The Dragon's Bounty II:Rising Shadow

Chapter 5

            Alexander awoke and sat up, looking around with a sigh.
            "Guess it wasn't a dream, huh?"
            Aro shook his head and stretched. "Where are we even going to go?" He asked, looking to Kai, who was perched on a rock.
           "We're in a different place than we were when we went to sleep." He said.
           Aro raised an eyebrow. "Looks like the same place to me."
           Kai shook his head. "We're in the same location, just not the same place."
           "Huh?" Aro asked, his mind beginning to crumble.
           "Try not to think about it too hard. That's how it gets you." Kai turned back toward them.
           "What is It?" Alexander asked.
           "The Void." Kai said, looking back off into the distance. "It's alive, but it's not. It moves, but it is still. It's a place of danger, yet you cannot die. You're mind will break, but you can never go insane. This place defies everything you know. Even gravity shifts sometimes. But you wouldn't know." Aro and Alexander looked at one another.
          "Why does this place even exist?" Duros shouted, awoken by all the commotion.
         Kai shrugged. "The Gatekeeper wrote that it had something to do with the creation of the other realms and the primordial elemental spirits that created the world we live in, but I'm not sure about all that. But what I do know, is that somewhere, on one of the many levels of the void, is my stone. And to get out, we probably have to find it." He jumped down from the rock he was standing on. "We have to stick together. If we get split up, we could end up on opposite sides of this level. There's no way to tell when the world will shift, but you'd never be able to tell if it did. So don't stray." Everyone nodded. Once everyone was awake and fed, they started moving. "Oh, and by the way, there will probably be voices, and if it's the voice of someone that isn't standing next to you, it probably isn't real. But if you follow the voice, chances are whatever it is isn't nice. So like I said, stick close." Kai said. Everyone nodded again.
           "What if the stone isn't on this level?" Emma asked. 
           "Then we'll have to find a way to get up or down to another level." Kai responded. "The only thing that's constant in this entire realm is the river in the center of every level. Above each river is an identical river in the next level, and it's close surroundings cannot change. So if we find the river, we shouldn't be able to get separated. I think."
           "How do you know so much about this place?" Aro asked. "Well, the gatekeeper in the spirit realm has a bookshelf, so when I'm there, I read whatever he's got. And he himself wrote a book on the void. I got through most of it."
          "What didn't you read?" Alexander asked. "I didn't get to the end of the bestiary, so I don't know most of the creatures that lurk in this place. But what I do know is that they're all dangerous."
          "But we can't die, right?" Alexander asked.
          Kai shook his head. "It's complicated. Trust me, you don't wanna find out how death works here."
          Alexander nodded. "That's good enough for me."
          "So this river, is it the only water in the entire dimension?" Aro asked as he looked around at the barren landscape.
          Kai shook his head. "It probably is on this layer, but some of the layers are all ocean, but the water can never go through the floor even if there are holes in it, to keep it from changing the level below."
          "Do the levels change places?" Duros asked.
          Kai shook his head. "Every level stays in its place in the order, but each level can change among itself." Duros nodded.
         "So this place makes no sense." Emma said, lowering her brow.
         Kai pointed to her. "Bingo. Forget everything you know about reality, and learn from what the void throws at you. We got lucky with our level, but chances are this isn't where the stone is. And I'm not exactly sure how to get from level to level. But I guess we'll figure it out as we go." Aro raised his hand. Kai sighed. "Yes?" He asked.
          Aro put his hand down. "How big is each level? I mean how long will it takes us to search the entire level?"
           Kai shrugged. "They vary in sizes, but each one has an edge, so they all have a certain size, there's just no way to tell how big any one level is. And I have no idea where in here the gatekeeper put the stone. It could be on the top, it could be on the bottom. It could be somewhere in the near infinite between."
           Aro sighed. "My head hurts." He said.
           "I told you not to think about it." Kai said. Aro nodded.

           Dagger opened the door to a shop and looked inside. There were plenty of different spiritual artifacts hanging from the ceiling of the small building he'd entered.
           "Hello?" He asked.
           "What do you want?" An old lady shouted at him from across the store.
           "I need something. Would you by chance have a void creature?"
           The old lady came into his view. "Looking to enter the void?" She asked. Dagger nodded. "Not a wise decision." She said.
            Dagger nodded again. "I know, but my friends need my help."
            The woman shrugged. "Come with me." She led him into the back room where there was a plethora of creepy artifacts around the walls. In the very back was a cage, a small insect inside of it. "This is a cramrel. It's a bug that lives in the void. Caught him earlier this week, but he's the only one I got. How much?"
           Dagger sighed. "Give me a price."
           The woman smiled. "300 gold pieces." Dagger sighed and a massive pouch of money appeared in his hand. He handed it to the woman, who dropped it to the ground.
           "Is this all real?!" She shouted.
           Dagger nodded. "Now give me the bug." He said. The woman smiled and nodded, handing him the small cage.
           "Thank you for your business." She said. Dagger nodded and walked out with the bug.
           "Hey, let me out, will ya?" Dagger looked down at the cage to the bug, who was now looking up at him.
           "You can talk?" He asked.
           The cramrel nodded. "You betcha. And I been trapped in here about a week. Will ya let me out?"
           "Well, I need you to help me get to the void, then maybe we'll release you there."
           The bug thought for a moment. "I think I can handle that." He said.
           Dagger smiled. "I knew we could reach an agreement. I'm Dagger by the way."
           "Charmed." The bug replied.
           "Well, what's your name?" Dagger asked.
           "I just told ya, idiot. It's Charmed."
           "Oh, alright then." Dagger said.
           Dagger handed the bug to Ethan, who looked down at it.
           "This is Charmed. He will lead you to the river. Take Ripsaw so he can be your tether. He can be in two dimensions at once, and hop back to one of them, meaning it's theoretically possible for him to jump back here from the void. Find our friends and get out. That's all you gotta do." Ethan nodded. Ripsaw jumped up on his shoulder.
          "Why aren't you coming?"
          Dagger sighed. "I truly wish I could, but I have to help the king rule the country. He's been very busy lately, and I'm taking some work off of his shoulders. Just bring them back for me."
          Ethan nodded. "We won't fail you." He said with a smile.
          Dagger smiled back. "I know you won't. Good luck." Ethan nodded and jumped on to his horse, snapping the reins and taking off through the gates of the capital.
          "Alright, Charmed. Where to?" Charmed pointed in a random direction, Ethan turning his horse to head that way. "You sure?" He asked.
          "Why would I lie? I wanna get back to my home. The humans' blood doesn't taste as good as stuff in there does." Ripsaw changed from his slime feline form into his fluffy feline form, letting the wind flow through his fur as he held on to Ethan's shoulder.

         Elliot dragged along the path as the sun beat down on his neck.
         "How much farther?" He groaned.
         "Not much." Huey said, staring down at the map. Suddenly, something moved behind them. The two looked at one another and whipped around, Elliot drawing and activating his sword. Behind them was a woman dressed all in black, even a thin layer on her face so they couldn't tell what she looked like. She held up her fist, two knives made of water generating in front of them. "She's Triton!" Huey shouted, making his own orb of water. "And her control is extraordinary!" She began flinging the knives at the two of them, Huey absorbing them in his bubble, while Elliot simply blocked them with his sword. Huey blasted into the air and flipped over her head, grabbing the top of her mask. He pulled it off and landed behind her. Suddenly, he had a water knife against his throat.
          "Absorb it!" Elliot shouted.
          "I can't! It's too close to her, she has the control!" He looked up at her to see a green face with no hair besides a ponytail and a short layer of hair across only the top of her head. Huey sat there with his jaw agape. Elliot shuffled forward with his sword drawn.
          "Let him go. Huey, do something." Huey just continued to stare into her eyes. To show her dominance, she stared back. "Hey, quit blushing and do something!" Elliot shouted. Huey was finally able to speak.
          "Iris?"