*Wince* Sorry about the wait. Distractions.

Disclaimer: As usual, I own nothing about Jackie Chan Adventures.

Chapter 6

"What have we done?"

Paco was not taking this turn of events well. "They will surely be ripped to shreds, and it will all be our fault, how could we-"

"Not now!" Jade snapped, grabbing his arm, "right now we need to think of a way out of here so we can help them not be ripped to shreds."

His resolve strengthened by her (relatively painful) hold, Paco calmed down. "You are right. But how will we escape?"

Even if they were foolhardy enough try to escape via the same passage that the mob of vicious monsters had just gone through, there was no way to get out that way – a group of the cadejo had stayed behind to guard the entrance, and there was something very uninviting about the unpleasant leer they were giving the two. There was definitely no escape that way.

Jade rubbed her chin, trying to think. If there's one thing she had learned adventuring with her Uncle over the years, it's that there's always a way. There had to be a way out of the room somewhere, if they could find it…

Or maybe they didn't have to think specifically of an exit… maybe they already had found it!

"The ceiling!" she shouted in triumph, leaving Paco confused.

"What?"

"The ceiling! Don't you get it? We can leave the way we came!" she explained, near giddy with excitement.

Paco looked up at the roof, particularly the long, shaky looking vine that was their only way up to the adjacent hole to the one they fell through, the set of raised platforms that looked a lot higher now that they were on the floor, and then looked down at snarling cadejo that were currently looking at them with a lot more attentively. "Oh yes… it sounds so simple."

Jade raised an eyebrow. "What, you can't you can't handle climbing a rope?"

"I am more concerned with outrunning the monstrous beasts who sooner would take a chunk out of our hides than look at us."

"Oh come on, haven't you gone toe to toe with a Chupacabra?" she smirked,

"That was different-"

"Oh wait, then again, that was Uncle Jackie wasn't it? You hid behind a table, if I remember correctly." She gave him a teasing look.

Paco scowled. "I was ten!"

"And don't you wanna prove you're not a scaredycat anymore?"

"I am no scaredycat! I just think we should be cautious, you can't just dive into things without-"

"Great! Then cover me!" With that, she took off towards the platforms with Paco, surprised but quick on the uptake, quickly following one step behind.

"Yade, just wait a minu- oh, forget it. Fine," he grumbled resignedly and quickened his pace to keep up with her.

Jade smiled as she heard him running behind her, but only slightly. To be honest, she was terrified as well. She knew Paco had a point, and in any other situation – well, most other situations - she might have agreed with him, but she feared Jackie and El Toro were running out of time, and they couldn't afford to spend any of their time being careful. Not when she felt so much that she needed to do… something, anything. That's the way it always was with her.

She let her worry drive her as she leapt onto the edge of the lowest platform and pulled herself up, Paco grabbing on right beside her a moment later. And a moment after that, they both turned with a snap as they heard a familiar growl behind them. The cadejo guarding the door, who were watching them closely, seemed to have figured out what they were up to and were now tearing off towards them.

The two young heroes turned tail and continued to climb up as fast as they could – there were seven cadejo on their tail, and this time they were all attacking at once: had no reason to hold back, and their moves looked that much more vicious.

Doubling their pace, Paco and Jade, scaled platform after platform, trying to put as much space between them and their pursuit. As they approached the halfway mark Paco stopped to check behind them, and to his horror saw the cadejo leap into the air impossibly high and land in one bound safely onto the lowest platform without slowing down at all.

He gulped, "Oy… que mal dia…"

Meanwhile, Jackie and El Toro were in a heated chase of their own. The cadejo were cutting them off at every turn, and with the ground crumbling away with every step they were running out of options.

"This is getting worse by the minute!" Jackie said as they yet again had to leap to another platform (which, naturally, starting falling apart the moment they touched it) to avoid another group of growling beasts, "at this rate, we won't be able to keep ourselves alive let alone get that gem!"

El Toro stayed determined, but he knew Jackie had a point – there was only one direct path up to the top of the chamber left now: stairs ringing around the edge of the room that were broken yet still traversable. The bad news was, the cadejo were keeping guard of it, and there were too many for them to have any hope of getting through – but still, it was their last chance.

Jackie looked pensive as he weighed their options. If they failed, it could mean the end of everyone they cared about. There was no way he would let that happen. "There is nothing for it – El Toro, you back me up. I will try to make it up the stairs."

"What? But… no I cannot-"

"El Toro!" Jackie cut him off, "you are strong, my friend, but you know that I'm faster and more agile – I might be able to dodge them long enough to make it to the top!"

"…very well," El Toro said solemnly, as the two stopped on a stable platform at the other end of the chamber, the cadejo behind but far enough away that they could talk for a few moments. "I will attempt to distract them, but you will still have many of the beasts on your tail, you know."

"I know…"

"Do try not to die, mi amigo."

Jackie nodded with a grim smile, turned and readied himself, then sprang into action. Pushing off into a quick sprint, he vaulted over the head of the nearest cadejo and kept running past them towards the opposite edge of the chamber. The beasts turned to follow him, only to be barreled over the sides of the platform from behind by El Toro's bull charge. The remaining cadejo looked confused as to which hero to focus on – the quick one currently leaping over gaps in the crumbling bridges and diving for higher levels, or the burly one barreling through their numbers.

Deciding El Toro was the greater threat, most of the cadejo focused on stopping him… just as they planned. Jackie waited until a decent number of the beasts were running towards his companion, and then dove over the side of the bridge he was currently running over and grabbed onto the side, effectively making himself invisible to the cadejo's view.

He shimmied across the edge quickly, as the bridge was still falling apart with every move he made. Meanwhile, El Toro had his hands full – literally. He was swarmed by the biting, roaring cadejo, but he knew better than to let them sink their teeth into him. He dodged, he rolled, he dove, and when the time was right he would grab one or two and toss them over the side, but there just seemed to be too many. Hopefully Jackie would get what he had to do done soon – he couldn't keep this up for long.

Paco and Jade made it to the vine soon enough, with the cadejo thankfully still behind them but closing fast. Unfortunately, making it to the vine and climbing it straight up to the very high ceiling were two very different things.

"Come on, Paco!" Jade grunted as they wearily hit the halfway point. "Feel the burn! You can do go faster than that."

Paco scowled – he was, after all, right behind her. "Hmph, may I remind you which one of us is constantly complaining about her so-called 'torturous gym class?'"

"That's because that stuff isn't exciting. I just can't get into the exercise zone if I don't have any excitement behind it."

"Riiight," Paco smirked cheekily, "you know, I'm surprised you wanted to go first, Yade. Usually when I rescue damsels they prefer to let me lead the way."

Jade grinned, though Paco didn't see it – she was glad to have some of his bragging and teasing to lighten to mood. Still, she put on her best "tough" voice. "Let's get three things straight, Don Quixote! One: I'm nobody's damsel, and don't you forget it. Two: you can count yourself very lucky I'm not the type to wear dresses, and if you are staring at anything back there you're gonna be in big trouble, and three- wait… who's tugging on the rope?"

"Huh?" The two teens turned down and saw the cadejo had finally reached the bottom of the vine. At first, the just sunk their claws onto it and pulled, which didn't do much. Then, they jumped onto it one at a time, as though testing it's strength. And then, to their horror, they starting leaping onto the vine en masse and bounding up towards them as fast as if they were running.

"They can climb? That's so not fair!"

"Go go go!"

On the double they sped up their climbing as fast as they could, but no matter what the cadejo were still gaining at a frightful pace. They tried not to turn back, just in case the fear of what was heading their way made them freeze, but they could still feel the monsters' nerve-wracking approach through the vine – the only saving grace was that not all of them were able to hang onto the vine, only four of them were following them.

But bit by bit, those four cadejo closed the distance, and bit by bit the two young adventurers got closer and closer to the top – if they could just make it, they could cut the rope and finally get away. The thought spurred them on, with a healthy dose of fear and anxiety, but still it got them to where they needed to go.

Finally they made it: the top was right above them, and from the light below they could see the opening led narrow tunnel like the one that got them into this mess. Just a few more feet of climbing and they would be-

"GRAAAAARGH!"

Or not. The cadejo were right behind them – having not turned to check, they had been completely blindsided. Their pursuers were so close they could see their furious red eyes and smell their incredibly unpleasant breath, and it was far too late to speed up now.

With only a moment's thought Paco turned himself on the vine and started kicked at the snapping beasts. "Go on, Yade!" he yelled upward, "I will take care of these dogs! Get to the tunnel!"

"What are you-"

"Go! I'll be fine!" A well placed kick sent the lead cadejo flying off the vine. One down. Whew. He didn't look up to see if Jade had done as he asked, but he hoped she had.

These drooling fiends will have to go through me! And won't let that happen. The next cadejo down propelled itself up and jumped up to snap at his face – he managed to grab it off of him and throw it down. It fell a few yards before grabbing it's claws onto the vine against coming back up.

He winced as the next cadejo came to take the last one's place almost faster than he could recover. They were just too fast. Darn! I can't… no, I won't give up.

The next cadejo repeated the actions of the one before it, jumping on onto him trying to bite his face. Once again he moved to try to catch it and flung it off to the side (too far for it to grab back on, thankfully), but in that moment of distraction he was hit with the real attack. Another one bounded up the vine and sunk its sharp teeth into deep into his upper leg as he was focusing on its friend.

The excruciating pain hit him right away. He instinctively tried to shake it off, which only made things worse, but he wasn't thinking clearly. He vaguely heard some kind of scream from above him, but couldn't quite focus on it. He suddenly couldn't hold onto the vine any longer, and he was struck with an insane thought: can't hold on… maybe if I fall just right I can take them down with me…

He heard another faded shout from above him, but he didn't think much of it as his handhold slipped…

Jackie shuffled across the unstable bridge as fast as he could – not only did he not want to fall to his doom (an unfortunate way to end the day to be sure), but he didn't want El Toro dealing with those monsters any longer than he had to. Biding his time until a decent amount of the cadejo were away from his position, he inched closer and closer to the stairwell above him until he was right next to it, thankfully still undetected. Then, quick as a whip, he sprang into action, leaping up off the edge and hitting the ground running.

He knew that by reaching the stairs he would draw the cadejo's attention fast, but hopefully they were far mostly far enough behind him that it wouldn't matter. Luckily, he was right – he heard surprised growls behind him but nothing caught up with him. Sprinting faster than he could remember doing for a long time, he made it far along the path in minutes. Soon he could see the gem they were looking for – standing on top of a small stand glowing ever brighter. A few more stairs and it would be a straight shot to the altar.

Unfortunately, he overlooked a few things. He screeched to a halt as two particularly vicious cadejo leaped in front of him from the wall – apparently they had stayed near the top just in case one of them tried something. He inched backwards, trying to think of a way past them, but his momentary surprise doomed him, giving the group of cadejo pursuing him from behind a chance to catch up. All of a sudden, he was surrounded by almost a dozen of the beasts. They all pounced at him at once, ready to tear him apart. He dove aside instinctively, but in his panic forgot how narrow the staircase was: there wasn't enough space to avoid them all and keep his footing – something had to give.

And so it did.

"Jackie!" El Toro yelled out as he watched Jackie lose his footing, tip over and fall several what must have been several stories, landing with an unsettling thud on a platform near the bottom of the spire. El Toro sighed with a mix of worry and relief: painful as it looked, it was lucky he landed there and not into the seemingly bottomless pit that the entire structure was suspended in, though he was still clearly unconscious and likely severely injured. Luckily, the bottom platform wasn't crumbling – at least he was safe for the moment.

El Toro, on the other hand, was not so safe. Now that Jackie was apparently out of commission, the cadejo turned their attention to him, but El Toro didn't care. There was no recourse, he had to help his friend. Without a second throught, he leapt from his platform all the way down to the bottom, landing with a bone-wracking impact on the stone floor.

It took him several moments to recover, but if there was anything El Toro prided himself on, it was his strength. After most of the strain of the impact had left him, he checked on Jackie – he was unconscious but, barring something else terrible happening (highly likely at this point), he would pull through. Unfortunately, there was no easy way out of this: everything, the cadejo, the gem, the platforms and the stairs, all of it was far above them, and the ways up had long since crumbled away.

Not that it mattered, as after Jackie's failed attempt at using them the stairs leading up to the altar had begun to crumble as well. There was no using them to get there. No, now there was only one way up, and it wouldn't be easy.

With determined resolve, El Toro put Jackie over his shoulder, grabbed the stone of the spire, and started to climb.

Paco's hand seemed to fall off the vine in slow motion, not that it mattered to him. All he could think about was taking the remaining cadejo down with him. In a daze, he turned himself in the air just enough that once he fell completely he would collide into them

Let's see how those beasts like this. He thought absently, as if his mind was suffering from a thick fog. Not a bad way to go out… all the cadejo will be gone, and Jade will be…

Jade will be…

JADE!

His mind cleared a bit as he recognized the girl who had slid down the vine and caught him just in the nick of time. Hanging onto him with one arm and the vine with another, she struck both of the remaining cadejo with a quick scissor kick, knocking them both off the vine onto the ground far below. Though struggling to keep her balance with Paco's weight, she managed to get them both up to the relative safety of the tunnel above. As soon as she laid him down safe on the floor on the passageway she turned and cut through the vine with a swiss army knife she kept in her pocket, ensuring that the cadejo would not be following them.

Now that they were (probably) safe, she allowed herself to relax. And vent her frustration at her jerk of a friend who nearly got himself killed.

"You moron!" She swatted him on the head, Uncle style. "What were you doing?"

Paco grinned widely. It might have been unsettling if she weren't so annoyed. "Just making sure you were safe," he said bluntly – much more blunt that he usually was.

"Don't even try to pull that chivalry stuff with me! I can take care of myself! Didn't I tell you I was nobody's damsel?"

"Sorry. Heh." He kept grinning, but she barely noticed. Luckily, this tunnel wasn't quite as tiny as the last one – she could climb over him in order to lead the way, since "Haha! Don't mind me and my bleedling leg, I'm a-ok! Hehehehe!"

Jade turned confusedly. That wasn't sarcasm, there was something about all this he actually found amusing. "Hey, let me in on the joke, will ya? What's so funny?"

Paco froze, and for a second he looked like his normal self. "I don't know… I… hehehe – no idea! Hehe!" The moment of normalcy was gone just as soon as it happened, and just like that he was back to laughing up a storm.

"You're acting weird… weirder than usual even. Maybe you should just follow me."

"Follow you where? This tunnel is so twisty and turny, we could be going anywhere. Retrocedo, even. Hehe…"

Her eyes widened. "What are you talking about? This thing's a straight line! Are you all right?"

Paco calmed down very briefly – it was creepy, he looked a mix between happy and terrified. "You know, the legends say the bite of the cadejo can do many things, even make a man mad… hehe… maybe I am messed up in the cabeza. Hah! What a thought, hehehe…"

"Just perfect," Jade scowled, her voice halfway between worried and annoyed, "now I have to deal with you possibly going crazy above all things. Just try to follow me anyways."

"Yes, oh mighty Jade one, mistress of the universe," Paco cackled behind her. Jade rolled her eyes – hopefully this would be over soon.

Fortunately, her hopes were soon to be answerd.

Climbing a sheer cliff is already a difficult task – doing so with a person on your back is downright impossible for most people. Luckily, El Toro Fuerte is not like most people, and this wasn't the worst test of strength he had ever gone through.

Now that time he had to derail a train full of bandits with his bare hands, that was tough. But that's a story for another day.

Unfortunately, the cadejo seemed to have noticed – in the moments where he looked up above him he could see them waiting around the platforms, biding their time. An unsettling thought to be sure, but nothing he could afford to worry about; a final showdown with those beasts was inevitable.

Several arduous minutes later and he had made it halfway, and the cadejo were getting antsy. It wouldn't be long now.

"Hmph… if it's a fight they want, then they will not be disappointe- whoa!" His foot landed on an unstable rock and he slipped. In a panic he struggled to find a handhold, but in the commotion Jackie slipped off his shoulder and began to topple down. "No you don't, mi amigo!" El Toro yelled as he grabbed Jackie out of midair.

As El Toro lifted him back up, Jackie finally started to stir. "Huhwha? I… GAH! What happened?"

"You fell a great height, my friend," El Toro explained, "you are lucky to be alive."

"Ugh…" he groaned as the pain started to hit him, "I will feel this in the morning." He sighed. "This day just keeps getting worse, doesn't it?"

"For once I hate to agree with you, but look out!" El Toro nodded towards the platforms, where the cadejo were finally making their move. En masse they leapt onto the stone and crawled along the sheer cliff toward them. "Are you well enough to fight back, Jackie?"

"You focus on getting us to the top, I will try to hold them back" Jackie winced as he pulled himself into a better fighting position – one of his legs was busted, and he couldn't move his arms without an ache, but he was far from out of the game. Every time one of the cadejo came close, he kicked and punched and knocked it off of the cliffside, ignoring the pain.

Well, not entirely.

"Yeeow!" he yelled after a particularly painful swing, "How many of these things are there?"

"Stay strong, we are almost at the top! I-"

"Wait… what is that!" Jackie said, pointing upwards. Above them, above the cadejo, even above the spire and the altar, a spot on the wall was moving! Everyone, even the surrounding cadejo, seemed to freeze as it slid to the side slowly, revealing…

"JADE!"

"PACO!"

There they were: alive, well – sort of – and not staying outside away from danger, Jackie noted with a scowl. Still, they looked all right. Jade even waved, though Paco was grinning oddly for reasons Jackie couldn't tell.

El Toro murmured so they wouldn't hear, "we must get to the top quickly before they do something rash."

Jackie waved weakly at his niece, but murmured back, "I agree."

Luckily, the cadejo were still trying to decide what to do – Jackie and El Toro took the moment to sweep at them and knock most of them down to the bottom of the spire. It was a far way down, but they would be back. Time to move.

Especially since if his eyes deceived him Jade had just jumped.

"There they are!" Jade grinned and waved at her uncle. Paco laughed, but this time it was real and normal.

"Finally. I knew they would make it," he said, though he sighed in relief all the same before descending back into giggles.

"Whoa, they did a number on this place," Jade said, looking around the crumbling chamber. "Waitaminute, why is El Toro carrying Uncle Jackie! He ca

"Hehe, clearly El Toro had to bail him out! After all, heh, he is like a teeeeeny tiiiiny mousey… hehehe," his head lolled back and forth like he was drunk.

Jade bit back a "look who's talking" remark, remembering that Paco wasn't quite himself. Man, I hope there's a cure for this… "No… look! Uncle Jackie's hurt! And they're swarmed with those things. We've got to find a way down there and help!"

"Well…" Paco suddenly grabbed Jade around her waist and moved to the edge of the wall. "As you like to say, GERONIMO!"

And then he jumped.

Jade shrieked and closed her eyes (not that she would admit that later), didn't care how brain-addled he was at the moment, she was going to kill him.

Uncle Jackie called her name from below, and she saw El Toro take a moment to slap his hand over his forehead. Man, was this a reversal. It wasn't her fault this time: this time she was the one getting dragged along kicking and screaming (though again, she would deny the actual screaming later on), while Paco was laughing like a maniac.

It took her a few seconds before she noticed she wasn't falling any more. She stopped screaming and opened her eyes to the view of Paco smirking at her. She resisted the overwhelming urge to wring his neck and instead pushed him aside to help Jackie and El Toro up.

"What were you thinking?" Jackie shouted as soon as El Toro handed him up to his niece, "you could have been- agh!" He winced as he tried standing on his busted leg. Jade hurried to hold him up.

"Don't look at me! It wasn't my idea!"

"Paco?" El Toro said, as the boy helped him up over the edge – while singing "I Believe I Can Fly" at the top of his lungs. He looked more wacky than ever, and gave his bewildered guardian a low bow.

"He got bit by one of those things," Jade explained.

All the color drained from El Toro's face. "He what? But… he…"

"It's not that bad!" Jade said quickly, "he just got the giggles. It's weird, but from what he told me it could have been a lot worse."

"Really? Yes… it should have…" El Toro rubbed his chin – as the legends went, when someone was bitten by a cadejo they always became incurably insane, with their minds totally shot. Paco's giddiness was… distressing… but not as bad as it should have been. Something didn't add up.

"So this is that gem we were supposed to find?" Jade inspected the stone on the simple altar. "Should we… I dunno, take it?" Paco reached for it dazedly, El Toro held him back.

"I'm not sure," Jackie said. "But I- oh no…"

The cadejo were back, and madder than ever. This time, they were not attacking one at a time, or in a straight line, or anything that could give them a chance. They crawled over the edge from every direction, snarling and spitting and advancing slowly.

But despite doom literally walking right up to them, the four adventurers stood together in a circle, unwilling to give up now. Jade and El Toro powered on through their weariness, and faced the cadejo with all the tenacity they had (which was quite a bit). Jackie shrugged off Jade from holding him up, and went into a fighting stance, ignoring the pain that came with it – no time to let it stop him now. Paco, still under the cadejo's spell, grinned and laughed, but there was determination in his eyes.

Still, despite their resolve, there was no way to win this fight. There had to be something else…

"Whatever we're going to do…" Jade started shakily, and in the same moment all four glanced back at the same thing, and had the same idea.

The cadejo inched closer – they could see the rusty tinge of their teeth.

"… we'd better do it fast!" In one motion all four of them leapt at the altar, grabbed the gem, and pulled.

The cadejo pounced.

The stone was rooted deep in the altar, but felt like it was budging just enough…

The cadejo were a few feet away.

It moved just a little bit more.

Inches away from dagger-fanged death.

Almost there…

And…

There was an enormous flash of light.

Jackie picked himself up off the ground with a groan, and saw out of the corner of his eyes that the others were doing the same. Whatever just happened, it was big. He looked around – none of the others were hurt, and now that he thought about it, neither was he. His injuries didn't hurt anymore!

He patted himself down, noting that his ribs didn't ache when he moved and definitely didn't twinge when he touched them, and when he picked himself up in a kneel to test it's weight, his leg didn't bother him at all.

Looking down, he noticed that the gem resting on the ground next to him. "Amazing…" he said to himself as he picked it up and inspected it. It wasn't shining with ethereal light anymore, but there was still a hint of a faint glow.

Tearing himself away from the stone, he looked around to see the others in a similar state to himself – none of them looked any worse for the wear. Jade and El Toro both looked completely rejuvenated as they dusted themselves off, and it looked like Paco was no longer under the cadejo's spell.

He and the rest of them looked around an goggled – the cadejo were still surrounding them, but instead of viciously growling and hissing they were sitting peacefully, not attacking but looking calm and serene, even pleasant.

"YOU HAVE DONE WELL, TRAVELLERS."

All four heads snapped up at the sound of the strange voice calling out to them from above, to see a strangest sight yet. A whispy, transparent figure floated above them, clothed in a long flowing cloak and a light, feathered robe and headdress. He looked extremely pleased.

"IT HAS BEEN SO LONG, I FEARED IT WAS TOO LATE, BUT YOUR PERSEVERENCE WON OUT IN THE END."

"W-what do you mean?" Jade stammered

"THE TEST, WORTHY ONES. THE TEST! YOU HAVE PROVEN YOUR WORTH, THE FIRST IN MANY, MANY LONG YEARS..."

"Wait, so you're saying this, all of this, was a test?" Paco asked.

"INDEED. I AM THE GUARDIAN OF THIS ARTIFACT – MY NAME DOES NOT MATTER – LONG HAVE I WAITED FOR ONE WHO COULD CLAIM IT. MY PETS AND I HAVE TESTED SO MANY…"

He waved his hand, and the cadejo began to change – their burnt fur lightened to a bright, light gray. Their vicious fangs and claws receded, and their vicious glares gave way to noble, serene faces.

"Of course!" El Toro said, "these are not evil cadejo at all, but their good counterparts. That is why when Paco was bitten he did not become insane, they were never evil enough to do so!"

Paco flushed with embarrassment, but nodded – he was the only one there versed enough in the legends to know what El Toro was talking about.

"YOU ARE CORRECT, MASKED ONE. OVER THE YEARS WE HAVE DEALT WITH COUNTLESS VILLAINS AND SCOUNDRELS, THE WORST OF HUMANITY – GREEDY AND DRIVEN BUT LACKING IN TRUE COURAGE AND DETERMINATION. AS TIME PASSED THE GEM, POWERFUL AS IT IS, BECAME EVER MORE CORRUPTED BY THESE WORST SIDES. THANKS TO YOUR

"So we basically did what no one in hundreds of years could do?" Jade asked.

The figure smiled. "YES, YOU HAVE. YOU HAVE SHOWN PERSEVERENCE UNMATCHED BY ANY BEFORE YOU."

"Booyah! We bad!"

"So… what now?" Jackie cut in thoughtfully.

"NOW? NOW THE ARTIFACT IS IN YOUR CARE – YOU HAVE PROVEN YOURSELVES WORTHY TO PROTECT IT, AND I SHALL FINALLY MOVE ON TO MY FINAL DESTINATION. THANK YOU, WORTHY ONES… TAKE GOOD CARE OF THAT FRAGMENT, TRAVELLERS, AND MAY YOU HAVE LUCK WITH THE OTHERS…"

"Wait… what? Others? What are you- wait, don't go!" Jackie stuttered, but it was too late. The guardian faded away in a wisp of smoke, and the cadejo leapt into the air and with a swirl disappeared with him.

There was a long silence.

"Well…" Paco quipped, "that was certainly something."

"Yeah…"

"That's for sure…"

There was another long silence."

"So…" Jade started, looking at the open space around the spire that one had been full of now crumbled platforms, "…how do we get down from here?"

Author's Note: And that's it! This is the last chapter, just the relatively short epilogue. That's partially why this chapter is relatively longer than most of the others, everything happens in quick succession here and I didn't like splitting it up at any given point.

Again, sorry about the wait, real life distractions and all that.