Artillery walked down the maze of tunnels of this “new” skakdi fortress.” no fricking way a skakdi built this.”He said aloud, hoping to tick off any Skakdi roaming the halls.
He had been separated from the group about 2 hours ago. Still, fortunately, all these tunnels led to one exit; it was, quite brilliant, you see the person who constructed this place hoped you’d get lost and starve or just go crazy. But only a select few even knew how to navigate it.
“I wonder how long we’ve been down here, two no, three days?..Well frick! I was way far off.” he said as he checked his hud, it read 1400 hours.
“ I’ve only been in here for 5 hours!” He Shouted
He was coming up on a large room that was no doubt rigged with hundreds of traps.” hullo!” Artillery shouted as he had trouble activating his elemental power; usually, he’d have no problem with this, but the dark freaked him out, making it that much harder to focus.
“Oh c’mon, the corridor is rigged, you gotta try better than that.” He mumbled to himself as his hand lit up.
“Let’s see track no. 37 killer queen.”
Artillery dashed through the room, arrows, flames, and Blades were all let loose. He barely made it through but kept running then jumped over a pit that had opened in the middle of the corridor.
“HA HA HA! YOU FOOL!” he taunted As he landed on his feet and flashed a rude hand gesture.
Five minutes had passed, wait to hold it, only five minutes. Maybe he should check in on Kiria, no, no, no, he wouldn’t be able to anyway. But if he could somehow boost the signal to his visor.
“Track 50 plastic love.” Artillery said as he pulled his communicator off and set to modifying it while Maneuvering the maze; he stopped as the room suddenly began to get brighter.
“Yes!” He shouted as he entered the opening, raising his arms and promptly spotting a rock, a long open corridor, and evidence of a fire.
“OOH, A CHAIR.” Artillery said excitedly, as he sat down on the aforementioned rock and started fiddling with the communicator.
Three hours had passed when Yttirum and the pleasant crew came stumbling out into the Opening.
“Salutations.” Artillery said, not looking up from the small device he was holding.
“How long have you been here?”
Neriex coughed as she caught her breath.
“Hmm, about an hour or three .” he said, checking his wrist, which had nothing there .” Why?”
“How long have we been in there?” She responded
“About 8 hours.”
“ WAIT!” Yttirum shouted, “it’s felt like we’ve been in there for days!”
“It’s getting late.” Artillery announced as he got up. ”so…uh…technically it’s been a day.” he said this as he pulled some wood from his coat and arranged it in a circle.
“What are you doing?” Yttirum asked
“Making a fire.” He replied instantly
He then pulled a sword out from the inside of his coat and threw it into the center of the circle of wood; as soon as it made contact with the ground it, lit the wood on fire.
“Neat trick, isn’t it? great for parties.”
Yttirum suddenly realized The fire was bright, brighter than it should be, especially in Artillery’s corner.
“How’d you do that. yttirum asked as Artillery sat down and outstretched a hand towards the flame, the fire suddenly grew even brighter
“Magic.” Artillery jested as he made jazz hands.
“Uhhh, don’t mind my interruption, but I have a question?” Neriex interrupted
“Shoot.” Artillery replied
“Who’s Voretha?”
She asked, having no idea what she had just done.
Artillery’s whole complexion changed from one of comfort and indifference to that of discomfort and rage.
“Well?”
“Don’t Ever mention His name ever again.” His voice almost overwhelmingly stern.
Neriex looked shocked at how quickly he changed, but something told Yttirum she saw something else.
“But.” She stuttered
“SHUT UP!” Artillery shouted angrily.
Yttirum turned only to be shocked by what he saw, an eye staring at him through Artillery’s visor; it wasn’t like a normal eye; it was blue and looked almost patchwork.
After that brief encounter, the whole camp remained silent; the only sounds were Artillery tinkering with his strange device, which suddenly lit up which and promptly started flickering.
“C’mon c’mon!”He shouted as he started hitting the device with the palm of his hand. By the time it turned on, he had already walked out of sight; about three hours later, he had returned, his posture more relaxed yet guarded.
“Yeah…neat, how’s Amera?
Yttirum was sure that Artillery was communicating with someone; he also thought he could faintly hear a voice.
“Really…wait, 3957497? Man a feel bad for her, There the worst. What? Oh yeah. WAIT! I think I have some.” He exclaimed, jolting Neriex out of her meditation.
Artillery stood up and moved his hand in a straight vertical line; there was a bright flash,and-Yttirum couldn’t believe his eyes. Artillery was arm deep in a strange vortex that had appeared.
“Where are they.” He Said as he poked his head in the portal.” AHA!” He exclaimed as he pulled out 16 small disks.
He tapped his audio receptor.
“I’ve got 8, that will should be enough…Thanks. Adios.”
“Who was that?" Neriex asked.
“Kiria.” He answered.
“Like I know who that is.”
He stood up and pulled out the pocket watch that was in his coat, glanced at it, and said: “We better get on our way.” As he returned the clock to its pocket.
Three hours had passed when they reached the cliff, a sheer drop around one hundred bios off the ground. The weirdest part about it was the most normal thing about. it looked as if it had formed naturally .
“That’s new.” Artillery announced while pointing to a massive stone wall at the end of the canyon.” last night, you could see the fortress.”
Artillery backed up, threw two small disks on the ground, and stepped on them. he then turned to Yttirum.” try to keep up pleasant crew!” Which is what he insisted on calling them. He then proceeded to walk off the cliff.
“Did he just?”
Yttirum looked over the side. ” How?!” he exclaimed as he witnessed Artillery somehow defying gravity, standing on the side of the cliff.
“Sup loser.”He said nonchalantly, as he turned around and threw some of the disks he stepped on at Yttirum.
“put those on your feet.”
There was six disks. ”catch,” Yttirum said, tossing two each to Taox and Neriex.
By the time Yttirum took the first step off the cliff, the early signs of daybreak had arrived. nereix had already started her descent.
Neriex had informed Yttirum that Artillery had “scouted” ahead, but he got the feeling that Artillery wanted to be alone for a few minutes. Especially after what happened last night.
By noon they had made it to a fork in the road; on the left was a narrow ravine and on the right was a wide pass with what looked like a watchtower in the center of it.
“Left or right?” Yttirum asked, the sound of his voice echoing off the canyon walls.
“What about Artillery, shouldn’t we wait for him or at least look for signs of which way he went?” Neriex asked.
“I agree with the physic; we should wait here.”
Taox said in a calm voice as his head lolled to the side.
“NERIEX I SWEAR TO MATA NUI IF YOU DON’T STOP-“ Yttirum shouted before being cut off.
“Wasn’t me!” Neriex yelled as she backed away from Taox.
“We should just wait here.” he said in a sing-song voice as he stumbled towards them.
The canyon seemed to get hotter and hotter as the seconds went by,
The heat had gotten to the point that small bits of foliage had begun to burst into flames.
“GET DOWN!” Neriex shouted as she tackled Yttirum, just as A plume of flame shot right where they had been standing.
“In the name of Irnakk, the magnificent, may he grace us with his presence eternally, surrender, or I will be forced to cut you down!” Said the stranger.
“Is that?” Neriex stuttered.
“Jaller Toa Mahri of Fire.” Yttirum finished
This chapter was written in December 2019