AC: Round 2 - Group 7

[Revenant]

This thread is reserved for members of Group 7. The thread will open at noon on September 7th (Pacific time) and will be closed after two weeks.

Good Luck!

Group 7
Letho
Chibimon Blue
Steppenwolf Orlouge

[Letho]

***RESUMPTION***

This time his dreams were the way they usually were: a mere heap of broken images, disjointed, at the very edge of comprehensibility. As his consciousness returned, Letho Ravenheart managed to recall but a few, and already they were fading away like shapes in the sand as the tides comes in. A town, a cluster of stormy clouds, a hooded man, gallows, blood, riders with torches. He thought it might be Gisela on the day of the massacre, but it didn’t look like Gisela. It carried more resemblance to Savion, the homeland he had forsaken so many years ago, with its cascading staircases and high towers that reached to the heavens.

But by the time that conclusion dawned to his drowsy mind, reality rudely showed the images away, painting over them with a dun blue color like a painter dissatisfied with his work. And he was somewhere else again. His eyes opened to the dirty color of a sky at dusk, specked here and there with the faintest twinkle of the first stars. They weren’t Althanas stars, that much was clear, for the constellations were all wrong and some moved far faster than they ought to. But by now, Letho wasn’t surprised by this discrepancy. After the trek through the desert with three others, and the dragon, and the underground tunnels filled with fiery horrors, there was not much that could surprise the ranger. He was fairly certain that this entire competition didn’t take place on any island on the face of Althanas. The place had a different feel to it, different smell, different patterns of motion, like an illusion just too perfect to be true, artificial deep down under the surface.

“Probably a lot like the Citadel,” Letho thought as he pushed himself up to his elbows. For one, his wounds were gone. The dislocated shoulder, the broken ribs, the burned skin and flesh, all brought back just like when Ai'brone monks did their magic. The world around him only further confirmed his suspicions. Mere moments ago – or at least it seemed to Letho that the pool and the dragon occurred moments ago – he had been dropping from exhaustion and blood loss under the surface of a wretched desert island. And yet now he rested on a stony hillside, with the descending landscape around him covered in grass that swayed back and forth under the light breeze. He could see trees as well, old willows lazily swinging their crowns as if they were in some religious trance. He was fairly certain that there was also a brook or two somewhere out there, bubbling merrily as it went to meet the surrounding sea.

“Figures,” the bulky ranger mumbled as he got up to his feet. He had had to endure the desert and the cold and the ship-sized dragon to get here, but now that he was actually at his destination, the island was as nice as it could be. Letho cracked a wry smirk as he stretched and his spine popped and cracked; whoever pulled the strings which made this magical theatre come to life had a wicked sense of humor.

Like the last time, there were others in his proximity, but unlike the desert several hours (or days, Letho couldn't really be sure) ago, he was the first one to regain consciousness. And while he hadn't been terribly satisfied with the his last motley crew - what with the invisible man with a candle holder and a dragon-woman with about half a pound of chips on her shoulder - looking over his two companions made him want to be back with the other three. At least two of those three looked capable. What he wound up with this time around was a ridiculous looking hulk of a man with huge pink hairdo that must've ran from one of the traveling carnivals, and a kid that seemed at an age with his own daughter. But while his fourteen years old Lorelei grew up to be a rather self-sufficient lass that knew how to handle a staff aside from being able to burn half a block with her magicks, this lad looked more at home swinging a wooden sword than a real one.

But the odd sleeping couple and their skills (or lack thereof) didn't stay long on Letho's mind. Because what stood on top of the rocky hill was simply staggering. Letho couldn't remember what the object looked like when he had first seen it on that desert beach, but he was fairly certain that it had been nothing like what stood before him now. Some hundred paces wide and rising up towards the sky in uninterrupted smoothness stood a perfectly rectangular slab of rock. Half as thick as it was wide, this anthracite-colored monolith dominated the landscape with its eeriness, looking as if it was something that didn't belong there, that didn't belong anywhere on Althanas, a pure pointless excess of size. With nary a scratch or a fleck of mud on its surface, it seemed like a dark hole in reality, and only when Letho made his way to the foot of the structure and pressed his hand against the glass-smooth surface, he was certain that there was matter there and not just ink-colored mist.

"By the gods, what are we supposed to do with this damned thing?" Letho muttered, his eyes sliding upwards to the point where the monolith disappeared in either the clouds or the gathering darkness of the night. His reverie was interrupted by the sound of the shuffling behind his back. Turning away from the weird block of black stone, he walked back to the others. The Vorpal Blade was back in its staff form, the butt of it clicking against the stone as he walked, but the metal staff was the only remarkable feature about him. In his plain white shirt and faded denim pants, Letho looked like he did at the beginning of the previous round; just another aging adventurer.

"On your feet, lads," he said to the other two, his voice deep and a bit hoary, unnaturaly loud in the stillness of the monolith's presence. "We have work to do."

[Chibimon Blue]

Hsa woke up to the words of this strange man, holding his head instinctively to check for any bumps or bruises. The youth was growing rather sick of Kenneth Stern and his reoccurring theme of seemingly drugging his tournament participants to get them from round to round. As he sat up, he looked at the man before him; brown hair peppered with shades of gray coming in, an intimidating size with a weapon to match, and a fearsome, well kempt beard that would make a gnome envious. Hsa was standing before the mighty Letho Ravenheart.

Of course the child had heard the stories that many spoke about Letho. He was a living legend among the young and old alike, a warrior with unsurpassed might, a devout sense of justice, and the ability to right any wrongs that evil doers would attempt upon Althanas. Just standing (or rather, sitting) in this man’s presence caused goose bumps to form all over Hsa’s body, and the child scooted backwards a bit, his eyes downwards to the ring of pure darkness at the foot of the hills below them.

“Yo-You’re Letho…” he finally stammered out, followed by a heavy swallow, “I-I’m so sorry for the intrusion, Mister Ravenheart sir. M-My name is Hsa, Hsa Eulb.” The boy ended his introductions there, finding it vastly inappropriate to introduce his Chibimon to a man who would obviously know the name of such powerful creatures. The trainer’s eyes shifted back downward, following the length of the giant stone slab behind the Corone Ranger.

“I… don’t feel good about this place…” Hsa spoke, though it almost came out more as a whisper. He rose to his feet, a gurgling in his stomach indicating an instinctive fear rather than any actual hunger. He had eaten at the Chibimon Center he had found during the first round of the Adventurer’s Crown, and apparently the fruits and vegetables he had were still firmly packed away. He could even smell the scent of fresh strawberries on his breath. Did Kenneth Stern teleport him here immediately after he ate?

He moved his head around, trying to gain a grip on his surroundings. There was a smell that he could not figure out, a scent he had encountered once before in his adventures. He licked his lips, as if tasting the wind would help him remember, but sighed in resignation once that failed. His gaze finally settled on the last member of the group; he was a large man with a rather strange hairstyle, as well as clothing tastes. Just looking at this strange man, and remembering that he was in the presence of a respected warrior such as Letho Ravenheart, Hsa turned his baseball cap forward, stood straight up, and puffed his chest out as best he could.

He approached the third member of their party as if he had no fear. In fact, he felt as though he had something to prove to the much older gentleman behind him. Kneeling down, Hsa grabbed the broad shoulder of the awkward haired person and began to shake him. “Hey, it’s time to get up!”

[Steppenwolf Orlouge]

My eyes shot open the second the hand was placed upon my shoulder. In an instant, I was up with my hand around the neck of the boy who had shaken me awake. I didn’t remember ever going to sleep, so I had quickly assumed that I was still in the hedge maze that had tortured me and my Adventurer’s Crown team mates for hours. However, looking at the child who had jostled me out of my sleep, I realized that there was nothing to indicate the work of Alabaster the half-fae. I dropped the kid, who landed onto his knees and began gasping for air, my head spinning every which way a bit frantically.

“Where’s Cellar?!” I demanded, as if I expected the boy in the baseball hat to know. He simply looked up to me, a little bit of water welling up into his eyes. I stared at him for just a moment, realizing that I was being incredibly rude. “I’m sorry,” I kneeled down towards the child with a warm smile on my face, “My name is Steppenwolf, and I’m just worried about my team mates. Have you seen anyone else here?”

“Just us,” the voice came not so far off as my eyes went to meet with the source. I took a hard swallow, my eyes completely wide with fear as I looked at the massive frame of Letho Ravenheart, the ‘Sentry of Corone’. My heart began pounding into my throat, my eyes looking over the hero, glancing over his brown eyes, graying hair, broad frame and most importantly, the hand that seemed to be upon his weapon. My guess was that he was just a second away from striking me down. I made a mental note not to touch the boy that was with us unless it was in a more hospitable way.

“Letho Ravenheart!” I exclaimed, standing at full attention in the presence of the man, body quivering with excitement. For all of my life, I wanted to be a super hero, and now here was a man that was the very embodiment of heroics. I felt like a little girl who just met a famous designer of some sort; giddy with excitement and trembling with adoration. “My name is Steppenwolf Orlouge, sir! I am ready and able to serve you at a moment’s notice, sir! Just let me know whatever you need!” I brought my hand up to my forehead to salute, as if I was one of Lord Ravenheart’s soldiers.

“Hsa,” the child choked out as he scrambled to his feet, “And as Mister Letho said, we’re the only ones we have seen here. I think Mister Stern decided we were getting too friendly with our last teams, and switched us up again.” He pointed behind me, to the edge of the hillside we were standing upon. My gaze followed his finger to see the inky shroud of impenetrable mist below us. I shuddered, knowing that as a scientist, the scariest stuff in the world usually winds up in the darkest places.

I finally lowered my salute to the man and finally took notice of the tall obelisk before us. My curiosity as an inventor took the better of me, and I began to walk over to the gigantic structure, my hands pressed against the cool material of the object. I traced my fingers around the thing, trying to find something, anything that would give us a clue to what we were supposed to be doing. While I loved Kenneth Stern right now for perhaps giving me the best partner ever, his ambiguity in his missions left something to be desired.

My fingers ran across some indentions in the ancient marvel and I smiled. I used my fingers to trace the indentions themselves now, a smile across my face as I spoke the words silently to myself before calling to my apparently new team mates. “Hsa, Lord Ravenheart, there’s some writing over here! Maybe it’s a clue?”

As I spoke, there was still a pang in my heart, worried about that sweet black haired girl from the last round of the tournament. Taka and Erissa could and would handle themselves, but Cellar was just a child who got in over her head. I took a deep sigh as I heard my team mates approaching, hoping that if I got out of here fast enough, I could at least check on Cellar’s progress.

[Letho]

It would seem that he didn't need his Lawmaker gunblade or his uniform to be recognized these days. Both boy and man deduced who Letho was as soon as they took a gander at him, the younger one breaking into juvenile elation and excessive humility while the pink-haired man did his best impression of a soldier seconds after nearly choking Hsa to death. Letho regarded both with a measured nod, his eyes firm, his face revealing nothing. It wouldn't do to show any kind of displeasure or disappointment; the ranger knew that as much as any leader worth his salt. Regardless of how unimpressive and incapable someone might be, they had a tendency to only get worse if faced with negativity. And also there was always the odd chance that his initial assessment was wrong, and that there was much more to these two. Though Letho doubted in such a favorable turn of events given his luck so far, it was a possibility he had to take into his calculations.

Steppenwolf's discovery brought the ranger out of his assessing thoughts and to the matter at hand. At first Letho suspected that the pink-haired man was seeing things, for he had gazed upon the monolith moments ago and there wasn't a single imperfection on its surface to be seen. Yet even as Hsa and he approached the foot of the mystical slab, he could see it as well. In the dying light of the dusk, the letters looked like scratch marks aligned in a perfectly horizontal row. But once Letho was close enough, he could recognize the words engraved into the surface of the monolith. The typeface of the writing was utterly simplistic, just large featureless capital letters carved into the surface by an invisible chisel.

"What does it say?" Hsa finally asked, unable to see the entire engraving from the pair of bulky men. Letho's eyes went over the letters slowly, straining in the low illumination.

"It says," Letho said, reciting in a flat tone that concealed his own confusion. "I drive men mad for love of me. Easily beaten, never free."

All three stood in silence, eyes on the letters and heads wrapping around their meaning. It was the young man in the cap that spoke again, unafraid to ask the questions that the grown-ups usually liked to keep for personal deliberation.

"So what does it mean?"

"I believe it's a riddle," Steppenwolf finally said after a short period of grave-like silence, sounding a bit too enthusiastic about it. "Would you agree, sir?" he added, turning to Letho.

Letho's frown deepened, adding another wrinkle to his brow even as a low growl appeared somewhere deep in his throat regardless of how hard he tried to suppress it. He hated bloody riddles. Back in Savion, Lothirgan, his old teacher, had had a thousand of them, always trying to test Letho's mind just as he tested his sword hand. And while his pupil excelled with all things sharp and pointy, the riddles had defeated the young Letho every time. The problem, as Lothirgan nicely put it, wasn't that Letho was a dullard, but rather that his mind worked in straight lines, searching for an optimal and most effective solutions. And riddles were always full of twists and curves, putting a mind through its paces until it made its way to the solution.

"Indeed," Letho squeezed out, eyes once again going over the letters, as if this time they would find a new clue that would lead to the solution. The cogs in his head were gyrating with a rattle, screeching and whining as he exerted the part of his mind he didn't use all too often these days. They said that people got wiser as they got older, but Letho wasn't a showcase example of that, at least not when it came to riddles. He kept focusing on parts of the riddle and came up with answers that fit only partially.

"A nymph maybe. They can drive people mad. But you do not pay for a nymph, his mind went, trying out answers like shoes on a Bazaar, searching for the one that fits. "Perhaps respect. Respect is never free. But it can't be beaten. How about power? People are driven mad by power and it isn't free. But power isn't easily beaten..." And on it went until Hsa interrupted the train of thought that, as always, ran on a straight line.

"So, what's the answer?" the wide-eyed boy asked, looking straight at Letho. The ranger could feel Steppenwolf's eyes from the opposite side, equally expectant.

"Damned if I know. I hate these bloody things. It seems the answer always turns out to be the thing farthest from your mind," Letho said, shrugging his massive shoulders. He looked at the riddle again, then up the face of the huge monolith, and almost started to miss the salamanders and the ice dragon. Wrapping his large hands on an enemy and wrangling him to the ground, that was something he could do. But wrapping his mind around a riddle was like trying to grasp an eel; just when you thought you had a good grip, it wriggled out and slapped you in the face. "But we better come up with it fast. I do not think we can win this tournament by sitting here until we grow wiser."

[Silence Sei]

"What if it's not?" Hsa asked with a genuine curiousity to his words, "What if they expect you to think of the furthest thing from your mind, and so you spend the entire time thinking about it? Then maybe it turns out that the answer is something really simple and easy?" He blinked for a moment, looking to Steppenwolf and Letho with wonderment. He knew that strength wise, he brand new Rhinosaurus would not even be a match for these two towering titans, so the youth hoped he could at least be on par with his comrades intelligence wise. Letho seemed a bit confused at the question, while Steppenwolf looked at Hsa like the child had suffered some sort of severe brain damage. In fact, a lot of people had the tendency to look at the boy like that.

"That is without a doubt the most..." Steppenwolf's eyes shifted towards Letho, who was once more resting his had upon the hilt of his weapon, "... unusual way to look about it that I have ever heard." Letho's protection of the child did not escape Hsa's gaze either, a smirk coming across the child's face. He did not know why Letho Ravenheart favored him so, but the fact that he did showed Hsa that this man was something to truly aspire to.

Steppenwolf once again broke the train of thought, crossing his arms and huffing a bit. "Alright then, Hsa was it? Maybe you can answer the riddle. I was thinking of an answer, but it seemed to overcomplicate things. If your theory is right, maybe we are over analyzing this whole situation." He shifted his head behind him, stepping aside so the boy could take a crack at solving the mystery. Hsa took a deep swallow and began to walk forward, repositioning his hat in an attempt to make himself more comfortable. He stuck his chest out wide, as he imagined Letho would do if he were to try and answer the query asked by the monolith.

"The answer," Hsa smiled as he looked downwards at the shadows that engulfed his frame, unsure if they belonged to Letho, Steppenwolf, or the obelisk. "Is Chibimon."

The ground started to rumble a bit, and Hsa's eyes grew wide with wonderment. Had he answered the question correctly? Steppenwolf and Hsa both almost fell to the ground as the earth beneath them quivered and growled Then, just as quickly as the quake had come, so did it subside. The structure continued to obstruct their way, and Hsa was now out of one of the shadows, solving at least one mystery. If only it had been the right one.

"I'm going to ask," Steppenwolf said in a calm manner, though the twitching of his eyebrow indicated a slight annoyance, "because I don't think Lord Ravenheart will. What exactly are Chibimon, Hsa?"

((Note, this post is being posted with Sei because I started writing it without realizing I was on the Sei account. By that time, it was too late to start over and my PS3 does not appear to have a copy/paste feature that I can use. Once I acquire a proper computer, I shall post with Hsa as I properly should. This shouldn't happen again, and my apologies for letting it happen this time.))

[Steppenwolf Orlouge]

Truth be told, I love children, I really do. In fact, one day I hope to have an entire flock (Gaggle? Herd? Murder?) of them one day. This particular child, however, there was something about him that just irked me the wrong way. I felt as though he had been keeping something to himself ever since he woke me up so many minutes ago. The way he carried himself around me and Lord Ravenheart didn't help things for him either. IT seemed like he was in way over his head, but something allowed this kid to advance to the next round of the Adventurer's Crown tournament, even if that something was the kindness of another person.

My thoughts went back to Cellar Door, and to the maze I had encountered in the previous round. The girl had seemed helpless throughout most of our adventure during the first round, but I had seen her magnificient powers first hand. Even as Hsa began to explain the concept of these 'Chibimon', these monsters who fit into balls and immediately obeyed their owner depending on how many 'Trophies' the trainer had earned in 'Arena Battles', I couldn't help but wonder what the boy's true motives were. Maybe I was once again over analyzing things, and the kid was a legitimate warrior who could tame even the wildest beast. Chances were that the child was just delusional, though, and I would have to spend yet another round looking after someone else.

Am I truly that bitter? I had to ask myself the question, reflect in on myself as Hsa continued on. I began to walk away from my group, towards the edge of the hillside as Lord Ravenheart pretended to be interested in 'Servapour' and 'Rhinosaurus', despite not being able to see these creatures. I sighed, ashamed of the way I was treating a kid I had just met. What would my brothers do? Well, Ciato would have killed Hsa on the spot just for waking him up, but my other brothers would have done the right thing. They would have taken everything the kid had said seriously, and believe him to be truthful unless proven otherwise. So then...why was I so different.

As I looked down at the black mist below us, I noticed something different now. It seemed as though the shades of darkness were growing closer to us. In the shroud of ink, I thought I could make out some even darker figures, but my mind was probably playing tricks on me. Perhaps I was just too concerned with wallowing in my own self-pity to have noticed the distance before. I kept quiet, turning back around and joining my party as Hsa was finishing off his rant. I looked back to the obelisk, my head tilting to the side as I read the writing once again. "Uhhh....guys?" I said, a worried tone to my voice. I could feel both the noble gaz of Lord Ravenheart and the annoying one of Hsa Eulb bury into my back.

"The riddle changed..."

[Letho]

After being introduced to the world of Chibimons in far more detail than truly necessary, Letho could see why the young Hsa thought it might be the answer. Some men were mad for trapping these animals into their little balls, and some of these animals were weak and easily beaten, and certain special species didn’t come cheap. But the black monolith didn’t seem satisfied with an answer that was only a partial fit. It gave the entire hill a good shake and then, just as mysteriously as they came into existence, the letters perished from its surface as if smoothed away by sands of time in mere seconds. And as if the quake wasn’t enough to make them realize their mistake, the monolith – or whatever power was hidden within that black slab or rock – seemed to pull the darkness closer around the hill. The faint shroud that previously stood at the foot of the mound was now halfway up the hillside, far darker that any night ought to be. It turned the entire island into a monochromatic world of shadows and dark outlines.

Hsa was dwelling into subspecies of Chibimons and their mutations and evolutions and Letho was going through his sixteenth courteous nod while keeping one eye on the kid and the other on the surrounding blackness, when Steppenwolf alerted them to the change on the monolith’s face. And once again the simplistic handwriting appeared, chinked into the surface with invisible, soundless chisels. Three pair of eyes strained in the dying light to read the engraving.

“Man walks over, man walks under. In times of war he burns asunder.”

“Well, I’m not taking this one. I already messed up once,” Hsa said, taking a few steps away from the monolith.

“It was a good try, lad,” Letho tried to encourage the young man, but only got a shrug as Hsa sat on a nearby rock.

“Not good enough,” the youngster said, kicking at one of the pebbles. His eyes followed its the downhill tumble, then suddenly went wide as the blackness made it disappear. “Hey, what the hell is that?!” the Chibimon trainer exclaimed as he jumped back to his feet, pointing at the encroaching wall of shadows.

“I’d say it’s an incentive,” Steppenwolf responded with a smirk.

“Incentive? For what?”

“For us to get one right, I reckon,” Letho said, sounding a bit distant. His eyes went over the riddle again, his mind repeating it in an endless cycle even as his brain tried to work out some link between the verses. There was a linking thread in there somewhere, a sliver of familiarity hidden behind a wall of ages. He had heard this one before, he was almost certain of it. Has something to do with war. Must have. Walks over. Walks under. His mind worried at the riddle like dog at an old bone. War. Tearing down. Destruction. Destroy what? Something useful. Something stopping him. But what? A ditch? No, can’t get under. A wall? Could it be a wall?

“Any ideas?” Steppenwolf said, one hand lost in the pink of his huge round hairdo.

“I think it’s a wall,” Letho said, turning to the other two. “As in a city wall. You walk under it through a gate. In wartime you either go over or you tear it down.” He looked for certainly in the other two, but neither seemed terribly convinced.

“Better than anything I’ve got,” Hsa finally said.

“It seems to fit. I’m just not sure...” the huge man said, half to himself and half to others.

“I guess one can never be with these things. I shall try it,” Letho finally said. Never one to shy away from the risky situations, the ranger raised his head a bit and spoke in a decisive voice. “The answer is a wall.”

For the briefest of moments nothing happened, the monolith before them no different than the namesake from the answer. And then, just as they all began to hope they managed to come up with a correct response, the ground shook again. Once again, they all looked to steady themselves, leaning against the dastardly monolith that almost seemed to mock them with its riddles. And once again the letters were whisked away and the darkness tightened the noose around the top of the hill.

“Oh, come on!” Letho shouted in frustration once the quake ceased, slamming his fist against the cold stone. Pain bolted up his arm immediately, but even with the tremendous strength behind his punch, there was not a scratch on the monolith, no booming echo of the impact resonating through the stone. Only silence prevailed.

[Chibimon Blue]

Hsa watched qietly as even his idol failed to solve the new riddle that popped up. The boy had managed to somehow keep his footing as the quake trembled under them, though it did cause his lithe form to stumble backwards, further from his group. As he attempted to regain his footing, he could feel something grabbing at his shirt, his body spinning around to look at the dark mist that had closed in around them. Running backwards from fear more than anything else, Hsa quickly reached down towards his chibiballs, pulling the unique device out from the slots in his belt and hitting the iddle button on the strange sphere. "Guys," Hsa's voice was quick, filled with worried, "We gotta do something quick, because whatever's in that fog is ready to take us away!"

The youth moved his had towards the side of his head, throwing his chibiball as he declared to the Gods above and the men below. "Rhinosaurus, show these guys the power of a Chibimon!"

The ball fell to the ground, its top popping open and emitting a bright white light. The light took the form of something large before red colors were added to the shape, the bulk of this strange beast covered in the crimson scales. The horn atop the four legged creature resembled a large version of a powerdrill, complete with rapid spinning. The monster huffed out some air from it's large nostrils, it's black eyes narrowing at the whatevers in the shroud of black that surrounded Hsa and his team. Hsa cracked his knuckles for a moment before pointing outwards towards the mist. "Rhinosaurus, keep whatever is coming at us at bay!"

The boy turned, his eyes hopeful that his friend would gain some assistance in the form of either of the gentle giants behind him. Letho and Steppenwolf looked to one another and nodded in unison, Letho taking some paces towards the child. Steppenwolf focused his attention back upon the monolith as a hand started reaching for the Rhinosaurus, which rebuked the attack by stabbing the limb with its spinning horn. There was a horrible screech that made Hsa's ears ring and the mysterious arm retracted back into it's shadowy home. "Whatever you're going to do, Mister Steppenwolf," Hsa clenched his teeth, one hand upon his next chibiball, "you better do it soon. I'm not sure how much time we have left!"

[Steppenwolf Orlouge]

"Because that's what I really needed," I mumbled just loud enough so that maybe Lord Ravenheart could hear me, "more pressure put on me."

I felt the smooth surface of the monolith, attempting to find the next riddle. While this obelisk of mystery was something to be admired, I was never much of a fan for imminent death. Needless to say, I was pretty much aware of the urgent nature of the situation without Hsa's coaching. My eyes lit up as my hands came across the next question, speaking the conundrum aloud as I read. "More powerful than God. More evil than the devil. The poor have it. The rich need it. If you eat it, you will die."

I looked back towards my team mates, hoping one of them would have a spare moment to actually help me out. Unfortunately, Lord Ravenheart already had his weapon drawn, standing side by side with the scientific marvel that Hsa had unleashed upon the mist. How did such a large monster fit into a ball the size of one's palm anyways? I shook my head, trying to stay focused on the task at hand. Obviously my team would be of no help at the moment. I took a deep breath as I thought long and hard aout the answer.

"Lets see, the rich need gold, money is the root of all evil, and some people have been known to worship their own fortune. Then agai, the poor would not have any money. The poor need plenty of air, and the rich have it, but I don't see how either could be something as objective as good or evil.." I brought a hand to my chin, attempting to drow out the sounds of weapons shredding flesh, as well as the banshee like screams that kept threatening to hurt my ear drums. I took a deep breath and bit my lower lip, my eyes starring straight at the question as if a strong gaze would cause it to do whatever it was supposed to do.

"Any day now, Mister Steppenwolf!" I heard Hsa calling as I hear the strange sound of one of his 'chibiballs' being released, and then a decidedly wolf-like growl. Hsa quickly issued orders to this beast, whom he called "MysLight". My head turned towards the action, my piercing look shooting straight towards the hinderence that was Hsa Eulb.

"I'm working on it!!!" I shouted, my head turning back to the question before it hit me like a pound of bricks to the face. "It's an idea! Ideas can be good or evil, the poor have ideas, and the rich had, plenty of ideas at one point, but will require more to stay rich. And you can't really eat an idea, can you? That's it, the answer is an idea!" I stood proud, glad that I had contributed something meaningful to the group, only to fall upon my bottom when the world began to rumble once more. Hsa looked back towards me just as I was getting up.

"What was the question?" Hsa ask as I looked bck towards him, the child taking a few paces backwards just in case. It was almost as if the boy didn't have any faith in my deductive reasoning skills. I repeated the question, as well as my thought process and answer. In response, Hsa grabbed his hat and threw it took the ground forcefully, apparently very frustrated with something I said.

"The answer was nothing! Nothing is greater than God, more evil than the devil, the poor have nothing and rich need nothing! If you eat nothing, you die!" I reflected on Hsa's words for a moment, my own shame and humiliation apparently upon my face. I looked up just in time to watch Lord Ravenheart taking a few steps back from the advancing mist. "I can't believe you didn't get that right!" Hsa shouted in in anger.

"If you think you'll be so good at the next one," I growled as a retort, "then it's all yours pal!"

"Cover me," Hsa said, the child stomping over to my location as I rushed towards his Chibimon. "My Chibimon can handle themselves, you guys just provide me with some distractions while I try and figure the next one out." I nodded, clenching my fists and preparing to through my hammers of hands out towards any black thing I saw coming towards me.

Should be easy, I thought to myself, I'll just imagine the things as Hsa's face...