Mr.Who2123: This is where they leave the plateau! Finally!
Kratos: You don't like your writing?
Mr.Who2123: I'm just tired of making challenges like I said in the last chapter.
Kratos: Okay, do the Disclaimers.
Mr.Who2123: Oh, yeah! I forgot! Hmmm…Oh oh! Freakyanimegal456! She is one of my favorites and I'm really glad she likes my story, so she'll do the Disclaimers and can hug Kratos!
Kratos: (sweat drop)
Freakyanimegal456: Yippee! I get to hug Kratos! Mr.Who2123 does not own Tales of Symphonia, but she does own her O.C.s. so don't steal them! (Unless you get my permission!)
(Freakyanimegal456 hugs Kratos so hard that he goes unconscious)
Freakyanimegal456: Can I take him for awhile?
Mr.Who2123: Sure!
Freakyanimegal456: YES! Mwahaha! (Runs off with Kratos)
Mr.Who2123: Alrighty! Let's begin!
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"Four down, one to go!" Leon yelled as he ran to the Earth Elemental room. Kratos sighed with exasperation and followed the eager boy into the last room.
"Why the long face?" Leon asked, half teasing, half wondering.
"I'm tired of all these challenges. I just want to rest right now," Kratos replied, making another sigh. Leon shrugged and ran through the door.
Inside was another dome like structure with nothing at all.
"Whoopee, another room with a trap," Kratos said with much sarcasm. Leon grinned and pointed to the door on the other side.
"Let's go!" Leon exclaimed and walked a couple of steps towards the door. Suddenly, a rumbling was shaking the whole floor of the large room, knocking Leon off his feet. Kratos leaned on the wall while the rumbling subsided, and then helped Leon up.
"What was that?" Leon asked as he stood up. Kratos looked around, but the dome looked untouched.
"I'm not sure…," Kratos replied, taking a couple steps towards the door. Once again, rumbling emitted from the ground, and with nothing to hold onto, both Kratos and Leon fell.
"This is annoying! Let's just get to the door!" Leon shouted and got up. Kratos did the same and began to run towards the door, only to get another shaking, but this time more violent. Kratos and Leon fell on their backs, and sat up when the shaking stopped.
Leon folded his arms and sighed.
"How are we going to do this?" Kratos muttered, looking towards the door. The two were halfway now, and the door seemed closer than ever. Suddenly, the earthquake started again, knocking them down again. Leon yelled in rage and Kratos grunted with sheer annoyance.
When the two got up though, they saw two rocks sticking up from the ground right in front of them.
"What the?" Leon said as he walked up to the two rocks.
"Leon, careful! It might be a trap!" Kratos exclaimed, pulling the boy away. Leon shrugged off Kratos' hand and ran around the rocks.
"Let's just go!" he shouted and continued his run. Kratos looked at the rocks one more time before following him. He had an eerie feeling about the rocks. Soon the two were running side by side, almost to the door, and no earthquakes, until…
"Whoa!" Leon yelled as he fell flat on his face from another earthquake, but Kratos held onto the wall and backed away from the earthquake. Suddenly, the two rocks shot up, one in front of Kratos and the other on the fallen Leon.
"What are these?" Kratos yelled, touching the rock. Suddenly, the rock opened up and grabbed Kratos' arm, and then slowly sucked Kratos into it.
"What the-," he screamed, as the "rock" completely immobilized Kratos, his head the only thing that wasn't stuck in rock. "Leon! Get out of-," he shouted, but the rock slammed into Kratos' head, making him fall unconscious.
Leon watched in horror as the strange rock brought Kratos down into the ground.
"How do these move anyways?" Leon asked, backing away from the rock. He was walking backwards facing the rock to make sure that it didn't get near him, but then ran into something: another rock.
It lashed out and grabbed Leon, also knocking him unconscious as he was brought down into the ground as well…
Kratos awoke with a terrible pain in his head. He looked around and saw there was no rock that bound him, and got up. He noticed the place was dark and he could barely make out a path in front of him. The only light was from…himself? He glowed with a white light, but it was dim and not very strong.
"Leon?" he asked in the emptiness. His voice rang with nothingness and just echoed back to him. Kratos then finally started heading for the pathway that was illuminated from the light he gave off.
This place gets weirder and weirder by the minute, he thought as he walked, keeping a sharp eye out for Leon. I wonder if Leon is okay…, while he mused over his thoughts, he noticed the path was getting dimmer. Or, rather than the path, he was getting darker.
"What the?" Kratos muttered as he stared at his ever darker light.
"Kratos?" a faint sound called from far ahead of him. Kratos peered into the distance and saw the outline of Leon.
"Leon?" Kratos asked, quickening his pace to a run. Leon was waving at him while running to Kratos as well. Kratos noticed Leon had a light around him, and it was as dim as his own.
"Where are we?" Leon asked, looking around. Kratos put his hand to his chin and turned his eyes down.
"When those stones grabbed us, we were brought underground, so possibly underneath the dome?" Kratos suggested. "But what are the lights?" he muttered.
"The strength of your hearts," a voice boomed to the two. Kratos covered his ears, and Leon winced at the loud voice. Kratos looked frantically around for the owner of the voice, but he couldn't see the person.
"What the heck?" Leon said, and walked next to Kratos.
"There's someone watching, obviously," Kratos muttered and flexed his right hand. Kratos could feel his light growing stronger, while Leon's weaker. Fear makes the light go out and determination makes it brighter…, he thought.
"Leon, don't be scare, we just need to be strong and we can get out of here," Kratos assured his friend, and Leon nodded.
"We need to get out of here, but how?" Kratos wondered, looking up. He could barely make out rocks on the ceiling.
"We're underground?" Leon asked, peering at the ceiling as well.
"How do we get up there?" Kratos said, pushing some of his hair out of the way. Leon frowned at the rocks above them and sighed.
"What were those stupid rocks, anyways?" Leon pouted, folding his arms.
"More importantly, what do they want from us?" Kratos murmured. Leon looked at Leon in wonder. "Isn't it just a trap or something?" Leon asked. Kratos shook his head and pointed up.
"The rocks seem to be alive and a voice tells us something when we wonder, someone wants something of us. It's not just a trap," Kratos muttered. "Someone is controlling the rocks, and someone wouldn't have answered if it was just a trap," Kratos explained.
Leon sighed and looked at the path that seemed to go forever.
"When I followed this path, I thought there would be an exit, but," he began, the light fading from him. "It just leads to where you are," he muttered. Kratos put a hand on Leon's shoulder.
"C'mon, let's go figure out what to do while we walk back to where I was," Kratos said, and walked with Leon.
"Who's there?" Kratos shouted when the two had made it back to the path.
"I'm the light of life, and the darkness of death, Kratos," the voice boomed. Kratos' flesh crawled at the sound of his name from the voice.
"So the god of life and death, the unicorn, Delrus?" Kratos asked, bewildered at the thought.
"Correct," a unicorn appeared as if from nowhere. It's shining white fur almost seemed as bright as the sun, and its wings were tucked. Delrus' mane was dark green, and the golden horn shone in the limited light.
"Delrus?" Leon exclaimed, hiding behind Kratos. Kratos bowed his head, and dared not look at the beautiful horse.
"Kratos, you carry a burden, and before I leave you to get the last orb, I have a question. What is it that you seek?" its low voice boomed. Kratos noticed that the sound was all in his head and that Leon couldn't hear.
"I seek…peace," Kratos replied, still not meeting the black eyes of the unicorn.
"Is your cause just?" the unicorn inquired, ruffling its wings.
"Yes, I think so-,"
"Do you know if your cause is just?" it asked again, cutting off Kratos.
"No, I'm still concerned about a lot of things, like my power, and…Leon," he replied, glancing back at Leon who was in confusion.
"If you seek the knowledge, go south to the fortress of Shadow. Along the way you will learn what the druid had told you: friends, betrayal, and death, and surely you will find if your cause is just," it explained, and then made a slight whiny.
"But why do I need to know if my cause is just?" Kratos asked as Delrus turned around. "And why did you bring us down here?" he said in a panic.
"I needed to know if your hearts were pure, and you need to know your cause is just because," it looked at Kratos, and their eyes finally met. It seemed to last forever; the gaze of the God pierced into Kratos' heart, and suddenly felt weak and confused. "It is not." The unicorn disappeared. Kratos fell to his knee and shook his head.
"Kratos?" Leon asked, sitting next to his friend. Although he didn't hear the conversation, he knew something was wrong when Delrus looked at Kratos. "Are you alright?" Kratos looked briefly at Leon, and repeated about what happened in the conversation. When he stopped, Leon burst with questions.
"It is just, Kratos! You're ridding the world of these demons!" he yelled, standing up. Kratos stood up as well and shook his head again.
"I don't understand…," Kratos muttered and looked at Leon.
"How do we get out of here?" Leon asked, remembering their dire situation. As if on cue, the two were grabbed by the rock again.
"Let's hope they bring us up," Kratos muttered as they shot up from the ground. As soon as the two reached the dome, the light seemed to be blinding to the companions.
"So bright!" Leon exclaimed as he stumbled out of the rock. Kratos rubbed his eyes, and then looked at the door.
"C'mon, we need to get the orb!" Leon exclaimed then stopped.
"Should we?" Kratos murmured, looking at Leon. Leon rolled his eyes and grabbed Kratos.
"All we can do is get the orb," Leon said and grinned. Kratos nodded and followed Leon into the room.
Leon plucked the orb from the altar and marveled at its beauty. Inside, there seemed to be mountains shooting up and falling down, giving it an ever changing appearance.
"We're done," Kratos muttered as the two left the room.
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Mr.Who2123: Yippee! We're out of the plateau, and more complicated stuff!
Kratos: What's that? (Points to a ridiculously large pile of papers)
Mr.Who2123: Those are all the plot twists and complicated things I'm adding to the story!
Kratos: (Sweat drop)
Mr.Who2123: Anyways, I need my loving reviewers to review for me!
Kratos: …
Mr.Who2123: Oh, and if you review, you can get some Dwarven stew! So…REVIEW inferior beings!
Kratos: …