Altar-ations To The Plan

Blood begins to drip off from the bottom of John's sword. The tip of his sword is still firmly planted within the foe in the shadows, and John is apprehensive to remove it right away.

Eventually, he slowly pulls the sword back, dislodging it from the flesh of the foe in the shadows. As the blade is removed, John hears a heavy thud, assuming it to be the body of the person he just stabbed.

"Are they... dead?" Lani asks with fear still in her voice.

"I think so. Lemme check." John then moves forward to where he thinks the body dropped, keeping his sword ready, just in case they aren't fully dead.

As John moves forward, he can see that the figure from just a few moments ago, is now lying on the floor, completely still. In John's mind however, that makes this even more unnerving.

John gets closer to the body, and even then, the body is still shrouded in darkness apart. The only thing that he can make out is some white hair. "Hey Lani. Do you have any spells that can light this place up? We shouldn't have to hide anymore."

"Can do." Lani says before muttering some words that John doesn't understand. Just then, a teeny glowing orb forms in front of Lani before floating upwards for a few seconds. The light from the orb then almost explodes out, and the entire room is lit up like New York at Christmas time.

Immediately, John covers his eyes after getting flashbanged for just a second. After a few moments pass, he moves his hand, and luckily, the light isn't so blinding to him.

He then looks down at the body, and loses his breath once again sees that the foe in the shadows is a white-haired woman with a sword in hand, and a hole in her chest while wearing a familiar looking set of robes. The hair is draped over her face, so neither John nor Lani can see who it is.

John, after taking a nervous breath, decides to kneel down and move the hair from her face. As he begins to move the hair, his eyes go wide as he sees the ear of an elf peeking through the white. Lani also sees this, and she begins to worry as well.

Eventually, John decides to rip off the figurative band-aid, and move away the last of the hair. As his hand brushes the hair away from the woman's face, both he and Lani look down...

And breathe a sigh of relief.

"Must be the woman we heard talking." John says as he kneels down.

"Well, if she's down here, then..." Just as Lani lingers on that last word, she quickly flies down to the woman's pocket before grabbing some keys and flying back up. "Then surely Terra has to be behind that door."

John grabs the keys from Lani before turning to the door, "Let's hope anyway."

John inserts the key into the lock before twisting said key. As he does, he hears the lock click, and after it unlocks, he grabs the handle before turning it.

The door jerks open, and John carefully pushes it forward with his sword still in his right hand, ready to strike once again if needed.

The metal door whines as it's carefully opened up by John. After a few seconds, John makes the decision to just open it uo the rest of the way, and quickly opens the cell door the rest of the way.

As he looks around, he immediately sees an unconscious woman lying on the floor. Her hands and feet are bound, her mouth is gagged, and she is blindfolded. Her hair is as white as the clouds and her skin is as pale as snow.

After the seemingly long night and early morn of searching, they have finally found Terra Tarron.

"Terra!" John exclaims happily, causing Lani to fly in as he goes to unbind her.

"She's here! We found her!" Lani then presses on her communicator, "Kyuala! Amilia! We've found her!"

As Lani finishes, she prepares herself for the onslaught of questions from Amilia... but nothing comes through. She's confused as she knows for a fact that both Kyuala and Amilia would've immediately asked about her.

As John cuts through Terra's feet bindings, he looks at Lani and says, "Something isn't right. Amilia would've asked a million questions about Terra right now, and would still be going. We need to get back to Virra and get upstairs ASAP."

"Agreed." Lani answers. She then looks at the seemingly unconscious Terra and says, "But first, we need to wake her up."

John immediately begins to shake her, albeit gently. After a few moments of the shaking, Lani gets an idea before making her bag appear. She ruffled through the bag for a good few seconds before grabbing a small tied pouch, "Here, crush that and put it under her nose."

John takes the pouch from Lani's hand and brings it over to Terra before following Lani's instruction. He crushes the pouch, feeling a few pops and cracks inside said pouch before quickly putting it under Terra's nose.

The pouch emits a strong smell, and John immediately chalks the pouch up to being this world's form of smelling salts. He then gently moves the pouch under Terra's nose for a few seconds, hoping the pouch works its figurative magic.

A few moments go by, and eventually Terra begins to stir. Terra begins gently cough as her eyes barely open before she begins to speak, "If this is another ploy by your leader. Tell him that he has a better chance becoming a dragon."

"Terra, it's us. It's John and Lani. We've found you."

Terra starts opening her eyes a bit more, and even through the partial squint, she can see that it is not a ploy. The man standing in front of her is indeed John Doe.

"John...? It's really you! You're really here!"

Terra immediately latches onto John, wrapping her arms around him like she never wanted to let go. John then returns the hug, holding his friend in his arms as tears begin to stream down her face.

"I knew you all would find me! I knew it!" Terra says through sobs.

"It's okay. We're here now, all of us. Hell, even Virra showed up to help us find you."

Lani then flies over, joining the hug which puts an even bigger smile on Terra's face. "I'm so glad you're here, Lani. I knew you'd keep them all in check."

Lani laughs, "Of course. You know that none of us would ever leave you. We're your friends, and we'll do anything to help you out."

More tears fall down Terra's face after Lani's words before burying her face into John's chest once again.

"Well, as much as I would like this to be the end, we have another problem." John starts, causing Terra to pull her head back before asking, "What is it?"

Lani then chimes in, "Kyuala and Amilia didn't answer back to my attempt to contact them on the communicator. I'm just worried that..."

"Say no more. Let's get to them, quickly." Terra says before jumping to her feet.

John, Lani and Terra then head out of the cell, but upon doing so, Terra sees the body of the guard that John killed. "I assume that was your doing?" Terra asks as she looks at John.

"Yeah, it was a whole thing. There's another one upstairs in a cell, just so you aren't surprised." John answers, earning a *hmph* from Terra. The elf then grabs the guards sword before giving it a few swings, "As much as I detest swords, it shall do the job."

"Alright then. Lani, you keep trying to contact Kyuala and Amilia."

"Got it!" Lani responds to John's order as the trio head up the stairs.

A FEW MINUTES LATER:

After moving at a quick pace, the trio are finally back at the area where they left Virra. As they get there, John stops leading to Terra asking, "What are we doing? Why are we stopping?"

Just before John can answer, the trio hear the sound of rapid footsteps coming towards them from the opposite hallway. Terra and John raise their swords, preparing for a fight as they wait for whomever is running to turn the corner.

They wouldn't have to wait for long however, as just a moment later, a guard stumbles into view as he tried to pick himself up. He then turns around and faces whatever he's running from before saying, "Please, wait!"

An arrow then shoots through the man's hand, causing him to flip around as he clutches his now pierced hand whilst letting out a loud yelp of pain. Another arrow fires into the man's back, causing another yelp and forcing him to fall to a knee.

The man then turns, seeing the trio at the end of the corridor and looks at them with saddened eyes.

One last arrow is then let loose, finding its mark through the man's neck. Blood then begins to leave the man's mouth as he gargles while crawling the end of the arrow with his non-pierced hand.

The man then falls to the side, the last bit of life leaving his eyes as the blood begins to pool on the concrete floor.

Just then, footsteps can be heard coming from the hallway, but the two actually let their guard down.

The steps continue for a few more seconds before a backpack-wearing Virra walks over to the guard and grabs the arrow from the dead man's hand.

Virra then turns around and sees Terra standing there. The sisters don't say a word upon seeing each other, but Virra then begins rushing toward Terra, with Terra doing the same.

The sisters quickly get within a few feet of one another before latching onto the other in a huge hug. Squeals escape from both sisters as they hold on to one another for dear life.

A few moments pass as the sisters continue their hug, but eventually break before Virra says, "Thank the Gods you're alright."

"Oh c'mon. Did you really think a weird cult would be able to hurt me?"

The two sisters laugh a few moments before Terra says, "In all seriousness. Thank you for coming along to help me."

Virra chuckles, "Oh, please. You need not thank me, dear sister. This is simply part of the duty of a professional adventurer!"

The sisters then share a quick laugh before Virra then takes off the new backpack she's acquired. "Here. I knew you wouldn't have any gear, so I picked some up from the store room back there, which by the way, absolutely sucks. I mean, who even likes old salted meat anyway?"

There's a chuckle between Terra and Virra, but the fun is cut short as Lani says, "Guys. Kyuala and Amilia still aren't answering."

Virra is stunned, "Wait... they're missing now? Are we just trading places?"

As Terra is digging into the backpack, she says, "As much as I would like to joke, I don't have the patience with the bastards. So, let's do Muprosyll a favour and wipe them out."

"Agreed." Virra says, smiling at her sister, who is now adorning some light leather armour.

"Alright. Let's go our girls back." John says as he begins to walk upstairs with the others in tow.

BACK UPSTAIRS:

The four have managed to make their way back up to where Kyuala and Amilia were supposed to wait. However, as they get back, they don't see either woman waiting for them.

"Not here... shit." John comments as he looks around.

Lani lands on his shoulder, "They'll be around here somewhere. We just need to keep looking. I'll try the communicator again."

Virra and Terra on the other hand, feel like something is off. Virra then leans over to Terra, "Have you noticed anything?"

"Yes. There's a distinct lack of guards up here. I assume it wasn't like this before you three came down to get me?"

"You'd be correct. We had to avoid a few guards on the way down, but they've all seemingly vanished." Virra then realizes something else is different, "John, Lani, have you two noticed something?"

John and Lani are quiet for a moment, but that's when John says, "There's no noise."

Virra nods her head before the group carefully look down at the ground floor. The others then quickly do the same, and that's when they see that all the guards are gone. Not just them however, even the altar has been moved.

The keen eye of Virra spots something that the others seem to miss. After a few moments of looking, Virra leaps down to the ground floor, surprising the others.

"Virra! What in the bloody hells are you doing?!" Terra asks her sister who is now walking to the middle of the room.

"Relax, dear sister, there's no one here. You can come on down." Virra says as she kneels down before beginning an inspection of sorts.

Terra sits speechless for a moment as she face palms, realizing that her sister hasn't changed one bit. She then looks at John and Lani, both of which are also lost for words, but they soon follow Virra's lead and head down. However, as Lani flies down, John and Terra make sure to use the stairs.

As they get down the stairs, they see that Virra is now pointing in a direction. They're a bit confused, but Virra quickly clues them in, "Scratch marks on the floor are leading that way." Virra then points toward a large doorway, "So, if the altar is that way..."

"Chances are that Amilia and Kyuala are as well." John finishes, getting a nod from Virra.

Terra then comments, "Then let's get moving. I can't wait to rescue my rescuers."

Virra then begins to follow the scratch marks with the others right behind her with their weapons drawn as they don't know what awaits them.

The group head forward and make their way through the aforementioned doorway. Just beyond said doorway is another set of stairs, which they carefully descend.

As they get to the bottom, they are once again, met with a long hallway. This one is probably the most creepy as lit torches adorn the walls all the way to the end.

"This is usually the part where Amilia would make a double entendre about four people entering a large hole."

"I do find that to be quite a redeeming quality about her." Virra says in response to Terra's comment.

"So, we're just not going to mention the ominously lit, creepy-as-fuck hallway that we need to go down to find an altar that can turn people into slaves?" John asks, earning some shrugged shoulders as they really have no other choice.

"Alright, fuck it. We've fought dead people, what's a spooky ass hallway?" John says as he starts walking down said spooky ass hallway.

The echo of boots against stone reverberate throughout the hallway as the group continue forward, not looking forward to seeing what lies at the end.

The hallway continues for what feels like forever, almost like the floor is a revolving track. However they keep pressing forth, and soon, their efforts would bare fruit as a different light appears at the end of this tunnel.

The ridiculous amount of torches finally come to an end, and the group escape to the other side, where they're met with a large chamber.

They walk forward, finding themselves at the top of some concrete steps. The group then look down and see that the entire chamber is empty, apart from one thing.

The altar.

It stands prominently in the middle, almost acting like a statue in the center of town. The four all exchange looks amongst one another, silently wondering what they should do. Virra then decides to do as she did before, and immediately head down, much to Terra's dismay.

The others quickly follow the headstrong archer, keeping close together as the feeling of the creeping unease begins to burrow into them.

As they get to the altar, they look around for a few moments before Virra says, "I can't see any other tracks, and there doesn't seem to be any other way out of this room."

The group then look around for a few moments as Lani examines the altar. She flies around the altar, looking at the symbols in question and begins to copy them in her journal.

Not too long after she jots down the last symbol, the hairs on the back of Lani's neck shoot up and goose bumps form on her arms. "Is anyone else getting a really creepy feeling? Almost like we're being watched?" Lani asks.

"That's because you are, little fairy!"