Here we go: Chapter Sixteen

I like how this chapter ends. Hopefully, you will too.

Enjoy.

Chapter Sixteen: Intruders

Ned stifled a yawn and ignored his hungry stomach.

And tried to forget how much he wanted to strangle his friend.

He and Corey were out in the woods, in the pitch dark, having waited all day for the white creature to show up. All day being from 6:30 in the morning, when he had been roughly shaken awake, to now, 10:45 in the evening, where they were still at it. That made it sixteen hours and fifteen minutes they had been sitting in that one spot, and for sixteen hours and fifteen minutes, they hadn't found anything.

"God, I'm starving," Ned moaned.

"Yeah, well, we'll have to wait," Corey insisted, "We'll eat later after we find it."

"That's what you said eight hours ago," his friend argued miserably, "and if we're trying to find it, why haven't we left this spot all day trying to find it?"

"Because, man, you said this thing came to you. So, it should be able to come to you here."

"And why is it in the middle of the woods?"

"I dunno, I just thought it was a good enough place. I mean, maybe it lives out here."

"Sure."

"Why are you getting angry? I thought you were in on doing this?"

Ned sighed.

"I know, I know. I want to find this thing and get some answers as to why all this is happening to me. Sorry, it's my stomach talking, you know how he gets when he's hungry."

Corey grinned. "Yeah, he's as much a pain in the ass as you are."

"Hey-!"

A rustling in the bushes made both of them stop. They both flashed their flashlights in the direction the noise had come from.

Something was coming through the bushes… something not animal-like.

"Dude, sword out, that would be good," Corey mumbled.

Ned automatically whipped it out and prepared for confrontation. Corey looked around, found a skinny little stick, and picked it up, ready to fight as well. Ned glanced at it, then him.

"What?" Corey asked.

"You're gonna fight with a twig?" scoffed Ned.

"It was the only thing I could find. What's wrong with it?"

"Nothing, if you were fighting a rabbit."

The rustling got louder. Both boys quit their bickering and got ready. Before long, a figure came through the brush. But it wasn't a creature… it was a girl…

"Ren!" Both boys exclaimed.

"What, you were expecting Jason?" Ren looked at Corey, "Nice stick. You gonna play fetch."

"When the hell did you get so damn sarcastic?" snapped Corey.

"Ren, what're you doing here?" asked Ned.

"What am I doing here, what are you doing here? Did you guys totally forget about the party we were supposed to have today?" demanded Ren.

Ned and Corey gulped and looked at each other. "Uh-oh."

"Yeah, uh-oh."

"Look, Ren, we have a good excuse-" Ned began.

"We're trying to find Ned's stalker creature," Corey finished.

There was a long moment of collective silence, before Ren broke it with a "What?"

"There's this thing, it's been stalking me ever since I woke up in the hospital. First I saw it there, then I saw it at school the first day I got back. Corey thinks- and so do I- it might have the answers as to why this is happening to me," Ned explained as best he could.

There was another silence, this time broken when Ren turned to leave.

"That's it, I'm so out of here," she said. Ned ran up and grabbed her arm.

"Ren, hold on-"

"What?" Her temper yet again got the better of her, and she spun around to let him have it, "You've been out here all day trying to find a phantom creature instead of hanging out and having fun! You'd rather chase after something that doesn't exist than that?"

"It does exist!"

"Then where is it, Ned? Huh? If it's been stalking you, why hasn't he showed up? Where is it?"

You have finally come…

This time, all three of them heard it. They whirled around towards where they had been earlier. And there it was, floating and staring at them, with the eerie atmosphere, even worse put on at this close a distance.

"There it is," Ned pointed. Ren was too shocked to answer.

"Whoa," Corey was surprised too, a rarity for him.

Come… follow me…

Without warning, the creature whipped up and around, then finally went straight ahead. Not missing a beat, Corey leapt off his rock and gave chase after it.

"Guys, come on!" he called back to him.

Without hesitation, Ned took off after the two of them. "Ned, wait!" Ren screamed, also following, though really not wanting to.

They ran in a single file line, Corey up front, Ren in back, Ned in between, following after the thing… or rather, where they thought it was headed, it moved kind of fast to be able to tell for sure. Over rocks and tree stumps, around giant trees and diving through bushes, they gave chase, probably for miles on end, without so much as letting up their speed, no matter how tired. Ned knew this was it. He would beat the thing to a pulp, whatever it took to figure out what was going on.

Suddenly, up ahead, Corey stopped cold, so suddenly that Ned, and Ren following, almost ended up crashing into him.

"Whoa…" Corey said, awestruck.

The other two looked up, and instantly froze.

In front of them stood a gigantic castle, the height of it extending so far up, they couldn't even begin to fathom how far it went. The enormousness of it was a marvel to behold, looking like it could fit a billion people and still have some room to fit more. The gates were large enough so that a giant could fit through it without fear of getting stuck. Towers and walls were the main consistency of the building, and the group could only begin to guess what was on the inside.

"What the…?" Ren again broke the silence as she stared up in awe.

"Did anyone else know there was a giant castle resting in the middle of the woods?" asked Corey.

"It was never on any of the maps."

Ned didn't know why, but at that moment, he was walking up to the main gate, wanting to see for himself what was on the inside. The other two followed.

"Ned, wait. We can't go in, what if there's something else in there? Something worse than that thing?" Ren asked nervously.

"Well, we came all this way. Seems stupid not to finish what we started," pointed out Corey.

"Well, it doesn't matter," Ned kicked the gates disappointedly, "Door's locked."

Suddenly, without warning, the blade that had rested in his hand still began vibrating. Then it lifted itself up, Ned's arm hanging on to it uselessly. It aimed itself up at the main gates lock, then fired a beam of light straight into the keyhole. When it ended, they heard a simple, yet spirit boosting click!, like a lock being opened.

"Guess that solves that problem," said Corey.

Ned glanced down at his weapon. What is this thing?

That was why he was here. That was why they all were here, one way or the other. To find out once and for all.

"Come on," he said, stepping forward.

"Ned-"

"Ren, I need to find the truth. I'm not asking you to come with me. You can wait out here."

Ren snorted. "Yeah, sure. Let you get yourself killed, I'll wait here. No way, buddy boy." She went up to join him.

"Well, hell, you know I'm in," Corey stated, coming up as well.

Ned nodded, glad that he wasn't gonna be alone. His two best friends were right there with him.

"OK," he said, "Let's go."

Together, they pushed open the large doors to the hall, where no light seemed to exist to greet them. As they walked into the room, the door behind closed shut with a BANG!

-----

Drexan suddenly lifted his head.

He had just felt something… something that seemed out of place in the castle. But what? His mind scanned the building, trying to figure out what was wrong. It wasn't a particularly noticeable thing… just something off. Something he couldn't exactly put his finger on.

Of course, just as he began to realize what it was, he was no longer alone.

"God damn, that bitch can fight," Naxst moaned, coming into the room and glancing in the test tubes on the table, "Raulax, I mean. I throw one insult towards her, all of a sudden, the heavens open up and storms fly tonfas outta nowhere. No offense, Drexy, but you really need to leash that chick up-"

"Ssh," Drexan said from his chair near the corner.

Naxst looked up. "What?"

"Ssh."

"What?"

"Ssh."

"What?"

"Shut. Up." Drexan looked up to throw a glare at him (hard, behind the dark glasses), then went back to concentration.

Naxst waited a few seconds, before he couldn't stop from asking, "What, you got something? What is it?"

Drexan didn't answer. For a fleeting moment, Naxst thought he had fallen asleep when-

"Intruders… in the front hall. Three of them."

No. 11 suddenly grew panicked.

"Wait wait wait wait wait, you mean there's someone in the castle 'sides us?" he asked.

"Yes. Three someone's."

Drexan was surprisingly calm. Naxst was freaking out.

"Son of a bitch, how the fuck did they find us?" he demanded.

"By the looks of things, they must've followed one of our Dusks," Drexan said, "I told Xadmain moving the castle from the city to out here would be risky."

"God…well… uh…" Naxst tried to find the next best thing to say, "Well, who are they?"

Drexan allowed a few minutes pause to thoroughly search them. "Three teens… all three of them have extraordinary patterns for humans… though only one of them has had theirs unlocked…"

"Whaddya got?"

"The girl… her mind patterns are amazing. Power enough to rival mine."

"She's as smart as you?"

"If you want to put it farther, she transcends mine."

Naxst whistled. Drex never said anyone was smarter than him.

"One of the males…" Drexan went on, "Dark… very dark. A darkness level similar to that of Xadmain's."

"The Boss? You're kidding me."

"No… almost exactly the same, of you want to know…"

"Bullshit."

"Facts, Naxst."

Naxst still refused to believe it. No one was the same to Xadmain. "And the last one?"

Drexan again took a few moments to fully scan the latest arrival.

"Light… so immersed in light that it's indescribable… and he wields an object… it's so bright, it hurts my eyes and I can't even see it with them…"

Now, Naxst was dumb, but he wasn't stupid. So as Drexan gave this last description, he began forming a similarity pattern in his mind. His eyes widened.

"Do you mean…?"

"Yes," Drexan finally picked his head up, and for the first time, he had a smile towards Naxst:

"I think we've finally found him."

Dun Dun Dun!!!

Yeah, I moved the castle. They're frikin' Nobodies, they can do whatever they want.

Hope you enjoy this chapter.

Review please!