Game Over!

Chapter 7: The Realm

The party decided to enter. The inside was still pretty intact, and there was an ornate statue in the very back of the room. It was of a woman, a beautiful woman. She must be the Deity of All Light the temple was made for! On the base of the statue, something was engraved in ancient Dosnatian. However, it had been weathered away so much that it was indecipherable. Strewn across the floor were ancient potion bottles and coins. Offerings. "Something must be behind the statue! Let's push it!" Lilia exclaimed. The party all worked together to push the statue. When they had pushed it to the left of the room, a shocking sight was revealed!

There, right in the wall, was a portal! It swirled through the different shades of black, beckoning the party to leap through! The party joined hands, and leapt through. When they had gone through, they were in a very strange place. It was an open field, and there was an only slightly intact castle. It was dark though, and there were no stars or moon in what appeared to be the sky. They had entered the Realm of the Deity, or what was left of it. This was certainly unlike any dungeon they had ever encountered.

They decided to enter the castle, but stopped when they saw shadows on the ground following them. The shadows stopped moving, and some dubious beings arose from them. They were the Nocturnites. Each one was completely different from the other. They were totally black, and kept flickering between different forms. Their eyes kept appearing and disappearing. The party drew their weapons, and prepared to fight. Destry tried slashing at one with his sword, but the blade only went through the monster.

Suddenly, Echo got an idea. She readied her bow, and waited for an eye to appear on the Nocturnite. She shot the arrow just as a bright red eye appeared on the monster. The arrow went right into the eye of the Nocturnite, and the monster began to disintegrate, leaving behind some Quills and potions. Echo did the same to the other two, and the party went on their way. When the party entered the palace, they were shocked by the state of the inside.

Tables had been turned over, there were scorch marks on the elegant rug from where a candelabra had been knocked over. In the atrium, a large, ornate chandelier lay in pieces on the ground. Lilia and Echo had found themselves in what was once a bedroom. The bed had been torn apart, and there was writing all over the walls in a certain red liquid. '"THEY FORGOT ME. FORGOT ME." "I DON'T MATTER TO THEM ANYMORE"' were some of the phrases written on the wall. In shaky lettering on the left wall, "I WILL GET THEM BACK" was written.

"I'm scared..." Lilia whispered to Echo. Suddenly, Destry and Evren shouted up at them. "WE FOUND SOMETHING!" they shouted. Echo and Lilia went to them and followed them into a room at the back of the castle. It was completely empty except for a wooden hatch in the middle of the floor. Destry opened it, revealing an entrance to a basement. The party climbed down, and faced a long hallway. Evren clung to Lilia as they walked down the hallway. There was another door at the end. Scrawled above it was "THEY'VE BEEN WAITING FOR YOU".

Cautiously, Destry pushed open the door. Behind it, several shadows moved around on the floor. When the party entered, the shadows began to move around in a circular pattern, and began to clump together. A large, amorphous figure began to rise from the shadow. The Nocturnites had fused to form a Nocturnamalgam. It was flickering between even more different forms, as if it couldn't decide what to look like. Even more eyes appeared on it, and swirled around and changed colors.

Echo took out her bow, and quickly realized that a normal arrow wouldn't do much. She turned to Lilia and asked if they could magically charge the arrows again. "Sure!" Lilia answered. They performed the ritual, and Echo readied one of the magically charged arrows. She waited for an eye to appear on the Nocturnamalgam, and released the arrow.

The arrow drove into the eye, and the Nocturnamalgam simply faded away. The back wall of the room slid open, revealing another hallway. The party walked down it. Evren clung to Lilia all the way. The walk was so long, it felt endless! There was no sign of a door anywhere. What if it actually was endless! The party began to stop walking, and scoured the hallway for a way to the next room. Echo discovered that a part of the wall was slightly different than the rest of the wall. Lilia readied her wand, and tried a new magic attack.