Author's Note: Alright, I got a few suggestions for this chapter; I'll see what I can do. But don't you think five Ing are a little too much at once without proper weaponry? Oh well, if anything needs improvement, it's the length of these chapters. R&R please.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gramkel's Life

Chapter 3: The Sacred Weapons

Since he had found those books, Gramkel had not put them down, he was pouring through them everyday in an effort to find where the earlier forms of anti-Ing weaponry were kept, if they had not been destroyed.. Suddenly, something caught his eye. There was a book with images depicting D-Chr, but he was using two whips. One was obviously imbued with the power of darkness, and the other with light. And it told of their location, as if someone was going to try to remember where they were to keep them safe.

Gramkel had made a decision: he would sneak out of the temple grounds and into Agon Wastes where the whips were buried deep underneath the sands of the temple. He took with him some armor he had found on a dead Luminoth sentry and set off.

When he arrived, he realized it was already getting close to morning. He had to hurry. He ran off with all due speed towards the temple, but found the way blocked by a pile of rocks. Fortunately, he had prepared for this. He saw a nearby creature that the Luminoth called a sand-digger. He knew what to do, he justhoped he would never have to us what he had learned from the books. He stopped worrying and lured it towards the wall.

He jumped out of the way and brought a rock down on the back head. The sand-digger exploded and the rocks tumbled into the sand and Gramkel now had access to the temple. He opened the door and was assaulted by war wasps. He didn't know exactly what to do, even though he had seen them every day on the temple grounds, they generally left him alone. He did the only thing he could think of: Run until he found something he could use. He found a dead war wasp by some sand blocks and ripped off the stinger. It wasn't much, but if he hit the right spot, he could get rid of them easily. He stabbed at one, but then realized he had Luminoth technology at his disposal. He prepared to fire, but his weapon was empty. He felt really stupid now.

He picked up the stinger again and continued his assault. The war wasps slowly fell back and Gramkel let out a victorious howl. He knew it wasn't much, but he had actually killed something aside from a fly. He walked into the ring of sand, and the gates went up. He felt like he was in trouble, but nothing came out. He pulled out his book again and went directly to the center of the ring. He slowly dug all the way to the bottom and found what looked like the door to an under temple.

Gramkel opened the door and realized he was in a shrine, there was a statue that depicted the same eight-armed demon that he had read about. Right below the statue were the two whips and an engraving in the Luminoth tongue which translated into a single word: "Rage". He picked up the whips and swung them around for a bit. At least now he would have some decent protection against the hostile life on Aether. He left the shrine, taking one last look at the statue. Something was odd about it though, its eyes were a deep green, and were shining brightly. Gramkel ran out of the shrine quickly and filled up the hole after closing the door. He was on his way back to the transport to the temple grounds when he saw that there was a strange cloud of purple, yellow, red, and black coming towards him.

He jumped out of the way and the cloud was absorbed b a sand-digger. It changed, its skin became rigid, it only had one head now, and as it transformed, he noticed that t had screamed in anguish, as if it were happening against the sand-digger's will. It charged at him, and he just barely jumped out of the way again. Then he realized just what had happened. The sand-digger had been possessed by one of the Ing. Gramkel raised the whip of light and brought it down onto the dark sand-digger's eye. It caught fire and writhed for a moment, but then charged at him again, now irritated.

Gramkel panicked and held the whips together. Something amazing happened and they coiled, their color changed. Gramkel realized that he had mixed energy and was eager to try it out. He brought the whip down again and this time, the dark sand-digger exploded. Gramkel stood there for a moment and then said. "That's it? The Ing died with it?" He shrugged and walked back into the lift. He was done for the day.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, that one was longer than most of the ones I've been writing, hope you liked it.