In this chapter we will see the third chapter of the Tome of Eternal Darkness, and our third member of those fighting against the darkness in the present time will join the group.
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Disclaimer I in no way own Harry potter or Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. I'm just having some fun.
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5: Suspicions of Conspiracy
In the last few days leading up to the first task Jasmine observed more and more students becoming selfish and self-absorbed. They were constantly picking fights, putting one another down, and actually studying their books.
To be fair that was mostly the Ravenclaws and Hermione, but the fact remained that not everyone appeared to be acting out of character in the sight of the professors.
There were 4 exceptions to this. The first was Jasmine herself. True she was seen walking around the school at all hours of the day, but not 1 professor had caught her getting up to any mischief.
This, instead of relaxing them, caused each and every one of them to worry even more. Despite having taught Miss Potter for nearly 3 and a half years, the teachers and the teaching staff still expected her to pull some kind of prank just like her father had when he was a student.
The second person that wasn't acting in a different manner from normal was Luna. She still would talk about her creatures to anyone who would listen, and this seemly refusal to change herself led her to more and harsher bullying from her own house. At least it did before Jasmine stood in the middle of the grate hall, and asked why a house based on wit and knowledge would shun 1 who embodies the very traits of the house. Unsurprisingly Cho Chang, who had been 1 of Luna's worse bullies, had asked in a snide tone how believing in imaginary animals was showing with. Jasmine had asked if anyone could prove Luna's animals were imaginary. This 1 question had silenced everyone else. Leaving Luna to search for her answers in peace.
The third person who seemed to be immune to what was going on was Susan Bones from Hufflepuff. After her fight with Hannah Abbot Susan had cut all ties with her housemates and worked alone on her schoolwork. This, however, turned out to be dangerous. Three days after her fight with Hannah Susan was accosted by 4 Slytherin boys from her year, Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crab, Greg Goil, and Theodore Nott.
"Well, well boys" Malfoy sneered. "Look what we've caught."
Susan had tried to defend herself, but Nott had yanked her wand out of her hand and tossed it down the hallway. Susan had backed up against the wall looking for an escape. Unfortunately, she was surrounded, and each of the boys took their turn in ripping clothes off of the cute redhead. What made it even worse was that Cedric walked by, paused, and leered at Susan in her half-dressed state.
"Hay Malfoy. When you guys are done with her, I'd like to have a g..."
Without warning all the boys, including Cedric, were hit with petrifying curses. Pulling off an invisibility cloak Jasmine Potter stocked up to the 5 boys. "So, you think it's ok to rape another person, do you?"
As Luna helped guide Susan out of the circle of petrified students, Jasmine gestured with her wand. "Let's see how you like not being able to enjoy any kind of sex ever again."
With that Jasmine spoke a long incantation pointing to each of the boys frozen like statues. When she finished there was a flash of magic that connected to each boy standing there.
"There that's done" Jasmine said. "Now remember what we talked about here. I would hate to make your condition permanent."
Though none of the boys could move even an inch, each 1 was terrified to learn what had been done to them.
Jasmine joined Luna, and the 2 of them lead Susan away and toward the hospital wing.
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The visit with Madam Pomfrey didn't go as well as any of them had hoped.
"What's this" Madam Pomfrey said as the 3 girls walked through the hospital wing doors. "Are you already in need of healing Potter?"
Jasmine gave Pomfrey a look that had the nurse backing away just a bit. "I know you are not blind Madam Pomfrey. So how could you think I am the 1 in need of healing when I am 1 of the people supporting the girl between us?" With that both Jasmine and Luna helped Susan to 1 of the beds.
Reluctantly Pomfrey Walked over to the bed the girls had placed Susan on. Oh, she checked over Susan as she was supposed to, but Jasmine got the impression that Susan had just submitted to whatever the boys from Slytherin and Hufflepuff desired. It wasn't anything she said. Just a vibe she was giving off during the treatment.
After leaving the hospital wing Susan asked Jasmine "Is there somewhere we can talk?"
Jasmine nodded. "Luna and I discovered a hidden room under the grate hall. This way."
The 3 girls walked through the school until they reached the grate hall. Luckily the hall was empty of people. Allowing Jasmine and Luna to examine the floor where they had seen the stairs leading out of the secret room.
For several minutes the 2 girls searched the floor, until Jasmine noticed a rune carved into the floor. "This might be it" she said softly as she pressed a finger to the rune and channeled some of her magic.
There was a click, and Luna noticed a handle had just appeared next to the rune Jasmine had pressed. Grasping the handle Jasmine pulled up, raising a trapdoor that led back down into the corridor she and Luna had seen before.
"Here we go" she said, just before they could hear footsteps approaching. Quickly the 3 girls hurried down the stairs. As soon as Jasmine had dropped down 5 steps the trapdoor shut with a click. Hiding the girls from view.
After retracing their steps back to the secret room, Jasmine and Luna gave their full attention to Susan.
Susan looked around in surprise. "What is this place?"
Jasmine smiled. "We think this is a room dedicated to fighting the Eternal Darkness/."
Susan blinked. "The Eternal Darkness? What's that?"
Jasmine settled in a chair she had found, while the other girls sat on the floor. "From what I have discovered there was a muggle soldier by the name of Pious Agustus in the distant past that came into contact with an ancient magical artifact. This artifact was linked to an ancient being that wanted access to our world and needed a mortal to carry out their wishes. I'm guessing Pious couldn't sense the evil in the artifact, or he just didn't care. Whatever the reason he picked up this artifact and turned into a lich. For the last thousand years or so he has been doing all he can to bring this being into our world, and apparently people have been trying to stop him."
Susan's eyes were wide. "How do you know this?"
As Jasmine held up the Tome of Eternal Darkness, Luna explained. "This holds, or at least is supposed to hold the records of those who have fought against the darkness. However, for some reason there are pages missing."
Jasmine nodded. "The first chapter was already in the tome, but I had to meet Luna here in order to find the second page."
Luna tilted her head. "Also, for some reason when we read the second chapter it felt like we were actually living it. Instead of just reading it."
Susan looked frightened. "What was the second chapter about?"
Jasmine and Luna explained what they had seen while reading the second chapter. Susan looked really scared now.
"Do you think You-Know-Who knows about this?"
Jasmine shakes her head. "I highly doubt it. If he did either he would have joined with Pious, or he would have been killed by him. Pious doesn't seem the type to allow anyone to interfere with his mission, and so I can't see him allowing You-Know-Who to remain alive if they had met. Now we just need to find the next chapter."
Luna looked around. "I think we're in the right place to look" she said rather dreamily.
Jasmine looked at Luna in surprise. "Why do you say that, Luna?"
Luna pointed over at a desk. "Because of that" she said.
Looking where Luna had pointed to Jasmine and Susan saw a desk with 3 candles on it. All 3 candles were burning brightly.
Jasmine frowned. "Just like the puzzle That young girl had to solve in the second chapter. Now what time of the day are we supposed to reference with these candles."
Susan looked over to Luna raising 1 eyebrow.
"In the second chapter an unknown peasant girl had to light or extinguish candles to match a pattern on the floor. The left most candle represents a rising sun, the middle candle represents noon or mid-day, and the candle on the right represents the sun setting."
Susan pointed to a picture behind the candles. "Could that be the pattern we need?"
Luna looked where Susan was pointing and blinked. "Why yes I believe it is. Jasmine!"
Jasmine looked up at the calling of her name. "Yes Luna?"
Luna pointed to the picture behind the candles. "Do you think that's the pattern we need to match?"
Jasmine looked at the picture which showed a sun on the left rising up to the right. "I believe it is."
Jasmine examined the candles and extinguished the middle and right most candles. Suddenly a hidden drawer slid out from the bottom of the desk. reaching in Jasmine's hand came back out with a glowing chapter page. "Well, here is the next chapter." Jasmine looked over at Susan. "Susan, do you want to read this with us?"
Susan blinked, then walked over to join Jasmine and luna. "I would like to see for myself what this is all about." As she stopped beside Jasmine her hand brushed against the page being held by Jasmine.
Without warning all 3 girls found themselves somewhere else.
The girls find themselves in a portal chamber of some kind. They watch as a man who looks like a skeletal warrior casts a 5-Point Magickal Pool, and an image swims into view. The girls see a flowing veil of red electricity.
"Thy presence is long missed, my liege."
A smooth and haughty voice comes from the veil. "The Universe is a yawning chasm, filled with emptiness and the purile meanderings of sentience. Why should you deserve special consideration within it, Augustus, above all else?"
"I am your servant, my lord, as always. That, and nothing more..."
"Yes, that and nothing more... What revelations do you bring me?"
"My meditations reveal a flaw in our plan..."
"OUR plan, Augustus? Mantorok is a shadow ebbing in the light of our glory. It and the others are slow... Weak... Bound by the realm of a Universe. Unable to unite against a common foe they will fall, one by one. Unfortunately, this is beyond your understanding. The binding of Mantorok will seal their fate as its power over us diminishes. Such an irony that the Keeper itself be imprisoned within the walls of its own magic."
"And what of its Essence? Is that not the core of its remaining power?"
"Upon my seeping into the corporeal world, I will be the dominant overall, Mantorok included. Your worries are unfounded. You must turn your attention to Charlemagne the Frank. His continued presence within the world is far more serious to our cause."
"As you wish, my Master. He will be dead before the week is out."
The vision fades, and the girls find themselves back in the secret room.
"What was that" Susan asked, her eyes wide with fright.
Jasmine steadied herself. "I think that was the ancient Pius is trying to summon to this world."
Luna looked around. "Who is this Charlemagne, and what happened to him?"
Jasmine exchanged a look with Luna, but then shrugged and placed the page into the tome. The book glowed, and all 3 girls vision faded to black.
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Susan finds herself standing beside a young page kneeling before a monk. Looking around she sees she is somewhere in France. Although she wonders to herself how she got to France. After all she hadn't felt the pull of a portkey, nor the sensation of being Apparated. So how did she get here? Suddenly she hears a voice.
"From my research, it is apparent that the endeavors of mankind are mere puppetry at the hands of the Ancients. Whenever a King vows reform, the Ancients move quickly to stifle it.
Under the auspices of Emperor Charlemagne, the Frank, the new Holy Roman Empire was at the height of its power."
After the voice finishes speaking Susan watches as the monk hands a scroll to the young page. A name flashes over the young man as Susan looks at him. "ANTHONY"
"Deliver this to our lord and Emperor, Charlemagne the Frank. No one but him must see it. There are
words for his eyes only. At once!"
ANTHONY takes the scroll, and the MONK departs. ANTHONY takes a few steps, makes sure no one is looking, then ducks into a corner. He opens the scroll, sees mystical symbols on it, then is struck down by a bolt of yellow energy. Susan recognized energy as magic of some kind. He clutches his head.
"What sorcery is this? A spell? I am bewitched! If this was meant for Charlemagne... then what will become of him? I have to warn him of this treachery!
ANTHONY sets out down the path towards the monastery that can be seen in the distance. Susan follows him.
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Susan follows Anthony as he walks around the monastery's Chaple room, talking to the monks scattered throughout. One tells Anthony that the emperor is in conference with the local bishop and cannot be disturbed at this time.
Another monk tells Anthony that the monks are holding Vidula for a fellow monk, who recently died after falling from the Chaple tower.
Another monk laments a lack of faith within the order.
As Anthony and Susan walk near the door to the bishop's Quarters, they can hear voices speaking. Although neither can tell what is being said. Anthony tries the door, but it is locked.
Unsure what to do while waiting for the conference to finish up, Anthony walks over to the casket near the altar. Noticing the casket isn't sealed properly, Anthony raises the lid, and gasps at the sight.
Looking into the casket Susan is horrified at what she sees. This monk, who was supposed to have fallen from a tower, has a very large opening in his chest. Susan wonders what could have caused this.
The monks look over in curiosity when the casket is opened, and as 1 are horrified by what they see. Several drop to their knees and start praying. While others flee the Chaple.
One of the monks walks over to Anthony. "Young page when I can, I will inform the bishop of this gruesome discovery. I must caution you to use brutal caution while inside of this cathedral."
After pausing for a minute, the monk nods to himself, and hands a Scramasax to Anthony. "Please be careful young page." With that the monk flees the Chaple.
Anthony looks after the monk for a minute, before shrugging and readying the sword in his right hand. Then with Susan following he starts for the stairs leading up to the tower.
Just as they reach the top of the stairs the 2 of them feel themselves passing through a portal they couldn't see. Susan looks around in alarm at all the screaming faces on the floor of a long hallway. Gazing ahead she can see the same book Jasmine had held before all this craziness began.
Following Anthony Susan sees 2 statues. One on each side of the path. The 1 on the left, which has its arms, head, and torso missing, has a name plate that reads "Pious Agustus, 32 B.C.".
The statue on the right is of a young woman. She is carrying what looks to be a heart of some kind. The name plate at the bottom of the statue reads "Ellia 1150 A.D.".
Susan stares at Ellia's statue. Was this the girl Jasmine and luna had been referring to before?
Anthony continues walking across the hall until he approaches a hand made entirely of bone. This hand opens as Anthony approaches and reveals a book which seems to be wrapped in leather resting in its palm.
Anthony examines the book, then picks it up.
Susan sees a quick vision of Pious killing what looks like a zombie, and Ellia saving a temple guard. As soon as the vision ends both Susan and Anthony find themselves back in the cathedral standing at the top of the tower stairs.
After looking around Anthony enters the tower. Susan is right behind him.
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As Anthony steps into the tower, he is surrounded by that same yellow energy that struck him when he opened the scroll. It seems to be causing him pain, for he drops to his knees crying out.
Susan hurries to his side. "Oh Anthony. I understand, wanting to protect your emperor. It's just like the loyalty my own house is supposed to show. However, I wish it hadn't come at such a price."
When the energy disappears, Anthony looks older. He is now unable to stand up straight, and his eyes have a haunted look to them.
After seeing Anthony is at least still standing, Susan looks around the room they are in. To Susan's right, the left of the stairs they had just climbed, stands a bookcase. Across the room on the opposite wall stands 3 bookcases that seem to line the perimeter from left to right. In the center of the room sits a small ornate desk.
Susan watches as Anthony searches for a single bookcase and collects a sealed blue urn. After this Anthony walks across the room to the desk, and searching it collects a circular golden object. This object has a triangle on it. As soon as Anthony picks up the object, it flashes and flies into the Tome of Eternal Darkness.
Susan blinks. "What is this for, and why did it enter into the book?"
After collecting the triangle object Anthony examines the 3 bookcases. Finding that 1 of the books in the middle bookcase is out of place, Anthony pushes the book back into the bookcase. With a click the bookcase on the left opens revealing a long ladder leading down into darkness.
After looking around for a minute Anthony walks over to the ladder and starts climbing down. Susan follows him down the ladder.
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The room Anthony and Susan climb down into looks like a long dark hallway.
"It looks like the hall leading to the Hufflepuff rooms at night" Susan thinks as she follows Anthony down the hallway.
Without warning the 2 of them come across a very large zombie. Its body is transparent, allowing Anthony and Susan to see a block with a rune etched into 1 side.
"Eww Grose" Susan thinks as Anthony proceeds to chop off the zombie's head, then its arms, and finally slice open the torso. Allowing the runic block to float free from the zombie, and into the Tome.
One thing Susan noticed was how a green bar appeared to the right of Anthony's head as the zombie appeared. She watched in fear as this bar drained by about 1 fifth as soon as the zombie spotted him.
After collecting the rune, Susan watched as Anthony stabbed his sword into the zombie's back. This caused all of the bars that had drained to recover.
"So, this is what Jasmine meant when she described what happened with Ellia."
Susan continued to follow Anthony as he walked down the hall. He had to fight and dispatch 2 smaller gray zombies, which looked similar to the large 1 he had fought a few minutes ago. After finishing both zombies off, keeping his green bar topped up, Anthony approaches and walks through a door at the end of the hall.
As Anthony and Susan enter the next room, they see 3 gray zombies advancing on a monk who is carrying a torch. The monk swings the torch at 1 of the zombies setting it on fire.
The burning zombie drops to the ground, and rolls back along the floor, until it bumps into a hanging cloth. This causes the cloth to catch on fire and burn away revealing a door.
Unfortunately, the monk drops the torch, and now unarmed backs away from the 2 zombies that remain alive.
Anthony wastes no time in going after the zombies. First cutting their heads off, then their arms, and finally he sliced their torsos apart. He still had the presence of mind to stab each of the 2 zombies to refill his green bar. As the last zombie fades into dust Anthony walks over to the monk.
"Greetings young page. I was carrying a green urn filled with water from the baptismal fountain. While on my way back to the Chaple above I saw the bishop run past me in some kind of panicked or crazy state.
I was so startled by the bishop's appearance that I dropped the green urn on the floor. This caused the urn to shatter into 3 pieces.
I am quite grateful you rescued me from those creatures. As thanks for saving me you can have this."
The monk hands Anthony a large 2-edged sword.
"That is supposed to be the bishops. He dropped it as he ran past me.
Please stay safe young page." With those parting words the monk leaves.
Anthony looks after the monk as he leaves, then stoops down and picks up the torch the monk had dropped.
"Nice" Susan says to herself. "With that we should be able to see much better in these darkened rooms."
After collecting the torch Anthony heads toward the newly revealed door but pauses at a corner near it. Using the torch to see better Anthony finds the pieces of the green urn the monk told him about. Once he collected all 3 pieces Anthony sticks the 3 pieces together. Although it doesn't look like the urn will hold water, Anthony holds on to the broken urn.
After taking 1 last look around Anthony and Susan headed through the door that was hidden behind the cloth.
This door leads to a staircase that leads even farther down underground. The stairs twist and turn as they descend into darkness. At the bottom of the stairs is another large gray zombie with a rune block inside its body.
"I hope this doesn't become a habit," Susan thinks as Anthony starts walking down the stairs.
On the first landing Anthony finds a small stone tablet with some kind of rune carved into 1 side of it. Susan doesn't recognize the rune, but she sees the word item written just below it on the tablet.
"So, whatever rune that is must stand for item" she thinks as Anthony turns and continues descending the stairs. "I wonder if that is the rune the large creature has."
As soon as Anthony comes within reach of the zombie, he swings the torch in its face. Setting it on fire and knocking it to the ground. As soon as the zombie catches fire, the rune breaks free, and floats into the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Susan watched as Anthony switched to his smaller sword and sword and stabbed the zombie in the back. After dispatching the zombie Anthony turns away from the staircase and walks toward and through a door at the back of the room. Susan walks beside him. Hoping whatever is being the door is better than what she has seen up to this point. Though she isn't counting on it.
As Anthony enters the next room he is once more surrounded by the sickly yellow energy from the scroll. This causes him to drop to his knees in pain for about 30 seconds. When the energy disappears, Anthony looks much older.
For 1 thing there are numerus cuts and scrapes all over his skin. For another, as he stands Susan notices, he is moving much slower than before. His skin is also much paler than before.
Anthony's and Susan's attention are drawn to 3 zombies fighting it out. The zombies were colored blue, green, and gray. Susan wanted to scream when she saw the blue zombie had no head.
Watching the zombies Susan was surprised when the blue 1 exploded taking out the gray zombie with it. Not pausing for a second, Anthony walks up to the green zombie. Readying his 2-edged sword before he reached it, he swung the sword at the zombie. Taking its head off in 1 slash. It also took only 2 slashes to finish the zombie off.
Susan guessed that the explosion had done significant damage to the surviving zombie. She also watched as Anthony stabbed each zombie with the large sword. Even the 2 he had not fought himself.
After finishing with the downed zombies Anthony walks toward a pillar in the middle of the room. Pausing, Anthony appears to pick something up, but Susan can't see what it is.
"That's odd" she says to herself. "I've been able to see everything else Anthony has collected before now. Why not this?"
While Susan was pondering what was now going on Anthony walked over to a fountain in 1 corner of the room.
Snapping out of her thoughts Susan follows him over and hears him exclaim "What a "foul smelling liquid")".
Sitting beside the fountain is a red colored urn. Anthony examines this, and then seeing it is filled and sealed picks it up.
Anthony examines the urns that he has. Although the green urn doesn't look like it would hold any water, thanks to the cracks that litter it, the blue urn looks promising. Anthony tries to fill the blue urn with the "foul smelling liquid"), but his hand is shaking so much that he drops the urn on the floor causing it to shatter.
Once again Susan sees Anthony bend down to pick something up, but what it is she can't see. Although she can see him picking up the broken urn.
While looking around Anthony seems to zero in on a cloth that is hanging on 1 of the walls. Switching his 2-edged sword for the torch he walks over to the cloth and swings the torch at it. Causing it to catch on fire. After the cloth burns away Anthony and Susan see another door leading out of the room. The 2 of them walk through it.
The 2 of them find themselves in a short l shaped hallway leading to another door. As they walk along Anthony swings the torch at a gray zombie that was lurking near the bend in the hallway. After stabbing this zombie with his short sword, the 2 of them walk through the door at the end of the hall.
As Anthony and Susan enter the next room, they catch their first sight of the bishop. Before Anthony can call out to him the bishop limps through a door at the back of the room. After he walks through the door slams shut and is blocked by a bookcase.
"Another 1? How many secret doors are in this place?"
Anthony walks to the center of the room and examines a low pedestal with 3 circles on it. When Anthony stands on the pedestal the secret door opens. However, when he steps off the door slams shut.
"Looks like we need to find something to keep that door open" Susan thinks as Anthony examines the pedestal again.
Upon spotting traces of dirty water Anthony places the red urn on the pedestal in 1 of 3 circles. Nothing happens, but Anthony doesn't seem discouraged.
Looking away from the pedestal Anthony spots a table with pieces of paper scattered around it. Walking over to the table Anthony pauses as he spots something out of the corner of his eye. Turning he spots another stone tablet like the 1 he saw on the first landing of the staircase coming down to this floor.
Anthony walks over to the tablet and picks it up. As soon as he does the tome shines revealing the identity of the first rune Anthony and picked up.
"Project" Susan reads to herself. "That's 2 runes now that I have seen. What will we do with these?"
After picking up the tablet Anthony walks back over to the table. Scanning the table, he spots a piece of paper sitting there. From Susan's perspective the paper Anthony was looking at was glowing. As soon as he picked up the paper Susan saw a sequence of runes flash in front of Anthony. The words "Enchant Item" flashed over the Tome of Eternal Darkness.
"What is an Enchant Item" Susan asked herself. "I thought muggles couldn't learn how to enchant things."
Susan watched as Anthony cast the "Enchant Item" spell on both broken urns. To Susan's surprise both urns now looked as though they had never been broken.
"I wonder if we can use this spell at school."
Susan followed Anthony as he retraced his steps to the room with the fountain. After examining the fountain for a minute Anthony filled both the blue and green urns with the foul water. Then Anthony walks back to the room with the secret door.
Once back in the room with the pedestal Anthony walks over to it, and places the blue, and green urns in the remaining 2 circles. As soon as the last urn is in place the secret door opens.
"Please be careful Anthony" Susan says as she follows him through the door. "I would hate to see you fall before warning your emperor."
Susan and Anthony find themselves in another short l shaped hallway. Unlike the last one up on the last floor they didn't meet any zombies in this hallway. As Anthony reached the door at the end of the hall, he paused, and cast the "Enchant Item" spell on his 2-edged sword.
To Susan's eyes the sword looked rather strange. It looked like the sword was supposed to glow a certain color, except the sword now looked washed out to Susan. She hoped this was a problem with her, and not something that would put Anthony in danger.
After enchanting his sword Anthony walks through the door. Susan follows right behind him.
As Anthony enters the next room Susan sees the corpses of 2 zombies lying on the floor. The bishop stands at the other end of the room next to a shrine of some kind. As the door closes behind Anthony the bishop speaks.
"Thank you, young Anthony, for bringing the Tome of Eternal Darkness back to its rightful owners. For performing this service, I grant you a swift and painless death."
Susan's eyes widen at this speech. Not only does the bishop know who Anthony is, but he also knows about the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Susan could only watch and pray as Anthony takes on the bishop.
Anthony walks to the center of the room and waits while the bishop approaches. As soon as the bishop is within striking distance Anthony slashes at his head with his sword.
Susan noticed that even though Anthony's green bar dropped when the bishop first laid eyes on him, that the green bar was continually draining at a slow rate. She was scared to find out what would happen if that bar completely emptied. "Please hurry Anthony" Susan prayed.
Anthony was able to get in a second slash before the bishop lashed out with a punch. Anthony wasn't quite fast enough to dodge. The punch caused a red bar to appear next to the green 1, which was still draining. Blinking, Susan finally noticed a blue bar next to the red and green ones. She wondered when that bar had appeared.
Anthony shook himself and moved out of the way of the bishop's next punch and returned with a slash of his sword.
The fight continued in this order for a bit. First Anthony would dodge a punch from the bishop. Then he would slash at the bishop's head. Rince and repeat. That is until the bishop's head falls off, and the rest of the body slumps to the floor dead.
Susan was cheering for Anthony's victory, right up to the 2 corpses standing and starting to head for Anthony. "Anthony! Look out."
Fortunately, Anthony had time to stab the body of the bishop before the zombies reached him. Compared to fighting the bishop these zombies were nothing. With 1 slash of his sword for each zombie he removed their heads, both of their arms, and finally with 3 slashes each he destroyed their torsos. Causing them to fall to the ground dead. Anthony didn't forget to stab each 1 in the back with his sword.
After catching his breath, or at least what breath he could catch, Anthony crouches down where the bishop fell, and found an ornate looking key. Deciding this key could help him reach Charlemagne Anthony pockets the key and turns back toward the door leading out of the room.
– Separator –
As Anthony leaves the shrine room he is racked with pane as the energy surrounds him again. When the energy disappears Susan gasps at the sight. Anthony looks like a walking corpse. In fact, if Anthony hadn't glanced around the room he was walking through at the time, Susan would have guessed he had become a zombie himself.
As Anthony was recovering from this last cast of the spell 3 gray zombies started walking toward him.
Susan gasped as she saw Anthony's green bar drop below half. Then without warning Anthony seemed to see more zombies. His green bar dropped lower and lower. "What's going on" Susan asked herself.
At last Anthony was able to kill the 3 zombies, as well as stab them in the back refilling his green bar.
As Anthony and Susan retraced their steps, they found more zombies in the hallway. It was a trial, but Anthony was able to kill all of the zombies without taking too much damage.
in the room with the ladder leading back up to the tower Anthony and Susan came across a strange creature. This creature made loud shrieking sounds, and when Susan got a good look at what it was, she could see that its eyes had been replaced with what looked like gray covers. Anthony's first attempt to kill 1 of these creatures resalted in him and Susan being transported to another dimension.
There were 4 islands suspended over a black void. One colored red, 1 green, 1 blue, and the last, where Anthony and Susan were standing, was colored gray. There was a transporter flickering through colors. It would change every few minutes. Anthony waited until the transporter flashed red, and then stepped on the transporter. He and Susan were moved over to the red island where they could see a panel omitting red sparks. Susan watched as Anthony stood on this panel, and his red bar refilled.
After this Anthony waited for the transporter until it flashed purple. Stepping on the transporter brought Anthony and Susan to a staircase leading up to a gray panel. When Anthony stepped on to the gray panel he and Susan returned to the room with the ladder.
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As Anthony and Susan climb up the ladder, they are confronted by a large beast with 3 heads. The creature roars upon spotting Anthony, and before Anthony can do anything casts a shield over the stairs leading down to the Chaple.
"Oh no! Why does Anthony have to fight again?"
Despite the beast's size Anthony walks up to it and starts slashing. It took only 1 slash to remove 1 of the beast's head, and so after 3 slashes the beast falls, along with the shield over the stairway down. Anthony was quick to stab the beast in the back to recover his green bar.
After scanning the room for anything else of note, Anthony returns to the stairs, and leaves the tower. Susan now walking along beside him.
– Separator –
Anthony descends the stairs back to the Chaple and walks over to the only door left unexplored in the cathedral. Using the key, he picked up after killing the bishop Anthony opens the door.
(ANTHONY enters the visiting chamber and sees Charlemagne's blackened
corpse on the ground, with several MONKS surrounding him.)
"Nooo! Charlemagne!"
Once more the energy surrounds Anthony while Susan watches on in despair.
"I have failed you..."
(ANTHONY collapses to the ground next to his lord. The MONK in charge speaks.)
"You are a fool for trying to save him, Anthony! His fate was decided many centuries ago, as is the fate of this world. Despite your faith, there is little to save you from the power of ..."
Susan blinks as whatever name the monk was going to say is inaudible to her.
Without warning a spindly evil creature burst out of the MONK's chest. The creature becomes a
still page and the Tome closes.
Susan cries as the last picture she sees is Anthony's dead body. Before everything fades to black.
– Separator –
An: and thats where we end this chapter. For those that have played the game you might notice something strange about Susan's treck through the cathedral. Mainly how she couldn't see 2 of the items Anthony picked up. This will be expanded on in the next chapter, but will not be resolved until chapter 9.
Also I hope I showed Susan's personality properly in this chapter. If not it will be explained in chapter 9.
Well that's it for this chapter. As always you can leave a review or send me a P.M. if you have any questions or comments. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I will see you all next time.