"If we circumvent the town, it would be easier to avoid detection by Dave's minions," I said. "Avoid making yourself seen."
"It's a bit hard to do out here… There's not much cover," Ryth said.
"There's the cover of night," Rona said. "Too bad you stick out, Ryth."
We walked around the town quite a distance. We had to have stayed miles from the town because there was no one to be seen. Night came and went, and yet we never stopped to rest.
"Vegance, how much further?" I asked.
"We could be walking for another day and a half… If things go well," Vegance said.
"If things go wrong?" Keia asked.
"Better hope we all come out alive," Vegance replied.
We continued to walk until Keia nearly dropped to the ground. She stumbled and dropped quickly. Were it not for me jumping to her aid, she would have hit the ground.
"Keia! Are you alright?" I asked.
"I can't walk anymore…" I helped Keia sit down on the ground. She spread her legs out in front of her and winced in pain. "My legs just gave out… Can we rest for awhile, please?"
Vegance looked to Keia with an expression showing concern. "Fine. Take as long as you need." Keia sighed and laid back in the grass. I sat down next to her. Rona and Ryth went off together and both leaned up against a large rock. Vegance sat down with us, and Ceae lay down somewhere nearby.
"Hey, have either of you noticed that Ceae's been acting a little strange?" Keia asked Vegance and I.
"He's been silent since we found out about the Orb Keys… I heard him gasp once," I said.
"I think he's hiding something," Vegance said.
"Ceae!" I shouted. He turned and looked at me. I motioned for him to join us. Ceae got up and walked over to us. "Ceae, what are you hiding from us?"
"N-Nothing, honestly!" Ceae said and put his hands in his pockets. He looked down at the ground.
"Ceae… You've been silent for a while," Keia said.
"I'm not hiding anything…"
"So, if we were to, say, search your bag… You won't have anything to hide, right?" Vegance asked.
"I, uh…"
"Bring me your bag," I said. Ceae retrieved his bag and set it down in front of me. I opened it up and started to pull things out. There was a small bag of Krontars, the few that Ceae had collected on our travels… A potion, an herb… Some extra clothes… And a small, glowing orb. When I pulled out the orb, I noticed that Ceae had twitched. I examined it: it was small, maybe the size of a marble. It emanated an aura of power, and on the inside, I could see the fury of a lightning storm. Purple arcs of electricity struck the sides of the orb in a frenzy. "Ceae, what's this?" I asked while holding the orb into the air.
"I…"
"It is a curious object," Keia said.
"By Rysta," Vegance whispered. She snatched the orb from me and examined it herself. "This is the Lightning Key! We have the first Orb Key!"
"What?" I looked to Ceae. "You've been quiet because of this?"
"I knew what it was… But I knew I'd have to explain where I got it if you found it," Ceae said. "I don't want to be in trouble."
"Now you have to tell us where it came from," I said.
"Okay… So, before we left the castle… I gathered my belongings… This was among them. It was in the castle treasury… But… I stole it. It stuck out among all the other treasures… I had no clue what it was… It just looked very important, and worth a lot."
"You stole it from the treasure? Ceae! What's your problem?" I asked.
"Hey… You have to admit, he did help," Vegance said.
"Still doesn't change the fact that he stole in the first place… That's wrong! What if it wasn't something that would help us on an epic quest? If the guards found out… You'd lose your life," I said.
"But, we have an Orb Key!" Vegance said. "We have to tell Ryth and Rona…"
I looked from Vegance to Ceae. "Fine. I'll let it go this time… But when we get home, we're talking about your thieving problem."
Ryth walked over at that moment, followed by Rona. "What's going on? Did something happen?"
Vegance stood up and held out the Lightning Key. "We have the first Key."
Rona took the Orb Key from Vegance and examined it. "This is definitely one of them… Where did you get it?"
"It doesn't matter… We just have it," I said.
"That's amazing," Ryth said. He seemed entranced by the Key.
"We rest for now," Vegance said. "We'll continue towards Dave's base later."
"We've earned the rest," Keia said and laid back again.
When we were all well rested, we gathered our supplies and once again continued on our way. A few minutes of walking revealed that it was once again night as the grass began to glow under our feet. We walked by night for what seemed like forever. At some point, however, I began to noticed Skeletal guards like those at the Lawless Town. None of them attacked, but all of them watched as we walked past, almost as though they knew our mission. One of them actually stopped us, though.
"Travelers… You have the look about you," the Skeletal guard said as we passed. Vegance stopped us to speak to him.
"Yeah, we're travelers," Vegance said. "Is there something wrong with that?"
"News travels on the streams of darkness in these lands… When a decision is made, it is we Skeletals whom hear it… I know the task that lies before you."
"You do?" I asked.
"Yes… I've been waiting for someone to take that dark orb from Dave… It's power is what keeps us from sleeping… So long as Dave channels its power, we cannot rest…"
"That might explain why the other skeleton guys haven't attacked us," Ryth said.
"We all look to the Heroes as our saviors… If need be, we can escort you to Dave's fortress… We can help you take the orb… Besides, we're expendable. The Darklings have long replaced my kind…"
"We can use all the help we can get," Vegance said.
"But what if it's a trap?" Rona asked.
"Then we learn to go with it," Vegance replied. "Dave can't kill us… He needs us." Vegance turned back to the Skeletal. "Please, escort us."
"My name is Death… Or, so it has been since my revival from the dead. I am the leader of the Skeletal race… We will proudly escort you to the fortress." Death began to walk. "I can't move fast, but we'll get there in time… Allies will join us along the way." We began to follow, with Rona right behind Death. I had a feeling that Rona would attack Death should he lead us into a trap.
Dave's fortress was a mechanical nightmare. The entire outside was resembling a box made of some sort of metallic alloy. It did not appear to be big on the outside at all, and guarding the main entrance, ironically, were Skeletals. Death approached them and explained the situation. We had picked up about twenty more Skeletals along the way, and we all crowded at the main gate. The Skeletals that were standing guard at the fortress entered a series of numbers into a keypad beside the gate, and the gate slid open with a loud metallic scratching noise and a hollow crash. The Skeletal guards followed us all inside to a dark chamber. On the far wall was a group of flashing red, yellow, and green lights. One of the guards reached out and tapped on the wall and another door slid open, revealing an incredibly small room that was well lit.
"Have you ever been in an elevator before?" Death asked me.
I shook my head. "What does it do?"
"It transports us down into the base… It's an underground fortress."
"Okay?"
"Just get in…" Ceae, Keia, Vegance, Rona, Ryth, and I got on the "elevator," followed by twenty-two Skeletals. For a while, the smell was unbearable until we reached the bottom. Everyone dispersed out into the room we arrived in.
"I could have sworn this base was very small… It looked small from the outside," I said.
"It's far from small. Just be careful… Darklings protect the lower levels," Vegance said.
"Where's the Orb Keys?" Ryth asked.
"Most likely in the heart of the fortress… Dave uses it as a power source, and it just happens to keep us Skeletals living," Death explained.
"I wonder how Necril could have developed a security system requiring Orb Keys if they were scattered long ago?" I asked.
"When we have them all, we can ask Necril in person," Rona said.
"Heroes, gather in the middle… My brothers and I will protect your flanks." We gathered together and drew our weapons, just in case. The Skeletals surrounded us and began to move. We left the first room of the underground base and crowded into a somewhat thin corridor. Moving as a group was slow, but effective. Things went smoothly until we reached the end of the corridor. A large machine that looked like a mecha turret folded out of the ceiling and began to spin.
"Turret! Skeletal defensive stance!" Death commanded and raised a shield up in front. The surrounding Skeletals raised their shields as well and covered our heads. The sound of bullets ricocheting off of steel shields rang all around us and echoed throughout the corridor. I turned to Rona to say something, but noticed that he had already disappeared. Outside of our metal barricade, the turret stopped firing and I could hear a steel collision and a loud crash. Death lowered his shield, followed by the other Skeletals. The turret was sparking at its base, and Rona had one foot on top of the downed turret with his sword slung over his shoulder.
"Keep moving," Rona said. We followed him out of the corridor and into a large room. In the middle of the room was a circular hole almost like a well. From four points on the circle, hatches opened and four pointed devices slid out. The devices pointed toward the center of the circle and up into the air. Four beams of light projected together to make a figure. That figure was Dave.
"Tsk, tsk… If you all are here to see me, well, let's just say it's a bit late to change your mind, Cryos. I know why you're here… You want the Darkness Key, don't you? Tell you what… Head straight through that corridor there." Dave pointed to the far wall. "That leads to the core. Take the Key… You know you want to." With an evil laugh, Dave disappeared.
"We head through the door then," I said and started to walk.
"Wait!" Keia shouted and put her hand on my shoulder. "Don't go… It's a trap."
I turned around. "I'm sorry Keia, but there's no choice… We need that Key."
"Let us lead," Death said. "If it is indeed a trap, better for us to hurt than you."
"Has anyone else noticed that we haven't run into any Darklings yet?" Ceae asked.
"Kid's got a point… They must be expecting us," Rona said.
"We can take care of them," Death said. "We lead." We followed Death and his Skeletals. This corridor was not crowded, and it was not guarded either. We passed throughout without difficulty and arrived in an even larger room than the previous one. There were several doorways leading in different directions and even a second floor. In the center of the room was a pillar running up to a high ceiling. Emanating from the central pillar was a faint purple light.
"That is the core," Death said. "You can see the dark orb floating at the second level, but it is surrounded by a force field… To deactivate the force field, you have to nullify it with another orb."
I pulled out the Lightning Key. "It would appear these 'orbs' have another use than just opening giant gates," I said. Suddenly, the doors around the room all shut. I could hear a loud locking sound. Throughout the room, several dark masses materialized from the ground.
"Cryos, you and Ryth get up there and get that Key," Rona said. "We and the Skeletals will hold the enemies off."
Ryth and I looked at each other. "I'll protect us… You just get up there and retrieve the Key," Ryth said.
"Let's go!" Ryth and I separated from the group and moved towards a ramp leading to the second level. The Spawns that jumped in our way were quickly knocked away by Ryth. On the second floor, the railing ran along the length of the room. From two points, the railing split off and ran to the central pillar, at which the Key was waiting. I ran up to the force field and held out the Lightning Key. A section of the force field disappeared, but not much. I tried to reach through and get the Key, but was unable to.
"Ryth, I can't reach!"
"Here, allow me." Ryth reached through the hole that I had made and grabbed the Darkness Key. He yanked it back and held it in the air. "The Darkness Key… It's ours!" The building began to shake. A female voice from above made an announcement.
"Removal of the darkness orb forces self-destruct… Self-destruct sequence activated. Five minutes to detonation."
"Uh oh," I said. Ryth and I ran to get back to the first level. The Spawns were retreating!
"Someone break down the door!" Rona shouted. When he finished, a loud crash caused the door to fly across the room and into the pillar in the middle of the room. Two Nightmares entered the room and started moving towards us.
"Cryos! Run! We'll take care of this!" Death shouted.
"But—"
"Just do it! Think of it as a parting gift…" Without hesitation, I ran past the Nightmares, followed by the rest of my group.
"Three minutes remaining," the female voice said. We all crowded into the elevator and returned to the surface. As we exited the building, we ran into Dave.
"Well, hi there!" Dave said. "I never officially welcomed you to my base of operations… Welcome."
"We have no time for this!" Vegance shouted.
"Oh… Well then, I'll see you on your way… You're free to go."
"You are letting us go?" I asked.
"Sure… One way or another, my plans will be fulfilled…" Dave let out an evil laugh as we ran past him. A few seconds later, a loud explosion rang out through the land. We did not stop running to look behind, but kept going to ensure our safety. When again the air was calm, we stopped. I looked back at Dave's base: it was completely engulfed in flame. I saw something white fly towards us. When it was close enough, I saw it was a man. Actually, more of a transparent man.
"Thank you, Heroes… Thank you." The voice was that of Death's. "Your actions have freed us of our bonds… Your actions have put us all one step closer to the light. Dave is gone too… We can finally rest."
"It was no problem at all! Your goal and ours were a common one," I said.
"Thank you…" Death's spirit faded away. I pulled out the Darkness Key and the Lightning Key.
"That's two Keys… Six remain. We head back to the FoxWoods now, and then through the Draconian Plains to the Ice Peaks," I reviewed.
"Shouldn't we rest?" Keia asked.
"I'm sorry, but we'll have to rest ourselves in the wilderness… We don't have much time to act, if the cloud cover is spreading."
"Right," Rona said. "Let's get moving."