Disclaimer: I don't own LOK or POP. Elizabeth was a stock sue-type until she lost her grip on reality.
200600607 - All of the chapters are now on FFnet's servers.
"Raziel? Is that you?" Elizabeth called, hearing his footsteps.
"It's a dead end," Raziel answered as he opened the gate.
"Nope. This is what I'm here for," Elizabeth said as she wiggled through a vertical crack.
"The Gamester changed you," Raziel accused as Liz opened the gate.
"I've got to fit my role," Elizabeth shrugged. "I don't remember you being that nimble before."
"Come on, then," Raziel resigned.
"I fit my role, not yours," Liz stated. "I'm no acrobat."
With an angry sigh, Raziel launched himself at the first switch. It was just as well that Elizabeth was taking a different path down, this room's puzzle was maddening.
"Did the hall of death give you too much trouble?" Elizabeth asked when Raziel caught up with her again.
"You didn't hear my screams when that spiked floor impaled me?" Raziel asked.
"I don't know when you use the dagger," Liz cowed. "I just have this vague sense of deja vu."
Fortunately, the rest of the puzzle was comparatively easy.
"The fabled Menagerie of Azahd, the Sultan's pride and joy," Elizabeth quoted as they emerged into the open air. "There's giant birds up ahead; nasty creatures. I can take care of this batch with my bow."
Elizabeth started to prove her worth in this adventure as she not only dealt with the birds, but crawled through the walls to reach switches that Raziel could not. He still felt some resentment, however, as he climbed to the top of the birdcage only to provide Elizabeth with a convenient ladder. That resentment deepened as he dodged through another hallway of death, this time barely passing through it alive.
"There's a switch up there," Elizabeth pointed, indicating the route with her finger.
"Why must I do the difficult parts?" Raziel demanded.
"Do you think that squeezing through the walls is easy?" Liz shot back.
Raziel stared at the birds circling the area. "Shoot them down."
Elizabeth fired at the closest one, but the arrow arced harmlessly downward. "They're out of range."
After several painful encounters with the birds, Raziel finally learned their pattern of attack. By now, he had begun to trust that water would always oblige him by transforming itself into blood at his touch. Therefore, it surprised him when he tried to drink from a swift-flowing trickle and the current washed the blood away. It singed the back of his hands, but Raziel was able to collect enough of the transmuted fluid to restore most of his health, and the acidic burns healed over.
Soon Raziel and Eliza reached the baths. Remembering the earlier lesson about flowing water, Raziel avoided the waterfall as he waded over to a ladder. His attempts to scale the wall only left a bloody smear where his feet tried to gain purchase. He stood for a moment, the cloud of red slowly spreading around his legs.
"You'll need something to stand on," Eliza volunteered. "There's a stone in the next room."
Raziel experimented with the gate, only to find that it would only remain open for a second. "Stand here."
"Um, no," Elizabeth argued. "Use this stone thing."
Raziel obligingly did as she asked, only to watch as she squeezed into the newly-revealed crack. "Where are you going?"
"I hate that challenge," Elizabeth grunted as she wiggled her hips though a tight spot in the narrow space.
Raziel looked ahead to see a massive spiked log swinging through the hallway. He balled his fist in anger at the crack before turning back to deal with yet another hallway of death.
After he had cleared the next room of sand monsters he called sweetly, "Elizabeth, could you come here? I feel that I need to express my true feelings for you."
"Really?" Elizabeth asked, happily bounding over to Raziel.
Faster than human eye could see, Raziel reached out and grappled Liz around the neck. He flung her into the hallway, where the log caught her perfectly and knocked her into the pit down below. With a smirk, Raziel pressed the button on the dagger and watched the scene happen again in reverse.
"Yes." Raziel happily eyed the dagger. "What else should I try?"
Elizabeth's smile fled as she backed away from Raziel's feral grin. "Don't waste sand, Raziel. I'm not worth it."
Raziel became serious as he sheathed the dagger. "No, you're not."
Elizabeth's shoulders slumped as her panic fled. Large wet tears filled her eyes and flowed down her cheeks. She whispered in defeat, "I just don't understand why you hate me so much."
Raziel's tone was gentle, but stern. "You take me out of my own world, disrupt me in my quest, order me around, and yet it accomplishes nothing. I do not enjoy these diversions, and I don't care for you." He began examining the room, searching for the way out. "It is only the thought of being trapped here forever that causes me to indulge this fantasy."
"You really want to go back that bad?" Elizabeth asked, still dejectedly staring at the floor and rooted to the spot.
"I have a destiny to uncover," Raziel argued.
"You will enter the Reaver and cause nothing but suffering to everyone in your path," Elizabeth said as she moved to stand on the appropriate switch. "That is your destiny."
Raziel navigated the puzzle in silence, not even raising a complaint at having to track back through the same hallway of death as before. He was slightly leery about taking up the strange sword, but he found that it was sturdier than the lightweight scimitar that he had carried before. He found that it was strong enough to break through weakened walls.
Elizabeth moped as she followed Raziel into the ruins of the original castle. She silently squeezed into the crack as Raziel hauled the block into place. Raziel worked his way around the perimeter of the chasm until he came to a place where he couldn't see his path.
"There's a ledge here," Liz said. "All you have to do is drop down."
"Can I trust you?" Raziel asked.
"I can't fool you twice," Eliza reminded Raziel.
Raziel turned the crank that would open the gate, but he misjudged the amount of force it would need, and the gate shut again as the handle swung past its mark.
"I heard something," Raziel insisted as he stared at a blank wall.
"That wall is breakable," Liz said.
Raziel swung his sword, striking it hard. The bricks gave way, revealing a hall and a stairway. "Where does this lead?"
"An unnecessary detour," Eliza said. An invisible force, or perhaps only dread, prevented her from stepping any closer to the opening.
With a glance between the hall and Liz, Raziel passed through the opening. "Don't go!" Liz shouted, but it was too late. Raziel returned a moment later in a cloud of dust, his eyes wide with fright.
Elizabeth didn't comment on what must have happened to Raziel. She had been afraid that he would not be able to return from that 2-dimensional game.
The floor in the next hallway did not exist. Raziel stared across the voided length, unsure of how to proceed.
"You do need me," Elizabeth stated, pointing to a superfluous block of stone.
Raziel waited impatiently as Eliza navigated the space behind the wall.
"I won't move off of this switch," Liz finally called out to him, letting Raziel know that he was putting his life into her hands by jumping onto the platforms that now slid out from the walls.
When they broke through into the newer areas of the palace again, Eliza called, "Raziel, wait."
Raziel turned, wondering what the cow wanted now. He corrected his thoughts when he saw her again, she was more like wild prey with the changes the Gamester had set on her.
"Truce," Elizabeth leaned against the wall wearily. "If we want to get out of this, we're going to have to work together, even trust each other."
Raziel swept some barrels aside with his sword before sheathing it. "Trust. That is a powerful word. Do you still trust me after what I did to you? Do you expect me to trust you after I've openly spurned your affections."
"I don't know exactly what you did to me," Elizabeth admitted. "I am not vindictive."
"That does not seem likely," Raziel said, his revenge-driven mind not quite capable of comprehending forgiveness.
"If nothing else, trust that I'm willing to cooperate for the same reason that you ever noticed me," Eliza hissed angrily. "We need to work together to finish the game."
Raziel sighed in irritation. He sensed that he was about to lose his resolve. "I do wish to leave this accursed place."
"Raziel, the Reaver cannot get you here." Eliza informed him. "You're safe"
"This building is crumbling around us and it is infested with sand creatures," Raziel incredulously reminded her.
"Okay, so it's a relative term," Liz shrugged. "Try to have fun; it is a game after all."
Raziel gave a frustrated sigh as he stomped on the pressure plate that opened the next gate.
"Raziel," Eliza hesitantly began, "that's the soldiers' mess hall. I'm trusting you to keep me alive."
Raziel knew that even as sand creatures, the soldiers were more dangerous than the normal palace staff. As the realization dawned, Raziel scrambled to defend Liz.