A/N: I'm still alive. Finished student teaching, just got a job as a real-life English teacher, and now summer vacation is upon me. This = time to write, time to finish this bad boy up! I'm sorry to have been away for so long, but things are gearing back up. Is anyone still out there?
Chapter 12
Shin had not been surprised to find that the tower split at its very entrance. One red carpeted stairwell spiraled round a tall black pillar until it disappeared into the ceiling and a second, almost imperceptible, dove downward into the depths of the earth from a small doorway located in the northwest corner of the room. He was happy that the party had come to an agreeable split long before they had ever entered the place, and to avoid any further conflict he volunteered his group to go down.
It had been several hours since he, Chiharu, Shu, and Toma had bid Ryo and Seiji farewell and watched the light and fire disappear up the winding staircase, and since then Chiharu had clutched Shin's arm with no degree of reservation while Shu and Toma led them into the dark. He felt an occasional shiver course through Chiharu's tiny form and felt glad that he had decided to take her in his group; there was no telling how Ryo or Seiji might have reacted to constantly tending to the terrified girl.
As the group descended the long, straight staircase they came across numbers of wide landings constructed of the same black stone as the rest, with sealed doors and unlit sconces hanging around the rooms' perimeters. Each time their path led directly onto one of these landings there were three exits from the room: One directly across the way which continued their path downward; one to the right; and one to the left. Now and again Shu would poke his head into one of the rooms to the left or right of their path but the place was almost entirely unlit and he could not make heads or tails of what lay beyond the thresholds. It was then that the party most missed Ryo and Seiji, because if only they had had Seiji's armor at their disposal the path would be brightly lit.
The situation struck Shin as odd on more than one occasion. There were no fires in any sconces and their only light came from a dim flashlight that Toma had thought to stick in their pack, which Chiharu now carried on her person as though her life depended on it. It was as though this section of the tower was completely unused but built with purpose and efficiency, as though the dozen or more rooms that they had passed through were simply waiting to be occupied.
Shin's suspicions were verified when at last the scenery changed. By Toma's count the stairwell should have opened into its sixteenth identical landing, yet as they stepped onto the flat surface of stone they were both dumbfounded and slightly terrified. The landing was there, but instead of a square structure it took the form of an infinitely long hallway lined by softly glowing orbs. The hallway was not constructed of black stone; instead it was gray and each block glistened with golden particles that danced with each shift of Chiharu's flashlight.
"What is this place?" Shu mused quietly, and then turned with purpose to Toma. "How far down are we?"
Toma shrugged noncommittally. He was also surveying the place, though with more intensity and focus than Shu had been. "Several thousand feet, I'd imagine. And it doesn't look like we can go down any farther unless there's another stairwell at one end of this hallway or the other."
Wordlessly, Shin began walking down the hall with Chiharu still clutching his arm. Beginning some fifteen or twenty feet from the door by which they had entered were sets of thick stone doors inlaid into the brick, one on each side of the long hall, with small windows and no discernible handles. Shin peeked into the first of these doors that he came by, then a second, and then a third: They were all identical.
On the opposite side of each door was a squat, square room with a simple bed of straw or hay and a diminutive wooden table. The rooms were otherwise bare and contained no light source of any kind; it seemed that any illumination the rooms would receive was from the hallway proper, and the light even there was dim at best.
"This is a cell block," Shin said flatly and looked to Shu and Toma. Then he continued down the way, peeking into each window as he passed. "The place is completely unoccupied, by the looks of it."
Toma and Shu followed Shin down the way, peering into the cells as they went.
"There must be hundreds of cells," Toma said. "I would imagine if we were to find Jun it would be somewhere in here."
The troopers exchanged glances and set off together down the hall, peeking into each cell as they walked. When at last they came to the end of the corridor, which indeed led nowhere, they turned around and made their way back to investigate the other side. Again and again the cells were empty, though the hallway this time ended in a narrow staircase leading downward.
"This is the only way forward," Shin said. He turned back around and motioned for Shu to take the point, grasped Chiharu's hand in his own, and led her down the stairs while Toma brought up the rear.
The staircase wound around in a tight circle and grew so narrow at a point that they were forced to walk single file, and whether as a measure of safety or because he actually cared, Toma marched the whole way with his hand firmly planted on Chiharu's shoulder. By the time they reached the next landing, almost a hundred steps below, the lot of them were exhausted.
Again the stairwell led onto a flat terrace, though this was unlike the first. It was made of obsidian rock and was large and square, with exits in the predictable locations, though now the left and right exits led to additional hallways filled with similarly empty cells. It was eerily quiet, just as the rest of the structure had been, but all the same the party began its exhaustive search.
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Ryo and Seiji climbed flight after flight of stairs until they came to a hallway not dissimilar to the one in which Shin, Shu, Toma, and Chiharu had earlier searched. Each side of the hall was lined with alternating cells, ten deep on either side of the stairwell, and were so dimly lit by low burning torches that neither warrior could make out any real detail. But what the pair lacked in sight they made up for with hearing: The place was alive with terrified wails and moans, the sound of humans crying echoed thick all around.
The two warriors exchanged glances of trepidation, and then they drew their weapons.
"This must be the place," Ryo said as he peered between iron bars and into a cell, spying inside an old man who stared at the wall as if he was entranced. Ryo's stomach lurched at the sight and he turned to Seiji, who shared a similarly nauseated look.
"How many do you think there are?" Seiji asked as he peeked into a cell packed with people. "Some of these cells have only one occupant and others have more than a dozen."
Ryo ignored the question, wandered away from Seiji, and peered into the cells in the opposite hall. They were occupied by all manner of people in every state of health from visibly unharmed to very near dead. His heart crept up to his throat as he walked along, until he came to the very last cell and stared for a long while.
"Here," Ryo stammered as Seiji approached.
At once the warrior of grace understood Ryo's initial hesitation. It was indeed Jun that lay quite still on the ground behind the thick iron door, but had Seiji not just been notified of the fact he would never have known. Jun's body was in a state of being such as Seiji had never imagined possible. The boy was notably frail, shirtless and trembling in his sleep—if indeed he was asleep—with his legs drawn to his chest while his tired looking arms cradled his head. His breaths came in slow and shuddered spasms that were irregular at best and so shallow that the warriors feared at first that he was not breathing at all.
"How do you suppose we ought to get inside?" Ryo said, and though he tried to sound composed his voice broke at the question.
Seiji shrugged, still dumbstruck by Jun's appearance. He worked hard to find his words again, and looked a number of times between Ryo and the boy in the cell. "There isn't any obvious opening mechanism, not for any of the doors here."
"And it's not likely that he can open it from inside."
"Not that he'll be getting up at any rate," Seiji said curly. "Supposing we blasted it down with the ballistic attack of one of our armors, do you think he would be hurt?"
Now Ryo shrugged. "He's already hurt."
Seiji could not refute the observation. The damage to Jun's body was made obvious by the fact that the young warrior was not on his feet fighting for a way out of his prison. Silence settled over the two troopers as they continued to stare, each contemplating the power of his armor's ballistic attack and wondering whether or not impact would further wound their companion.
"Shall we knock down the door?" said Seiji at length, and when Ryo nodded the korin moved to action.
With a cry to his armor, Seiji's sure kill connected the door with force enough to knock it from its hinges, and after the dust cleared the thing hung as a twisted mass of dark metal that smoldered and creaked in the aftermath. Jun lay untouched and still unmoving, apparently undisturbed by the commotion.
Ryo was the first into the cell and he knelt beside the boy, touched his shoulder gently, and looked to Seiji for reassurance.
"Someone will have heard that racket," Said the warrior of light, but all the same he sat beside Ryo and removed his own helmet. "I don't see anything terrible," he continued as he gently manipulated Jun's arms away from his face. "Once we're out of here I'll use my armor to heal him the best I can, but I don't know to what extent he's actually injured."
Ryo scooped Jun urgently into his arms and stood. True that the wounds appeared superficial; no limbs were broken and the boy was in one piece, but he was cut and bruised up and down his body, and Ryo worried of complications. Coupled with prolonged and complete unconsciousness and constant trembling, Ryo could scarcely hide his concern.
"Let's get out of here and meet with the others," Ryo said.
Seiji collected and replaced his helm before leading Ryo from the cell. "Let's hope that we can find them."
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Chiharu had by now become comfortable enough with her surroundings to venture away from Shin's side. She meandered cautiously down the long hall of the apparently empty cell block, glancing into each as she passed with hopes that she might spot Jun. Occasionally, she would peer down at the cracked yoroi ball in her hand with a feeling she might have described as longing. Over the last days she had come to understand much about her enigmatic crush, but at the same time a hundred more questions came to her mind. She understood now the reasons why he refused to commit to relationships with anyone—male of female—and why he kept so much of his private live a secret. Given his selective nature, Chiharu would have imagined that Jun's friends would be trustful of him and quite anxious to retrieve him, but they had been restrained and almost hesitant in their decision to search.
Chiharu wondered why the troopers did not trust Jun.
At length she returned to the main room from which she had entered the hall, where Toma and Shin and Shu were presently seated on the stairs in the entryway engaged in quiet conversation. They glanced at her as she entered but offered no real reaction, and did not stop their discussion when she joined the group.
"We can press on downward or go meet back up with Ryo and Seiji," said Toma with conviction. "Those are really our only two choices."
"We can't go back empty handed," said Shu.
"But we also have no idea how many floors are below us or how many cells we'll have to search through," reasoned Shin. "I want to keep searching, too, but there's potential for thousands of cells down there. We could be searching for weeks."
The warriors had obviously arrived at an impasse. They fell quiet and collectively looked at the floor.
"It seems silly to argue," Chiharu said brightly, and the three troopers looked at her with curiosity. "Arguing won't solve anything. Let's go down two more floors, if we come across more cells we'll search. If there aren't cells below or if the place seems to go on forever after the two floors, we'll go find the others." She paused thoughtfully, and then said, "Besides, they may have already found Jun by now and are coming to find us."
Shu, Toma, and Shin exchanged blank looks that conveyed their doubts well enough without speech.
"It's a compromise," Chiharu added. "At least this way we can say we tried."
Toma nodded and turned toward the downward stairs before him. "It's not a wonder you gave Jun such a hard time," he said dully. "You're so optimistic."
Chiharu wasn't certain if she had been insulted or complimented, but she followed the warriors down the stairs anyway. They walked in silence until they came to the next landing, a cell block identical to the one above, and Shin designated each of the party an area to search. Again, they found nothing but empty cells, and so they continued down.
The next landing was distinctly different. A square room with cells along each wall, and in the middle of each row was an open doorway through which the troopers could discern a soft red glow and a putrid, sulfuric odor. After a quick check of the eight empty cells, Shu led the way through one of the doors with caution and a bit of hesitation.
The doorway led out onto a narrow terrace which wound about the tower on all four sides, with waist high bannisters and torches hanging at each corner. Two hundred feet below them churned a pool of foul, red-orange liquid that bubbled and swirled like a pot ready to boil, and it was from that pool that the light and odor originated.
"What is this place?" said Chiharu, as much in awe of the spectacle as she was terrified by it. She leaned over the bannister and peered down, spotting a dozen or more white spirits flocking just above the pool's surface.
"Your guess is as good as any of ours," replied Toma, and as he spoke he meandered around the terrace and peeked periodically over the side. "It's got the same geological structure as a volcano, or maybe an enormous crater, and there's heat and stink to go with it. The tower extends all the way down into the stuff—I wonder what the point of that is."
"At any rate, Jun isn't here," Shin said hotly, and he turned to go back the way they had come. "We should go try to find Ryo and Seiji and hope that—"
Shin stopped abruptly, face to face with an imposing black figure who smiled through his blood red eyes. The warrior of water recognized the figure immediately, and as each of the group turned to face the Arbiter of Souls the spirit bowed respectfully and spoke in a booming voice.
"I knew that you would come, friends," said the Arbiter coolly, "though I regret to inform you that your trip was in vain. The warrior of shadow is—presently incapacitated."
"What did you do with Jun?" Shu demanded, and he gripped his bo tightly as he pushed his way through Toma and Chiharu to stand beside Shin. "Where is he?"
The Arbiter shrugged. "It seems that you chose the wrong path," he said. "Your friend is nowhere near here. I assure you, though; last I checked he was alive. But it could be that his condition has changed. Human lives are fragile, aren't they?"
Chiharu let forth a quiet cry of terror and gripped the nearest trooper's arm like a frightened child. Toma let her hold him.
"Now," the Arbiter continued, "you have something which belongs to me, and I would care to have it returned. The yoroi orb is of little value to you without its bearer."
Chiharu gripped the orb tightly and looked to Toma for reassurance. He offered no response, not even a glance at her, but Chiharu could see the tendon in his jaw pulsing as he ground his teeth. The situation was more dire than any of her three companions would let on.
"We have nothing of yours," Shin replied.
"So be it," said the Arbiter. "If you wish to be difficult I will not stop you. I cannot say the same for my loyal spirits, however. They can be quite ravenous when faced with reward."
Shin unleashed the ballistic attack of his armor and the Arbiter vanished. He whirled about and watched wide eyed as the void beyond the platform blackened, filled with the incorporeal bodies of thousands of spirit soldiers. He cried out in warning, and at the same moment that the spirit army rushed forth, Toma scooped Chiharu into his arms and ran behind Shu up the stairs.
The roar of spirit sounds echoed in the narrow stairwell and their bodies crashed against the walls and floor like waves of black ink. They followed so close on the warriors' heels that Shin could feel them groping for him, could hear hollow, wraith-like screams when their bodies exploded into thick mist as they trampled each other. He kept his eyes ever forward, however, as much because he was afraid to look behind him as he wanted to seem brave for Chiharu, who stared back at him wide-eyed with her mouth open to scream, though no sound issued forth from her.
"Keep going!" Shin cried above the din, and as the group passed through the white hallway—the first cell block proper—he turned to launch the wave crusher once more. The attack materialized and sent the spirits still on the stairs behind him tumbling back the way they came, but more and more funneled from each end of the long hallway from a source unseen, and Shin turned and fled, now much farther behind his companions than he would have liked.
"What do we do?" Chiharu asked in a panic. "There's too many of them! There's too many stairs to climb!"
Toma did not respond, so focused was he on continuing the climb. If truth was told he was utterly exhausted; he was not built to carry people as he was carrying Chiharu, and so his mind was focused only on forward progress and continuing to breathe. Shu, however, looked over his shoulder and offered her some confidence.
"We keep running!" Shu yelled. "And we hope to hell they don't come at us from above!"
Chiharu's stomach tied itself into a knot, and she held tight round Toma's neck. Then she looked behind, expecting some clever and truly reassuring response from Shin, but she was instead surprised to find that he had fallen quite far behind and was focused entirely on running as fast as his feet would take him. So Chiharu closed her eyes and pressed her face into Toma's cold sweaty neck, and she could feel his rapid pulse.
"God, don't let me die this way," she whispered, and she felt Toma's grasp on her body tighten.
"You've got the orb, don't you?" Toma said through labored gasps, and he felt Chiharu nod. "None of us will let you die."
Up and up the warriors fled with the sea of spirits growing at their back. Eight, ten, twelve stories they climbed, and though their bodies and minds screamed for relief from the exertion, their pace never slowed, until on the third landing from the top Shin turned to unleash the wave crusher again.
Shu, Toma, and Chiharu heard the slap of plate on stone as Shin hit the ground, and they turned as one to watch him being overtaken. Shin slapped and sliced with his trident, but for each enemy he slew a dozen more came behind, and eventually he disappeared beneath the weight of his enemies.
"Shin!" Shu cried, torn between unleashing the rock crusher and rushing down the stairs to save his companion. But as he moved toward the throng Toma thrust out his arm, stopping Shu dead in his tracks.
"They want the yoroi orb," Toma said with composure. "Chiharu, give them the orb."
Toma placed Chiharu on her feet so suddenly that her knees wobbled under her weight, and she looked at Toma with confusion. He practically pushed her down the stairs, where she threw the yoroi orb with all her might back the way the spirits had come. At the same time, Shu clambered down and pulled Shin from the pile, and though the warrior of torrent was obviously distressed and vaguely injured, he stood beside Toma and Chiharu long enough to watch as half of the spirits started back down the stairs after the orb. The other half hesitated long enough for the warriors to begin their flight back up the stairs, and then continued their pursuit.
At the first landing below the ground floor Shu spotted Seiji peering around, and screamed at him to run. And Seiji watched as Toma and Chiharu came barreling out of the doorway, Shin close behind, and a sea of black spirits poured into the space. Seiji was the first one up the stairs, where he screamed at Ryo to break for the exit, and within two minutes the warriors were blinded by sunlight and sprinting back toward their base.