Solo Warrior 29: Altared States

[Bungleau]

As Missy rode the stone pillar back up to the sandy room, she looked around. In the flickering torchlight, she could see faded paintings on the walls, pictures of an era gone by. Images told of Cet’s dark rise to power, and of the valiant battle of Ruhon, champion of the forests who had fallen to Cet’s evil power. The attempts of Longtooth, aged magician from eras long since forgotten, were also documented; Longtooth’s final moments, being pulled apart by demons from the darkest depths of the underworld, ran into the rise of Anephas.

Anephas, as she followed down the corridors, had a rise of his own – worship and prayer, favored by the gods, and bring light to the perpetual darkness. Until he, too, passed on, to the next world; only this time, he was able to bring Cet with him.

As Missy walked, she suddenly noticed a wispy image in the background of Cet and Anephas’ final battle. Brushing the cobwebs and dust from the wall, she saw a fish, high up in the air. Actually, upon closer examination, it appeared to be a woman with a fish’s tail… and she was flying! Slipping the black pearl ring from her pack, she compared it to the painting on the wall; quite similar in style, although she couldn’t quite make out a face in the painting.

“Hmmm…. Wonder what she’s doing there?” thought Missy. As an afterthought, she went back to the other paintings, and in each one, she could see the same ghostly image, the winged mermaid present at each champion’s final passing. She was behind the trees where Ruhon fell behind Shurugeon Castle, turned on and impaled by the stags he’d raised. She was in the mystic fog where Longtooth had made his final battle, in the early morning by Nymph Lake. “What is she, some kind of death leech?”

Pocketing the ring once again, she stared at the room in front of her. A black-and-white checkerboard pattern covered the floor, the brightness of the colors almost making her head ache. As she stepped onto the floor, it felt strange, and pulling her foot back, she watched as the floor suddenly fell out from beneath her! Staring into the darkness, the torchlight glinted off a pair of eyes far below. Not quite sure what it was, and certain there were no friends in this forsaken place, she stepped back and let loose a firestorm, then two. And finally three, when she heard, at long last, a heavy thump from a large body hitting the ground.

Inching forward, she could see that in some places, the dust on the floor was undisturbed, while others, like the piece of floor that had fallen beneath her feet, the dust was much lighter, and often smeared. She surmised that the less dusty tiles were ones that moved, brushed clean by unfortunates before her who had fallen to their death with the strange beast below. She stepped carefully, putting her feet gingerly onto the dusty tiles, and soon crossed safely over the room.

As she looked back into the room, torchlight danced off something shiny in the room beneath the room, offering a promise of treasure and hope. Creating a portal so she could return safely from the pit, she stepped gingerly down into the darkness until she slipped and fell into a pile of sand.

With her torchlight barely making a dent in the gloom beneath the fractured floor, she saw some gold and a shiny sword, almost like a rapier, left behind by the beast she had slain from above. As she walked her way around the room, a panel opened in one wall and she saw a small passageway illuminated in murky light from outside. Curious, and with one hand mentally on a teleport spell, she followed the path and soon found another sliding door, this one leading to a room with two temple guardians. As it turned out, they were also susceptible to the wrath of a firestorm, and after cleaning out that area, she continued down the path.

Soon she found a chest with a statue of two baboons linked together, seemingly playing a simian game of tug of war. Figuring it might be a valuable trinket in Brimloch Roon, she put it into her pack and continued on, finding herself in a long and rising corridor where it grew darker and darker.

One final step, and she suddenly found herself falling, down into more darkness. As she started reciting the teleport spell to bring herself to safety, she hit the bottom with a squishy *thump*.

Looking around, she realized that she’d been here before; she was in the alcove where she thought she’d seen a ledge high up. Now she knew where it led to.

Returning back through the sandy room and across the tile room, she began exploring more of the tomb. As she moved further in, she encountered more artwork, these with more people she recognized. D’Soto the champion was shown, falling in his final battle with Haleabus; the wispy flying mermaid was there as well, sailing above the crumbled walls of Shurugeon Castle. More artwork revealed the fall of Oakenmir, but as she studied it, Oakenmir appeared to be stronger, more cunning, and more vicious than she had thought. Images of villagers impaled on thorny tree branches dotted the landscape, and the wispy mermaid was much more solid – a major image, in fact.

Wiping the years of dust and dirt, Missy was disappointed to see that the mermaid’s face was, even in this large picture, blurred out. In fact, it looked like it was deliberately erased. Whoever the mermaid was, she didn’t want to be found, apparently.

Continuing on, Missy soon found more elaborately decorated rooms and a couple of scarabs hanging from the walls. Examining more closely, she saw that they moved, appearing to be switches; moving them, she examined the area and soon found her way to a pair of rooms, each with a switch.

Flipping one appeared to open a door for the other, and from one of them came the Darkened One, the creature that Sensei Asami was so concerned with.

As the Darkened One approach, Missy had to stifle a laugh. While he was certainly huge and looked to be a worthy opponent, he had apparently spent too much time underground. The simple opening of the door had apparently surprised him, and before he could respond, it tried to close again, squishing him between itself and the wall. He pushed it away, but it kept coming back, trying to close and squishing him in the process. It was like a giant game of pat-a-cake, only the Darkened One was getting patted.

With a grin on her face, Missy stood back and let loose elemental blast after elemental blast at the Darkened One. While steel would have been a better choice for combat, and fire wasn’t overly effective, it did the trick, and in short order, the Darkened One lay decomposing on the rough stone floor.

Moving forward, Missy soon found a doorway that led to a room where some monkeys came flying down a chute. Dispatching them, she continued on to a door that opened to reveal a chamber, filled with glistening black columns around the edges, a shallow pool in the middle, and a black stone altar against the far wall. As she stepped in to the strangely illuminated room, the black columns suddenly started to rise, revealing mummies and scarab priests that were some final kind of protector.

Running forward to engage each in close combat, she soon reduced them to piles of dust, small baubles and ankhs falling with their brittle bones. She looked around; this was the most ornately decorated room by far, and to her surprise, she recognized one more person in the paintings; the angel Kerah, flying high above the Gael Serran and surveying the wondrous things that Anephas had done.

One chest yielded a statue of Kerah, and as she placed it on the black altar, there was a rumble behind her. Turning, she saw the water in the pool start to froth, and suddenly the bottom of the pool began to rise. Looking up, she could see the reflection of water on the ceiling.

The ceiling? Water fell, didn’t it? That’s how water mills operated, and rivers flowed… or so she thought. As the giant pillar rumbled up, it stopped for a moment, and began to descend. Running up, Missy jumped on it and rode up to an underwater chamber. Looking around, she spied a lever on the wall and flipped it, watching a doorway above start to open up. With her lungs starting to burn inside, she swam to the opening door and began to head up, eager to see what lay on the other side.

[macoati]

Masterful... as usual [img]smile.gif[/img]

[WillowIX]

Excellent Bungleau! [img]graemlins/awesomework.gif[/img] Have you ever considered becoming a professional writer? You seem to have the knack for it. [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[bsftcs]

Great new chapter, Bungleau. [img]graemlins/thewave.gif[/img]

[Bungleau]

Thanks, all. I have considered it, Willow, and I've written one technical book. I actually need to stop gaming for a while so I can get some more writing done... another technical book or two, and the basics for a couple of professional-type books (on public speaking and running volunteer organizations).

Fiction, though, like Missy's adventures, are really a lot of fun. Most of the rest of the game has been played, and she's waiting on me to get caught up on things. I'll try to be more regular, but I'm going into a busy travel period again. We'll see what happens...

Each chapter takes me about an hour and a half to write. Considering I've got around 15 more chapters outlined, there's a wee bit more work to do...

More soon... [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

[LiOnHe@rT]

dun worry bungleau! i'm sure u can do it!
and regarding this chapter, woohoo!!!! the climax is building up! [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]