W.I.T.C.H

Chapter 30

Ruthless

Kandrakar

The Honor Guard walked through the large black doors and into the second chamber on their path to the Engine of Kandrakar. It was a large, dark room, with a high ceiling and a black door at the other end. A few torches on the wall providing light were the only things in an otherwise empty room.

"Spread out, be ready for anything." Caleb instructed, drawing his sword.

"Any ideas, Blunk?" Elyon asked.

"Yes, Blunk have idea. Go back to Meridian. Very good idea. Meridian not spooky."

"What's to be afraid of?" Drake asked. "It's just an empty room."

Suddenly, a small figure appeared in front of them. No larger then a child, the creature was completely black, except for large purple eyes.

"Well, that's creepy." Tynar said.

"It's blocking our way to the door." Julian noted.

"Yes," Caleb said, "yes it is. Vathek, would you be so kind as to remove it?"

"Gladly."

Vathek charged. The creature, unabashed by the attack, merely raised its arm. Vathek was flung backwards by an unseen force.

"I'm really getting sick of flying through the air." Vathek said once he had landed.

The rest of the Honor Guard attacked as a group, minus Vathek, who was on the ground, and Raythor who had no weapon. He had lost his sword in the last chamber, and could now only grasp at his empty sheath as his teammates were flung through the air.

As soon as they got back to their feet, the Honor Guard attacked again. Individually, in pairs, the result was always the same. They could get within feet of the creature but would be thrown away.

"This sucks." Caleb said, summing up everyone's thoughts.

"Try attacking from all sides." Raythor said. "It can't seem to defend two spots at once.

The team did as Raythor had told them, and for once, met with success. As the creature dispatched Walli, Drake managed to sneak in from behind and pierce the creatures' chest with both of his daggers. This, however, had no effect, and the creature barely even looked at the knifes in it's body. It sent Drake flying without even turning around.

"Now what?" Caleb said. "It took us ten minutes just to get close to the thing, an even then our best kill shot didn't even make it flinch."

"Wait, a second, what is this Chamber called again?" Elyon asked.

"The Chamber of Commitment." Julian answered.

Elyon rolled her eyes and walked towards the creature.

"Elyon?" Caleb said nervously.

"Don't worry Caleb, I got this one." Elyon replied.

The creature stared at Elyon as she got nearer.

"Hello!" Elyon said to the creature. "I think we got off on the wrong foot. My name is Elyon, and we'd really like to go through that door. Would you please get out of the way?"

The collective jaws of the Honor Guard fell to the floor as the creature moved to one side, just as Elyon had asked. She took a step past it and beamed back at Caleb.

"What just happened?" Caleb asked.

"This is the Chamber of Commitment." Elyon said. "And Kandrakar's motto is 'Commitment to Peace'. So I figured we had to use peace to move forward."

Caleb shook his head in disbelief as he walked past the creature and through the open door.

W.I.T.C.H had gotten to their feet and were now united in front of Endarno and his replacement Guardians. They had faked defeat and had not only learned of Endarno's true plan to replace them as Guardians, but had also managed to land a free attack on each of their foes. The excitement they had felt from having their plan work quickly faded once the battle resumed.

Since they were no longer pretending, W.I.T.C.H was giving the replacement Guardians the fight of their life. Will was trading blasts with Orube, and the rest of the girls were holding their own against their counter parts. Will still had one more part of her plan that she had to enact, however, before she could completely focus on Orube.

"Elders!" She said, narrowly avoiding an attack from Orube. "You heard what he said. You heard what he tried to do!"

The elders had moved back to avoid being caught in the battle, but they could still hear Will's words. It was clear that Will was getting through to them.

"We have done nothing but serve Kandrakar as Guardians, and how does he repay us? By tricking us and then trying to kill us!"

There was a lot of murmuring now between the elders. Only yesterday Endarno had had their full support, but now things had become less clear. Will's words made sense, and the elders didn't know what to think.

"You heard his plans!" Will continued. "He used you, all of you, for his own personal gain! He is not worthy of being your Oracle! He sees you only as tools!"

"You don't understand! You don't know the things I do, you don't know what I've had to do!" Endrano pleaded. But it was too late. His cries sounded desperate and the elders were angry. It was one thing to try and hurt the Guardians, but to use the fortress? To lie and trick your way into power? That was unacceptable. And the elders had had enough.

"Very well!" Endarno growled. "I see my plans have gone awry. I appear to have only one course of action available to me. Guardians! My Guardians! Kill them all!"

Orube, loyal to Endarno and with no connections to Kandrakar, obeyed. She fired a blast that sent Will flying.

"Time to end this." Orube said, advanacing towards Will.

Will got to her feet, her hands sparking with energy.

"My thoughts exactly." she said.

Caleb had trained himself to be ready for any situation. He knew how to handle any adversary and how defend any attack. Despite this, he was not prepared for what happened in the third chamber.

As soon as Elyon, Blunk and the Honor Guard entered the small, cube shaped room, the doors on either end of the room slammed shut.

"That can't be good."

Suddenly, the roof opened up, and water poured in, filling up the room completely. Caleb tried to focus, to use the warrior part of his mind as the water swirled around him, but nothing came. There were no exits and no way to stop the water from coming in. He began to feel a panic set in. It had all happened so fast, there was no way to think of a plan. The elders who worked on the Engine would know what to do, but they didn't. Elyon floated by, her cheeks puffed out, trying to hold as much air as possible. He had failed her. He had led her into danger and now she was going to pay for it.

He had just about given up hope when he spotted something near the door they had come in. It was a lever with a sign above it. The sign showed a water drop with a line through it. It was easy enough to understand; pull the lever and the water went away. He swam towards the switch and was about to pull it when something grabbed his hand.

He turned around and found his father staring back at him. Julian pulled Caleb's hand away from the lever and shook his head. Caleb gave him a confused look, and tried once more to pull the switch. Once again Julian stopped him. Caleb had no more energy left for another try. As the last bit of air escaped from his lungs, something very unexpected happened. The water disappeared. Without anyone doing anything, they were suddenly standing on the dry chamber floor. All nine of them stood bent over, coughing water out of their lungs.

"Dad, what was that all about?" Caleb said, once he could talk.

"This is the Chamber of Endurance." Julian said. "We had to endure the water, not fight it. I'm guessing that if you had pulled that lever, we would have been trapped forever."

"Good call." Elyon said. "Now let's get out of here."

The team shook themselves dry, and headed for the next chamber.

Will couldn't resist a tiny smile as she charged towards Orube. The last five minutes had been a tense execution of a complicated plan. From Taranee's idea to defeat the Knights, to letting the new Guardians defeat them, to convincing the elders that Endarno was the wrong Oracle, her mind had been racing. But now, all of that was done. Will the strategist had done her part, now it was time for Will the warrior. She struck hard and fast against Orube, buying some time to survey the situation.

Cornelia was in a tug of war with her opponent. The Earth Guardian kept throwing boulders and the replacement Guardian kept shooting them down. Cornelia kept up the attack while secretly raising a large boulder from behind her enemy. The rock slammed into the replacement Guardian from behind, sending her spiraling to the ground. Cornelia quickly flashed Will the thumbs up sign, then kept up the attack.

Taranee decided not to use such fancy strategy against her foe. Fireballs collided with energy beams in mid-air, their bright explosions lighting up the sky. After a few seconds of trading shots, Taranee dove towards the new Guardian and got in close. She grabbed the wrists of her opponents with red-hot hands. The replacement Guardian screamed, then threw Taranee backwards against a wall. Will could only watch as the two once more continued they're aerial battle.

Hay Lin and Irma were fighting together against two of the other Guardians. The replacements might have had more fighting experience, but they were no match for Irma and Hay Lin's teamwork. Water and air combined and twirled together in a stunning display of power. Hay Lin would use her air currents to keep the replacements off balance, while Irma hit them with various water attacks. Their enemies were holding their own due only to their superior firepower. Will could see that her friends needed no help.

With her fellow Guardians accounted for, Will focused on Orube. She had gotten to her feet, and was back on the attack. It was clear that Orube was the more aggressive of the two, and Will decided to use it against her. She flew into the air, chased by bolts of golden energy. She fired lightning bolts only occasionally, preferring to stay on the defensive. The plan was to let Orube tire herself out with the constant attacks, then take her down once she was too exhausted to defend herself. It was a plan Will had used in the past, and she expected it to work.

Will swung her arms back to give herself maximum air speed. The sanctuary walls blurred as she raced past them. She could hear Orube's bolts of energy shooting over her head, but kept flying. Orube tried every move she knew to bring Will down, but the younger girl managed to avoid all attacks. Orube was getting angry, and it showed. Where before her blasts had left scorch marks on the walls, they now left craters. Will soon realized that one blast would be all Orube needed to win.

After several minutes of defending, Will was beginning to sweat. Something was wrong. Will was on the verge of exhaustion, but Orube seemed full of energy. They must have an almost unlimited power source, Will thought to herself. Her plan wasn't working. Orube was not getting tired. She would have to come up with another plan. While Will was working on a way to defeat Orube, she got sloppy. Orube rushed in from behind Will and grabbed her ankle, throwing Will to the ground.

Will ordered herself to get up, but her muscles wouldn't listen. She had only gotten to her knees when Orube landed and pointed a glowing fist at her.

"Goodbye, girl." Orube said.

Orube's fist glowed with power. Will shut her eyes, and waited for the end.

The Honor Guard stepped cautiously into the fourth chamber, ready for anything. This chamber was similar to the last one. Small, square and dark, with a black door at the other end.

"I don't know who designed these rooms, but they're a jerk." Tynar said.

"What is this chamber called?" Walli asked.

"The Chamber of Strength." Elyon replied.

As she said this, a large steel wall came down in front of the far door, blocking it completely. A handle appeared in the front of the wall, so someone could grip in and try to lift the wall up.

"Well, at least it's straight forward." Tynar said. "Vathek?"

Vathek, by far the biggest and strongest of the Honor Guard, grabbed the handle and began to pull. The wall didn't moved.

"Uh oh." Drake said. "Now what?"

"I can do it." Vathek said, griping the handle again.

"I know that this isn't going to surprise anyone, but were locked in." Raythor said, attempting to open the door they had just come in.

"Do you see any writing, Blunk?" Julian asked, scanning the wall.

"No! Nothing! Just big wall that's too heavy! We stuck!"

"Stop yelling, Blunk." Elyon said.

"It's not too heavy." Vathek said, breathing heavily, "I can lift it.

Despite Vathek's confidence in himself, it was clear that the wall was not going to be moved.

"This doesn't make any sense." Raythor said. "Vathek's got to be ten times as strong as any of the elders. How can they lift it when he can't?"

"Hmmmm." Caleb said, thinking.

"Caleb?" Elyon asked.

"This is the Chamber of Strength, right?" he said. "Father, do you remember what you always told me when I was a child?"

Julian thought for a moment, then smiled.

"I told you that true strength is not about being strong enough, it's about admitting when you're not."

"Someone want to explain to me what you guys are talking about?" Vathek said.

"You have to admit that you can't lift it." Caleb said.

"What?"

"Tell the wall you can't lift it."

Vathek rolled his eyes, but did as he was told.

"I can't lift you." he said. Nothing happened.

"Say that you're too weak."

Vathek muttered something under his breath, then turned back to the wall.

"I'm too weak."

This time, the wall slowly rose back up into the ceiling where it had come from. Caleb gave Vathek a pat on the back.

"Good job, old friend."

The nine of them stared at the black door in front of them, but did not enter it.

"Yan Lin said that the even the elders were too scared to talk about the fifth chamber." Walli said.

"Yep."

"Are we sure we want to do this?" Tynar asked.

"Do we have a choice?" Raythor replied.

"I guess not."

"Alright," Caleb said. "Let's go."

And with that, Elyon, Blunk and the Honor Guard walked through the door, and into the final chamber.