Spiral of Events: Seperation of Wills

Vincent glanced down the right hallway as torches began to light around them. "I will take the right. Spike, Sue, and Crystal, take the left." Vincent took off running, even as he spoke to them.

Jade trailed behind him, frequently looking back. "I do not agree with your tactics, Master. I think you are making a mistake!"

"Then so be it, Jade. I will have their death on me," he whispered.

The hallway continued to light up. A few minutes ahead of him a monster showed up leaning into the wall. It snarled. Vincent sped up and rammed into it.

Sue, Crystal, and Spike watched Vincent ram into a monster, slamming it against a wall. They gulped, watching him continue on his way, as the beast slid down hitting the floor.

Sue quickly glanced around assessing their location. There was only one hallway, the hallway that Vincent went down. Sue blinked, trying to comprehend what was going on in Vincent's head.

Crystal repeated Sue's notion, while vaguely thinking there was no "left." They started to wonder if Vincent had snapped.

Spike stared to the left, waiting for it to form. "He better not be fooling us," she snarled. The left suddenly sprung up, closing off the right.

While Sue was lost in thought, Crystal managed to keep her eyes peeled. Tension sunk into her bones. The reality was difficult to swallow. "Sue, look," Crystal said quietly, pointing at the newly-appeared hallway.

Sue glanced, perplexed at the newly-appeared hallway. "That was not there before."

Crystal smiled. "Hey, it's just for us," she joked nervously.

Spike closed her eyes. "Sue, Crystal, I will not be able to save you. I am only here for my master."

"I understand." Sue watched her calmly, then replied, "Go on ahead if you need to."

"I mean yeah," Crystal said. "You are his loyal pet, right?"

"Good." Spike took off running down the hallway. Sue followed suit, running as fast as she could.

Crystal waited a little bit, watching as newly-appeared torches kept lighting up. Crystal glanced around skeptically. "Am I the only one who finds it creepy that the torches are lighting up on their own as we move?" Crystal giggled at the oddity of it as she started running after them.

Sue groaned slightly and wondered why Crystal couldn't ever keep her mouth shut. As Sue ran down the hallway, stained-glass windows appeared, each depicting a story. Sue stopped for a moment gasping in wonder. She walked closer to examine the beautiful windows. As she reached her hand out to touch them, she had a sudden terrible realization and gasped, "I know that girl, I saw that girl before." Shaking, she glanced down at her gauntlet.

Crystal finally caught up. Out of breath, she placed her hands on her knees to gasp for air. "Why are we stopping, Sue?" Crystal looked up through her bangs. Her eyes caught sight of the stained-glass windows.

Spike studied her surroundings as she doubled back. It appears she had run into a dead end.

Crimson sighed, looking at the area through the gauntlet. She had never been here before. She forced Sue's hand up to look at the windows. "This must be my story."

"What is your story?" Sue asked curiously.

Crimson floated out as a girl. Sue and Crystal studied the girl this time. She did not look a day over sixteen.

Crimson floated up to the window and pressed her finger against the windows. Her ghastly hands slowly slid over the smooth surface. "This is not glass, but crystal from the Nard kingdom. This is my story." She floated away. "It is of me and my lover, Gale Sparrow. Do you know he is the one that designed this building? What an unfortunate end for both of us. He died before it was built." She disappeared into the gauntlet, not wanting to finish her story that left an afterthought on the historical design of the temple. "He used to always tell me that when a time of agony befalls the temple, its dark recesses will bellow and it will fall apart. When the sanctuary is complete, it will crumble. The sanctuary was split. One half was given to the Nards; the other half is between the humans and the Casalyians."

"We must move," Spike spoke agitatedly, pointing down another newly forming hallway.

Sue nodded in agreement and they took off running.

As they continued to run, the walls seemed to morph behind them, starting to close in, dimming out most of the torches. They began to run faster, as the sounds of walls slamming together chased them. Crystal peeked over her shoulder, only to see a brick wall closing in on them.

They ran faster. Soon they slammed into a solid mass that blocked their pathway. The walls closed in around them, boxing them in. The torches around them blew out. Sue began to feel what she had bumped into.

Crystal shivered, slowly backing up.

Spike growled aggressively, fading into her flesh form.

The area felt smooth in certain spaces and jagged in others. As Sue's hands moved slowly over what laid ahead, it moved, causing Sue to flinch. "What is this?" But before she could finish, she was slammed into a wall.

The torches relit, revealing a massive statue. Its jagged edges gleamed as its smooth surfaces sparkled. It was made entirely from gold.

Spike held out her hand. Charging it, she released a black ball of energy from her fingertips, aiming for the center of the statue. The blast dissipated against it, leaving behind no evidence of the attack.

The golden statue moved suddenly, standing up to reveal its height. The statue reached the ceiling, and its bulk blocked the hallway. It turned its small head, allowing the creature's considerable eyes to examine them. The creature tilted its head down, covering a non-existent neck.

Crystal trembled, her eyes moving to the unconscious body of Sue. Crystal turned her attention to the giant before her. The golden statue's upper body was shaped like a square; its lower body was abnormally formed into a triangle; its legs were long and muscular.

The statue creature ignored Crystal and moved toward Spike. It moved closer and closer. Spike started throwing out more black energy blasts, flinging one after another at the golden statue until the creature was right up against her hand.

Crystal pinned herself further against the wall. Her breath and heart quickened at the sight of what was going on. She was unprepared, unable to move or speak.

"No way!" Spike said as the statue raised its massive fist and slammed her into the floor.

Sue finally began to stir from her earlier encounter and rubbed her head. "Oh, man," she moaned, sounding groggy.