Guilty as forgotten (Rising light)

An illuminating light pierced the valley, penetrating its darkest corners as if beckoning small creatures from their slumber. The valley was the very picture of serenity- wind softly blew through the scattered trees, rustling their leaves gently.

A lone figure was there to witness the splendour of this scene. The teenager was different- he was one who preferred silence and the occasional bird chirping to the heavy drone of an engine. Many unknown secrets were kept beneath his peaceful features.

His hair was messy, and a common shade of dirt brown. It was long around the back of his neck, covering his ears and curling up slightly at the ends. The hair on the sides of his head stuck out, long and messy, while strands brushed his eyes. His eyes were hazel, and his lips open to savour the scent of fresh air- Apparently. He was in fact drawing energy from the very air around him, and the plant life graciously added their essence to the equation.

The boy wore a long sleeved white shirt, a perfect display of his light-hearted personality. Over this he wore a blue t-shirt, etched with random symbols and numbers. Trailing over his muscular legs were dark denim pants, which ended at his large black shoes.

The most significant feature about him was the leather strap encircling torso. The colour was almost unnoticeable and thus disguised well in normal view. It led around to his back, and branched off to make three separate parts. They all supported one thing- a staff.

This was no ordinary staff, despite its relatively normal wood. A large violet orb atop it pronounced its importance. The spherical crystal had been imbedded with three small pearls- one red, another green and the last a blue. These all had different insignias engraved into them.

The last noticeable feature was a fine steel blade protruding from the end. It was supported by a wooden hilt and a silver ring.

Lance was calm upon this particular day. His travelling had been long and arduous, and to find a place with so much essence and elemental harmony soothed his soul. He had a destiny, and that was to calm the rage between the elementals. It was common for most people to misunderstand his plight, and so the only refuge he could find was within the earth itself. It was much more understanding than a human being in many cases.

Something flickered at the corner of Lance’s eye. A stranger perhaps? No- he did not sense any outstanding or peculiar feelings radiating from that direction. Not that his magic sense was refined at all- he would often mistake jealousy for sadness. And that was only in a normal conversation, without resorting to his magic, as well.

It appeared that it was a human- the shape was easy to identify. It seemed covered in a cloak, preventing Lance from seeing. He lowered himself into a criss-cross seated position, and then placed his hands in his lap, much like an obedient school child. It would be best if he did not appear mistrustful to the new arrival.

The figure stopped abruptly in its approach and looked to both sides, checking to see if anyone was in the vicinity. Lance suddenly understood- it was hiding its essence as to not be sensed by anyone. He had seen countless individuals do it before, but he had failed miserably when he attempted to do it himself.

The cloaked figure suddenly raised its hands into the air, waving them about madly. Ominous dark clouds started to form, static electricity crackling within them. A white bolt of energy suddenly flew down from the sky, hitting its uplifted hands and forming into a small, solid ball. Several other bolts descended from the clouds to gather into this, expanding the original shape of the sphere. The spell-casting thing drew its hands away from the incoming lightning, halting the process.

Lance sprawled himself on the ground, half anxious, half curious. He watched intently as the mysterious sorcerer concentrated the newfound power into one finger, and then started drawing strange runes in the air. The magical symbols hovered in the space and gradually started to rise. The runes formed a large circle, rotating at the sorcerers will. Lance peeked over a clump of grass to see the circle expand, and a white flash was the last thing he saw.


Lance awoke from his daze to find that he was in a completely different place. He looked left and right, realising that he was in a cell- a very large cell, to be exact. It looked as if it had housed many criminals in its time. The ages had taken its toll on the gloomy prison, and the door had been either torn off its hinges, or had never existed to begin with. It was not a place that one would like to spend the rest of their days.

Lance groaned, and stretched his back. How long had he been here? He had been resting against the cold, stony wall for quite a while. The mage warrior hopped to his feet, absent-mindedly scratching his head. He strode quietly from the bare cell and down a long corridor, the fashion of which was not unlike that of the cell.

As he reached the end, a strange sight met his eyes. There was a very large room in front of him, and it too was constructed entirely of stone. Its features were very dull. The only interesting thing about it was a stone pedestal- Behind it hovered six strange orbs, each of them a different colour. They bobbed up and down simultaneously, reflecting multi-coloured myriads of light off the walls.

Lance peered around curiously. No one was there--he took a few steps forward. With every step that he had taken the spheres had presented a strange attraction that he had never felt before. He extended a hand to touch them.

There was a white flash. Lance was gone.

OoC: Okay, I suggest you make said character go through a door like portal in the middle of nowhere (but it’s actually the one the sorcerer created a while ago) and have him/her arrive at the same place.

^^

OoC: I think that I’ll use Lyra (link in sig) for this. Damn you for making me follow that post of yours. (I'm just kidding!)

BiC:
The small valley was warm and sunny, though it was oddly quiet. A young woman walked through the field, exploring it for any signs of what could have occurred only an hour ago. She had been in a nearby town when she, as well as many of the other villagers, noticed what appeared to be lightning in the valley below. The villagers decided to ignore it, but the young woman’s curiosity was too strong to ignore. She grabbed her pack and ran down to the valley, hoping to discover what had just occurred.

The young woman had thick, auburn hair that was put up in a rather messy ponytail. Hair was escaping from it and was falling in front of her eyes. Her wavy, long hair reached the middle of her back. Her eyes were her most stunning feature; at first glance they were blue, but on closer inspection they appeared to have some green in them. She wore a light blue shirt that was a bit loose on her, but not so loose that it looked to be too big for her. The sleeves of her shirt ended between her elbows and her wrists. She wore dark brown pants that were slightly wrinkled; they stopped a few inches below her knee. The boots that she wore were at one time a dark brown as well, but years of use had taken most of the color from them, leaving them a faded brown. These boots reached to the bottom of her pants. Hanging from her waist was an old scabbard that held her weapon: a long sword. There was nothing fancy about it; it was just an ordinary sword.

The young woman, called Lyra, looked around at the empty valley. She could tell that animals lived there; she saw a bird’s nest in one of the few trees. Whatever had occurred spooked the animals and caused them to go into hiding. Using her long, slightly pointed ears, Lyra listed to see if any animals had stayed behind. The only thing she heard was the warm wind blowing.

“Where are all of the animals?” she asked herself, sitting down on a nearby rock. “It’s like they’ve all disappeared. What could have happened down here that could have caused an entire ecosystem to just run away?” She looked down at the ground, looking for any signs as to where the animals could have gone, when she noticed something.

Footprints.

She stood up and followed them. They stopped a few feet away. She scratched her head, confused. “What’s going on?” she muttered. She glanced around her and saw nothing. She was about to turn her head again when something stopped her. What she had thought was nothing before was actually something. It was just something that was easy to overlook. The air seemed to be moving and was hazy, as if it were a hot day. She walked towards it and looked closer. She could make out what seemed to be a door, a stone door. She touched the strange air and was blinded by a flash of light.

When the light faded away, Lyra blinked, dots blinding her. When the multicolored dots were gone, she looked around and saw she was no longer in the valley. She was instead in a large room that was dark and gloomy. The walls were made entirely out of stone, and they looked old. In front of her was a stone pedestal that, despite looking as if it were made for holding books or something along those lines, was empty. Hovering around the pedestal were many glowing orbs. There were six of them, each of them a different color. They bobbed up and down, moving as one.

“What is this place?” Lyra muttered as she stared at the orbs.

OoC: Sorry about that I'm trying to make this into a good story, but I'll leave it up to your skilled writing now. ^^

"Ugh...."

It had happened again. The same feeling that came from teleporting from the plain to the cell did not differ from the method he had just experienced. Absently rubbing his right eye with a dirty hand, Lance pushed himself to his feet once again.

As pinpricks of light slowly faded from his vision, he took in the elaborate setting he had arrived at. The room was circular, oddly enough; the details of it were barely enough to classify it as a room, but more of an area. The only colour that could be seen was blackness. The entire room was shrouded in shadow.

Faint silver outlines on the corners of the peculiar shaped walls said otherwise, but nonetheless it was very strange. Lance could barely make out 6 shining dots in the distance. They somehow reminded him of the orbs he had seen much earlier, as the faint light radiating from them was all vaguely different. The mage looked down to notice that he could barely see himself. He willed his light and fire magic into a small flame and held it out over his palm. Smiling at the success of his creation, he walked forward cautiously to investigate.

The glimmering lights did indeed bear resemblance to the spheres. Shades of rainbow leaped from the objects surface much farther in front of them. Lances curiosity was perked up- there was obviously a relation between the recent occurrences.

The mage stopped dead in his tracks, dazzled by the new sight. 6 perfectly shaped crystals hovered miraculously in front of him. Lance could make out shape inside the crystals, but they were obscured by a multi-coloured haze.

Something caught his eye about an individual crystal. It was navy blue, and a heavy feeling of deja-vu came onto him. He reached out and touched the solid shape with his hand, feeling its surface. Lance watched, mystified as the haze inside it slowly drifted away, revealing the body of a woman. She looked familiar...but could it be...?

May-Rose.

Feelings of shock, betrayal and sadness hit lance like a tidal wave. He staggered backwards, his mouth gaping at the girl in front of him- May-Rose, the innocent cleric who had been snatched away from him by an unknown foe. Lance had been the only one left after his village that he had so recently called home was ransacked. That had not been all, though. His teacher and friend Wiziena had been brutally murdered by the attackers. The reason Lance had set out from there was for this purpose- to find her. Her tortured eyes stared at him through the crystalline prison.

Help me.

The reality of it was far too much to bear- She suddenly started to drift away, the other crystals floating out of his vision. He fell to his knees, his hand extended out in a fruitless attempt to reach her. A single tear trailed from his eye to splash upon the flame hovering over his hand, extinguishing it. He bent his head over and sobbed until the ever-merciful darkness started to enclose upon him.

Find me...

The last thing he heard was the sound of boots against wood as he lost consciousness.

Lyra stared at the orbs, entranced by them. She had never seen anything like these orbs. Despite the fact that each of them were a different color of the rainbow (though Lyra couldn’t find an indigo orb), their colors were more vibrant than anything the Hylian had ever seen before. The stone wall behind them was colored by their lights, making it seem like an actual rainbow was there.

She slowly approached the glowing orbs, curious about them. She was especially drawn to the red one, which reminded her of fire. The bright red orb glowed fiercely, the colors moving much like a fire would. She watched it as it bobbed up and down, hypnotizing her with its rhythmic movements. She felt herself reaching out to the orb, seeing if it was warm, and shielded her eyes as a bright flash of light was released from the orbs. She could feel herself being transported somewhere and wasn’t fond of the strange feeling she felt.

She blinked and found herself in a room that was similar to the previous room, though the stone walls were red instead of gray. She glanced around and six orbs that resembled the six in the first room; however, there was something different about them that Lyra couldn’t figure out. She then noticed that the colors weren’t as vibrant as they had previously been, with exception to the red one. The red orb glowed brightly, its red light overpowering all of the other orbs’ lights.

“Well, that explains the red tint to the room,” the young woman muttered.

She noticed that this room was warmer than the previous room had been, though not uncomfortably so. She searched for a fireplace that would have warmed the room and saw nothing. She concluded that somehow the orb gave off the heat, though she wasn’t sure how it did it.

“It must be the magic.” She reached for the red orb and was blinded by yet another bright light. She felt the odd sensation yet again and knew that she was going to be in a different room yet again.

When she blinked, she found herself in a room that was darkened by shadows. She could see six orbs floating in the distance. They were the same as the ones in the previous two rooms, yet different as well. Lyra approached them, but stopped when she heard something. She listened closely, and heard it again: Crying. She rested her hand on her sword’s hilt and looked for the source of the sound. She saw a figure sitting in front of the dark blue sphere. She walked over to the person and watched as the person fell over.

She rushed over and saw that the person was a young man. He appeared to be a little older than Lyra and had messy brown hair that seemed to stick out at the sides of his head. It was long and looked as if it had been a while since it was combed. The young man wore a blue tunic with strange symbols on it over top of a long-sleeved white shirt. His pants were made of an odd, dark blue material that Lyra didn’t recognize, and he wore black shoes. The unconscious man had a strange leather strap on his waist that held a staff; Lyra figured that was his weapon.

Lyra knelt down besides the young man and shook him, trying to wake him up. When he didn’t respond, Lyra let out an exasperated sigh and tried again. Once again, the man remained unconscious. Lyra hit his face, unable to think of any other way to wake him. The man stirred and groaned as he touched the place on his face where Lyra had hit him. He looked around and saw Lyra.

“Well, good to know that worked,” Lyra muttered. “Look, do you know just where the hell we are right now?” she asked, unafraid to be blunt.

Lance squinted as the tears that had formed around his eyes trailed down his cheek. “No…But…how did you…?”

The girl looked down at Lance, apparently quite annoyed. “Look. I was in some prison place and then was taken here by…something. I don’t exactly want to stay here.”

Lance wiped his face slowly rising to his feet. He turned his head to observe the stranger before replying.

“I have a feeling it’s something to do with those crystals…but it’s like they disappeared.” he added, turning around to face the opposite direction. Why were those orbs there?

“Yes, I realised that they were associated with teleportation, considering they are what brought me here…”

Lance spun around, staring at the newcomer with a questioning eye. “You…were taken here by the orbs as well?”

“Yeah…I guess I couldn’t resist the temptation.”

There was an oddly awquard silence in which Lance turned his head, as if watching the orbs. He was in fact thinking deeply about the recent chain of events that had just occurred- did it have anything to do with that mage he had seen creating that door? It was highly likely. After all, was it not he who possessed the ability to use magic? His ponderings were halted by a loud cough from the young woman behind him though, and he whipped around to see her looking at him oddly.

“So I guess we should try to use them, right?”

Lance nodded absent-mindedly. The girl walked towards the row of objects floating in front of them and held her hand over them, as if trying to sense something. Lance merely stood there and watched her lazily.

Suddenly her hand jolted out to touch the red orb, her fingers only lightly touching it. That was enough it seemed, as a soon as she did so a brilliant burst of red light erupted from it and she was gone.

Lance looked over to the blue orb watching it bob up and down like a semi-deflated balloon. [i] if I am teleported by that one, I’ll probably start in the same place I left off…”

It was this thought that caused him to reach out his hand and touch the yellow one, hoping he would turn up in a completely different place. after al, it’s not like I need to be anywhere…

In the split second he hand touched the glassy surface of the orb he was gone.


To his dismay he found that he was back in the same room he had first departed from. The girl he had met in the dark area was sitting in the corner, her head resting on her hand. She looked as if the stony décor of the prison was fascinating. Upon Lances arrival though, she jumped to her feet and walked briskly over to him.

“So your back! I was wondering if you would arrive…”

“Yeah, I am. Oh, my name’s Lance, by the way.” He replied, almost lamely.

The girl shook her reddish brown hair and gave a small smile. “I’m Lyra. I just realised that I didn’t know your name.”

Lance nodded, then turned away to walk over to the orbs again. Lyra peered at the mage inquisitively as she saw him studying them.

“What are you doing?”

Lance stepped away from the artefacts and looked at the book pedestal curiously. “I’m trying to find something else of significance in this room…I think I may’ve found it.”

Something strange stood out on the pedestal. A weird symbol had been carved into its surface- it looked like a circle with many smaller circles inside it. The spell warrior raised his hand over it and the symbol glowed light blue, casting light all over the room.

A rainbow coloured radiance filled the room, its former gloomy atmosphere all but disappeared. The source of it was in the middle, where a circle of light threw colours into every corner.

It was a portal.

Lance glanced over at Lyra, and then walked over to the glimmering portal in front of them.

“You first, I guess.”

Lyra watched as Lance approached the rainbow portal, examining it for a moment. Lyra resisted the urge to tap her foot in impatience; he wanted to go in first, yet he was taking his good old time entering it. The Hylian crossed her arms and leaned against the wall, examining the multi-colored portal.

It’s so strange, she thought as she looked at it. It’s almost like it wants us to use it, like it has a mind of its own. I don’t know why, but I feel so tempted to use it and see where it takes me. Is this magic that a mage or wizard has used? Or is this all in my mind right now? She thought about it. Perhaps this is all just some weird dream. I could have passed out in the valley somehow. That would explain a lot if this was a dream. It seems so strange; but at the same time, it feels so real. I don’t know what to think.

She saw that Lance had finally gone through the portal, leaving her all alone in the room. The room, which had once been dark and gloomy, was now illuminated by the glowing portal. The rainbow colors filled the room with light an energy, casting aside all of the shadows that had once inhabited the room.

“Well, let’s see just where this thing goes,” she muttered as she approached it. She stopped a few feet in front of it. A few minutes ago Lyra had been anxious about entering the portal; now, she was unsure about it. She saw now why Lance was reluctant about entering it. For all she knew, it could be leading her to her own death. “But then again, it could just take me back to the valley, or, if this is a dream, I could simply wake up.”

Lyra was thinking about all of this when a force suddenly made Lyra move towards the portal. She tried to command herself to stop, but her body wouldn’t listen. She tried to fight against it, but she found it was impossible. She gave up and shielded her eyes with her hands, just in case there was a bright light. After traveling with the orbs, she had a feeling there would most likely be a bright light when she entered the portal.

She felt herself enter the glowing portal. As the bright light came, the force seemed to let go of the Hylian. Lyra felt herself being transported to another place, noting the awkward feeling wasn’t nearly as bad as it was before. Perhaps I’m getting used to traveling like this, she thought. The trip lasted a bit longer than the other trips that Lyra took using the orbs. I suppose the location that I’m going to is further away than the previous places.

Eventually, Lyra felt solid ground beneath her feet and lowered her hands, inspecting her new surroundings. She was in a large, circular room that resembled the one that she had just been in. The room was dimly lit, with only a few torches on the wall. She glanced around and saw there were many doors in this room. She turned around and saw six stone pedestals, each a different color, directly in front of her. She approached the pedestal that was green, and saw that they were a little bit taller than she was. She jumped up to what the top of it looked like, and saw that there was an indentation in it. It looked as if it could hold a ball, or something that was spherical in shape.

“It’s about time you got here,” a voice said, interrupting Lyra’s thoughts. She turned her head and saw Lance sitting on the ground nearby. He got up, making motions as if he were brushing dirt off of his clothing.

Lyra crossed her arms as she glared at him. “Well, I’m here now. So, this place is like those other rooms that we’ve been in.”

Lance nodded. “Yeah, except there aren’t any orbs here. It’s like they’ve disappeared, or have been stolen.”

Lyra nodded. “I'm sure that’s why there isn’t a lot of light in here. The orbs are probably the primary source of light in this room. The question is,” she began, “where are the orbs?”

OoC: Sorry for the shortness- But I am a little lacking in terms of CJ's right now.

BiC: Lance shrugged, turning his head to stare blankly at one of the doors. " No idea. Maybe they're in these doors here?"

Lyra glanced at one of them before looking back at Lance. "Maybe. I don't exactly want to walk through some strange doors that just happen to have appeared out of nowhere by means of a portal."

Lance grinned, obviously amused. "So you'd rather walk in a mysterious and deadly portal that you've never seen before than walk through a harmless door."

Lyra frowned slightly, looking back at the unmoving doors. "When you put it that way, you make me seem stupid."

Lance opened his mouth to say something, but shut it quickly. Thinking quickly, he decided to change the subject.

"Well, I'm going through one of them anyway. It's not like we have any other choice."

The mage stepped over to a dark violet door and twisted its knob. There was a quiet click, and the door swung open to reveal a recatngular shaped room that appeared relatively empty.

" Doesn't look like there's anything in there..."

Lyra tilted her head to the side, her hands resting on her hips. "You should probably go in there anyway. I'll look through another one."

Lance was about to turn around and question her sudden change of heart, but Lyra had already gone through the red door, slamming it shut behind her. The teenager shook his head, then walked through the doorway.

Just as he had inspected, the room was empty. Most of it was cloaked in shadows, so it was barely visble to Lance anyway. He sighed half-heartedly, then he heard something. It was a gentle clanking, like the sound of armor...

Suddenly a giant man, dressed from head to foot in obsidian-black armour, walked out of the shadows. In his right hand he held a large sword, with the word "Silvermaiden" inscribed upon the blade. His helmeted head surveyed Lance for a moment, then he rushed towards him, his sword held above his head.

Lance quikcly dodged the attack, aware that something like that may happen. The aark knight looked left to right, then saw Lance again. He turned around and Lance saw something he hadn't noticed before.

Held in his left hand was a black orb.

Lyra shook her head as she closed the door behind her. This Lance person seems to think he’s smarter than me. Well, I’ll just have to prove I’m smarter than he thinks I am. She looked around the new room.Just where am I?

The rectangular room was a dark red. There were only a few lit torches hanging on the wall, leaving most of the room in shadows. From what she could tell, it was empty. There was no sign of anyone being in there other than herself. She looked around to see if there was any sign of the orb-Lyra assumed that the orb was red, like the rest of the room.

She walked around the room, examining it for anything that might help her find out where the orb was. She noticed that there were large scratched on the wall, and wondered why they were there. She traced it with her finger, noting that the indent was thicker than her finger.

The Hylian’s long ears twitched. There was a noise in the room. She listened closely, and heard it again. It was a clanking sound, like metal brushing against metal. She lifted her head and looked around.

She saw nothing.

Just in case, she got her sword out, looking around suspiciously. She knew she wasn’t imagining anything, yet she couldn’t find the source of the sound. She eyed the shadows in the far end of the room.

“I wonder…” She listened again, but found that she couldn’t hear the sound anymore. She leaned against the wall, looking out at the room. “Perhaps I am imagining this.”

She walked back towards the red door when she heard it again. The clanking sound was right behind her. She slowly turned around and let out a small gasp at what she saw.

It was a large figure completely covered in blood-red armor. The sword that it held was large, over half her height. There was writing on the sword; Bloodmaiden was inscribed on it. She looked at the figure’s helmeted head, and saw that it was faced directly at her. He examined her for a moment and then swung his sword at her.

Lyra let out a yelp and ducked, just barely escaping the foe. She rolled away until she was behind the armored person. The Hylian got in her fighting stance, not wanting to get taken off guard. The knight turned around, and Lyra could tell that he was glaring at her. She looked at the weapon in his right hand, and wished that her sword wasn’t as small in comparison. She looked to his left hand to see if he had another weapon, and saw something that shocked her.

In his hand was a glowing red orb, the one that Lyra was looking for.

OoC: You patient thing you. Sorry if the stuff I’m writing is kind of controlling yours. >.>

BiC:

kuh- rash!

Lance flipped out of the way of the incoming sword, wincing inwardly as it crashed into the ground. The giant warrior before him reacted quickly and grasped his sword with both hands, swinging it towards Lance with impossible strength. Lance instinctively brought up his staff to block the blow, forgetting that the general’s power far exceeded his own.

The sage flew three meters across the floor, skidding until he hit the wall. Lance pushed himself to his feet, rubbing his head dazedly. The knight on the other side of the enclosed room observed him for a moment before stomping towards Lance, his sword raised over his helmeted head. Lance groaned and held his staff in a defensive position, but His adversary continued to advance towards him- before he could ready his gargantuan sword, Lance propelled himself into the air, shooting bolts of fire at the , landing gracefully on the knight’s other side.

The black-armoured foe shouted, and Lance smiled. He obviously didn’t like fire. Lance was struck by a sudden thought- Did that mean he didn’t like light? The spell-caster gathered holy magic into the centre of his hands and ran towards the general, streams of light bursting from his hands to fly forwards and strike it on the back.

A sizzling sound emitted from the enemy’s armour, an obvious result of the light Lance had just conjured. The general groaned in agony and fell to the ground, smoke rising up from his unconscious body. Lance punched the air in victory and ran over to the knight’s still form. He bent over and grasped the warrior’s helmet in his hands, and with a mighty tug, it came loose.

Lance was shocked to see that there was nothing in there. Before he could contemplate as to what power controlled the force within the armour, a wisp of black smoke started to rise from the collapsed body. Lance stared at it for a few seconds, wondering why it would be in an unoccupied set of armour. While Lance was pondering he did not notice the small cloud of black drift towards the entrance and escape through the side of it.

Lance jerked out of his reverie and stood back up, looking down at the mass of steel beneath him.

now it looks like I’ll have to move this stuff…hopefully it didn’t crush that orb…

The mage lazily waved his hand and a coil of glowing blue chain sprung from it. The conjured shackles drifted down to the abandoned armour and wrapped around it tightly, the glow from the chain flashing as it reflected neon light onto the steel heap it had coiled itself around. Lance kept his hands held over it, and with a mighty grunt of exertion, started to lift.

Nothing happened.

Lance gasped and let go, the conjured chains shattering into small balls of luminescent energy. The mage sighed and bent down again, taking a small dagger out of his pocket. He scrunched his face up and stared at the armour, thinking deeply for a solution to removing it. After many minutes of thought, the spell warrior tossed the small blade across the room, a metallic clang issuing from the wall it had hit. Lance clenched his fists tightly, his anger reaching its height.

“Dammit! How am I supposed to get to this…orb… when I’m too weak to even lift this armour off of it?”

The sage folded his arms, his black and white shirt sliding down to cover his hands. He ignored them, staring at the armour with distaste. After a few seconds of analysing what he could do, he unlatched the staff from his back, feeling the familiar weight of the weapon in his grasp. With a quick look at his favourite weapon, he spun on the spot and sent the staff crashing down onto the abandoned metal.

Lance gasped as shockwaves from the impact reverberated up his well-developed arms. Lance kept the end of the staff resting firmly on the armour, and with a great cry, sent all his power into it. The elemental and cataclysmic energy flowed through the room, brightening it up as if 100 candles had suddenly been lit. Lance shut his eyes and forced more energy into the item, heat searing his skin and frost chilling his heart. Lance yelled in utter pain, feeling his every sense heightened to their max…

Lance stumbled backward and all the energy in the room faded, causing the room to go back to its usual dull atmosphere. The mage blinked and swayed on the spot, then fell to the ground, exhausted. He stared at the armour angrily, and if he had the energy, a million curses would have rolled forms his tongue to insult the inanimate object.

An abrupt rumbling hit the small area, rattling the armour and causing Lances fatigued body to shudder against his will. The dull shake started to increase, and his body lifted off the ground. He cried out as he hit the floor again, and then…

It stopped. Lance grinned and shut his eyes, welcoming the complete stillness he had taken for granted earlier. The teenager stood up, grunting slightly with the effort. He looked over and stared curiously at the armour. It looked as if it was shaking…In fact, it was shaking. Lance ran over to it and peered down at it quizzically.

“Bang!”

Lance shielded his eyes as a flash of bright light burst from the armour, feeling the very room tremble from the sudden occurrence. The mage looked down, and to his shock (and relief) the armour was not there. It had crumbled completely to dust. However, there was one thing in its place- the orb.

Lance bent down to pick it up, feeling its unusual texture in his hand. It felt smooth and slightly cold- the inside of it was blackness, though violet colours swirled languidly around in it.

Lance turned and walked over to the door, grasping the handle with his free hand and wrenching it open. What he expected to see was Lyra waiting patiently for him in the circular space, ready to comment on his slow progress.

She wasn’t there. Someone else was in the room.

Lyra cursed as the knight attacked her again. She steadied herself, preparing for the enemy’s next move. She got into a fighting stance, her legs shoulder-width apart. She glared at her armored foe, as if she was daring it to attack her. The knight ran at her, his sword pointed forwards. In a quick move, Lyra ducked out of the way of the sword and hit the knight’s arm as hard as she could with her sword. While she knew she wouldn’t be able to penetrate through the armor, she hoped she would hurt his arm so he wouldn’t be able to fight as well as before.

The knight looked at the dent that Lyra had left in his armor and turned towards her. Even though the Hylian couldn’t see her enemy’s eyes, she knew that he was giving her an evil glare. The knight surprised Lyra by running at her again. He swung the sword as if he wasn’t injured, and while Lyra moved out of the way, she managed to get a long gash on her left shoulder.

Inhaling deeply, Lyra saw that blood was flowing freely from the wound. While the cut wasn’t too deep, she saw it was deep enough to have blood flow from it for many hours. Letting out a hiss as she exhaled, the teenager tightened her grip on her sword. She wasn’t going to let him get away with that.

Focusing her energy on her sword, she glared at her enemy as she muttered, “Fire Blade.” Fire rushed out to the blade of the sword, covering every last inch of the blade. In a matter of seconds the blade glowed brightly, heat coming from it. The Hylian ran towards the knight and attacked him. The knight blocked the attack with his own sword. Lyra feigned an attack to the knight’s right and quickly attacked the left side of him. The soldier blocked it again, and Lyra could have sword she heard him chuckle.

Suddenly she felt herself fly through the air as a result of him hitting her with his sword. She hit the wall and fell to the ground. She realized then that the fire from her sword actually helped the knight, rather than hurt him. Of course! she thought as she commanded the fire encasing her sword to leave. Everything in this room is red. It should be obvious that the orb represents fire. Standing up, she got back in a fighting stance, not wanting to get caught off guard. If only there was a way to get underneath the armor…

The young Hylian waited for the knight to run towards her since she needed to save her energy. The knight saw a chance to get rid of her and sprinted towards her. Lyra narrowed her eyes, a plan to get under the armor forming in her mind. She prepared herself for the attack, knowing she only had one chance to go through with her plan. The knight attacked her, thrusting his sword with all his might. Lyra dodged the attack and put her sword in the crack between the helmet and the chest plate of the foe’s armor. In a swift movement she lifted the armor off, expecting to see a head underneath it.

What she saw instead was an empty set of armor.

The armor suddenly collapsed and fell apart. It turned into a fine dust, leaving a small pile of it on the floor. Sitting next to the dust was the red orb.

Lyra knelt down besides it, examining it for a moment before tending to her wound. She could get the orb whenever she wanted; however, her arm wasn’t getting any better. She searched her bag for anything that she could use to wrap it and found a spare shirt. Using her sword, she cut a strip of cloth from it to form a makeshift bandage. The Hylian then tied the cloth around her wound rather clumsily, considering she was only using one hand to do it. While she was doing this, she didn’t notice the red smoke that rose from the pile of dust and glided towards the door, where it exited through the cracks between the floor and the wall.

Once Lyra was sure that she had taken care of her wound, she looked again at the sphere before her. While it wasn’t tiny, the orb looked as if it could barely fit in her palm. The orb was entirely smooth. There was a red mist floating around rapidly in it. Lyra’s hand hovered just above it, and she could feel heat radiating from it. She went to grab it when a voice stopped her.

“I don’t think you should do that,” it said. The voice seemed to belong to a man.

Lyra looked around to see if anyone else had entered the room, but saw that there was no one there. She turned her attention back to the orb, despite what the voice had said. She reached for it again, yet once more the voice interrupted her.

“It would cause me much anger if you took that orb and did with it what you want to do with it,” the voice said.

Lyra glanced around once more, though she knew there was no one in the room with her. How does this guy know what I want to do with this? she asked herself. And why does he care? All I’m going to do is put it on the red pedestal that’s outside. She reached for the orb and grabbed it. She smirked for a moment, and then felt a searing pain in her head, as if someone was ripping it apart.

“I warned you,” the voice said. Lyra looked up and saw a man standing before her. While the man still had a human-like presence around him, he seemed to be fading away. Lyra saw that in one of his hands was an orb that was larger than the one that she held. In it swirled many colors. Lyra squinted her eyes in an attempt to see better, and saw that the red in it was not nearly as bright as the other colors. There was just a faint hint of a dark violet mixed in there.

“Who..the hell…are you?” Lyra managed to ask him, despite the pain in her head.

The man laughed. “Why, I am the one who arranged for you and your friend to come here.”

OoC: Did I get carried away with this?