Heavy footsteps followed me as I led the way down the passageway. The torches flames flickered heavily and I glanced over to see Nina beside me inspecting the large portraits that were hanging on the stone walls. I didn't blame her for staring at them, they were defiantly beautiful.
The subjects were obviously the kings and queens of this place. All of them were dressed even more elaborately then the golden people we had just seen. Some were stoically standing and glaring while others smiled knowing smiles. The names of the rulers were painted on the bottom of the painting in large cursive. Apparently we were only in one section of this land because some of them had titles as well. Some apparently were the Dukes and Duchesses of Venus, some were Counts of Mars and others were Lords of Minerva. King Freidman and Queen Beatrice were the rulers through 1237 and then all the way into 1295. The widowed Lady Amelia of Diana ruled all the way from 1353 into the turn of the century. Duke James of Mercury had eight different wives in his era that lasted between 1555 into 1594.
I stopped looking at the paintings and turned my attention to my friends behind me. Amber was quietly filling her nails while Alfie whispered into her ears. From time to time her face broke into a wide smile and you could tell he was trying to make her laugh. Patricia seemed to be explaining the whole Sibuna mystery to Mick and Mara. Jerome was holding his phone high in the air, looking for service.
"Whoa," I bumped into the visibly freaked out Nina. "What's the matter?" I asked her as I moved my eyes to where hers were resting. Her eyes were locked on a large portrait of the King and Queen of the entire Land of The Gods according to the script underneath them in the painting. The King, whose name was Steven, had an ornate crown on his curly hair that strongly resembled Nina's. His blue eyes held both authority and kindness as he held hands with the queen. The scrawl also told us her name was Jacqueline. She also bore a striking resemblance between her and Nina, her hair was darker and held more of a wave instead of a curl but she was incredibly pretty. I looked at the date and saw that they ruled through 1978-1998.
Nina's breath was shaky and she grasped onto my hand tightly before whispering out what I had already pieced together.
"Those are my parents Fabian. My parents' names are Steven and Jacqueline and they died back in 1998. And they looked exactly like that." Nina stumbled into my arms and I held her tightly. Amber's disappointment leaked through her voice.
"So Nina's the princess? Not me! Aww!" Amber pouted as she put her hands over her chest in disappointment. Mara, who was standing next to Amber, rolled her eyes in utter disbelief. She gawked at Amber and lightly smacked her shoulder.
"Amber!" Mara scolded Amber for a moment before walking over to me and Nina. She gently placed her hand on Nina's shoulder softly. "Are you alright Nina?" She asked her worriedly. Nina said nothing, her beautiful face was tense and I could see tears forming in her eyes. She shook her head and buried her face in my chest. I wrapped my arms around her and reached my hands up to stroke her hair. Looking back up I took another look at her parents and realized how much Nina must have missed them. I had seen her cry before but never like this. She barely talked about them and even when she did she only ever got a distant look in her eyes and changed the subject after a few minutes.
Just as I was about to try and brush her tears away she pulled away and shook away her tears. She breathed in and out as she rubbed at her face roughly. Brushing away the final tears that were escaping she put a smile on her face and put her hands on her hips confidently.
"It's okay, we can talk about this later. After we save this place. Then we can talk about it. Let's just go." She nodded her head, as if assuring herself this was the right plan, and then turned around again. Nina placed one foot forward, hesitating for a minute, and then walked quickly forward again. I bit my lip, unsure of what to do now. I could tell her it would be better to talk about it now, I could grab her again and hold as she cried or I could move forward with her.
Before I could even decide what to do Amber's fearful shriek echoed around the dark hallway. Both Nina and I whirled around to see Amber plunging into a large, golden lit room that had been masked by the painting of Count Gerald of Jupiter. Loud bangs and pained cries rang out loudly.
"Ow! That hurt! Woah… you guys have to come down here! I think I found that thingy those ugly looking things were talking about." Amber called up to us, her voice sounding incredibly distant for seemingly only falling for a second.
"Are you okay Amber?" Nina called down to her best friend with a worried look on her face.
"Yeah I'm fine. I fell on this nice, soft rug, but it still hurt." Amber hollered back at Nina.
My eyes darted around the room, looking for an idea of what to do. All of my friends were looking at the ripped portrait completely shocked at what Amber had just said. I walked over to the marred painting and pulled the rest of it back, creating a bigger space for us to walk down. A cobblestone spiral staircase that led to a small, brightly illuminated chamber that held Amber and a gleaming piece of paper. Sighing I grabbed a torch off of the wall and began to step down the steps.
Noticing that nobody but Nina was following I called back up the steps.
"Hey come on. Let's go." I motioned for them to follow me as I bounded down the steps. After a moment my friends snapped out of their stupor and followed me down. I reached Amber and held out my hand so she could get up. Grabbing on to me I pulled her up, checked to make sure everyone had followed me, and walked over to the golden paper.
I knew at once that this was what the two goblins Hicksburgalo and Berrywell had been talking about. I reached my hands out to it but before I could grasp it in my hands the stone wall in front of me crashed open, making the stones fly around us. I shielded my eyes from the debris and was terrified by what I saw.
Four, huge, warty, ogres came barreling through the walls gripping onto axes. If Nina thought the painting of Sarah had scared me she had no idea what I was feeling now. They growled at us and came towards us slowly lifting their axes high in the air. Standing still for only a moment I left the document behind and went flying towards the stairs. I grabbed Nina's arm and pulled her along with me yelling back to the rest of my friends.
"Run!" I shouted as I ran faster than I ever had in my life. We broke free into the hallway where we had started and began to trip down the stairs because we were running two fast. I turned my head around to see all of my friends rushing away from the quickly approaching them. Mick ran so fast he passed me by.
Three archways came into view and I pushed forward trying to decide which way was the best way. One was to the left that led into a dimly lit hallway. The one in the middle was in the same direction we were already going and looked almost the same in regards to light. The final choice had the same gray light billowing from inside of it. I knew that it was the way to go. I was positive.
"That way!" I declared as I pointed towards it. Sliding into the room I turned back around to see the rest of my friends were bolt into the room. Just as the ogres were about to bring the axe down on the shocked Amber a golden stone barrier crashed down on the floor, blocking out our tormentors and leaving us all in safety.
"What was that?" Mick gaped as he pointed to the wall with huge eyes. He looked back at us with the most shocked face I had ever seen. Jerome raised his eyebrow in that cocky, smug look he always gets whenever he's going to say something sarcastic. Jerome seemed to get that look a lot with Mick.
"Hmm, well it could be four ogre things chasing us through a magical land. Or you know it could also be Amber's new lip-gloss. I think it's a tossup, don't you?" he snickered for a moment before turning around to look further down the passageway. It really looked infinite; it seemed to go on forever and ever. Frowning, I thought about our options. Everybody looked completely exhausted and weary but pressing on would probably be what we had to do. There was no way we could stay here, the ogres were already pressing on the barrier and it may not hold them for long.
And then, as if a guide, the gray light was there again, showing me the way up until a certain point on the wall. I raised an eyebrow, why would it just stop suddenly at the wall. Unless there is something in the wall. Running over to it I began to study the space intently.
"Okay Fabian…what's with the random love of walls?" A seemingly confused Alfie asked as he came up behind me, followed by the rest of the gang. Didn't he see the light?
"The light… it lead us here. Aren't you paying attention?" I muttered as I traced my fingers along the wall, looking for a crack or a way out. Alfie's hand started to wave in front of my face. "What Alfie!" I snapped, angrily. I didn't really mean to but it was just so frustrating sometimes. His face looked hurt and I softened my face, feeling bad that I had made one of my friends upset.
"Nobody else sees a light Fabian." He told me, worriedly, which was odd for Alfie since he really was the laid back guy of the group. I couldn't believe they didn't see the light. It was plain as day. The gray light stood out to me and only me for some reason. I felt like Nina, scared and unsure. I'm the only one who can see the light because this is Jupiter's land and I'm the descendant. I would have to save my friends and this land almost by myself.
I bit my lip and wondered if I was right or just plain crazy. Just as I was about to back away from the wall I pressed onto one of the larger bricks and it went back farther into the wall. Both it and a large portion of the stones around it fell away leaving behind another passageway.
"Oh, well I guess this invisible light really likes us!" Amber said brightly as she pushed past me and nonchalantly walked into the passageway. "You know all of these passageways are getting super confusing." She complained. "I mean why isn't there just a sign that says Shortcut to Magical Document? That would be so much easier!" I rolled my eyes but I actually had to agree with her. This was getting more complicated then the old Sibuna mystery. At least there we were in our own world, not one where we barely had a clue what we were doing. I mean first we get attacked by ogres and now we were finding hidden passageways inside of another passageway. Although I liked adventures I didn't really enjoy this one.
"She's got a point." Mara pointed out as she followed Amber. Jerome trailed behind her, Alfie went behind him, then came Mick, and finally Patricia. Nina tapped my arm and reached her head up to my ear to whisper something in my ear.
"We've got to get back to the room. And fast." She said this with a gripping urgency and I could only nod my head in agreement. She was right. Even though we weren't a part of this place, even if we didn't know who the villain was, and even though we had no idea exactly what we were doing I knew we had to help these trapped people.
"Yeah you're right. Let's go." I said as I followed the rest of my friends with Nina by my side.
We continued walking for what seemed like forever, we were all tired and weary but I knew we had to keep going. Who knew when the ogres could come back chasing after us? Of course I doubted its probability but I knew it could still happen. Honestly I wish the light would come back to guide me, this hallway seemed to go on for eternity and I didn't see the end coming anytime soon.
As if it had heard my prayers the lights blowy figure returned. It seemed to almost dance around me for a moment before rushing away deeper into the darkness. I ran after it, almost falling over on my face because I was going so fast. Of course my confused friends came after me , screaming at me.
"Fabian! Where are you going?" Nina yelled after me. Mick, who was not even running his full speed caught up to me, bellowed at me.
"Where the hell are you going mate?" His voice carried the loudest over my other friends. I ignored them, not saying a word as I followed the light into a dead end. As I tried to skid into a stop I accidently rammed my whole body into the wall. Even though it was one of the most painful things I had ever had happen to me I ignored it when the wall broke down to reveal the same room we had to flee from when the ogres came.
"Wow Fabian. This light must really like you mate!" Alfie exclaimed as he clapped me on the shoulder. "Now go read that document to save this place or whatever." He winked at me and pushed me forward to it.
Even though I felt I had been brave so far but now, as I was supposed to read this… this document of sorts I was completely scared. I walked towards it tentatively and closed my eyes tightly before I began to read it.
"To protect ,
With no regrets,
This is fake,
Finding the real one will not be easy as cake,
Ten steps back,
Ten steps right,
Be warned because you are in for a fright."
"It's a fake!" I cried out in anger. How could we have gone through all the trouble of finding our way back to this place only to discover it was a fake? This was defiantly harder than our Sibuna mystery!
"Well at least it tells us where to go. Fabian why don't you just take ten steps back and then ten steps to the right and see what happens?" Mara suggested to me. Biting my lip I counted my steps backwards slowly- One step, two steps, three steps, four steps, five steps, six steps, seven steps, eight steps, nine steps, and the final tenth step to the back. I shuffled to the right ten times. Just as I was about to cry out in frustration the floor beneath me slide away and then I was falling back as my friends screamed around me.
AN/ Not gonna say much… yeah so here it is. The next two chapters are done already so whenever I get 'em back I'll post them. Thanks for reviews, and please leave some to tell me what you think.
Grace-Thank you so much! I hope this chapter will satisfy your cravings for a new chapter. (Totally always wanted to say that.)
Allthepossibilites- Hehehe thank you! AU stories are fun to write!
Sweetcupcake62- I'm glad you like it!Thanks for the review!
Alice-in-wonderland-22-Lol, meathead down on aisle 2!
Serinityskywalker- Will do! I love your name by the way (StarWars is legit)
Nina Clarke-Thank you! I shall!