Dealing with Death's Door. (closed to Zephyriah and 2-in-1)

[Edward Judorne]

(This quest takes place 1 week after a quest called "Jewels of Sirvano". It was a quest that 2-in-1, Zephyriah, and I, had nearly finished when althanas went down. There will be a few referances to it in this quest, so bear with me.)
_______

After having saved the planet from being turned to stone with the help of a man named Zephyriah and A woman (or is that two women) with split personalities named Delta Retla and Venus Dimone, Edward returned to his hometown of Sirvano to rest up. He needed to protect the town from all the magical jewels that were hidden in his town, but no man can go without sleep forever, and so it was that one night, when Edward was sleeping, a mysterious man stumbled across the city, stole a black jewel, and slew any soldiers dumb enough to try to stop him. The man made his escape, not caring that there were some soldiers smart enough not to attack him.

When Edward awoke, it was not to the usual ringing of an alarm clock, nor was it in the morning. It was at 11:42 PM that he awoke to one of his soldiers panicked screams of "Sir, Something terrible has happened!!! Half our army was destroyed and they took a medium sized black jewel with them!!!"

Edward sat upright with a start. He knew that he could not handle this one alone. He immediatly went to work writing two identical notes. the notes were purposely vague as to keep anyone (Other than the people the notes were meant for) from learning anything they shouldn't. they read:

Dear friends.
You know who you are.

Thank you for your help with that other emergency, you know the one.
Unfortunately a new incident has occured, this one much worse than the other. Please meet me in the city where I live and make sure you aren't followed. I will explain more when you arrive.

Signed
Edward Judorne

Within minutes, Edward had finished the notes and sent his fastest soldier on his way to give the notes to Edward's emergency contacts.

One note was meant for Zephyriah, the other note was meant for Delta Retla / Venus Dimone.

Edward just hoped that his help would arrive soon.

[Zephyriah]

“First of all, I don’t care about your introduction, and I don’t care how you got here! All I want to know is who sent you and how did you find me!?” I screamed, squeezing the throat of a soldier donning garbs that certainly weren’t familiar to me. He held an envelope in his hand, frantically moving like a mere rat squirming to obtain freedom from a boot that had the vermin’s tail under it. His face began turning a bluish violet color, which was only accompanied by more jerky movements. “Heh, you’re starting to look like a grape. If you want to live you’d better tell me who sent you! I don’t take kindly to people approaching me from behind unannounced!” But just as I’d finished my comment, the man in a desperate maneuver punched me across my face. I was taken back so much by this, that I’d lost my grip on the soldier’s thin unarmored throat. He took deeply, exaggerated breaths to regain breathing stability, but only in the process of shaking his hands at me yieldingly.

“Please Zephyriah, do not take offense to that. It’s just that you didn’t GIVE me a chance to tell you how I found you, or where I came from! Any longer and you would’ve choked me to death,” The soldier paused to take several more deep breaths. His point was valid and internally, I’d admitted that my actions were indeed irrational. Therefore, I nodded my head showing that he had the freedom to speak further. “Anyway, this letter that I hold in my hand is from Edward Judorne, Prince of Sirvano. He was grateful for you help on the last mission that you went on with him, that he’d had some of our infantry scouts keep tabs on you just in case he’d need your services again. Unfortunately, another situation as arisen and with you being as powerful as you are, he could think of nobody else that could help him with this new dilemma.”

“Little Edward eh,” I rubbed my chin, making reference to the Sirvanian’s small stature. “That was a bizarre adventure we went on last time. All I wanted to do was get a hold of the Medusa’s Eye and give it to the lady that’d hired me to get it, but one simple meeting led to battles against weird people, venturing to weird places, and stopping people that could destroy all of Althanas in just the click of a button. Now that I think about, Judorne brought me way too much trouble!”

The soldier’s eyes widened and immediately he got on his knees and grabbed my hands like a beggar peasant. “Please don’t decline Sir Zephyriah! We really, really need you! Prince Edward would’ve never sent his fastest messenger to find someone if it wasn’t of great importance!”

“Great importance? What is so great and important that he needs me help!? He’s a capable guy, I’m pretty sure he can handle it on his own. And besides, if you all were secretly keeping tabs on me, then you would know how many enemies I have and how at any moment, one of them could spring from anywhere and attempt to take my life, right here in Jadet. So you go back and tell Edward that I want nothing to do with this mission or him!!”

“No! No! No! No! No! I can’t accept that!! I can’t accept that answer!!” The man yelled at the top of his lungs, attracting the attention of the nearby lumberman of the town. We were in a clearing, so it wasn’t difficult for these citizens to see or hear this loud soldier above the sound of their axes clashing into tree bark. “You are greatly needed! This is a matter of life or death Sir Zephyriah! This mission is of great--”

“Let me guess, IMPORTANCE!? Tell me young soldier, what exactly is so important about this mission!? Just what is threatening your precious prince and his fortune this time!?” I sat down near a tree close by, expecting to receive a detailed explanation of this new threat and the consequences that would fall upon Althanas if I were not to partake in this mission. However, the soldier looked at me dumbfounded, as if he were a cyborg who’d brain had just short circuited. “Go on! SPEAK! I don’t have all day!”

“I….I…don’t know. Edward just told me to give this letter to you. I didn’t ask any--”

“Ugh….useless idiot. Give me the envelope!” Immediately, the man ran towards me and handed me the missive.
Opening it up and reading its contents, I found that my indignation had risen since Judorne provided no details either. “Nothing but vague sentences! You know, you Sirvanians are an irritating bunch! Do you know what this means now!?” The soldier looked at me nervously before shrugging his shoulders. “It means that I have no choice but to come with you and find out what’s going on! But think not that I particularly care about you all’s circumstances. I’m doing this simply because I want to know just what this mission is so that I can spit in Judorne’s face and tell him how he’d managed to waste my time!!”

It seemed that my harsh words had not gotten to the messenger since he was so elated over the fact that I would accompany him. Continually I stressed to him that I hadn’t accepted the mission, but he cared not. Instead, he pulled out his enigmatic jewel and threw it at a tree adjacent to the one that I was leaning up against. Nothing happened at first, but suddenly, a swirling greenish blue portal opened up. “Come on Sir Zephyriah! We cannot waste any more time!”

* *

~ Edward’s Residence ~

Upon arriving, there was no time to stop, for the messenger took off with astonishing speed. Following him eventually led to the whereabouts of Judorne. “Prince Edward! I got him! Zephyriah is here!”

[Edward Judorne]

"Hello, Zephyriah. I'm glad you could make it. As I'm sure you have heard, we seem to have a national crisis on our hands again." Edward said. "I need to tell you, though, that this is a lot worse than last time. It is about a jewel known as 'Death's Door'. As you can probably guess from the dead bodies that you probably saw, it has been stolen. I will admit that my army was not strong enough to stop whoever stole 'Death's Door'. Now, I could probably take out the thief myself, but it isn't that easy. 'Death's Door' opens a portal to the demon underworld allowing demons to come and go as they please, however, the user gets stuck in the demon underworld for an eternity. Because of this, I doubted that I would ever see the day that it would be stolen. The only way to close the portal is to head into the underworld and destroy the user. The problem being that in there, forces exist that are even more powerful than you."

At that moment, the soldier came back in. "I brought the other person you asked me to."

[2-in-1]

Delta was sleeping in her room when a soldier came up to her. "Hey, Delta, wake up!!!" The soldier yelled. Delta woke up with a start. "Who are you?" Delta asked threateningly. The soldier just handed her a note. When she read it, she understood the situation. "Lead the way." Delta replied. And the soldier did as he was told. After stepping through the portal, Delta looked around before hearing the soldier say "I brought the other person you asked me to."

"Ok, what is with all the dead bodies?" Delta asked, but she had a feeling she would not like the answer.

[Edward Judorne]

Edward explained to Delta almost exactly what he had explained to Zephyriah. There were a few differances in words here and there, but it was the same idea. Before he could finish, though, a flash of black lightning appeared off in the distance, followed by five more, then ten. Finally, a loud crash sounded as all the lightning converged in one spot, not too far away from Sirvano.

The gate, it would seem, had been opened.

[Zephyriah]

“Bah! We’ll just have to see about that,” I replied, snickering at Edward’s comment about some so called powerful being in this underworld being more powerful than me. There was always the hype that was generated by old legends and passed down by eager and exaggerating story tellers. This Death’s Door seemed no different to me than the Jewel of Sirvano story that was said to have the power to destroy Althanas all together. I admit that our last adventure did have its fair share of dangers, but the fiends that we confronted were child’s play. “Edward, how is it that you can say all of this with a nonchalant attitude? Does this type of crap happen to you on a daily basis!? I mean, you have this messenger here come and get me, and you tell me all of this garbage as if you’ve just read it out of a newpaper! I think you’ve lost your mind Judorne. Go see a doctor.”

Fed up already with this nonsense, I turned around ready to make my leave. I’d been to this man’s residence before so I was somewhat familiar with the outside area. “If I’m not mistaken, there should be a port town about three miles west of here.” The thought of leaving Edward and his fabricated tales was looking better with each passing moment. However, my thought process was terribly interrupted by a companion that was probably a greater annoyance than Edward was. “You? You’re here too!?” I was not fond of the eccentric elven woman. She was too joyous, and joyous people only pissed me off in perilous situations.

“You know Judorne, you’re the most r……” But before I could finish my sentence, ominous lightening struck consecutively nearby, shaking the Prince of Sirvano’s residence down to its very foundation. It was already strange that dead bodies were scattered in various places in Judorne’s residence, but with this now happening, a part of me began to take Edward’s words a tad more seriously.

Too prideful to admit how wrong I was for accusing him of creating fabricated tales, I simply crossed my arms and waited for Edward to lead to the way to the gate.

[2-in-1]

Delta was listening to what Edward had to say intently, when all of a sudden, lightning started striking repeatedly in the same exact place. Realizing how dangerous this mission was, she started to wonder if she was really the best choice, but at this point, there was no time to be scared.

"So, when do we leave?"

[Edward Judorne]

Edward looked at Zephyriah. "What were you saying? I wouldn't ask for your help if I didn't need it. This kind of thing is way too frequent for my taste. What I really need is someone to help me make sure these jewels don't fall into the wrong hands, but I don't know who I can trust these days. As for why it sounds like I have read these things, it is because I spend my time reading about ancient gems like this."

Edward started out the door.

"In any case, if you don't want to come, fine, but I doubt I will be able to save the planet myself"

With that, Edward left the building and headed toward where he had seen the portal appear when he was stopped by three demons that I will call shadows. They are evil black creatures that mimic the form and powers of the opponent they are facing. Before Edward could even draw his rapier, he got blasted backwards with 3 electrical missles shot by one of the shadows. Afterwards, the other 2 shadows shot 3 more electrical missles each at our now grounded hero. Edward was able to roll out of the way of 5 of the 6 shots, but the sixth shot hit him hard in the elbow. He was easily getting beaten, and he knew it.

Edward just hoped that Zephyriah and Delta would arrive to help him out soon.

[2-in-1]

Delta was stunned when she saw Edward go flying past the window almost as soon as he had stepped out the door, but she soon understood why as she saw 3 black duplicates of him working together to take him out.

Delta rushed onto the scene only to have one of them turn into her. It was on her with great speed. Delta dodged and countered everything that was thrown at her, but to no avail. Her duplicate was matching her blow for blow, and showed no sign of tiring.

After a while, one of the two that was on Edward decided to go after Delta instead, and in the process, changed it's form to hers.

"Hey!!!! A little help here!!!!!" Delta yelled out in despair, hoping that Zephyriah would come to her aid.

[Zephyriah]

Of course something like this always happened when dealing with Edward Judorne, Prince of Sirvano. Never could we get to our destination without some freakish beings coming out of nowhere to hinder our progress. In the tower that we once entered in hopes of saving the world from the Medusa’s Eye that could petrify the entire planet, we battled enemies of all sorts; each with their own unique abilities. However, none of them were like what I saw before me here. Shadowy beings that emulated the form of the opponent that they were facing. In no way was I frightened, but instead angry. How dare some other worldly fools have the audacity to copy someone else’s abilities, and physical characteristics without having possessing anything of their own!

Two of the three shadows had already taken the forms of my allies, leaving the third shadow standing before me. Delta and Edward were busy fending off their opponents, while at the same time looking towards me as if I were in any condition to help them. The strange elven woman actually verbalized her need for aid, but I simply ignored her, knowing that this shadowy foe would not allow me to help her without any interference. Instead, I drew “Nothing” and watched as the shadowy being turned into a replica of me.

It was odd to lay eyes upon this enemy since in every physical way he looked the way that I looked. I moved my arm in a circular motion to see if he was the type of being that emulated moves as well. Thankfully, he wasn’t, which meant that he did not possess the ability to read my mind and know what I would be planning.

“Hmph! You may look like me, but the simple fact is that you are NOT me. This will all be over momentarily.” Without saying another word, I dashed forward, seeking to strike the enemy with a three slash combination consisting first of a horizontal slash, followed by a vertical one, and then concluded with a second horizontal slash. However, the shadowy being effortlessly all three, and even managed to counterattack the last one which almost cut my shoulder open had I not rolled to the right, evading it.

The distance between the two of us was approximately fifteen feet now. “This guy is tougher than I thought. I must take caution.”

[Edward Judorne]

Edward noticed that even Zephyriah was having trouble. It seemed like it was no use. The shadows knew all of the moves of whoever they transformed into. They were able to counter everything perfectly because they knew all the moves of the opponents they were facing.

'Wait a minute. I know how to kill these things.' Edward thought as he started dodging the shadow's blows moving closer to Zephyriah's battle.

Suddenly he yelled out to Zephyriah and Delta. "Follow my lead!!!"

Edward dodged out of the way of his foe one more time before slashing at Zephyriah's shadow from behind. His slash connected with the fake's arm forcing it to drop its weapon.

The shadow turned to Edward, forgetting that Zephyriah was behind it. As it turned towards Edward, though, it turned into him as well. With none on Zephyriah at the moment, there were 2 on Edward, but that was his plan. There was no way he could ever stand up to Zephyriah, and Edward was pretty sure that as long as the shadows were in his form, neither could they. He just hoped that Zephyriah understood what he had to do.

[Zephyriah]

I'd never been one to take kindly to others interfering with my affairs, and this battle within the Prince's residence was no different. These shadow clones were tough, and the one that'd transformed into me was surely to be a challenge. But out of nowhere, Judorne had slashed my clone, forcing it to turn its attention on him and transform into him. At first, it didn't make a whole lot of sense as to why he'd do this, but if it was one thing Edward was, it was smart. He might not have been the most powerful guy, but he did indeed compensate for that.

"Ah of course!" I exclaimed, realizing as to why he'd done this. Immediately, I lifted up my blade and ran towards both of the Edward clones, severing their head clean off. They didn't even anticipate my movements, but such was natural for in no way was the real Judorne anywhere near my power; so obviously his clones wouldn't be either.

"You know something Ed, you might not be such an annoyance after all."

[Edward Judorne]

"Um, Thank you... I think..." Edward said as he shot an electrical missle at the Delta clone, taking it out. "But this is just the begining. We need to hurry over to that portal. The longer we stay here, the worse our chance of survival gets."

The ground started to rumble as 5 Minotaurs carrying axes and 10 more shadows charged towards the town.

"Crud!!!! This doesn't look good." Edward said as the monsters came closer.

Suddenly Edward saw an easy way to cut down the numbers. Edward grabbed a water hose from one of the houses and turned it on, spraying the ground down as best he could. When the beasts stepped on the wet ground, Edward shot an electrical missle at it, killing all the Shadows and weakening the Minotaurs, slightly.

"Hmph. Too bad for them there was water around." Edward said to himself. "After all, everyone knows that water conducts electricity"

[2-in-1]

Delta was just about ready to give up when she heard Edward yell out "Follow my lead." Unfortunately for her, she was to busy trying to stay alive to look at what Edward was doing. A little later on, just as the creature was about ready to finish her off, Edward came to her rescue.

"Thank you" Delta said after catching her breath. "I thought I was done for."

Edward, seemed to have his attention focused elsewhere, though, and Delta soon saw why. New monsters were approaching. Delta watched in awe as Edward made quick work of the shadows, and then made her move.

She jumped up onto the back of one of the Minotaurs, and pulled herself up to it's shoulders, while dodging it's attempts to grab her. Once there, she stabbed it in the eyes with her spetum, blinding it. Quickly dodging the obvious move of trying to grab her before she could do any more damage, she, swung around, pulling the spetum out of it's eyes, and then inserting it into it's neck. Finally, she dodged a few more grabs before pulling her spetum back out and jumping off the creature, letting it bleed to death.

"These things can be a little too predictable sometimes"

[Zephyriah]

“Where getting nowhere fast!” I screamed in frustration as I slayed yet another one of the foul beasts that spewed from the open portal nearby. We’d been at this for nearly an hour when our main objective, according to Judorne, was to get inside the portal. However, these creatures coming forward to attack us must’ve had something dear to protect within their dark realm; either that, or these feigns were mere puppets being deployed by a puppet master within the realm. “Edward, we have to make a break for the portal! Fighting off these enemies will do nothing but sap our strength!”

It was unlikely that the Prince could hear me with everything that he was dealing with right now. He was a tough guy, willing to protect his allies with his life using what little strength he had. “He’s not going to be able to continue on like this. I’ve got to help him out.”

Lifting my blade up, white energy swirled around the tip of my sword, until it formed a sphere equal to the size of a boulder. It was quite shocking to me that I was using this attack this early in our adventure. But, this was a necessity for I needed to provide Delta, Edward, and I time to approach the portal so that we could enter it.

So, with a loud battle cry, I hurled the massive energy ball in the straight line, letting it engulf all of the enemies that stood in our path. “Come on! We have to enter the portal right!? We’ll this might be our only chance!” Saying no more, I sprinted toward the portal as fast as I could, hoping that I’d reach it in time before any more monsters could appear to act as a hindrance to my comrades and I.

[Edward Judorne]

Edward nodded and sprinted after Zephyriah. He had knew that the beasts would keep coming, and eventually wear them out, but he didn't want to seem weak in front of Zephyriah, so he waited for Zephyriah to suggest running for it. So when he did, Edward was all to happy to comply.

Edward ran straight through the portal and realized that even this may have been a hasty maneuver, as he looked around, he realized quite a few things, each scarier than the next.

Edward realized that he was in a maze-like area, surrounded by monsters. He realized that he was alone and that the portal was designed to dump everyone who went through it into a different area. Edward realized that the walls seemed to be alive and that the exit was nowhere in sight. Worst of all, Edward realized that while he was down here, monsters were destroying the towns on the other side of the portal.

Edward looked around he could go left, right, or forward from where he was. figuring that the center was where the man with Death's door was, that he would need Zephyriah's help to reach the man, and that the center was on the straight forward path, Edward eliminated that option. and since more monsters seemed to be charging in from his right hand side than from his left, he quickly ran to his left, dodging all enemy attacks that came his way in hopes of finding either Zephyriah, Delta, or Venus.

[2-in-1]

Delta rushed through the portal without further delay, only to find herself alone in a room where there were only two doors to exit through. the walls seemed to be alive, too. It gave new meaning to being 'in the belly of the beast.

Delta had 2 choices on where to go, left or right. On a whim, she headed to the right. She knew that if she couldn't find the others, she would never survive, so she ran through the mobs of monsters dodging attacks and hoping she was going the correct way.

[Edward Judorne]

Edward ran as fast as he could, he saw someone running towards him who was also followed by a hoarde of monsters. It was Delta.

"Jeez, girl. Do you ever keep out of trouble?" Edward yelled to her over the sound of the monster's rampaging feet. "Oh well, at least we stand a chance against these things now" Edward said as he took a left, followed closely by Delta. "Let's make a stand here, whilst they are trying to fit through this hallway, it is the best chance we have got without Zeph."

Edward turned around and fired an electrical missle at his rapier so that he could use it to electrify the enemies and and stabbed straight through two of them.

The two monsters let out a deafening roar of pain as they got hit by the rapier.

"well, at least Zephyriah can find us now." Edward thought to himself as he held his ears.

[Zephyriah]

After entering the portal, I found myself within a flower riddled field, with several knolls nearby. The sky was gray, as if foreshadowing rain, while the few trees that were around, were naked. No being was in sight, which surprisingly made me even more nervous than being surrounded by the many fiends I’d grown accustomed to battling whenever I was in the company of the short Prince of Sirvano. However, a man appeared out of nowhere. He was some distance off, so I couldn’t exactly identify him, yet upon moving closer to him, albeit with caution, I was stunned to see that I’d recognized him.

“F…Father?” My eyes had widened, and my jaw dropped. The man said nothing, but only looked me coldly in the eyes. His icy glare was understandable though, considering the pain and shame that I’d brought to the paladins back in Rune. “Father…but I thought….I thought that you were…..”

“Come closer to me my son,” Willingly, I did as he asked. “Closer……” The distance was still too great for him, so yet again, I advanced. “Closer!!!” Now I was growing concerned. His voice became more unsettling as I walked, almost as if something were making him anxious. This caused me to grip my sword, as I was unaware as to what was going on. Too many questions I had for my father, yet for some reason…..I couldn’t get them out; a strong force just continued drawing me closer to him.

However, within five feet of him, I stopped abruptly. “Wait! This…this doesn’t make any sense! Why are you in this world! You should still be resting in your coffin! Xirei killed you!”

There was silence. All father did was motion to me to come closer. Yet, I quickly dashed toward him and ran him through with my blade. Black liquid and red smoked fled his body only to reveal his true form which was that of one of these underworld monstrosities. The atmosphere around me had also changed into what I imagined was its natural form; that of dark walls and hallways that were blood scented.

In the distance, there a cackling sound, followed by a roar. “Edward must be nearby!” I concluded as my ears twitched to the loud noises. When I finally did find the prince, he was standing near the dead bodies of the beasts. “This place is much stranger than I could’ve ever imagined. We must stay on guard.”

[2-in-1]

Delta ran and ran. She ran until she could run no more. At that point she saw a load of monsters coming her way. Then she heard a calming voice saying "Jeez, girl. Do you ever keep out of trouble? Oh well, at least we stand a chance against these things now"

"What do you mean? Thanks to you, even more monsters have arrived!!!!" Delta yelled back at him, following him to the left as he ran.

Suddenly, she stopped and turned back. The monsters were crammed into such a tight space, they couldn't move a muscle. Had Edward planned this? If he had, then that was the most genious plan she had ever seen.

Edward spoke again, this time with a more confident tone.

"Let's make a stand here, whilst they are trying to fit through this hallway, it is the best chance we have got without Zeph."

Delta nodded and started stabbing monster after monster in the neck with her spetum. It was way too easy without them being able to block, but after all that running, she wasn't up for anything more challenging. Suddenly the 2 front monsters let out an ear piercing scream of agony. Delta was so startled that she fell flat on her back.

"You could warn me next time!!!!" Delta yelled noticing the devilish smile on Edward's face.

She pulled her spetum out of the last neck she had stabbed and then backed off, scared. She had just seen a really scary shadow. but she finally relaxed when she realized it was only Zephyriah.

"Man, you scared me. You know, though, Edward just outwitted all these foes. Where does he get those ideas of his, Brains R' Us?" Delta said to Zephyriah.

[Edward Judorne]

Edward looked at Delta as if she were crazy for a while before finally turning back to Zephyriah.

"I know what you mean. The way I figure it, the only place our foe could be is near the center of this beastly cavern. I wish that there was some way to tell which way it was, though."

After a few seconds, Edward leaned against one of the demonic walls in order to think, but instead of supporting him, it started sucking him in.

Edward quickly pulled his arm away from the wall.

"jeez, that wall just tried to eat me. this whole place is it's own living thing." Edward said in a panic.

Soon, Edward realized that his arm had gone completely numb immediatly after he had pulled it out of the wall.

"DAMN IT!!!!" Edward yelled out as he realized this. "Ok, no matter what happens, Stay away from the walls."

[Zephyriah]

It was one thing after another in this cave. Danger lurked around every corner leaving us absolutely no time to catch our breath. "We're not going to make it if we keep on battling these idiotic pawns," I said, looking up apathetically toward Edward who'd almost lost his arm to the devouring wall. "However, you mentioned that there is a great possibility that the enemy is at the center of this place correct? Well if that be the case......." Sheathing my sword, I began transforming, letting the crimson hue of my flesh change to the scaly texture and white color of the Dragon Drinker. My eyes also acquired a blue color, while my hair darkened to black.

"You two stand back!" I hollered, as I opened my mouth, formulating heat and light within my mouth. If the enemy truly was at the center, then I'd force a path there!

When the energy was sufficient, I screamed at the top of my lungs, allowing the beam of fiery wrath blast from my mouth, tearing through the demon walls. At first it'd tried to devour the light, but the temperature was too intense for it. Looking through the new opening that'd I created, I saw that the beam had made several other openings through the cavern walls. "Let's hurry through. Perhaps we'll be closer to the enemy now." And with that, I ran forward, on guard for anything that threatened my safety.

[Edward Judorne]

Zephyriah's power never ceased to amaze Edward. Destroying quite a few walls with a huge blast was amazing to him. Edward ran after Zephyriah, suddenly he noticed something odd to his left. It was a man holding a shiny black stone that Edward recognized as Death's Door, but something else was up, the man was in a pillar that went from ceiling to floor. The ceiling part attached to his head and hands whilst the floor part attached to his feet.

Suddenly, the man noticed Edward and his eyes glowed red. Edward soon realized that he was controlling the whole beastly cavern from that point, as a wall came up between him and the man while a Demonic being came out of the wall in front of Edward. (Think Bahamut from Final Fantasy X except with wings of flames. (For those of you who do not know what Bahamut looks like, I have inserted a link to the image.))

http://entertainment.webshots.com/photo/1122042517042431452qLBDeg

"HEY ZEPH!!!! WE HAVE COMPANY!!!" Edward yelled out knowing for a fact that he could not defeat the thing on his own.

[2-in-1]

Delta was having her own problems, the walls seemed to be fixing themselves, and she was barely making it through before they fixed themselves. Suddenly, she saw the demonic creature and stopped cold, only to have the wall close in front of her. She went to the right, searching for a way around. What she found, unfortunately was werewolves, minotaurs, shadows, and all sorts of other creatures blocking her path. She turned around and ran the other way, but soon, the creatures started screaming in pain. She turned to look only to realize that once again a wall had closed on her, or to be more accurate, a new wall was created where she was running, either way, it had squished the monsters. She turned around and ran the other way in an attempt to get around the other way, hopefully she would have better luck.

[Edward Judorne]

While waiting for Zephyriah to arrive, Edward decided to attempt a move that he SWORE he would never use again. Edward was pretty sure that there was nothing other than his best move that he could use to harm the beast.

"OK, ZEPHYRIAH!!!" Edward yelled out to him. "I CAN BUY SOME TIME FOR YOU TO GET HERE, BUT AFTER THAT, I WILL BE OUT COLD, SO I AM PUTTING MY FAITH IN YOU!!!!"

Edward wasn't kidding either. He rushed towards the creature and used Tempest Tantrum. The spell KOed Edward, broke through a few walls, and made the creature stumble backwards a few steps, but eventually, the demon started moving towards the now downed prince, licking it's lips. After all, to it, Edward was as good a meal as any.

[2-in-1]

Delta was about to turn a corner when she saw the walls give way, due to a huge electrical blast from Edward. Delta rushed forwards through the wall and saw Edward laying unconcious on the ground. Thinking quickly, she threw her Spetum towards the left eye of the huge demon, hoping to temperarily blind it. The Spetum hit the eye, but the demon continued to move forward. Taking the Spetum out of it's eye, it used it's one good eye to try to aim it at Delta.

But, by the time it pulled the Spetum out of it's eye, Delta had already dragged Edward around a corner and slapped him in the face in order to wake him up.

[Zephyriah]

With the cries of Prince Judorne, I simply sighed. “Will it always be up to me to save you Edward?” The man was truly a nuisance at times, always seeming to drag me into these perilous situations, certainly unlike anything I’d ever experienced in my life. Just from journeying with him, I encountered beings and things that I didn’t even know existed! Of course with the vociferous roar of yet another overgrown beast, I would soon witness another ungodly phenomenon.

Following the noise, I arrived where Judorne had screamed from. However, there was nobody here. “Edward, you idiot! You went and got yourself eaten!?” Enraged, I took to the air and shot off another beam burst attack. But, it was completely negated by this large beast, as it had fired its own blast, sending my straight into the cavern walls. For several moments, I remained still at the point of impact, just before falling down to the ground. “What kind of freakish thing…..is this…..?” I muttered, upon slowly rising to my feet. Thoughts of fleeing entered my mind. I’d only come on this journey because Edward needed my help, and had saved me during our last mission together. But with the Prince of Sirvano being no more, I questioned whether being here was worth it.

[Edward Judorne]

Edward woke up after being slapped about 5 times. He had no clue as to where he was at first, but it came back to him all too quickly as he started to hear a fight break out between Zephyriah and the beast. Edward looked over as he realized that something was wrong. He could sense that Zephyriah was losing the battle. Edward knew that something had to be done to turn the tide of battle, but there seemed to be nothing he could do against the beast.

Unless...

Edward started going over the facts in his mind. The person he saw had created this monster. The person he saw was connected to the center of this maze. The heart, if you will. The whole maze was a living breathing creature. If Edward could somehow damage the guy who summoned the creature, the creature would be weakened.

Edward took out his rapier and started to think quickly... He even had his doubts that his plan would work. Edward used his Electrical Missle on his rapier to give it an electrical charge. Deciding that, that was not strong enough, Edward gave it another charge. His rapier was having trouble containing the electricity, but Edward had to press his luck. He gave it one last charge before stabbing it into the wall. He was going to give this maze a heart attack if it killed him. He wasn't sure if his plan had worked at first, but after a few seconds he heard both the man and the beast scream in agony at the same time.

[2-in-1]

Delta wasn't sure what to think. As soon as Edward woke up, he started acting, almost on impulse. He seemed to be a tried and true fighter with a stubbern streak. The fact that he didn't hesitate before using his energy again surprised her. He seemed to know what he was doing, and that was worth something, at least.

Suddenly, she heard two voices scream in pain at the same time. She wasn't sure where one was coming from, but somehow, Edward had hurt the beast from far away. She was sure of it. Somehow, Edward had pulled through again. She looked at the beast and saw it stumble back a bit as soon as she figured this out. She also looked over and saw Edward0 looking extremely tired. She finally understood everything when she saw his rapier stuck into the wall. The beast was weakened, but was it weak enough? only time would tell.

[Zephyriah]

Of all the possible things that could’ve happened, I would’ve never expected Judorne to actually do something useful in such a dire situation. Somehow, he found out how the walls were connected to the beast, and he capitalized on it, inflicting a great amount of pain to it. The monster let out a horrid cry, rattling the interior of this cavern. “So that’s your weakness eh?” Grinning, I reverted back to my regular form and drew my sword. Causing a flow of white electricity to wrap around my blade, I jammed “Nothing” into the wall as well, thus increasing the monster’s agony.

The beast’s outcry was even worse than before, and the tremors heightened. “Edward!” I screamed, finding it severely difficult to even keep my balance now. “What’s happening here!? What did we just do!?” It didn’t make sense to me that this entire place was shaking so violently just off of the power of this beast’s roar. There was definitely more to this, than what Edward was letting on.

[Edward Judorne]

Edward pulled his rapier out of the wall and started stumbling towards Zephyriah with some difficulty. The maze was shaking extremely hard, making it difficult to walk across the floors, but Edward somehow made it, despite his weakened state. It would be hard to answer Zephyriah in a loud enough voice despite being next to him, because of the beast's cries of pain, but Edward did his best to yell over the noise.

"THE MAN WE ARE AFTER IS CONNECTED TO THE HEART OF THIS MAZE. HE IS THE ONE WHO CONJURED THAT BEAST. ALL WE DID WAS..." At this point the Beast was ready to fight again. It was no longer screaming out in pain. The maze stopped shaking too. The beast was coming towards them again, though obviously in an extremely weakened state. Edward explained the situation a little quicker at this point.

"We gave the maze an artificial heart attack, Sending extreme pain to the conjurer of the beast, the maze, and the beast itself."

Suddenly the beast fell over dead and the walls started to turn black. All hell started to break loose as the earthquakes started up again and the walls started to break in places, the whole place was falling apart. Edward looked on in utmost horror as he realized what was happening.

"FUCK!!! I didn't anticipate this at all. The beast laying at our feet must have been sharing a lifeforce with it's conjurer. If one dies, both die. If the conjurer dies, the heart dies. If the heart dies, the whole place falls apart. We need to get out of here!!!!! From the weakened state I put it through, the thief was unable to survive your blow. The exit to this realm has probably surfaced at the heart, so as soon as a crack opens in the wall, we can esca..."

At that moment a crack did open in the wall revealing that Edward was right about the portal being in that room, but dead wrong about the cause of death of the thief. The thief had survived the second shock, but it knocked him into an unconcious state. Without control of the demons, It was only a matter of time before they attacked him mercilously and fed upon his body. The corpse was surrounded by demons of all shapes and sizes, and with the portal being in the back of the room, Edward and company would have to fight through the demons to escape. To make matters worse, the only way out was slowly closing.

"Um... I think we have a slight problem here."

[2-in-1]

Delta was stunned. Edward's plan seemed to backfire for once. The whole place was falling apart, demons were between the group and the way back, nothing seemed to be going right. Perhaps, the demons realized that thier meal had been interrupted all too soon, or perhaps they smelled fresh meat. Maybe they realized that one body wasn't enough to for all of them to share, or maybe they were sensing danger. Whatever the reason, though, they turned to face Delta. As if it weren't bad enough that all these demons were attacking, the cieiling collapsed destroying the gateway and supposedly any hopes of them ever escaping.

[Edward Judorne]

Edward was dumbfounded. He needed to think now more than ever. There had to be another exit. Suddenly he saw the answer out of the corner of his eye. Another portal had just appeared a ways away. The jewel, no longer under the control of the thief had started to drag all the demons through a portal back to the realm they were in.

"We need to reach that portal, quick." Edward said pointing. "But first, we need to get that jewel and make sure that none of the demons accidentally activate it again."

Edward was right, of course. If any of the demons had magic, there was always the off-chance that it could be activated again.

[Zephyriah]

I knew what I had to do. The demons were invading this realm through that portal and as it stood, there would be no hope of Edward, Delta, or I escaping. "Argh…I can’t believe its going to come down to this!" From my angle, the jewel was about a mere twenty feet away. Edward had been the one most concerned for it, urging that it be retrieved so as to not end up in the wrong hands. But he was a weakling. Under no circumstances would he be able to overcome such turbulent adversity in the short amount of time we had.

Here goes nothing! Despite the tremors, I dashed as fast as I could toward the jewel. Yet upon coming within two feet of the mystical stone, a violent shaking surged from the earth, strengthening the tremors. I fell to the precarious ground, twisting my leg in an awkward manner. “Agh!!!” A sharp pain shot through my ankle, invading my femur, and conquering my knee. It was highly probable that I’d broken my leg, but physical discomfort had to be the least of my concerns at the present time.

“Edward!! Here!!!!” Snagging the jewel that’d caused all of these problems for us all, I hurled it in the direction of my quirky, yet reliable comrade. I’d hoped that he had some talent in catching but that was a wonder that I wouldn’t be able to see.

*BOOM!!!*

A massive stalactite snapped off of the craggy roof of the cave and fell between me and my fellow party members. Some of the demons that were coming from the portal had been caught underneath the stalactite, thus coloring the tip of the triangular rock crimson. "Can’t….go down like….this!!" Summoning the strength I had, I used my good leg to elevate my body to a standing position. Using the stalactite for balance, I sought to make my way around it. However, I felt a strong pull, as if fifty men were yanking on every part of my body. “What the…..!?” All control had been taken away from me. I flew wildly, bouncing off walls until I cleared the stalactite. Out of nowhere, a new portal formed which had been the cause of all of this and was pulling me into it! With every fiber of my being I attempted to regain control of my appendages, but it was to no avail. My last sight was a view of my comrades who were still fighting to survive. Yet this was brief, as the constant pulling of the portal did not grant me any further time.

My world turned white.

((Edward, this is my final post.))

[Edward Judorne]

Edward had no time to question anything that was going on. He knew that the only chance to escape was through the portal the demons were coming in through, and thanks to Zephyriah, he now had in his possession the cause of this whole mess. He had no other reason to remain, and the whole place was collapsing in on him. The portal the demons were returning to this realm through seemed like a suicidal exit path, but it was the only chance he had. Rushing in like a berserker was usually the last thing Edward ever considered, but he was pretty sure the portal wouldn't remain open long. This was not a time to take it slow. Edward looked back at Zephyriah, only to see him sucked into a new portal. Not good. Sure, Zephyriah could take care of himself, but the number of foes was growing, and it would be kinda nice to havs his strength right about now.

well, time for plan B. Edward rushed the portal in a mad dash to reach it before it closed. He ducked underneath one of the claws swiping at him as he turned to Delta.

"This way!"

[2-in-1]

Delta couldn't believe it, after all was said and done, the strongest man they brought into this hellhole wasn't going to make it out with them, and, speaking of which...

Oh fuck, that was right. As Edward called out to her, she ran straight past him, grabbed him, and seeing the portal closing, tackled Edward through it.

"That was a close one. You alright?"

[Edward Judorne]

Edward nodded.

"Thanks for the save. I don't know how could have made it out without you. I do have to wonder if Zephyriah is ok, though."

Edward tried not to think about it too much.

"Let's just get back to living our normal lives. I'm sure that we both deserve a break after all that mess."

[Call me J]

Based on the judging request, and the amount of effort that seemed to go into the last few posts, I am not worrying too much about comments in my judging. If you have a question on how to improve, PM me.

Total Score- 34

• STORY ~ 9/30

Continuity (3) ~ The end of this thread was very flat, without any closure at all. This is unfortunate, because this thread started off fairly well.

Setting (2) ~ Outside of their being a legend of Death’s door and a few other out of the blue nods, there really wasn’t much effort here.

Pacing (4) ~ This could have been a good score if the thread had ended differently.

• CHARACTER ~ 12/30

Dialogue (4) ~ There were some really bad moments in here, and some really failed attempts at humor that broke common sense and setting, such as “Brains R’Us”

Action (5) ~ There really wasn’t any problem here, but I didn’t really see any action that told me who these characters were.

Persona (3) ~ Zephyriah is the only one who showed any character here.

• WRITING STYLE ~ 12/30

Mechanics (4) ~ Edward, if you’re using the third person, do not use the first person, at all. Even if the I in question is you the narrator. I know Witchblade uses Megan as a character in her stories, but that is done as her as an character, not interfering in the narration.

Technique (3) ~ Many of the attempts from Edward and 2-in-1 to use technique broke the fourth wall or were completely inappropriate given the setting.

Clarity (5) ~ Edward and 2-in-1: There were quite a few cases where I needed to reread to get a sense of where all three characters were. This wasn’t an issue of character interaction as much as a statement of seemingly contradictory things.

• Wild Card (1) ~ I really thought this was a very weak thread that might have been going somewhere, but then once the players’ enthusiasm for it died, the thread did as well.

Spoils

Edward Judorne receives 325 EXP and 163 GP
2-in-1 receives 245 EXP and 122 GP
Zephyriah receives 1250 EXP and 136 GP

[Witchblade]

EXP and GP added!