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Chapter Nine - The temple of worlds...
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:08 am    Post subject: Chapter Nine - The temple of worlds...  

Chapter Nine - The temple of worlds...

Slight violence and sexual innuendo! This is your last warning to turn around, after that, I am not liable for what you do!

"We'll go through the key, it ought to work faster at getting us there."

"Harold, are you sure you want to do that?" Xandra questioned. "After all, you have yet to get full control of your magical abilities."

"If he doesn't do it this way, you're all dead!" Lucy exclaimed. "Go on, Harold, use the key and let's get rid of those guys as fast as possible!"

Harold nodded and looked for the right key. Black bone key...black bone key...aha! He held it up over his head, focused his mind on it, and thought very hard at it. To the evil ones!

There was an angry howl of energy that picked up Harold, Lucy, and Xandra, then caused them to vanish out of the universe. The last thing Harold remembered before his world went black was a stark, gray, featureless plain. Then he fell over and knew no more.

-----

Harold woke up and immediately wished he hadn't. He'd much rather be dead than deal with what was currently churning in his gut and hammering at the backside of his eyeballs. He moaned, and heard two other moans in response. "Lucy? Xandra?"

"Not so loud, if you don't mind," Lucy pleaded.

"I was only whispering. Where are we?" Harold queried.

"I think...ohh, my head," Xandra began. "I think...I recognize this place from the Founder's descriptions. This must be..."

The trio sat up and Xandra gasped, looking past Harold and Lucy. The two turned around and gasped as well. A massive stone temple stood there, one that looked almost as old as time itself. The three carefully stood up and recovered from their interdimensional journey before going closer to examine the inside of the temple.

Within, the three found seven statues, all of cats, all with plaques describing who they had been. "'Gary, Master of Gluttony, one of three sons. May your Gluttony turn instead to a feeling of Giving to the poor, you who pass through my Seal.' Seal? What seal?"

The three examined the temple a second time and found seven pillars standing between the statues and the center. Each one had a burning rune engraved into it, each one being red. Xandra moaned. "This is not good...this is not good..."

"Xandra, what isn't good?" Harold asked.

"The seals should be blue. The fact that they are red means the Seven Children of the Founder have fallen, been corrupted...Turned to darkness."

Harold looked past the pillars. "Hey, that's a sword! It looks like there are a few red runes on it as well...Oh. Oh my. Nine seals...corrupted. We're too late."

"Indeed you are, mortals."

The three turned and saw a demon leaning on one of the seven statues, the one of William, Master of Wrath. "For what reason are you here, demon?" Xandra demanded.

"Well," the demon said with a bit less of a booming voice, "I was supposed to escape from the Event Horizon, which I see now is just a series of seven seals, bound together by two more. Once I got free, I was supposed to wreak havoc wherever the Key-Bearer was. But it won't work in this world, since there's nothing I can destroy here."

"Wait...you mean to say that every bit of good and evil...the Spheres that are sealed away...are in that sword there?!" Lucy was dumbfounded.

"Yes, we are, and we're quite displeased. You see, it appears that there is a leak in the spell, and that it's more resilient than we expected at the same time." The demon was lounging on the statue of the giant cat in much the same manner as a cat would. "When we were sealed away, we had a small lifeline, which the dark side of things eagerly grabbed on to. We found it was a sword, relatively unimportant, except that it allowed us out, a bit at a time. We began to corrupt the ones that had sealed us away, believing that if we managed that, we would be freed. True, we would be free, but it's been years now, and we're still imprisoned. We want to know why, and that's a secondary reason for my summons."

"A? You mean there are others?" Xandra was quite curious.

"Oh yes, another one is to see if I can grab the sword myself. Pulling it will end the spell, free us all, and end the lives of those tied to the spell. They foolishly said that we won't be freed for as long as they live. Ergo, we get out, they drop dead, and our eternal war can go on in the mortal world unabated. The only reason I don't is because there's some sort of force-field surrounding the sword that won't let anyone in with intentions of removing it."

Harold turned and reached out a hand. When it got past the pillars between the statues and the sword, a red-black energy field sprang up and shocked him backwards, right into a pillar behind the demon.

"You see, it doesn't like to be touched. For me, it'd probably disintegrate me."

Harold moaned. Though a cloud of dust had billowed outwards once he hit the pillar, it wasn't the pillar who had suffered the most damage. He picked himself up and heard the demon say "Well, now that he's gone, there's some people I can kill now. You first, elf."

Harold turned white and in desperation grabbed a random key. He held it above his head and a burst of white light emanated from it. "I am NOT going to stand by, demon!"

The demon howled, turned around, howled again, and shielded its face with its hands. "Mercy! Have mercy on me!"

"No! I am the Gate-Keeper, the Door-Master, the Key-Bearer, and I am an agent of divine balance! You were summoned, now I summon power from your opposite!"

The key pulsed, and light shone forth brighter. The demon started to take steps backwards while Lucy and Xandra got out of his way. He reached the force-field and looked at Harold with pleading eyes. "Whatever you do...please...no..."

Harold grimly fashioned a bolt of holy energy and aimed it at the demon's chest. "I must."

Harold let loose the power, and it struck the demon square in the chest. With a howl the demon fell back into the force-field and vanished, but not before fashioning his own bolt of darkness and striking Harold with it.

It felt like a spider's bite, with venom coursing through his veins. Harold gasped and went down on his hands and knees. "What...is this?"

Another voice spoke up. "A curse that is visited upon those that the Shadows wish to enslave."

The three looked around and saw a female, nude demoness lying atop another gigantic cat statue. She sprang to the ground on shapely legs, shapely everything, Harold noticed, and walked over towards Harold.

"He didn't really have to do that. He could have just said 'Shadows curse you' or 'Shadows take you', something like that. Ah well. Soon it won't matter anymore."

"Explain yourself, succubus!" Xandra demanded.

The succubus nodded. "I am Nastaia the succubus, formerly property of Lord of the Night, the one you just shoved into nothingness. Technically, since Harold did it, I belong to him now. And I can tell you that he is going to become a shadow of his former self."

"Wha...how do you know?" Harold's mind was spinning. His own succubus?

"I've seen it used. It makes your mind directly linked to the realm of the shadows, the Abyss itself. It will cause you to be corrupted in your morals and values, ever so slowly. At first, you'll justify the things you do, but soon it won't matter anymore. Soon, you'll be one of them."

"Isn't there a way to stop it?" Harold asked in desperation.

"Yes. Seal them off eternally. Find the leak and restore it to the temple, then reawaken the Nine, restore them from their corrupt states. They'll have to come back here and redo their ritual all over again, but it should hold this time. Or...you could break the seals and draw the sword from the podium. With it freed, you'll die as well, for the Key-Bearer becomes as the Founder and his Children, in the sense that his life is tied to the spell for as long as his job lasts."

"Where is here, anyways?" Lucy asked.

"Don't you know? This is where it all began. This is the Starting Plain."

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Whew! Sorry I'm a little late guys. And I'll go about doing my other modly chores soon.
So. The demon has been thwarted and eliminated, and now his succubus is claiming to be Harold's new slave! And Harold is being corrupted ever so slightly and slowly by the Abyss, and the only way to stop it, according to the succubus, is to redo the ritual from long ago, properly this time, or yank the sword out. Do we trust her? Do we destroy her? Or do we run off with her? What do we do?
Suggest away!
F12
EDITED: I gave you all more of a choice with the succubus.
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dinranwen
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 9:39 am    Post subject:  

Trust her...I say...after all...we don't have much of a choice, now do we?
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 11:06 am    Post subject:  

Actually, thanks for pointing that out, Din. And we did have a choice...as I edited and pointed out. So NOW suggest away.
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dinranwen
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Posted: Thu Aug 16, 2007 1:09 pm    Post subject:  

I wasn't saying we didn't have any choices IM, merely not much of one. Leaving the obvious choice to trust the succobus.

Or ask the girl (whats her name again, yes I know I'm horrible with name) that's with what she thinks. After all she isn't being slowly curropted by dark forces now is she?

Harold's choice is going to be invetiably curropted by the poision in his veins, so lets take the choice out of his hands.

*smiles at her cleverness for answerin a question without really answering it*
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tramp in a storm
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 1:10 pm    Post subject:  

Trust a demon? Sounds like doom, sounds like fun. :D I agree with Din.
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The Meaning Of Fear
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 8:53 pm    Post subject:  

Woo hoo! Bob whack! :lol:

*Ahem* Well, the first one of yours that I read since I came back, IM. It's really good, and it reminded me a bit of Kingdom Hearts at the beginning.

Well, I say he should trust the succubus, but I don't see why he can't kill her anyway.
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Posted: Fri Aug 17, 2007 9:17 pm    Post subject:  

Thank you for THAT Bob Meanie, and it was SO not my intention to make it like that game. I hadn't even played it before I started writing.
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tramp in a storm
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 1:46 pm    Post subject:  

It reminded me more of Monsters inc and Demon Thief.... you know... all the portals and different worlds, just with less of the "I see lights".
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The Meaning Of Fear
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 2:15 pm    Post subject:  

It also reminded me a bit of the Keys to the Kingdom series... :D

When's the poll gonna be up?
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 9:39 pm    Post subject:  

This one? Start of next month. However, for the LAST chapter, you can vote now.
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Chinaren
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Posted: Sat Aug 18, 2007 10:10 pm    Post subject:  

Nice chapter there IM.

Umm. Well, I say they go and find the Elders again, release them and uncorrupt them and so forth.

After getting some 'use' out of the Sucubuss of course. You can always claim it was the corruption that made you do it later. ;)
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The White Blacksmith
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Posted: Sun Aug 19, 2007 8:20 am    Post subject:  

You would say that, wouldn't you.

I F5 Nerc's first suggestion. The one about the Elders.

Oh, and can Lucy and Nastaia get into a bit... cat fight over Harold? Lucy realising shje likes him when she sees Nastaia following him, ect. ect.

Can we? Please?
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:10 am    Post subject:  

The poll has been put up, apologies for the delay, and now I ask of thee to vote for the next 2 weeks.
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The White Blacksmith
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Posted: Sun Sep 02, 2007 9:13 am    Post subject:  

which one is the 'Release the elders?'
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:16 pm    Post subject:  

First one is 'Break the seals', second is 'Find the Elders, get them back here, and find the leak, and do the whole thing over again', third one is run away (I'm always going to have that option) and the fourth is up to you (Another one I plan on having.)
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The White Blacksmith
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Posted: Mon Sep 03, 2007 11:17 pm    Post subject:  

Woo! The option I voted on is winning!
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Posted: Wed Sep 19, 2007 5:30 pm    Post subject:  

Baulder's Gate has my brain hostage. Once I've freed it, I'll come back and write up a loverly chapter for you all.
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