Mystery of the Soul
Ch 9
As Ryo started to catch his breath, he looked around with a slight frown. 'This is it?' Ryo thought as his eyes darted around the room. 'Could what Sage and I came to find be in there?' The room itself for what he could see was pretty much bear, except for the small lever that was inside a small hole in the wall.
Ryo walked carefully towards it, there was no way that he actually trusted the guild master. On his way towards it nothing happened. No swinging blades, no blue fire that turns a person into sapphire, nothing. He looked over towards Sage, the bearer of Halo also frowned deeply. He felt that something wasn't quite right, but for some reason he couldn't sense it. Sage shrugged and then gave him a nod. Ryo nodded back and then stared right back at the lever in front of him.
Ryo was just about to reach for it, when all of the sudden very sharp and jagged blades came out from their hidden compartments that surrounded the lever. He quickly pulled back before his whole arm got grounded up like raw meat. Ryo growled in annoyance, he should have known that he wasn't just going to walk up to the lever and pull it. The damn thing just had to have its own security measures!
"Problems?" Maverick asked with a smirk of amusement.
"No…No problems." Ryo shot back as he glanced back at him. Ryo then took a deep breath and decided to try again. But there was the problem of those blades, he knew that if he put his arm in there that it could more in likely not come out with it attached. He decided to take a small step back so he'd be able to get a better perspective of his situation.
But as soon as he did that, a couple of bricks that were on the wall opened up and a skeleton hand popped out holding onto an hour glass that was filled with sand. Both Ryo and Sage were confused. What in the world was going on? Just as Ryo was about to ask the guild master, steel spikes replaced the smooth ceiling and started to come down on top of Ryo just after the skeleton hand turned the hour glass.
'Ok Ryo, doesn't look like much of a choice. Either get my arm torn off from those blades that are surrounding the lever, or become a human pin cushion.' Ryo thought as his eyes darted around the room. The sand kept on flowing, as the ceiling was coming closer and closer.
"Ryo, the hour glass, destroy the hour glass!" Sage shouted from the crowd of thieves. Ryo quickly looked over toward his friend, and then gave a quick nod. He then as quick and as high as he could; delivered a round house kick to the hour glass, breaking it, which made everything stop.
The ceiling and the blades that surrounded the lever, pulled back into the wall. Ryo took a deep breath and pulled the lever. The wall that the lever was buried into started to rise, and behind the door was on an alter, the Dragon's Fire. Sage said a silent prayer of thanks to whatever deity that was listening, as he breathed a sigh of relief. Ryo walked up to the alter. He carefully inspected it, and made sure that there were no more surprises. He then carefully and slowly with both hands, picked up the Dragon's Fire. He smiled with a sigh of relief as he showed it to Sage, who nodded in return.
It didn't take long for Ryo to reunite with Sage. "You did it Ryo!" Sage exclaimed happily as he smiled at him.
"Yea, and if you didn't tell to break the hour glass, I wouldn't have been sure if I could have gotten out of there." Ryo replied with a nod.
"I'm impressed," Maverick said as the two approached the thief guild master. "Even I couldn't get through all of that. Now, hand over what rightly belongs to me. Give me the Dragon's Fire."
"What?! I just risked my life getting this thing, and there's no way that I'm going to hand it over to you!" Ryo growled angrily as he narrowed his eyes at him.
"We still need it, so we can find the other two items that can bring our friends back!" Sage reasoned angrily as he glared at him.
"I'll give you a choice, you can either hand it over to me, or we'll just take it from you. So which will it be?" Maverick asked with a raised brow.
"Actually, if you know what's good for you, you'll give me the Dragon's Fire." a voice said from a high banister.
Maverick narrowed his eyes angrily. "Who do you think you are? You can't just walk in here and threaten me like that!"
"Don't tell me that you've forgotten who I am already, guild master?" the voice asked in an amused manner.
Maverick's eyes widened in recognition. "Oni…"
Oni smirked, "So, you do remember me. Good, then you won't need me to refresh your memory at all." Maverick shook his head, Oni smirk turned into a grin. "Good." Then he looked at Sage and Ryo, noticing that Ryo was holding the Dragon's Fire.
"Forget it Oni, we're not going to give it to him. So what'll make you think that we'll hand it over to you?" Sage asked while he and Ryo got into defensive positions. The fire bird looked into their eyes and then gave a small nod. "I guess it isn't my business, but this is my domain."
"You've made that clear enough. Will you please let us pass, so we can get this stupid prophecy over with?" Kaye asked as she started to feel her frustrations.
"Prophecy? You mean that the two of you…" the fire bird started to ask and then smirked with a nod. "Of course, I should have realized it sooner when I saw the power you two possess. So then, you two were the ones that were foretold to bring down the Dark Harpy and her spirit hunters. Intriguing."
Kento was starting to get impatient. "Look, I could care less if you find out situation intriguing. We just want out of here so we can do what we were brought here to do, alright!"
The fire bird's wings and tail blazed so bright that it caught the eyes of the three spirit hunters. "Down there! See, I told you! The fire bird is real!" Javas exclaimed as he pointed the creature out.
Balin smirked evilly. "That's not all who is down there."
"What are you talking about, Balin?" Rajak asked in slight annoyance. "We're suppose to be looking…Oh I see." Rajak smirked as he finally understood what Balin told them.
"Then why are we still up here?! Let's just go and get them, so we can bring them to Dark Harpy!" Java asked as he could feel himself get anxious.
"Would you just wait you fool?! See down there, the fire spots that are scattered through out the mist?" Balin asked back as he grabbed onto Java's dragon's reigns.
"Yea, so?" Java asked, "They're just fire spots, so what?"
"Baka, they're no ordinary fire spots. That's the mist of pyre, if any one or any thing gets too close to its fires, then they become immediately incinerated." Rajak replied as he rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter if they're spirits or not."
"Then why aren't the two we're after incinerated? They're basically right in the center." Javas asked curiously.
"Think about it, for some reason, the fire bird has control over each and every fire spot. So that's why those two are not incinerated." Balin replied as he tried to clear it up for him.
"Ok, but the fire bird has never helped any one, spirit or otherwise. So why are these two different?" Javas asked in a challenging tone.
"The fire bird, as well as any one knows in the spirit nexus that they are the ones in the prophecy." Balin replied as he shook his head. "Do I have to explain everything to you?"
"No, you don't have to explain everything to me." Javas shot back in annoyance.
"Then explain to me of why the two that I ordered you three to capture are still running around here free?!" an angry voice demanded from behind.
The three spirit hunters whipped their dragons around to be facing none other than Dark Harpy. Their eyes went wide, they could feel their blood turn cold in fear as they saw the anger in her dark eyes. "Dark…Dark Harpy, my mistress, what brings you out here?" Balin asked nervously.
As Ryo started to catch his breath, he looked around with a slight frown. 'This is it?' Ryo thought as his eyes darted around the room. 'Could what Sage and I came to find be in there?' The room itself for what he could see was pretty much bear, except for the small lever that was inside a small hole in the wall.
Ryo walked carefully towards it, there was no way that he actually trusted the guild master. On his way towards it nothing happened. No swinging blades, no blue fire that turns a person into sapphire, nothing. He looked over towards Sage, the bearer of Halo also frowned deeply. He felt that something wasn't quite right, but for some reason he couldn't sense it. Sage shrugged and then gave him a nod. Ryo nodded back and then stared right back at the lever in front of him.
Ryo was just about to reach for it, when all of the sudden very sharp and jagged blades came out from their hidden compartments that surrounded the lever. He quickly pulled back before his whole arm got grounded up like raw meat. Ryo growled in annoyance, he should have known that he wasn't just going to walk up to the lever and pull it. The damn thing just had to have its own security measures!
"Problems?" Maverick asked with a smirk of amusement.
"No…No problems." Ryo shot back as he glanced back at him. Ryo then took a deep breath and decided to try again. But there was the problem of those blades, he knew that if he put his arm in there that it could more in likely not come out with it attached. He decided to take a small step back so he'd be able to get a better perspective of his situation.
But as soon as he did that, a couple of bricks that were on the wall opened up and a skeleton hand popped out holding onto an hour glass that was filled with sand. Both Ryo and Sage were confused. What in the world was going on? Just as Ryo was about to ask the guild master, steel spikes replaced the smooth ceiling and started to come down on top of Ryo just after the skeleton hand turned the hour glass.
'Ok Ryo, doesn't look like much of a choice. Either get my arm torn off from those blades that are surrounding the lever, or become a human pin cushion.' Ryo thought as his eyes darted around the room. The sand kept on flowing, as the ceiling was coming closer and closer.
"Ryo, the hour glass, destroy the hour glass!" Sage shouted from the crowd of thieves. Ryo quickly looked over toward his friend, and then gave a quick nod. He then as quick and as high as he could; delivered a round house kick to the hour glass, breaking it, which made everything stop.
The ceiling and the blades that surrounded the lever, pulled back into the wall. Ryo took a deep breath and pulled the lever. The wall that the lever was buried into started to rise, and behind the door was on an alter, the Dragon's Fire. Sage said a silent prayer of thanks to whatever deity that was listening, as he breathed a sigh of relief. Ryo walked up to the alter. He carefully inspected it, and made sure that there were no more surprises. He then carefully and slowly with both hands, picked up the Dragon's Fire. He smiled with a sigh of relief as he showed it to Sage, who nodded in return.
It didn't take long for Ryo to reunite with Sage. "You did it Ryo!" Sage exclaimed happily as he smiled at him.
"Yea, and if you didn't tell to break the hour glass, I wouldn't have been sure if I could have gotten out of there." Ryo replied with a nod.
"I'm impressed," Maverick said as the two approached the thief guild master. "Even I couldn't get through all of that. Now, hand over what rightly belongs to me. Give me the Dragon's Fire."
"What?! I just risked my life getting this thing, and there's no way that I'm going to hand it over to you!" Ryo growled angrily as he narrowed his eyes at him.
"We still need it, so we can find the other two items that can bring our friends back!" Sage reasoned angrily as he glared at him.
"I'll give you a choice, you can either hand it over to me, or we'll just take it from you. So which will it be?" Maverick asked with a raised brow.
"Actually, if you know what's good for you, you'll give me the Dragon's Fire." a voice said from a high banister.
Maverick narrowed his eyes angrily. "Who do you think you are? You can't just walk in here and threaten me like that!"
"Don't tell me that you've forgotten who I am already, guild master?" the voice asked in an amused manner.
Maverick's eyes widened in recognition. "Oni…"
Oni smirked, "So, you do remember me. Good, then you won't need me to refresh your memory at all." Maverick shook his head, Oni smirk turned into a grin. "Good." Then he looked at Sage and Ryo, noticing that Ryo was holding the Dragon's Fire.
"Forget it Oni, we're not going to give it to him. So what'll make you think that we'll hand it over to you?" Sage asked while he and Ryo got into defensive positions. The fire bird looked into their eyes and then gave a small nod. "I guess it isn't my business, but this is my domain."
"You've made that clear enough. Will you please let us pass, so we can get this stupid prophecy over with?" Kaye asked as she started to feel her frustrations.
"Prophecy? You mean that the two of you…" the fire bird started to ask and then smirked with a nod. "Of course, I should have realized it sooner when I saw the power you two possess. So then, you two were the ones that were foretold to bring down the Dark Harpy and her spirit hunters. Intriguing."
Kento was starting to get impatient. "Look, I could care less if you find out situation intriguing. We just want out of here so we can do what we were brought here to do, alright!"
The fire bird's wings and tail blazed so bright that it caught the eyes of the three spirit hunters. "Down there! See, I told you! The fire bird is real!" Javas exclaimed as he pointed the creature out.
Balin smirked evilly. "That's not all who is down there."
"What are you talking about, Balin?" Rajak asked in slight annoyance. "We're suppose to be looking…Oh I see." Rajak smirked as he finally understood what Balin told them.
"Then why are we still up here?! Let's just go and get them, so we can bring them to Dark Harpy!" Java asked as he could feel himself get anxious.
"Would you just wait you fool?! See down there, the fire spots that are scattered through out the mist?" Balin asked back as he grabbed onto Java's dragon's reigns.
"Yea, so?" Java asked, "They're just fire spots, so what?"
"Baka, they're no ordinary fire spots. That's the mist of pyre, if any one or any thing gets too close to its fires, then they become immediately incinerated." Rajak replied as he rolled his eyes. "It doesn't matter if they're spirits or not."
"Then why aren't the two we're after incinerated? They're basically right in the center." Javas asked curiously.
"Think about it, for some reason, the fire bird has control over each and every fire spot. So that's why those two are not incinerated." Balin replied as he tried to clear it up for him.
"Ok, but the fire bird has never helped any one, spirit or otherwise. So why are these two different?" Javas asked in a challenging tone.
"The fire bird, as well as any one knows in the spirit nexus that they are the ones in the prophecy." Balin replied as he shook his head. "Do I have to explain everything to you?"
"No, you don't have to explain everything to me." Javas shot back in annoyance.
"Then explain to me of why the two that I ordered you three to capture are still running around here free?!" an angry voice demanded from behind.
The three spirit hunters whipped their dragons around to be facing none other than Dark Harpy. Their eyes went wide, they could feel their blood turn cold in fear as they saw the anger in her dark eyes. "Dark…Dark Harpy, my mistress, what brings you out here?" Balin asked nervously.