A Journey Within the Realm

After that odd battle with Commander Chiyo and her Zombies, we finally made it to the portal. Well… if you call it a portal. All I saw was five stands, each with a different color orb, and a star-shaped magic seal pattern on the ground with each point connected to one of the orb stands.

“So… now what?” I asked, looking at Miki’s shadow.

“Have the five people that live in the cities that the orbs are pointing at touch the orb of their city,” Solada answered, without leaving the safety of Miki’s shadow.

I examined each of the orbs, one each in silver, purple, red, blue, and black. After pulling out the magic map, I figured out which orb was to which city.

“Nori… you touch the silver orb. Rin… your orb is purple. Kyoko, the red. Miwa… it’s the blue. Tazu… touch the black orb,” I ordered.

“Got it,” Nori replied, placing her hand on the silver orb.

“Roger,” Rin replied, touching the purple orb.

“Will do,” Kyoko answered, doing the same for the red orb.

“Okay,” Miwa answered, placing her hand on the blue orb.

“I’m on it,” Taza replied, touching the black orb.

As soon as my five teammates touched the orbs, a beam of light shot out from the middle of the seal. After the light settled, a circular door opened right in front of us.

“There you have it, Randy,” Solada said within Miki’s shadow, “The portal to the Undershadows. Are you ready for this? Once you enter this portal, I’m not sure if I can get you guys back home.”

“You bet I am,” I exclaimed, jumping into the portal.

“Wait for us, Randy,” everyone yelled, following me into the Undershadows.

Within seconds, our beautiful blue sky and lovely green plants changed to black skies and death.

“Ugg… this place is depressing,” I said, looking around.

“This place looks like just one big cliff,” Rin added, looking down.

Suddenly, Solada came out of Miki’s shadow.

“Word of warning… don’t fall,” Solada said.

“How come?” Miki asked.

“Down there is the Shadow Vortex,” Solada explained, “If you fall down there, you will never return.”

“Sort of like the River Styx,” I replied.

“Huh? What’s that?” Nori asked.

“Old myths and legends in the nagical world say that when you die, you are transported to the afterlife. There you are rowed to your next destination by boat on the River Styx. If you fall in, you will never be heard from again,” I explained.

“Deep…,” Kuri said.

“I’ll say… shall we be off?” I replied.

Everyone nodded. We started walking, following the only path given to us. It only took us five minutes to reach a gate.

“Hey, Solada? What is this?” I asked, pointing at the gate.

“Oh… this? Just one of the many checkpoints Kei set up,” Solada answered.

“’Checkpoints?’ ‘One of many?’ How many are we going to be dealing with?” I asked.

“Seven total,” Solada replied.

“How do we get past these gates? There’s no one here,” I said.

“Don’t worry, Randy. There’s a password lock for each gate,” Solada replied, walking up to the gate.

Suddenly, Solada stepped back.

“No! It can’t be,” Solada exclaimed.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I should have known Kei would switch the password lock into a scanner lock that only works with non-shadow creatures,” Solada answered, “I can’t open this gate, only you guys can.”

“Ummm… that’s kind of strange for an evil overlord to do,” Rin said.

“No it isn’t…,” I corrected, “It’s like she’s waiting for us. Making it easier for us to get to her castle.”

“I had the same feeling,” Miki said.

I walked over to the scanner lock. Above it read Elf. I guess only an Elf can unlock the gate.

“Hey, Miki. This is your gate,” I said.

“Okay,” Miki replied, walking over.

Miki placed her hand on the scanner. After three seconds, the red light turned green. Suddenly, Miki yelped in pain.

“Are you okay, Miki? What happened?” I asked.

“After the gate unlocked, I felt a prick on my hand,” Miki answered, shaking her hand.

“Let’s me see,” I said, holding out my hand.

Miki blushed, but obeyed. I looked at her hand. It was a little dot with a speck of blood.

“It’s just a poke. It may sting for a bit, but nothing damaging,” I said, smiling.

Miki turned bright red. I chuckled.

“Let’s go guys,” I said, opening the gate’s door.

“Coming,” everyone called out.

After going though the first gate, it only took another five minutes to reach the next one. Just like the last gate, it had a scanner lock on it. I checked the scanner. The scanner must be for a Fairy. It was so small, I couldn’t make it the tag out.

“Kuri… I think this one is yours,” I said.

“Right,” Kuri replied, flying over.

Just like Miki, Kuri placed her hand on the scanner lock. After three seconds, the light turned green. However, what I wasn’t expecting was that Kuri also yelped in pain after the gate unlock.

“What happen, Kuri?” I asked.

“The same thing as Miki. I got pricked,” Kuri answered.

“Are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeh… my hand looks like the way Miki’s did,” Kuri replied, shaking her hand.

I placed my hand on my chin. Could that be the way the scanner lock works or is there something more… something sneaky and evil? I shook my head back to reality and opened the gate. Another five minutes of walking, another gate.

“This is becoming a trend,” I said.

Once again, I checked the scanner lock. Hmm… it read Goddess. Interesting… Elf, Fairy, and now Goddess. It’s in the order of the commanders that we battled.

“Miwa… it’s all yours,” I said.

Miwa smiled as she walked over and placed her hand on the scanner. After three seconds, another green light and another prick on a hand. This was beginning to bother me. Gate after gate, a scanner lock within five minutes apart that pricks the person that is needed to unlock the gate. And, just like I thought, the gates were in order of the commanders we battled. After the last gate, we saw a huge black castle.

“Kei’s castle,” I said, looking up.

“That’s right, you annoying Light Mage,” a voice agreed.

“Sis,” Solada exclaimed.

“Ahh… Solada,” said a shadow being, appearing in front of us with another shadow, “Eun and I are very disappointed in you.”

“I don’t care, Aneko! What you are doing is wrong,” Solada yelled.

“Don’t you remember, my dear sister? Kei created us to do her bidding,” Aneko replied, grinning, “If that means dying by her hands, then so be it.”

I watched as Solada grew more and more angry. Her eyes changed from black to dim red.

“Yo, Light Mage,” Aneko called out, turning to me, “Kei’s waiting for you with the Exit Book in her hands. She will be glad to meet with you, if you can defeat us.”

Aneko laughed. I turned towards Solada again. This time her eyes changed from dim red to bright red.

“He’s not going to defeat you,” Solada yelled, “I am! Binding Arms!”

Suddenly, Solada’s arms stretched, wrapping around Commanders Aneko and Eun.

“Go, Randy! Get to Kei,” Solada ordered, “Oh… and, Randy. Thank you.”

Before I could say anything, Solada jumped off the cliff, taking Aneko and Eun with her.

“Solada,” I yelled, running towards the cliff’s edge.

I looked down and saw nothing. No Solada, just blackness.

“Thank you… Solada,” I said, bowing to the emptiness.

“Let’s go, Randy,” Miki said, placing her hand on my shoulder.

I nodded. After turning towards my teammates, we entered Kei’s Castle. Here I come, Kei! Hope you’re ready to die!