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"You don't believe me, do you?" Rapierian asked Chrysothemis. "Ah well, I suppose I must tell you the truth. We're actually a group of killers planning to feed you to a fire-breathing dragon."

The necromancer laughed loudly at the look of fear that crossed the woman's face.

"Don't listen to him," Wizard growled irritably. "He's just crazy."

"Says the poor, deranged old man who failed to realize that the old and senile Enforcer was lying to him," Rapierian replied.

Before Wizard could reply, Cyrus asked, "So, um, what do we do after we reach the caves?"

"Well, we could hide Chrysothemis and engage her follower in an epic battle...but that'd probably mess up history when you all died horribly and she had to stay in hiding for the rest of her life...but it could be fun!" Rapierian replied. "Or we could just throw her off of a cliff and laugh about ruining history."

"We shall do no such thing," Wizard stated shortly as they continued on their way. "We shall attempt to lure the creature into some sort of trap so that we can destroy it."

"What sort of trap?" Cyrus questioned.

Wizard thought for a moment, but it was Aster who answered.

"Isn't this thing working for the Undine?" he asked. At Wizard's nod, the boy queried, "Then, it's some sort of water being, isn't it? So wouldn't we want to lure it into some sort of fire trap?"

"Brilliant! We can set Cademia on fire!" Rapierian laughed. "Or burn all the forests down! Oh, what fun that would be!"

"Good idea, Aster," Wizard said kindly. "We shall have to think of something along that line, but, for now, we must soon reach our destination."

After another hour, they could see the entrance to the caves some distance ahead of them...

Cyrus had stopped even trying to think about how bad his day was. By now, he was just following along with the group, having no idea what to do next.

Well, one idea.

Gem, what exactly did you mean by all that yelling?

~~~~Somewhere out there, there is another copy of me. That thing... well, it doesn't have a name, but I've nicknamed it the Wraith. I won't go into it now, but I tried to stop it... and into that cave I went.

It sounded like more than that.

~~~~Ok. Here's what I know. The Wraith, or whatever it was, was created by a mage, in secret, for purposes of great evil. It's kind of a long story, but I was created to stop it. I did manage to stop it, but the Wraith got lost in time, and I got stuck in that cave.

Oh. So...what happened back there, in the clearing?

~~~~It's gotten stronger.

So what can I do? So far, I've been like a fifth cartwheel, nearly got myself killed (no thanks to you), and now that... thing is sure to come after me. Again.

~~~~Wait. I'll regenerate. Oh, and keep me away from that 'Rapierian' fellow. But, as I see it, you have three options.

And they are...

~~~~Well, if you see the Wraith again, you can either run, or die horribly. How's that?

I'm starting to regret ever picking you up, Gem.

~~~~Or, there's magic.

Uhhh, Gem, you know what happens when I try to use magic.

~~~~I think I can get around that. Try this...

An extensive network of tunnels wound under and through the mountains of Cythera. Many of the entrances to these caves had fallen into such decay over time that they were either totally hidden behind plants and vines or completely collapsed. One such entrance was now directly ahead of the group.

The terrain here was not very rough; they were only at the very base of the mountain and merely had to climb up a few rocky hills to reach their destination.

Wizard grunted with effort as he used his staff to support his steady ascent. "This vast opening is one of the easiest ways to enter the mountain's tunnels. It's low enough to the base of the mountain that you can reach it without scaling the whole mountain, and it's far enough up that you don't get drowned in underground rivers or caught having to climb upward through dark, slippery caves."

"Whatever happened to it? I've never run across it in our Cythera," Yumo asked.

Stopping a moment, Wizard looked around enjoying the peaceful, fresh mountain air. "You know, I've always wondered that myself. It's too far away from any trees to have become hidden, and it's such a large opening it almost seems to sturdy to have caved-in on its own." With a sigh, he began climbing again, "Ah well, I guess things just change over time, and we don't always know why or how. . ."

"I guess that's true." Rapierian actually sounded serious, eliciting a glance from Wizard. "Myself, I've never known why your beard has gotten so scraggly!"

Wizard rolled his eyes and went onward.

Aster paused a moment, listening. "What's that sound?"

Cyrus, too, stopped to listen. "Sounds like. . . water. Lots of water. Are we near a river or something?"

"I don't remember a river being around here, but it certainly does sound like -- " Wizard turned to see if he could find the source of the sound. His eyes widened.

"What is it?" Yomu also turned around, as did everyone else. Tons and tons of water were flooding over the trees toward them. Some trees were torn out of the ground by the sheer mass of water pouring forward.

The group started to run to the caves. "Where is all that water coming from?" Chrysothemis shouted, definitely a little scared.

"I don't know. It looks as if it's of a magical origin; some mage, more powerful than any of us, is sending a wall of water after us." Wizard yelled over the ever-increasing sound of running water.

"Then, do we assume that Shanadar's battle with that creature went ill?" Aster asked.

"Wherever he is, I'm sure that Shanadar can take care of himself. At least, I hope he can. . ." Wizard responded.

"He is not our most pressing concern. That water is coming far too fast for us to climb high enough to escape it; within a minute this whole place will be flooded." Rapierian said, quite calmly for the situation.

He was correct, though. Many of the trees were now submerged, and the entire valley was practically underwater. On top of that, it now started to pour rain.

"Well, it certainly has a very powerful hold over water!" Wizard observed as rain poured down his face. "I don't know many sorcerers who could cause such a flood as this so fast."

"Where do we go?!" Cyrus shouted.

"We cannot outrun it, we have to get out of it's way! Head for the cave's entrance, it's our only hope of escape!"

"Wasn't this flood created just to keep us from going in there, though?" Cyrus responded to Wizard.

"If we go in the caves, we'll be drowned!" Chrysothemis started to protest, but as the water began to crash along the rocks below them, everyone decided that there simply was no other place to go.

Wizard waited by the large entrance until everyone had gotten inside. The old mage, now soaking wet along with everyone else, ran in a short distance and turned around. He spread his hands out as his staff's orb began to glow. The ceiling started to shake a little and some small stones began to fall.

Wizard grunted, but he was still too drained from his fight with their pursuer. "I can't bring it down myself! We have to seal this entrance, otherwise we are all going to die!"

"Very well, I'll help you." Rapierian's hands started to emit light for a moment as he gathered power for his spell.

The tidal wave of water surged forward. "It's too late!" Chrysothemis cried as the water approached the entrance to the cave.

*Slam*

The water stopped moving forward completely, slamming repeatedly against some invisible wall. Everyone glanced at Wizard. Sweat poured down his face as his orb bathed everything in bright, white light. Some wounds and old scars started to appear across his face and his hands grew thin and weak. "Rapierian! Destroy the entrance! I can't keep this up for much longer!"

Rapierian waved his hand a last time and flung a a long bolt of lightning into the cave's ceiling. Lightning shot around the cave for a second, crackling with power. The rocks overhead finally gave way and fell in one great heap. With a loud crash, a good portion of the ceiling had fallen down. The group had to run farther back to avoid being crushed. Wizard suddenly lost his last reserve of strength and was sent hurling backwards into the wall behind him.

They heard the crash of the water in all its might slam against the other side of the rocks blocking the entrance. The cave echoed with an almost deafening roar as more and more water piled up outside. Some water leaked in through the rocks, creating a steady dripping sound in some places. But the rocks held. They were safe, for the time being. Water climbed higher up the mountain outside, but they were sealed away in the cave.

Everything was still and black for a moment, the light from Wizard's staff having gone out.

Aster rushed over to Wizard to help him to his feet. "Thank you, thank you." Wizard assured Aster he was all right as he stood up. Wizard's staff began to glow again so that they could see around them.

Wizard walked back over the the collapsed entrance and studied it a moment. "Well, we have no choice now. We cannot leave by this way again. We must face the long dark of the mountain caves."

"I hope that someone knows a way out of here; most people who enter these tunnels are never heard from again." Chrysothemis said, still sounding concerned.

"We'll find a way out; I'm sure of it. The maze-like attributes of these caves are not what makes them so dangerous. There are far fouler things in the deep places of the earth than we have yet encountered. Be on your guard."

The group set off through the black caves, the only light to show the way coming from Wizard's faintly glowing staff.

The tunnles grew narrow and large, splitting off at some points. At times it seemed their surroundings grew darker in certain places.

In fear of everyone growing lost Yomu reached into his bag to pull torches out, only to have his red hat jump out first. It quickly scurried past everyone infront of him as they let out gasps of shock, "Something just brushed past my leg!" Cyrus yelled out, "Mine as well!" said Aster. Yomu started rushing pass everyone handing out torches as he did, "I'm sorry for this trouble, it thinks too much at times.", Yomu could now see it hiding in a corner. "Back." he said, opening the lid to his pouch, the dark red hat paused for a moment and then pointed to a crack in the stone with it's end.
Yomu closed his pouch and went over to it.

"Yomu! What in in Alaric's name is going on up there?!" Wizard said peering into the distance, however he was met only with a reply from Chrysothemis, "Who's Alaric?". Wizard jumped, he had let the name slip in his fatigue, "O-oh, nothing child, just a friend.", "Oh, alright. It is a nice name though..".

*POOF* Yomu squeezed through the small passage, the sound grew louder. Finally after many turns and leaps he came to it's end, a look down revealed he was atop a carven wall, and, an old foe. Yomu nearly let the hat slip off when he saw the basilisk, "Could it really be the same mountains?" Yomu asked himself as he looked around the cavern. Sure enough through the metal gates he saw it, the tree in stone and the delicate silver box below it. The basilisk perked it's nose, and began sniffing the air. Yomu saw this as his sign to leave, he did not wish to be killed by a fallen enemy.

Back with the group half the tunnle was filled with light from the torches. *POOF* Yomu slipped the hat back into his pouch, "You've had your fun, now sleep.". The group was stopped at a cross roads. Yomu went up to the front and apologized for his sudden absence saying that something had caught his eye and that he needed to take care of it, not a complete lie, not a total truth.

Yomu let out a light laugh, though more of a cough, as he saw the location they had paused at. "I know this!" Yomu exclaimed, he remembered the markings in stone that had shown him the way out in his first venture to these catacombs, however they seemed to be missing now. "What do you know?" Cyrus asked. "This." Yomu reached into his puch and pulled out a light blue dagger and pointed at the wall. The markings were not here now, then where-"Out with it!" Cyrus said, the rest of the group was also growing impatient. Yomu smiled and made a mark facing left and said, "Follow me.".

The people of Catamarca were running around their town, frantically trying to prepare it in case the now massive forest fire to the north of the town should turn south. Chaos rained, due to the sudden onset of the flames.

In the great castle on the banks of the sea, the guards too were busy, working to organize the citizens and adopt a more sensible approach to the danger.

In the throne room, however, quite a different subject was being discussed.

"Are you quite sure of this?" a tall man seated on the throne asked the guard standing before him. He was of indeterminate age with iron gray hair, gray eyes, and a cruel face.

The Tyrant was plainly not pleased with the news he had received.

"Of a surety, milord," the trembling guard replied. "I saw strange flashes when I was patrolling north of town. It was nothing natural. Must've been mages."

"I see," the Tyrant said thoughtfully.

He turned to another man, who stood at his side. This man was of average height, but was strong build. He had reddish hair and a short beard. He was dressed in the robes of a military commander.

"I'm afraid I must agree with him, milord," the commander replied. "Others have reported similar sighting and it would explain this sudden firestorm."

"Mages...here..." the Tyrant pondered this news. "Perhaps, they plan some sort of revolt or war. We will not know until we capture them."

"Capture them, milord?" the commander said, plainly surprised. Everyone knew how dangerous mages were.

"Yes, Perseus. It can be done," the Tyrant said decisively, "and must be. I will not let them act impudently against me. When the flames have died down somewhat, take your trusted men and the Sword of Heroes. Find these mages. Bring them to me."


In the caves far to the north, the group trudged silently through the darkness.

Rapierian walked in the rear of the group, seemingly forgotten by the others.

The darkness did not bother the necromancer nor did the thought of any creatures that might be lurking in it. In fact, an attack by them might be kind of fun.

"What do we do next?" someone suddenly asked. "We either have to hide forever or defeat this creature."

"I think that we must defeat it," Wizard replied grimly. "We can't hide forever and who knows what effect trying such a thing might have on the future? We must get Chrysothemis to a safe place and then deal with our pursuer, although I confess how eludes me at the moment."

"Isn't it a water being?" Aster asked suddenly. He was repeating his earlier query, but no one had really discussed the idea when he had brought it up previously. "That means it doesn't like fire, doesn't it? Shouldn't we try to lure it to some place full of flame then?"

"An excellent idea, Aster," Wizard responded, actually smiling. "That is just what we shall try, I think. Perhaps, some place in the caves or even at Land's End Volcano."

"Should we head south then?" Yomu questioned. "It'd be a good place to hide at this time and it contains many of the lava flows in Cythera."

"It might also contain Abydos at this time," Cyrus pointed out.

"True," Wizard mused. "But we can stay east of the mountains. As for the North, Tavara's other seats of power are in the west and there is more habitation to the east up there. I think south would be wisest."

With that thought, the group headed in that direction and continued to discuss their future plans.

They felt as if they had been traveling forever through this smothering dark. The light coming from Wizard's staff was steadily decreasing; most of the others figured that it was just a result of Wizard's not concentrating too much about it.

Chrysothemis walked alongside him. She suddenly let out a gasp when she turned to look at him. "You're bleeding!"

Wizard paused a moment and lifted his hand to his left cheek. There was a deep cut running down his cheekbone, bleeding freely. "Really? I don't feel. . . I don't -- " Wizard stopped moving and his knees gave. He collapsed onto the cold cave floor with a thud, drawing a startled cry from Chrysothemis.

* * *

"So weak. . . stretched so thin. . . so tempting. . . cannot let go! No, no, NO!" Wizard continued to mumble unintelligible phrases as his head turned from side to side. Then he stopped.

He came to his senses. He felt water, cool water. Opening his eyes, Wizard found himself looking directly into the face of Chrysothemis. "Oh, you're awake at last. We were starting to worry!" She smiled genuinely as she continued to dab a damp cloth across his face.

"Where. . . are we?"

"Exactly where you fainted several hours ago. We put a cloak on the ground and moved you on top of it to rest. That one man, the mean one, he said that you had collapsed because you were too old to do anything. I think you just overworked yourself. Oh well, it was about time we rested anyways, I think. My feet were starting to hurt."

Wizard remembered now, he fell over. He remembered a feeling he hoped to have forgotten, one he hadn't felt for a long time: the feeling of being totally powerless. He tilted his head up to look around. The group had built a small fire that provided just enough light to see everyone by. Aside from Rapierian, mostly everyone was sleeping, although, a couple had begun to stir.

"Where did you find water?" Wizard asked, gesturing towards the cloth the Chrysothemis held.

"I don't know. That other one, Yomu I think, he found some water and soaked this for me."

"That was nice of him." Wizard leaned back and sighed.

"Yes, it was."

There was silence for a few moments, before Chysothemis spoke again. "Can I ask you something? Where did you get those cuts from?"

"Oh, these." Putting his fingers over his face, the cuts began to close.

Chrysothemis gasped, "You're wounds are closing!"

"Yes. They didn't result from a physical injury, though. My body can only hold a certain amount of magical power; it's also related to how rested I am. The more magic I use, the more tired I become. Sometimes, when I overwork myself, I become magically stressed you could say. I have to draw strength from my physical energy and tap into my reserves of power that I use to maintain this appearance. This manifests itself as physical wounds or frailty. Now that I'm more rested, I can begin to heal. Oh, I've traveled with this group on so many adventures for so long. . . I don't know, I'm just so stretched now. Without any extended period of rest, I'm beginning to feel my age." Wizard glanced over at Chrysothemis and could tell that her mind was on something else. "Oh I'm sorry, I've bored you with one of my long rantings. You don't have to sit here and listen to me; you don't have to be doing this."

"Hmm, oh, no. No, I want to do this. You saved my life this morning, and I want to do everything I can to repay your kindness. I never said thank you, so thank you."

Wizard smiled, "Oh, it was nothing. Now taking care of an old man, that is work!"

"You said a minute ago that you use your powers to 'maintain this appearance.' What did you mean by that?"

"I'm really much older than I look, believe me. I have the power to hide my age, so I do."

"Why? How old are you?"

"How old would you guess I am?"

Chysothemis studied Wizard's face a minute. "I'd guess that you're around 70, maybe mid-70's, certainly not 80."

Again Wizard smiled, "Good. But, in reality, I'm really much, much older."

"Where are you from?"

"Not Cythera. I was born on a distant planet, separated by a near infinite void, a planet called Earth. But, I was taken from there at a very young age. A powerful being recognized great potential in my magical abilities, and he brought me to Cythera, a place where I could develop those skills."

"It took you from your home? Were you mad?"

"I don't know. I don't quite remember. I'm sure there were special circumstances that resulted in my being taken away from there. Besides, I have long been proud to say that I consider that being a good friend. If it had not been for him, I would have died of old age long ago. I live on because of my powers."

"What was your home like?"

Wizard looked up and began to think. "I don't really remember anymore. It's been so long. That has been one of my greatest regrets. I was too young when I came to Cythera to even know my own name, the name my parents gave me. Sure, those I grew up with had a name for me, but it's not the real thing. Neither is Wizard. . . yet another alias for someone who doesn't even have a real name to hide behind it."

Wizard heard a muffled cry and glanced over at Chrysothemis. "Why, my child, what is wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," she looked up, tears running down her face. "I just, I miss my home. I don't think I'll ever be able to go back again." She sniffed and snuffled for a second before blurting, "I can't live my whole life hiding! Why me? Why does it have to be me? Why can't I have a normal life like everyone else? I would give anything to be normal again!"

"Shh, shh, don't cry. I know you miss your home, but you will be going home soon. Whatever it takes, we are not going to let this thing harm you. Whatever it is, we will stop it. You are not going to spend your whole life running, hoping to stay hidden forever. I know this seems so unfair to you now, but, given time, you will see things differently. You are a critical part of Cythera, you are necessary for our future. You are a legend, and I would not trade that so readily." Wizard pulled himself up, "Now, get some rest. You need sleep more than any of us. Take my spot, it's warm and soft. Please."

Chrysothemis silently nodded and lay down to sleep. Wizard limped a few steps, still too tired to fully recover. He found a comfortable place on the ground and also lay down to rest.

Things were not progressing well.

Initially, Shanadar had managed to successfully gain some hard-earned ground from his opponent, by augmenting his blows will the fire about him. As the Enforcer had theorized, the Elemental assassin did not take well to the heat, and was slowly growing smaller as its form was systematically evaporated away.

Eventually, however, his luck began to run out.

The first source of the Elemental's annoyance, the fire, was abruptly deal with, as it used its influence over the water to not only redirect, but entirely reverse the flow of the river, en masse. Extinguishing the flames and cutting a swathe of destruction all the way to the base of the distant mountains. Shanadar could only pray that his companions had been fleet-footed enough to escape the inland tidal wave.

Without the flames to exploit, the second source of the Elemental's detriment, Shanadar the Enforcer, found himself dangerously exposed. His blows, though they cleaved the Elemental asunder with each swing, did little lasting damage to the liquid simulacrum of a man.

But, yet, the Shanadar knew well enough from the beginning that he would have little hope of besting the creature. His intent had been to slow the creature down long enough for his peers to escape, and the absence of the same from the immediate area permitted the Enforcer the space he required to maneuver, and, thus, avoiding a premature end himself.

Knowing by this point, that if his companions had not escaped, then they were likely already in the next world, he realized that it was time to put his de facto rivalry with this thing on hiatus, and make his exit himself. To that end, the Enforcer employed his last trump card: the explosives which he had brought from the future (and, thankfully, had not detonated prematurely in the heat of the blaze!). If they did not kill the Elemental outright--which Shanadar found likely, seeing as it was so resilient--it would, Alaric willing, disrupt its form long enough for him to make his get-away.

Putting some distance from his erstwhile foe, the Enforcer went to work.

Shanadar dashed behind a rock, pretending to be seeking cover, and secreted his braces of blasting materiel beneath it. Hurriedly igniting the self-lighting fuses, he quietly began a mental countdown. He had about forty-five seconds to lure the Elemental on top of the rock, keep him there, and then to flee himself.

Unfortunately, the Elemental came on-stage early.

As soon as the Enforcer had risen to his feet again, the watery assassin came around the rock, and delivered a blow that sent its very human opponent careening through the air. Shanadar muttered a silent prayer of thanks that the Elemental had failed to take notice of the explosives, but immediately cursed when he realized that the Elemental was walking directly away from where he'd intended it to be.

Knowing that he had little time to act, and that the fate of the future (and, more importantly, his own skin!) was on the line, Shanadar made for one last, desperate gambit. Running as fast as his legs would carry him, he put the rock between the Elemental and himself, and as much distance between himself and the Elemental as he could get away with.

Even when he heard the explosion, he dared not look back. If he had succeeded, then he had only a short while to escape; if he had failed, then he would know soon enough anyway. In either case, the Enforcer certainly wasn't going to wait around to get himself killed.

Just when he could begin to see the edge of the tree-line, marking the border of the forrest, Shanadar really did trip, over a root, specifically. He tried to pull himself back up, but his gear was quite heavy, and adrenaline has its limits. He felt fatigue setting in, and his vision grew dim and unfocused. As he lay there, his thoughts wandered onto the group and their whereabouts, and the last thing the Enforcer heard was the sound of voices and footsteps, before the darkness of restless sleep claimed him, and he lay helplessly on the green matte of the forrest floor.

----

Meanwhile...

The Elemental finished pulling itself together. The bold human's treachery had plastered its watery body all over the clearing, and had long since moved well beyond the range of its ability to sense him.

Regardless, it did not matter. That human, as frustrating as its futile efforts to stop the assassin were, was not its target. It would not pursue it father than it needed to; its priority now was to ascertain the location of Chrysothemis...and eliminate her.

Stoic and emotionless, the Elemental sank into the earth and down into the groundwater. It would cover more ground beneath it, in his native element, than above it, where it was slow and exposed.

The other humans had taken Chrysothemis into the mountains; it would be there where its hunt would begin anew.

This post has been edited by ~vIsitor~: 28 November 2008 - 01:43 PM

Rapierian was bored. . .very bored.

Nothing in the situation—aside from Wizard's injuries and Chrysothemis's worry and distress—was amusing, and both of those were funny for only so long.

Idly, he wondered how much fun he could have messing around with Cythera's past. This line of speculation did not keep the necromancer amused for long, however, since he concluded that any meddling in the past would probably remove his source of entertainment in the future.

He supposed that he could try and make everyone worry about how to get back to the future—a problem that none of them seemed to have considered—but guessed that they would probably realize that they had bigger worries and that Magpie would probably aid them in that endeavor.

Suddenly, he heard a sound. Glancing around, he spotted faint movement near where Wizard was resting. The necromancer casually reached into his cloak and removed a potion. Then, he threw it at the area in question.

The glass vial struck something behind Wizard and shattered. The liquid inside it splattered all over the object that it had hit and suddenly caused it to burst into flames.

Outlined in the flames was a medium-sized six-legged creature. The burning animal let loose a long tortured howl.

In an instant, the cavern was plunged into chaos. The other members of the group were jerked to abrupt wakefulness and, in the light provided by the flaming creature, they saw that they had been surrounded.

"Wolfilizards?" Rapierian said aloud, utterly ignoring the trouble that erupted around him. "How utterly boring and underwhelming and uninteresting and unentertaining and—"

"Quiet!" Wizard growled as he struggled to his feet and moved back from the other wolflizards.

The wolfilizards snarled, angry at the loss of one of their number and of the element of surprise. The pack gathered itself and then attacked.

The group members readied their weapons and met the onslaught. Despite the size of the pack, it had chosen the wrong prey; that is, although hard pressed, the adventurers were holding their own...

The battle raged for some time, & the party were starting to feel the strain of fighting without sufficient light. The original flaming wolflizard was long gone & no flash of magic was lasting long enough for a good view of the situation. Rapierian, (whether out of a genuine desire to aid his companions or out of more selfish goal of helping ensure his future birth will never be known,) reached into his cloak for another fire potion, & unwittingly pulling out Silverfish, (who he had inadvertently kidnapped earlier,) hurled him at the nearest wolflizard.

So abruptly jolted from unconsciousness, Silver released an explosion of electricity, more damaging even than Rapierian's potion, (especially to the party) which instantly ignited the simultaneously comatose/dead wolflizard.

Silver, having thus lost the greater portion of his electrical energy, shifted to armoured mode, & joined in the melee...

A wolfilizard dug its teeth deep into Wizard's robe, but, fortunately, the cloak was thick enough to protect Wizard from the creatures fangs.

Wizard was still exhausted and he limped away from the animal attacking him. He hit it hard with end of his staff, but only dazed it for a few seconds. "Gaa!" he shouted in surprise as a wolfilizard leapt onto his robe and another helped pull him down. Supporting his rather large weight on one foot, Wizard was not able to keep his balance.

He struggled to get back to his feet as wolfilizards crawled over him and tried to penetrate his robes. "Can someone help me over here!" he shouted as he swept his staff over his body to knock off several of the large lizards. The entire group was engaged in fighting; they all knew, though, that they had to deal with this distraction quickly so that they could move on. It was best not to be in one place for too long.

More wolflizards crawled out from hidden passageways all around the heroes. By now it seemed possible that the party would be overwhelmed. This was capped by the appearance of a giant, aged lizard, bigger than all the rest. (Also, bigger than a cow.) Soon, the party would be swept under. There was only one thing to---

Suddenly, a thunderous explosion broke the noise of battle into pieces. Every single wolflizard within a certain distance of the party perished, as the explosion sent clouds of fire out to several yards away. Strangely, the fire didn't affect the adventurers. Everyone looked around, trying to find the source of the blaze.

"Ummm.... sorry?" said Cyrus, hands glowing with residual magic, Gem pulsing red on his chest.

"How'd he get in there?" Rapierian wondered aloud.

Then, he shrugged.

At that moment, the necromancer heard Wizard's cry for help and glanced over at the old man. Rapierian saw that Wizard was still having some difficulties with the wolfilizards and decided to help him out.

"Come on, you lazy old fellow! Work harder!"

Fortunately for Wizard, Cyrus then killed his attackers.

The battle ended relatively quickly after that.

Rapierian casually fried the large wolfilizard with a bolt of lightning. He turned to Chrysothemis and asked, "Do you want to try fried wolfilizard? Quite a delicacy, I'm told...or maybe it was something about being poisonous?"

Ignoring him, the woman went over to Wizard and helped him up.

"Thanks," Wizard told her. Straightening, he glanced at the carnage about them. "I think that we'd better get moving. We've 'rested' long enough. We are certainly being followed and this little skirmish will have only made us easier to find."

Everyone else agreed, and the group was soon on the move again, still heading south deeper into the caves.

Walking behind the others, Rapierian paused for a moment and glanced back the way they had came. He was certain that he had, for a moment, "smelled" something.

The necromancer smiled.

Perhaps, things wouldn't stay boring for much longer...

Silverfish whimpered softly, startling a gecko into scurrying back into hiding. Opening his eyes, he wondered where the party had gone, there was no light source within sight. His small body screamed with firey pain which he struggled to hold in as it fought to break forth, but at last he diverted it. He channeled the burning pain to his hands, & withdrew his senses from them. Even as the agonized scream rushed to his lips, it died.

A burning light seemed to fill the tunnel, & Silver sensed that he was lying behind a boulder. He rose slowly to his feet, his wincing body a testament to how damaged he was, even without the burning pain he had noticed on first returning to awareness. Confused by the pain of his strangely contorting limbs, Silver could barely think. Rather than pausing to renew & reinforce his broken body, Silver grabbed the nearest corpse, & infusing it with metallic filaments from his hands, animated it.

He was unaware when the beast's eyes started glowing purple, he was too numb. He didn't even realize that he was no longer controlling it. The magic's 'scent' had imprinted on its brain, & it was hunting down the original caster...

Shanadar awoke to the sound of voices. The dreary atmosphere that greeted him was far less amicable than the soft forrest floor had been. He awoke within the confines of a prison cell that he knew all to well; having imprisoned (or perhaps the proper tense would be would imprison) many ruffians within its confines during his tenure as Cademia's Enforcer.

He was in Cademia--in the hands of the Tyrant--and certainly the last place he wanted to be in this timeframe. Momentary panic lapsed into concern for his erstwhile companions during his absence; if he had been brought here, then he must've been out of it for at least a few hours. Who knew what had transpired during the interim?

Regardless, he couldn't afford to dwell on it. His most immediate concern was to emancipate himself from his bondage, a goal complicated by his injuries and having been stripped of his possessions by his captors.

Composing himself, he attempted to listen in to the conversation which had awoken him. The voices were indistinct, but he gathered that there were two parties involved, and they were arguing. Likely, it was some manner of dispute between his immediate jailer and another, perhaps an interrogator or (Alaric willing) a physician.

When the dispute ended, and he heard footsteps approaching, he returned to a relaxed state as to seem at rest. When the door swung open, he put his acting skills to use and pretended to awake with a start, and looked about the room which he had assessed earlier as though he was still disoriented.

"I trust you've found your accommodations adequate?" the intruder asked in a sly tone. To Shanadar's disappointment, this person did not look to be a physician, but, then again, he'd hardly expected that sort of hospitality.

"Quite" he responded, curtly.

"I'm sure you realize that we have a lot of questions..." his examiner stated, trying to break the ice, as it were.

"I'm sure you do" Shanadar cut him off, intending to give his malefactor as little information as possible.

Unfazed, his interrogator continued his interview, "You've caused quite a stir, you know. A kidnapping, a fire, rumors of mage involvement, and you unconscious in the middle of it all. There are many questions that need answering, not the least of which the nature of your involvement in recent happenings."

Shanadar knew he couldn't stay silent without arousing suspicion, but neither could he particularly afford to betray the existence of his comrades. He set to base his answers, as he was willing and able, in the truth, fantastic as the truth may have been. If he could convince them, then perhaps his could spare his (hopefully still living) allies.

"Do you know of the Metics?" he asked.

His questioner gave him a puzzled look. "I've heard the tales of the Metics, but I've never really put much stock in such things."

"Well, I have it on reliable grounds that they're real."

His examiner looked at him as though he was a madman. "What does this have to do with anything?" he asked, clearly unbelieving.

"Everything!" Shanadar exclaimed, sitting straight, "I've been hunting a Metic--of a sort--for awhile now; I've a personal grievance with the creature, you see. For some reason, it snatched some poor girl out for a stroll as I chased it through the forests near Catamarca. I attempted to engage the beast, but it bested me and left me in the state you found me in."

His interrogator was understandably perplexed as he took all this in. Such a tale fit the events well enough, and explained why this man was so heavily armed, but seemed too fantastic to believe. Then again, it seemed to incredible to be a lie, unless the prisoner was not of sound mind, despite seemingly being quite sane.

"...and, what of the Mages? And the fire?" the questioner asked, clearly overwhelmed.

"I don't know. Given that the abomination apparently has a liking for kidnapping maidens, its possible that it offended some Mages at some point. That would explain the fire too, if they attempted to fight it as I did."

"And your name?" his interrogator continued his battery of questions.

"If you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine" Shanadar bargained.

"Attis, Paige of the Third Tyrant"

Shanadar's heart nearly skipped a beat. The founder of one of the great houses was interrogating him!

"Shanadar." He stated, quickly, desperately trying to hide his apprehension.

"I don't know if I believe you" The Attis said, "but I'll make my report to my lord nonetheless." He was apparently going to go along with Shanadar's storytelling, even if provisionally.

"You do that." Shanadar replied.

As the future founder made for the door, Shanadar made one last comment. "Oh, and, Attis..."

"Yes?" he replied, somewhat annoyed that Shanadar was using his name.

"While you're at it, make sure you set your house in order. You never know when opportunity or disaster will come; the best thing is to be prepared for either."

Attis left, somewhat confused by his prisoner's proverbial comment. Shanadar knew that in later years, the advice might well serve Cythera's future founder well. For the moment, however, the Enforcer had to turn his attention back to escape. He knew every brick in his time; logically, all he had to do was find the one's here which he didn't know of, and he'd find his point of egress.

It was only a matter of time before he could escape. He'd find his escape route, then escape after nightfall, under the cover of darkness.

This post has been edited by ~vIsitor~: 28 November 2008 - 01:43 PM

The group crept forward through the dark by torch-light now. Wizard walked, or rather limped, alongside Chrysothemis; he used his staff as a cane to help him keep up with the others. They journeyed in silence for the most part. The attack from the wolfilizards had already wearied the adventurers, unfortunately, right after they had completed their short rest.

In his mind, Wizard contemplated plan after plan for defeating their pursuer, yet none of them seemed possible. Fear began to creep into his own thoughts that perhaps Chrysothemis was right. Perhaps they were not strong enough to defeat this elemental assassin; perhaps she would have to spend her whole life in hiding. Wizard shook his head lightly, as if to clear the fog that had overtaken his tired mind. Chrysothemis cannot be right in this case. It would irrevocably alter the future if she were to spend her whole life constantly running, being hunted by this terminator. That simply could not be allowed! Whatever it took, they would --

"Are you all right?" Chrysothemis asked, noticing that Wizard had shaken his head for no apparent reason.

"Yes, I'm sorry; I was just thinking."

"What were you thinking about? Our situation?" Chrysothemis directed her eyes around them, glancing towards the cave walls that were on both sides of them.

"Oh, it's not that bad. We'll be out in the light again soon."

"I'm not sure I feel any safer out there. . ."

"I know how you feel, but we can't hide in these caves forever. That wave of water that followed us to the tunnel's entrance indicates that we may be followed in here, one way or another. No, we cannot stay in here much longer. It was safe enough as a place to run to for a brief escape, but we will want to be out in the open again soon."

Chrysothemis shuddered, "'Out in the open,' I'm almost afraid of that phrase now."

"I know, but we have no alternative. I would hesitate before venturing deeper into the mountain."

After a pause, she asked, "What do you think happened to that man that fell and couldn't catch up with us?"

Wizard's thoughts turned to Shanadar for a few moments, and he too wondered what had become of their friend and ally. "I don't know, but I do know that he can take care of himself. . ." Wizard left it at that, choosing not to voice his true fears.

The group continued heading south, while in his head, Wizard thought of anyone that he could enlist the help of in this time period. They would have to go a little deeper into the mountains yet before they could emerge from the underground. That time could not come soon enough.

The wind whipping past his face, a steady rhythm, growl of thunder, rhythm breaks. Fire. Shrieking. Ignae fighting Undine for rights to a mortal soul.

A cold voice. "Boring. I should have let it land on Cyrus before destroying it. Oh well, maybe I'll get Fishy to tell me about it once he wakes up."

A hand pulled Silver to his feet, & the voice sneered, "Look what you forgot to bring with from the last battle! Some heroes you are." Silver smiled as he stumbled over his feet. It was good to be back with everybody, even Rapierian.

As Silver relaxed, he remembered that he could repair his broken body, & as they journeyed on through the dark, that's what he started to work on.

Wizard stopped suddenly and glanced around.

"What's wrong?" Chrysothemis asked him.

"I'm not sure...I have no memory of this place."

"No surprise there," Rapierian put in.

Wizard ignored the necromancer and cautiously headed forward. The others followed.

A light soon appeared ahead of them.

"That looks like the sun," someone said excitedly, as they pressed on.

With startling suddenness, they exited the cave and found themselves on a grassy hillside.

Glancing around, they saw that they were on among the foothills of the northern mountains. South of them, across a narrow canyon, the rest of the mountains marched on out of sight.

"We're on the edge of the pass between the mountains," Wizard said in relief. "All we have to do is cross the canyon and we can enter the caves once more. We're nearing the lava fields."

Crossing the canyon, however, would not be easy. In later centuries, the path between Pnyx and Cademia would be well maintained. At this time, it was a maze of overgrown vegetation.

In addition, to prevent the Tyrant from launching a surprise attack, the mages watched the canyon from the west. The Tyrant had also sent forces to cover the land west of Cademia, in case the mages that he was hunting tried to escape that way.

Fortunately, no one was in the canyon itself and the group was able to reach the slopes of the southern mountains undetected.

They began to quickly search for an entrance to this area's cave system...

Escaping the cell had been as easy as he'd imagined; an entire section of the far wall had been replaced sometime between his present and the current moment in the past. After craftily slipping out of the fetter he'd been bound with, he began to loosen a few key bricks from the mortar. Once satisfied that the structural integrity had been sufficiently weakened, he delivered several swift kicks to the wall.

Although his injuries meant that the action was painful, the sight of seeing the bricks falling apart from each-other like dominoes was entertaining to watch.

He hurried outside; the guards undoubtedly would have heard that. Rushing around the building, he made his way around to the front, and entered to the stunned faces of two very shocked wardens.

One attempted to raise the alarm, but was quickly cut off as Shanadar delivered a heavy-fisted blow that broke the man's jaw. The other tried to fight the time-traveling Enforcer off, but Shanadar had fought entire gangs of much more menacing ruffians in his own time. The poor sap never had a chance.

He looked around for an evidence locker. They had to have put his equipment somewhere, after all. After a short search, he was rewarded by finding his confiscated possessions in a locked drawer, the key to which had conveniently been on the person of one of his non-unconscious jailers.

He quickly took inventory, and re-equipped himself.

His armor and most of his equipment was present. His bladed staff, however, was notably absent. Likely, the Tyrant had taken it to his personal armory as a curiosity.

Shanadar silently cursed under his breath. It wasn't so much the potential damage to the timeline that concerned him, although that crossed his mind. No, he'd just bought that stave as a replacement for the one that Rapierian and Cat had ruined when he'd broken up their fight some time ago (and had nearly gotten himself killed in the process). He'd just started to like this weapon, and he'd be damned if he'd leave it behind too. Else, he could very well end up on the receiving end of a very vengeful armament.

A bit crazy, perhaps, and certainly unduly superstitious, but the Enforcer had been through too much manure for one day to be concerned about rational reasoning. He was going to get his weapon back.

Unfortunately, he didn't even know where it was.

The city, still en-walled in this era (which could pose another problem later), was considerably smaller than the one he knew in his era. Nevertheless, Cademia was still a large place to search for such a small item, and he'd have to be avoiding the patrols looking for him all the while whilst he searched for--and later retrieved--his staff.

He'd start at the Tyrant's keep. If it was likely to be anywhere, it'd somewhere near there.

Silver stumbled along, searching for something, but he was having a hard time remembering what. He was quite delighted to find the tunic he was wearing several times.

"I've found it!" 1 of his companions shouted, he wasn't sure which, he turned to follow just as a flood of water burst from the ground behind him. As the water tumbled past him, Silver felt the last of the Mana wash out of him. Then the water stood on its legs & hurled him @ the party.

Silver caught himself on the air, prompting the Undine assassin to roar in rage @ being thus tricked, & dived into the crevice after his friends...

Wizard shouted to the party in surprise of the unexpected undine foe, "We are almost to the lava fields, move quickly through the tunnels!". A strange purple field shot up behind them as they frantically fled into the tunnels, whoever had setup the shell would most likely still be behind. Yomu had no time to worry about this at the moment as he came to the realization that the party's numbers had been greatly cut. Pulling out a large glowing strung bead from his bag, Yomu looked around himself to find silver flapping by, "Silver! Everyone else is gone, they must have been separated from us when that thing attacked.". Silver paused to catch his breath and then a look of shame spread across his face, "I'm afraid that's partially my fault, I somewhat, taunted it. I'm not to blame, really!", Yomu cut him off, "Listen, it does not matter now. Wizard told us to make it through to the lava fields, so that's the plan. I'm sure these tunnels meet up again at some point, but for now we can't keep are friends waiting.". Silver began flapping again, "Right!". Silver and Yomu began jolting down the tunnel.

----

"You've doomed us!", Cyrus yelped. "Be grateful, now you can die a hero.", the gem let out a light laugh then sparkled. "I don't want to die a hero, I don't want to die at all!", Cyrus shouted at Gem, however was met with a small silence, "Fine.", Gem stopped sparkling. The purple shell that had been holding the creature back suddenly shattered and turned into vapor. For a brief moment Cryus looked into the Undine's eyes, "Gem?".

----

They had planned to reach the lava fields but the main part of the group had stopped in awe of a strange chamber. Chrysothemis looked up at the large white gem hanging from the roof of the cave. "What is it?" the girl inquired to Wizard, "I believe it is quartz.". The carved markings on the floor appeared to be ruins, though they looked different from anything they had seen before. Wizard studied the ruins and then returned to the group, "It appears that this area was used for some type of time displacement ritual. As far as I know I don't recall anything about this place in the fu-" Wizard cut himself off when he remembered his company, "ah-hem, back home.". Rapierian sighed, "It's quite simple really, this place doesn't exist, back home.".

----

Yomu and Silver had started to loose the fire they mustered up earlier, as fatigue slowly grew over them. Yomu stumbled and dropped the glowing bead into the darkness. Silver perked up, "I'll get it!". After he went to investigate the crack to which the bead had rolled through he found himself in a small brick lined room, "Wow!" Sliver exclaimed. Yomu brought himself closer to the crevice, "What do you see, is the bead there?", "I'm in some strange room, and..." Silver looked around for the bead, "I found the bea-" Silver screamed in surprise. "Silver?!", Yomu called out, "Oh, just a skeleton." Silver calmed himself then took the bead, but was then stopped when he saw what was placed around the skull of this dusty figure, a crown decorated by white gems. Almost hypnotized Silver reached up to take the crown, but was met with a fiery burning sensation through his hands. "Ah! Magic!", he cried out.

Yomu grew tired of being left in the dark. He reached into his pouch and pulled out his red hat. *POOF*, He easily passed through the narrow crevice to find Silver grasping his hands. *POOF*, Silver jumped in surprise, "Ah! I have quite enough surprises for one day, Yomu!". Yomu laughed, "Yes, I'm sorry for that.". Silver tossed Yomu his bead, "Look at this crown I found!" Silver exclaimed to Yomu. Yomu hung the bead to where Silver was pointing and gasped in amazement. Silver smiled, "I think I'll name my new discovery, Eyes of Silver! Because the gems look like eyes, get it?". Yomu wasn't listening, he reached out and then placed the crown in his pouch, "I had heard legends of this crown, 'He who posses this crown will gain the power of kings past and kings yet to be.' No ones ever been able to figure out what the riddle means." Silver grew bored from Yomus brief story, "Eyes of Silver is a much better title! Besides, we've wasted too much time here. I'm going on now, try to keep up." Silver slid through the hole once more and continued down the tunnel. "The crown of Kings old and yet to be, and excellent addition to my collection.", Yomu smiled and after a brief hat fitting, chased after Silver.

I think that I've read something about this place Rapierian mused to himself.

The necromancer rummaged through his cloak for a few moments before pulling out a book. Opening it, he leafed through the book before stopping and beginning to read.

Wizard was quickly considering their options. They had lost several party members but stopping to look for them was perilous. Staying here was also perilous. At any moment, their pursuer might appear. The chamber and the device it contained might be of some use, but it would take an extremely powerful temporal device to defeat the time magic that the water elemental might be able to manipulate.

Pushing on might be their best course...

Before Wizard could say or do anything, Chrysothemis noticed what Rapierian was doing.

"You're stopping to read at a time like this?" she asked incredulously. He glanced up at her.

"Of course! Reading is a fundamental, you know! Why, without the ability to read, where would we all be now?" he paused. "Oh, well, I suppose it is true that none of you would be affected."

At that moment, Wizard spoke.

"I'm afraid that we might have to move on. To search for our companions or to linger here is dangerous—"

Rapierian began to read again, and Chrysothemis, thoroughly annoyed with him, tried to snatch the book from his grasp, hoping to hit him over the head with it.

"The authors of these things like to put all sorts of highly destructive (and highly amusing) protective spells on their books, you know," the necromancer told her casually. "Could be amusing though."

Without thinking, she glanced at the page he was reading.

Suddenly, she screamed and stumbled backward, pawing at her eyes. Startled, Aster caught her and tried to calm her.

"Whoops, I had forgotten that little detail," Rapierian said. He began to chuckle to himself. "That IS funny."

"What did you do?!" Wizard burst out, looking as if he were about ready to throttle Rapierian.

"Me? Oh, I didn't do anything. She made the mistake of trying to read the page . . . and, well . . . this particular language is not very agreeable to uninitiated readers, particularly those who have had no training in magical scripts." He looked at Wizard. "Come now, if I were actively trying to harm her, don't you think she'd be dead by now?"

Wizard sensed that Rapierian was speaking the truth. The the old man also knew of the deleterious effects that reading books written in the languages used by the dark mages could have.

As always when such occasions arose, Wizard wished that he could do something about this impudent young upstart. Unfortunately, they needed him right now, and, in the future, he was legally safe from all reprisals, having been formally cleared (although not necessarily through honest means).

The necromancer began to laugh.

"Quiet!" Wizard hissed. "Do you want to lead it right to us?"

"Yell at her! She's the one who started making loud noises!"

The dark mage looked as if he were going to laugh harder, but Wizard turned away from him and headed toward Chrysothemis.

"What's wrong? What did it do to you?"

"My eyes are burning! I can't see!"

"Should be temporary," Rapierian put in from behind Wizard. "I think."

"You think?" the older man growled at him. "That's news."

"Such sad outdated wit . . . poor old man," Rapierian said, shaking his head in mock sympathy.

Wizard ignored him, trying to see what he could do to help Chrysothemis.

"I have a potion that might help," the necromancer said. "Well, either that, or it will blow her up . . . or is that cause her to go mad . . .?"

He chuckled again, apparently amused at the various possibilities.

"So, what do we do now?" he asked cheerfully.

Aster sat down against a wall, watching to see who would try to kill Rapierian first. The necromancer had been getting on his nerves throughout the adventure, but there was no way in Cythera he'd say so. He was too worried about drawing attention to himself for that. But still, there had to be some way of inconveniencing Rapierian without making a fuss.
Sighing quietly, he wondered why the party had to wait. No-one seemed to want to tell him.
He wondered idly what had become of Shanadar.

As Silver & Yomu hurried through the darkness, a roar of rushing water sounded behind them. With a gasp Silver exclaimed, "Cyrus! Yomu, I think Cyrus was left behind guarding our escape! I think I can help him survive, but you need to hurry to the others & get a plan worked out!" Yomu didn't think it sounded like a sane plan, except for the catching up with the others part, but there was no time to argue, so he just nodded briefly & kept running.

Meanwhile, Silver turned back & after all too little time saw the Undine bearing down on him, & within its mass Cyrus floating lifelessly. The Assassin, too rushed to properly kill him, had apparently opted to drown him on the way down the tunnel. Silverfish dived into the Undine as one trying to make no ripples in a smooth pond, & latched onto Cyrus. The Assassin rushed onward as if he had noticed nothing.

It was only a few seconds work from there for Silver to wrap himself around Cyrus like a young child on a shoulder-ride, but rather than strangling Cyrus, Silver was converting the water into a breathable form. Cyrus's life-signs were weak, but definitely there. Hopefully all he needed was good air to be back in spell-casting condition soon...

Much as with escaping, retrieving his equipment had not been particularly difficult for Shanadar. Despite the heightened amount of security, the Tyrant's guards were apparently as perceptive of their surroundings as bricks, and the latter probably challenged their intelligence too. Then again, the Enforcer's years of dealing with the seedy underbelly of the Cademia some centuries in the future probably gave him a decisive edge in stealth as well.

Of course, not everything was going to be so easy.

In this past timeframe, the walls of Cademia were still very much intact. The vertical stone surface would doubtless impede his progress, but Shanadar knew he very well couldn't exit through any of the gatehouses, especially since they'd soon be alerted to his recent prison-break. The wall didn't protect the city from the coastline, but, given the choice between swimming through what was quite possibly scylla-infested waters and climbing a sheer cliff of brick-and-mortar, the choice was simple.

He began climbing.

His ascent was slow and arduous, but, nonetheless, he made the seemingly insurmountable climb to the artificial structure's summit unnoticed. Once he reached the top, he paused, momentarily, to rest, but it was not to last, as the calm of the night air was rendered by the alarm bells ringing at the keep, and the city guard scrambling in search of their escaped fugitive.

Knowing, full well, that he did not have time to climb down, and that remaining on top of the wall would inevitably lead to detection and capture, the Enforcer made a split decision. Running as fast as he dared along the spine of the bulwark, Shanadar scanned the darkness nearest the wall for a suitably tall tree. Finding what he was looking for, he made a silent prayer to what powers would listen, and leapt into fate's open arms.

The resulting din of many breaking branches, bones, and one ego were heard from across the city, as involuntary cries of pain and explicative drowned out even the deafeningly-loud alarm bells. Stifling the howling pain, the Enforcer climbed down the unfortunate deciduous as fast as his injuries would allow. Silently, he wondered, with all the pain he endured, was he a glutton for punishment, or was the universe just out to get him.

Hearing the sounds of soldier's footsteps closing in, he decided on the latter, and made his way into the inky dark. Hopefully, the deep of a thousand midnights would defend him for a change against those who sought to do him harm, as he made his way West, towards where he supposed the group would be by now. He knew that the group was heading towards Land's End, but they would probably try to find entrance through the mountains to avoid further delays (and perhaps delay the Water Elemental with the lava flows he'd heard rumors about in the southern spine).

Alaric willing, they were still alive, and he would soon be free of this temporally-confused nightmare.

This post has been edited by ~vIsitor~: 28 November 2008 - 01:45 PM

I wish Shanadar were here. . . Wizard found himself in a quandary.

At least three members of the party, Yomu, Silver, and Cyrus, were behind them somewhere, but with that assassin following them, there was no way they could turn back. It wasn't even safe to wait here.

Wizard glanced towards the wall where Aster was reclining, "Aster!" Aster, still day-dreaming about what would happen to Rapierian, jumped. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to startle you. Could you help guide Chrysothemis, at least until her vision returns?" He glared at Rapierian as he spoke the last bit. Aster silently nodded and slowly moved over to Chrysothemis.

"I know that this cavern will be of some help to us when it comes time to return home, but right now, we can't use it, nor can we wait. Let's keep moving south. I think there should be another tunnel further south that will circle around back here; I hope anyways."

The others began move on, Aster helping Chrysothemis as she went. After the others were gone, Wizard stepped in front of Rapierian, blocking the exit. "Listen, necromancer, I've never cared much for your antics, but that was taking it too far."

"But that wasn't my fault, she looked at something she shouldn't have; you know this." Rapierian protested. He didn't seem too concerned.

"Yes, I know it wasn't. This time, but I don't even want to talk about all the trouble you've caused us before. May I remind you that this time we are in the past, trying to save Alaric's mother from certain death? One wrong move and we'll have destroyed everything, everything that we know about Cythera. So I'm warning you: watch it. I'll be watching you more closely than I ever have before, and, as much as I revere Alaric, I don't care for that slip of paper he signed pardoning you from your crimes. If I see you cause one more 'accident,' I will be sorely tempted to defy Alaric's ruling on the matter." Wizard's face had turned harsh and determined; he seemed seriously angered by Rapierian's latest gimmick.

Rapierian was half-amused. "What would you plan on doing?"

"If necessary, I will kill you," the old mage said as his eyes narrowed.

"Oh really? Go ahead. Do it." Rapierian's expression changed to form a twisted smile.

Wizard appeared to be contemplating action for a moment, but then his features loosened. He looked like a harmless old man again. He shook his head a time or two to clear his mind before he turned his back on Rapierian and began to follow the others, "No, I won't play your game."

"Oh well, suit yourself."

They journeyed onward in silence for a long while.

* * *

Later, Chrysothemis' eyes had begun to clear; Wizard was walking beside her now, just in case she couldn't see everything yet.

"If you've all come to save me, why did he come along? How did you ever get involved with such an evil man?" Chrysothemis asked. She was obviously not going to forget her experience with Rapierian's magic anytime soon.

"I really don't know why he wanted to come along. You can be sure he has his own motives for everything, and I doubt that all he wants to do is help. He's caused so much trouble for this group. . . I always knew he was up to no good. From the very first time I laid eyes on him, I knew he was a scoundrel. I just didn't know until recent years, well recent years in my time anyways, the extent of what he was willing to do." Wizard paused a moment, reflecting on some of the incidents they had had with Rapierian and the time that he betrayed them at Tavara's fortress.

Chrysothemis said nothing, waiting patiently for Wizard to continue his monologue.

"But, regardless of the crimes he may or may not have committed, there's nothing we can do about him right now. Our first priority is to get you safe, permanently."

"And then you have to get back home. Right?"

"Right. I'm certain that after we've gotten rid of your pursuer, we will be able to find that time-travel cavern again and somehow get it to work." Wizard smiled, but Chrysothemis couldn't help but think he was putting on a show to protect her. She began to wonder if these adventurers who had saved her so many times would ever be able to return to their own time.

That was, of course, if they could even manage to defeat this terminator that seemed to be right behind them every step of the way. . .