Reaching the Keep took longer than I had imagined. Before we arrived, the grasslights shut off and still the Keep was far off in the distance. To me, it felt as though we were trapped in place, endlessly moving towards the same destination but never arriving. I stopped for a short rest and saw that the towers of the Keep were still where they had been on the horizon when we first started.
"Cryos, c'mon… Keep pushing," Keia told me.
"Does it seem, to you, that we're never getting closer?" I asked.
"What are you talking about?"
"Necril's Keep… To me, it seems as though we're not getting any closer…"
"You're tired… That's all. We're much closer than you think. Just keep going, and before long, we'll be there."
I nodded. "Alright… I have that drive to keep moving." I got my feet working again and continued on my way.
Keia was right. I must have had some sort of doubt in my mind before because I was convinced that we were never going to arrive. Once more we stood before the gates that barred access to Necril's domain. The statues awoke again and their "eyes" floated out above us.
"You return… Have you brought the Orb Keys?" the asked.
"This time, we came prepared," I said. I set my bag down on the ground and pulled out the Lightning Key. The statues watched my movements carefully as I placed the first one on the ground beside my bag. I repeated the process until all eight Orb Keys were shown.
"Impressive… Place the Keys in their proper slots," one of the statues directed. Eight colored circles materialized in the air in front of us. One by one I placed the Keys in the floating circles: Lightning in the yellow, Fire in the red, Water in the darker blue, Ice in the lighter blue, Wind in the grey, Nature in the green, Light in the white, and Darkness in the purple. When all Keys were placed, the circles lit up and glowed brighter. The circles disappeared, leaving the Keys suspended in the air. Four Keys moved toward one of the statues, and the other four went to the other statue. The Keys locked themselves into small slot at the bases of either statue. The statues lit up and began to glow. One of the statues twitched and moved its arm forward.
"What the?" I said and backed up a bit. The other statue pulled its leg from its base and stepped forward. It lifted its sword out of the ground and held it up over its head. The other statue took two steps forward with its sword in hand and swung at us. We scattered and gathered in a small circle away from the statues. The "eyes" still remained separate from the statues and watched us as we ran.
"Clearly, getting through these gates isn't going to be so simple," Vegance said. "Any ideas how to deal with these things?"
"It's a shot in the dark, but I imagine those eyes might be a weakness," I said and pointed. "The statues probably won't be able to see without them."
"That's not a bad idea," Ryth said. "Keia, can you hit moving targets?"
"I can try," Keia replied. She pulled her bow off her back. "Someone will need to keep the statues away from me." All eyes were shifted around from Rona to Ryth to Vegance and then to me.
"The more, the better," I said. The thundering footsteps of the statues grew closer. "Let's run like madmen!" I drew my sword and screamed into the air. Rona, Ryth, and Vegance all drew their blades. I ran ahead while flailing my arms wildly. Rona and Ryth split off and headed to the sides. Vegance ran in a zigzag. I dodged the blade of one of the statues and rolled between the legs of the wielder. At the same time, Vegance weaved in and out around the same statues' legs. Together, Ryth and Rona led the other statue over to us. Caught up in chasing the fox spirits, the statue bumped into the other and fell to the ground. I heard the distant swish of an arrow through the air and then a quiet thump as one of the "eyes" was plucked from the sky. One of the statues cried out in pain and started kicking at us. Another whistle and another thump could be heard. Now, both statues swung themselves around in rage. The whistling and thumping sounded out several times more. After seven shots, one of the statues lay motionless and stopped glowing. Three floating "eyes" remained.
"Keep it up, Keia!" I shouted. One of the "eyes" hovered near me. I slashed it with my sword, which left it cut in half. Only two more remained. The standing statue, now mostly blind, picked a random direction and began to charge. It so happened that the direction he picked was the direction Keia was in!
"Keia, watch out!" Rona yelled. Keia's head lifted up, but she did not move. Frozen in fear, she could not move. The statue picked up speed, and when it seemed evitable she was gone, Rona disappeared. In the matter of a second, the statue had run over the top of her. My eyes widened. The grip on my sword loosened, and my breathing grew heavier. I dropped my sword and fell to my knees. While still staring at the spot where Keia had just been standing, I broke down in tears.
"Keia… Why?" I mumbled. I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see Keia looking at me in confusion.
"Why what? What's going on?" she asked. I blushed (which was something I never thought I could do). For a second, I was silent. "Cryos?"
"I thought you were just smashed?"
"No… Rona saved me."
"Can you two get back to the battle?" Rona asked. He was swatting at one of the "eyes" as it hovered in front of his face. Keia drew back an arrow on her bowstring and fired it at the "eye" that was pestering Rona. Now, only one remained, but it was nowhere to be found. All was quiet… We waited for something to happen, but there was nothing.
"So… Where's it at?" Ryth asked. A quiet crash alerted us all. The remaining statue emerged from the darkness, the final eye at the top of its body. It stopped and stood before us. For about a minute, we and the statue stared each other down.
"Okay, the plan is, direct assault," Rona said. "We get up there and take this thing down!"
"Your job, Rona," I said. "We'll cover you."
Rona looked from Ryth to me. "Okay." Rona ran forward. The statue, in response, swung its sword at him. Rona jumped up onto the arm as Ryth, Vegance, and I charged near the statue's legs. The statue swung its arm around wildly in an attempt at throwing Rona off. Vegance, Ryth, and I rapidly slashed at the statue's leg. I had to dodge out of the way as the statue thrust its sword at me. The stone sword stuck into the ground, giving Rona the chance to climb up onto the statue's shoulder. The "eye" floated just out of Rona's reach.
"Rona!" Keia shouted from the ground. Rona looked to her. She pulled back an arrow and fired it near Rona. He reared back his arm and swung forward as the arrow approached. The sword and arrow made contact, sending the arrow spiraling upward and through the remaining "eye." As the "eye" hit the ground, Rona leapt from the statue's shoulder. We all cleared the area as the statue plummeted downward and crumbled into a pile of stones.
I put away my sword and dusted off my hands. "That was probably the biggest battle we've had yet!" I exclaimed.
"It was definitely something different," Vegance said.
"It wasn't what I was expecting," Ryth said.
"This is Necril's Keep… You need to learn to expect the unexpected," Rona said.
"I could've told you that one," Ryth replied. Ryth smiled and looked away. Rona crouched down, moved quietly towards Ryth, popped up, and shouted "Rawr!" Ryth flew off the ground for a second.
"Yeah, you could've told me that one," Rona said. I could not help but smile, however, the moment passed as a loud metallic scraping sounded behind us. I turned around and saw the gates to Necril's Keep opening. When they were slid open all the way, I was the first to step forward. Keia stepped beside me. Ryth, Rona, and Vegance followed, and Ceae took up the rear.
"Here we go… Through the gates to darkness," I said. Now, we only needed to get up to the peak…