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Group 5
Steppenwolf Orlouge - Steppenwolf Orlouge
Taka - Tainted Bushido
Cellar Door - Taste of Treason
Erissa Tarsul-Caedron - Sagequeen
Erissa Caedron sighed in her sleep, the scent of green and life lulling her to dreams. She had never felt a mattress so soft, never heard a song so perfectly suited for a lullaby than that of the wild around her. The high elf felt as though she could rest an eternity, and her eyes fluttered open for a split second to appreciate the source of the beautiful sensations enveloping her.
A few heartbeats later, the elf's eyes snapped open, the memory of signing her freedom away on a dotted line surfacing harshly. How long had she slept? Long enough, it seemed to her, that the lush mat of greenery upon which she lay had wrapped its lacy tendrils around her arms and legs. Erissa strained against them, the delicate roots snapping and popping as she pulled them from the ground. There would be others, the elf remembered, teammates with whom she would surmount this challenge, spun by an eccentric old man with too much time and too many things.
As she looked for her companions, Erissa could see nothing but impenetrable walls of green hedge surrounding her, and a perfectly square doorway leading out of the little cell where she awoke. The blue sky shone from above, and the elf longed for a better view of the area. With a light jump, the elf suspended herself in mid-air, telekenetically pulling herself upward along the twelve-foot hedge. The crown of her head peaked over the top, and Erissa caught sight of a massive, living labyrinth, and behind her, the sea.
The very next thing she knew, the high elf was sprawled on her back, once again on the ground. Her body was invaded with the jabs of pins and needles from core to limb; it was very apparent to her that Erissa would not be able to cheat this maze due to the force-field above. She struggled to her feet again, shaking her arms and stomping her feet to rid them of the uncomfortable prickling sensation.
“Hello?” she called, the sound of her voice falling dead. “Hello!” she called more loudly, cringing at the volume and what else she might be summoning by daring to use it. “'Go do the tournament,' he said. 'It will be fun,' he said,” she muttered, meaning to checking the straps of her backpack, when she realized with alarm it was not there. In fact, the elf was in her nightgown, her feet clad in silken slippers. Erissa had been teleported in her sleep, all her supplies and provisions sitting ready in a neat stack near her bed. “Right,” the elf said, a touch of sarcasm in her sultry voice. "Fun." She stepped forward through the doorway and looked back and forth down the long, narrow pathways.
A distant flock of birds chattered angrily before taking flight within the pathway to her left. Erissa would take that path, then, hoping the one who disturbed the birds was a friend instead of a foe.
The smell of wildflowers caressed her nostrils and reminded her of stolen hours in the dark of night. Cell opened her sleepy eyes and watched a perfect violet blossom grow and bloom before her very eyes. It must be a dream the thought made the girl smile, it had been years since she’d had anything but nightmares waking her from slumber.
As the flower’s stem twisted and reached toward the clear blue sky above Cel became aware that she wasn’t alone in her fantasy. For a moment she could see three others lying peacefully on the ground nearby. She pulled herself to her feet to get a look around as flowers began to spring up on all sides, growing and turning into bushes and soon walls of greenery. Within moments all the girl could see was foliage dotted with beautiful blooms, with small holes to her left and back, almost like doorways. Beyond the doorways seemed to be more of the same, and it wasn’t long before Cel realized it was a maze of some sort.
The tournament! a laugh bubbled deep in the girl’s gut, forcing its way through her lips and causing some birds to startle and fly from a bush. Her heart raced from the scare and it took several seconds for her to calm herself. The young woman stood silently for a moment, making out the sound of crashing waves somewhere nearby. A look at the ground gave more proof, the lush vegetation surrounding her sprung up from sandy ground, she was near the water. The wall stood twice her height, climbing it seemed impossible. “Hello?” Her voice seemed quiet in the small clearing though she was doing her best to yell, “Is anybody there?”
She turned, taking several steps towards the pathway that had stood behind her when she heard a female voice calling ‘Hello’. The girl paused, had it been her own echo? No, there was nothing for her voice to bounce from, one of the others must have woken. Cel turned and followed the other path, towards the unfamiliar voice.
“Hello?” She called again, praying that someone out there could hear her. She wasn’t the easily frightened type, but walking through the door still gave her chills. When she turned into the next area the size of the labyrinth became clear, the path continued as far as the girl could see. With a deep breath she forced the lump forming in her throat back down by swallowing hard, It is just a maze Cel, nothing is going to hurt you.
She took her first steps down the long path, listening for anything that might be a sign of a way out. A soft rumbling behind her caused her to look back, where several vines from the walls seemed to be reaching towards her, in seconds the walls grew, closing off the door she had just left, and worked their way towards her. The girl began to run, unsure what would happen if the labyrinth swallowed her whole.
It’s funny how life works out. One moment you’re waking up on a beach, a vegetation labyrinth growing around you, and the next you’re walking down a maze of green, only to have a small girl run into you. Both of those instances occurred for me, and I had a feeling that both of them hinted towards the Adventurer’s Crown. After all, I didn’t have many enemies who would want my head, and the fact that I didn’t have any weapons on my person hinted at the typical M.O. of a tournament council trying to give the big man a handicap.
I grabbed the girl by the shoulders before she could fall down on her butt, each of my hands placed firmly on her shoulders. The scream that followed was both melodic and eerie at the same time. Kind of like a piano solo slowed down to a quarter of its original timing. As the girl let out her screech, my peripheral vision noticed several vines creeping up behind the girl, only to retreat back into the walls at the scared girl’s vocals. I released her quickly, allowing the girl to catch her breath as well as calm her nerves a bit.
“Well….I guess that answers exactly what you can do,” I said, blinking wide-eyed at the girl. I turned my head, trying to make sure that I was not being stalked by the same vines that had been sneaking up on this child. I turned back, hoping that the spell singer had eased up a bit. The last thing I needed was getting my head ripped away by a pissed off Raiaeran so soon into coming into the Adventurer’s Crown. “What is your name, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Cellar Door,” The girl’s voice was timid, but had a sweet tone to it. Obviously the voice of a singer, though an untrained singer. I smiled, glad that she didn’t decide to battle me instead. Couldn’t tell you how many people would turn on you on a dime during a tournament. Something about items of irresponsibly destructive power and competing for said prizes tended to bring out the worst in people.
“Good. That’s a very unique name. My name is Steppenwolf,” I extended my hand to the child, who took it in her own for just a moment. As we shook hands, I couldn’t help but notice that the teen (at least I was assuming she was a teenager) would not make eye contact with me. Had I said something to offend her already? I thought I had heard her mumble something along the lines of ‘That’s a first’. Not the best start to the adventure.
“Listen Cellar, I can only assume that we’re in the middle of the Adventurer’s Crown. Now, if you woke up the same way I did, I can only assume that you found yourself surrounded by this maze out of nowhere as well,” The girl nodded at my assessment of the situation. Content that I was on the right track, I continued, “Now, while my knowledge of mazes and labyrinth’s isn’t the best, I can only assume one thing; our goal is in the middle of this place.”
Cellar nodded again, her eyes still avoiding mine at all costs. “Now, you may not have noticed, but that voice of yours seems to have something in it that the plants don’t like. If you can keep up that singing when the maze attacks, we should be safe.” I looked around for a moment, checking behind my back once more to reconfirm no stealthy vegetation attacks from behind. “However, if something more substantial comes your way, I would think you would appreciate someone who could cover you and buy time for you to find the right song for the situation…”
Cellar raised an eyebrow, her face showing the most subtle hints of curiosity, “Go on….”
“I propose an alliance. You and I. I cover you and you keep the whacking weeds off of me. I think together we should be able to find the answer to this puzzle.” I placed both my hands on my hips and looked up into the air, proud of my own idea, and flaunting it as if I were a hero who had rescued a kitten from a tree. “Do we have a deal?”
Cellar’s response was a solemn nod, a gesture which I returned with a more enthusiastic head-bob. “Then let’s go!” I announced proudly, turning my back to the girl and slowly making my way back from wince I came…
Quiet tranquility.
That was the goal of meditation. The ability to look inward to sort through the good and the bad, to discover where the holes in one's spirit were and to repair the damage. This was the basics of any warrior, to learn how to self reflect upon the dangerous road they tread. It was said when a samurai picked up his katana he was six steps from death. This was a fact that Taka had never forgotten and often reminded others when they told him to stop fighting. At least that's what it seemed nowadays, for Taka had found himself in loss after loss. Even the victory at Gisela was hollow, a fight he had been forced to play underhanded in order to secure the city.
Doubt, that was the enemy.
Taka sat alone in the dojo, the candles creating a tranquility in the room to aid in the meditation along with the sandalwood scent of the incense before him. His daisho and mask sat before him, his quiet contemplation not allowing him to wear such accoutrements. In his lap, in a rare moment sat the nodachi he had been given by his rival Shiryko Benimaru the weight a constant reminder of his physicality. The blade seemed to respond to the strength of his soul in some way, and Taka was trying to meditate upon that bond, to deepen the connection, perhaps strengthening his connection to the weapon.
His eyes were closed when he heard it, the distant sounds of the shore. He almost thought he had achieved a rare moment of utter peace, returning to the sea which always seemed to comfort him, when he smelled the scent of sea salt. It was too familiar to the ronin to be anything else, and often served a small comfort to the man who found few in his life. Still he remained still, until the felt the icy breeze of the land heading for the sea in an effort to cool the lapping waves of the ocean.
His eyes opened to the fact he was no longer in the dojo, his eyes adjusting to the twilight and the soft blue hue that seemed to hug everything. His dingy brown kimono offered a bit of protection against the breeze as he noticed the first thing about where he was, almost like on of the tranquil gardens of home. He would often meditate upon his training in such a garden, with the smallish opening in the hedges to allow for someone to enter or exit the area. The problem came when he realized unlike his childhood home, this garden was alive...
...and hungry.
Vines had wrapped about his legs and arms, trying to pin him to the ground so he might die of starvation and feed the sands with his very body. And it was indeed sand under him, he could feel the give it had when he shifted to test the strength of the plants. It was not a weak grip, but it would not be problematic. The fact he had no daisho however, was. The Rat's Tail nodachi remained faithfully in his lap providing him at least one weapon to fight with as he carefully extracted himself from the vines, pulling one arm free before tearing the others. The sounds of shouting and birds taking flight was not lost on him as he carefully slid the sheath of the nodachi off the blade, the steel faintly glowing in the soft starlight. The moon was hiding behind the horizon marking a vista that would have captured many a poet or artist to draw its form. Taka however, was neither and only marked it as a landmark for later. Carefully extracting himself from the remaining vines he let the sheath for the nodachi hang from upon his back as he narrowed his eyes and looked about him, trying to glean more before he heard it, candid conversation.
Moving swiftly he took to a defensive position from beside the hedges before he heard the rumbling bass of a familiar voice. When he had been with Anita-chan talking and figuring out how their relationship would work if it could. He had been invited to the occasional dinner as a chance for Taka to learn more about the daughter of Sei Orlouge, the Dranak Dragon. One of the others invited to the family dinner was Steppenwolfe Orlouge brother to his Lord. A sigh of relief left his voice as he walked into view carefully sheathing the nodachi in it's scabbard. Turning he saw the woman with him, and upon not immediately recognizing her hid his face behind a curtain of hair, not wishing to scare her with the inky black skin that marked him an Oni's pet.
His voice held a gentle severity as he spoke, "Orlouge-dono, it is good to see you. What is going on?"
The high elf's ears perked to the sound of more voices, eerily garbled in the misty, serpentine drifts that wound in ebbs and flows around her demure figure. Erissa wound her long, silver hair into a bun as she strode forward, feeling as though she were being watched. The sound of rusting behind the elf sent prickles down her spine, and to her great dismay, she realized that the walls were not just closing in on her, but growing in, sealing off the passage from which she had just come and catching up with her quickly.
Erissa broke into a sprint, making for the end of the hall of hedge that waited several yards ahead of her. Her blood pumped and her breath came rapidly as an odd, weathered statue of a dancing faun, marking the junction, drew ever closer. She broke from the passage into the small square just as the waxy leaves and branches jutted forth, closing the hall completely. The laughing faun's pudgy arm was outstretched, pointing at her ominously as she considered three new choices of direction. In his other hand upon a chipped stone platter, he bore a reed flute.
The high elf stared down each of the three passages in turn, none of them giving a hint of where she should invest her effort. Erissa leveled her gaze at the face of the faun, whose jolly, frozen grin mocked her. The flute, she noticed, was newly made. Each of the eight reeds were each cut to different lengths, arranged in order from shortest to longest, and bound with the woody, shaggy twine beaten from sapling branches.
Erissa studied the flute, stretching her hand out to take it, but she paused. Her eye was drawn to a plaque on the pedestal, and she tore away the vines and branches that had grown over it, obscuring the words etched there.
Erissa smiled ruefully as she took the flute and blew across the openings, the whispery notes catching the attention of every living thing.Quote:
By root and twig, the green will bow,
Branch and leaf and sylvan crown,
I can help you move along,
If you can but play my song.
-By my word, Gabacef the Tender
“Perfectly pitched, of course,” she said. The elf carefully played a succession of notes: G, A, B, A, C, E, and F. The little statue moved in time with the music of his name, clicking its stone hooves on the pedestal and waving its arms. The woody notes drifted through the maze around her, and as Erissa finished the song, the statue was no longer pointing at her, but instead down one of the three paths. “Well,” she murmured, laughing, “I know which way not to go...” Fauns, she recalled, were notorious tricksters. The elf shook her head, and with flute in hand, she took the path to the right. As she glanced back at the statue, it watched her, and she could have sworn it looked disappointed.
The voices he heard were louder, and as she rounded a final turn, Erissa caught sight of her teammates. With great relief, she jogged to them and greeted them warmly.
A giant with a heart of gold, how quaint. The girl almost laughed before she realized just how much she sounded like her mother. As the group assembled Cel took great care in noting their features. Not one appeared to be a mystic, thankfully. The pink-haired beast before her seemed harmless enough, but his sheer size made her promise herself not to cross him.
The mysterious man who hid his face was one to keep her eye on for sure, but as her gaze fell to the weapon in the stranger’s hand, her thoughts grew more cautious. The elf, after her time spent in Riaera, Cel felt like she could trust. The girl had, after all, been taught how to sing by the race. “I’m Cel, I’m assuming we are some sort of team or something. Does anyone have any idea on how to get out of here?”
Steppenwolf answered with a chuckle, “I’m assuming walking would be a good start.” He then turned to his left, the only path that no one had come from and gestured for everyone else to follow. Cel shrugged her shoulders and gave the elf a smile before obeying, finding some comfort in being led by the largest of the group. His large strides made keeping up difficult, and at times it almost felt like the girl was running. She forced herself to turn down each path, keeping up pace while staring at the back of his florescent afro. She could feel her breath getting heavier, her forehead starting to form the smallest of sweat beads.
He was maybe ten strides ahead when the walls began to close, his form shrinking as the maze separated the newfound pack. “Run!”
The girl took off at a sprint, desperate to make it to the opening before the maze swallowed the giant whole. They couldn’t get separated; somehow she knew that they were supposed to do this together. A vine reached out from the wall and twisted its way around her ankle as she ran, sending her face-first into the ground. The hit hurt her head, but the real pain came when the girl looked up and saw the wall of greenery before her. She had missed her chance.
I slammed my fist into the shrubs that had closed in behind me, retracting my throbbing fist and yelping after realizing I hit something decidedly hard. Seething from the pain, I began to wonder if the green walls also hid some sort of wooden interior as well. I growled, my thoughts going back as to why the maze was so determined to separate the four of us so soon after finding one another.
“Cellar!” I yelled, hoping that the young girl could hear my calls.
“Yes?” I breathed a sigh of relief at the girl’s bitter sweet voice.
“I’m going to go on ahead! You regroup with Taka and Erissa! They’ll protect you!” I cupped my hands, hoping for once that the deep orc blood in me carried my voice further than I thought. “Taka! Please protect Cellar at all costs until we can regroup! Erissa! See if there’s some way you can control the maze with one of your elf-nature spirit connection thingies!”
I thought that maybe I should have studied up more on elves, and Erissa in particular. After all, Sei had informed me of each Ixian Knight that had entered the tournament. I guess I foolishly thought that I’d be paired with my little brother and Kyla, my niece. The last AC allowed for teams to register with who they wished, not just stick random groupings together. Thankfully Taka and I had fought alongside each other before, and Cellar seemed to be a girl who could be trusted. I turned my back to where I last saw my group, attempting to psyche myself up for what was to come.
I began to walk through the labyrinth, my eyes darting back and forth in case some unknown danger sprung itself out. My knuckles were clenched together, white as could be. There was a very eerie vibe to the small crackles and pops coming from within the green sanctuary. If I had been with my party, I would have been able to remain the steadfast and strong leader; without them, I was a scaredy cat trying to find his friends.
Come to think of it, that’d be a great premise for a play.
I slowly took my turns, the sweet smell of wild flowers growing stronger with each of my paces. Something was very unsettling about this entire puzzle, and I intended to find out what. “Hope the rest of the gang is faring better than me…”
The sound of a buzzing insect caused me to jump a good foot in the air, a girl like shriek escaping me. I composed myself quickly and looked around to confirm that nobody was looking. Smooth move, Steppenwolf, I thought to myself smooth move.
Silence reigned in the aftermath of the separation from Steppenwolfe. Taka's eyes glowering at the hedge from behind the curtain of white hair he was currently using as a mask. Hand went to hilt of nodachi as he studied the hedges and felt the connection with the sword grow with his anger fueling it. Carefully the sword was pulled from it's sheath before with a casual flick the bandage wrapping about the scabbard wrapped about his chest and clung the weapon sheath upon his back.
"Utz!" The cry was loud and piercing, a shout to accompany the strongest blow Taka was capable of. The sword slammed into the bushes and for certain Taka saw the other side of the hedges. The frustration came that in the wake of the blades passage the hedges gathered up, sewing up the wound faster than he could create it. More accurately Taka observed, the hedge seemed to let the blade go through it by parting around the blade. He would not be cutting through the bushes any more than he could grow wings and fly.
That is a possibly little falcon...
They weren't words so much as a thought imprinted in the Ronin's head. The mark of the Oni's taint calling him into its dark depths. The Ronin ignored the comment, knowing better than to rise to the demon's bait. Any reaction would bring it closer to the surface and he could not afford a loss of control, not today. The imprint of mental laughter echoed in his head as he stabbed the tip of the nodachi into the ground.
Carefully reaching back he tied his hair into a ponytail as he assumed a martial readiness his stance shifting subtly into a more aggressive posture. He looked to the other two who seemed to be watching as he spoke, his voice heavily accented, "We cannot solve this puzzle if we remain still. There is no path but forward. Be cautious and look for any weaknesses in the hedges. Perhaps we can find a way to create some later, but for now we will need to capitalize on the..."
The sickeningly sweet smell of flowers invaded his senses, causing him to stumble a step as hand went to face. He groaned softly, feeling the sudden urge to simply rest and forget what was happening. There was no need to keep going forward, he needed rest. He had after all been in his evening's meditation, and sleep was so inviting. His muscles already ached with a day or hard work, and here he was compounding it with more strenuous activity.
He felt eyes on him and shook his head firmly, banishing the tendrils of fatigue as the scent of wild flowers escaped his senses. Faint wisps of fog rising from the sands beneath them as Taka looked back upon the other two a frown of concern upon his features, "Did you not smell that?"
Before they could even answer Taka collapsed in a heap upon the ground.
The sounds of sandals upon the sand could be heard as an exact replica of Taka stepped from around the corner. His daisho sitting upon hip as he looked upon the two girls with a look of concern upon his features. He moved forward cautiously towards the downed form of the Ronin in an eerie display of the mazes prowess.
Cellar found herself cut off from her protector so soon after meeting him. She slammed her fist to the floor and stood up slowly as Steppenwolf barked orders to them. It was refreshing to see somebody take charge of the situation, because nobody else seemed to want to. She watched as Taka tried first to cut down the hedge that blocked them from their path, and then collapse on the ground.
The girl raised an eyebrow, suspicious that this may just be some sort of act from the masked man. Yet as she examined him from afar, a double of Taka walked around the corner, seemingly unaffected by the fact that an exact duplicate was on the ground in front of him. Cell stood, walking backwards for a moment while never letting the man out of her sight,
She took a hard swallow as she distanced herself, another wall of shrubbery rising up to cut off Taka and Erissa from the girl. Cel clenched her fists, angry that she had allowed herself to break off from her team. The girl turned her back to the newly formed wall, clearing her throat as she did so. As she walked forward through the maze, she was always ready at a moments notice to start spell singing. After all, it was her best weapon here.
As she walked through the maze, eyes darting every which way to prepare for danger, she suddenly heard a voice from afar. “I’m afraid that won’t be necessary for now, Ms. Door.” The voice had a cracked tone to it, as if someone had stuck the person in permanent puberty. Cel took a deep breath, prepared to sing out a note as she turned another corner to find a person standing before her.
He was a well dressed man, a monocle over his left eye, his body weight resting upon a cane with a crystal top. He was wearing a black petticoat and jet black slacks, and what appeared to be completely clean, shiny black loafers. “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Alabaster. I own all that you see before you.” He threw his cane up, grabbing it at its middle section with his right hand as he arced his arms out.
“Quite simply, Cellar Door, you’re going to play a little game of mine. Your party gets to the middle of my maze, and I grant you safe passage through these parts. However, there will be a few obstacles trying to impede you from uniting with your party, as well as reaching the center of my very well thought out labyrinth.” He chuckled a bit, using his free hand to adjust his monocle.
“Yeah, you’ve already shown us that you can shift the maze around, and have it try to kill us,” Cellar said, taking in another deep breath as she ended her sentence. She had to be ready for anything this guy could dish out, and that meant having a prepared set of lungs ready to attack him.
Her observation was met with another laugh, as well as another monocle adjustment. “My dear,” Alabaster said in that strange voice of his bowing down and letting his long, shoulder length locks fall in front of his face. He smiled, and it was the only feature one could see amongst the snow colored hair, “I’ve only given you a taste of the real challenge…”
“And what exactly do you mean by that?” I asked this man in a weird petticoat as he looked up at me from that sinister mane of white. “I mean, I understand you want us to reach the center. I get that totally, might be fun for you to see us run around like rats, but I mean what do you mean by that last thing? Is there something else planned?”
“Oh, my goodness yes!” Alabaster, as the man was known, stood up in front of me, snapping his fingers and making a glass of what appeared to be brandy appear. He took a sip of the alcohol and then threw it to the area; the entire thing disappearing before it even had the chance to hit the ground. “You see, I’ve laced the maze with flowers that will spray their pollen at random intervals. This pollen has the ability to not only put you to sleep, but also dream about being trapped here in the maze! Isn’t that wonderful?!” He threw his cane into the air, which then disappeared as he slapped his white gloved hands together as if to pray.
“Big deal,” I replied, crossing my arms and tilting my head to the side, “that’s just a matter of reuniting with my team. They can wake me up when I’m down and I can do the same for them.”
“Ah, but that’s where the truly fun part comes in,” Alabaster waved a finger as a mother would to scold a child, “for you see, every time you’re off and dreaming about the maze, and everything in it, an exact duplicate of the fallen one will appear in the maze with the same goal as you. That way none of you will be able to trust one another. You could meet up with Erissa as we speak, but it will do little good if she leads you away from the center!” He began to giggle like a little schoolgirl, bouncing on the tips of his shoes with excitement. “Oh I can not wait to see hoe you do!”
I raised an eyebrow, “And my team mates are aware of the little rules to your game as well?”
“Of course,” Alabaster spoke as he stopped his happy dance mid-tap, “Even now, I’m simultaneously explaining it to each of them as I am to you. Of course, how could I be doing that if you weren’t dreaming? Or maybe I’m just saying that to throw you off? You never know…” as Alabaster ranted, the sickeningly sweet smell of the flowers entered my nostrils, and I dropped to my knees, my eyes getting rather heavy.
“Sweet dreams, Steppenwolf. Unless of course, you’re already dreaming…” Alabaster shrugged his shoulders and disappeared in a poof as my eyes closed for a nap. This was going to be a long Adventurer’s Crown…
And here the silly elf thought she was dealing with fauns; they were simple enough. The shock of two Takas caused Erissa's jaw to drop, the Ronin strolling less than casually around a bend in the hedge while the other lay sleeping near Erissa's feet. To her great dismay, the maze changed again, confining her with the Ronins, and both she and the standing Taka stared warily at the apparition that materialized before them.
Alabaster, he had introduced himself, and after his gleeful – and slightly mad – monologue, he was gone in a poof. Erissa spun around, facing the Takas. This riddle was easy enough; the elf had seen the real Taka fall to sleep after speaking of a scent. It was then his double appeared.
“You,” she whispered. “You heard the man. You are not the real Taka!” The Ronin's hand went to to the hilt of his daisho.
“This is proof enough!” the Ronin said with agitation. “He is the imposter.” Erissa nodded slowly, knowing from her time in the Ixian Castle that Taka would never be without his weapon. She thought carefully how to proceed. If she could but reason with the duplicate, convince him that he was only a dream, perhaps that would break the spell. It was a far better option, if it worked, than combat against the powerful Ronin to prove the same point.
“Indeed it would be, if he were not also armed with the very same daisho.” The high elf pointed a graceful finger at the soundly sleeping Taka, and the other Ronin's eyes widened. “You heard what this Alabaster person said, and you did not appear until he,” she said, pointing to the Taka who lay, “fell alseep. Do you see? You are not the real Ta-”
A thick vine whipped around Erissa's mouth, and as she bit down, tasting the bitter sap, she felt several others surround her body, the waxy skins creeping like snakes over her thin nightgown. With a muffled cry, the high elf was lifted from the ground and devoured by the hedge. The very wall gaped, and she was pulled into the wicked mouth, through the hedge, and spat out on the other side. Erissa could hear Taka's calls, though she did not know which Taka called after her, or if her plan had worked.
“Fantastic,” the elf sighed as she looked suspiciously at a lovely flower that seemed to beckon to her. Erissa gave it a wide birth, on her tip-toes against the hedge wall on the opposite side. In a labyrinth, she could easily find her way out by choosing either left or right, and turning only in that direction. That was, of course, given she could survive long enough for that method to work. But Erissa knew such a strategy would not work in Alabaster's game; it would be far too boring for him.
The arcanist dropped her head in her hand and massaged her temples, trying to remember everything she could about the view she had over the top when she had first awoken. Erissa could not remember specific details, but she did at least have a general direction to the center of the maze. With a nod, and reminding herself that she could not actually, literally die in this tournament, the high elf proceeded deeper into the maze. She peered around a corner, only to come face to face with a lily with the most intoxicating scent. Her limbs grew heavy and she stumbled to the ground.
Erissa picked herself up again, shaking off the drowsiness, and continued forward, oblivious to the sleeping figure resting peacefully on the ground behind her.
Taka looked upon the area as he awoke finding nothing to his sight. He was lost and the lapse of conciousness only compounded the problem as he had no clue as to what was going on about him. Nodachi drawn he moved forward cautiously before he hissed in akashiman a rare gutteral curse, "<Shit!>"
"Such a tongue on one of the few refined people in your group. Are you as savage as your ancestors Benjiro?" The voice came forth almost mockingly as Taka saw a man of alabaster skin and impeccable dress before him. Nodachi never wavered as Taka took up his stance, legs set shoulder width apart and with Nodachi facing backwards as he looked upon the stranger with narrowed eyes.
"I am no Benjiro, do not insult them by claiming me such," Taka replied stiffly, the anger at the mention of his old family name stinging him. He then spoke gruffly, "Say your words, or draw your weapon. I care not which so long as you refrain from wasting my time."
"Ahh, ever to the point master samurai," The man's smile became a grin of malice at the barbed sting before he gestured about him, "I'll cut to the chase, get to the center of this maze. You've already succumbed to the wonderful toxins in this place, and now will dream of this place until you can physically find your way here. I do so hope you succeed, it would be a shame for one such as yourself to fail...again."
Nodachi cleaved into the ground with a wordless shout of anger spitting sand into the air in its passing as laughter echoed through the maze. The ronin's rage spent he looked about the area before he carefully pulled the blade from its sheath in the ground. The exertion hadn't even caused him to lose his breath as he carefully placed the nodachi on his shoulder, keeping it ready as his hand choked up on the grip, holding it closer to the cross guard in a hope to strike quicker. His eyes scanning the forest.
"Are you awake?" The voice came from behind him as he turned to see Erissa, Jensen Ambrose's newest companion, behind him moving forward cautiously. The ronin remained unmoving as he spotted the woman, who seemed to be on edge about him as he spoke;
"Is something wrong?"
"When we go to sleep, copies of us are made, and I saw you collapse on the sand, you have the same blade, but I don't know if it truly is you or someone else. You can understand my predicament General," The woman replied.
Blade cleaved through the Erissa before him and caused the ronin to let out a predatory grin at the ease through which he slew her. Green blood poured from the wound as Taka replied firmly, "You faltered in your disguise, the real Erissa would never have called me General. She would have called me by my name, because Jensen would have told her I detest being referred to by my rank."
Well played little falcon, but what if you had guessed wrong?
"Shut up oni, I am in no mood for your games..." Taka muttered under his breath as he moved past the false erissa's cooling corpse. Already it had degenerated into vines and leaves allowing him to see what was going on. The maze was trying to devour them. His gate moved him deeper into the maze before something occured to him. Turning to the walls of his newfound prison he slashed again and nodded softly, seeing once again the maze avoiding the touch of his blade. "Does it fear being cut, or does it fear the blade itself..."
Blade was lowered once more to the brush, carefully as he saw the place recoil and it occurred to him what was going on, "Fae trickery, my blade has worked iron in it, that has to be the answer..."
...but what did that mean?
Alone and unarmed once again in the mysterious maze Cel did her best to think clearly. Three paths lay before her and honestly she was far more turned around than she cared to admit. For several long minutes she simply stood there like a child debating which toy to play with first. Finally she shrugged her shoulders and began to walk down the left path, fully realizing for the first time just how outclassed she was both by the competition and the tournament itself.
After her hospitalization Cel hadn’t had much time for gods, they were something that those who needed the world to mean more than it did used to help themselves get through the tough days. Cel needed no crutch, or so she’d thought. Here though, lost and alone once again, she prayed silently just in case someone somewhere might hear her pleas.
As though by some grand design the girl’s lips stopped moving just as a low rumble built up in the walls beside her. Her first instinct was to run, and Cel did not question it, making her way as fast as she could down the path. Her eyes scanned the hedges to her right and left, begging for a doorway. As she approached the end of the path it became clear that there was no escape, but the walls closing in behind her gave her no choice but to run. Her breathing was rapid and she could only think of one thing, perhaps if she sacrificed another to the hedges they would stop. There were less than twenty steps before the dead-end and Cel sang between her rapid breaths, leaving behind her duplicate and hearing the girl scream as she was swallowed whole. Five steps and there was no escape, four, three, the young girl collapsed with tears streaming down her face. “There is nowhere to go!” She screamed, “This isn’t fair!” A voice seemed to come from everywhere at once, laughing as she watched the wall closing in on her.
Cel closed her eyes, ready for whatever came next. She didn’t care about the tournament anymore; she just wanted to go home. The sound of crushed leaves filled her ears just as a giant arm pulled her close. She couldn’t even force a thank-you from her lips; only heavy breathing and violent sobs escaped her.
I didn’t care if she was a duplicate or not; Cel was in trouble and I was going to help her. I had taken several sharp turns when I had heard her shout out to the maze. I was just glad I had arrived in time. I looked to the girl with a smile on my face, my running not slowing for even a second. “Calm down, Cellar. Remember, I said I would protect you, and I stand by that promise. Now get ahold of yourself!”
As I spoke, the girl’s eyes seemed to dry rather quickly, and she nodded to me. I could hear rustling behind me, and whether it belonged to a duplicate or the maze itself, I was not going to slow to find out. I bit my lip hard as I tried to make several turns on a dime, finding myself without the time to marvel at the beauty of the nearby flowers or the intricate designs cut out into the bushes. My first priority was getting Cel safe, and then figuring out the best way out of the maze.
As I rounded one corner, however, I had to stop immediately, finding myself confronted by Erissa. I had heard stories of this elven girl and her close relationship with Jensen Ambrose, but I hated that guy, and was weary of anyone who actually enjoyed his company (the exception of course, being my brother Sei). Erissa seemed to breathe a sigh of relief when she saw me, and as she took a step forward to approach, I took a step back. The maze had stopped following me and Cel, and I couldn’t tell if it was because I had found Erissa, or a doppelganger.
“I am glad I found you, Lord Orlouge,” Erissa spoke with a soft smile on her gentle features. I raised an eyebrow suspiciously at the girl. “I promise that I’m not an imposter. What happened to Cellar?”
“She got scared and panicked,” I said, setting the teen down on her feet. She turned around and I raised an eyebrow as I looked down at Cellar’s leg. “It looks like she tore her pants a little on her back thigh too. Probably from her fall.”
“It looks like she’s calm now,” Erissa spoke with a serene gentleness to her tone, “though there’s nothing I can do about the tear in her pa---“
My fist slammed into the elf’s skull with all of my might. She went flying into the maze, sinking into the shrubbery. Cellar’s eyes widened as she turned to me, obviously frightened now. “Erissa is a seamstress,” I explained, taking the girl by the hand and running once more, “and any good seamstress would have supplies for sewing on their person.” I didn’t have time to look at the girl’s expression. The faster that the two of us ran through the maze, the higher of a chance we’d find an exit.
I just hoped that we wouldn’t run out of ways to distinguish our fake comrades from our real ones…
When the elf's eyes crept open, she hoped to see the familiar nightstand, the lamp upon it extinguished, and the long hours of night still toiling toward dawn. She hoped she would find a book on the pillow near her, a tale of some fair maiden trapped in a labyrinth, haunted by a strange man in a suit. When she finished the book, there would be a happy ending; the maiden would go free, having defeated the maze. Perhaps she was rescued by a knight, whose bright metal slashed through every vine and hedge and mad Keeper to save her.
Instead, Erissa awakened to sharp pains in her feet. She was standing up, supported by the hedge, but even more disconcerting was the view of her toes plunged into the ground, and the balls and bridge of her feet woody with bark. The Ixian Knight screamed, blood-curdling and unrestrained.
She was being transformed into part of the hedge, and she doubted this was what the enormous, pink-haired man meant when he said she could control the maze with one of her elf-nature spirit connection thingies.
The elf twisted and struggled, but the branches writhed around her, keeping Erissa firmly in place. With all her strength and concentration, the arcanist summoned an orb of energy, which flattened above her head like a guillotine. As it dropped just behind her, the snapping sound of branches breaking filled her ears.
Suddenly released from the hedge's grasp, Erissa fell forward on her hands and knees, her feet held at an impossible angle as her toes were still rooted firmly into the ground. As quickly as the branches had recoiled, they lashed out again, only to be met by a shield of energy protecting Erissa's back. The hedge beat against the only thing between it and its prey, and with great effort, the elf uprooted her feet, leaving some of her woody toes behind in the ground.
The adrenaline was pumping through her body, and Erissa felt no pain. She attempted to rise to her feet, but collapsed to the ground immediately; both of her ankles were broken, snapped like slender logs in her fall forward. Tears streamed from her eyes as she crawled to the center of the pathway; the hedge had nearly sapped all the energy of her shield. With the last blow of the arm-like branch, Erissa was exposed.
She remembered Gabacef.
The vines took her as she fumbled for the flute in her pocket. Erissa inhaled a deep breath, and played the song of the Tender. At once, the vines and branches of the hedge went completely stiff, then sullenly retracted, dropping the elf on the soft mat of grass below.
Erissa rolled to her back, her breath ragged and eyes glazed. The dull throb in her ankles began as she rested, and once her heart beat normally, the pain was excruciating. Tears leaked from both corners of her blue-green eyes, wetting her hair that lay in a tangled halo around her head. She began to sob. Though she could heal her ankles, the bitter reminder of her own mortality never would be healed.
“The book,” Erissa sighed, clenching her jaw and forcing herself to sit. “I must win the book.”
“Book?” came the ethereal voice from all directions. “Who needs a silly book that may or may not tell you the future?” Erissa looked around; the voice had no source.
“I do.”
“Why?”
“I need the book, and the why of it is not your concern,” she said roughly.
“I know why,” the voice replied, a wicked cackle oppressing her from all sides, and the elf hesitated. “And I can give you something much more reliable than a little book.”
“Hardly,” Erissa said. “Living my life as a hedge is not what I had in mind.”
“You may stay here, forever,” he said, the voice narrowing and losing its echo. Alabaster strolled up casually behind her. “You fear your death as much as he does, and yet, it's not for yourself you fear. So why gamble with a contest you may not win, and a book you could lose? You can live forever in this place. Just say the word.”
“And what exactly would the point be of me staying here forever?” she asked, refusing to turn and acknowledge him.
“Because I'd be here, leaf licker.”
Gentle hands lifted the elf's stiffened body, raising her to her feet, which oddly supported her without problem. Erissa's resolve was eroding with every moment, and it was all she could do not to look back; the rumbling baritone of his chuckle set butterflies at frenzy in her gut. With a sigh she collapsed back into his arms, nuzzling her head against his chest. Tears flowed once again.
“You are not real,” she whispered to the open air. “I know your Heartsong, and it is not you. Begone,” Erissa choked, and once again she was dropped to her backside, her ankles shrieking with fresh agony. How she wished she knew why Jensen was avoiding her, suggesting long, diplomatic missions and sheltered quests. Was he protecting himself from the separation that would one day come for them, just as it had for everyone else he had cared about? Or perhaps everything he felt truly was a manipulation of... She stopped herself, not wanting to remember any longer.
“What exactly is real? Why does it need to be more than what you experience, when what you can experience is far better than what is?” the ethereal voice asked, an invisible apparition once again. Another unnerving cackle splitting through her mind. “I see you have met my Tender,” Alabaster said nonchalantly. “It's such a good thing you didn't trust him. You wouldn't believe where you'd have ended up if you had followed the path he suggested.”
“Where?” Erissa asked, chewing the word through teeth clenched in pain. The hedges seemed to lean inward, glowering over her.
“Why, the safest route to the center of the maze, of course,” he replied. “Old Gabacef, always distrusted. Poor little faun. He means well, but no one ever believes him! If you should meet him again, beware. Once he's scorned, he is rather unforgiving.” The laughter trailed away to nothing, and Erissa was left alone once again. She wiped the tears from her eyes and healed her broken ankles, knowing that a good portion of her strength was spent.
Woozily, Erissa continued down the path; another crossroad, and another choice, loomed ahead. She wondered how many of her clones were wandering around at that moment.
Taka moved steadily through the maze as he looked about the area, trying to figure out how to proceed towards the center of the maze. His eyes never ceasing their movement as he kept a healthy paranoia about him. So far he had deduced minor ways of spotting potential fakes in the people that had become his teammates with one exception, the young woman referred to as “Cellar Door” of all things. This of course made things harder than he cared for.
His answer of smashing everything in sight was also useless, and even experimenting with what he could get the brush to do with his Iron blade didn’t help. He just could not utilize the maze’s avoidance of his blade to get by. It was something he could swear would be important later, but was too drowsy from being drugged by the plants in the maze to figure out how it would be important. His eyes scanned the area while he looked upon the shocking pink afro of Steppenwolfe Orlouge.
This time, the duplicate left no pretenses and merely started swinging with everything it had. The Ronin found himself moving swiftly into the steps of the very first kata he had ever learned back in the Dojo for the Yanbo Port Guard. His movements were fluid like the sea, and matched the movements of the raging beast as it swung over and over at him. Each blow was dodged with the tiniest of effort necessary, minimizing the amount of energy it would take, though he could not swing, his Kata only giving him time to attack with his Katana, which was conspicuously absent.
“So be it beast, you wish a fight, let me oblige you…” The ronin muttered through clenched teeth. The battle began in full as Taka shifted stance from one merely dodging to attack. The Blade slashing out in a great arc it cut cleanly through the forearms of the beast and Taka was rewarded with a splash of green fluid. Taka was beginning to recognize when an attacker was a plant in nature, and so finished off the dazed opponent before he felt a slash cut open his kimono from behind.
…he wasn’t the only one learning.
Predicting another blow he blocked with the nodachi even as he spun and saw what had to be at least two different renditions of Erissa coming at him, the absurdity not lost upon the Ronin. The blades bounced off his nodachi when he realized something, one of the girls stumbled and he realized why when the blades came back with a brownish black coating on part of their edge. The plant people he had been fighting were a fae that shape changed. What if the weapons were such plants as well?
Taka grinned as realized just what having Iron meant at last…
The giant man hefted her into his arms and carried her. For a few moments Cel just enjoyed the feeling of being cared for, something she had little experience with in her short life. The man spoke several times, occasionally adjusting her weight with no sign of being willing to put her down. Cel tried to listen to his words but an unexplained sleepiness seemed to force her eyes closed and her head to find its way to his chest where his heartbeat finished the job. The last thing she was sure of was a small clearing with many paths, seemingly guarded by a large statue. The familiar scent of rose blooms filled her nostrils and she was gone.
Her chest ached as she ran with all her might, surely around some corner she would find one of the others. With each empty pathway her spirit deflated, but each new turn gave her faith anew. Sweat dripped down her face and the salty taste in her mouth made her stomach ache, but she couldn’t give up. The keeper of the maze had been clear; the only way she was getting out of this was with the others. For now the walls seemed satisfied, a tiny blessing in this new chaotic world.
When the sound of rustling branches reached her ears Cel stopped, doing her best to assign a direction to the sound. Satisfied, she made her way towards a new path, afraid of what she might see once she turned. There were two elves, both attacking the strange man from before. The girl wasn’t quite sure what to make of the ronin, but anything was better than spending another second alone in this place. She watched quietly as he fought, scared to distract him but even more petrified to let him out of her sight.
Every movement caused stems and sticks to cut into her skin. A large part of her wanted to simply give up, allow the maze to consume her and hope that soon enough she would be disqualified and allowed to return home, but something pushed her forward. There was light between the branches of the hedge, she couldn’t be too far from where she needed to go, and yet the idea of one more painful push was nearly more than she could bear. The girl let her tired body lay upon the sandy ground, immediately feeling the brush move back from her slightly and make a comfortable space. “Ah, so that’s it is it? So long as I don’t fight you, you won’t hurt me?” The girl smiled, she could deal with this. The smell of flowers was soothing and birds could be heard chirping nearby, a lullaby that was surely meant just for her.
She woke to the sound of voices nearby. Cel forced herself to her knees and rushed towards them, as her cocoon realized her treachery it once again closed in on her, but she was already making progress. There were two voices, perhaps Taka and Erissa? As she forced herself to crawl one last time the bright blue sky greeted her as though she were waking from a dream. Several paces away stood the elf, seemingly considering which path to take. The young girl pulled herself to her feet, doing her best to ignore the cuts and scrapes she had inherited form her adventure.
“Erissa, it is so good to see you.” Even as the words left her mouth Cel knew she might be faced with another trick of the maze, even so she would take her chances; there was little doubt in her mind that she did not have what it took to win this thing anyway.
I looked at the large statue of a faun, my head tilting to the side from curiosity. As I gazed upon the architecture, three paths opened ahead of the stony guardian of the labyrinth. A three way fork in our hedgy deathtrap, one going east, west, and straight ahead of us. The statue turned, as if it were magnetized to do so, and pointed in the direction of the east path. I thought for a moment, straightening my head up before I made a decision.
“Listen, I know you’re probably not very trustworthy a….thing, to most people,” I spoke, trying to carefully select my words. If these things had feelings, I didn’t want to offend it, “But this girl here, Cellar, she’s not cut out for this tournament. Sure, she can spell sing, but the truth of the matter is that there is literally nothing else that she can do. I just saved her from this maze, and she was a sobbing mess. I know you’ve probably been instructed by Alabaster to lead me astray, and that’s fine. Separate us for all I care after it happens, but for Thayne’s sake, let me get this girl to safety.”
As I spoke, I hadn’t realized that tears were starting to well up in my eyes from my prayer to the stone idol. Perhaps there were features about Cellar that reminded me of my niece, Kyla. Kyla had entered this tournament as well, but she had trained thoroughly to become a certified, kick ass, independent woman, and it was that training that separated Kyla from Cellar. The girl on my arms did not have that experience, that sheer drive and determination to do whatever it takes. I meant every word I had spoken to the faun, and apparently it believed me, for it shifted once again, to the path to the west.
“Thank you so much!” I almost sang my praise for the thing as I took off towards the east path. As I ran, I thought I could see the exit, a small, circular area with a door located directly into a hedge-wall. I smiled, incredibly happy that I would be able to get Cellar to the end of this round, and maybe the girl would wizen up and withdraw herself from the competition once she woke up.
As I got closer and closer to the exit, two shrubs began to seal the end of the tunnel, slowly pushing themselves towards one another. “Oh no you don’t!” I shouted, grabbing the back end of Cellar’s shirt and the hole in her pants with each of my hands. “I’m sorry about this, Cellar!” I shouted, closing my eyes and heaving the girl with all my might past the two closing bushes. I stopped and watched as she glided through the air, her body hitting the ground with a sickening thud before rolling into the circular ‘safety pad’ as it were.
I winced at the bruises the girl would feel in the morning, but at least she had passed the test. I, on the other hand, was now trapped on the other side of the wall. So close and yet so far. I cursed underneath my breath and hoped my other comrades were faring better.
"Erissa!"Quote:
Under construction ^^
The elf's head snapped to the left, and a young girl, who had introduced herself as Cellar Door, caught her attention. The poor child seemed as frantic as Erissa herself, and she was glad to see another of the group trapped within the green maze. The arcanist waved, and walked quickly to Cel, smiling with relief.
"You are alive!" Erissa said.
"Yes," the girl cried, and threw her arms around the elf. Erissa hugged her, doing her best to be strong.
"Come on, Cel," Erissa said gently. "I have an idea of where we are going, and if I am right, the center is not too far away from where we are now." The two walked abreast; the hedge allowed enough space, yet they huddled closer than necessary. It had been a while since Erissa had seen another of those sleep-inducing flowers, and she was vigilant, ready to summon an energy shield in a half a second's notice. The elf cleared her throat.
"I understand you are a spell singer?" she asked. The girl smiled shyly.
"Yes, I was trained by elves, like you," Cel said, looking at the ground.
"Then you have had more training than I have," Erissa said, a rueful smile curving her lips. "But, if we are to get into trouble, perhaps we can work together." Cel nodded eagerly. "Teach me a song," Erissa requested, "that we can both sing if we get into trouble."
"Well, I know a few songs that might help," Cel said gingerly. She began to sing, the pitch and melody falling flat. Erissa cringed, and stopped in her tracks.
"Cel," Erissa said, "I thought you said you were a spell singer."
"I am!"
"You..." Realization dawned in the elf's eyes, and before Cel could react, a bolt of prismatic energy tore a gaping hole in her head. The plant beast quivered as it fell to the ground, and Erissa sprinted away as quickly as she could. She was desperate, running without regard through whatever turn came to her. Every thud of her foot was met with laughter that seemed to emanate from the very plants around her. All the while, her heart broke with the memory of murdering someone. She knew without question that she did not truly murder, but she had to consider the 'if.' What if that had been the real Cel? What if someone mistook Erissa for a copy of herself?
As she rounded a turn, she ran into the chest of Taka, who recoiled from her as she did from him. Erissa eyed him carefully, unsure if he was real or not.
"This way," he said, the unreadable seriousness upon his face that she had always seen in the Ixian Castle. "This way."
"Yes," Erissa said, sighing, trusting. "Of course." Jensen had told her as much as he knew about Taka and the Benjiro family. She had seen the grandeur of Akashima herself, had lived for a time in that life, and she had understood him better for it.
"May I see your weapon?" Erissa asked innocently.
"Of course," Taka said, handing it to her without question. The elf gazed at the weapon, peering upon it a rare treat few enjoyed. Then, she slashed the Ronin in half with it. The weapon disintigrated in her hands.
"I am sorry," Erissa sighed. "Taka would never relinquish his weapon."
He was tired, but refused to go to sleep. He was wounded, but refused to give in. Many people got in their heads that the samurai of Akashima were some nigh invincible force that never bleed and were masters of magical sword techniques. They would claim that Taka would know upon looking at someone what the outcome of a fight would be, and that his devil eyes would stare into a soul and gauge your worthiness of such a fight. They of course were wrong; the reality was hardly something befitting a legend.
Fighting for roughly an hour in bursts drained the energy reserves faster than most activities. There was the cycle of figuring out what about this replica was off, and resolving the issue with haste. Taka had to use every ounce of restraint not to blow into a copy immediately; for fear that he might injure an ally. It was tiring in both a mental and physical capacity. As he moved along slowed by the tendrils of fatigue clawed at his limbs making them feel like dead weights as he nursed the various black scabs on his body, signs that if he wasn’t Taka he had fought the real one at least.
He wasn’t invincible, but he was slowly moving forward.
His gate was moving towards the middle of the maze, checked with the occasional poke through the brush with his blade, to see where the rest of the maze was in relation. With the trail of dead corpses behind him it became easy to give himself landmarks to go by, and with it not being actual flesh it was easier to stomach the arduous task of arranging the corpses in the manner he was going, pointing the way for his allies. The upper body of his Kimono had been torn to shreds by the repeated attacks by the maze to ensnare or entrap him. It only offered more flesh for the scabs to cover, beside other scars he had earned over his tenure with the Ixian Knights.
It wasn’t until he had killed his third Steppenwolfe that he sensed the presence of something nearby. His shoulders tensed ready for battle once more as he heard the soft shifting of the sand and turned to see the Elf once more before him. It had been awhile since he had seen such a clone and chalked it up to the Elf’s mental fortitude more than anything. They looked upon each other in silence for a while, each waiting for the other to speak, and so Taka made his first bid for some solace in this maze.
Hefting the Rat’s Tail Nodachi he spoke firmly, “Touch the blade.”
“Why should I?” Came the cautious response as Erissa slowly moved forward her eyes carefully watching the Ronin, “How do I know you won’t attack as soon as I step forward…”
Taka carefully gripped the blade of his Nodachi and cut across the palm of his hand. The cut wasn’t terribly deep, but deep enough to show the blackened blood that flowed in his veins as he carefully held his palm up to the Elf. He then carefully lifted the blade to Erissa and spoke firmly once more, “Touch the blade. If you do as I ask, I will not attack.”
She then reached out a hand and carefully touched the steel as she raised an eyebrow in confusion and carefully drew it back. Taka’s eyes went to the flesh of her hand and upon seeing no blistering he sagged to a knee and let out a hoarse laugh, “Good, it is you. It is good to see a friend after so long through this hell.”
“How do you know it is me?”
“These plant creatures we’ve been fighting, they have a weakness to iron, which my blade is mainly made from. Never before has my diligence with this blade been so rewarded. I believe it is the fae nature of this place causing these plants to succumb to the iron in my blade. All I know is that even their weapons are near useless to defend against the Nodachi. If you can touch my blade without injury, you are either her…”
“Or I am an enemy, and it would be foolish to attack if you knew I was mortal,” Came the resoning forth.
“Either way, I know I have met another real person and I can let my guard down for now. Have you seen the others at all?”
“Not truly, only their copies, though with the number free in this maze, I think we’ve been out of it for an hour. I don’t even know when I’m awake or asleep…”
“Pain.”
“What?”
“Pain, it differentiates from the dream and this place. I’ve been cutting myself occasionally to wake myself up if I suspect the passage has been too smoothly. Hopefully you have not been too bothered by my…” He gestured unable to remember the word in Trade Speak before he switched to Akashiman, “Kodama.”
“Plant spirit? That is an apt name for them. No, I have seen through them, it is only tiring to resist them and figure out who the real one is,” The elf then nodded to him and noticed the scraps that formed the upper body of his kimono.
“I had problems finding you, let’s find Steppenwolfe and the girl and get out of here…”
Cel could feel as her body was jostled around by the gentle giant carrying her. The funny thing about being somewhat asleep is that one also had a tendency to also be somewhat awake. That’s why when Cel found the wind blowing through her hair at an alarming rate; she chalked it up to one of those half-awake, half-asleep dreams rather than the cruelty of reality.
And then she slammed into the ground.
She could feel her skinned arms and legs as she rolled unexpectedly along the hard floor, gaining her bearings just long enough to watch the shrubs close before her eyes once more. Just like that, she was isolated from her team again. The girl stood up, looking around at her surroundings. For the most part, this area seemed to be just a circular pad with a wall of bushes around it, a single red door against one of the green walls before her.
“Cellar!” a familiar voice cried out, the kind Steppenwolf, “Cellar, stay right where you are! I will be with you as soon as I can! You did it girl! You made it out of the maze!” Cel stood, puzzled at the large man’s echoed words through the garden. The teen stood in front of the door, just starring blankly ahead as she tried to wrap her head around what had just happened. Somehow, she had managed to get to the end of this nightmare while not doing much of anything. It was all thanks to the man with the pink afro. The same man who was now by himself once again.
Tears filled the girl’s eyes as she thought about the kindness of Steppenwolf. If nothing else, she would be sure to thank him after this tournament round was finished.
Cel ran as fast as she could, trying to tail the ronin who had not seen her. The girl was not as well trained as the Akashimian, and thus, began to tire quickly during the pursuit. It wasn’t until Taka gave pause to talk to their third team mate, the elf, that she had the opportunity to join them, breathing heavily. She placed her hands on her knees and doubled over, raising her hand for a moment in an attempt to catch her breath. She stood a few seconds afterwards, grateful the swordsman did not strike her down in her moment of weakness.
“Prove it,” Taka spoke directly with the girl, his hand never leaving his sword, “prove you are the correct Cellar.”
Cellar’s eyes widened, but she still complied with a nod. Taking in a single deep breath, Cellar began to walk closer to the wall of the maze. A vine began to reach out violently towards her, its thorns intent on embedding themselves in her wrists. Before the plant got close, however, the girl began to sing. The song was enough to cause the single vine to retract, and give her the chance she needed to step away from the dangerous side.
“Proof…enough?” Cellar spoke, still trying to catch her breath in between words.
Around every twist and turn now, there seemed to be either a Taka, or an Erissa. Every twist or urn, they were an imposter. Every twist and turn found my fist being crunched into various body parts until the threat was gone. By this point, Alabaster had all but stopped trying to mess with my mind, and started sending his little duplicates on an attempt at a killing spree. The Taka’s already had their swords drawn, the Erissa’s always….. you know, I never really gave those fake elves the chance to show me what Erissa’s actual weapon is.
Come to think of it, what was that Erissa actually did? I would have to ask her when I found the real one. If I found the real one.
Every so often, I would pass out only to wake up immediately afterwards. I found myself constantly going down the same paths I took down my ‘dreamscape’ (which ever world that was), and running into the same clones with the same tactics. Eventually, however, I realized that there was a key difference between the others and me. It actually hadn’t dawned on me until now.
The others weren’t super heroes.
I grinned as I reached into my pocket, withdrawing a small eye mask and placing it on my face. As soon as the object touched my skin, I could feel myself losing height and weight, my hair frilling down to my shoulders and turning blue, and even my very bones shrinking to fit my smaller stature. That was the part that hurt the most. Have you ever hit your arm so hard it felt like the pain went directly to the bone? Imagine that feeling, only all over your body. It sucked, but it was the best solution I had come up with to get me out of here.
I took a deep breath for a moment and opened my different colored eyes. My transformation into Breaker was complete. Now, I could manipulate the energies at play here, and use it to locate my team mates. The only problem would be making sure they weren’t aware that I was in all actuality the Super Hero of Salvar. I walked coolly over to one of the walls, pressing my hand to it. I could feel the magic of Alabaster now coursing through the plant, flowing through the veins in my arm and directly into the nanomachines that coursed throughout my body.
“Locate,” I spoke, my voice speaking with the same high class Scara Brae accent as Alabaster. The ruse seemed to work, for instantly, the walls began to shift to my will, even forming arrows in the shrub to give me a general direction of which way to go. I grinned just before the pain coursed through my body. I grabbed my heart and gritted my teeth. As Breaker, I could absorb almost any energy I came into contact with, but if I held those energies within myself for long, I would suffer their effects from the inside. The last thing I needed was to have a shrub maze grow from within my body, so I began to run down the path, releasing a little bit of the magical energies at a time as I did so.
I ran until I could hear voices, and the spell singing of Cel. My thoughts instantly went to the worst case scenario. Had she retreated back from the exit, to find me? How could I have not realized that the girl would have done that? She seemed like the kind who would go that extra mile for such things, but the thought had never crossed my mind just how selfless she was.
I instantly took off my mask, the last bit of energies leaving my body, and a grunt of pain coming from my throat as my bones readjusted to their old body type. My howling must have alerted the others, for as I finished transforming back, I could see Taka make his way around the corner where I stood. I was holding my chest still, stumbling forward a little under the pressure of my own wait.
“Orlouge-san,” Taka spoke with that respect and reverence typically reserved for my brother, “Are you alright?”
“How…o you know…I’m me…?” I managed to gargle out through my pain, looking to my reunited party.
“All of the Steppenwolf’s we’ve encountered go directly for the death blow,” Erissa spoke up, “None of them just stood there as we approached, let alone in pain.”
“Bad call!” I shouted, standing up and slamming my fist into my hand. I jumped back from a quick sword slash, which was more comparable to a flash of hot steel. “Relax Taka!” I shouted, a small laugh pushing through the agony, “It was a joke!”
Apparently, the only one who thought it was funny was the slightly smiling Cellar Door…
Erissa cringed at the realization of just how easy it was to forget this was all a game, though Steppenwolf's ill-conceived joke did remind her of that at least. The pain of broken ankles and the disorienting quality of what amounted to narcolepsy was real enough, as was the fear that pumped through the elf with every beat of her heart. Every copy of a person invited indecision that could cost her life. At times, the pounding of her heart was all Erissa could hear.
Yet somehow, the four had managed to once again find each other, and what was more, the elf knew in her bones they were close. The flowers would no longer pose more than annoyance; it was unlikely one flower could take out all four of them, and killing duplicates had proved to be very easy.
“I may have angered the only ally we have in this place,” she said to the group with a heavy sigh. “Gabacef the Tender, a faun. This is his flute,” Erissa whispered, removing the reeds from her pocket. “It saved my life. I was growing roots, becoming a part of the hedge. I played it and the hedge retreated from me. But in the beginning, I did not trust the faun.”
“Lies and deception, all meant to lead you down dead ends,” Taka said somberly. “You have the flute and it saved you. That is all that matters.”
“I suppose,” Erissa said hesitantly. “I just hope that it is not him we will need to deal with at the center, although I daresay I would take him over Alabaster.” The adventurers prepared to round another of the myriad bends in the pathways of the maze. “Wait, please,” she implored them, and quickly summoned a shield of energy. “I will go first.” Taka nodded, and as the elf disappeared around the hedge, the three heard a distinct hissing.
Erissa peered victoriously through her shield at the striped tiger-lily as it emitted a haze of sedative; her translucent shield displayed glowing constellations as the poison struck it.
“Erissa!” Taka called.
“Stay back!” the elf cried, and she willed the energy of the shield to move away from her, and around the bloom. With another telekenetic heft, she summoned a gust of wind that carried away the errant haze that hung in the air. “Your blade, Taka! I have disabled the flower!” The Ronin moved with such silence that the elf, even with her superior senses, only heard the singing of his weapon as it sliced through the stem of the flower, which fell in a crumpled heap upon the grass. Cel peeked around the corner, and her eyes widened.
“We made it!” the girl squealed, and she stumbled forward. Steppenwolf caught her arm quickly to stop her, wary of what lay ahead.
Taka stepped carefully forward, Erissa following closely behind, and Steppenwolf with Cel side by side through the last few yards of the pathway. Immediately, Erissa was struck with the beauty of the gardens at the center of the maze. Shapely statues graced beds of painstakingly cultivated rainbows of flowers and rich green foliage. A small spring bubbled into a pond, which in turn meandered as a stream throughout the enormous square.
“Hail, adventurers!” came the call of a most familiar and uncanny voice. The group’s attention was drawn to the top of a large, ornate building, upon which their pale nemesis perched, a crow of foreboding in his black jacket framed by the clear, blue sky.
“My oh my oh my, of all the groups to be put against, you have certainly been entertaining. I must thank dear Kenneth for allowing me this chance to play. I do get so bored, and when he offered me a chance at entertainment I didn’t realize he would supply so fully. I feel I might have to return the gift he gave me, this was already gift enough…” Alabaster remained sitting atop the building as he looked down upon the group that had stumbled to the center of the maze.
“What is the plan now? Are we to entertain you in some large scale battle?” Taka challenged as the Nodachi was hefted in a single hand pointing directly at the man who had been tormenting them. “All this pain and misery for some cure to your boredom? Is this truly what you find fun? Tormenting and torturing people in your mazes?”
“Come now Taka, don’t be so hurt, you learned much. I doubt you have thought on your feet nearly this much ever. And the maze wouldn’t have killed you; I made a promise to dear Kenneth that I would turn over any who succumbed to the maze for revival and summary ejection from the tournament. Of course, I was quite surprised to see how everyone had managed to find each other, and further reach the exit together. Dear Ms. Door’s run back into the maze was quite inspired on that part,” Alabaster said with a tone that was equal parts lecture and congratulatory.
“So we are safe?” Taka asked.
“Of course. The exit to the city at the center of the island is over there. I give you my word, though I do wish I had more time to study you all, each of you is so very, very interesting…” Alabasters gaze seemed to linger longest upon Steppenwolfe as Taka carefully pulled a small cloth from his obi and cleaned the rat’s tail nodachi, before he sheathed it. His eyes never wandered from their so called host who only watched with an amused smirk as the ronin seemed to stand down from any attempts at murder.
Taka closed his eyes smelling the sea once more before he opened them and looked back at the others, “I trust him, less than I trust each of you, but I trust him. He has given us no reason to believe he’s lying. Fact in point, I don’t think he can…”
“Figured me out Taka?” Alabaster asked.
“Fae trickery this entire way and the Faun I have heard about could only have done so much of it. If the Faun was your servant it would have either been by entrapment, or because you aren’t mortal,” Taka challenged.
“Half right on that account, much like I could call you a Benjiro and be half right. I am Fae on my Father’s side. It has gifted me with a wonderful chance to choose between the two realms. You and I are but two peas in a pod, both cut from a tree we relish, but both wondering if we could ever re-“ Alabaster was cut off by the Ronin as he gripped the hilt of his nodachi his voice growing cold as his Ki washed over the area in a tide of anger, the dark waves that marked Taka’s soul washing through the garden much to Alabaster’s slight discomfort.
“I do not seek to shame that family anymore and I have warned you about calling me that. Disgrace that family by marking me one of their kin and suffer the consequences.”
“Justly so,” Alabaster said nodding in concession, “You all have been through much and I’m sure you do not wish to dally with dear old me, as I said that path there leads to the city at the center of the Island, congratulations team five you have passed the first test!”
Clapping was the last thing Taka heard as the statement of congratulation let the ronin give in to the wounds at last. He remembered someone screaming, maybe everyone it was hard to tell, but he collapsed in the garden as the fatigue and the minor injuries finally took their toll.
Out of Character:
Cel was overjoyed at the maze-keeper’s words. She had actually survived the first test of the adventurer’s crown. True the victory was in no way her own, but even being the weakest link in a successful finish was more than she had ever accomplished before. The young girl looked to her team mates with her newfound enthusiasm, but the joy was short-lived when she saw Steppenwolf focusing on her with a furrowed brow.
“Where is she?” The giant stared at her with building rage.
Cel stammered, all at once confused and terrified. “I don’t…what do you....?”
“Not you!” He held up his massive hand to stop her, turning his attention to Alabaster. “Where is she?” The roar sprung the garden to life, all the small animals running in every direction, birds soaring towards the sky.
The nobleman lowered himself to sitting atop the green wall, crossing his legs at the ankles and adjusting his monocle. “Lord Orlouge!” As he said the words he bowed slightly, tipping his hat mockingly towards Steppenwolf. “What ever do you mean? Miss Erissa is good as ever, right before you, and the girl you’ve got shaking in her boots is Miss Cellar Door. Unless I’ve somehow forgotten, that was all the girls you brought into my little game.”
All at once Cel felt a hand upon her wrist and her body turned through no will of its own. She was lifted into the air and for a split second she swore she saw dark brown hair through the bushes.
“I found her, crying in the maze. I carried her. The Cel I brought to the center of this place had a tear in her pants! Where is the real Cellar?”
The realization hit the teen, who immediately began to fight her way from atop the man’s shoulders. With no struggle he released her, apparently satisfied with making his point.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about! I haven’t seen you since the beginning! I followed Taka and then he met Erissa! I never ripped my pants! Please Steppenwolf, you have to believe me! I’m real!” Sympathy met her in his eyes, but not trust. Cel knew the look all too well. “I’ll prove it to you!” Her eyes began to tear up as she gestured towards the fallen ronin. “Taka’s sword! It only has to touch you, if you aren’t real you disappear! Right Erissa, Alabaster?”
Steppenwolf looked from one to the other, seeming to accept from their expressions that the girl spoke the truth. Cel never took her eyes from him, it didn’t make sense but she needed him to believe her. Not for fear of her life, but because for the first time she felt accomplished and she couldn’t let him think she didn’t deserve it. She stepped slowly towards Taka’s unconscious form, her eyes still locked tightly with the half-orc. Hr legs began to shake as she slowly reached for the iron blade, feeling electricity between her fingertips and the cool metal.
I crossed my arms, nodding approvingly to Cellar as she proved that she was the genuine article. My gaze shifted over to Alabaster, who shrugged his shoulders as if he didn’t have a care in the world. I glanced to my team mates (at least the conscious ones) for a few moments before I focused back on the cause of all this trouble. “So the Cellar I threw over here was one of yours?” I spoke, my tone remaining unchanged.
“Not at all,” Alabaster chuckles, waving his hand to remove some of the brush away to reveal an exact double of Cellar. I raised my eyebrows, my blue orbs instantly shifting down to the girl’s pants, to the hole at the back of her legs. “You see, Lord Orlouge, I’m not the only one who can make duplicates. Young Cellar Door here has an ability in which she can duplicate herself. Her double, unlike mine, possesses all of her abilities, but for all intents and purposes thinks she’s the real deal.”
I looked to Cellar to confirm the story (the one without the ripped pants). I got a nod in return for my silent query. It made sense; my brother, Sei, had a similar ability, although there was a telepathic link between the two Sei’s, and the clone realized he was a doppelganger. I bit my lower lip as Alabaster waved both Cellars over to him, both girls’ exhibiting the same reservations about doing so. “It’s okay,” he said with a smile, “My trickery for you is over, dear Cellar.”
The two Cel’s walked over to the man cautiously, one on each side of the gentleman, and he held his arms out. The pants-ripped Cellar had a slightly bruised face, probably from when I chunked her into the exit. I winced as I looked at my unintentional damage. “Now, Lord Orlouge, because I’ve enjoyed Cellar’s company here so much, I’m going to keep one of them. Normally, the girl’s own abilities can only maintain her double for a period of time, but due to my own prowess, I can prolong that doppelganger’s life for an eternity. However, I will only allow you to leave with one, not both. Choose wisely, Lord Orlouge.”
I thought for a moment, my eyes wide with fear. If I chose the wrong Cellar, she would disappear as soon as we went through the exit, condemning the true one to an eternity in this labyrinth. I closed my eyes, breathing heavily and trying to concentrate. Which Cel was the real one?
I opened my eyes, a grin forming across my features as I pointed towards the unbruised Cel. Alabaster’s eyes widened, apparently surprised that I had chosen the one I didn’t save. The ‘pure’ Cel ran over to me, swinging her arms around my large frame and whispering a thank you. I nodded and hugged her back.
I kneeled down, picked up Taka’s body and began to go through the door that would lead us to safety. “Wait!” Alabaster almost sounded as if he were pleading with me, “You were so confident, how did you know that she was the right one?”
I turned around for a minute, shifting my head to indicate the area behind Alabaster. The man turned around, gasping at what he saw as I walked through the exit. I’m sure Alabaster could hear my roar-like laughter.
For behind where Alabaster forced me to make a difficult choice, a stony, faun-like finger was sticking out through the shrubbery, pointing towards where I had chosen right.
((Steppenwolf's and ToT's finale. Wrap us up good, Sagey!))
Through the open door, Erissa’s three teammates exited. As she peered more closely, she saw her bed, her nightstand, and her packed supplies waiting for her.
“You are reluctant to leave?” Alabaster asked, drawing her back into the fantasy that was his maze.
“Not at all,” the elf replied, and took several steps forward.
“Are you quite certain, Erissa Caedron?” the pale man asked, his grin filled with too-large teeth.
“Quite,” she said softly. “Quite certain.” The tone of her voice wavered.
“Then by all means, go,” Alabaster asserted, gesturing to the doorway below. “All that you know is there. All the problems, all the heartache, all the death. That is what you want, isn’t it?”
“I...” Erissa shook her head, her bun of silver hair tumbling down to her shoulders. The pale man laughed until he was gasping, and the elf regarded him with distaste.
“I,” he choked, wiping moisture from his eyes, “I couldn’t keep you here if I wanted to, Miss Caedron. It’s part of the contract I made with the tournament host. But,” he said, standing to his full height and leaping to the soft grass below. He strolled toward the elf. “Keep the flute. It’s worthless in your world, but if you should ever wish to return, you know the song to play.”
“You think I would choose to return to this place?” the elf asked incredulously.
“Maybe, maybe not,” Alabaster said lightly. “But this,” he gestured to the garden, “is a better future than some that might befall you through there.”
“Is that so?” Erissa asked in a huff, crossing her arms.
“It is. I am giving you the ability to choose your own reality, should the one you cannot control become unbearable.” Alabaster tipped his hat to her. “Go and win your little book, if you think you can. See for yourself, and perhaps we will meet again.”
“Mr. Alabaster,” Erissa said with a nod, bidding him farewell. With a deep breath, she strode through the grass and into the doorway.
The high elf looked around her empty room, fingering the flute in her pocket.
Round 1 closed for judgement.
Good luck!
Plot: (19)
Storytelling (7) – For sure this was a nice twist on what I had initially assumed to be nothing more than a hungry hedge maze. You followed all of the prompts in a lively way that wrapped them together into one whole, which was an elegant and simple way to do it. The addition of the faun statue, and its rebellious ways were a nice addition.
Setting (6) – Though this was a lively setting, your descriptions didn’t live up to it and after a great beginning it quickly devolved to nothing more than a run through a plant maze with flowers. By focusing more on the purely aggressive nature of the maze, you lost out on a chance to really bring the setting to a more enriched level.
Pacing (6) – Things flowed really well at the beginning and end of the thread as you all came together, but the back and forth nature of the posts as the characters wandered the maze didn’t quite live up to those parts.
Character: (18)
Communication (6) – The reasons that you came up with to determine how a double was a double stemmed mostly through this area and I have to say that there were two in particular which broke me out of the flow of the story to question your character’s deduction abilities. The first was Tainted Bushido in post #13 where he killed an Erissa-clone for calling him General. To assume that someone knows that you hate the title just because someone else might have told her once … sometime … maybe, seemed like a thin explanation. Similarly, Steppenwolf’s smashing of an Eriss-clone (what did you do to piss people off Sage?) in post 15 because she was a master seamstress without her sewing kit when Sage specifically mentioned that she was transported to the tournament with nothing but her nightgown seemed like you were just looking for anything you could come up with rather than being an actual good reason.
Action (6) – There was a lot less confusion about whether your characters were sleeping or awake than I expected. Tainted Bushido came up with a great solution which made a great fit for his character and Sagequeen did a good job of pointing out the disorienting nature of the maze. Steppenwolf, on the other hand, seemed only to find the situation only a minor inconvenience and Taste of Treason pretty much just ran through the thread panicked. Sagequeen’s additions of the faun and Alibaster’s temptations broke the “encounter a double, realize it’s a double, kill it, move on” mold that the rest of you seemed to fall into.
Persona (6) – I got a good feel for Sagequeen and Tainted Bushido’s characters in the varied emotions they displayed as they moved through the thread. Cellar Door did little more than run around in near-hysterics while sobbing which, while not as rich in character as Erissa or Taka, still worked rather well for the character. Steppenwolf seemed more like a caricature than a real character, displaying only the big loyal puppy mentality to Cellar Door and when not dealing with that being completely unfazed as a cardboard cutout.
Prose: (15)
Mechanics (4) – There were multiple instances of improper word usage and either extra or missing apostrophes throughout the thread, with Steppenwolf and Tainted Bushido being the main culprits. Psyche instead of psych, mazes instead of maze’s, moments instead of moment’s, can not instead of cannot, hoe instead of how, etc. Proofreading will help you clean these up and remember that you’re able to edit your posts to clean them up.
Clarity (4) – The general theme of your thread wasn’t one that lent itself well to clarity as it was ultimately about duplicitousness. Given more time than the tournament’s round allowed, I’m certain that you four could have cleaned this up and pulled it neatly together, but by its did trip you up here.
Technique (7) – Opposite clarity, while your thread wasn’t perfect, the theme was very well done and made for an exciting read. The theme was interesting and allowed a lot of room for individuals to complete a group-oriented thread without turning on one another.
Wildcard: (5)
Total: 57
Sagequeen receives 599 exp and 80 gp.
Taste of Treason receives 499 exp and 80 gp.
Steppenwolf Orlouge receives 698 exp and 80 gp.
Tainted Bushido receives 599 exp and 70 gp.
EXP-GP added.