The Secret Vale Archives [Closed]

Thorn nodded her head noting that she understood the plan. She grabbed hold of the knob on the flower door and awaited further instructions. She inspected the walls and seemed to see what looked like inscriptions but she ignored them and focused on the door. She then noticed the dampness of the room but felt fine because she was already wet enough from that viper. She sighed and said "I've got the flower, it's all good over here!"

Solomon leapt down from the wall and quietly listened to Vega's instructions. "Right, then I'll get the hand," he replied as he waled over to the valve. He grabbed hold of it and turned to face the group. "Just say the word."

Seeing that the others all had made their choices Vega walked over to the remaining door, the Star. Placing his hand on the valve he took a deep breath hoping his plan would not end with them dead. "Okay everyone on my count we all open in the correct order. 1, 2, 3...Go!"

The valves turn in synchronicity save for the flower and the clover. As they twisted, a satisfactory clank sound was heard and the symbols on the doors begin to glow. Eventually the wall begins to crumble. The bricks fall off the wall one by one revealing a smooth stone wall in its place...and a simple brown oak door.

As the five enter in, they are greeted by a large round room similar to the first room before the labyrinth. Unlike the first room, however, the floor is lighted by the ceiling is completely pitch black. It's so high up that it's hard to distinguish what that blackness is.

Scattered on the floor are round red berries the sizes of peas. A sweet tangy smell comes to your nose as you get near them. It's time for the third room to set it's game...

From the high ceiling, the flapping of wings is heard. As one looks up closely there is a single spec of white on the black background. A pure white dove with red eyes makes its way to the floor, swooping past the five in one elegant turn. It heads down towards the berries and as it touches one, a small explosion is heard as it bursts into flames.

The dove's small body parts are scattered around the floor and one is not sure if what they see is blots of blood or the berry's red juices. It's only then that one hears something coming from high above.

Caw.

Looking up, the blackness of the ceiling begins to move. Millions of ruby spots start to appear and the blackness moves in a messy motion.

Caw. Caw. Caw.

From above, the berries begin to fall onto the trespassers and cling onto their clothes and skin. More begin to fall like solid bits of rain.

CAW. CAW. CAW.

The ruby eyes from above are staring down onto the berries. The door is 20 meters away. The blackness begins to move and reveals themselves to be an army of crows headed down towards you. Their caws grow louder as they charge down with their sharp talons.

Behind, the door slams shut and something else is there: a knight in iron armor. It carries a large swinging axe, the tip of its blade already stained red with aged blood.


Have fun.

Sensing the danger of the berries and crows Vega stands int he middle of the group and sends out his wires. Keeping the wires thin and sharp Vega continuously moves them around the group forming a sort of force field. Anything that would try to enter the area covered by his wires would be immediately cut up. Having to cover such a large area makes the movement of the wires slow but they are still sharp enough to make an decent shield. Although the shield covers the group Vega struggles to keep everything out. "Dammit! I can handle most of the birds and berries but I can't do anything about the knight. We need someone to take care of it." Vega notices one of the berries had stuck itself to his clothes. He had been intrigued by its effect on the bird and in a brief moment of curiosity pockets the berry. You need to be studied.

The crows begin to charge at them one by one, most of them slit into pieces as they entered Vega's field of wires. Wings and feet fell off. Heads and tails fell off. Things began to splatter in red and it definitely wasn't the berries.

The parts fall to the floor, but they're still moving. A dead head's ruby eyes open and looks straight at them.

CAW! it screeches with an open beak.

More of the heads caw and begin bobbing towards the group as more of the crows come from the ceiling. Some of the heads touch the berries and explode on contact, forcing the group to continue moving. The feet begin to bob too and leap towards the others, clinging onto their clothes, trying to scratch.

From the distance, the iron knight is slowly walking towards Marc. Like the Grimm Bull, it makes its way to him slowly with its large axe. It swings towards him.

All of it seemed like some sort of nightmare, the cawing crow heads, the massive suit of armor with a blood stained ax. Shiroe tried his best to keep his composure even as the heads exploded when they touched the berries. He ended up on his knees after the last explosion and knew he had to do something to protect everyone even if only for a while. His free hand was on the floor so he started channeling his aura into the ground and let the rune take shape. Placing a new rune took at least three seconds before it fully took effect but the others seemed to be handling well despite the trouble. In the three seconds that passed to make the rune, Vega cut more crows and the knight approached Marc who was willing to fight it on his own. Shiroe didn't know if his shield would reach everyone but he knew he should at least try.

Rune of Protection. ACTIVATE

As he activated it he felt his aura channel into the rune and form a sort of force field around them. The rune started glowing and spread out around it's edges to cover at least 20 feet in diameter(10 feet radius) and a barrier started to form, looking up from his position Shiroe watched the field grow as the knight swung it's ax.

Shiroe's shield minimally protected Billy, but it wasn't much of an issue with it moving so slowly. It was only then that the armor clanked and fell off. The inside revealed something that looked like a shiny skeleton that gleamed red amongst the berries. It swung the axe at a fast speed and charged towards Marc again as it's helmet fell off. The face was without a face. A pair of robot eyeballs and red teeth. Long strands of fake hair attached to its head. It screamed and charged towards Marc with the axe once again.

The crows attacked from all sides once again, dismembered or not. As some plopped onto the berries, explosions started, tossing the members against the walls.

Vega had not been prepared for the sudden explosion and was unable to form a shield with his wires. As the others flew back he tried to remain calm. Hitting the wall will hurt very badly. I have to help somehow. Vega shot out his wires as quickly as they would move, sending them behind his teammates in as thick of sets as he could manage. He attached the wires to nearby fixtures, creating a sort of cradle for his comrades to prevent them from hitting the walls. In an attempt to save the others Vega was unable to form a cradle for himself and hit the wall with full force. The air quickly escaped from his lungs from the impact and he fell to his knees. He strained himself to remain conscious as to not cancel out the cradles that held his teammates.

Solomon stood in the middle of the chaos, unsure of what to do. His weapon was designed to cause destruction on a large scale, and yet here they were in a room that required the exact opposite -- finesse. As he pondered his next move, several explosions detonated nearby launching him towards the wall. With no way to catch himself safely, he curled into a ball and braced. To his surprise, his landing was padded instead of hard. As he stood back to his feet he discovered why and spotted Vega immobile nearby. He rushed over to his side and lifted him up to his feet. "On your feet! We can't just sit here with these machines after us. We have to move!" he shouted, unaware of the seriousness of Vega's injury.

As Solomon helps Vega stand he struggles to catch his breath. He grabs at his chest hoping to stop the pain and manages to spit out a few words. "Fine...not...serious...wind...gone." After few moments Vega is able to form longer sentences as he looks for his other teammates. "Sol yell, to the door." Feeling confident that he has recovered enough, Vega lets go of Solomon attempting to stand on his feet. At first he is shakey but is able to stand on his own. He draws his wires and begins to manipulate them, stopping the cradles seeing that everyone is safe and prepares to fight off more crows should they come their way. Vega's eyes make their way to their enemy as he stands between them and the door. My wires are made for flesh not metal I can't fight him. Despite the disadvantage Vega prepares himself to face the mech in case it decides to attack him.

Solomon nodded at Vega's response. "EVERYONE RUSH THE DOOR! WE ARE LEAVING!" he shouted. Tracing Vega's line of sight he spotted the knight-like mech. "Don't worry about it, Vega," he assured. "Crushing things like that are what this weapon is designed for. If Marc needs our help, I'll handle it. You focus on the crows," he ordered. It felt strange to be giving orders of his own for once....and Solomon didn't like it. "LET'S MOVE!" he added as he ran for the door, careful to avoid any berries in his path.

The once armored knight with the axe heard the shout and saw them rushing for the door. It looked at Marc and then those trying to run away. The door at the end was opening by itself and more crows were falling, more berries were exploding. It then eyes Vega. It made a loud metallic screech and dropped the axe. The axe fell to the floor and as it did, something glinting and silver came from above.

Swishing and swishing, a long stretched out double scythe fell into its hands and it looked at Marc and Vega, ready to slice the both of them.

The rest of the group ran to the door and more crows were following, but they were failing.

Shiroe was thankful that he didn't hit any walls thanks to Vega but he knew he had to save formalities for later. The knight was now wielding a massive scythe of some sort and it's skeletal appearance gave it a sort of reaper feel to it. Shiroe could probably be able to handle it now that it has little armor but the scythe would pose to be quite a problem. He had to decide whether or not to fight along with the other two or run along with the others.

There's no time to think. If it means the safety of the others I guess I'd have to fight. It'd be great to charge Solomon's weapon but we don't have enough time.

Making up his mind Shiroe decides to face the knight along with the others. Vega seemed tired and the others were also a bit fazed. Knowing his speed would be an advantage here he decides to fight the newly changed reaper."I'll try binding him so you guys will have an opening! Watch out for the scythe!" he shouted as he charged towards the skeletal robot.

Shiroe dashed forwards to where the knight was while charging his sword with aura and readying it with dust. As he closed the distance his sword and his hand started glowing with a light blue glow indicating the rune was ready to use. Since his sword already had permanent etched runes in them all he had to do was charge it with aura and dust making him able to cast his runes faster than if he had to create a new one on a surface. All he had to do now was dodge any possible blows, attack the body or weapon arm directly, and get out of the way so the others can finish him off while avoiding the exploding crow heads and berries.

The robotic monster saw Shiroe charging towards it but the diameter of its cradled scythe stood in his way. With a twist of the hand the scythe's blades swung into a circle, one of which detaches and goes towards Shiroe. As Shiroe is targeted, the crows saw him lacking any protection and the bright berries that still stuck onto his clothing were suddenly more appetizing than the rest.

With a single caw, the rest of the crows left the large group and charged towards a single prey like vultures finally finding one of the dying animals perish into an approachable carcass.

The knight let out a shrill scream and began running towards the others, its scythe's missing blade growing back and now spinning into a razor propeller and launching it out. The blade shot into the air like a rapidly moving discus towards the door, ready to slice those in its path.

Shiroe kept charging at the knight but this time it had a trick up it's sleeve. It launched a blade right in their direction and it came buzzing towards them. Shiroe knew people were behind him and if he dodged he might end up getting them hurt. Making a quick decision he slides just as the blade passes above him, nearly taking his neck as he did.

Hope the others can block that. I just didn't have any time to react.

Now sliding towards the knight he could see a black mass forming overhead and it was heading right for him but he decides to take on his primary target first. After launching the blade, the knight left a small opening in between in his swing so Shiroe decided to go after it, he continued his slide towards the knight and slashed at its knees as he got and released his aura through the Sabre, sending several beams of light for the knight, wrapping its legs and encompassing parts of its torso.

Activate Rune of Binding!

After activating the rune he quickly begun channeling his aura into the blade again but this time with electric dust. Remembering he crows, he gets up from behind the knight and jumps back to gain some distance. Charge: Rune of Lightning. The black mass kept heading for him but he readied his Sabre and aimed it towards them with one smooth stroke.

Release: Rune of Lightning

Brilliant wiry rays of light filled the air as the crows fell one by one flat onto the floor, their feathers singed and alight with fire. They no longer moved as they had earlier upon dismemberment. More and more of the crows fall like feathered black flies and the fire gives rise to a small smoke.

As the smoke trails into the air, the berries begin to flatten and squeeze out their juices, everything a big violent red pool on the smooth tile floor.

From above, there is a large ringing sound and it is followed by a lukewarm water shower. The metal knight screeches as it waits for its blade to slice its victims.

***

The ringing sound could only be heard by Liseran as she walked through the corridors from Head Mistress Stay's office.

"They've breached the third room!" Liseran said as her eyes widened. She clenched her teeth. "I have to reach them at the fourth, but I'll need help! Why couldn't Mistress Stay believe me?"

Taking Weeping Cerinthe from her waist, she cast out the Walker spell to fly her in the air and speed her towards the room. She reaches two mahogany doors and opens them.

She is on the balcony floor of yet another circular room. The only difference is that this one is filled with bookshelves and there are the statue of three women, each about 12 ft high and five ft wide. Liseran turns one of her bells into a dagger and makes a small cut on her wrist. She lets it gather onto her dagger into a series of droplets

Pressing her wound while keeping the drops of blood in place, she went over to the women and a stone altar in place. There were three small depressions and Liseran dropped her blood here.

One for the past, Liseran thought. One for the present...and one for the future.

The droplets were absorbed by the stone and the eyes of the women awakened.

"Let not any intruder pass you," Liseran ordered. "I will stay by your side."

The women looked at her and then stared at the iron door in front of them. There was quite some commotion, but Liseran felt they were going to be out soon. No, that was wrong. She knew.

Solomon glanced over his shoulder to check on Marc only to be greeted by the sight of a blade hurtling towards the group. Seeing that he appeared to be the only who noticed it, he acted quickly. Screeching to a halt, Solomon turned to face the threat. With a loud grunt, he swung Distrugere in a wide arc, attempting to hit the broad side of the blade and knock it off-target.

The blade swung at an incredible speed. The long, thick, sharp propeller was suddenly focusing all of its  direction on Solomon only to be greeted by Solomon's ball and chain. Spinning and spinning, it's upper part attempted to graze Solomon's head. As it did so, it flung backwards vertically only to lodge into the running knight's torso.

The knight screamed in defeat, it's robotic body letting out short bursts of electricity until it sank down onto its knees and set on fire too. The water shower made it worst, making it circuit and rust and mix with the red pool of juices and crow heads.

The door ahead was free now.

Shiroe smiled as the smoke dissipated, he felt exhausted. Using 3 runes consecutively without any pauses took a lot out of him and he ended up using his Sabre for support. Panting a bit then finally calming down he walks past the fried robotic remains of the crows and the collapsed knight while sheathing his Sabre. "Well, at least these idiots are all alive." he said while laughing a bit. He walked towards the now unguarded door and said, "So, shall we rest before we proceed?"

With the water pouring and the berries oozing, it was no question that everyone wanted to leave right then and there. They opened the Iron Door which was surprisingly unlocked and it led them to another corridor. It was a short one but yet again, before they could reach the next room, there was another door. This one seemed to be a sliding door made of smooth sandstone and in the middle was a small circular depression. Above it was an inscription.

Say you'd never seek to lose me,
While you live we cannot part,
I must dwell lifelong inside you,
Locked within your beating heart

And then etched in with thicker letters:

Though this be so, spare one tear of me, and I shall open the path.