Golden Sun: The Sands of Time
Chapter 20: Shadow And Light
Isaac sighed as he trudged wearily through the hallways of the fortress. So far, they had met no enemies, and this was starting to make him apprehensive. Behind him, he heard Jenna complaining.
"Why is so dark in here? I can barely see a thing?"
Davion chuckled slightly. "I would assume the Karan have greater nighttime vision than we do. Thus, they would not require torches. In any case, I can see well enough already."
"Elf eyes, I suppose?" Garet said
"Guys?" Felix said softly. "Someone's here."
Instantly, they had all drawn their weapons, eyes straining through the gloom. Only Davion kept steady, an arrow notched on his bow. He had already seen what was coming.
Karan.
At least twenty of them, filling the breadth of the wide hall. And behind them, more standing in wait.
Suddenly, with a grinding sound, the walls on either side of them slid up, revealing yet more Karan, all armed and snarling.
"Ah, hell." Isaac said.
The Grand Court was silent. No one moved, nothing stirred in that empty room.
A door opened in the far wall, and Nara strode in, a tiny smile on her face. Walking over to the center of the room, she sat down, her eyes closed. Her aged features wrinkled slightly in concentration, and shortly, she accomplished her goal: establishing a link with her master.
They have arrived, master. I have sent the elite squads to stop them.
A beat passed. Then-
It may not be enough. What else?
She smirked, although of course he couldn't see it. I have my personal… touches waiting for them down the hall.
And the girl?
I think I can leave her to you. After all, you've got… shall we say, backup.
Very well. Handle the intruders, and I do not expect failure. The link cut off, and Nara opened her eyes.
"Well, now." She said to the empty room. "What way would be best to deal with those troublemakers?" Sifting through the list of possibilities, a grin appeared on her visage as she decided on one.
It was not a pleasant grin.
Slowly, ever so slowly, Sheba eased open the trapdoor she had found. The patrol had passed. Clambering out, she paused to glance around, trying to locate the correct path.
Damn this dark! She thought to herself. She could barely see a thing. Fortunately, Jupiter Adepts had their own way around this.
"Reveal." At her command, the world around her became hazy shades of white and grey. But at least she could see the pathways clearly now. Turning, she finally lighted on one, deciding it was good as any, and strode towards it.
Only to have a wall slam down in front of him, cutting off her route. And behind her, she heard the sound of more walls sliding into place. Turning, she saw that all the pathways had been sealed off.
Save one. It led straight on, vanishing into the edges of her vision.
Her eyes widened as sudden realization dawned on her. "They know I'm here…" She whispered to herself. "And they want me to follow a route, like a rat in a trap?" Then, her eyes narrowed, burning with green fire. "If this is the only way to save Ivan, so be it."
Hefting her Distaff onto her shoulders, she strode further into the gloom.
Felix twisted, narrowly avoided the lance of a Karan warrior. The adepts had been backed up against each other, fighting for their lives in the cramped hallways. Behind him, he heard the twang! of the bowstring as Davion shot another Karan through the head.
Slashing vertically, he beheaded his latest foe, before blocking another blow from an axe. Then he hissed in pain as a dagger stabbed through his leg. Hopefully this one wasn't poisoned… Dropping to his knee, he managed to avoid another slash, before falling back.
Good thing he had other options.
His sword began to glow gold, and he stabbed it forward, blasting the energy straight through the Karan's belly. His foe choked for a moment, before his eyes glazed over, and he slumped. The energy from the spell, however, did not dissipate, instead returning to Felix and helping soothe the wound in his leg.
Getting back to his feet, he parried a wild swing from a Karan wielding a pair of long knives. Before the redskin could get back to his feet, Felix had already punched him in the face, before delivering a swift blow to his foe's chest.
Swinging Excalibur in a horizontal arc, he quickly dispatched his next foe, and was about to turn to one of them trying to flank him, when-
"AAHHH!"
Felix's head snapped up to the sound of Isaac's yell. Dashing over, he spotted his friend lying stunned on the floor, his sword clattering uselessly away on the floor. Above him stood a huge brute, with a sword and a bloody hilt. Felix's eyes narrowed, and running over, he scooped up the Sol Blade in one quick lunge, before blocking the slash intended to decapitate Isaac.
One sword in each hand, Felix reversed them, knocking another Karan to the side off-balance, before scything both of them through his stomach at the same time. The red-skinned warrior stumbled back with a strangled cry, dropping his sword as he tried to hold his torn stomach together, before slumping to the stone ground in a rapidly spreading pool of blood.
But Felix had already turned away. Standing over the fallen body of Isaac, he parried an axe with the Sol Blade, at the same time he stabbed Excalibur through his chest. Turning, he slashed at another redskin, before yanking the Sol Blade out of the first Karan's chest, and beheading his newest foe with it. Just then, three of them rushed him at the same time. Cursing silently, he brought both swords up in an 'X' figure, trapping the Karan's sword. A second later, he reversed blades again, counterbalancing the Karan. As his foe desperately slashed at him, Felix sidestepped, avoiding a blow with a lance meant for him. The two Karan impaled each other, eyes first widening in shock before glazing over and joining the rapidly growing pile of corpses on the floor.
Felix turned to his last current foe, and raised both swords in a gesture of challenge. The Karan raised his own double-bladed polearm, before charging, blades whirling through the air. Felix managed to parry, then riposted, both swords slicing towards the Karan's head. But he had already ducked out of harms way, and kicked at Felix's leg, dropping him. Felix growled angrily, and swung both swords in a scissor fashion, forcing his foe back for the moment. Scrambling back to his feet, he blocked another wild swipe, before leaping back. Focusing inwards, he focused on the energy of Venus coursing through his veins.
"I summon the spirit of the raging earth!" He uttered. "The powers of quakes, the innumerable powers of all the live in the soil, the strength of the roots of the world!" Raising both arms high into the air, he cried aloud "Venus!"
Instantly, geysers of golden light emerged from the ground, flying upwards and raining hammer blows down on his surprised foe. Taking advantage of this distraction, Felix ran forward, using Excalibur to block a random swipe from the polearm. Raising the Sol Blade high into the air for a moment, he slammed it down onto the Karan's neck. The redskin fell. He never even said anything.
Leaning wearily on Excalibur for support, Felix gazed around the battlefield. Jenna and Davion had been backed into a corner, and were desperately hurling spells and arrows as fast as they could. Garet, Picard, and Mia were all busy in the center of the room, and blood was flowing freely from a nasty gash on Picard's forehead. Just then, Isaac managed to scramble to his feet.
"Everyone get back!" He commanded. Clenching his fists, he intoned several mystic words of the Venus clan, and a golden glow began to surround him. "Mother Gaia!" He cried.
A bean of golden light erupted from the earth, shaking the entire hallway. Before the startled Karan's eyes, the entire hallway began to tremble, before part of it caved in, sealing one of the hallways off and separating the majority of the Karan from the adepts. The remaining few were quickly dealt with, but not before the defenders of Weyard were nearly exhausted.
Felix glanced around the grimy, dirty faces. Most of them were showing exhaustation, but their eyes also held steely resolve. Walking over, he handed Sol Blade back to Isaac, hilt first. "Your move, fearless leader." Isaac smiled slightly before reclaiming his sword.
"Let's go" Isaac said softly, before turning and heading down another of the endless hallways. He didn't say anymore. He didn't have to. They all followed.
"Eh, they defeated the Karan trap I set for them?" Nara frowned as she opened her eyes. "Well, no matter. Even if my guardians don't succeed, they won't be able to defeat it." She let a grin play across her features for the tiniest instant. "Oh, won't it be fun to see them melted down in an instant?" She smirked. "But of course, they'll likely be electrocuted and frozen at the same time, won't they?"
Standing slightly, she leaned on her staff for support, and her eyes flashed purple. "Well, well. The girl's well on her way." Shrugging, she continued her slow pace around the circular room. "Why did he want her to come to him anyway? I could have killed her easily… but I suppose he wants his fun too."
Completing her circuit, she frowned angrily as she realized that the band of adepts had not yet arrived. "What on Weyard's holding them?" She muttered. "I really hope they didn't take a wrong turn somewhere… would really delay the fun of me seeing their lifeless bodies."
"I really hope we didn't take a wrong turn somewhere…" Mia murmured to herself as she glanced around the dark hallway. That looked exactly like the dark hallway they had just left. Not to mention the dark hallway before that. Hefting her Wand onto her shoulder, she look around the room once more.
Which is why she was the first of the group to spot a dark shape hurtling down from the ceiling in front of them. "Look out!" She cried. Instantly, the adepts scattered, everyone raising weapons as they stared at the new foe.
Mia's brow furrowed as she stared at the… thing. It was large, roughly cubed shape, and from the way in staggered over to the adepts, rather clumsy. But then, they could hardly fault it, for two stimpy protrusions were all it had in the way of legs. However, the strangest part was that it seemed to be made out of rock. Not rock as in the multiple golems they had encountered in their journey around Weyard. Rocks as in several pieces of ore slapped together, with no discernable eyes far as she could tell.
Suddenly, the rock monster shot one of his fists forward inhumanly fast, smashing into Felix and sending him skidding. Instantly, Isaac had leapt forward and, twisting under another punch, stabbed straight at the creature.
With absolutely no effect whatsoever.
Mia, meanwhile, had already dashed over the Felix. It looked bad. He barely managed to squint one eye open. "The… hell?" He managed to choke up.
"Stay still." Was Mia's only response. Closing her eyes and focusing, azure light bathed Felix, healing the wound on the shoulder. Rising back to her feet, she saw something coming straight at her.
Throwing herself to the ground, she barely managed to avoid the stone boulder that had been hurled in her direction. Lifting her head, Mia gasped involuntarily as she saw three more of the rock monsters trooping in. One of them still grabbed a boulder in it's arms, and even as she looked, it tossed it at Picard, flooring him.
Davion and Garet had already split off to deal with the first of the rock monsters. Ducking under a swing from it's fists, Garet shot a blaze of fire straight into the creature, while Davion loosed an arrow at it's hide. Both showed absolutely no effect whatsoever.
Rising to her feet, Mia headed off towards Picard to cure him. Or she started to. She had barely taken a step when something large collided with her leg, tripping her. As she whirled, she saw another of the rock monsters, apparently having chosen her as it's target. Before she could react, it had reached forward and closed one stilted arm around Mia's throat.
It's trying to strangle me! Mia realized. Focusing desperately, she blasted the creature with a Glacier, and was rewarded with a shrill screech.
"So…" Mia smiled as she scrambled back to her feet. "That's your weakness." Turning her shoulder, she yelled back to Picard. "Picard! Use you ice spells!" Just then, her current opponent lunged forward. Nimbly sidestepping it, she replied with an Ice Missile, followed by a blast of Sleet.
The rock monster let out a shrill screech, before slowly crumbling and collapsing into rubble. Before she could move, an iceberg slammed down behind her, immobilizing another of the rock monsters. Mia twirled her Nebula Wand behind ramming it straight into the brittle block, shattering it and the rock entity trapped entity within as well. Shaking her head, she noticed that the multiple physical strikes by Isaac, Felix, and Garet were taking their toll on the remaining two rock monsters. A Searing Beam from Jenna sealed their fate, and as the last two crumbled into stone, Davion stood. He had been o the receiving end of one of their fists, and it had cracked the skin on his forehead.
"We are fortunate," He said dryly. "That there were not more of these monsters at the siege of Anthis. Or we might have had to capitulate."
Isaac managed a weary nod. "At least we know we're close to the heart of this place. They wouldn't bother placing such tough guards otherwise." Turning, he continued down the hallway.
He had scarcely taken two steps when a crackling sound made everyone turn back. One of the rock monsters lurched back to his feet. With a sinking heart, Mia watched as each and every one of the stone piles was reformed once again into a rock monster. Taking several experimental steps, they once again started after the adepts.
"I am getting really sick of this…" Isaac muttered. Raising the Sol Blade, which was beginning to glow golden, he unleashed Megiddo, and watched with satisfaction as the heaven borne meteor crashed onto one of the rock monsters, scattering it.
Gripping her Nebula Wand tightly, Mia charged forward. She could feel Mercury Psynergy flowing through the staff, and as she charged, she raised it high into the air, calling upon Mercury for aid.
"Reverse Star!" A golden swirl of light appeared around her target, immobilizing it as she brought her Wand smashing onto the rock monster. Her target shook slightly, and a sword swipe from Garet finished the job of scattering the rock fragments once more.
Mia sighed to herself as she felt the effects of her weapon's innate strength seep into her, refreshing her mind and restoring her psynergy. Lifting her head, she realized that the rest of the rock monsters had been crushed once again, and the adepts were standing around, warily watching to see if they would rise once again. When they didn't, Isaac sheathed his sword, breathing slightly.
"They were easier to break the second time round." Davion observed dourly. The rest shrugged.
Continuing further down the hallway, they finally came to a set of huge stone doors. Walking towards them, Isaac said, half to himself. "Well, here's to hoping we didn't come all this way for nothing." Garet walked over to the other door, and with all the strength they could muster, they pushed.
Surprisingly, the huge doors swung open easily. Garet grimaced slightly as she stepped back. "Must be counter-weighted." Isaac concluded. And with that, the defenders of Weyard stepped through the doors, ready to face whatever awaited them.
"Finally." A sharp voice penetrated the silence. "I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to get here. It's not nice to keep people, waiting you know."
"Who are you?" Isaac demanded as he raised his sword.
"Just a moment." The voice replied. "It is so inconvenient to fight in the dark, so…" At some hidden signal, the room began to brighten, until, they could see the entire area.
It was stunning. Like some demented Escher painting, the entire room was a study in impossibility. Huge several platforms, apparently held in space by will alone, whirling about in a seemingly random pattern, and a pit, descending so far down even Davion's elf eyes couldn't make out any bottom. And in the center, on the only stable platform, a woman stood.
"Well, now." She smiled. "My name's Nara."
"Cut the crap!" Isaac yelled at her across the chasm. "What did you do with Ivan?"
"Why, now." Nara rose an eyebrow and chuckled. "Back when I lived in Weyard, we always had at least a semblance of civility before we fought."
"Back in Weyard, we didn't kidnap people to use as hostages." Isaac shot back.
"Hostages?" Nara shook her head as she stood. "I don't take hostages. No, we have him for a more… unique purpose. And if I may add, your Jupiter friend is on her way to save him."
"Then where is she? Why isn't she with you?" Jenna piped up. The old woman chuckled.
"Goodness! Do I need to answer all your questions? Well, I'll suppose this is the last one. She's heading for my master. And, no, you won't be going to find her. Not until you've killed me, anyway."
Garet walked forward. "And what makes you think we can't kill you? You seem pretty confident of yourself."
Nara laughed. "Confident? Why, yes, I am. In fact, I'm so confident of my victory that I will not move from this spot. If you want to kill me, come on!"
"I'll take that offer" Isaac said coldly. Waiting until one of the platforms came closer to him, he leapt forward. As one, the rest of the adepts jumped too.
They were about to jump to the next platform flying about the room, when a rumbling sound got their attention. As they looked up with growing apprehension, part of the ceiling fell away, and a… thing flew down on them.
It was silver. At least, the body was. Covered completely in shining silver scales, it had two huge, bat-like wings that flapped lazily, allowing the creature's thin, lizard-like body to keep afloat. Oh, and three heads. Heads affixed to long, writhing necks that constantly twisted, allowing the creature to see in any direction at any given time.
The central head glared at them with red eyes and snorted, a blast of fire erupting from it's mouth. The left head exhaled softly, sending a cloud of sub-zero gas out from it's nostrils, and the right head yawned, revealing rows of serrated teeth and from deep within it's throat, lightning crackled.
"Oh, yes." Nara stated calmly. "Did I forgot to mention that while I will be standing still, my Chaos Wyrm definitely won't?"
Uh…
Where…?
Where am I? What's going on?
I… I feel… what?
No… No, it can't… it…
NO!