XVII. Chozirim

Samus stood still and calm in the darkness, listening to her heartbeat. Its rapid beat thumped in her ears. She stood quiet and still at once listening to the darkness that surrounded her and calming her own heartbeat, which slowed and lessened in intensity, its thump fading from her ears and chest to an indiscernible level. There was no sound from the darkness. It was as the rest of this place: a tomb. Then, one by one, orbs on either side of the room began to glow with a soft luminescence and Samus saw before her a long, chamber at one end of which she stood. At the other end, though distant, she could clearly make out the stone form of a Chozo statue. She found to her bewilderment, however, that it was not in the usual sitting posture, symbolizing truth, but stood, staring upwards, arms reaching high above its head. Samus of course recognized the posture, but was baffled, as she had never seen any statue made to symbolize anything other than "truth"- the Chozo's most revered and highly-sought after prize.

Between her and the statue were two rows of pillars running the length of the chamber. They stood as silent sentinels in a royal hall as though ushering Samus towards the throne of a king in whose place stood the bizarre statue. At a careful pace, Samus began walking towards the statue, her path taking her between the two rows which stood at an equal distance of five feet from either side of her. As she walked she noted the hieroglyphs crafted into the stone of the pillars. Each pillar held a single hieroglyph depicting a single word. The message was almost as baffling as the statue. But as the soft padding of her feet against the stone floor filled her ears and her approach to the statue grew, the message became clearer until at last she stood before the statue and pieced the message together in her mind, the statue's intent becoming clear.

To gain the prize, all must be sacrificed. To know the truth, all must be forsaken. To be restored, blood must be spilled. To attain life, the blood must be pure. For life is in the blood.

Samus stared up at the statue, its form towering above her.

Life.

She did not know why the Chozo had chosen these methods- these symbols- but she would not deny their truth. Whatever was at the center of this fountain, was more powerful- and more dangerous- than any Chozo treasure she had ever come across. She noted the beak of the statue, readily open to feast upon something unseen. The clawed hands holding fragments of a sphere. Behind the statue, a familiar half-dome of gray face her direction. Samus rehearsed the message.

To gain the prize- the treasure at the center of this fountain.

To know the truth - the truth of what was happening and perhaps what had happened to her people, regardless, the greatest ideal which she had always been taught to pursue.

To be restored- The restoration of her people, the Chozo.

Was such a thing possible? She shook with excitement at the prospect, with fear at the potential power of the prize, with urgent desire within every fiber of her being that desired to see her people restored.

Focus. There is more to this.

Calming herself, she continued.

To attain life- The life of her people? She stared up at the statue. Perhaps….

She moved on to the rest.

…all must be sacrificed. The remnants of her people…possibly her very life. Why would she sacrifice what remains only to restore the Chozo, unless it was an exchange- her life for theirs. Such a prospect many might shy away from. But such was her desire that not even this could sway her.

…all must be forsaken. This she understood. To attain truth one must sacrifice the falsehoods that one has long clung to. It is a painful prospect, but a necessary one.

…blood must be spilled…the blood must be pure. For the life is in the blood.

Samus focused her eyes on the open beak. To activate the statue and attain the prize, to restore all things, the statue would need to be brought to life. It would require the pure blood of a Chozo. That blood flowed within her.

Pulling the knife from its sheath, she unwound the rope and tied one end around the guard. The slight sound of rhythmic rushing wind filled Samus's right ear as she twirled the roped dagger, taking aim upon her target. At last she threw it in an upward arc. It looped around and landed inside the open beak. She gave the rope a tug, ensuring the knife's hold on the stone was solid. She looped the other end around her forearm and began to climb, bracing her feet against the statue as she ascended. In less then a minute, she had her feet on the massive thing's shoulder. Climbing up into the beak, she freed the dagger and re-wound the rope. Removing the left glove of her zero suit, she sliced the blade of the dagger across her palm, not even blinking at the sharp pain that shot through her hand, and let fall two drops of blood into the open throat of the metallic-stone statue.

Samus quickly replaced her glove, knowing the material of her zero suit would aid in the healing of the wound. After a few hours there would not even be a scar. She then placed the dagger in its sheath and climbed back out onto the shoulder as a rumble filled the chamber. She watched as the stone arms began to move towards each other. They met, the two halves of the sphere uniting in a flash of blinding light.

When Samus again opened her eyes, an object sat suspended in a purple energy field between the two claws. Samus climbed back up the beak as the energy field and the object it held began to float down towards the head. Rounding the beak, she stood upon the nose bridge of the avian head and reached up her hands to receive the object. It floated gracefully into her grasp, the energy field dissipating and Samus found herself staring at an object she knew well, but with an oddity about it that at first baffled the chozean infused bounty hunter.

A suit of Chozean battle armor. But…it's still in its unactivated form…and without the crystals.

And then the realization hit her and the reality sent a tremor through her as her fear rose for Lara and Jo.

Two crystals. Two other paths. Two other Chozirim.

Panic ran through her as she put her arms through the straps, so that the device clung to her back like a back pack. In quick fashion she began to clamber down the statue, jumping wherever she could in order to get down faster. She had to get to others before the statues became active. They would not accept their blood…and they had no way to defeat them.

Reaching the floor, Samus hurried around to the door, still feeling her body trembling with fear for Lara and Jo's safety. She skidded to a stop as she realized the door was still closed. It sat as it had before: gray and impassible, as some agent of cruelty that would not only prevent her from reaching her friends in time, but also…. Her panic rose as a rumbling entered her ears. She whipped around to see, to her horror, the statue coming to life.

No. She thought in panic as the statue began to turn to face her. I possess the blood of the Chozo. This cannot be! My blood is pure!

The chozirim opened wide it's stone beak and belted out an ear-piercing screech.

My blood is pure!

A stone claw shot down towards her. Samus leapt out of the way as the claw impacted the floor, throwing chunks of metallic stone and dust into the air. Samus rolled to her feet, her eyes dead set on the chozirim, her thoughts filled with fear. Her mind reeled with the impossibility of the situation as the chozirim recovered and turned in her direction. She carried the blood, the very genetic code of the Chozo within her. Her blood should have been sufficient to placate the wrath of the chozirim. But it wasn't. And now she stood before this guardian, with no way to defeat it, weaponless, condemned.

The chozirim let out another shriek as Samus backed away down the pathway between the pillars.

Is this what the riddle meant? Am I to give up my life?

The chozirim stalked after Samus, oddly keeping pace with her as a cat stalking its prey, repeating its horrible shriek.

But that makes no sense! The Chozo were deep in wisdom! They knew I would be without weapons!

The thought struck her with an odd sense of truth and she repeated it in her mind as the chozirim shrieked again.

They knew I would be without weapons.

Her face went from panic to focus as her mind began to search. It took only a moment until her thoughts came to rest on the number sequence. Her eyes began searching the body of the chozirim and she began to see her answer. All at once, Samus halted her steps. The guardian drew close, emitting its horrible shriek. Samus felt the vibration of the air around her at the sound. The chozirim took another step to at last close the distance between them. In a flurry of movement it shot a clawed hand down at her. But Samus, utilizing her skill at battling these and other threats, dodged ever so expertly, drawing her knife as she did so. Swinging her body back towards the arm, she brought down as hard as she could, the blade of the primitive weapon upon a particular spot upon the arm of the chozirim.

One…

The blade shattered against the metallic stone of the statue from the sheer force with which Samus applied the blow. The chozirim shrieked and attempted to recover only to find its arm frozen in place. Wasting no time, Samus leapt up onto the creature's paralyzed arm and ran up its length towards its shoulder. The other claw came in swiftly. Samus leapt up, dodging the blow and went into a mid-air summersault. As she felt herself reach the apex of her leap, she untucked herself, and went to a two-handed grip upon the broken weapon she still held. Her maneuver caused her to fall short of landing on the shoulder and she began to fall just on the inside of the arm. She reached out and brought the broken weapon down hard onto a particular spot on the shoulder as she fell past it.

…two…

The chozirim shrieked and Samus flipped and landed deftly on the ground as the creature's arm began to crumble to pieces. Samus immediately stood, ignoring the numbness in her arm, and struck a spot on the statue's leg.

…one…

The leg reacted by kicking up behind. Samus caught the leg with her free arm. It launched her high enough to reach up and strike the center of the guardian's back.

…one…

She fell back down and turned to see the left claw coming at her. Samus held up her broken weapon in defense. The large claw impacted the dagger, saving her from a fatal blow, but knocking her backwards through the air. Samus landed several feet away in a graceless roll on the hard floor. Her body ached with pain, but she knew she could not rest even for a moment. Forcing herself to her feet, she looked up to see the chozirim suddenly upon her. With a swiftness it had not before displayed, it scooped up Samus and squeezed her in a stone grip. Samus wasted no time, but began mercilessly pounding on the thumb talon of the statue. The chozirim opened its beak. Samus pounded, ignoring the pain rippling through her hands as she was drawn in. At last the thumb broke away and Samus began to slip from the grip of the claw. She slipped down, caught the remaining talons with her hand and swung back up. On the upswing, she reached out and struck the same spot on this arm as on the other…

…one…

…again causing the arm to freeze in its motion. She then flipped up to land on the arm in one smooth, blurring motion. She ran up the arm and laid a passing strike at the chozirim's stone eye…

…two…

…and spun, slipping off the shoulder, striking yet another particular spot on her way down.

…two…

Landing, she reached out and struck the back of the knee of the statue's left leg.

…two…

She then moved across in swift motion, striking the knees in front in successive action.

…three, four…

Then leapt out of the way as the legs and remaining arm crumbled, bringing the torso and head crashing down to the floor. Samus stood and turned to look at the wreckage and what was left of the guardian still shrieking upon the metallic-stone floor. She watched it calmly as it used its beak to pull itself towards her in a pathetic, yet dogged attempt to still eliminate its prey. It craned its neck to look up at Samus and shrieked at her in defiance. Samus had no desire to further destroy this guardian. Yet she could not simply leave it. The door would not unseal without its destruction. And besides, something inside her was reluctant to leave this most sacred remnant of her people. But then, that's the way it always was when she encountered them, and yet, inevitably, the remnant was always destroyed. Was this her people's fate? To be slowly erased from existence by her own battles, by her own hand?

By wisdom! Let that not be what the riddle meant by sacrifice.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the chozirim once again uttering a sound from its beak. Yet, it was not the high-pitched shriek, but a low, dull vibration that seemed to shake everything around her. She noticed the symbols on the pillars were glowing a bright turquoise. And noticed with increased disconcert, that the rubble around her, the pieces of the chozirim that had fallen from it, were moving! They slid, slowly at first, but with increasing speed, across the floor and upon contacting the torso or other pieces of rubble, quickly merged with them and became whole rock once more as though they had never been made separate.

Samus quickly realized she had no choice. She had to end it…now. In swift actions, she struck the remaining eye, then the back of the neck, then four places on its back. And as the creature regained an arm and leg and rose off the ground, Samus for the hundredth time said goodbye to yet another remnant of her people and struck hard the archaic weapon into the thing's chest.

Instantly, the chozirim exploded in a brilliant flash of light and a hail of metallic-stone. Samus again went flying, the impact of the explosion so deadening her nerves that it nearly knocked her unconscious and she felt as though she were floating through an ethereal plain. She did not feel it when she crashed through two sets of doors, landed hard on some metallic-stone steps, and tumbled down onto the hard surface of another chamber, landing in a heap. Her mind barely, but increasingly, registered the pain. Yet it did not cause her to scream out. Rather, her jarred brain translated her physical torture into that of mental and emotional as she contemplated the further destruction of her people and their memory. She lay their for some time, unwilling, or unable to move, silent tears falling from her eyes, until somewhere distant, she hear a familiar, but long-forgotten voice calling her name.

Old Bird.

Her heart broke for her surrogate father. But she knew why he called.

I can't give up. I have to keep going. Wisdom give me strength.

Slowly, she moved her hands beneath her and pushed herself up off the floor.

Painfully, Lara got to her knees, coughing at the smoke that poured into the room. Looking up through the haze of smoke, she saw two men standing there, staring at her with wide eyes and stunned faces. Getting to her feet, Lara pulled her pistols, not bothering even to raise them and said, "Look, I'm in no mood for any more killing, so just leave your guns here and bugger-off and we'll all be the better for it."

The men looked at each other. Lara raised a gun and fired a round between them.

"Now!" she demanded.

The two men hastily stripped themselves of their guns and ran out of the room, Lara's gun trained on them the entire time. She let a few moments pass before finally lowering her weapon. Blowing some air at the hair strands that now hung in her face, the exhausted treasure hunter turned to face the object she had previously seen beyond the floodlights.

The statue was enormous. Claw-like feet as wide as Lara's torso rested on the floor in front of her. Its long legs were bent into a sitting position. A beaked head sat ten feet up in broken light, concealed in part by the shadows of the spindly arms which ended in clawed hands holding out, seemingly in offering, an orb the size of Lara's head. The entire thing seemed carved out of the very stone of the chamber and rose so high, the top of the head disappeared into the shadow that lay between it and the high, unseen ceiling of the chamber. Lara noted the statue's position and let slip the word she knew it to represent.

"Truth." She muttered.

She looked again to the orb as she replaced her guns. The orb's surface was not solid, but dotted with holes which glowed with an orange light that faded in and out. Lara reached out, putting her hand near it. She felt the heat of the object upon her palm. It was definitely the energy source Joanna's collective enemies were hoping to harness. But they talked about freeing it. She would have to do the same if she was to protect it from them. No doubt those goons would be back with re-enforcements.

Lara stared at the object a moment, considering its form and appearance. Her mind went back to Samus' last instruction to Joanna and herself. The orb glowed with an orange light. If it was anything like the doors, that meant it needed an explosion of massive force to free it.

Pulling another grenade from her pack, she looked at it. It's coloring was different from the one she had used on the Skedar. The word "n-bomb" was etched on the side. In her time, an "n" on the side of an explosive device usually meant "nuclear". But such an explosive device would be unsafe in the form of a hand grenade. She surmised then, that it must be some type of explosive equal in force but with a more contained effect. At any rate, she was never one to be careful and this was her only option. With a fearless grin on her face, as though she dared something to go cross, she popped the lever and gingerly placed the grenade on top of the orb.

The moment she had released her grip, she turned and ran out of the room and down the hall as fast as her legs would carry her. No sooner had she reached the cross-roads when she heard a deep rumbling. The explosion seemed to be distorting sound itself and Lara began to feel the entire complex shake with increasing intensity. She turned to see the light from the chamber vanish as a dark orb emerged from the doorway. As the shaking seemed to level out, Lara stumbled as quickly as she could a little further down the passage to where she had incapacitated the last goon. She stayed there as she felt the rumbling begin to die down. The distortion died with it and soon she was standing in complete silence and darkness. She stayed there a few minutes more just to make sure and then pulled out her flashlight and a handy little device that she had rarely needed: a Geiger counter.

She approached the hallway, sweeping the sensor of the Geiger counter this way and that. The device was making no noise, which in itself was incredible. There seemed to be no radiation whatsoever in these corridors. She made her way slowly, just in case. At last she reached the chamber with the statue. The Geiger counter registered nothing inside. Lara looked to the orb. It was still intact.

Blast.

Taking off her pack, she put the Geiger counter and flashlight away and checked her remaining inventory. Then she smiled.

Five minutes later she had ten grenades duct-taped all around the orb and a string looped around each lever. Giving some slack, she backed away and then gave the string a good yank. A series of rapid-fire metal clinking was heard as the levers popped off in rapid succession. Lara released her grip on the string and bolted out the door. She got only half-way down the hall before a barrage of explosions filled her ears and the light from the room was darkened as smoke poured into the hallway.

Coughing, Lara made her way through the smoke, back to the chamber. As she entered the room, she shined her light and waved her hand, attempting to clear away the smoke so she could see. At last, it cleared just enough and she reacted to what lay before her with a dejected, "Oh, you have got to be joking."

The orb lay still intact and still attached to the clawed hands of the Chozo statue. Lara's arms and attitude went cross. She stared at the object, tapping a finger as she tried to think of some way to detach it from its housing. As she stared at it, her mind instinctively went to other possibilities and scenarios, formulating ideas that went outside of her original thoughts on the matter. Eventually, a thought struck her mind with significance.

Perhaps. She thought. The orb isn't the power source. Perhaps the whole statue is the power source. If that's the case…

She turned on her flashlight and began searching around the base of the statue. It wasn't long before she found some plates with markings identical to those they found in the entryway. Being careful to press them in the proper order, she quickly backed away. Four loud clunks sounded in the chamber, as the unlocking of some great metallic-stone clamps. The empty eye sockets of the statue began to glow a dull orange. The intensity grew until they were nearly as bright as the sun and Lara had to look away for their brightness. Her flashlight suddenly flickered and went out and the room became dark save for the pulsing glow of the orb.

Lara looked to the object and saw through its light the talons that embraced it began to release their grip with the sound of grinding stone echoing around her. Hesitantly, Lara reached out for the orb.

The moment she touched it, she was blinded by a bright flash of orange light. When she again opened her eyes the orb was gone, replaced by a crystalline object refracting the light from some inner source. Its shape was roughly cylindrical, its surface jagged as though it were made of several uncut amethyst stones fused together. Lara reached out and picked up the object. Her eyes beheld its beauty and magnificence. It was as a manufactured thing, yet done with such expert craftsmanship that it was indistinguishable from a natural object. Lara felt almost as if she was being drawn into its shifting light as she stared at it. Perhaps the only thing that kept her from such a fate was the growing rumbling in her ears.

Lara looked up to see the eye sockets of the statue now glowing a sickly red. The rumbling she recognized with panic and terror as the sound of metallic stone grinding against metallic stone. Her flashlight flickered back on, revealing the statue itself to be moving. Lara put the gemstone in her back-pack, still staring at the statue which was now rising to a standing position. It seemed larger than it had been when it was sitting. It towered over her, its head vanishing into the darkness above her, save for the two red points of light. It seemed to Lara the eyes of a demon awaking from its dark sleep and staring out from hell. Lara backed away towards the door as the eyes shifted to look in her direction. She did not need to see the head to recognize the enormous beak, many times the size of the Skedar's, open in an ear-piercing shriek.

Lara immediately turned and bolted out the door and down the corridor. The wall on which the doorway stood exploded after her as the chozirim burst through and gave chase. Lara's feet kicked a heavy object in the dark, nearly causing her to trip. With hopeful realization, her mind recalled assault rifle she had dropped. Immediately she reached down and frantically began groping for it. The statue was not slow. The glowing eyes were almost upon her. Her right hand suddenly felt the uneven surface of a mechanical device. Picking the rifle up, she righted it, turned, and fired. The flash from the weapon lit up the corridor, casting the shrieking guardian in a terrifying light. The bullets sparked and bounced off, doing nothing to the chozirim's metallic-stone form.

Blast!

Lara stopped firing, turned, and continued to run down the corridor as she turned on the flashlight that lay attached to the top of the weapon. The chozirim pursued her, its terrible shriek filling her ears.

Lara followed the corridor as it turned first this way, and then that. She had not explored this branch and so had no idea where she was going. She hoped she wasn't running into a dead end. Turning a corner, she ran past another of the goons she had been fighting off since she entered this place.

"Hey, stop!" he called after her as she simultaneously shouted back, "I'd run if I were you!"

She heard the screeching behind her and no other sound from the man. She didn't want to imagine his fate; a fate that would likely be hers if she didn't find a way to escape or destroy the thing that pursued her.

Turning another corner, she saw a doorway up ahead with light somewhere beyond it. She pushed her legs as hard as she could, forsaking all caution as she made a mad dash for it. The creature had fallen back, probably slowed by the goon, but was till hot on her heels. If she could get to some semblance of safety…

As she ran through the doorway, her eyes beheld an enormous chamber filled with ambient lighting, dimly lighting the entire area. Her eyes were immediately drawn, however, to the ground at her feet, which ended in a sheer drop ten feet in front of her. Lara immediately leaned back and locked her legs. The ground was covered in a light layer of some sandy material. Her legs slipped out from under her. She dropped her gun upon hitting the floor and her momentum carried her to the cliff where the sandy surface slid her right over the edge. Her hand reached out, frantically grasping for a handhold. Her hand found one, slipped, but then found another and held firm, halting her fall. She hung there, dangling hundreds of feet above the ground.

She knew the statue was not far behind her and so wasted no time, but reached up with her other hand and grabbed hold of the cliff. Forcing her tired and sore limbs, she pulled herself up to waste height. She saw the chozirim rampaging towards her. She saw her gun lying on the ground a quarter of the distance away. Again pushing her body to its limits, she pulled herself up, stumbled forward, and dove at her gun just as the chozirim burst through the wall. The sandy surface carried her beneath the creature's steps and back through the now ruined doorway. Lara flipped onto her back, and hit the secondary function switch on the weapon, willing it to be something useful. She pulled the trigger and heard the gun give a solid "click".

Her eyes went wide in panic as she looked down at the gun. A small display showed red numbers counting down from three. Lara immediately got to her feet and threw the gun as hard as she could at the chozirim's upper body. The chozirim, aware of Lara's presence and location and having recovered from its own momentum, turned just in time to see the assault rifle flying towards it. The creature opened its beak in another ear-piercing shriek. The sound was halted mid-way as the gun exploded in a massive fireball. The force of the explosion launched the chozirim into the air and over the edge of the cliff as Lara was thrown further back into the hall. Through her jarred mind, she heard the shriek repeat somewhere off in the distance. Her first thoughts were to keep moving until she heard the shriek cut short by what sounded like a massive stone avalanche. She looked up at the settling dust cloud as her mind recovered from its jarred state. The cloud settled, revealing a ruined, but ultimately empty opening.

Exhausted, Lara lay there a moment, her body aching and her breath heavy in her chest. After several minutes of hearing no more sound, she painfully pushed herself to her feet. She took a step and cringed at an intense pain in her leg. Feeling no wound with her hand, she surmised that she must have pulled a muscle and, limping, she made her way to the cliff and looked over the edge. Far below, she could see the remains of the statue impaled on a pillar of metallic stone and crumbled to rubble upon the floor, the broken beak frozen in a silent shriek, the once glowing eye sockets now dark and empty.

Lara then looked over the massive chamber. Innumerable stone pillars etched with hieroglyphs and symbols lined the floor far beneath her to the edge of her vision. She now saw that the symbols themselves were glowing with a gray hue, providing the ambient lighting she had noticed before. A pattern arose in her mind as she looked at them and she could see they encircled a central object. Lara squinted, but the best she could make out was that it was some sort of cubicle, stone structure. She guessed this was the central chamber and as valuable as the object she had acquired might be, the real treasure was likely to be found within or beneath the central object of the chamber. It was probably what the Skedar and those soldiers had been truly after. However, as she surveyed the room, she saw no signs of any living thing. The dust she could observe from her vantage point told her it had been that way for quite some time. Something wasn't right. She already had her suspicions and was reviewing them as well as looking for a way down when an enormously loud rumble ripped through the silence. The ground beneath her suddenly jolted, throwing her off her feet and sending her sliding off the edge. She managed to get a grip on the other side of the ledge before she slid completely off and once again found herself dangling like a cat on a wire. It took her a good minute this time, mostly due to her already tired body, but she managed to pull herself back onto the platform and stand up. As she looked around to see if she could determine what the jolt was, her eyes fell upon a familiar sight. Seeing it, she smiled.

A minute after Bernie had recovered, Joanna and her companions were back on the other side of the chasm, the four meta-ostriches scurrying ahead of Joanna who was, quite frankly, tired of running. She walked evenly towards the now open doorway and stepped through, the other side opening as she approached. She stopped in the midst of the opening and stared up at the enormous meta-ostrich, twice the size of the others, that now stood before her.

"Oh." She said. "You must be Mum."

The creature let out a loud, deep-bellied squawk which made Joanna wince.

Clarabelle and Trent scurried over next to Jo and began squawking at the larger meta-ostrich. After a moment of the parent twitching its head back and forth between the two, they ceased their squawking and the parent gave out another deep-bellied squawk, Joanna assumed, in approval.

"Yes, well, pleased to meet your acquaintance." Jo said, receiving a muted squawk in reply.

Jo then moved past the five of them and observed their surroundings. The chamber was high-ceilinged- forty feet or more, by Jo's estimation- but otherwise not overly large. In the center, standing to nearly the height of the ceiling, was a statue of a humanoid figure with avian features. One look and Joanna immediately recalled the pictures she had seen in Samus' chambers. The statue stood facing a wall adjacent to the doorway, one arm cradling a large orb to its side like a football, the other arm outstretched, its bird-like hand pointing a claw at the wall it faced. The orb it held was pulsing with a dull light. Momentarily lifting her lenses, Jo saw that the light was blue.

Alright, Jo, let's think now. What would Lara do?

Jo looked over the statue and then looked to the wall to which it was pointing. Switching to her x-ray lenses, she saw through the thick metallic-stone of the wall, noting a descending passageway on the other side. She switched back to her night-vision lenses and looked around for a symbol, but found nothing.

Alright. Guess there's only one option.

Aiming her laser at the orb, Jo fired a burst, prompting a squawk from "mum" who promptly rushed out of the room, the rest following behind, the door oddly shutting after them. Joanna noted this and fired a burst at the door to discern its color. Her body went tense and her heart started began to race as the truth hit her eyes.

Gray.

Jo immediately pulled her pistol and looked around holding her weapon in front of her. She saw nothing but the empty chamber. She looked to the statue. It seemed just as it had been: lifeless, metallic rock. Her heart still beating fast, Jo looked to the curled claw of the statue and noted the orb was gone, the pulsing light replaced by a jaded shimmering. Pensively, Jo approached and looked into the clawed hand. The light was not so intense that she had to deactivate her lenses. She could in fact still see the object within: A singular cut gem. It was square in shape and flat like a skipping stone found on the beach, its edges beveled. It shone with an eerie, but captivating, shimmering light, constantly shifting in color.

Jo felt as if she were being drawn in to the light of the strange object. For a moment, her mind forgot her potential danger, and she reached out a hand to take the small gem which was no bigger than her palm. Her gloved finger touched its smooth surface and she could not help but slip her fingers underneath it and close her hand upon it.

The moment she did so the hand of the statue did the same, clasping its hand solidly over Joanna's. The startled, but always ready agent immediately reacted by pulling from her belt a timed mine, tossing it upon the false wall and holstering her gun. She then set her laser to its secondary function as another light appeared in her peripheral. She glanced up to see the eyes of the statue now glowing brightly. Returning to the task at hand, she fired her laser. The beam easily cut through the metallic stone. Though her hand was clamped down, her wrist was free and she pivoted it, moving the laser on a deliberate path to free her hand.

She heard the sound of grinding metallic-stone and looked up to see the statue pull its other arm in and turn its head to look at Joanna. Jo returned to the task as an ear-piercing shriek filled the chamber. She pivoted her wrist at a painful angle.

Almost there!

But the creature interrupted her progress by lifting her off the ground and drawing her towards a massive, open beak. Just as she was about to be crunched in two, a beeping sounded through her earpiece. Jo covered her head with her other arm. A split second later a massive explosion ripped through the chamber sending Jo and the chozirim flying backwards.

Jo went flying in an uncontrolled flip before slamming against the wall and falling to the floor. Her body wracked with pain, she forced herself to her knees and then her feet. The force of the explosion was enough to complete the work she had started with her laser, and the stony fingers crumbled away as she stood. Doubting that was all it took to knock out the statue, a doubt confirmed by a repeat of that horrible shriek, Jo stumbled forward through the smoke and dust towards the now open passageway. She clumsily stumbled through the smoke, almost taking a dive on a flight of stair as she did so, hearing behind her the loud sounds of the chozirim's recovery.

As Jo made her way down the stairs, her mind and body began to recover, if only slightly. She remembered the jewel she had taken. Realizing it to still be miraculously gripped in her hand, she slipped it into a compartment in her belt. She knew the statue would be on her heels. She needed to come up with a plan…fast!

The Guardian stalked down the stairs, its feet making horrible crunching sounds on the stone, its beak repeating again and again that horrible, ear-piercing shriek. Its mind was dark, filled with a simple command to destroy the intruder and thief. It could sense the presence of its prey, a sense that steadily grew as it made its way down the dark stairwell. It would soon be upon her.

Joanna stood, nervously watching the frightening thing make its way towards her. Her back was to a sheer, stone wall. She swallowed, feeling the vibration in the floor as it drew closer and closer. Its horrible screech pained her ears and filled her with fright. She would have run at the sound and proximity of it, but there was nowhere to go.

Proximity, she reminded herself. That's right, Jo. Just remember that.

Her right hand adjusted its grip on the small object it held as another unnerving shriek ripped through her ears. The thing was less than a hundred feet away. Jo held her breath and pulled all her resources to remain focused and not panic, preparing herself for what was screaming towards her.

Another crash of a foot on the great metallic-stone stairs ripped through her body.

Patience. One more.

Another crash and an indicator went off in the corner of her lens. Her eyes darted to it and then back to the chozirim. The creature lifted its foot to take another step. A ball of fire suddenly exploded beneath its foot, launching it into the air and sending it crashing onto the staircase, another horrible shriek exiting its beak. Jo watched with tense muscles as it crashed uncontrolled down the stairwell, straight for her position. Deftly, she jumped to her right as it slammed into the wall right where she had been standing, the sound and vibration rippling through her body and ears disorienting her and causing her to loose her footing. She fell backwards, catching herself on the stair above her. Her head was swimming. She sat there only a moment, trying to recover. Before she could, however, an enormous, clawed hand reached out for her. Its great talons wrapped around her waist causing the yellow glow of her shields to manifest. The sound of the shields being damaged filled her ears, slightly sobering her mind. She realized what was happening as the creature rose to its feet, lifting Jo high off the ground. The chozirim shrieked at her, tearing at her inner ears and bringing her mind fully back to the situation at hand. Jo looked at the shield energy indicator on her visor and saw its rapid decline. The beak opened wide as the clawed hand drew her in. Jo's mind suddenly recalled the object she held in her hand. She closed her eyes tight and turned her head away from the beak.

Oh, bugger all! She thought as her thumb moved up the slender pen-like object to the button on the end. This is going to hurt!

Her thumb pressed down hard. Dozens of remote mines on the walls and ceiling, and those that had planted themselves on the chozirim as it had tumbled down the stairs, all received the firing signal and simultaneously ignited in a massive explosion that tore the stairwell apart. Large chunks of metallic stone flew everywhere or exploded instantly into dust. The explosions surrounding her on nearly all sides, Jo felt the force of them impact her like a locomotive, slamming her sideways through a portion of metallic-stone wall. She felt herself hit the ground and roll, her shields sparking and draining out as she at last came to a painful stop.

She lay there for some time, unable to move, unable to think, feeling only pain throughout her body, wishing only that it would stop and that she could rest. But wracked as her mind and body were, she found that she simply could not pass out. So she lay there in agony, unable even to muster the strength to give voice to her discomfort. All was dead silent around her. She felt as if she were in a pain-filled limbo, never to escape. Trapped in torturous, immovable silence forever.

Yet, strangely, as she lay there, she found the pain beginning to subside. Her mind was recovering. She could see and hear clearly. Her breaths were no longer labored. She tried moving her arm. It took some effort and was rather clumsy, but another try resulted in much better results. Slowly, she moved her hands to push herself up to a sitting position and took in a breath. She moved her legs underneath her and pushed herself to her feet feeling only slight stiffness. She stretched, cracking her joints and suddenly felt perfectly fine, if a little tired. She turned, looking back to where she had come from, half-expecting there to be no evidence of what had just occurred.

A hundred feet away, at the base of an immense stone wall, lay a massive hole obviously caused by an explosion. Debris littered the area in a pattern that confirmed her experience. Jo approached the site and saw pieces that resembled the statue that had nearly taken her life; a piece of arm here, a leg there, and even the corner of the beaked head, its remaining eye socket now dark and void of life.

Joanna shuddered in memory of the terrifying experience. She could not believe she had actually survived. Perhaps it was by the narrowest of margins, but that always seemed to be the way things went for her. At any rate, she was alive and glad to be rid of her intended assassin. She just hoped there weren't any more of them. The thought struck her mind just as she heard a sound off to her left break through the utter silence of her surroundings. Jo immediately pulled her gun and looked around.