2
A pair of golden eyes glowed in the dimly lit hallway. A body was silhouetted by a glowing orb, floating a few feet in front of it. A long-tail flicked around in the shadow behind the tall, slender figure. The only sound emanating from the dark hallway was a soft breeze filled with the sweet fragrance of blooming flowers.
The body moved with light, stealthy steps moving more into the light. A humanoid feline stood there for a few moments, its long furry ears twitched. The form revealed a very striking female, adorned in light armor, allowing for freedom of movement. Her single armored pauldron over her weapon arm adorned with long claws, a trophy from a savage beast that she defeated. Her grip tightened around the shaft of her polearm as if she expecting an assault at any moment. The blade silently moved through the stale air, lightly brushing against the vine tendrils running down the walls, floor, and ceiling. The soft light reflected off the metal composing the hallway.
She began emitting a soft purr, glancing around, smelling the air and intently listening to the breeze. She half-turned her head, her golden glowing eyes still affixed at the darkened hallway ahead.
“Ko, are you sure this is the way?” she whispered in a soft, almost purring tone.
Another, much taller, feminine humanoid-feline slipped next to her in the hallway. Her eyes glowed a deep purple. Her hands and fingers began to dance in the light from the orb, communicating to her partner. As she spoke with her hands, the light reflected off the coiled chain whip that partially concealed under her armored robe.
“Amaia. Ko, says this is the way, she can sense it.” Her voice was a soft purred mixed with spoken words.
A third figure now appeared from the doorway that the first two had emerged from just a moment ago. This figure was taller than the others. Amaia glanced around, her ears and eyes scanning around the hallway. One hand tightly grasped her bow grip; the other hand pulled back on the string enough to engaged a golden glowing arrow. A low static hum emanated from her bow as she moved across to the far side of the hallway, forming a line with her partners.
Slightly turning her head, she glanced over Ko, “Be on your guard Ryssy; the old one's places like this are breeding grounds for Ibits.”
Ryssy’s ears flattened as she stealthily moved forward, leading the way followed by Amaia with Ko just a step behind the other two, her weapon in hand. The trio methodically made their way down the metallic hallway. Although plant life in the form of vines had made their way into the abandon ancient place, metal hallway remained pristine, no signs of corrosion as well as the vines and not been able to penetrate the seams in the plates. The light coming from the orb that floated a few feet in front of the party reflected a bright silver light from the walls.
Amaia ran her hand across a bare spot on the wall. “Hopefully we will find some spare panels, the town could use more of this for building or crafting.”
They came to a ‘T’ section. Ryssy glanced at Ko. In a low purr, “Which way?”
Ko closed her eyes, placing her hands together around her necklace. An aqua blue glow radiated from one of the gems for a moment. She opened her eyes and pointed to the right. Amaia motioned them to stop. She pulled back on her bow, releasing a light violet bolt down the blacked out hallway. It raced down the hall for a few seconds before bursting into a bright shower of light revealing a large, partially open door.
As the bolt traveled down the hallway, Ryssy noted the hall covered in the large tendrils of vines. She flattened her ears again, her eyes narrowed, and her pupils narrowed to mere slits as well.
“Ibits.” Hissed Ryssy.
Ko removed her chain whip, holding it in both hands, she mewed for a moment, and the metal chain whip responded, glowing a light aqua blue. Amaia readied her bow again, this time the bolt was a brilliant orange. Ryssy tapped her long polearm on the ground; it retracted down to a third of its original length. She held it in her left hand, grabbing the ax that was hanging on her right hip. She readied herself for an immediate attack as she slowly moved down the hallway in the lead.
Amaia glanced at Ko out of the corner of her eye, “Ko, stay behind me, watch our rear.”
The trio methodically made their way down the hallway. Each step was methodical, cautious and silent. As they neared the door, their ears perked up to the clicking noise coming from the room. The doorway was over twice the height of Ryssy, the tallest of the group. It was open just enough for only one of them to go through at a time. Ryssy poked her head into the room, quickly glancing around. With her claw fingers, she motioned to Amaia and Ko how many Ibits she saw and their location in the place.
Amaia nodded, then slipped in front of Ryssy. She tightened her grip on the bow. She whistled a short tune, and the floating orb raced down from the ‘T’ intersection, racing past the trio it shot into the room, increasing in size as it went straight up to the ceiling. Suddenly, the clicking noises in the room grew into a frantic sound.
Amaia stepped into the room, moving directly to the left she released her bolt. It struck the first unfortunately Ibit, exploding it into a burst of liquid and fiber. Then she discharged another and another bold, hitting two more before Ryssy entered the room, followed by Ko. Ryssy leaped forward, covering an impressive distance, landing in the middle of a group of Ibits. She performed an impressive, quick double slash, slicing the group of Ibits into pieces.
Amaia moved more to her left as she fired off bolt after bolt. Ibits began to drop down out of the vines that had climbed up the wall and across the high ceiling of the room. Amaia was in awe for a moment at the sheer size of this room and the layout; it was unlike anything she had seen from previous treks into ancient buildings. Several Ibits dropped down behind her; their vine-like arms stiffened into sharp needles. Amaia ignored them as she pressed her aggressive attack moving to the left. The Ibits started to charge her when they were instantly wrapped up by the glowing chain weapon of Ko’s. In an instant they burst into flame, letting out a few clicks before exploding like bags of water.
Ko now had entered the fray moving forward, her long chain swinging out, the blade at the end slicing through the increasing number of Ibits peeling away from the most massive vines. Ryssy continued pressing her attack on the right side of the room, leaping around with amazing acrobatic skills, dispatching groups of Ibits. As they made their way around the sides of the grand hall-sized room, the Ibits suddenly began to retreat, wildly clicking. The remaining, two or three dozen Ibits all rushed to the center of the room. There was a massive, metallic, rhombus-shaped object in the very center; it was half the height of the room.
The Ibits gathered in front of it; their vine-like tendrils began to lengthen, merging. In a few moments, they blended, forming a monstrous sized Ibit. The sheer size of it stunned the trio for a moment. Amaia stood still, firing off bolt after bolt in rapid succession. The bolts struck, shearing off pieces of it. The creature swung a long vine tendril at her, nearly hitting her. Amaia avoided the tendril with her skill, somersaulting under it. The vine arm pulverized a table that had been off to the side.
Another tendril whipped down at Ryssy, who dodged out of the way. She struck down with both of her weapons, cutting a sizeable gapping chunk out of that vine arm. The creature let out an impressive clicking noise that echoed in a large room.
The creature moved forward, two large needle, spear sized tendrils shot straight at Ko. She swung her chain whip around one, swinging herself out of the way. When she landed, she stumbled on a piece of an Ibit. Instinctively, Ko braced herself from falling; her hand landed on a section of the old console. She felt her hand move down slightly.
In a moment, the walls around the room light up, consoles began to spring to life, and the lights in the ceiling turned on bathing the room in a light blue glow. It startled the giant Ibit, and it began lashing out with its tendrils at the walls. Then a voice boomed throughout the room in a language that the trio did not recognize. A large section of the wall opposite the doorway came to life, showing an unknown tongue, along with symbols and something that looked like a map.
The giant Ibit appeared to be in a wild panic, confused at it stumbled around, frantically lashing out at the walls and ceiling. It seemed to have lost interest in Amaia, Ryssy, and Ko. Ko back-fliped over the console moving back to the doorway. Amaia and Ryssy began to retreat as well. It was nearly impossible to predict the Ibit’s movements. The door became the safest area in the room as the Ibit was now in a crazed frenzy.
It hit the oddly shaped rhombus in the center of the room, but its vine tendrils nearly glanced off of an energy shield that was protecting it. The trio stood at the doorway, mesmerized by what was occurring in the room. Time seemed to slow down while they gazed at the walls where the images were currently shown. Then the rhombus-shaped object in the center of the room began to glow, emitting a low hum. The object rotated, slowly at first, but after a few moments, it had sped up, whirling around. The giant Ibit spun around, focusing all its attention on the rhombus, wildly flailing its vine arms at it. Each time its attack was thwarted by the shield, it only served to anger the creature even more.
Then the voice booming in the room stopped, the room filled with an eerie humming and incredible prismatic light show from the rhombus; even the creature stopped its raging clicking and appeared hypnotized by the light show. Then the voice, in its strange language, spoke again, just one word. The rhombus immediately stopped rotating, the light intensifying to the point Amaia, Ko and Ryssy held up their hands to shield their eyes. The giant Ibit moved in front of the brightly glowing rhombus, bathing in the intense light. Glancing through her paw fingers, Amaia watched as the Ibit was instantly shredded into thousands of fragments, splattering across the room as a wave of energy burst out from the rhombus.
The trio lowered their hands from their faces as the light lessened to something more tolerable. The device continued to hum, not moving at all. Cautiously they moved from the doorway, hands still on their weapons, as they made their way closer to the sizeable monolithic rhombus.
Amaia looked at Ryssy then to Ko. “Any thoughts on what this is?” Turning to Ko, “What did you touch?”
Ko silently responded, telling Amaia she pressed a button on one of the consoles when she was slipping on the Ibit goo. She appeared to be getting upset. Ryssy gently placed her hand on her shoulder.
“Do not worry Ko. Your action helped to defeat that giant Ibit.”
“Ssh, Ryssy, do you hear that?” All of their ears perked up, twitching as they intently listened. An odd noise was coming from the monolithic rhombus. Amaia, Ryssy, and Ko stepped back a few paces from the glowing rhombus; giving themselves room to fight. Amaia pulled back on her bow, readying an energy bolt. Ryssy tapped her polearm on the ground which caused to spring back to full length. She pointed it at the rhombus. Ko, activated her chain whip again, slowly twirling it around ready to release it for an attack.
The sound slowly mutated into what they recognized as a spoken tongue. Again, just as when the room came alive, it was an unfamiliar tongue that they heard coming from inside the rhombus and growing louder.
“Shhhhhhhhiiit!”
The trio turned away as the rhombus emitted a bright light and then with underwhelming thud two forms emerged from the rhombus.
