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Chapter 5: Oh Bugger!
The dust in a tomb would accumulate during the years, leaving almost a blanket as thick as the walls that surrounded it. A tomb which had traps to ward off the hardest of grave robbers so it would not be disturbed save only if the being buried within would rise from the dead. That is not the case with the legendary Tomb of Raithwall.
The dust that enveloped the walls, the ceiling and the floor fell from their comfortable positions to fly about in the air, as the halls echoed with the sound of frantic running, loud slashing and banging and deep roaring mixed with weird sounds of annoyance.
"I quite think we got more than we bargained for here." A cool, calm and collected voice spoke that contradicted with the owner's hands which held a gun, a Folmhaut, which pelted an enemy half-hidden in the shadows. "Remind me again what are we doing here." He asked his companion who held a Sagittarius bow in her hands and was shooting as fast as her legs cut the distance to the exit.
"You were bored." The archer replied just as calmly, with a knowing smile on her face.
"Oh yes." The gunner agreed. "That was it."
The duo ran as frantically as they could, trying to outrun and dodge the entity that was chasing them. They have been there before, and this same fiend had chased them around the tomb. But in their last visit, they were six and it wasn't that long to stop it. However, this time they were only two, and chances are it was better for them to run than to stand and fight.
The entity that was chasing them was called a Demon Wall, a dark-empowered being as large as the tomb's walls only it was animate and was capable of crushing them down with a powerful swipe of its arms. Previously, the Demon was chained to a wall, thanks to the fact that they had a companion who had the blood to be there. But now that only the two of the six returned to the Tomb, the enchantments binding the Demon to the Wall was set loose and now looked like a great giant spider with the relief of King Raithwall as its face. It was now faster, a lot deadlier and a lot wilder, capable of severing a human body into two, so it would wish it.
"How far are we from the exit?" the man asked his companion, dodging a large piece of the ceiling that had fallen when the Demon Wall rammed a nearby column with its wildly swinging arms.
The archer looked ahead and almost a look as if she saw things he didn't came over her. "We approach it. But there is trouble."
He made an annoyed sound. "There is always trouble. What is it this time?"
But the woman didn't have to answer for the two approached the bridge that connected one part of the tomb with the other. They crossed it earlier when they entered but now, it was almost impossible to get through for the once complete bridge was nothing more than two huge pieces of rubble jutting out from the tomb's wall.
"Tsk." Was all he said. He turned to look at his companion. "Any ideas Fran?"
"Of course." Replied the archer calmly.
"Best get to it then. The beastie comes."
Fran closed her eyes for a few seconds and a green light swirled around her, producing a sturdy thick vine.
"Showing of your new talents I see." The man teased with a cock of his head. He aimed at the oncoming Demon Wall and shot another bullet making an enormous echoing sound across the tomb as it hit its mark.
"Do not be ridiculous." Fran replied promptly. She tied one end of the vine at the tail of one of her Artemis arrows. Flicking her long hair behind her with a shake of her head, she notched the loaded arrow into her bow and aimed high. With a resonate twang, the arrow sliced through the air and embedded itself strongly into the ceiling of the tomb.
Fran strapped her bow at her back and pulled to see if the vine was strong enough to hold any weight.
"Are you ready?"
Fran wrapped one of her arms around the vine and drew back to prepare to swing across. "Let us go." She offered the free arm to her companion.
"All this trouble for a piece of rock." He shook his head as he ran towards Fran, holstering his gun as he did so. "We really should find more uses with our free time Fran." He grabbed her hand and holding unto her, they swung off the destroyed bridge to travel to the other side.
As they swung, the deep chasm below them, the Demon Wall suddenly burst to life once more, running at a greater speed. Seeing that the two adventurers were almost on their way to escape, the Demon Wall unleashed a terrible roar and launched itself in the air as it gave chase.
The man un-holstered his gun and aimed it at the Demon Wall, an amused expression on his face.
"My respects to you, oh Dynast-King." He said and pulled the trigger. The Windslicer bullet cut through the air as the gun recoiled, blasting the once-proud looking statue of the great Dynast-king into the depths of the deep chasm below.
The two landed on the opposite side of the bridge, feeling triumphant and cheerful.
"Have you got the stone?" Fran asked her companion as he dusted his clothes.
He produced it with a mischievous smile on his face. "All of Ivalice would want in possession of this treasure once they know it's real. A price that would suit a couple of old pirates."
"Old?" Fran asked with a raise of her eyebrows.
He smiled at her. "Sorry about that." He pocketed the stone and picked up his Folmhaut. "Let's get out of here; I can here the calls of a fresh bath waiting for us."
Fran was about to reply when a sound came from above. She looked up, her ears pricking.
"That expression is never a good sign." The man replied at her frown.
Before Fran could explain, the tomb echoed with the sounds of cracking and the ceiling suddenly bore a great fissure from the fallen columns the Demon Wall had brought down earlier.
The man quickly grabbed Fran's hand and started to pull her towards the exit.
"Never a dull moment, my life." He commented as the two dodged and sidestepped several large debris, both from the walls and the ceiling.
"Sky pirate." Was all Fran said.
"Fran please."
The woman laughed at his expression, jumping such a height to get over the large fallen wall that blocked their path.
The tomb fell apart around them as they reached the exit. Problem was, the mechanism to bring them outside was smashed by one of the big boulders that had fallen.
"Now this is a problem." Fran stated simply.
"Never say never. "The man replied calmly, shaking his head. He looked across the fallen rock and spotted a window high above them. "Come on." He said, jumping above one fallen boulder to scale him to the top.
"I would think there is an easier way out of here than this, Balthier." Fran said, still smiling but followed Balthier as he climbed the rocks nimbly.
"I could blast the rocks with Majicks, but what fun is there in that?" he replied over his shoulder. Just as he did so, he saw that the tomb was determined to have them trapped inside without leaving, the rocks were falling heavily and it was more difficult for them to scale the rocks now.
"Quickly." He spoke with an urgency that did not lose his calm tone.
The window was in their reach…just a few more rocks to go…
"Jump!!"
Balthier turned back, grabbed Fran's hand and made a running leap towards the window and out.
The sun's rays blasted across their faces, warming them as they left the tomb. Just as they did so, the resonating sound of rock falling and thuds echoing sounded behind them as the duo landed, rolling on the ground to break their fall.
Dust swirled across them, just like what happened inside the tomb when they were still running from that blasted wall.
"Another happy landing if I do say so myself." Balthier murmured as he spat out the dust that he so unfortunately tasted. He made to stand to dust himself.
"Halt!" an order shouted across the sands.
When Balthier stood up, he found his neck exposed to several very pointy and otherwise, annoying weapons. Fran beside him was in the same predicament. The owners of these annoying weapons were none other as the monochromatic armored Imperials.
"Do you see this as a problem?" Fran asked over her shoulder to Balthier who bore an irritated and exasperated look.
"Oh bugger."
