Spitting Image.

“Alright! So, I have a question for you!” Stitch exclaimed suddenly as we were finally advancing toward where the ‘main’ entrance to the Depths is considered to be. “Mr. Thief, you have a device you got from Naja to get us into the Depths, ya?”

“That’s right.” I answered her.

“So…how’d we get in before then without a device?” she questioned Gideon.

Vael answered her, “It’s my assumption that because the Alzaadal Ruins are so vast, there is still quite a bit of them left unexplored and as such there may very well be other entrances into the depths not yet discovered. We got in through one such entrance.”

“Aaah! That big door that shut behind and took Kat’s arm off, eh?” Stitch giggled.

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” Katurian whispered, “Probably won’t be the last.”

“In theory, ” I began to explain, “We very well could find a way to infiltrate the Depths without the use of this trinket, but I don’t think we’d be as lucky as you all were when you found that entrance. Could take us weeks, even months.”

“Alright, hold up a moment.” Drevan put his hand back towards us, “The entrance is just up a head. But, being the main point of the Depths there are a couple Immortals guarding it.”

“How many is a couple?” I asked.

“Last I knew, probably 6 or 7 and…where’d that Kat fellow go?” my Father asked looking around.

Katurian had in fact, vanished suddenly without any of us noticing. Before anyone had any chance to offer an explanation, one was given to us. There was a very brief scream in the direction of the Depths entrance and then Katurian suddenly materialized in Shadow Form behind my father.

“Our problem is solved.”

Quickly hurrying to the entrance we were greeted by Katurian’s redecoration. There were several spots around the entrance that were simply large area’s of ground, rock, foliage and the depth walls itself covered in blood and gore.

Tarawath gently laid her hand on my shoulder and looked away as though she was going to be sick. My fathers mouth was nearly hanging on the floor, but he said nothing.

The doors to the depths themselves were massive pieces of architecture. An enormous archway with various runes and etchings made from top to bottom, and in the very center of the door down near the bottom, no high then a Hume would stand was white glowing orb. I left Tara’s side for a moment and took out the device I had taken from Naja.

“OH!” Stitch exclaimed suddenly and I think everyone jumped a little bit, “I have another question!”

“Heh…what is it Stitch?” Gideon asked arms crossed and a look of amusement on her lips.

“So, if the Empire has ways of opening this door and getting inside, why is it so special? Why isn’t just part of the other ruins? You know? Those don’t need some super, secret special device to be accessed.”

I put the device near the orb, “You’ll find out shortly.” There was a single red button on the device and upon pressing it the doors emitted a loud crack and long, ancient roar. The glowing orb lit up and hummed as the massive plates slowly began to slide back into the rocks which surrounded them. Immediately I was hit with a mixture of dead air and mildew coming from inside the depths, as well as fresh air rushing into the doorway from behind me. I peered into the opened gateway as the rest of the group gathered around me.

My father chuckled, “Well, I guess that would be your reason.” He smiled as he pointed to another set of smaller doors several yards in front of us.

“Well, this is exactly why we hired your son Mr. Landis.” Gideon smirked

“And exactly why I brought the old timer.” I patted my father’s shoulder, “Shall we?”

“For some reason it doesn’t surprise me you need me to do your all your work for you.” He snorted, “…your mom had to do all mine.” We walked into the large opening just inside the door, “So what do we have here?”

“According to what Miss Salaheem told me…these here.” I pointed to a set of vials shaped like hour glasses in the wall, affixed in such a way they could be rotated, “Will start the trial.”

“The trial, huh?” my father inspected closely without actually touching them, he looked to the other side of the room on the side of the door opposite to us. “Same fixtures over there.”

“Yea. The theory is, that behind this big door is the way into the Depths, the main way. Sort of like, what a Grand Hall might be.” I pointed to the two doors on the side, “These doorways lead to two passages that run parallel to the Grand Hall. Unlike the Grand Hall, however, at the end of these passage ways are two terminals. Both of which must be activated simultaneously in order to open the door to the Grand Hall.”

“Well, that doesn’t seem to hard!” Stitch appeared suddenly between the two of us, “Why’s it such a big secret then?”

“The terminal paths are rigged with fatal booby traps, perilous death pits and other such unsavory obstacles.” I grinned.

“Ooooh, K! This is definitely not my area of expertise!” she turned on her heals and walked away, Katurian was near as well over hearing the explanation of the situation.

“The problem, however, is even worse then that. Not only do the terminals need to be pressed at the same time…but we’re timed on how quickly we get there and we must arrive at the same time. At key points throughout the side halls large flood gates drop down blocking the return. These will fall if either, (a) the time limit for each section expires, or, (b) someone completes the section – there are, they think, pressure plates the end of a section so if the two participants don’t complete each section at the same time…”

“Game over.” Katurian says, coming closer. “So that’s why you brought your father?”

“Just as all the great Alchemists familiarize themselves with the works of each other; just as all the famous Goldsmiths are aware of each others talents; so to, are the most notorious and inventive of Rogue’s and Thieves aware of how the underground art works.” I said looking first at Katurian, then over to Drevan.

“Except for one.”

“It was never proven, however,” I smirked and my father returned the smile full of pride, “If any of them were linked or how many actually pulled off the heists. But, there was a pair of thieves who are infamous throughout Vana’diel not for their reputation, or their names – as those are still unknown – but only for the unsolved burglaries and thefts that remain unsolved and to this day still baffle authorities.”

“And I suppose this is where I’m suppose to believe it was your father?” Katurian hissed.

“Of course not.” I said, “They were unsolved. Who knows who it could be.”

“Mmm.” Katurian shrugged, “Regardless, I see one…two fatal flaws in your plan.”

“And that would be?”

“In this case? Elvaan error. You’re both only human beings after all. No matter how well practiced or physically engineered you believed yourself to be – there’s still room for error. Even though you’re linked by blood – timing is still a very critical issue on the other side of these walls.”

“And I suppose you have a better solution?” Drevan asked crossing his arms.

“Shadows move without restraint or rules to govern them…” Katurian said as he slowly began to dissipate from his shadow form into pure dark energy – like a mist he began to swirl and thin out. As this was happening several small orbs on the walls, which I believed to be only decorations at this point, started to glow a soft white color before faint beams of light shot from each into Katurian and quickly reverted him back to his Elvaan form. He looked just as confused as we did, before we could say anything and I silently instructed my father that we shouldn’t say anything, Katurian went up to one of the Orbs.

“What is it Kat?” Gideon came in, she had also witnessed the event.

“These orbs…they look very similar to the Astral Candescence.” He said, “They aren’t…but, there are rumors of other Astral Candescence being hidden away inside the ruins. Perhaps these are somehow linked to them? They work as a…security device, for…unwanted magic.” He turned back to us, “I can be of no use here.” He quickly left the room to the outside where the others were waiting.

“…and no got turned into a pile of burning flesh. I say that’s a good omen.” I grinned at Gideon.

“Just get us inside, Long-ears.” She returned to the others, leaving me and my father alone in front of the massive gates and two small doors.

“Shall we then?” Drevan asked walking over and taking his place in front of the left door. “…how do we get them to open?”

“Oh…um…” I inspected the door and then turned my attention to the small hourglass like item embedded in the wall. As I took a closer look, it seemed it was affixed to some type of swiveling device. The moment I touched it, it began to glow and hum similar to the orbs on the wall that sapped Katurian’s powers. The doors then shot open.

“Not bad, Kid.” My father smiled, “I’d be impressed if I thought you’d done that on purpose. Now…show me you following in my footsteps wasn’t a complete waste!” my fathered and I both stepped through the threshold, the doors shutting down tight behind us.

Once in the hallway, I could see that it was indeed one long gauntlet of death. Small holes in the sides of the wall foretold of darts or arrows. Further ahead I heard the scythe wisp of terrible pendulums and the echoing sloshes of deep pits homing a watery tomb. To my right was a solid wall, but to my left, was a clear glass and a view into the middle corridor that led into the depths. Just behind that was another clear wall were I could see my father also taking in his surroundings which from what little I could see was just like mine. The sight line must’ve been put in place so that the two attempting to override the fail safe could time their movements more precisely. My fathered nodded to me. We began.

I took a step forward and as soon as I did, I felt the slight pressure and click of a trap plate. The walls began to shift and I noticed the tiny holes in the wall began to swivel and shift slightly. My eyes went wide as I heard a distinguishable click, the sounding of bolts being loaded. In the tiny cramped space it was impossible to know exactly where they were being loaded into. Though it could cost me a bit of time, I had no choice but to recklessly throw my body weight backwards towards the door as quick and hard as possible. I hit the door hard, knocking the wind out of my lungs as a spray of needle-like darts puffed out of the floor and the wall in a pattern so precise, it left no room for error…or even breathing from my judgment. I glanced over to my father, great minds must think a like, he had done the same as me. As I watched the apparatus, it seemed it had three phases; the first sprayed mostly floor darts straight up, with a few wall darts forward, there was just enough room for me to shimmy along the wall. The second phase, which came three seconds after the first, sprayed mostly wall darts, straight across the hallway, and a few floor darts towards the glass wall, giving me a split second to put myself on the floor against the solid wall. The last phase was a mirror reflection of the first, coming two seconds after the second phase, which meant I’d need to make distance to get ahead of the angle of the wall darts as they shifted back. By the time I had my timing down, my father had already gone, one phase ahead of me. I caught him flash a competitive grin towards me, either he had a lot of faith or…yea, I’ll stick with that one. My father must’ve had a lot of faith in me.

I hit the ground hard against the corner of the solid wall as I heard the darts loading up. The good thing about this phase, is with the angle of the floor darts, there was a constant opening all down the path, so though it was a short time I was able to crawl a few feet before I had to shot back up and bound across the way and line up correctly that the third phase barrage didn’t pin me to what I was sure was a venomous death. I’m pretty sure I saw Drevan misjudge a timing at one point, and though he was lucky not to take any darts to his persons, he did lose time, which worked out better for us because we both ended up stepping on the next set of pressure plates at the exact same time – giant slabs of concrete fell down behind us blocking off any point of return at this point.

Before us now stood a different type of obstacle, one not of wits and calculations as before, but of balance and agility. The sloshing sound of watery grave stood before me. A long pit that went so far down it was almost impossible to make out the array of pikes and other tools of impalement at the bottom with several skeletal forms. Above all of this was several shifting platforms and rotating beams. This might have been a bit more easy if it wasn’t for the dripping condensation on the ceiling splattering them with a slick and slippery coat of sea slime. I peered over quickly to my father, and there was no sight of him. Panic began to quickly set in, when he suddenly appeared from below the platforms and beams, landing on one on of the large platforms and wiping his hands clean. He must’ve been using the bars and supports on the platforms to swing across, rather then take the risk of slipping off the platforms as he stepped from one to the other. He was making very quick headway as I still stood stupefied on my own end at what I thought to be his near demise. I had the dexterity to mimic him, but again, his false start was more of a challenge then it was of ignorance. At that moment the solid wall caught my eye, I hadn’t noticed it in the room before, but the fact that this room was victim to the elemental of the sea the wall had begun to erode slightly. An idea began to spawn in my mind as I took out my dagger and gripped it hard in my hand. I braced myself, hunkered down as I tensed my muscles and in a burst of speed as I thrust my dagger into the wall as a hold I focused all my energy into quickening my movement, the speed of my body, everything seemed to slow around me as I scaled forward across the wall, the dagger in the concrete giving just enough support to keep me from falling to fast. I made it just far enough that as I lost my grip and fell I was able to reach a hand out and grab the support of a platform moving away. I’d have to be fast to pull myself up before the platform shot back and cut off my grip. I sheathed the dagger and swung myself forward, backwards then as I came forward again lifted my legs, wrapping them around the beam in front of me, letting go of the support on my hands just as the platform shot back around. I quickly sat up and grabbed the beam my legs were on pulled myself up. My father was grinning across at me, hopping back and forth carefully from the last two platforms – he had technically beat me, but I could tell he was still a bit impressed. Even though he’d never admit it. I hopped a few more and was right even with him.

We stepped on the next pressure plate at the same time as the doors slammed down behind us again…

~ by Kallo on April 8, 2009.