough to guide themselves." Jenna moved slightly, as if to say something, but thought better of it and stayed silent. Garet put an arm around her to comfort her.
"And who decides who the strong are?" Garet questioned. "You just get to decide who's strong just because you can beat up a bunch of innocent people?"
"I don't decide who's strong, I am strong," Mokol explained. "You'll have to come further in the building to understand this world. Are you ready to understand?"
The Adepts looked around uncomfortably. They didn't want to do this, but…
"We'll go in," Felix said. "But if I see anything like what you just did again…" he let the threat hang.
"Fair enough," Mokol said. "There are no common people inside, so you needn't worry. The only people inside are gifted, such as yourselves and I."
"Think awfully highly of yourself, don't you?" Garet demanded, his anger rising.
"I only speak truth," he replied, turning got walk further in the tower.
"I've got half a mind to fry you right now, Mokol," Garet growled. Mokol simply laughed.
"Oh, by all means, please do. I'd love to see the attempt," he laughed. Garet frowned heavily and then threw a hand out, calling "Fire!" as he did. A jet of fire extended toward Mokol, but he put out a hand and cast a spell to summon wind, which blew the fire back at Garet, burning him badly.
"That was your lesson," Mokol said as Garet slumped to the floor in Jenna's arms. "Oh… try and remember that attacking an official like that is illegal here. You could find yourself in a lot of trouble by doing that."
With that, Mokol walked deeper into the tower, then took a staircase down. The Adepts watched him leave, then looked at each other. There was no discussion, but Sean simply started walking after him.
"We may as well learn what's going on before we trash the place, right?" he muttered as he went, leading the way down the stairs.
It got darker as they went down, mimicking the increasing fears of this new world that were praying on their hearts and minds.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
(Char): I thought you weren't going to cliff as badly in this chapter.
Well, I wasn't. Then I… did. Old habits are hard to break.
(Dew): I imagine your head would be easier, though.
Easier to what?
(Dew): Break.
Ah. Can you feel the love?
(Char): It's all over this room…
(Dew): Well, we haven't hurt you for awhile, so…
This isn't looking good… what if I just said the name 'Shalex' for awhile. Would that scare you off?
(Char): That is a horrible name.
(Dew): Evil scary name, that.
Shalex!
[dead silence]
My muses ran away… I have a weapon! The evil hideous name! ^_^ Sweet…
Anyway, to the rest of you, please review! You can read the next chapter if you do! Not anytime soon, most likely… but you can!