Chapter thirty- The three challenges of Us.
I opened my eyes, and the first thing I noticed was that it was cold. So unlike Krokotopia’s weather, it seemed icy. We were in a large chamber, with the largest door I’ve ever seen. Two ponds were next to the large door, and were complete ice.
“Where are we?” I whispered, and I could see my breath.
“I can’t believe it.” Nikki spoke, gazing all around. “We are inside the Sphinx of the Order’s island. It’s almost impossible to get inside.”
I recognized where we were now. We were inside that huge monument, the Sphinx, that I saw when I had first entered the island. “What now?” I asked.
“Through that door.” Nikki nodded, and we started forward. There were no traps, no killer monsters. We opened the door. It was almost too easy.
“Something is wrong here,” I frowned at the easy process. “Why is it so easy to get inside?” Inside, it was a small blue room, made out of cold stone. There were six squares on the ground, each with a picture on it; a tree, a snake, a sun, a bird, a moon, and a beetle. In front of us, there was a pedestal with a piece of parchment upon its table.
“The parchment has words written upon it.” Nikki pointed out. We walked toward it, cautious of everything around us. This was a dangerous area.
Nothing happened when we approached it. Carefully, attentively, I tried to read it:
Le soleil fait la lune
La lune éclaire de l’arbre
Le serpent dévore le dendroctone
Et le serpent est le dernier repas de l’oiseau
“What does it mean?” I wondered. I’ve never seen this language before.
“It’s French, an ancient language from earth.” Nikki answered eyes wide. “I studied it in my library at home, before I left.”
“What does it translate, then?”
“The sun makes the moon,
The moon lights up the tree,
The Serpent devours the beetle,
And the serpent is the bird’s last meal.”
I contemplated the pictures on the ground. “They didn’t think that we would understand the language, but I get what we have to do. We have to do something with them, but in order.”
“The sun,” Nikki touched the picture of the sun on the ground, and it lit up. “Makes the moon.” She touched the moon, and it lit up.
“And the moon,” I added, “lights up the tree.” I touched the tree’s picture. It lit up. So far, three pictures were glowing with white light, shining out of the ground.
“The serpent devours the beetle.” Nikki touched the serpent’s image and I touched the beetle’s. Then, we looked at each other for whats left.
“The serpent is the bird’s last meal.” We touched the image together. All a sudden, a piece of the ground opened up. Bright blue smoke came out of this gaping hole, and out rose a large pedestal. With a Portal.
“I think that’s our ride.” I grimaced, and we walked forward. Close enough for us to go through the portal. However, I felt something hard and thick under my foot. I looked down in horror, realizing that I had just stepped on the images; ruining the order.
Nikki, realizing what I’ve done, screamed: “Mary, in the portal now!” She took my arm, and right before the white, glowing portal turned into a red, smoky one, we went through it.
Then, a sharp, horrible pain went through my arm. I screamed, and couldn’t open my eyes. I knew we were in another room, but the only thing I could do was hold my arm. I felt a warm seepage through my sleeves, and opened my eyes with difficulty to see my arm ripped open; from shoulder to elbow. “What happened?” My voice shook.
“The portal was closing when we went through it, Mary.” Nikki replied miserably. I tore a piece of my clothing off, and tied it around my arm. The pain didn’t stop throbbing. It felt like somebody was slapping it every other moment.
“We have to keep going.” I urged, and I looked up. Instead of images and parchment, there stood a horrible creature, with a bloody grin that reminded me of Malistaire. It was scaly, with claws and black skin.
“N-nikki.” I whispered. “What is that..?”
“I’m not so sure.”
I took out my wand, and gripped it tight. I pointed it to the creature. “What are you, and state your business.”
The creature turned all the way, facing us, and pointed its insane lightning eyes at us. “Demon.” Its voice was not human.
I stiffened. I’ve never experienced a demon before, and I didn’t know how to fight one. I felt Nikki tense. “Why are you here?” She asked, bravely.
The demon-lizard smiled, showing jagged teeth, stained red. “It’s been so long since I’ve tasted an Angel’s blood… Golden and delicious, with their soft flesh in my possession. I asked the Master if I could have this delicacy… He said I was a good demon. Good demon.”
He spoke “Good demon” twice, and I knew who his master was. Who else would summon demons to attack us? “You can go right back to my father, and tell him that he shall expect a slit to his throat.” I growled.
The demon chuckled, licking its teeth. I noticed blood spurt out of its tongue. I gulped, but stepped forward, wand in hand and ready. I’ve studied and worked hard, and I knew how to fight. This beast was severely underestimating me. “Don’t fight with me, demon. You shall regret it.”
“Same here.” Nikki stepped up beside me, with a staff in hand. It glowed with power, and I didn’t notice it on her before.
The demon evidently had enough of waiting. It lunged at us, and it happened to unfold its wings, making it ten times the size it really was. It looked like a black, bloody dragon. White veins showed in his wings like a bat.
Determined, I shot a stunning spell at its scaly heart. It made a horrid screaming noise, like nails against a chalk board, but it whirled around and lunged at us again. We ducked, avoiding its monstrous claws.
Nikki began shouting spells that I’ve never heard of and colorful beams poured out of her staff like bullets. Every time it hit the beast, it would scream, but not die. “Why won’t it die?” I cursed out in frustration, as I threw fire at the demon from my wand. It caught its wings on fire, and it flew down to the ground once again. Still on fire, it was oblivious to the pain. It threw its large claws at us, and I heard Nikki scream.
I turned to see what had happened to her, and I realized the claws had gotten her with her back turned in a twist. Before I could see the damage, she whipped around with fire in her eyes. She looked like a bonfire, ready to kill anything in her path. She screamed, and stabbed the demon in the heart with her staff.
Eyes opened wide, I watched as she stabbed it another time, each time coming out with more blood. One time, there was a chunk of the demon’s heart, black as night, stuck to the staff as she pulled it out of its horrid, gory chest.
The demon wailed, and fell to the ground. Black blood pooled around it, like a swamp of goop, with its burned wings like ashes.
Nikki stepped back, hands with black blood and staff covered in the demon’s body parts of the chest, she leaned on a pillar. Out of breath, I noticed her breathing was short and hollow, as if in lots of pain. Suddenly, she wretched over and threw up.
I rushed over, and helped her up. I felt something sticky and warm on my hands when I was patting her back. I looked up to see what it was, and I saw four large gashes on her entire back, and my hand dripping of Nikki’s blood.
