The maze of twilight

[Lan]

A great forest constanstly inveloped in fog. You think you know where you are, who you are, and where you are going, but it doesn't take long in the great maze of twilight to lose yourself.
The trees shift and change in an unnatural pattern. It is said that this maze was created very very long ago by the architects of time and space themselves.

[Lan]

Lan slowly opened his eyes, still groggy from what had happened...hours...days ago?
How long had he been here, lying on the ground in a strange place. He slowly rose to his feet and took a few tentative steps forward, only to fall back in a daze.
There was a fog so thick that it seemed to cling to him.
He rose back to his feet an slowly shuffled forward, focusing all his attention to keep himself from falling over again.
He groped in front of him to find something to cling to in the sea of fog.
He quickened his pace, now more alert and his head clearing.
His hand found a tree and hung on to it. He stood there for a second regaining his wits.
Once he had cleared his head the fog didn't seem so thick and he set off in a risk pace into the forest of trees.


An hour or so had pat and Lan was starting to have doubts.
Who was he? Why was he here? and....oof! He tripped over a root that wasn't there before. Something was going on.
He unsheathed his katana and held it in from of him. "luminous" he muttered and his sword lit up and allowed him to see ahead of him. *crack*.
Someone...or somthing...was to the left, behind a particularly thick patch of scrub and bushes.
A red spot darted back and forth and suddenly something sprang out and landed on top of him, snarling and tearing with its claws.

Lan lashed out with his katana the metal met flesh.
A warm and sticky liquid splashed on his face, and he heard the creature scamper of into the forest.
Lan glanced down at his hands...it wasn't blood..or blood of any creature he had ever read about or seen.
The blood was dark blue yet had a dull glow to it. Lan checked himself over and bandages his wounds with torn cloth from his tunic.
He set off at a slower pace, his katana held in front of him and ready to slash.


Shortly after his encounter with the strange creature he came to a small clearing and decided to rest and gain his strength.
He had no idea what time it was because if there was any sunlight, it would never be able to penetrate the fog.
He sat down, drenched with sweat and covered in mud and leaves, his tunic torn and smeared with blue blood, and his blond hair not so blond now.
Anyone who saw him now would not see him as an imposing figure, but as a tramp who had been in a fight then trampled by a cart pulled by four oxen.
He but his flask to his dry lips but it was empty, the last drop spent at least two hours ago.
He laid his head on a rock, which felt like a satin pillow stuffed with the finest down, and dozed off.


It was morning...or night he couldn't tell, but he still felt as tired as when he had went to sleep.
He knew he had to keep moving though.
*crack*
There it was, the red eyed monster, back to kill him while he slept?
He slowly unsheathed his katana, ready to attack.
To his surprise the creature crawled foreword, wimpering in submission.
And then, to his greater surprise, it spoke.
Not like a human speaks but in a strange cracked tone with a hint of a low growl.
"Please,please, do not stick me again, my Lord, please, I thought you was one of them rich folk that stumble in the maze, and I need me coins for the hall, no? Yes I needs me coins, but it was not my fault!" Lan looked at the strange creature for a second, it looked like one of his gargoyle statues at his old castle, but it's face looked...kind of like a bird's, but with a large hole with hundreds of tiny teeth where the beak should be.
"Fine" he said , "I will spare you, and bandage your wound, but you have to help me get out of this forest."
The creature wimpered and shook its head so vigorously that Lan thought it was trying to kill itself, but the creature stopped and held up its winged arm for him to bandage.
Lan tore a strip of cloth and put it over the creatures wound.
As soon as he was done the creature ran off into the woods, and Lan tried to run after it.
That little traitor! he thought to himself.
Lan sighed and set off into the woods, now with less energy. He would need food soon, and he felt weak from lack of water. He couldn't warm himself by using magic, because he was so weak and tired.


Three hours later Lan collapsed face-first in the mud, alone in an endless forest left to die.



((I'm back in business! YEEEE-HAAAAW!))

[Lan]

Lan awoke lying on something soft and had a horrible headache.
He heard voices around him but couldn't tell what they were saying.
they seemed to be talking in some strange language.
Or else his headache was so bad he couldn't think straight.
Something jabbed into his arm and he felt an enormous pain all through his body.
He blacked out again.


When he woke up again his headache was gone but there was a throbbing pain in his leg and in in his arm where he had been jabbed earlier on that morning.
He looked at his arm and cried out, because instead of his old arm, there was a shimmering white light in the shape of an arm and hand ((if you've read harry potter it's like the hand Voldemort gave to Wormtail.))
His scream must have alerted someone, because he heard someone shout "He's awake!"
Then he heard footsteps coming, and in stepped the gargoyle creature with something else that looked like a cross between a rat and a man.
"How are you doing?" said the rat creature.
"How am I doing?!' Lan shouted so loud at the creature that it flinched and said in a hushed tone, "please don't yell or strain your body, Your arm is still developing and the slightest disturbance could destroy all of my work.
Ignoring the rat-man he yelled "Where is my arm?!"
The rat said "Please! Don't yell, when we found you the acid had already got your arm, you are a very lucky one, usually the acid takes up the entire body before it can be found."
"In fact, the acid is usually faster than it is, you must have a very power full artifact on you."
Lan's hand went instinctively to his amulet, holding on to it and feeling its warmth.
"Actually you should consider yourself blessed by the architects that you didn't get transformed like I or Grum here." He waved his hand at the gargoyle creature that had abandoned him earlier in the day.
"Why did you leave me?" asked Lan.
"I went to get help my lord, but when I came back, you were gone."
Lan looked at his arm and flexed it.
It felt more powerful, and lighter than his old arm, which had apparently been eaten away by acid.
"It will be fully developed in a matter of days" said the rat creature.
"It will be much, much stronger than your old one."


"Where am I?" asked Lan.
"Why, in the Great Hall."
"Rest up, and in a day or two we'll show you around."

[Lan]

Lan woke up and looked at his arm, which was now apparently fully developed.
He looked around the room and stood up and walked over to a desk. He picked up a steel ingot that was being used as a paper weight and squeezed it in his hand.
The ingot broke in two, and he hadn't even tried. He looked at his hand, and a shard of metal had stuck into it, yet he felt no pain. He pulled out the shard and where it had been there was a small hole which healed itself so quickly he jumped in surprise.
"having fun?" said a voice behind him.
Lan spun around so quickly he nearly lost his balance.
"Oi, didn't mean to scare ye lad." Said the voice, which belonged to another strange creature.
This one looking strangely like a bear but walked on two legs and carried a javelin encrusted in many different colored jewels.
"Professor oblong told me to show you around the great hall."


The bear showed him around. The inside looked similar to the inside of his old castle, but had a red glow to the stones it was made from.
"And this heres the dining hall, where we have our meetings."
"How many of "you" are there?" asked Lan.
"At last count ummm.....he pulled out a paper from his pocket and squinted at it.
"At last count there were 45,683.4 denizens of the great hall."
"point four?" asked Lan.
"Long story..long sad story." replied the bear.
"Don't go anywhere around here unless you're with a guide." said the creature.
"Where exactly is "here" asked Lan.
"Here is the great hall." said the bear.
"But where on Earth is the great hall?
"Earth? by golly there are more and more portals every day." muttered the bear.
"Well the great hall is neither here nor there, but a matter of when and why...or is it how and who? Ah well the fact is the great hall exists on many different places and worlds in the architects universe. In fact it is said that a portal leads to the architects private quarters. And only the Expected can enter."
"the expected?" asked Lan.
"Oh I've gone and shot me mouth off haven't I?" said the bear.
"Not aloud to tell."
Try as he might Lan couldn't get one more piece of information out of the bear.


At night Lan crept silently through the halls, looking for a portal to Earth.
He had to get back and help Zeth!

[Lan]

SOMEWHERE IN THE GREAT MAZE OF TWILIGHT
[glow=red,2,300]~"Is it complete?"[/glow]
~"Not yet sir, but we expect it to be fully operationable by the end of tommorrow."
[glow=red,2,300]~"It should be ready NOW!!!!"[/glow]
~"ack!"....*gurgle"...... *thump.
[glow=red,2,300]~"It will be done tonight......or I will see to it personally!"[/glow]

[Lan]

Lan peered around a corner, checking for any guards, before he slipped into a shadow.
He was looking for a portal back to Earth, he had been gone for two weeks, though it felt for like two years. Suddenly a hand gripped his arm and before he could cry out he was knocked unconious with a blow to the head.


[glow=red,2,300]"So, this is the one in the book?" [/glow]The cloaked figure guestures at Lans motionless form sprawled on the floor in front of him.
"Yes sir, he fits the description perfectly and we found this on him sir." The soldier held out Lan's medallion.
[glow=red,2,300]"Good, let me end this so we can at last capture the great hall." [/glow]The soldier handed the man in the cloak a sheath, and from it the figure withdrew a long, slender black blade, making a sickening sound as it left the sheath.
Lan twitched and peered up just as the blade came swooshing down, in a perfect angle that would take his head clean off.

[Lan]

Just as the blade was about to hit its mark, the hooded figure screamed in pain and dropped the sword.
"Master!" the soldier cried out and rushed over to the hooded figure.
"What happened?" the soldier asked in fear. for he had never seen any weakness in his master.
"The pendant around his neck!" the figure rasped.
"It's an ancient artifact with an incredible power!"
"It stopped me from killing him."
"What should we do with him if we cant kill him?" the soldier asked.
"Make him as uncomfortable as possible, throw him in the dungeon."

The last thing Lan saw after the soldier picked him up was a dark, damp floor.

[Lan]

Lan woke the next day, soaked and cold. He whispered a spell that would heat his body but because he was so weak it didn't work.
He crawled in his cell, in the dark, on his hands and knees making his way through filth, fingering the walls for any way out.
There was none.
A few hours later a slat opened up in the wall and a small shaft of light hit his face, nearly blinding him. A guards face looked in, and something was pushed in through the opening.
He crawled over to it, it was some food, some moldy bread and a small stone cup of water. The water had spilled on the floor though, and was undrinkable now that it had mixed with the sludge on the cell floor.
He ravenously bit into the bread, and nearly broke a tooth when he bit down on something metal.

[Lan]

Lan looked at the bread and- couldn't see a thing. He fingered the bread and picked up a short shaft of metal. It was sharp on one end and bent in the middle- a lockpick.
A crude one but it would do.
But who had put the lockpick in the bread? Was there a friend nearby?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lan didn't know what time it was, but he knew he had to escape soon. The robed man had talked about destroying the great hall.
But the great hall had physical links with other worlds. Made by the architects of time. If those link were destroyed, the worlds would be, too.
He had to escape and stop them.
He tried the pick in the door, making slight ajustments, until he heard the best sound he had ever heard in his life. *click*
The door was unlocked, he was free!
Now to escape...

[anasa]

"Meh......taquitos"
Anasa had no idea why she said this. It was the first thing that came to mind when she finally regained consciousness. Her head throbbed and she blinked stupidly, looking around. However, the looking was quite unsuccesful, as there was a heavy fog. What had happened to her? She was meeting her tutor for her daily magic lessons, then....nothing.

Legs shaking, she heaved herself upon, resting one hand on her knee and the other on a nearby tree.

SHUNK!!!

Suddenly, there was nothing supporting her and she crashed onto the ground, landing on her side. She let out a gasp and looked up. The trees had shifted??

"Please, fairies, don't be mad at me! I only want to find my way out! I'm sorry if I wasn't supposed to touch that tree! I didn't know!!" She got on her kneese and clasped her hands together in front of her, for, you see, Anasa had always possessed the conviction, as her parents, grandparents, and great-grandparents had, that all things in nature were controlled by the fairies and that humankind must do all it can to appease them.

"Now, I wonder where I am," Once again, she got up on her wobbly legs, now calmer for she knew that the fairies would guide her, "Wait a second. Heavy fog...shifting trees...Teacher told me about this! The maze of twilight!"

Suddenly, she felt a sharp pain on the back of her head, and all turned to darkness.

[Lan]

Lan peeres around the corner.
another long hallway
But then...the sound of feet, coming from the end of the hallway.
Lan tensed and prepared himself.
Right as the person stepped around the corner, whistling softly, Lan's hand delivered a crushing blow to the man's windpipe. The man crumpled to the ground, a gurgling sound coming from his throat.
Lan knew he had to hide the unconscious guard, so he used some rope binding a torch to the wall to tie the man's hands behind his back, and ripped a strip of clth from his tunic to gag him.
He rolled the man into his old cell and shut the door.
No one would know he was missing until the guards came to deliver his food.
He ran back down the hallway, and ran into a room, gaasping for breath.
Once he gained his breath he looked around him, the room was an armory, filled with lances and chainmail like the guards wore.
Lan nonchlontly took a pike from the wall and some chainmail.
He made sure to get a full face helmet so no one would notice him.
He continued out of the room, looking like any other guard, and strode down the hall looking like he was on an important errand and not to be bothered.

[anasa]

((ABSZ M ZR NBVHGZXWS ooops Translation: "Thanks"))

SMACK

She heard it before she felt it, her cheek suddenly burning. She looked up and saw a hideous creature glaring into her face.
"So she's awake, eh?" it growled, "Good. Because we've got some questions for you."
Anasa stared blankly at the creature for a few seconds before saying, "Your parents musta done SUMTHIN to tick the fairies off, cause PHEW!!"

BONK!!

The creature punched her then said more forcefully, "Shut up, girlie, and tell us about your teacher!"

"My...huh?"

"Your teacher, girlie!"

"A teacher?" She looked down at her uniform, "That's right. I'm a...pupil. Where is this place?" She looked around and saw that she was in a great palace, with glowing red stones. "Nice place ya got here. Maybe the fairies don't entirely hate you."

"Oh, shut up, girlie! Fairies ain't nothin. They ain't real, even if they were, I'd eat em up in a second."

She narrowed her eyes, which changed from cool blue to deep violet.

"WwwwwwhhhhhhhhAAAAAAATTTTTTT??!!!!!"

[anasa]

((Eshu u ame. Translation: "Thank you very much."))

Her two red ponytails whipped around in a sudden breeze. She stood and locked all of her energy onto the creature.

"VISH!!!!" A sudden gust of wind shoved the creature away and sent him flying into one of the stone walls, then collapsing.

Without waiting to see if it would come after her, she ran out of the chamber into an even grander room, then down several hallways that all looked the same. Panting and wheezing, she dropped to the ground.
"Okay, I have forgotten quite a lot of things, but these I remember:
1. Fairies shall conquer all.
2. The Vish spell
3. My name is Anasa.
4. I'm a pupil.
5. I was just in the twilight maze.
6. Fairies shall conquer all.
7. Fairies shall conquer all."

Hmmmm......a nice start, but she still needed awnsers.

[Lan]

Lan had been strolling through the halls for hours, and still hadn't found a way out, this place must be massive, because he hadn't been in the same hall twice, he was sure about it.
After another 30 minutes or so he came upon a hatchery, where guards, with no respect at all for what they were doing, were breeding wyverns and war lizards. He had always been fond of wyverns, and was taken aback at the way even the eggs were treated, put in barrels on top of each other with no warmth or padding to keep the egg from cracking.
Then he saw something, a hole in the ceiling, to let some sunlight in, just big enough for a small wyvern with its wings folded, or a human riding one lan thought.
He waited until all the guards had left and slipped in, running his hand along the rough wood of the railings where they kept the wyverns.
He stopped in one pin, a beautiful young wyvern, a girl, was curled up sleeping in a corner, she had bruises and marks on her where she had been beaten while trained.
She open her eyes and squealed when she saw him in the guard suit.
The suit meant pain, and he was in the suit.
He noticed this and took off his helmet.
"Easy girl, I'm not gunna hurt you, I'm here to get out, and I think we both want the same thing.
amazingly the wyvern seemed to understand, and only flinched a little as he put a wyvern saddle over her back.
right as he was on her back, a guard had strolled in, holding a little box full of what probably was some form of drug.
The guard looked up and saw Lan on the wyvern and shouted.
"Hey you there, stop! only officials are allowed to ride...." his sentence was cut off and Lan's wyvern shot a stream of fire into his face and he ran out into the hall screaming.
Lan knew that it wouldn't be long until someone saw him, then the alarm would be raised.
He knew how to ride a wyvern, he had done it many times before on his island, skimming the water.
He said the word that would get a wyvern started-"kup"
The wyvern rose into the air and with a bit of coaxing rose through the hole int he roof.
He was in the air, catching his breath as he looked at the land around him.
This wasn't the great maze, It was a city!
His thought were interrupted as an arrow flew into his new arm and snapped in two.
He knew it was time to leave.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Lan had found a cave about a mile away from the city that could only be seen from the air.
He had settled down against the wyvern, which he had named Tain'yel (which translated from his old language roughly means lucky one))
They were escaped from the castle, but still had a short amount of time to warn the great hall, if he didn't many lives would be lost.
Tomorrow he would find a way.

[anasa]

"Grrrrrumble"

Anasa held her empty stomach mournfully. Hungry at a time like this... What could she do? Suddenly, a delicious smell found its way to her. Mouth watering, she got up and walked towards to source, only realizing what was going on when it was too late.

She stumbled into a huge dining hall, the heavy red doors slamming behind her...