Chapter 3 The Keeper's Dark Side
Open Arms Motel Saturday November 17th, 2012 2:15 PM
"Well besides the food that was a waste of time," James said after he and his 'Grandmother' returned to their room. He walked over to the rolling suitcase they had brought with them and lifted it up on to the bed. Once there he opened it, took off the baggy shirt he was wearing, and unfastened tactical harness he had strapped over his right shoulder and around his midsection to hold the obsidian dagger in the small of his back plus other accoutrements he might have needed if they had found person for whom they were looking.
"We will find the chosen one soon and then we will have the amulet. And with it we should be able to find the path needed to bring back your father." Gina Ruperts said putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder.
"I hope so, this is the fifth relic we've searched for and so far nothing has worked. The Chalice of Rencol, the Rings of Azael, No-Dachi of Manchu, the Hammer of Sanjo, and now this amulet. Is any of these items gonna be able to help at all?", James asked.
"These items are all connected to the underworlds of their respective areas, they should help us be able to bri...", Mrs Ruperts started to say before she bolted straight, "I feel magical powers in use. Grab your gear."
Ms Ruperts pulled an ornate set of golden rings connected to an onyx bracelet from the suitcase and threw on a deep purple hooded cloak with several intricate designs sewn into the fabric. She then pulled out several vials and other items and secreted them into pockets though out the cloak. was a mystical broach that casts an aura about her that prevents anyone she does not want to remember her from seeing her face. Her final touch she fin transformed her outfit into pale gray shirt with several charms sewn into and onto it, purple slacks with the same designs as the cloak, and finally golden boots.
In the mean time Jame had tossed on a jet black spandex hooded shirt, black ripstop gi pants, black neoprene grip gloves, and combat boot. He topped off the look with a black paintball mask and the harness he took off earlier. The sheath with the obsidian dagger was still at the small back as well as a black tonfa hanging off of a belt ring. The harness also held a medallion etched with a ward against ghosts.
"Are you ready?", Mrs Ruperts asked and upon seeing James nod she pointed at the door and said, "Per portas ultra vires ad me quaerant!"
The door shimmered and she opened it and they walked through.
Mountainous path
As the air shimmers the two figures step out of no where and on to a mountain path.
"Remember now that we are out in the field we must not disclose who we are, these people if they knew our true names could use them against us and even take control of us." Mrs Rupert said as she slowly led the way up the path. "Words and names have power, so we do not give them out and only use our pseudonyms."
"Right Keeper," James responded even though he has heard this same speech a thousands times already. Feeling a bit of unease about the path they were traveling he pulled his tonfa out of it's ring and held it at ready. Something about this area felt off to him.
"You feel it also, Yami?", Keeper asked even though she already knew the answer, his mystical awareness nearly rivaled her own.
"Yeah, there's something off about this area," Yami said as he watched every crevice they passed to make sure nothing leaped out at them. The path they were on led to a dark cave.
As they neared the mouth of the cave Keeper remarked with a sardonic tone, "Well you should feel right at home here."
"Funny," Yami joked back before asking, "Is the power you felt inside?"
"Yes, and it's strong," Keeper responded.
Taking a deep breath to steel their nerves they entered the mouth of the cave and slowly traveled with in. Occasionally they heard skittering noises as they traveled but they also noticed the cave was starting to lighten up, that was when Yami first saw them. Thousands of hands, no bodies or anything else, just hands. One began to crawl up his leg and on reflex he swatted it away. Suddenly they began to swarm of him , at first he was able to knock some of them away with is tonfa and his free hand. Then without warning one grabbed on to his left shoulder and pressed into his scar. Turning his full attention to the hands he began calling forth the shadows in the cave, directing them to sweep away the nuisances surrounding him. Noticing this some of the hands began to work with others to light the torches in the hall to reduce the amount of shadows. The battle continued and so focused was Yami on it he did not realize his mentor had continued on unmolested.
Lair of the Hand Witch
Keeper entered in to the room moving as quietly as she could, she should feel bad about leaving her charge back in the hall fighting the hands but she doesn't. She would have cast a sleep spell on him if he had made it all the way in with her and later blame it on the Witch she was about to confront. When she entered she saw her standing with her back to her as she stoked a fire in a recess in the wall of the room.
"So you have returned, Morrighan.", the Hand Witch remarked keeping her back to the keeper.
"Yes, Lotte I have. And I see you have finally improved your taste in decorations, the cave finally looks like a person lives here not a group of pigs." Keeper or as the Hand Witch had called her Morrighan responded.
"Well I felt the need to spiffy the place up recently, but you're not here to talk about furnishings are you?" Lotte the Hand Witch said as she turned around.
"No, I'm here for the Tome and the Amulet.", Morrighan stated matter-of-factly.
"You're too late, their power has been passed on and they are out of your reach," Lotte responded reaching into her poncho to grip a talisman.
"So you have finally found a successor?", Morrighan said as she moved closer to Lotte, flipping out a metal fan from a fold in her cloak. She waved her free hand towards the entrance and incanted, "Ne obice!"
A shimmering wall covered the entranceway.
"Do you really wish to do this? Remember why you left this town all those years ago.", Lotte remark as she pulled the talisman free from the recesses of her poncho and brandished it towards Morrighan.
"All I remember is your jealousy forced my friends to turn against me and made me an outcast in my own world.", Morrighan screamed as she swung open the fan and swiped it at Lotte. A wave of flame shot out and barely missed her.
"Jealousy, ha. You were banished because you were practicing the dark arts. You nearly set a horde of the undead against the town. If it had not been for the rest of our coven there would be no Gravity Falls.", Lotte said before using the talisman to cause her coffee table to attack Morrighan.
Raising the ring bearing hand a blast of blackness shattered the table as it drew near. She waved her fan again and a blast of wind knocked Lotte off of her feet. "Well you old hag, it looks like you are not going to win this fight. I am the Keeper of the Lore so give up now and tell me who has the Tome and the Amulet, And I just may spare your life."
"Never, you are not going to gain their power," Lotte said as she tried to get back to her feet. She was met by another blast of wind that nearly threw her into the crevice with the fire pit and knocked her talisman out of her hand.
"Bon voyage, Lotte. I'd say it has been fun catching up with you," Morrighan said as she raised the ringed hand again and blasted her with a jet of black fire, "but I don't want my last words to you to be a lie."
Back in the cavernous hallway
Sweating profusely Yami had finally swept all of the hands away into a cage of shadows he created against one corner of the pathway, trying his best to make sure they were still alive (if that's what you want to call them). He had noticed a few moments before that he was alone, the Keeper must have continued down the hall and he was worried about if she was ok. He kept the cage up as he slowly headed down the path she had to have taken until he seemingly hit an invisible wall. He looked in through the doorway and saw his mentor turning towards him with a frown on her face.
She walked over to where he was standing and tried to pass through only to act as if she did not the barrier was there. Raising her hand she intoned, "Obice disseminabunt!" Once that was done she embraced her student pretending to be glad he was alive.
"What happened Keeper? I don't see anyone else in the room.", Yami asked as he was released from the hug. He peered around and saw signs of the fight but again no witch.
"She was once a friend of mine, but she attacked me as I came into the room. I defended my self and asked her about the Amulet but she refused to tell me anything. She even sent her table to attack me, a table do you believe that." Morrighan back in her Keeper persona responded, taking a breath she continued. "after she realized I was winning she swore I would never get the name of the holder of the Amulet from her and jumped into the fire pit, combusting instantly. It is sad , we were once friends but she must have gone mad after she was banished from our old coven."
"So we have lost another lead in this quest. Maybe we should just go back to the motel and rest we both look like we could use it.", Yami said as he turned and walked back down the hallway.
Too bad he didn't see the evil grin on the Keeper's face as she looked back towards the fireplace.
And here is the third installment of Gravity Heroes: Sidetracks, I hope you have enjoyed this look into the motivation of one of the villains in the Gravity Heroes-verse and her assistant who doesn't know that she is a villain. Her magic is different from Mabel's in that she uses Latin (don't kill me if the translation is off I used Google translate) to cast her spells while Mabel's use the Atbash cipher, as well as her propensity to use darker magic.
The character of James/Yami was created by The Keeper of Worlds, and is included with his permission. Though he has been built upon and embellished by me. ;-)
I also would feel honored if any of my works inspire any art. If the do I would love to see them. Thanks again to all who have read this far.
Again I'd like to give a shout out to EZB, SuperGroverAway, ddp456, & Popcat131. It was their stories that made me want to get back into writing and to want to start with Gravity Falls. Please check out their stories if you haven't already.
Please review. I'm always open to constructive and helpful criticism, though if you're gonna troll please move on.
On to the reviews, guests will have the chapter it came from to differentiate them (though they possibly are the same person)
Reader The Keeper of Worlds: Thank you, I hope you enjoyed this chapter also.
Reader Guest Chapter 2: Thanks. And yes these are intended to be shorter chapters as they focus usually on only one or two members of the Gravity Heroes-verse. Glad you like the feel, that was what I was somewhat going for. As for her helmet, it is on the head shots cover picture over on the regular, as foe a verbal description, I would say it looks like metallic cobalt blue Cobra Commander's mask with out the helmet https/ www. Yojoe action/ 09/ cobracommander39 .shtml Hope this helps.