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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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7: the gift of forever
Jasmine, Luna, and Susan all stared at the chapter page they had just found. None of them had expected it to be that easy to find. After all, weren't the pages supposed to be hidden so no one could find them? Admittedly only someone who had the Tome of Eternal Darkness would have been able to fix the key. Not to mention read the page in the first place. So maybe it wasn't so surprising they had found this page as easily as they did.
Jasmine reached out for the page, but without warning the page was summoned out of its hiding place. Turning the group saw Pansy Parkinson holding the chapter page and trying to read it.
"Hay!" Jasmine exclaimed. "Give that back."
With a sneer, that Jasmine would have rated about 1/5 of Snape's, Pansy shook her head. "Now, now" she attempted to scold the girls. "We can't have you reading what isn't yours to be reading in the first place."
Luna tilted her head in confusion. "So why are you trying to read it then?"
Pansy scowled at Luna. "As a member of the Slytherin house I have every right to read anyone's secrets. Whether they want me to or not."
A new voice spoke up from behind Pansy. "Is that why you leave your diary out where anyone can find it Parkinson?"
Pansy spun to face the speaker, but they had no intention of allowing Pansy to attack them. Before Pansy was more than halfway through turning, she was tagged with a stunning spell.
Jasmine watched as the blond stepped over Pansy's body and curtsied to the 3 of them. As Luna walked over to retrieve the chapter page from Pansy, Jasmine said. "Thank you. May I ask your name?"
The blond smiled at Jasmine. "I am Daphne Greengrass, and I was hoping to ask you Miss Potter for help with my house mates."
Jasmine smiled as Luna returned to her side. "I think that can be arranged" she said with a smirk as Daphne returned. "I would ask though if you would like to know what Pansy stole from us."
Daphne looked interested. "I couldn't make heads nor tales of what is written on the page as I walked by, so I will admit I am curious."
Smiling Jasmine gestured for each of the girls to gather around her. Once all of them were together Jasmine inserted the page into the tome.
The girls stare at a picture of a man walking through a desert.
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"Dreams: Modern psychology offers only unproven theories. Some see them as the meaningless tossing and turning of a brain settling into a restful sleep. Others see them as laden with symbols of our unconscious desires. To still others, dreams represent the upwelling of the archetypes normally hidden deep within the recesses of the human collective unconscious.
Of one thing I am certain: after a brush with the Ancients, our dreams metamorphosize into nightmares..."
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Daphne finds herself following the man she had seen just a minute before. He is trudging through the desert heat. He looks exhausted, and Daphne wonders what he is doing out there. "Is he a wizard? If so, why doesn't he cast a cooling charm on himself."
The man looks up at the blazing sun and looks like he is remembering something. Without warning Daphne finds herself in a lavish tent. The man is speaking to a noble woman.
"I have implored you for years, yet you ignore all my advances. You dominate my dreams, and I can think of nothing else. I fear I desire you many hundred times more than you love me..."
The woman gazes at the man with no expression on her pretty face. "My life has become a waking dream, Karim. For weeks I have dreamed of an ancient treasure so precious that it changes all life around it. It must be mine, Karim. If you truly desire me, as you say, then you will find this for me. Bring this treasure to me, and I will be yours. Both our dreams will come true..."
"I need nothing more than you. You have enthralled me to the point where I can think of nothing else... Promise. If I leave, you will not forget about me..."
"You need not worry. I desire nothing more than the treasure that you seek. Leave now, Karim, and I shall await you."
Daphne gets a good look at the woman's eyes, before she finds herself back in the desert. "I wonder who that was" she ponders. "In any event this must be Karim. I wonder what this treasure is?" Daphne watches as Karim approaches a circle of 5 stones.
Both Daphne and Karim hear a voice call as though from a grate distance. "KARIM!"
Karim enters the circle of stones and is transported away. Without warning Daphne finds herself following him.
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Daphne finds herself in some kind of underground temple. The room is rectangular in shape. In 1 corner of the room is a ladder leading down. Scattered around the room lie several corpses. Most make her think of inferi. Thankfully none of them look alive. There are several torches lining the walls.
Before Karim moves at all he takes stock of what he is carrying. He has a Tulwar Sword strapped to his back. He also has a pouch containing 19 Chakram disks strapped to his waist. Around his neck he wears a Talisman. The Talisman is a circular disk with the number 5 surrounded by a red circle.
Daphne follows Karim as he examines the corpses. Apparently 1 is of a soldier that died quite recently. "Looks like his armor wasn't up to the task of protecting him" Daphne thought. "I wonder what killed him."
After looking around Karim walks over to the ladder and attempts to climb down. Without warning both he and Daphne are transported to a long narrow hall. The floor is made up of screaming human heads. At the far end sits a hand with a familiar looking book grasped between bones.
"What is this place" Daphne asks as she follows Karim through the hall.
Daphne pauses as she sees the 3 statues. Two on 1 side of the path, and 1 on the other side. The statue that stands alone has the inscription "Ellia, 1150 A.D." The statue standing across from this is broken, but still has the inscription "Pius Agustus, 32 B.C." On the same side as Pius's statue, but farther along the path stands a statue of a young man that has the inscription "Anthony, 814 A.D."
Daphne frowns as she continues following Karim through the hall. "What is this place? Why are we here? Did the other girls know this would happen?"
After a short time, Karim approaches a massive hand made of bone. As he reaches the hand it opens releasing the same book Daphne had seen Jasmine Potter carrying back before all this started.
"What is that" Daphne thinks to herself, "and what can it do?"
Karim reaches out and picks up the book. The words "Tome of Eternal Darkness added to inventory" flash in front of Daphne's eyes, before she and Karim find themselves back in the first room of the temple.
Karim staggers for a couple of seconds as he and Daphne return to the temple. However, it seems this journey won't be a simple stroll. For 5 of the corpses turn gray, rise to their feet, and start walking toward Karim.
Daphne franticly searches for her wand but can't find it anywhere. "What, where's my wand" she says, realizing just a second later that she probably should have kept her mouth shut. However, to her surprise no one takes notice of her. In fact, 1 of the corpses walks right by her without giving her a single glance.
"Wait, is this like a memory? If it is, then all I can do is watch and observe."
Daphne watches as Karim draws his sword from his back. He pauses for a minute, and then casts some kind of spell on his sword. Daphne notices the edge of the sword has a slight blue glow.
As the first walking corpse approaches Karim Daphne watches in surprise as a green bar appears next to his head. The bar drains a slight amount. Daphne watches as the bar drains a little more as each corpse approaches Karim.
To his credit Karim doesn't just stand still in shock. Running forward he slashes at the head of the nearest corpse. It takes about 3 slashes to remove the walking corpse's head. After destroying the head Karim slashes at each of the corpse's arms. This takes about 5 slashes per arm. Finally, Karim slashes at the corpse's torso 8 times before the corpse drops to the ground. Without pause Karim stabbed the now-again dead corpse in the back.
Daphne watches as some of the green bar refills as Karim stabs the no longer walking corpse in the back. "I wonder what that green bar represents?"
Though he had killed that corpse Karim couldn't relax just yet. Because there were 4 more walking corpses to deal with.
Pausing to renew the spell cast on his sword after each kill, Karim slashed the rest of these walking corpses to ribbons. After the last 1 had been stabbed in the back Daphne noticed the green bar next to Karim's head was now full.
It was while Karim was walking to the ladder leading down that Daphne finally noticed the blue bar sitting below the green 1. This bar seemed to fill a little with each step Karim took. "Interesting" Daphne thought. "I wonder what that bar is for." Keeping her thoughts to herself Daphne follows Karim as he descends the ladder.
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Daphne found herself in a narrow hallway. She could see about 20 feet ahead of her where she could see a bend in the hall. Between Karim and this bend stood 2 walking corpses. This time, however, they were a blue color instead of gray. As Karim recast the spell on his sword Daphne saw the blue bar drop a small amount. "Oh! So, the blue bar tracking his magical reserves."
After casting the spell Karim rushed forward and slashed off the arms of the first corpse he reached. Ignoring the now disarmed corpse Karim turned his attention to the second corpse. He had just slashed off the second corpse's first arm, when the corpse he had ignored kicked him in the back. Thankfully Karim was able to shrug off any injuries from this attack.
As Daphne stared in surprise and disgust where the first corpse was standing, she saw a red bar appear above the green bar over Karim's head. "So, I'll bet the red bar represents how much damage Karim can take. He is careful, or he will fail his mission."
After picking himself up from where he had landed after being kicked Karim hurried back over to the corpses and slashed the first one's torso. Stabbing it in the back when it dies. Without stopping Karim returns to attack the second corpse and treats it like the first.
After stabbing the second corpse Karim walks toward the bend in the hallway. Daphne follows closely behind him. When they reach the bend Daphne notices the hallway turns to the left and right. A strange white statue of a man sits in the very center of the bend. Karim examines the statue, and then picks it up, before turning left.
Daphne follows Karim as he walks down the hallway. She notices a ladder leading back up to the first floor, but Karim passes by the ladder with only a glance. Before long they reach a dead end with 2 more blue walking corpses. One of the corpses has a transparent torso, while the other looks solid. The transparent corpse appears to have a stone block with a rune carved into it inside the torso. The second corpse doesn't stay still, but instead walks around the rather large dead end.
First casting his spell on his sword again, Karim walks up to the transparent corpse, and proceeds to cut it apart. As soon as the corpse falls, but before Karim can stab it in the back, the rune block comes free, and enters the tome Karim is carrying. Karim quickly stabs the corpse to regain some of his green bar.
Karim flips through the tome, but to his and Daphne's surprise there is no information on what rune he had just picked up.
Shrugging Karim seeks out the solid corpse and proceeds to cut it up like its former partner. After stabbing this corpse in the back, Karim walks back to the ladder he and Daphne had passed earlier, and now climbs back up to the first floor.
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Daphne and Karim find themselves in a large square room. In the center of the room is a shrine as tall as Karim himself. strait across from where the 2 of them were standing is a large purple barrier. This barrier extends the entire width of the room. in the center of the barrier Daphne can see the same type of rune Karim picked up back in the hallway.
Karim strolls across the room. Daphne followed behind him. As Karim reaches the barrier it glows, and then disappears. Allowing Karim and Daphne to make their way to another ladder leading down.
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The 2 of them find themselves in another long hallway. However, where the last hallway sharply turned around a bend ruffly halfway through, this hall appeared to run straight toward another room.
A few steps down the hallway Karim paused, and on turning noticed a torch just sitting against the wall of the hallway. Karim picked up the torch and continued walking down the hallway.
As Karim proceeded down the hall, he could hear a voice calling his name. Daphne, following him, shutters each time the voice calls out.
"I don't like this" she thought as Karim approached the next room. "I feel like we're being led to something."
The voice silenced as Karim entered the next room.
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Upon entering the next room Karim was attacked by 3 blue colored walking corpses. Having cast his spell on his sword just before entering the room, Karim proceeded to slash the Corpse's head, then the arms, and finally the torso. Being sure to stab each 1 in the back after killing it. Karim didn't go completely unscathed from this encounter, however. Daphne could see several bumps and scrapes along his arms and torso. Also, his red bar had dropped by about a tenth.
After making sure the 3 corpses were dead, Karim walks over to a black statue and picks it up.
After taking 1 last look around the room Karim walks back into the strait hallway and makes his way back to the ladder at the other end. Upon reaching it Karim climbs back up to the first floor. Daphne followed beside him.
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As Karim and Daphne reentered the first floor of the temple Daphne noticed 3 circular pads spaced around the room. Wondering what they were for, she watched to see what Karim would do.
Catching sight of the pads as he stepped off the ladder Karim walked over to the closest pad, and after examining it from several angles shrugged and stood on it.
Daphne and Karim both heard some rumbling from the direction of the shrine. Walking over there Daphne noticed some of the candles were lit up. although not all of them.
As soon as Karim stepped off the pad to look at the shrine the rumbling stopped, and the candles extinguished Karim blinked for a minute, then stepped back on to the pad.
Daphne blinked in realization. "Oh! I guess all 3 pads need to have some weight on them."
Evidently Karim had a similar thought. For he pulled 1 of the statues from his pack and placed it onto the pad before stepping back. This time the rumbling continued, and the candles stayed lit.
After seeing that the statues were enough to hold down the pads, Karim walked over to 1 in the middle of the room and placed the other statue on to it. This caused 3 more candles to light up on the shrine,
Daphne frowned for a minute. "Karim only found 2 statues. What will he use to hold down the last pad?"
Apparently, Karim had some idea of what to do. Because he walked over to the pad nearest the shrine, and simply stood on it.
Daphne was surprised when the shrine's altar began rising toward the ceiling. as she watched a platform come into view from under the altar.
Standing on the platform were 4 squat creatures. They had white sightless eyes, and large ears. Daphne couldn't help but think about the large ears house elves had. This made her think whatever these creatures were, they were blind, and had extremely good hearing.
As Karim stepped off the pad all 4 creatures turned their heads in his direction. Karim froze still. Unwilling to get close to the creatures Karim reached into the pouch at his waist and pulled out 1 of the disks he carries there. Zeroing in on 1 of the creatures Karim pulls back his arm and throws the disk.
To Daphne's surprise the disk sliced the creature's head off. Causing the creature to disappear.
The other creatures looked around with their sightless eyes for the source of the sound they had all heard. However, none of them could see Karim standing only 5 feet away pulling out a second disk.
Karim focused on another of the creatures standing on the platform and threw his second chakram disk. Just like the first this creature disappeared as soon as the chakram sliced off its head. Nodding to himself Karim pulled out a third, and then a fourth chakram disk. Throwing these at the last 2 creatures on the platform.
Once all the creatures had disappeared Karim walked over to the platform. Daphne saw him looking for something, but when he couldn't find it, he shrugged and stepped on to the platform.
As Karim stepped on to the platform, he found a lever at the center. Examining this lever Karim sees it can be lowered. Nodding to himself Karim pulls the lever down, and the platform begins to lower with Karim on it.
Daphne finds herself being transported alongside the platform Karim is standing on until they reach the bottom.
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The platform comes to rest in a long narrow corridor. As Karim steps off the platform, it rises back up out of sight. Shrugging Karim begins walking down the corridor daphne walking beside him.
There were several bodies of soldiers scattered along the corridor. As Karim stops to examine the first body Daphne notices something odd. This body, and the 1 just beyond it don't look like they were killed by a creature. Instead, she suspects these bodies were killed by a human.
As Karim and Daphne approach the door at the end of the corridor both of them spot a third soldier lying to 1 side. The special thing about this body is that it has a tulwar sword sticking out of its back.
Karim examines the sword for a minute, and after nodding to himself pulls the sword out of the body.
Daphne watches with lust as Karim now wields a tulwar sword in each hand.
As Karim went to step past the body, he had pulled the sword out of, the body smoothly rose to its feet, and began slowly walking after Karim. Karim ran back down the corridor until he was a good distance from the once again walking corpse. Having reached a safe distance, he turned to face the approaching body, but before attacking he took the time to cast his spell on both of his swords.
As soon as both swords glowed Karim walked toward the corpse and slashed both tulwars at its head.
Daphne noticed something odd. When the earlier creatures noticed Karim, his green bar would drop. However, when this corpse was noticed and began walking after Karim nothing happened to Karim's green bar. This made Daphne nervous.
It only took a couple of slashes for Karim to destroy the corpse's head. However, that was when something unexpected happened. A blue creature jumped out of the soldier's body, which dissolved as soon as the creature left it.
Daphne noticed Karim's green bar take a large hit as soon as the creature appeared. What was worse was that the bar continued to drop while the creature screamed.
Thankfully Karim didn't just stand staring at this creature. No instead he slashed with both tulwar swords at the creature's head. Taking it off, and killing it, in 2 slashes of his swords. Probably in anger Karim stabbed both swords into the creature's back refilling a good chunk of his green bar.
After calming down Karim headed for the door at the end of the corridor. Daphne followed behind him once again.
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As Karim enters this new room 2 walking corpses notice him causing his green bar to drop 2 just under 3/4s. Not wasting any time Karim slashes at the head of the corpse on the left. After 2 slashes the corpse lost its head, and Karim turned his attention to its arms. After taking the corpse's arms off with 4 slashes each Karim slashed at the torso about 4 times before the corpse dropped dead. Karim was careful to stab this corpse in the back to regain some of his green bar.
While Karim was fighting this first corpse, he had to dodge the swinging arms of the second corpse. This wasn't easy since the room wasn't that big, and more than once Karim just barely dodged a punch from the corpse.
After finishing off the first corpse Karim turned his attention to the remaining corpse. However, when he chopped off this corpse's head another blue creature that Karim fought back in the corridor jumped out of the corpse's skin. Just as before a large chunk of Karim's green bar dropped as soon as the creature appeared. Thankfully Karim was able to deal with this 1 the same way he delt with the last, by chopping off its head. Just as before when Karim stabbed the creature in the back a large chunk of his green bar was refilled. However, Daphne noticed it was still less than half.
Once both corpses, and whatever these blue creatures with claws were, had been delt with Karim searched the room. Upon finding the corpse of a dead soldier Karim rolled him over. Under the soldier's hand Karim found what looked like a scroll of some kind. After tucking the scroll into his pack Karim walked over to where he could see 2 doors.
Examining the door on the right Karim noticed the same sign that was on the barrier he passed through earlier. Below this sigil was a slot for a large sword. Confused about what to do with this, he however turned to examine the door on the left.
This door was clear of any symbols, and pushing it slightly proved it was unlocked. Squaring his shoulders Karim entered the next room. Daphne hot on his heels.
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Karim found himself in a short corridor leading to a small round room. In the distance he could see something very large guarding something. Although from this distance he couldn't see what it was.
Before moving forward Daphne watched as Karim cast his spell on his two tulwar swords, and only then did he move down the corridor. Curious Daphne followed behind him.
Upon reaching the round room Karim and Daphne were shocked to be confronted by a gigantic blue beast with 3 heads.
"What in Morgana's name is that?"
Karim wasted no time staring. Instead, he rushed forward as the creature was roaring and slashed 1 of its heads with his 2 swords. After connecting with his slash Karim ran back to dodge the swing of the creature's arms. Immediately Karim rushed back in to deliver another slice to the same head with his swords. It took 3 slashes before the first head was destroyed, and Karim immediately focused his attention on the next 1.
As Daphne watched Karim take on this large creature, she noticed it had a rune block inside its massive body. "I guess Karim will collect this rune after destroying this monster."
As Karim continued to slash at the monster's heads, he would have to occasionally dodge a blast of energy from the monster's remaining heads. The first time the monster unleashed this attack Karim wasn't fast enough to dodge, and the attack drained half of his blue bar. After that Karim took care to keep moving to dodge any more energy attacks.
After Karim sliced off the last head the creature fell to the ground dead. This caused the rune to block that Daphne had spotted earlier to break free of the creature's corpse, and fly into the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Before Karim did anything else he stabbed the creature through the chest with his swords. Regaining a good amount of his green bar.
After catching his breath Karim walked over to an altar that was hidden behind the large creature. Sitting on the altar was a stone tablet with a rune sigil carved into 1 side of it. Below these were the words "santak, self". After examining the tablet for a minute Karim picked it up, and watched as it was absorbed into the tome. At once Karim understood the rune, he had picked up back in the first room of the second floor of this temple was the rune for self.
Daphne watched as all this information flashed before her eyes. "So now that Karim has this rune, and more importantly knows what it is, what will he do with it?"
Daphne watched as Karim seemed to pause, and then flipped open the tome. Turning to a page that had the title "New spells" Daphne watched in fascination as a triangle was displayed. To the right of this triangle was a list of runes. Three of the runes had their translation written next to them, while the last rune only had its name.
First Karim tapped the Ulyaoth rune, then the Santak (self) rune, and finally the Narokath rune. There was a flash from the tome, and a new spell appeared in a list on the left side of the page below the "Enchant item" spell. It read "Recover magic".
Daphne stared at the new spell in surprise. "Since that Ulyaoth rune is colored blue, I bet that means the blue bar really is a measure of how much magic Karim has available."
After creating his new spell Karim walked back to the previous room. Daphne was walking behind him again.
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Remembering the sigil on the barrier in this room Karim walked over to where he had seen it. As soon as he neared the barrier it shattered allowing Karim to reach a ladder leading farther down into the temple. Without hesitation Karim climbed down the ladder. Daphne climbed down behind him.
– Separator –
Karim and Daphne found themselves in a T-shaped room. Glancing around Daphne spotted 2 paths up ahead. One lead left where she could see a door blocked by rubble. The other path was just a little too long for her to see what was at the end of it.
Karim didn't have time to notice any of this, however. As soon as he stepped into the room, he was attacked by 4 blue colored walking corpses.
Daphne watched as Karim seemed to attack something that she couldn't see, before turning his attention to the 2 corpses walking toward him.
Karim was surprised when the first 2 corpses he slashed disappeared after a single hit, but he recovered from his surprise quickly, and immediately attacked the corpse on the left that had nearly reached him. It took 4 slashes with his 2 tulwars since he had forgotten to reapply the "Enchant item" spell to his swords. Because of this he had to dodge more attacks than he was expecting. Thankfully he was able to kill both walking corpses, and stab both of them in the back to recover some of his green bar.
After finishing the 2 corpses off Karim walked to where the path split. Sitting in the middle of the room was another stone tablet. This tablet showed the rune that Karim had picked up not too long ago. Realizing this Karim picked up the tablet, and watched as it entered the tome. At once Karim knew that Narokath rune meant absorb.
As Karim glanced down both paths Daphne read the information that flashed before her eyes. She realized that now every rune that had been found up to this point was now identified, and that this most likely meant there wouldn't be any more rune to find here in the temple.
Having noticed the door to the left was blocked, Karim walked down the path leading to the right. At the end of the path, he saw a door. Daphne followed him as he entered the next room.
– Separator –
The room Karim and Daphne stepped into was a large square. Along the walls Karim saw holes under 4 different colored sigils. Each of these holes contained a block of the same color. There was a red block, a green block, a blue block, and a gray block. Each in its own hole, and under its matching-colored sigil. In the center of the room sat a pedestal with a large sword sticking out of it. After examining everything else Karim walked over to the pedestal and pulled the sword from it.
Daphne winced as a scream of fury sounded around the room, and Walking corpses started appearing. These corpses were a mix of gray and blue. Without hesitation the corpses charged for Karim. Whoever was controlling these corpses wasn't happy that Karim had claimed that sword.
Karim for his part didn't hesitate. Seeing a blue corpse closing in on him Karim swung his new sword at the corpse's head.
Daphne was surprised when the corpse's head was sliced off with a single strike from the sword.
Karim didn't appear surprised at the power of the sword, but instead swung at the arm that was swinging at him. Just like with the head he had attacked; the arm was cut off with a single slash. Seeming to confirm his thought pattern Karim started slashing all around him. He took off heads, he destroyed arms, he sliced torsos to ribbons killing 1 corpse after another. Karim also took the time to stab each corpse in the back as they fell dead.
As the last corpse fell dead there was a flash, and a new group of corpses appeared. Taking the time to stab the last of the corpses from the first group, Karim continued to go on the offensive. He chopped off heads, cut off arms, sliced torsos, and stabbed freshly dead corpses to recover his green bar.
This pattern continued 1 more time, before something different happened. As Karim chopped off the head of the first of 2 corpses that had appeared in this most recent group a blue creature that Karim and Daphne had seen earlier in the temple jumped out of the corpse's skin screaming. To his credit Karim didn't even pause before cutting the creature in half with a single swing.
Now aware that another creature was probably hiding inside the last corpse. Witch was still trying to attack him. Karim took the time to stab the creature he had just killed, before turning and slicing the corpse's head off. As he had suspected, another creature jumped out of the corpse's skin and screamed. However, this didn't save it from suffering the same fate as its friend. After stabbing this last creature in the back, Karim looked around the room 1 more time, and finding nothing of note turned to leave the room. Daphne followed behind him once again.
– Separator –
After pausing for a minute Karim made his way back along the t-shaped hallway to the ladder leading back up into the third floor of the temple. After climbing the ladder, he walked all the way back to the room that held the locked door with a sigil on it.
After arriving back at the locked door Karim examined the sigil on the door. Both Daphne and Karim notice the sigil was red. The same color as the rune Karim had picked up after killing the large creature. Opening the tome Karim turned to the spell page and tapped on the "Enchant Item" spell. The triangle along with the project and item runes lit up. The 2 red and blue alignment runes stayed dark, but both started blinking. Karim reached out and tapped the red alignment rune, and when the tome zoomed out to show a picture of the room Karim was in, he tapped his large sword. The tome zoomed in on the large sword, and the "Enchant Item" spell was cast on it.
Examining the lock again Karim inserted the sword into the slot under the sigil. With a click the lock disappeared, and the door swung slightly open. Karim and daphne entered the room.
– Separator –
Karim and Daphne found themselves in a long rocky corridor that curved to the left a way beyond where they could see. Karim ran down the corridor. only pausing to kill the 3 walking corpses he came across. He wouldn't have even stopped for them, except they saw him, and he needed to kill and stab them in the back to regain some green bar. About halfway along the corridor Karim came across a ladder leading up, but he decided to see what else was in this corridor.
Eventually Karim came to a dead end of rubble. Although Karim saw he could easily climb over this wall of rubble he decided to turn back to the ladder and see where it led.
– Separator –
The ladder was a long 1. It led all the way back up to the first floor of the temple.
The room Karim climbed into was small and square shaped. It was also quite dark. Daphne couldn't see very far. Although she could hear some creatures breathing.
Though Daphne couldn't see what creatures were lurking in the dark, that was no problem for Karim. Pulling out 1 of his chakram disks he moved around the room just a little bit, until he seemed to lock on to something and throw his chakram. Having heard the sound of a creature dying, Karim pulled out a second chakram, and used it to kill another creature. After performing this trick 1 more time the room fell silent except for the sound of a burning torch.
After waiting a few minutes to see if any other creatures would appear, Karim walked over to the torch in the middle of the room. Next to the torch was a small red statuette of a man down on 1 knee. Karim examined this object for a few seconds, and then picked it up and stored it in his pack.
After securing the small statuette Karim returned to the ladder and climbed back down to the third floor of the temple. After reaching the bottom Karim and Daphne walked back to the dead end made of grabble. Taking a deep breath Karim climbed over the rubble. Daphne right behind him.
– Separator –
Karim and Daphne found themselves in a continuation of the long curving hallway. As they walked through the hall, they eventually noticed another of the 3-headed creatures waiting near the end. Flipping open the tome Karim turned to the spells page. Tapping on the "Enchant Item" spell Karim enchanted his chakrams under both alignments, then started throwing the disks at the creature's heads. He had 12 chakrams left, and so he threw 4 at the head on the left. This wasn't quite enough though, so he threw 1 more at this head killing it. That left him with 7, and so he pulled out 5 more disks, and threw 4 of them in quick succession at the middle head. To Karim's surprise the middle head only took those 4 disks to be destroyed.
As Karim was pulling out his last 3 disks, he saw the creature lean back and take a deep breath. Not wanting to be caught in whatever attack, the creature was getting ready to unleash Karim moved to the right side of the hallway. It was a good thing he did, for the creature unleashed a large narrow blast of magic that swept down the hall.
Having dodged the creature's attack Karim moved back to the center of the hall and threw his last 3 chakrams at the creature's last head. It was with relief that Karim saw the creature drop dead after his last chakram hit its head.
Karim walked toward the body of the creature he had just killed and stabbed his sword in the back. After removing and cleaning his sword Karim walked toward a ladder leading down. Daphne followed him as he climbed down to the next floor.
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The ladder led Karim and Daphne down to a small room with a shrine made of bones, and a large iron gate blocking the other exit out of the room. Karim walked over to the shrine, and after examining it placed the tome on the bones. This caused the iron gate to rise, clearing the path forward. Before leaving Karim retrieved the tome, and then walked through the exit to the next room.
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Karim found himself in a short hallway leading to a large circular room. In the middle of this room sat an empty pedestal. Casting his "Enchant Item" spell under both alignments on his large sword, Karim walked through the hallway, and into the large room.
As soon as Karim entered the room the hallway behind him was sealed off with a large blue barrier. Without warning several walking corpses emerged from the barrier and started walking toward Karim.
To his credit Karim didn't pause, but instead enchanted his large sword and started chopping off heads, arms, and torsos. Just like when Karim collected the large sword, he carries now he was attacked with several waves of these walking corpses. There were so many that Karim didn't always have time to stab each corpse in the back when it died. This began to take its toll on his green bar, but despite this Karim fought on.
In the fourth wave of these corpses Karim began finding ones with those strange blue screaming creatures. every time 1 of those jumped out of the skin of a corpse that Karim had killed, he made sure to not only kill the creature, but to also stab it in the back to regain some of his green bar.
As the last blue creature falls a massive 3 headed creature emerges from the barrier. As the creature is roaring its challenge Karim refreshes his enchantments on his sword. Then Karim just starts slashing at the creature without targeting it. After a few hits the creature falls to the ground, and Karim runs over to it. Without pausing Karim slashes at each of the creatures' heads. Taking each head off with 2 slashes. As soon as the creature's last head is slashed off the creature dies, and a red claw appears on the pedestal. Karim stabs the creature in the back before approaching the pedestal.
As Karim reaches out to the claw, he hears a voice.
"Karim... We will be together forever..."
Karim looks around. "Chandra?"
A ghostly image of Chandra (the woman Daphne watched Karim had spoken with in the past appears.
Karim gapes. "What... What happened to you?"
"Things change, my dear Karim... But even though my body is ravaged, I await you..."
Karim stares at Chandra. "Who did this to you?"
"You were gone so long... I... gave me to a nobleman with a jealous mistress. She had dragged me from my bed, and in cruel revenge, flensed with knives!"
As CHANDRA speaks, her face changes to show what she looked like at the time of her death.
"As the last blades were drawn across my body, and my blood cooled upon the floor, she cursed that I would only be with another in death..."
Karim laughs bitterly. "So much for thinking only of me! I should never have left..."
Chandra bows to Karim. "I have seen my folly and have paid dearly for it. I see so much more, now. In death, I know the true value of the artifact I asked you to find, and it is not for us to possess. If we are to be together again, you must make a sacrifice. Only when that is complete will we be together."
Daphne's eyes widen in horror.
Karim scoffs at Chandra. "Sacrifice? Why should I do ANYTHING for you? You LIED to me! BETRAYED me! And you really don't look so good anymore..."
Chandra nods to Karim. "You must forget the past. Despite whom you are now, you will also become something more, just as I have. But the sacrifice must be made. We must remain here and guard the artifact. Dark things will come to claim it and you must be strong to keep it from them. Without your sacrifice, the world will fall into eternal darkness!"
Karim pauses before sighing. "The things I do for love..."
The spirit of CHANDRA approaches KARIM and embraces him in a kiss. Blue lightning forms at their mouths. KARIM screams as Daphne's view shifts back to the tome as it closes, and all fades to black.
– Separator –
An: and it's done. Holey cow! this chapter is the longest I think I've ever written. At least it's over.
Next chapter will be mostly conversation as the girls figure out what I have been doing with their points of view. Stick around for that.
As always if you have any questions or suggestions. You can leave a review, or send me a P.M. I promase I read every one I recieve.
Anyway I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you all next time.