Night 57: Test of Courage

[nobleman]

[From here.]

When Guy's vision cleared and that bright light had faded away, he found that he was somewhere else entirely. Luckily, it was nothing at all like that coliseum, except for the fact that it once again seemed to have switched to day -- or the illusion of it, at least. Granted, not much of the light from overhead was getting through due to the fact that they were now in a forested area, dense with trees and surprisingly tranquil. Was this somewhere out in the wilderness surrounding the institute, or was this all in their heads, like when they'd thought they'd been back in Baticul?

Guy couldn't help noticing that he was still soaking wet, so transporting hadn't changed that much. He was relieved to see that he was still armed, though. Even if everything seemed calm now, he wasn't going to assume that would last for long.

He saw some ruins up ahead that seemed to be the focus of the area; his instinct was to head there. First, though, he had to check on his friends.

As he turned, he saw Claude was there at his side, just as he'd thought, but... "Where's Anise?"

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[full-score.livejournal.com]

Claude rapidly blinked as he tried to regain his bearings. With how often they found themselves transported to different areas these days, one would think he'd be used to it by now, but he still found it disorienting. The sudden transition was too similar to their trip to the coliseum for his liking; however, the scent of thick trees and damp soil somehow managed to put him more at ease for the moment. It reminded him of Shingo Forest.

The ruins were an odd sight, though. Did it contain a prize or another challenge? Before Claude could ask as much, though, he realized with a small jolt of panic that someone was missing. Guy voiced the same question he'd suddenly thought, and a cold sensation much worse than that ice water washed over him.

"I-I don't know," he answered, unable to mask his concern for the girl. Frowning, he gazed around in hopes of locating her. "Anise?!" He sucked in a small breath through clenched teeth, and his eyes grew unusually hard. "If those bastards did something to her..." Raising his voice, he continued calling for her. "Anise!"

[gald_digger]

Somehow, just by walking through the doorway, Anise became completely disoriented. There was a bright light, and then... the next thing she knew, she was lying curled up on a cold, smooth floor. Did she black out...? Anise quickly pulled herself to her feet, grabbing on to the nearest object for balance... which turned out to be a set of metal bars.

As her eyes adjusted to the dim torchlight, she realized she was trapped in a cage of some kind. There were thin metal bars all around her, and a round metal floor that shifted under her weight. Was it hanging in the air...?

Looking outside the cage, Anise could see stone walls and water below her. The only sounds in the room were the sloshing of water and the creaking of her suspended cage. Was she alone? Where were the others!? She had to get out and find them... but just as she thought that, Anise realized her equipment was gone. Her heavy mallet might have helped her bend or even break those thin bars, but it looked like all she had was her bare hands. Anise grabbed the bars and violently shook them, causing the cage to creak and rattle and sway... but the bars didn't give in.

As she rattled the cage, Anise thought she could hear another, more distant noise. She let go of the bars and stood perfectly still, listening for the sound.

... She could hear her name being called. It was far away, but it sounded like Claude's voice. Claude was somewhere nearby! Guy had to be close, too. They were looking for her! Relief washed over her in an instant, but Anise knew she had to act fast. She had to get their attention before they moved out of earshot.

"Claude! Guy!" she shouted as loud as she could manage, rattling the cage in between her cries. "In here!" They had to hear her this time, if she could hear them!

[nobleman]

Despite everything else that they had been through during their time here -- the coliseum, going "home," seeing shadows -- this was the first time that Guy could recall where one of his friends was actively separated from the rest of the group. And in the blink of an eye, at that. Claude's panicked calls for Anise only made Guy's concern grow.

He was preparing to join in and call out for her as well, but then he suddenly heard that high-pitched voice carrying from a distance. At least this time her calls actually reached them.

"She's in those ruins!" he announced, taking off before even waiting for Claude to respond. He realized that Anise was at least well enough to be able to call back to them, but that didn't mean that she was completely safe. He wasn't going to stop until he'd confirmed that, since there was definitely something fishy about this situation -- and not in a good way.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

While he was glad to hear Anise call back to them, Claude knew they needed to actually go to her in order to check whether she was all right. The very fact their captors had apparently separated them in the first place made regrouping all the more important. For all they knew, this place was crawling with monsters.

He didn't hesitate to dash after Guy, sword in hand. "Hang on, Anise!" he called. Why had she appeared in those ruins, of all places? They needed stay on guard, but they also needed to secure Anise's safety as soon as possible.

Unfortunately, the ruins seemed to be partially submerged under some kind of lake, he realized as they drew closer. It was still possible to reach the source of Anise's voice, but the water and large pieces of crumbled stone served as enough of an obstacle to slow them down. They would have to swim, he realized as the water drew closer to his knees, then his thighs. It was only going to become deeper from here.

[gald_digger]

Anise paused again, waiting quietly for a response. She could faintly hear Guy's voice, and then Claude again, calling back to her. They were coming for her... That knowledge allowed Anise to calm down a little.

"Be careful!" she shouted back to them. Anise wasn't in immediate danger, but there could be traps or obstacles between her and her friends. They couldn't move too recklessly, even if Anise wanted to get out of that cage as soon as possible.

Since her hands weren't strong enough to move the metal bars, Anise decided to try kicking them instead. Her attempts were followed with several loud slamming noises that echoed through the room. In the end, all she succeeded at was making the cage sway so much that she lost her balance and fell over. She sat up but didn't climb back to her feet right away, deciding to wait for the swaying to stop.

[nobleman]

Guy really hadn't expected them to run into water the second that they entered the ruined temple, though he quickly realized that the building must have collapsed into a lake or other body of water ages ago. He still had no idea where this place was and that was enough to unsettle him, but he couldn't focus on that until he secured Anise and determined what they'd even been put here for.

Really, though, they were being forced to swim again? It was a good thing that Guy knew what he was doing when it came to that, and he was also relieved to find that this water wasn't nearly as cold as what they'd jumped into before.

"Dammit, where is--"

But then he heard a loud clanging noise from overhead and paused in his wading for a moment, glancing up to see a cage that was suspended in the air and swinging back and forth. He couldn't see from here, but he had to assume that Anise was in there. "She's trapped!" he yelled to Claude, pointing upward.

"How are we going to get up there?" He started to scan the ceiling of the stone temple, trying to determine how the cage was being suspended and if there were any safe ways to climb up. Unfortunately, it didn't look good. How had she even gotten up there?!

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Claude hadn't expected to find Anise trapped near the ceiling, but one glance up toward where Guy was pointing made the situation clear enough. The way that cage swung back and forth made his stomach turn. "What the hell?" Just what kind of sicko put Anise up there? Unfortunately, he couldn't see a clear way to the top, either. Just what were they supposed to do now?

Well, there had to be some way to bring Anise down to safety, he told himself as he swam closer to the area. They just needed to look harder, right? In the meantime, he didn't want to scare the girl by making the situation sound hopeless. That was why, as he climbed over a couple of fallen columns jutting out of the water in search of a path to Anise, he tried to talk to her.

"Are you hurt?" he asked, speaking loud enough for his voice to carry up to her prison. "Don't worry, we're going to get you out of there!"

[gald_digger]

The swaying was beginning to slow when Anise heard a splash from across the room. She pulled herself back up to her feet and moved to see what was there. Just as she'd hoped, she saw Guy and Claude emerge from what must have been the entrance.

"Guy! Claude!" she called to them, sounding more relieved than scared. "I'm okay! I just... huh!?" Just as she tried to assure the two men that she wasn't in serious danger, a loud click echoed through the room. It was followed by the clinking of chains, and then... the cage suddenly jolted, and began to descend.

Alarmed, Anise grabbed the bars to steady herself against the movement, frantically looking around to see what was happening. "It... it's going down!" she cried. The water below was rapidly getting closer. If the whole cage plunged in, she'd be trapped with no air! Anise looked back to her friends, terrified. At the moment, she couldn't find the words to ask for help... though she knew she wouldn't need to ask.

[nobleman]

Guy made sure to climb up onto one of the columns after Claude, wanting to get his bearings and examine the area more closely without having to tread water. He also needed someplace safe to leave his sword since he couldn't swim to his best potential when he had the weapon clutched in one hand.

Claude took the job of reassuring the girl, although Guy knew that Anise could probably keep her cool even in a situation like this. While it had always been Ion who was captured out of their group, it wasn't like the rest of them hadn't experienced danger of this level before.

Of course, the stakes suddenly became much higher when the cage started moving. Guy's mouth dried out and his hands clenched into fists as he realized that the cage was quickly lowering into the water. While that eliminated the problem of getting up to her, Guy got the feeling that the cage was going to sink far below the surface -- and if Anise couldn't get herself out...

"I'm going to have to get her out of there once she goes under," he said, mainly to himself as he set down his sword and started to pull off his boots. But how was he going to open the cage without a key? He'd probably have to take his sword with him after all and use the hilt of it to pry the bars apart. Trying to do that underwater was going to be a challenge, but Guy knew that if there was anyone who could pull it off, it'd be him.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

The loud click and the sound of the shifting chains were the only warnings Claude got before he saw the cage begin to plummet toward the deep water below. He gasped without realizing it, horrified at the thought of Anise, trapped, sinking to the bottom of the lake. His heart suddenly felt like it was lodged in his throat. "No! Anise!"

What he needed to do next became clear. With his friend's phobia, that really only left one person who could get close enough to open the cage and bring Anise to the surface. Claude was about to shrug off his jacket so he could dive after her, but the other blond's voice stopped him dead in his tracks. "G-Guy? But...!"

The rest of the words caught in his throat, and Claude realized he didn't know what else he ought to say without potentially insulting Guy. The other man was competent and trustworthy, there was no doubt about that, and he didn't want to insinuate otherwise. But the fact remained that his phobia had the potential to flare up in a bad way, especially since the rescue would require coming into close proximity with a girl.

[gald_digger]

Anise knew that her friends weren't going to leave her, but even with that knowledge, it was hard to stay calm as the cage dropped against the surface. When water began to filter in through the bars and over the floor, she panicked.

Desperate, she started kicking at the bars, throwing all of her weight into it. When that didn't work, she slammed her elbow into the bars, then pried at them with her hands, then tried kicking again. Anise wasn't going to let herself die here. It wasn't going to be long until the cage filled with water and she wouldn't be able to move freely, but until then, she was going to put up as much of a fight as she possibly could.

"Damn it, it won't budge!" she cried in frustration as she continued to struggle.

[nobleman]

The last thing they had time for now was an argument about who should go to save the girl, and yet Guy realized at a delay that Claude was worried about his phobia. It was a legitimate concern, but that hadn't even crossed Guy's mind until now. He knew from previous times that when it really mattered, he could work through his fear.

With his boots and socks kicked off, Guy started to strip his upper body as well, knowing that he would need as little water resistance as possible for when he swam to Anise's rescue. He threw his vest off and then turned to Claude, shaking his head.

"I'll be fine. When it comes to something like this, my phobia isn't an issue." Not that his heart wasn't pounding at the thought of having to take Anise into his arms, but he knew he could do it. "I've been trained in maritime rescue -- I can do this." He spoke with complete confidence, wanting Claude to know that he could trust him on this.

His only real concern was if he'd really be able to move those bars, seeing how Anise was having her share of trouble with it. Granted, his upper body strength surpassed hers by a long shot and he had a weapon to work with, whereas she was just using her bare hands.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

The whorling sound of the cage’s chains releasing was safely buffeted by the water’s surface. It wasn’t until the sudden impact of stone and metal displacing the calm waters in jarring waves did interest from below peak. Like a Pavlovian urge, things from the shadows began to stir, cutting a path through the algae-caked bottoms with a hunger that hadn’t been satiated in a long while. Most fled the open waters for safety. One, long and deadly, glided through its domain without trouble.

The surface shifted ever so gently in the distance behind the pitiable girl that found itself stuck within the monster’s cage. The creature had laid dormant for years with no one to give sacrifice; the world around it had shifted and grown decrepit while it slept. Stone had crumbled and broken off into its territory as it tried to find its way back to the familiar sound of new prey. Its wide girth squeezed between two structures, leaving a delicate column to collapse into the water, alerting the newfound visitors that everything was not well within the lake.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

((From here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1150773.html?thread=79311157#t79311157).))

After quickly shifting the sword into his left hand, Claude grabbed the phase gun from his wet jacket and took aim at the creature's head. After all the splashing around they'd done tonight, he was thankful Federation technology was water proof. Even if the weapon wouldn't do much damage to such a large monster on its current setting, however, he could only hope it would be enough to draw its attention away from Guy and Anise.

He pulled the trigger, resisting the urge to squint against the gun's bright flash. Without waiting to see whether that one shot would be enough, Claude fired again, and then again.

"Hey!" he called at the top of his lungs. "Over here!"

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

The bright lights may have stung no more than the annoying bite of flies or parasites on its stony hide, but the harsh flash it exuded left the serpent’s giant pupils contracting painfully as it cowered back below the water to shelter its sensitive eyes. Pulling its long spiny fins that sat behind its head against its sleek body, the giant serpent sped through the water like a torpedo in order to find and eat this annoying little fly that dared to come between it and its prey.

The momentum it had built behind it threw the top of its heavy body out of the water in a giant spray that churned much of the lake and hit the solid stone ledge its attacker stood upon like a torrential rain. There, its wide and thorny head rose to Claude’s level as it opened its mouth in anticipation for the feed.

Phantom spots from the harsh light still marred his vision, but what little sense of smell the serpent still had from its long, black tongue helped to focus his striking range. There was very little of Claude and very much of the monster; the margin of error was quite wide as he took in another thunderous breath of oxygen. The stench of death and decay buffeted the poor man with every breath of air it blew out. It was a creature of the sea, but the monster of legend still made use of rudimentary lungs from time to time. They could not sustain it indefinitely, but catching prey on land never took long.

Allowing no more time and opportunity to be blinded again, the serpent made its guess and lunged for Claude with a hair-raising shriek.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Even if the phase gun was too weak to inflict any injuries, the bursts of light were apparently enough to draw the serpent away from Guy and Anise for the time being. Judging by the speed at which it plunged back into the water and shot toward his ledge, however, it was obviously infuriated by the interruption. Good. Well, maybe not good good, but it meant Claude could keep this thing busy while Guy worked to save Anise.

Not wasting any time, he tucked the gun back into his jacket and switched his blade over to his dominant hand. His heart pounded in his chest, giving him the familiar rush he experienced before almost every battle. If this serpent thought he'd idly stand by while it made snacks out of his friends, it had another thing coming.

Suddenly, Claude found himself showered by a spray of lake water. A pair of golden eyes with slitted pupils greeted him, which was soon followed by a wide, gaping maw. Under normal circumstances he would have had to fight the urge to gag at the stench that wafted from deep inside the serpent's throat, but the spike of adrenaline allowed him to concentrate on the impending fight for the time being.

As soon as the serpent lunged at him, Claude did his best to jump to the side, his grip tightening on his sword. Although the moss-covered stone roof gave him enough room to maneuver out of the way, the real question was whether he'd successfully evade the monster's strike.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

It was fortunate that the man had thought quickly and moved back from the rearing beast. If he had been any slower, the monster’s snout would have shoved him off his perch and down into the water. As it stood, the serpent had bent down too low to strike and ended up catching the stone ledge. Its teeth were strong, strong enough to impact the solid rock beneath, but they were not impervious. The jarring strike had cracked a few of its lethal teeth, leaving the nerves exposed and throbbing in pain.

The serpent tried to rear back, but it was too thoroughly lodged into the rock. It bucked and struggled to unhinge its jaws before its prey could scamper away, shaking the foundation of the rock to its very core. Its thrashing tail, whip-thin, slapped the water’s surface in its frantic fight to break free. The tidal waves that emerged broke over the lake, sending more decrepit monuments crumbling into the water.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Claude saw the teeth sink into the ledge, bits of stone falling into the water below. The surface beneath his feet shook from the serpent's strength, and it was all the swordsman could do to keep from losing his balance. While he may have dodged a bullet just then, he wasn't out of the woods yet.

Luckily, the monster's incredible force proved to be its greatest weakness. The delay in freeing itself gave Claude the opportunity he needed to deliver a strike of his own. Darting toward the side of its exposed neck, Claude angled his blade toward the creature's flesh. Then, grabbing onto the hilt with both hands, he tried to drive the blade into its body.

The moment he brought his sword down against the serpent, however, Claude was met with an unexpected resistance. His first impulse was to put that much more strength into the attack, but a split second later he identified the problem: the serpent's shockingly strong scales made its hide practically impenetrable. That went doubly so for a sword crafted by an alchemist instead of a proper blacksmith.

"Damn!" he hissed. While he doubted its underbelly was so strong, that did him little good when he currently had no way to access it.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

One big eye followed Claude’s path to its head. It had no hands to fend its attacker away as the sword struck its scaly-armored skin. Hissing and frothing saliva against the stone was all it could do to defend itself. The struggling grew more violent the longer Claude scurried around the big head looking for a weakness.

A small, barely visible, fissure began to grow across the ledge of rock. The veins of the crack began to spread quickly in every direction as the sea serpent began to apply a downward force with its jaws instead of pulling away and possibly ripping a few teeth out. With enough time and applied pressure, the rock cracked and the serpents head suddenly bowed with inertia.

It held the giant slab of rock in its foaming mouth, unable to let go. The only option it had was to crush it into dust.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

"Woah!" As the stone beneath his feet began to crumble, Claude leaped back for fear of falling into the water. The minute he plunged into that lake, he'd get turned into snake food for sure! He had to keep this fight on dry ground, or else he'd risk giving that serpent the advantage over him.

In hindsight, he probably should have gone straight for its eyes with his sword, but he'd acted hastily in an effort to avoid falling into the monster's direct path. Unfortunately, he couldn't count on the serpent's strike missing twice, and he didn't have time to switch to the phase gun for another attempt to disorient him.

There was only one way to see to it that its teeth didn't turn him to dust, to make absolutely certain a bite wouldn't connect. It was a reckless decision -- a stupid one, even -- but Claude couldn't let that monster get through him, and he sure as hell couldn't let that monster get to Guy and Anise!

It was that final thought that largely fueled his leap off the ledge, his freed hand reaching to grasp onto the sharp horn jutting out from the right side of the serpent's head. If he could just hold onto that and swing himself over and upright before the monster figured out what was going on, then he'd least buy himself a few more minutes before he wound up in front of another deadly strike. All Claude could do was hold his breath, give the maneuver his best attempt, and pray it worked.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

With its mouth currently out of commission, there was little for Claude to fear (besides one killer belly flop). Instinctively, the serpent lunged forward, only to realize too late that its jaws were still occupied with a slab of stone. It couldn’t grab a hold of its suddenly flying prey. The small man effectively caught the side of the monster’s head, but it was only a matter of time before he would be effectively dislodged.

With a hiss, the serpent crushed its jaws together and broke what was left of the bitten ledge. Stones poured into the water with a heavy thud, blood following thereafter. The soft pink flesh of his mouth bled out from the destruction of the inedible rock. Claude’s presence was of little consequence now as each breath the giant monster took scraped the raw, torn skin of its mouth and elicited more pain.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Although the mouth injury likely worked in Claude's favor, he didn't have any time to think about that. Instead, he focused all his energy into trying to climb onto the monster's head without losing his balance or his sword.

With his left hand digging into the horn, he tried to swing his foot onto the the spiny fin further down from him. But he was in a precarious position, and there was no way he'd be able to hold on for long, even if he succeeded in securing his leg. His palm was rubbing against the sharp grain of the horn's keratin, which actually managed to tear through some of his glove and scrape at his flesh. In order to boost his odds of holding on, as well as to move in for the offense, Claude took his right hand and attempted to thrust the blade deep into the serpent's yellow eye with all of his strength.

"Take that, you bastard!" he screamed through clenched teeth.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

The serpent snapped at Claude's flailing legs, but it was an awkward attempt at best. The crafty creature was too far to the monster's right to catch him in its toothy maw. It bent its head down the left, hoping gravity would pull the man to his digestive doom, but the master of the lake underestimated the fighting instincts of its meal.

The tiny creature had a strange claw for defense, but it was nothing that would save him surely. The iron scraped across his scaly stone hide with a flurry of sparks that did little more than massage the hard muscle below. With every strike of the man's blade, it snapped back with the same determination, the same mounting frustration. It was the man, however, that eventually broke the standstill.

An ear-piercing howl split the quiet air of the lake and the forest as blood began to squirt from its eye socket. Like a punctured grape, the vitreous gel of its large eyes began to spit from the wound and run down the side of the great serpent's convulsing head.

[full-score.livejournal.com]

Hot blood covered Claude's blade, spurting onto his arm. The serpent's pained shriek was so loud, he might have winced in response if not for the fact he was in real danger of plummeting into the water below. One look at the scattered ruins and blue lake beneath him was enough to keep him on task.

As the creature vigorously shook its head, however, Claude's brain practically rattled in his skull, and his body slammed against its stony hide, again and again. A sharp cry tore from his throat with each impact. Suddenly, jolt of terror ran through him. His shredded fingers dragged across the monster's rough horn; his grip was slipping.

"No!" he choked. In a last ditch effort to save himself from dropping off of the monster, he tried to swing his left hand over to join his right around the hilt of the sword lodged in the monster's wounded eye. Maybe it wouldn't matter much, maybe it would only buy him a few extra seconds, but he had to do everything he could to get out of this alive.

[damned-monsters.livejournal.com]

Vigorous shaking was not the way to alleviate the sharp pain that shot through its nerves like a bolt of lightning, but it had very few alternatives. Its long, spiny fins stretched forward in a vain attempt to dislodge the source of its pain. As Claude hung on, the desperate sea serpent tilted its head left in the hope that it could reach something with its clumsy appendages. The spines of the fins were thin, but tough as its horns. They would serve as a leg up as it were, if not for the toxic venom that dripped from the ends. A creature had to be careful when treading so close to such a slow death.

After all its struggling, its cries of pain and rage, the serpent began to grow sluggish. Its thin lunges were beginning to burn from a lack of new oxygen. The skin of its armored exterior was beginning to split as well. Having half of its thick body out of the water for long was beginning to wear on the monster.

It needed to dislodge its attacker and replenish its strength before it suffocated.