6 ~ Inescapable Fate
The band of misfits made
their way up the stairs of the dark tower, wondering how they would ever rescue
their long lost friend and defeat the unstoppable Empress Shard.
“Are we there yet?” Christina
asked as she sluggishly dragged her feet along in fatigue.
“You asked that five minutes
ago,” Misty replied. “Why don’t you just zap us there like you did Jack and
Jill?”
“Jester and Anna,” Lui
corrected.
“That’s what I said, Joker
and Jenna.”
“We’re both right next to
you,” Anna mumbled in annoyance. After a sigh, she turned to Jester and asked,
“So what’s it take to get their memories back? Or even their normal
personalities back…”
“I don’t know, but I’m pretty
sure it will be resolved once we save Hanna.”
“Pretty sure?” Lui asked with
a hint of worry.
“42 percent sure.” Noticing
Anna’s frown, Jester added, “Don’t sweat it. You got me with you!”
“That’s so reassuring.”
Anna’s sarcasm went unnoticed. She suddenly stopped in front of two big, red
doors. “Oh hey, we’re here.”
“Do we have a plan?” DJ
inquired.
“Find Hanna,” said Lui.
“Defeat Shard,” said Anna.
“Find the exit,” said Misty.
“Save the world,” said
Jester.
“Make a giant cupcake out of
unicorns and rainbows!” exclaimed Christina. Mixed expressions of confusion,
shock, and fear made the following silence slightly uncomfortable.
“Well that escalated
quickly.” Anna pointed at the doors. “Maybe we should just go inside and see
what happens.”
Christina nodded with a very
serious expression and said, “That is either madness or brilliance.”
“It’s remarkable how often
those two traits coincide,” a mysterious voice said. Shard stepped out of the
shadows of the stairwell.
“SHARD!” Anna drew her sword
and Jester’s created balls of electricity in each hand.
The empress made no sudden
movement, only walked ever so gracefully through the group and to the doors.
Frost formed on the doors and they gently swung open. Raising an eyebrow at the
motley crew, Shard asked, “Well aren’t you going to come inside?”
Christina was the first to
walk through the entrance with a big grin on her face. “Thanks a lot, you’re
not half as mean as they say you are!”
Misty was the next to walk
through. “Mighty kind of you,” she said as she passed Shard.
DJ walked through with Lui
close behind. DJ gave a nod toward the empress while Lui hid behind his
original. Shard smiled politely to all her guests. Once only Anna and Jester
were left, the doors slammed shut and froze over.
“Now that the pleasantries are behind us…” Shard’s
polite smile disappeared. She stretched her neck until it popped and cracked
her knuckles. “I am pleased you made it through the last challenge where I
pretended I was going to kill you by chucking you out a window. I am very happy
for your success. I’m throwing a party in honor of your tremendous success. All
your friends are invited and there will be cake. And flooding.”
“LIES!” Jester shouted as he
attacked Shard first. Sending bolts of lightning at Shard, the electricity hit
only to fizzle out. Anna followed with a quick downward slash, which Shard
stopped by dropping a block of ice on her attacker. Jester threw a ball of
flame at Shard only to watch it get devoured by a wave of water.
“Look,” Shard said calmly. “You’re
wasting your time. And believe me, you don’t have a whole lot left to waste.
What’s your point anyway? Survival? Well then, the last thing you want to do is
hurt me. Not that you can. By the way, your friends are slowly drowning on the
other side of those doors. So this isn’t brave. It’s murder.”
No comments:
Post a Comment