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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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9: The Lurking Horror
Daphne stared at the page in Jasmine's hand. Pointing to a picture on the page she asked, "where is that mansion?"
Jasmine takes a closer look. "America, I think."
Susan looks puzzled. "Why would there be a chapter taking place in America if the tome was placed here in Hogwarts?"
Jasmine shakes her head. "I have no idea. However, we may find an answer going through these chapters."
With that Jasmine inserted the chapter into the tome, and the other girls gathered around to read with her.
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The Tome opens to show a picture of a distinguished American from colonial times.
"I will not argue that I was shocked by the sudden mention of one of my ancestors - the distinguished Dr. Maximillian Roivas! It chilled me to my bones! Where had this ancient book come from? How had my ancestor stumbled upon it?
I feverishly began to read more, eager to learn his story. It seems that Maximillian had inherited his father's mansion, just as I had. Alone since the death of his wife, and since his children had their own adult lives, he explored the house to discover his family roots."
Jasmine finds herself in a study. She is standing behind Max as he writes in a journal. She has to shake off an instinct to burn the journal. Looking over Max's shoulder she watches him write.
"It has been two weeks since the death of my father. and it has finally come to me to look over the mansion. Now, I am truly alone, and forced to start a new life, here in Rhode Island."
Jasmine's eyes widen. Now they knew where this chapter took place. Now all they had to find out was what happened.
"I intend to make the mansion mine, and live in it as my forefathers have, to continue the family tradition. The mansion has its secrets, I'm sure. In my time here, I have to make them mine..."
After finishing his journal entry Max stands from his desk and looks ready to explore.
Max walks around the room examining each portrait on the walls making rather crude comments on each. Checking the bookshelves Max is happy to see his medical journals and reports are exactly where he had asked them to be placed. They had even been organized properly. Max made a mental note to thank whichever servant had stored his documents.
Before leaving the study Max walks over to the desk and grabs some round objects from their surface.
"My Flintlock pistol won't be any good without these" he says to himself before walking through the door. Jasmine followed right behind him.
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Jasmine and Max find themselves in a hallway. There is a door just ahead of the 2, on the same side of the hall as the door they just came out of.
Jasmine follows Max as he walks down the hall. Before too long they come across another door. This door is shut, but when Max examines it, he gets a strange look on his face.
"That's strange. I can feel grate evil from behind this door. Why is that? From what I have been told this is the servant's quarters. There shouldn't be anything evil in there."
At the end of the hall Max sees a stained-glass window. This window shows a sunny landscape with a village in the middle of it.
As Max examines the window, he says to himself, "That's odd. The colors and shapes look wrong."
After examining the window Max turns and retraces his steps along the hallway. Upon reaching the study door he continues past it, and onward toward a turn in the hall.
At the turn Max sees a table along 1 wall. This table has a clock standing on it. There are also lots of papers resting on 1 side of the table.
As Jasmine watches Max he glances at the clock, then digs through the papers until he finds more of those round objects.
After storing the objects in his pocket Max walks toward the end of the hall, and the door waits there.
Not wanting to lose sight of Max, Jasmine follows right behind him.
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Jasmine found herself in a large bedroom. There was a bed up against the back wall. A nightstand sits next to it. On the walls around the room are portraits. Jasmine wonders if they are portraits of Max's ancestors. in 1 corner of the room next to a second door stands a dresser. Across from the bed stands a fireplace, with a mantle just above it.
Max walks over to the nightstand and examining it finds a letter. With a shrug Max picks it up and starts to read it. Jasmine pears over his shoulder in curiosity.
"Dear Friend,
The antiquity of which you ask is indeed the Tome of Eternal Darkness, or a copy of it at least. Its secrets are still hidden from me, for I have been unable to read it, as have most scholars who have tried.
It will remain within the sanctity of the mansion, for in the wrong hands it would be a powerful weapon.
Peruse it if you will, but beware its magic... It is a harsh mistress.
Aaron Roivas"
Max looks puzzled. "What's all this then" he asks himself. "I've never heard of this time, and isn't magic just mumbo jumbo? Bah! I am a man of science, not the acult."
Jasmine shakes her head as Max places the letter into a pocket.
Walking over to the fireplace Max glances up at the mantle. To his and Jasmine's surprise there is a small stone tablet just sitting there. Wondering what the object is Max reaches up and grabs it. Nothing happens to his touch, so Max drops it into another of his pockets.
Jasmine recognized a codex but had no idea what rune this codex represented.
Jasmine is startled when Max turns to talk with a servant scrubbing near the fireplace. Hurrying over, Jasmine hears the servant complaining about being overworked. For some reason even though Max is standing right in front of him the servant seems oblivious to his presence.
Though obviously curious about the servant Max walks to the other side of the fireplace. Here is the second door Jasmine spotted when they first entered the room. Next to this door sits a dresser, witch Max ignores before entering the door. Jasmine following him.
Max and Jasmine find themselves in a bathroom. There is a tub against the far wall, and a sink just to Max's right as he enters. Above the sink is a shelf. To the right of the shelf, but still over the sink, stands a mirror. This room is lit by several candles.
Jasmine finds herself relaxing in this room. Maybe it's the candles, but for whatever reason Jasmine feels safe here.
Max walks over to the sink, and examining the shelf picks up a bag that contains more of those round objects. Then after glancing at himself in the mirror Max walks out of the bathroom, out of the master bedroom, and back along the hallway to the door next to the study. Jasmine has to run to catch up with him.
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Jasmine finds herself along with Max in another bathroom. This 1 is smaller than the 1 attached to the master bedroom. However, except for the servant cleaning the room looks much the same.
Max walks over to the shelf above the sink and reaching up grabs another bag of round objects.
Max tries to talk with the servant but gets no response. The servant is focused on cleaning. "Maybe their new" Jasmine thinks to herself.
After getting no response from the servant, Max leaves the bathroom.
Max walks down the hallway back toward the master bedroom with Jasmine tagging along. However about halfway down the hall Max turns toward an alcove across from the table which holds the clock. Walking into this alcove Max comes upon a pair of doors. Pushing the double doors open, Max steps into the mansion's foyer.
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Jasmine found herself on a landing overlooking the foyer. A set of stairs lead down to her left and right. A maid was running around the landing.
When Max walked over to the maid and struck up a conversation, she said the room temperature wasn't quite right.
After that conversation Max walks down the stairs to the actual foyer. Another servant is working near the other staircase.
Max walks across the room until he is between the 2 staircases leading up. Sitting here is a small table. The table holds a clock, and a letter.
As Max examines the clock, he frowns at seeing the hands pointing to the time of 3:33. He knows it is not that time, so why is the clock showing that?
Jasmine also frowns. "3:33 again. is this the number of the Eternal Darkness?"
Shrugging his shoulders Max picks up the letter and reads it. Jasmine peers over his shoulder.
"Dear friend,
The House has been forsaken by the Ancients - I dare not enter it for my fear of my mortal soul. I would suggest that you leave also. Bring the book. It is a far more potent tool than you have learned and may well swing the balance in our favor.
- A. Roivas"
"that's odd. Though the last letter was written calmly, this letter was written in written in scrawled" and "panicked handwriting."
Jasmine nodded at Max's observation. Even though Max took no notice of it.
Max stored the letter in his pocket and turned to explore the rest of the foyer.
Turning to his right Max walks across the foyer. He walks past a picture on the wall and continues to the end of the room. Here he finds a strange looking sigil on the wall. The sigil is surrounded by a red triangle. Next to the sigil hangs a large painting. The painting shows the very room Max and Jasmine are exploring. The odd thing is that there is a door where the sigil on the wall is.
Max looks at the painting and scoffs. "Why would anyone put so much detail into an inaccurate painting?"
As Max turns, he spots another picture. This picture shows 3 figures standing in a triangular formation. One of the figures is dressed in red. Another standing to its left is dressed in blue. another figure is dressed in green. Standing in the center of the figures is a fourth figure dressed in purple. On the wall next to this picture is a shelf. As Max examines the shelf, he finds another of those round objects, which he stores in 1 of his pockets.
After examining the area to see if he missed anything else, Max walks back across the foyer, and continues until he comes into sight of a single door leading to another room, as well as a set of double doors leading into a different room. Max doesn't pause in his stride as he walks through the double doors. Jasmine following along behind him.
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As Max walks into what is obviously the mansion's kitchen, something causes him to glance over his shoulder at the doors he just walked through. Hanging on the wall between the 2 doors is another of those stone tablets.
Still not knowing what these tablets do, Max none the less picks up the tablet, and stores it in his pocket.
Jasmine stairs at Max in puzzlement. "How much can this man carry?"
Unaware of Jasmine's presents, much less her thoughts, Max walks over to the pantry, and begins searching for it. on top of 1 of the barrels' max finds a handle of some kind.
"I wonder what this is for" Max thinks to himself as he exits the pantry.
Max walks across the kitchen until he finds himself near the kitchen oven. There are 2 maids here. One is cooking. When Max talks to her she asks, "
Are your hungry sir?"
The second maid doesn't look so cheerful. Max walks over to her and talks to her. "There is some kind of strange air in this room."
Ignoring the strange maid Max walks over to a set of shelves near the oven. Examining the shelves Max finds another bag of those strange round objects.
Jasmine stairs as Max stores the bag. "Just how many of those round objects is he going to find?"
After walking around the kitchen for a bit more Max walks back into the foyer and turns toward the single door he passed when entering the kitchen. Jasmine as always follows him.
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Jasmine and Max found themselves in a dining room. Jasmine couldn't see much, although that didn't stop her from following Max as he walked around the room.
There was a servant cleaning the room, however when Max tried talking to him, he just asked if Max needed anything, without bothering to wait for an answer.
After walking around the room and finding nothing Max stops in front of the fireplace. Above the fireplace is another picture just like the picture back in the foyer with the 4 colored figures. Below this picture are 4 stone plates, each with a sigil carved into them. Although these sigils were themselves colored unlike the sigil on the wall in the foyer. From left to right Jasmine saw a blue sigil, purple, red, and finally green.
Max stairs at the stone plates in puzzlement. It was obvious to Jasmine Max had no idea what to do with these plates. That is until he spotted the small raven statue, and the message next to the picture.
"When darkness spreads its wings in front of Chattur'gha, the path to truth will be opened."
Max looked around in puzzlement. "Who or what is Chattur'gha?"
Deciding to see if she could help Max Jasmine walks over to the picture on the wall. Drawing her wand, she points to the red dressed figure in the picture, and casts "Lumis". Just as she had hoped the red figure lit up.
Max stared in surprise at the figure dressed in red. How did that light up like a torch? What does it mean, and is his mansion really haunted? Max was unsure of any of these answers but decided to give the light the benefit of the doubt. Picking up the raven statue Max walks over to the stone plate with the red sigil. After pausing for just a minute Max places the statue in front of the plate.
Without warning the back wall of the fireplace drops down, putting out the fire, and revealing a secret passage. Max looks excited at the thought of finally discovering 1 of the mansion's hidden secrets. Without pausing Max squeezes himself into the passage. Jasmine followed him after a minute.
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Jasmine and Max find themselves in what looks like a second study. There is a fireplace against the far wall. In the center of the room stands a large wooden desk. Jasmine spots a picture of the cathedral Anthony explored in an earlier chapter of the tome. Max spots a picture with a large purple sigil on another wall.
Max walks over to the fireplace and glancing around finds a scroll of some kind. However, when he tries to read it, he finds it is in a language he has never seen before. Max stores the scroll in 1 of his pockets.
Continuing to walk around the room Max comes across a saber hanging on the wall next to a stand of some kind. beginning to feel slightly uneasy Max takes the saber from the wall.
As Max nears the picture of the cathedral, he finds a second pistol hanging next to it. Looking excited, Max pulls the pistol off the wall and holds a pistol in each hand.
Finally, Max turned his attention to the large desk sitting in the middle of the room. This desk was lit, just like every other room that Jasmine had seen so far, with candles spread around the top of the desk. Sitting in the middle of the desk was a book that had the words "Tome of Eternal Darkness" written on the cover.
Max examined the toe for a few minutes. However, after finding nothing of note, except that the book appeared to be made from human skin, Max picked up the book, and cradled it in his arms.
Suddenly scenes flash before Maxes eyes. First, he sees Pious attacking a gray colored zombie. The words "Mantorok Zombie" flash over the zombie's head. Next Max sees a young woman saving a guard from a green zombie. The name "Ellia" appears over the young woman's head, and the words Xel'lotath zombie" appear over where the monster's head should be. Next Max sees a young man killing a bishop with a 2-handed sord. The Name "Anthony" appears over the young man's head. Lastly Max sees a warrior stabbing a large sword into a lock on a door. The name "Karim" appears over the warrior's head.
With a start Max comes out of the visions and looks around the secret study. As Max opens the tome to examine it, a letter falls out from between 2 pages, and falls to the desktop. Max picks up the letter and examines it. Jasmine glances at the letter over Max's shoulder.
"Dear friend,
As I suspected, the Ruins of Ehn'gha - that blasted necropolis - lies deep under the site of the mansion! The accursed servants of CHATTUR'GHA are so close I can almost hear their chittering!
There is a secret opening in the basement, and from there we can gain access. I urge you to gather some men and seal it, or better still destroy the whole damned place!
I have stowed something that you will find useful on the upper level. Look at the light, and you will find it.
I wish that I could be at your side, but my ailment worsens daily, and I know that my time is short...
A.R."
Max frowns. "The handwriting is almost impossible to read. Thankfully I am able to make out what A.R. wrote."
Without warning Max hears a roar from the direction of the foyer. Glancing around Max first casts the "Enchant Item" spell on his saber, and then hurries out of the secret study.
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As soon as Max climbs out of the fireplace the servant that had been cleaning the room turns toward Max and starts punching him.
Realizing something is wrong Max attacks the servant with his saber. With 1 slash he cuts off the servant's head.
However, Max had no time to relax. For a small red creature burst out of the servant's body turning it to dust. For the first time Max's green bar appeared and began to drop like a rock. Luckily Max was close enough to slash off the creature's head killing it.
Jasmine expected Max to stab the creature in the back just like she had seen others do. However, Max walked over to the creature and performed an autopsy on it. Writing down everything he discovered in his journal.
Because she was looking over his shoulder Jasmine realized the creature could be called a bonethief.
Once he finished the autopsy Max stabbed the creature in the back, recovering a good chunk of his green bar. After resting for a minute Max straightens and walks over to and through the door leading back to the foyer. Jasmine followed behind him.
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As soon as Max steps through the door from the dining room back into the foyer his eyes widen in surprise. In the middle of the room stood a large 3 headed beast roaring for some reason Max couldn't guess. A servant was huddling in 1 corner, obviously frightened. Second 1, however, immediately rushed toward Max swinging her fists. It didn't take Max long to realize this servant was also possessed.
Not wasting any time Max drew his saber and slashed the servant's head. He connected, however before he could attack a second time he had to move as the large beast sent a blast of some kind of energy at Max.
This continued for a minute. First Max would attack the servant's head with his saber, and then move to dodge a blast from the big beast. It got a little harder when the servant's head was destroyed, and a bonethief burst out of her chest. Thankfully it happened right after the beast sent its blast, so Max was able to quickly slice off the head of the bonethief, and stab it in the back regaining much of his lost green bar.
After killing the bonethief Max turned his attention to the large creature still roaring in his foyer. While dodging the beast's energy blasts, Max takes a look around. spotting the stairs leading up to the landing above Max examines it. Studying the landing he realizes that standing on it would put him at the exact height needed to reach the heads of the creature.
Dodging another energy blast Max runs over to the stairs and climbs to the landing.
The beast followed Max over, though it moved a little slower than Max.
Putting away his saber Max drew his pair of pistols and aimed at 1 of the beast's heads. Max waited for the beast to get as close as it could and let off its energy blast at Max. Thankfully there was room for Max to dodge the attack. Once Max had dodged the blast, he pulled the trigger on both pistols, blasting the left most head into mist.
The creature roared in pain as its head was destroyed.
Jasmine watched in awe as Max reloaded his pistols with the round objects, he had been finding all over the mansion. Then running around to dodge the beast's magical attack. Yes, Jasmine could sense the creature's attack using magic. Although she doubted Max had realized this. After dodging an attack Max would shoot another of the heads of the beast. It took only 1 more round of this before the beast fell to the floor dead. As the creature dies a rune floats out of the creature's chest and enters the Tome of
Eternal Darkness. The stone tablet Max had collected earlier flashes, and the word "Redgormor" changes to "Area". A new spell "Reveal invisible" appears in the tome under the Ulyaoth alignment.
After the creature falls to the floor dead Max descends back to the foyer, and performs an autopsy on the creature, before stabbing it in the back with his saber.
Jasmine saw Max write the name "Horror" next to the creature's description in his journal.
As Max straightens up from performing his examination the servant that had been hiding in the corner runs over to him. Max comforted him, before reclimbing the stairs up to the landing, and walking through the double doors to enter the second floor. Jasmine was always following right behind him.
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Upon entering the second floor of the mansion Max turns left and walks down the hallway until he reaches a corner. Turning left again, Max soon reaches the stained-glass window he had seen earlier. Looking around with new eyes Max spots the 2 tables that sit on either side of the window. The table on the right held nothing of significance. However, the table on the left held a sealed envelope that was hidden in the light coming through the window. Max wondered out loud "Wouldn't anyone has been able to see this envelope during the night?" Deciding not to worry about it, Max reaches for the envelope.
As soon as Max picks up the sealed envelope a bonethief crashes through the stained-glass window and screams at Max while it dances around.
Despite being surprised by the bonethief Max still had enough piece of mind to draw his saber and slice the bonethief's head off with a single slash. As the bonethief drops to the floor dead Max stabs it in the back to recover some of his lost green bar.
After dealing with the bonethief Max examines the envelope. Upon opening it Max finds a key, as well as a fourth letter. Max puts the key into his pocket and reads the letter.
"Dear friend,
As I expected, the beasts are drawing closer to our discovery. They want the book for themselves, it seems, and do not want us to have it in our possession. I have taken steps to ensure that their ilk will not touch the key in this envelope, should you fall prey to their claws.
The envelope containing the Basement Key has been sealed with a corrosive magic - if one not aligned to us tries to open it, it will be release,
inflicting pain, suffering, and a grievous blow to their sanity, should they have any left!
Be swift with your task!
A.R."
After finishing reading the letter Max shakes his head. "Magic? I am a man of science. I don't have time for this mystical mumbo-jumbo."
Despite his words Jasmine notices Max looking over the scroll he had found earlier.
After looking around the second floor for a few minutes Max returns to the foyer. Jasmine following along behind him.
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As Max walks into the landing above the foyer Jasmine notices something odd. All the color around her and Max suddenly drains out until what is left looks like the 2 of them are in an old photograph. What was most surprising to Jasmine however was the horror standing in the middle of the foyer, just like the 1 Max defeated to acquire the Area rune.
To Jasmine it looked like Max was in some kind of trance. He took no notice of anything, except the horror roaring in his foyer.
Max drew his saber and cast the "Enchant item" spell on it. Then he moved down the stairs until he was standing at their bottom corner. Then moving left or right to dodge the horror's magical blasts Max slashed at each of the horror's heads. It took a little longer than when he was using his enchanted pistols, but after 9 slashes, 3 slashes per head, the horror fell to the ground dead.
As the horror died Jasmine watched as a rune flew from the horror's chest into the tome. The strange thing was as soon as the horror's body hit the floor there was a white flash, and max was standing at the double doors leading to the second floor.
"And what was that all about" Jasmine asked herself as Max looked around in a daze.
After shaking his head Max walks down the stairs, and followed the wall on the right until he reached another hallway. Turning down this hallway Max walked until he reached the strange sigil on the wall. Examining the Tome of Eternal Darkness Max taps the "reveal invisible" spell. The triangle on the spell page, along with the absorb and area runes light up. All 3 alignment runes stay dark, though they start glowing softly. Looking over to the picture on the wall next to the sigil, Max finds the red figure, and sees it leaning away from the blue 1. Looking back down at the tome Max finds the blue (Ulyaoth) rune and taps it. The triangle, Narokath, Redgormor and Ulyaoth runes all glow, and then a new copy of the "Reveal invisible" spell appears on the spell page.
Max taps this new copy of the spell. When the tome zooms out to show the room around him, Max taps the sigil on the wall. With a flash of blue light, the sigil is destroyed. At once the wall the sigil was on disappears, revealing a door where the sigil was. When Max tries the door, he finds it to be locked. However, not being a fool, Max pulls out the key he had found in the sealed envelope and uses it to unlock the door in front of him. Opening the door Max descends a set of stairs into the mansion's basement. Jasmine followed right behind him.
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As max descended the stairs into the basement he spots several walking corpses in the room. Drawing his saber Max first casts the "Enchant item" spell on it, and then stepping off the bottom step slashes at the head of the nearest corpse.
It only took 2 slashes before the corpse's head was destroyed. However, what Max wasn't expecting was a bonethief burst out of the dead corpse, and begin screaming at Max. Not wasting any time Max slashes, the head of the bonethief. Killing it immediately.
Not pausing Max walks toward the next corpse and slashes its head with his saber. This time no bonethief burst out of the corpse's chest upon death. Looking around Max saw the nearest walking corpse was far enough away that Max had time to perform an autopsy on the corpse lying in front of him.
Jasmine watched as Max wrote down his findings of the creature called oddly enough "zombie" in his journal. "Well now we have an actual name for these creatures" she thought as Max once more enchanted his saber and walked toward the next zombie.
Once all the zombies were dead once again, max walked over to the lower right corner of the room. Here he found a small water well. Sitting on 1 side of the well was another scroll, witch Max picks up. After collecting the scroll Max examines it.
"Damage field " Max mutters to himself. "It looks like I need to find another rune to create this spell." Max stores the scroll in a pocket, before looking around the room some more.
Walking around the well Max spots 1 of those stone tablets that he needs to identify runes. Nodding to himself Max picks up the tablet and stores it in a pocket.
After storing the tablet Max walks over to the opposite corner of the room. Here he finds and collects some more round objects for his pistols.
After looking around the basement for a few more minutes Max returns to the water well. Upon examining it Max discovers a pump that could be used to drain the water in the well. The only immediate problem was that the pump had no handle. Checking his pockets Max finds the pump handle he got in the pantry while exploring the mansion. Attaching the handle to the pump Max drains the water from the well, revealing a ladder leading down. After taking 1 last look around Max clime down the ladder. Jasmine right behind him.
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As Max reaches the bottom of the ladder, he spots a large gray colored zombie with a rune stuck in its chest. As the zombie spots Max and begins to walk toward him. Max draws his saber and enchants it. Once his saber is enchanted Max walks toward the zombie and tries to slash its head. However, since the zombie was so large, Max couldn't reach its head. Because of this Max decided to slash the zombie's arms off. Then once the arms were destroyed, he attacked the zombie's body. It took quite a few hits, but at last the zombie fell to the floor dead. Allowing the rune to come free from the zombie's chest, and float into the Tome of Eternal Darkness.
As the rune enters the tome the tablet Max collected in the room above flies out of his pocket and enters the tome as well. As the tablet enters the tome the scroll Max had picked up from the well glows, and a new spell "Damage field" appears in the tome. Examining the tome 1 more time Max sees the new rune "Protect" along with the other runes he and others had found up to this point.
Max takes 1 more look around, before walking over to a large staircase descending even farther downwards. Max begins to climb down the stairs. About halfway down Max sees a break in the wall to his right. Stepping through this break Max beholds a gigantic underground ruin. The ruined city stretches out for miles in every direction.
As Max looks over the ruins, he feels very small. Was this what Aaron was referring to in his letter? If so, how was he supposed to destroy something this big?
Squaring his shoulders Max casts the recover spell under the red and green alignments refilling his red and green bars. Then he casts the "Enchant item" spell on his saber, and pistols. Once finished casting spells Max returns to the staircase and continues climbing down. Jasmine follows him. Even though she felt something strong was ahead.
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As Max steps into the entrance of the ruins a large red creature appears in front of him. Raising 1 of its massive arms, the creature casts a spell. Not at Max, but at the staircase leading back up out of the ruins. A red shimmering field appears blocking the stairs, trapping Max here with the creature.
Max raises his pistols, and as the creature begins to cast another spell fires at it. The objects strike the creature, causing it to move ever so slightly. This causes the creature's spell to fizzle out. Seeing that Max hits upon an idea.
Taking the time to reload his pistols, Max waits for the creature to begin casting another spell. As soon as he sees the creature start casting Max fires again hitting the creature, causing it to move, and interrupting its spells.
Max repeated this pattern 6 more times before the creature lets out a blood curdling scream and falls to the floor dead.
As the creature falls dead Max walks up to the body and examines it.
"The accursed beast was dead, but not without its toll on me. That was but one, and there was an entire city of them. I could not hope to fight them all alone. I knew I had to get help..."
(MAX staggers up the stairs back to the mansion.)
The view shifts to Max in the secret study. He is studying the tome.
"I knew there was a way. I just had to find it..."
The view shifts once again. Jasmine is looking at A filthy padded wall. As her view pans down Maximillian is revealed. He looks dirty, and for some reason is tied up in a strait jacket.)
"I tried... I tried to tell them... But they wouldn't listen to me... Damn them... DAMN THEIR EYES! They didn't believe me... Strange creatures... The world in peril from unseen foes... The death... THE DARKNESS!"
Max slides down the wall and sits
"Instead, they jeered and threw me into this forsaken place... A place of empty souls and fevered thoughts... reeking of foetor and decay! Thinking me mad with delirium!" Max chuckles. "The fools cast away their hopes of salvation by locking me in this damned asylum!"
MAX stands, walks up to the barred door, and slams his shoulder against it.
"MAY THE RATS EAT YOUR EYES! I am now lost to your cause!" Max begins to sob. "The Darkness comes! It will damn us all!"
With that the picture zooms out, and stills, showing Max in his padded cell. Before the tome closes, and all fades to black.
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An: and that's chapter 10. I'll be going back to check the previous chapters to be sure that each person saw the correct alignment rune, but now that all 3 of the alignment runes have been fowned the girls will be discovering why Susan hasn't been able to see any of the alignment runes or codex in her chapter. Hopefully it won't be as long before my next chapter is out.
As always if you have a comment, complaint, or suggestion, you can leave a review, or send me a private message. I may not respond, but I do read every message and review I receive.
I'd like to thank you all for reading, and I'll see you all next time.