Rock Raider: Yeah, I have plans for the Cheshire Cat. And while that's an interesting suggestion (actually, it sounds better than what I'm doing), well, I'll let you see how it turns out. You don't really know until page nine, but yeah. Anyways. I'll shut up now.
Page EightEllia exited the dark, trap-filled corridor and into the next room, pausing for a moment in the narrow doorway to bandage a wound on her left arm. "I should have known there would be traps," she muttered. "Good thing those arrows weren't poisoned." She jumped. The door behind her had slammed shut. "What the-" She examined the stone slab curiously, but found no way to open it. A groaning noise from behind her startled her. Turning around, she experienced a sudden headache, as if something was affecting her mind. Standing in front of her was something as large as she was. Its flesh was decayed and blue and it was missing several parts from his face and body. Its arms were limp but slightly raised in her direction as it shuffled slowly towards her. It let out a piercing shriek that made her head pound. She pulled out her short knife and decapitated it. Somehow, the creature was still moving. Another slash sent it to the ground, but she hit it again to make sure it was dead. The door from which she came opened again after she did that.
Rubbing her aching forehead, she examined the room. There didn't seem to be any more bodies lying around, nor any undead creatures. There was an engraving of the sun in the middle of the floor. The dancer examined it with interest. Beside a shrine was a bronze necklace on a vase that looked surprisingly like the one around her neck. She picked it up, putting it around her neck also. The flickering of candles caught her eye. "Candles?" she whispered. This place hadn't been inhabited for years. She ignored the other engravings on the stone walls around her and approached the source of light. There were three tall candles there, the one in the middle the tallest. Two pillars the height of the centre candle surrounded them. The two on the right were lit. An inscription on the wall behind it depicted the sun in the noon position. Thinking of something, she extinguished the right candle, leaving the center one lit. The two pillars sunk into the altar. She heard a grinding noise from behind her, and the second door in the room opened slightly. Seeing only one way to go, she left by the way she came. The necklace had given her an idea. Now she knew how to access the other half of the temple.
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Alex watched the door close behind her, knowing that she was trapped. Hopefully Alice will find out something from the other room, she thought. Glancing around the dim room, she found nothing of real interest. There were multiple engravings on the walls around her of people and creatures, and one in the center of the floor of the rising sun. There was an altar in the right corner of the room with three candles. How the left one was still lit, she didn't know. As she was about to walk through the open stone door, a swirling mist of colour surrounded around her. Recognizing it as a vortex, she stopped. This time, the colour didn't sweep her into its depths. Instead, it seemed to be expelling something. Or someone. Squinting into the vortex, she saw a dark figure emerge. The stranger fell onto the floor as the swirling mist of colour vanished. Alex advanced towards him carefully.
"Um, hello?" she asked. The stranger lifted his head, his dark eyes searching. As he looked at Alex, his eyes grew wide with relief.
"Please… You've got to help me," he said urgently. His voice was low and raspy, spoken with a Spanish accent. He sounded somewhat desperate. Alex decided to trust him, for the moment. Holding out her hand to him, he took it, letting her help him up. The young Roivas evaluated the newcomer. He was average height, strong build, and seemed not to be carrying weapons of any sort. His dark brown hair was cut around his ears and neck. His clothing was ripped and torn, almost as if he'd been in a fight. Alex judged that he were from an earlier time, but definitely from Spain. She relaxed a little.
"Can you help me?" he asked again, distracting Alex from her thoughts.
"Uh, right. What exactly do you need help with?"
"I-I have no idea where I am, how I got here…" He glanced around the room nervously. "This isn't Madrid, is it?"
"I don't think so…" Alex replied. "I wish I could help you, but I have no idea how I got here either." I shouldn't trust him just yet, she thought, excusing her lie mentally. "Uh, maybe we should try to find a way out…?" Glancing back at the stranger, she realized she had forgotten something. "Who are you, anyways?"
"My name's Alejandro," he said at once. "Alejandro Dantes." His dark eyes darted around, almost as if he was trying to cover for something. Alex frowned. His eyes weren't any shade that she recognized. They were dark, almost gray, and somewhat familiar. Shaking the feeling that she had seen this man before, she turned and entered the dark hallway beyond.
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When Alice entered the room, it was almost total blackness. The only source of light was a flickering candle on a shrine in the corner. She could see the faint outlines of pictures on the walls, but it was too dark to tell what they depicted. In the center of the room was a picture depicting some time of the day. According to the wall behind the altar, it showed some time near dusk. She was overcome by a strange feeling, as if she was being observed by an unseen foe. Hearing the shuffling of feet, she pulled out the gladius she had found in the secret study, and turned around. From what she could tell, there stood four rotten, decaying zombies; exactly like the ones she had seen when they were in the Roman temple, safe for the fact that their eyes glowed an eerie green colour. As she met their piercing gaze, her head began to ache. Decapitating one of them, she noticed something else in the room. A few seconds later, another zombie had lost its head. Another cut from Alice's gladius sent the first corpse once again to the floor. After a few seconds of looking around, she realized that all the other zombies had fallen.
"Who are you?" she called out to a dark figure in the room.
"I should ask you the same question." The stranger stepped into the light, proving to be the young Cambodian Alice and Alex had seen in the main room of the temple. Seeing her up close, Alice realized how young the girl was.
"I'm called Alice," she answered carefully. "And I'm looking for a way out of here."
"We're here on similar purposes," the dancer remarked. "My name's Ellia."
Alice looked over Ellia cautiously. "How do I know that you're not a part of this?"
"Do I look like one of them?" Ellia replied, indicating the fallen corpses.
"I suppose not. Do you happen to know where the exit is?"
The Cambodian glanced at the doorway. "The only way seems to lie beyond the other door."
Alice walked over to the doorway, peering out at the statue. "The door's locked, and the statue seems reluctant to let us in."
Ellia pulled off one of the three necklaces on her neck. "I know a way. We should go." Alice nodded, exiting the room, closely followed by Ellia.
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Alex walked warily into the dark hallway. She had heard stories about the hallways in the old Egyptian tombs and she was certain that this would be no different. Sure enough, after she stepped forward a few paces, three large swords shot out of the wall.
"Damn." She quickly jumped back to avoid the swinging blades.
"Look before you leap," Alejandro said in a sly voice. Walking closer to her, he eyed the floor. "For you may find this game a lot more dangerous than it seems."
"Uh, yeah," Alex muttered. Okay, now he definitely sounds familiar. Where do I know him from…? Glancing at the floor, she realized that the part of the floor she had depressed was a lighter colour than the rest. "Trap panels…"
"One thing about mechanical traps, Alexandra, is there's always a way to turn them off." Alejandro examined the wall for a moment, and then pressed one of the bricks. The knives ceased immediately. Alex didn't move.
"I don't remember telling you my name," she said, staring at the stranger.
"You must've mentioned it sometime." He glanced around nervously. "Should we cont-"
"No, wait a second." Alex grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to face her. "Who are-"
"Just STAY OUT OF IT!" Alejandro yelled. She let him go. Not saying anything, she turned and ran down the hallway, hitting a few traps but not caring. "Wait, Alex. Alex! Damn…" he muttered, and ran after her.
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Alex ran into the next room, breathing heavily. She didn't know why she got such a reaction from Alejandro, but she didn't like it. He knows who I am, she thought bitterly. The floor pattern, which she hadn't noticed before, was completely black. A half-open door lay on the left side of the room, yet she knew no way to open it. Another shrine was placed in the centre of two walls. The picture behind the three candles this time, however, was also completely black. An idea coming to her, she blew out the two candles that were lit, and the door opened completely. The room was now completely black. Alex found it hard to find her way to the open doorway she had seen only moments before. The only way she knew that she had stepped through to the hallway was when she accidentally activated one of the traps.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" she moaned. Ducking her head, she ran through the patch of arrows that now shot out of the walls. About halfway through the hallway, however, she tripped over something that lay in her path. As looked at it, she realized that it was a corpse. "Eeagh!" Shivering slightly, she stood up. There was a flickering light here created by some invisible torch. An altar was placed here, on it, a wooden blowgun. Alex picked it up and examined it curiously. A few moments later, the floor beneath her feet gave way and she found herself plunging into the darkness below.
Wincing slightly, Alex stood up, brushing herself off. She seemed to be in some sort of basement area in the temple.
"A secret passage in the temple?" she asked herself, glancing around.
Noise from outside the small area she was in brought her to her senses. She ran out and saw that there were two blue, decaying zombies attacking a man in the corner. She shot one with the blowgun to her found, and it turned a poisonous green shade. "Poison darts? All right!" she said with a grin, but the grin quickly faded from her face as the intoxicated zombie swung at her. She spun to the ground from the force of the blow, her knife falling out of her belt. She grabbed it and swung at the undead's stomach.
It seemed almost petrified for a moment, and then it gave off a strong humming noise. A flash of electricity surged through it. Alex, not liking what was happening, tried to escape but the zombie had her cornered. After a few moments, she was thrown into the wall by the force of the zombie blowing up in her face. She winced as she stood up. Remembering something, she ran over to the man she had seen earlier. He lay on the floor, motionless. Taking his pulse, she froze. He was dead. Angry with herself that she didn't manage to save him, she turned towards the only available exit in the room and continued forward.
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Alice stared warily at the golden statue as Ellia drew near it, refusing to step close to it. A part of her mind reminded her that it was inanimate, but the shock of having it come to life before kept her on her guard.
"What?" Ellia asked, looking at her. "It's just a statue."
"I am not fond of statues, that one especially," Alice muttered, her face flushing slightly. "Just open the door already."
Ellia raised her eyebrows but said nothing. Turning back to the statue, she took the bronze necklace from around her neck and placed it on the statue's own. Instantly, the stone door opened with a loud slam! Glancing towards Alice, she nodded.
"See? That wasn't so bad," the dancer said with a grin.
"Yeah, right," Alice said under her breath. "Shall we get on with it, then?" Not waiting for a reply, she ran through the open door.
"Wait!" Ellia called, running after her.
Back inside the temple entrance, the statue opened its eyes, its mouth forming into a grin. "Perceptive," it mused, and then it started to laugh, its rusty voice echoing throughout the temple.
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After making her way through another trap-filled hallway, Alex found herself in an almost round room. A mural lay on the circular half on the room. She ignored it, not really having a great appreciation for art of any kind. There was a slot in the center of the room.
"Hm… It's missing something," she determined. "What, I wonder." Seeing no visible answer, she exited the room. Muttering to herself angrily, she came back into the room and went through the door directly beside it. "Don't see why they have to put these doors so darn close to each other," she said to herself.
Another trap-filled stretch of floor led to another half-circular room. A large flaming pit lay in the centre of this particular one. Other than that a mural on the circular half, nothing of interest lay in the room. A few zombies of different alignments were battling each other, but she ignored them and exited, this time through the right door.
Alex walked down a short corridor that was mercifully trap-free. However, that didn't stop her from keeping her eyes on the floor, searching for lighter tiles. The room she saw next was large, though a large purple beast filled with eyes and teeth took up a great part of it. Her heart skipped a beat. Just like in my vision, she thought.
"Stop! Don't go near it!" warned a voice from behind her. She turned to see temple guards. Suddenly, tentacles shot from where the beast lay, devouring them whole. Alex gasped, slightly horrified.
"So, you are reduced to feeding on flesh and bone, Mantorok," a cold voice uttered from the entrance. "How the mighty have fallen. You will surely fester for millennia to come. A slow, and torturous fate, for thee…"
"You…" Alex whispered. She instantly recognized the man as the Roman soldier from ancient Persia, though this person was less than a man, rather a skeleton. His cold blue eyes gave her chills. He looked her over.
"I believe we have met before," he remarked with a smirk. "You had best leave, or you will find yourself as food for the Dead God. What a painful end for such a beautiful girl," he added slyly.
"Ah, Pious, so we meet again." Alejandro stood by a large statue, twirling a long, slender, metal object like a baton in his fingers, an amused smile on his face.
"Dantes," Pious breathed, his voice poisonous.
Alex looked between the two men. If looks could kill, she thought, then I would not want to be the one standing between them right now. I wonder where they met before…
"I'd get out of here, if I were you, or things might turn out the way they did last time," Alejandro said, his face laughing, yet his eyes cold.
Pious looked enraged. "I'll have you know that in a few seconds I could easily-"
"- get beaten to a bloody pulp again?" Alejandro supplied.
The Roman's glare looked as if it could melt metal. Not saying another word, he turned and left the room. The man by the statue smirked.
"Thought so," he said, satisfaction written all over his face.
Well, at least I know he's not on the bad side, Alex thought to herself, still not saying anything. As she realized what Alejandro was doing, however, she began to question what she had just concluded. He thrust a glowing object at her, which seemed to be pumping something. With his baton, he magickally sent the purple heart into her body. She screamed in pain for a moment as electricity shot through her, and then it quickly subsided.
"What did you do!" she asked him angrily.
"That, which I just sent through you, was one of Mantorok's hearts," he replied, indicating the monster behind him. "Though since you are not the Chosen of this era, it won't affect you. As it sends itself through to its proper saviour, she will know what to do with it." He waved the baton at her. "I have something to take care of. I'll be with you again shortly."
"Yay," Alex muttered sarcastically. Alejandro grinned, then vanished.
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Ellia walked slowly into a trapped hallway, looking around. It had been a while since they saw anything of use. The room they came to next had a familiar engraving of a sun on the middle of the floor.
"It's no use," she sighed. "We're going in circles."
"Alex?" Alice called, ignoring the dancer's statement. No response came. "Alex!" she yelled again desperately.
"You've been calling for the same person for about ten minutes," Ellia remarked. "I don't think this 'Alex' can- EAH!" The young Cambodian fell to her knees, pain shooting through her body. She could've sworn she saw a flash of purple electricity roll down one of her arms, but she couldn't be sure.
"You are one of the chosen many, flesh and blood…" an echoing voice told her. "It is now your destiny to fight the Eternal Darkness. Within you now is one of Mantorok's hearts. The Essence of the Corpse God. To some it is a source of great power. From those people you must defend it; lest they use it to destroy what little brightness your world has left in it. Guard it well…"
The voice faded, and the pain was gone. Ellia stood up, glancing around the temple for a moment. A few seconds later, she vanished from the air, leaving Alice alone.
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Alejandro appeared in a large, half-circular room; the first one Alex had visited. Twirling the strip of metal, he examined the slot in the centre of the room. He placed the strip of metal in carefully and pulled it upward. The sound of something falling into place met his ears. He grinned. A few seconds later, he vanished again.
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Ellia found herself in a large room. A beast, much like the one in her book, lay in the centre of the room. A blonde-haired girl, wearing black clothing, lay in the centre of the room, looking at the dancer with curiousity. Not really in a conversational mood, she walked past her, around the great beast also. An open door was at the other end of her path. Feeling determined, she entered it. As she looked around, she found herself at a dead end. There was a golden statue, quite like the one in the larger room, but nothing else. She turned around to leave, but was stopped by the appearance of a large, skeletal creature. He gazed at her reproachfully.
"You fool," he said calmly. "You should not be here." His patience seemed to grow suddenly thin. "Where is the Essence of Mantorok?" he asked suddenly. She didn't respond. "Where is it? I will not ask again, child." He waited for a moment. "Very well, then. You will succumb to the horrors of oblivion."
A ball of blue energy formed in his left hand, and it shot into Ellia's body. She screamed in pain and fell in a heap in front of Pious, dead. The Roman turned around, coming face to face with Alex. One hand was over her mouth in shock, her eyes wide, as she stared at the smoking dancer's body. Pious grinned.
"You… You monster," she whispered with disgust. He opened his mouth to reply, but before he could do so, the swirling colours flew around her, and she found herself once again being swept into a vortex. The next thing she knew, she was in the Secret Study of the Roivas Mansion, Alice right beside her.