Chapter 3: The demolished mansion
Artemys ran through the woods. "I'm late!" she cried. The ancient mansion that had been sitting on the edge of Twilight Town for so long, and the subject of much speculation on why it was there, was finally being demolished today. This was a huge event for the children and teenagers of Twilight Town. Demolitions happened rarely, due to the mainly apartment-based housing. Artemys finally reached where the other kids were standing. "What'd I miss?" she asked Lomadia.
"They haven't done anything yet, but I think you got here right on time," Lomadia said, and looked away. "Why do they have to destroy this manor? It has such a mysterious air around it..."
The bulldozers rumbled, and slowly trod forward the first to go was the gates and the broken pillars, and then they started to chip at the actual house. Children cheered when a side of the house finally collapsed.
"What a waste," stated Lomadia. "They could've turned that house into a library, a museum, a historical monument, anything!"
"Surprise it's only boring school stuff you want it turned to," muttered Alabrith. Artemys nodded in agreement. Artemys had recently graduated into a teenager, and had quickly been assimilated into Alabrith's group. Well, it wasn't actually Alabrith's group, but that's what everyone called it, since Calypso was so quiet and Lomadia was always reading.
Artemys yawned and laid down on the floor. "It's so boring here! At my old house we'd be riding bikes, swimming, doing anything other than just sitting in an old house and - in Lomadia's case - reading."
"Well, you come up with something we could do while we're out of money. The beach is out of question. No way we can go there and ride bikes, swim..." said Alabrith.
"Why can't we do that stuff here?"
"We don't have any public or private swimming pools, and bikes were banned after they started appearing on top of buildings and stuff."
The two girls sighed. Lomadia was too wrapped up in yet another book about runes to notice, and Calypso was just silently bored.
"I know!" yelled Artemys, standing up. "We could go explore the mansion's ruins! I'm sure all the dust has settled by now!"
"Yeah, that's a great idea!" Alabrith jumped up.
"Sure, why not?" said Calypso.
"Uh... what?" asked Lomadia.
"We're going to explore the mansion's ruins," said Alabrith.
"I guess it'd be better than staying here alone." Lomadia sat her book down and dusted her skirt off. They all departed for the hole in the wall of Twilight Town, and the demolished mansion.
-
"Hey, guys! I think I found something interesting!" yelled Artemys, beckoning for the others to join her. "Look!" she said, and kneeled at the edge of a large square pit. Darkness and shadows seemed to cling to the edges of the hole, trying to drag themselves up. "Who wants to jump in first?"
"Who even said we wanted to jump in?" commented Lomadia. Alabrith shook her head and started to slowly climb down, holding on to roots and such.
"No, that's not how you do it..." said Artemys, and readied herself to jump.
"No! Let's send a light down first, so that maybe we can see where it ends," said Lomadia.
"So that we don't break our necks," Calypso said.
Lomadia sent a few light bolts down into the pit, and they went down... and down... and down... "Does it ever end?" said Artemys fearfully. Suddenly, the whole pit shook, around with the surrounding ground, and the girls could see the bottom of the pit.
"Geez, Lomadia. Did you have to use such a strong spell?" said Alabrith, pulling herself out of the pit.
"I barely used anything. There must me some magic amplifying device down there," said Lomadia, "But that's strange. Our world doesn't have any such device..."
"So how did you know it even existed?" Artemys said.
"Just a hunch, I guess."
"So if there's magic down there, it shouldn't hurt too much when we fall... right?"
"Possibly."
Alabrith took this as a yes and jumped into the pit. Artemys soon followed, leaving only Calypso and Lomadia on the ground-level. "Come on, guys! We're fine!" yelled a distorted Alabrith-voice from the bottom. Lomadia jumped in reluctantly, and Calypso jumped in a few minutes after.
"You may not pass," shouted a voice.
"Was that you, Alabrith?" asked Lomadia.
"Was it you?"
"Nope."
"Then who was it?" asked Artemys.
"Turn on the lights, Lomadia!" shouted Alabrith.
"Oops, sorry."
Light flooded the bottom of the pit, which was surprisingly smooth, as if covered with glass. A person the girls did not know stood in front of a large door, squinting.
"Do you girls have to have so much light to see?" she said.
"Yes," Calypso said frankly.
"Do you want to pass?" asked the person.
"First, can you tell us a name?" asked Alabrith.
"Zarta."
"Then yes, we do want to pass."
A large spear appeared in Zarta's hands, and she pointed it at the girls. "You will have to go through me to pass."
Alabrith pulled out her Struggle sword and held it ready. Lomadia gaped at her. "You don't really think we can fight her, can you?"
"Of course we can!" yelled Artemys, standing ready, as if this were a simple street brawl.
"This is foolish! We'll get skewered!"
Calypso nodded. "You are biting off more than you can chew, Alabrith."
"Leave or fight," said Zarta.
"We can't exactly leave..." said Lomadia.
"So we'll have to fight!" yelled Artemys.
"This is still a foolhardy decision, Alabrith," Calypso said, holding her practice sword ready all the same.
"Come on, we can take her!"
This would be a decision Alabrith would soon regret.
Note: Ohhh... cliffhanger... And knowing this story, it'll be a few chapters until you find out what happens. Please R&R!