The djinn had chosen to take a different form today. The last time Melody had seen him, he had been a towering figure made of constantly changing matter. Now, he had taken the form of an enormous human face in the darkness. His skin was inky black, only a bit lighter than the impenetrable darkness that now surrounded them, so that Melody couldn't see his exact features, only his outline and the fact that he had a nose, a mouth and two shining eyes. They weren't standing on any platform or surface that Melody could see, but whatever she was standing on seemed to be stable.
"WELL, WELL, WELL! A FABLED CHILD OF A PROPHECY THAT HAS BEEN FULFILLED, AN ARTIFACT COLLECTOR, A SHAPE SHIFTER, AND A MONKEY'S UNCLE!" The djinn's face vanished, and a goatee appeared. The djinn had thrown his head back as he laughed. "RARELY, IN FACT, NEVER, HAS SUCH A MOTLEY BAND OF HEROES COME TO SEE ME. OR AT LEAST, NONE THAT SURVIVED," one enormous glowing light blinked off as the djinn winked.
"Mighty djinn, we come to make a deal," called Uro.
"DO YOU?" Asked the djinn, smiling coldly, "HOW SPLENDID! WHAT DO YOU WANT IN EXCHANGE FOR MY FREEDOM?"
"I want you to-" started Uro. Tarenna, who had transformed back into a human, grabbed his arm, "What are you doing?" She hissed, "If the djinn is freed he'll kill us all!"
"I have a plan. Trust me," said Uro. He turned back to the djinn, who was no longer bothering to hide his sickening, delighted smile.
"I want you, before I free you, to take the dimensional shifter, which Melody will give to you. The moment I free you, before even a nanosecond has passed, you will use it to transport yourself to Nelheim. You will wreak havoc there, but may not return to Earth," said Uro. The djinn smiled. His grey lips parted.
"YOU HAVE A DEAL, FRIEND," he whispered.
Uro nodded. He looked at Melody. She pulled the dimensional shifter from her pocket, a disc of gleaming buttery gold. She held it up. Something pulled it from her grip, though she could see no hand. The djinn inspected it. It smiled.
"FREE ME," thundered the djinn.
"Not yet. Only when I choose to set you free," said Uro. The djinn sighed, and closed his eyes. It vanished.
•~•
Back in the Shadow Dimension, Ana and Anna were debating on whether or not they would be able to Shadow walk Exitium's body back to Earth. They decided not to try. There was too much riding on this. They had been waiting for nightfall, and everybody's nerves were in edge.
Suddenly, Cassandra's earpiece crackled. Uro's voice came through, "Cassandra? Can you hear me?"
"Yes," said Lifei, running over, "And so can everyone in the room."
"Good to know. Have you guys located the body?"
"Yes,"
"Have you obtained it?"
"No,"
"Are you close?"
"Yes,"
"Will you remember to contact me when you have the body?"
"Yes,"
"Good. Timing is everything. You have-" brief pause"- 38 hours left. Use them wisely. And remember that you will need to get some sleep. Don't work through the night."
"Sure," said Cassandra.
"I hear the sound of deceit in your voice," said Uro. Melody giggled in the background.
"Uro, we need to break into a palace to get the body. We also need to kill someone. We're waiting for nightfall," said Ana.
"Which is already here," added Anna.
"Go," said Uro. The earpiece went dead.
"Let's go," said Anna.
•~•
The three children, Aida and Ana walked towards the front doors of the palace. Lifei waved her hand and the palm trees on either side tore the doors off their hinges. They entered a courtyard with a cobblestone floor. Torches blazed in their brackets on the walls. High walls surrounded them, and there was a door on the far side, as well as in their right.
"Intruders!" Yelled a guard standing on the wall they had just walked through, "Intru-" Lifei sent a palm leaf to strangle him.
Soldiers streamed out of the door on the right. Everyone linked hands. Ana teleported them to the other side of the line of guards, right in front of the door opposite the entrance. The guards yelled and looked around. Aida raised her hands. A wave of water formed at her feet and swept the soldiers to the ground. The flames in the brackets went out, plunging everybody into near total darkness. The children and their two guardians ran through the doorway, up several flights of stone steps, where fiery torches lit their way once more. They emerged into an empty corridor that led them to their left.
They emerged from another doorway, nearly crashing into two lines of guards, on top of a long open air walkway. To their left were battlements and sand. To their right was the castle, with a meter's space between the battlements and the actual castle. They were still on the exterior of the castle.
"INTRUDERS!" Bellowed the first guard, drawing his sword. Aida motioned, and both lines of guards were thrown off their feet, hundreds of meters down. They screamed a lot.
"Get us down there," said Aida, pointing to their right. Ana teleported them down.
I KNOW THAT YOU ARE HERE. Boomed a voice that echoed through the entire castle. BUT WHERE ARE YOU?
"Oh no," said Aida.
Lifei pulled a gleaming seed from her pocket. She tossed it onto the ground. Instantly, the seed released a tendril. Then another. An enormous tree grew from that seed, breaking open the wall. Lifei motioned, and thy ran through the wall.
•~•
Anna and the Wiper hurried through the corridors. The Wiper had sent her a mental picture of a part of the castle, which was all she needed to Shadow walk in. They had Shadow walked into the back of the palace, in a corridor. A guard was standing nearby. He jumped back, dropping his spear, then fumbling for it.
"Freeze!" Whispered the Wiper, his voice stopping the guard in his tracks. The guard stared.
"Where is Ruspard's master?" Asked the Wiper.
"Dunno," mumbled the guard.
The Wiper stepped forward and touched the guards forehead. His eyes turned vacant. Then, the Wiper stepped away. He nodded. Anna pulled a knife from her pocket and hit the guard in the back of the head with the hilt. He fell forward. She let him crash onto the ground. Just then-
"INTRUDERS! INTRU-" the voice cut off.
"That's the diversion. Let's go!" Said Anna.
The Wiper transmitted an image into her mind. A pair of heavy looking doors, made of black iron. A guard stood on either side.
She shadow walked them to the doors. The light of several torches flickered weakly, illuminating the stunned expressions of the two soldiers. Anna shadow walked behind one and strangled him. The Wiper elbowed the other in the face. The guards fell to the ground. Anna moved to push open a door. The Wiper grabbed her arm, stopping her.
"There are about ten guards inside with short swords. There is little space to maneuver, you'll be skewered. The number of guards posted here is how I knew to come here," said the Wiper. He grabbed one of the soldiers and dragged him to an adjacent room. Anna dragged the other in. Anna's dagger gleamed, and the two soldiers never woke again.
•~•
The Wiper had sent the location of the body. Shanae leapt to her feet. They had been hiding in a room for a few minutes, waiting for the Wiper to tell them where to go.
They leapt out of the room. The corridor to their left was filled with soldiers tip-toeing toward them.
"Oh," said the one in the lead. Ana pulled a whip out of Dee pocket and slapped him across the face with it. Aida raised her hands and a fierce wind swept from her palms, bowling over the soldiers.
"Run!" Yelled Aida.
They ran. The soldiers thundered after them. The nearest one pulled out a cross bow. He fitted a bolt to it. Ana lashed out with her whip, snatching the weapon out of his hand and pulling it into hers. She turned it on him, and shot him, and he keeled over and died.
They turned a corner. They knew they were on the wrong level; they needed to find stairs and go down. There- a flight of steps, spiraling downwards. They ran to it. A group of soldiers appeared, ascending the stairs two at a time. Shanae slowed them, and Lifei kicked the first one over. They went like dominoes. Aida pulled a bottle out of her pocket. It was filled with a fine blue powder. She sprinkled it in a line at the door. Then, she tossed a palmful of fire at the powder. A line of blue flames sprang up, and the approaching soldiers stopped. Some of them did, anyway. Others continued like robots, the flames charring their skin black.
KILL THEM! Shouted the voice from before. The guards that had braves the fires- quite a few- continued towards the children and their guardians. Down the staircase they ran, through the corridors. Still the guards came. Ana whipped one of them. The guard fell to the ground. Cassandra drew her sword. She darted forward, stabbed the soldier, and darted back as one of the soldier's fellows swiped at her. The soldier on the ground stiffened, then turned into sand. The sand held the shape of a soldier for a moment, before collapsing into a heap of brown grit.
"Here!" Yelled a voice from behind them. Anna lunged forward, slashing with her daggers. The first two soldiers turned into sand, but the third raised his sword and met her blows. Another soldier raised her sword. Cassandra, spurred on now by the fact that these were not living beings but in fact were walking piles of sand, lunged forward. She parried, did some fancy move and opened up the soldier's belly. Sand poured out, and the soldier collapsed. Shanae froze the other soldier. Anna stabbed the slowed down soldier in the face, and he collapsed.
"Come on!" Said the Wiper. He strode to the black iron doors, tall and imposing. Five tall, golden masked figures stood around a stone structure. They wore bright green uniforms with golden tassels. The structure was as tall as my waist. It was rectangular, and lying on it was Exitium. His head was the closest to us, and standing in front of Exitium was a figure dressed in brown robes and a hood that obscured his features. In one hand he held a spear, though the blade was so large, he could use it like an axe. The entire spear was made of metal.
"Ruspard," snarled the Wiper.
The brown clad figure inclined his head. He pointed at them. The masked figures brandished long, gleaming swords that had a greenish tint when the flickering fire light caught them.
There was silence.
Ruspard slammed the bottom of the spear onto the ground.
BONG. The metallic sound filled the room.
The masked figures attacked.
