Well I worked it out in my head, and think there should end up being between 15-20 chapters to the story total. If I can ever get there. ¬_¬
Sorry for the delayed update! I was out of town for awhile and had school work piling up. (though I did get to write an essay on Doctor Faustus and talk about devils a bunch ^_^)
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Chapter 6: Sands of the Temple
Dante coughed and blinked, pushing himself to a sitting position. Damn, he must have had a pretty big fall to knock him unconscious. He rubbed the back of his neck and shook the sand of his silver hair. Glancing upwards, he was surprised to see not the high drop he expected, but a tan sandstone ceiling about 12 feet about above him. He got to his feet with a grunt and brushed himself off. Well apparently that sand-cyclone-vortex-thing had dumped him underground somewhere. Which, he reflected was no bad thing since the Staff was supposedly underground.
He was the dead end of a small sandstone corridor that was lit periodically by strange neon blue torches. To his left the corridor headed downhill at a slight slant and the walls were decorated with blotches of hieroglyphics that flickered in the torchlight.
After checking his weapons, he headed down the corridor, his feet making gritty pat-pat noises and kicking up sand. He had gone about fifty feet when he came to a break in the path that lead left and right. "Great," he muttered, "a damn maze." Then he noticed the hieroglyphics on either side of the hallway. The set on the left branch showed a man running and being eaten by crocodiles. The set on the right showed a man holding aloft a staff. Dante's lips twitched in a semi smile. Good to know somebody had a sense of humor. The smile faded. It could of course be a trap. Screw it, he thought, and headed down the right path. One way or another he was bound to find some trouble, and right now the obvious way just felt more appealing. Besides, walking into traps had a certain flair to it.
The farther he went down, the torches became few and far between. As darkness stole in around him bit by bit, he regretted not bringing one of those glow in the dark rocks he had found on Mallet Island. His night vision was much better than most, but even he couldn't see in absolute darkness. It was then that he noticed a blue light at the end of the hallway in the shape of a door. Maybe he was finally getting somewhere.
Stepping through the doorway a minute later, he found himself in a long rectangular room that had another door across its length. As he stepped forward, he sank a couple of inches into the extremely loose sand that covered the floor. He gently put his weight forward, thinking it might be some form of quicksand. When nothing happened, he eased out and proceeded, though awkwardly, across the sandy floor. He was about a quarter of the way across when something flashed from behind him. He spun, whipping out Ebony and Ivory, then grunted as something ripped into his arm before he could get off a shot. He spun to attack…and found nothing. The room was empty. Again he caught a flash of movement, and this time he was fast enough to see a sleek reptilian shape, fangs gleaming, streak past him and tear into his shoulder. He jumped out of the sluggish sand back into the corridor he had come from.
Heh, he'd expected something like this. A room that obviously set up was begging for a trap. Now all he had to do was find a way through it. The strange thing was how fast those snake things moved and the way they came and went so suddenly. He checked the wound on his arm. It was healing fast enough, though it stilled looked nasty and stung a lot. He ripped off part of the already shredded clothing (damn he went through suits annoying fast) and wrapped it into a bloody cloth wad which he threw into the center of the room. At first there was no movement, then after a second there was an explosion of sand as something grabbed the cloth. Dante fired and the shape slumped against the sand. It looked like an eel with weird fins on each side of its face and very, very sharp teeth. Suddenly the sand around it churned and another pair of fangs, then another, tore into the body. Dante fired another shot and hit one, but the other slipped away beneath the sand.
Well apparently these things could move through sand like it was water. He had no idea how deep the sand pit was in the room, but it was obviously deep enough allow the eels to gain enough momentum to fly out at a good speed. They also appeared to be semi-intelligent, since they hadn't tried to come up to eat their dead buddies since he had killed the second one. He debated on what to do. Eying the walls of the room, he backed up the previous hallway a few dozen feet then ran as fast as he could. There was no way he could make it across the whole room in one leap, or even two, but maybe if he used the walls…
He launched himself against the inner door of the room and rebounded at an angle to a side wall of the eel room. Gritting his teeth with concentration, he flipped off that wall to the opposite wall, then back again. He bounced forward in this fashion, flipping back and forth between the two walls about five times, before his foot slipped on the crusty old walls. He managed to push off enough so that he didn't fall on his face, but he was still about forty feet away from the other door when he landed on the sand. He immediately sprinted across the shifty sand as fast as he could. He threw himself forward, twisting around in the around and firing a few shots off behind him at the couple of eels that leapt out at him. He managed to take them all before landing with a roll that brought him to the far door. He scrambled forward into it, blasting into a lone eel that had thrown itself at him.
He caught his breath for a second, safe in the next hallway. Whew. That wall bouncing had been more than enough exercise for one day. As he proceeded into the next room, his thoughts still on the eels, he was brought up by the sight before him. Across an enormous room of bright glowing torches, the same cathedral-like room he had seen in his vision, the Staff rotated above an altar. His brain link, which had been unusually quiet for awhile now, suddenly began to almost hum.
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Whoosh! Glad I can get back to regular updates now. And maybe my chapters will stop getting shorter and shorter….
Next chapter: Guardian of the Staff
Sorry for the delayed update! I was out of town for awhile and had school work piling up. (though I did get to write an essay on Doctor Faustus and talk about devils a bunch ^_^)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 6: Sands of the Temple
Dante coughed and blinked, pushing himself to a sitting position. Damn, he must have had a pretty big fall to knock him unconscious. He rubbed the back of his neck and shook the sand of his silver hair. Glancing upwards, he was surprised to see not the high drop he expected, but a tan sandstone ceiling about 12 feet about above him. He got to his feet with a grunt and brushed himself off. Well apparently that sand-cyclone-vortex-thing had dumped him underground somewhere. Which, he reflected was no bad thing since the Staff was supposedly underground.
He was the dead end of a small sandstone corridor that was lit periodically by strange neon blue torches. To his left the corridor headed downhill at a slight slant and the walls were decorated with blotches of hieroglyphics that flickered in the torchlight.
After checking his weapons, he headed down the corridor, his feet making gritty pat-pat noises and kicking up sand. He had gone about fifty feet when he came to a break in the path that lead left and right. "Great," he muttered, "a damn maze." Then he noticed the hieroglyphics on either side of the hallway. The set on the left branch showed a man running and being eaten by crocodiles. The set on the right showed a man holding aloft a staff. Dante's lips twitched in a semi smile. Good to know somebody had a sense of humor. The smile faded. It could of course be a trap. Screw it, he thought, and headed down the right path. One way or another he was bound to find some trouble, and right now the obvious way just felt more appealing. Besides, walking into traps had a certain flair to it.
The farther he went down, the torches became few and far between. As darkness stole in around him bit by bit, he regretted not bringing one of those glow in the dark rocks he had found on Mallet Island. His night vision was much better than most, but even he couldn't see in absolute darkness. It was then that he noticed a blue light at the end of the hallway in the shape of a door. Maybe he was finally getting somewhere.
Stepping through the doorway a minute later, he found himself in a long rectangular room that had another door across its length. As he stepped forward, he sank a couple of inches into the extremely loose sand that covered the floor. He gently put his weight forward, thinking it might be some form of quicksand. When nothing happened, he eased out and proceeded, though awkwardly, across the sandy floor. He was about a quarter of the way across when something flashed from behind him. He spun, whipping out Ebony and Ivory, then grunted as something ripped into his arm before he could get off a shot. He spun to attack…and found nothing. The room was empty. Again he caught a flash of movement, and this time he was fast enough to see a sleek reptilian shape, fangs gleaming, streak past him and tear into his shoulder. He jumped out of the sluggish sand back into the corridor he had come from.
Heh, he'd expected something like this. A room that obviously set up was begging for a trap. Now all he had to do was find a way through it. The strange thing was how fast those snake things moved and the way they came and went so suddenly. He checked the wound on his arm. It was healing fast enough, though it stilled looked nasty and stung a lot. He ripped off part of the already shredded clothing (damn he went through suits annoying fast) and wrapped it into a bloody cloth wad which he threw into the center of the room. At first there was no movement, then after a second there was an explosion of sand as something grabbed the cloth. Dante fired and the shape slumped against the sand. It looked like an eel with weird fins on each side of its face and very, very sharp teeth. Suddenly the sand around it churned and another pair of fangs, then another, tore into the body. Dante fired another shot and hit one, but the other slipped away beneath the sand.
Well apparently these things could move through sand like it was water. He had no idea how deep the sand pit was in the room, but it was obviously deep enough allow the eels to gain enough momentum to fly out at a good speed. They also appeared to be semi-intelligent, since they hadn't tried to come up to eat their dead buddies since he had killed the second one. He debated on what to do. Eying the walls of the room, he backed up the previous hallway a few dozen feet then ran as fast as he could. There was no way he could make it across the whole room in one leap, or even two, but maybe if he used the walls…
He launched himself against the inner door of the room and rebounded at an angle to a side wall of the eel room. Gritting his teeth with concentration, he flipped off that wall to the opposite wall, then back again. He bounced forward in this fashion, flipping back and forth between the two walls about five times, before his foot slipped on the crusty old walls. He managed to push off enough so that he didn't fall on his face, but he was still about forty feet away from the other door when he landed on the sand. He immediately sprinted across the shifty sand as fast as he could. He threw himself forward, twisting around in the around and firing a few shots off behind him at the couple of eels that leapt out at him. He managed to take them all before landing with a roll that brought him to the far door. He scrambled forward into it, blasting into a lone eel that had thrown itself at him.
He caught his breath for a second, safe in the next hallway. Whew. That wall bouncing had been more than enough exercise for one day. As he proceeded into the next room, his thoughts still on the eels, he was brought up by the sight before him. Across an enormous room of bright glowing torches, the same cathedral-like room he had seen in his vision, the Staff rotated above an altar. His brain link, which had been unusually quiet for awhile now, suddenly began to almost hum.
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Whoosh! Glad I can get back to regular updates now. And maybe my chapters will stop getting shorter and shorter….
Next chapter: Guardian of the Staff