AN: Okay, chapter 20. Yeah... Anyway... Soo... I obviously haven't been mauled by angry fans of A) Athena Pierce B) Dark Lord C) Dances with Balrog D) Grendel the Old E) Any combination of A, B, C, or D. F) All of the above. I was never very good at multiple choice questions... I'll go with F because that's the letter my teachers always wrote on those weird cards they sent home every so often and my parents would read it and shake their heads sadly, then my mom would burst into tears and my dad would go cut himself and I'd overhear my mom planning on selling me to the gypsies and my dad would like try to push me offa buildings but I'd land in a lake and I'd survive and then this guy came and talked to me about my feelings and I asked him if he's Michael Jackson and he said, "Maybe!" and I said "WTF!" and then I drove the guy insane and he took a metal wand-thingy and said a magic word and then it went BOOM! and he fell down and red kool-aid came out and I tasted some and it was disgusting and this is the biggest run-on sentence I've ever written. DON'T STARE AT ME! TO THE STORY! Oh, and has anyone noticed that the ships in Maple float? So, what do you do about that whole anchor thing? I mean... Ah, whatever. Oh, due to the staggering amount of asking (Cough -No one- Cough): I play on Broa and I have a lvl 2x (Soon to be) I/L Mage named Zainek and a lvl 30 Hunter (KaosKaiser). The mage is lvling quickly soo... I had a lvl 40 sin but I scrapped him.


Ryker groaned in agony and banged his head against the wooden wall. "This has got to be the most boring thing I've ever done!"

Aradia sighed and ladled a portion of soup into his bowl. The ship rocked as the high winds roared through the skies. "Ryker, we've been on the ship for like three days. We're almost there, just... Calm down, okay?"

Ryker looked incredulously at her. "Calm down? I wish something happened and I had to calm down! I'm so frickin' booooored!"

Alex looked over at him as he paused for breath. His spoon was discarded and he held the bowl up to his lips. "Ryker you gotta--" He stopped to slurp more soup. "Ya gotta just find somethin' to do! I mean--" Another slurp. "Chase is having fun trying to stay on his feet up in the crow's nest with the winds and--" Alex completely lost his focus as he refilled his bowl and set back to wolfing down the food. "Man, Aradia! This has got to be the best soup I've ever tasted! If the mage thing doesn't work out, you could be a world-class chef!"

Aradia rolled her eyes. "Thanks. I could tell you liked it when you had your twelfth bowl."

Chase burst in the cabin, looking dizzy and disoriented. "You guys should feel those winds! It's like getting beaten to a pulp by a Crimson Balrog while you can't do anything! Hey-- Where's the soup?"

"Alex ate it. You guys are all going stir-crazy! Ryker's bored out of his mind, Alex is eating every edible thing in sight---"

Alex burped. "I think something unedible too..."

"And Chase is getting waay too excited! I can't--"

"Land ho!"

XxX

Druce looked into the horizon at the approaching landmass. Grendel.. Please... Forgive me... I fear you may be dead already... I hope these children forgive me for--

"Woah! There it is! Ossyria! I haven't seen it like these in... ever!"

Aradia cast a look at Chase. "Haven't you ever been on deck when you came up on Ossyria?"

Chase smiled. "Nope! Ya see, I always manage to land on the ships with all the weak people on 'em. So, I can't really take on two Crimsons by myself!"

"Whatever..."

"God! Finally! Hopefully now we get some action..."

"When we arrive, I want you all to head directly to the tower. No stopping, go straight there!" Druce called over the strengthening winds.

"Why?"

"Don't question me! Do as I say!"

"Fine!"

The ship stopped, docking at the harbor. "Go! Now!" Druce called. Aradia, Ryker, and Alex leaped out into the air, landing safely on the ground and sprinted towards the huge landmark that was Orbis Tower. Druce followed behind them, casting searching glances over the desolate surroundings.

"Druce? What the hell happened here?"

"The monsters have taken over Orbis. I just hope El Nath isn't like this..."

A primal roar tore through the town. Druce snapped his attention to ahead of them. Several Yetis were thundering towards them; heads thrown back and arms pounding their chests. "Holy hell!" Ryker screamed as he veered of course.

"Keep running!" Orbis Tower loomed ahead; the heroes ran faster, putting more and more distance between them and the hordes of monsters now following them.

Ryker wrenched open the door and dived through, followed by the others. A Yeti, a Pepe sitting in a leather harness attached to the monster, held a huge snowball in its grasp. Soon, more Yetis appeared with huge snowballs. "I don't think they wanna start a snowball fight..." Ryker called.

Druce looked back at him as they descended rapidly down the huge stone steps that led to the bottom of the Tower. "Keep going!"

"Dammit! They're gonna throw it at us...!" Chase called up from his position at the rear.

"Screw this!" Ryker called. He leaped into open air beside the stairs. "Flash Jump!" He bellowed. He sped through the air, straightening his body to increase his speed.

"Ryker! You idiot, what's gonna happen when you reach the ground?"

"Dunno, don't care! I'm not gonna get smothered by some stupid snowball!" It was at this moment that the Yetis simultaneously dropped their loads. The snow clumped together forming a huge boulder.

Druce let out a groan of frustration. "We'll have to drop! We won't outrun the boulder..." Druce leaped into the air and mimicked Ryker. Alex shrugged and followed suit, falling next to Chase as he made his jump.

"You guys are all crazy!" Aradia called as she stopped to look at the huge boulder crashing down toward her. "Fire Arrow!" A fiery arrow shot from her fan and struck the boulder dead-center. It quickly melted, creating steam that blinded the Yetis up above. "Ha! See, now we---" The hot water that came from the snow boulder swept her up in its current as it surged past.

"Nice Aradia! Now we have a cushion to land on!" Ryker called as the water overtook him.

Druce cast a worried look at the stone steps that the water was bearing them towards. "We'll be smashed up against the boulders if we continue like this!"

Aradia waved her Hinomaru Fan again. "Mystic Door!" A huge door opened before them, swallowing them up in its depths. The door reappeared just above the ground level of Orbis Tower. The five heroes fell from the doorway and landed safely on the ground.

"Aradia! Why didn't you do that before? That would have saved us alot of effort, ya know!" Ryker yelled indignantly.

"Eh... I didn't think about it..."

"Enough. Let's get to El Nath before any other monsters come along."

XxX

"I did that... job you sent me to do..."

Kronos straightened up. "Yes. I must congratulate yo--"

"I do not need your pathetic congratulations! Just summon my master and let me kill you."

"Ha... So hasty! We will see who gets killed... But I have prepared the summons. Soon you will have your wish..."

"Which one, you dead or my master summoned?"

"As blunt as ever, Kane."


AN: Was it okay? Next chapter: Druce and the gang meet up with the El Nath residents and immediately head out to search for the 'holy force' (cough cough) Oops! Did I put that in writing...? Ehh... Well... Review!