Iea

III : Recover

Quickly looking under her feet, Nia found the dark pool to still be there, ever dripping off the sides. Slowly stepping in the center of it, she felt her foot sink.

"Maybe I can get down this way..." Her mind raced as she stepped into the center, slowly sinking. Getting impatient, she suddenly jumped- slipping through an icy cold layer of darkness, she spun around and landed on the surface of the cage, above the shimmering portal out.

The middle-ring bars that run around the outside of the cage in the physical world weren't present, so she slipped out and landed on the stairs. Holding her breath, she ran down the steps and into the clear air.

Outside, meanwhile, Ain was doing his best to swing the frying pan at the cold hands, landing a few good hits before he was suddenly hit across the head. Landing on the floor, the pan skidded across the stones and came to a halt near the dark shadow from which the beasts had entered.

Being roughly hauled over a shoulder, Ain began screaming as loud as he could to his sister, kicking and flailing arms and legs in an attempt to be released. He was marched quickly for the pool, forced to watch the other shadows close in around him.

"Big Sis! Help me!!"

Being hauled, he was completely oblivious to the figure rising out of the shadow. Black mists rolled off the girl's body as she climbed out, grasping the pan as she did. Suddenly jumping up, Nia took at the shadows with all due fury.

The pan traveled quickly though the air, making loud 'clangs' as it hit against dark figures.

"Unhand him, you beasts!" Nia knocked one across the head so hard it temporarily lost its senses, "Pick on someone who can see you!"

Hitting the creature, which had her brother, Nia quickly dived under it and caught her brother. Scrambling upright, she ran him to the corner, then spun around with pan in hand. Watching as the monsters began scurrying close, she narrowed her eyes.

"Come at me, do your worst!"

Clang! Bang! Smack! The pan delivered several blows, traveling through the air, propelled by anger. After a good beating, the shadows finally collapsed and disappeared, souls drifting off to the afterlife. Meanwhile, Nia sunk down to her knees, dropping the pan, panting something terrible.

"S-s-sis..." Ain was trembling something terrible- he hadn't been that scared for a long time. "A-are you..."

Nia looked back at him, panting. Slowly she got up and turned to him, still fighting to catch a breath. "Are YOU okay?"

"I-I-I'm r-really s-s-s-scared..."

Slowly, Nia took his trembling figure into a hug, resting her forehead against his own. In an effort to comfort the child, she began slowly rocking back and forth, all the while gently whispering 'Ssh.'

Feeling secure in those warm arms, Ain calmed down, letting out a silent sigh. For a minute they stood, in complete silence, the air of fear in the room quickly thinning.

"All better now?"

"Yeah..." Ain nodded slightly, quite enjoying the warm embrace, mostly since the foes before had taken him up in what felt like rods of ice.

"Okay then." Giving him two pats on the back, Nia let him go, and then quickly checked him over. Finding nothing out of place, she grinned faintly, then picked up the pan. "Don't worry too badly. I won't let anyone take you again."

"Okay... uhm... sorry..."

"Sorry? About what?"

"...the whole... screaming and..."

"Pfft." Nia waved her hand at him, dismissing the notion, "Not your fault. Now perk up, we've got to find a way out of here and you really can't do that when you've got the downy-downs, huh?"

Ain laughed, as 'downy-downs' was the word a certain young girl in the village called small fits of depression. "Guess not. Seiphel would be upset if I had them too long, huh?"

"That's right, she would." Nia was busily looking around the tower, still quite unnerved by the black puddle still present under the cage. The door was blocked by a row of statues, leaving windows as the only options. But, she thought, that very easy one could fall off the tower at such a height... "There has to be another way."

"Another way?"

"Hm? Oh, to get out." Nia gazed up at the cage, staring at the extra bar present in the physical world. Slowly, she began to wonder if there were more differences in other places in and around the room. "...Hold on. Shout if something happens. I'll be right back."

"Okay..."

Stepping up to the puddle, Nia dipped her foot in it, but found it made no effort to drag her in. With a shrug, she suddenly jumped into it- with the sense of being turned around, she managed to position herself so she landed on her feet. Looking over her shoulder at her brother, she found the air around him to be clear.

"Wonder how he does that..." Gazing around, Nia suddenly noticed a doorway under the stairs, wide open, that didn't reveal itself in the normal room. Taking a breath of air, Nia began walking to it, wading through the dark miasma.

Pushing against the wall, she felt a door slide around, which made a large noise as it did.

"What's that?" Ain slowly turned around, listening to the noise.

The wall had revolved around some, revealing a dark passage. Of course, unable to see it, Ain just stood, listening for the noise. "Huh. It stopped."

Nia came crawling out of the hole, wiping off the dark liquid after standing. "I'm back!"

"Where did you go?"

"It's... kind've hard to explain..." Nia walked to him, taking his hand, "It looks exactly like this room, but there's a lot of black stuff and, well, you're there, but I can't always hear you."

"Huh?"

"Oh, nevermind. I found a door."

Both walking into the dark path, they heard the door slide shut behind them. Pausing for a moment, and staring back, they both continued on after shrugging it off. The path started getting narrower and narrower, until they had to walk one behind the other.

"We HAVE to be getting near the end eventually..."

"How much longer, Sis?"

"I'm not sure. Just keep walking."

Both of the kids suddenly gasped as they heard a sound behind them. Nia was silently staring for a minute, watching the darkness closely. "What was it?"

"All I can hear are my ears ringing..." Ain had both arms pressed against the wall, using them as guides.

"...huh. Must've been a mouse or something." Slowly she turned her head, then suddenly shrieked as she fell back onto her brother.

"Just a mouse? Why not a bat? Perhaps a rat of some sort, hmm?" A pale face peered at them from the darkness ahead, the woman standing directly in the middle of the path, blocking their way. "How about a person, did that thought ever cross your mind?"

"S-sis!" Ain backed up slightly, trying to stay close to the girl, "W-who is it?"

"G...g..." Nia's mouth senselessly stammered at the almost-glowing face.

"So, tell me, what kind of troublemakers are you? Crawling through walls and doors you shouldn't, don't you feel ashamed?" The Queen's dark eyes glimmered with a mischievous light, "Leaving your casket even when you knew better. For shame."

"W-w-wait, w-w-why should w-we have st-st-stayed and s-s-"

"B-b-b-because!" The woman made quick work of mocking the boy, "You knew your fate before you came. Horned children are deemed to die a miserable death. Do you not understand the importance of doing what you are fated to do?"

"Fate nothing!" Nia shot a glare at the woman, "We choose our OWN paths, not what some person says we have to!"

"Not true..." Ain spoke in a whisper of a whine, shifting uneasily.

"Be quiet..." Nia scolded.

"I'll give you a chance to turn back and leave, infidels. Or... should I say, Iea?"

Both of the kids were struck with a strange silence.

"Back to your tomb... if you continue forward, I will know... I don't wish to kill you myself, honestly."

"Say that without a smirk!" Nia shouted, voice echoing in the stone hall. Blinking, she found the woman to be entirely gone, vanished into thin air. Slightly scared, Nia leaned back against her brother momentarily. "...she's gone..."

"A...are we going back?"

"No, of course not. I'm not going to let some stupid lady push me around." Continuing forward, getting slightly annoyed by the fact her horn was scraping against the walls, she called back, "We'll find our way out, trust me."

"I always do..."

"You just don't listen, do you?" The woman's voice boomed.

"Aah!" Both of the kids jumped, moving close together. Nia stared at the woman, again wedged between the walls ahead of them. "What is it you want?"

"To stop having little pests defile the castle."

"Defile? This place rank with death before we got here!"

"Well!" The Queen was slightly taken aback. These were some bold sacrifices; perfect, she thought, as they would be quite useful... "Such an ungrateful little brat, some nerve scolding another person when one is dead."

"Dead?" Both of the kids tilted their heads, in opposite directions.

"You, girl, are dead. As dead as any of the bodies left in the caskets. I don't see why you do not give up and finish yourself off."

"D...dead? I'm not dead..."

"Hm, be that way. Last warning, child... I really don't wish to kill you."

"..."

Both kids stood in silence for a minute.

"She's gone?" Ain straightened his head up from its previous tilt.

"She's gone. Come on..."

Slowly, both kids squeezed their way to the next wall. Nia, leaning against it, opened the revolving door...