freedomliveson

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

They seemed more agile and tactful this time around, Yerbol shouting a "THANKS!" as he obeyed Aria's warning and ducked out of the way from what could have been his final moments of life. One had gotten Aria, but it paid the price swiftly, prompting the others to howl in protest. One of the creatures that had hit the ground was bounding towards him from his left flank, outstretched claws ready to tear his chest to ribbons. The Knight fell back, extending his saber above him as the creature flung itself through the weapon, gore and viscera splattering to the ground close to Yerbol's head. He jumped to his feet, spotting the other ground dweller and thrust his hand out in attempt to slam it against the rock face.

Nothing.

He tried again. The creature let out a throaty cackle as it skittered across the wall, legs whirling chaotically before launching itself at the young Knight. Yerbol dodged, trying to connect with his saber, but the creature had anticipated the move, stopping right in front of the Knight and slamming one of it's spindly legs into his abdomen, Yerbol pushed back several feet towards the hole Aria had made mention of. He wanted to stay and fight, but they had to make it up to the top. If "conquering" meant slicing the beasts down when they ascended, fine, but he didn't like the notion of combating the beasts on the ground floor. Doing anything out of order or wrong in these trials could spell death for the both of them. They had to keep moving.
"Come!" Sprinting through the opening, Yerbol spotted a passageway to their left that featured a staircase winding upwards. He bounded towards it, the assumed guardians of the trials chasing them ferociously, snapping their razor sharp teeth as they moved. Clambering up the stairs, Yerbol spotted square openings to their left overlooking the chamber they had departed from. A couple of the monsters were still there, watching their progress.

Wait...

Yerbol spun around on one stair, smirking before throwing his lightsaber in a downward arc, catching both creatures by surprise. Their lifeless, severed bodies rolled down the stairs as the saber came back to it's owner.
"These narrow corridors are perfect for us. Without room to navigate, their agility is stunted. Even they know it." He motioned to the creatures below, prowling the ground floor with strident, violent motions.
"If we can keep to these interior staircases, then maybe we can avoid them altogether...or at least, for the time being." Yerbol brushed past his companion, walking a few steps up to a landing. There was a heavy wooden door to their left with two more staircases to their left and right, both of which led upwards. He turned his head towards Aria, telling her:
"Hey, before we go on...thanks for, you know, saving my life. I could've been food for those things if it wasn't for you."

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

He knew she was going to laugh at him. Yet he couldn't help but laugh with her. It felt good to express something other than worry, grief, anxiety or slight happiness at surviving yet another lethal encounter. When she commented about his musculature(and after their laughter had died out), he snorted.
"Please. I don't think it's muscle more so than the effects of not, you know, eating." Her outfit didn't seem as outlandish to him. In fact, the way that the shorts hugged her hips was rather enticing. And that top...

He thanked a Deity silently when the guard interrupted his horrendous mental gawking and strapped what he would announce in an aggravated edge were heart rate monitors. The device beeped harshly for a few seconds before it ceased, the woman's voice making a cacophonous echo. Before Justin could ask for direction, the door at the right end of the hall slid open. Proceeding through the doorway, the duo found themselves in a courtyard of sorts with an elevated catwalk suspended around all four corners of the square enclosure. Straight ahead there were a set of heavy metal doors that were sliding open, a voice coming over speakers embedded in the walls above:
"We are proceeding with the physical tests. Please remember that you may do lethal damage to the creatures, but the humans are actual citizens of the settlement and may only be rendered unconscious." As the doors fully slid away, four figures came into the testing zone, all of them garbed in simple white t-shirts and black pants. There were three men and one woman that looked unremarkable in appearance except their hardened gazes and determined, set jawlines. One of the men cast a glance at the group and nodded before they charged ahead, fists raised. Justin took a quick scan of his surroundings, nodding at a few plywood beams laying to the left of where they stood.
"I'll keep the guys busy, you get the beams and start swingin! GO!" Justin sprinted forward, methodically taking in air through his nose and blowing it deeply through his mouth, the technique enabling him to conserve as much energy as possible for what he knew would be a rather rigorous endeavor. One of the men was within a couple of feet from the scout and leveled his arm in preparation for a haymaker when Justin blew right past them, but not before jutting his arm out, slamming his forearm into the would-be attacker's throat. The man's body thumped to the metallic flooring as Justin whirled around, stopping a couple of feet away from the northern wall.
"Come on, that CAN'T be all you got!"

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

Aaaand I fell asleep on my couch for far too long xD

Will get you a post hopefully this weekend

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

He chuckled at her mention of torches.
"Maybe it's something about being 'one with the Dark side' or some crap like that." Yerbol raised his right hand, the familiar pale blue light that guided him in the previous challenges now aiding both of them as they proceeded into the chilled hallway. There weren't any furnishings, idols or even a hint of where they needed to go up until they could see beams of sunlight cascading into an opening up ahead. As Yerbol lowered his right hand, he let out a whistle.
"Well...this is going to get confusing in a hurry." Staircases. So many staircases. They wound around each other and separated at various intervals, some of terminating after a few steps while others snaked far above them. Looking above, he spotted a wide stone platform that one of the staircases led to, the platform leading to a doorway further into the rock wall that this was etched into. Above the platform was a natural opening, the brunt of the sun's fierce rays blunted by the cliffs on either side.
"Ascend was the first order of business, so we just need to figure out how to get up there, right? Easy." A clicking noise came from behind, Yerbol turning his head. The once open passageway was now sealed by a heavy block of stone. No way to turn back, no way to escape on the ground level. He had to give credit to these True Sith for designing ways to ensure their acolytes couldn't evade the trials.
"Right then, so should we just obliterate the staircases that don't lead upward and start from there?" Yerbol shot his right hand out at a staircase only two steps high, the thing crumbling with ease. A sudden gust of chilly air flew down at them, then an all too familiar shriek.

Their movements were jerky and uncoordinated, but they ambled down from the opening, mouths open to display sharp teeth, their noseless faces glaring down at the duo. Yerbol's lightsaber crackled to life.
"If there's one thing we know about them, it's that they can be killed." There were five of them, using the staircases as platforms by which they could lower themselves.
"Let's show these beasts what Conquering means, eh?"

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Oh you did! Star wars is always great when you throw in some creepy darkness xD

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

Aww! 1st grade...that's a milestone. I'm sure she'll do well :)

No worries. Will read and send you some ideas tomorrow

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

Oh fantastic! Good to hear...well, read xD

All done, thankfully! It was hard, but we're in a MUCH better part of the city than we were before.

Indeed! I'm currently working on my syllabus for the semester/year and getting my course website ready. The kids come back in about a week and a half -_-

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

Woah...so I just realized that we're 9 posts away from hitting the century mark. Yahoo! xD

Also, I'm totally rude for not asking: did your husband land on his feet ok? As I was scrolling to the bottom of the page, I saw your post about layoffs. I sympathize with what you guys are going through: a good friend of mine got laid off and has been looking for work for a long while. Hope that he's doing alright!

And you too, of course :p

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Not a problem! Hope you have a great night :)

Promises left on the sand(megatrash/freedom)

"I don't know, but I'm gonna sound cliche and say that I don't like it." The ramifications of their new discovery was setting in motion a hurricane of thoughts that he was trying to sort through, but failing miserably.
"So wait if William and Avery were heads of the Harbingers...then, then how did Omega play into it? Said something about wanting to get rid of it, but why? What kind of a threat did Omega possess? If they had taken the time to actually talk to Ryk, they would've known that he wanted what we saw when we came here." He gently rapped his fist on the bars, turning his head.
"By the way, you saw all that, right? I wasn't seeing things? Healthy looking people, advanced tech, clean food, water...it's like a picture from the old days before this...whatever it was." No one had ever named the "event" that had occurred. Some had informal names for it: "The Judgment"(for the religious), "The Infection", "The Outbreak", "The Sickness" and so on. Justin had never wanted to label it. Whatever had happened was so far beyond a label that it deserved to never have one.
"There's gotta be a catch or somethin." The rapping stopped.
"Let's just play along, see what happens. We can get the info we need, break outta here and regroup, see what we need to do." He grimaced with the realization that Cam would have to deal with William, who was responsible for some of her worst memories.
"And I'll do everything I can to keep you safe." A flush of red enveloped his neck and cheeks.
"I mean, I know you can take care of yourself and everything, but..." He laughed nervously.
"Oh you know what I mean. We're partners. Partners look out for each other, you know?" There were boots clicking from the entrance again. He gulped the anxiety welling up in the back of his throat, exhaling sharply.
"Watch over us."

____________________

"No, don't squirm."
"Really? I flinched."
"Too much movement." Justin grumbled at the man garbed in a white coat who had just injected him in both shoulders with a silver pistol shaped object that held a purple viscous substance that was now floating in his bloodstream.
"Where's Cam?"
"The female subject is being prepared in the other room. You will both go through the tests together." The man was hunched over an actual working computer, the glaring screen almost searing the scout's eyes every time he tried to look over and spy on what he was doing. Most of the lighting in the building that the guards had escorted them to was almost of the same intensity, giving him a splitting headache. Of course, the headache wasn't present when they were being led out of the dungeon and around the field into the city, where the denizens eyed the duo suspiciously. The glares were worth it to see the crisp green apples sitting in baskets outside homes constructed from wood and brick, hemmed in by ornate stone hedges and vibrant shrubbery. Once past the bustling town streets, they were led to a three story building made wholly of gleaming steel that overlooked a large chunk of the beach walled off with thick concrete that stood probably ten feet high. Inside the building were men and women consorting with each other, holding vials, test tubes, electronic devices that chimed and blipped incessantly. There they had been separated, but thankfully for not long(or so he hoped).

He could do without uniting with Cam at the moment, however. Justin was clothed in tight blue shorts and a shirt that clung to him like a second skin. He caught sight of himself in a panel of glass separating the room from the hallway and almost guffawed. At least he was clothed! That counted for something.

"You and the female subject-"
"You DO know she has a name, right?" The man continued:
"Will be going through a number of tests to ensure that your genetics are worth preserving and-"
"Wait, preserving? What did you inject me with?" The man exhaled nasally, mumbling something about test subjects being too "inquisitive" and barreled along:
"the tests will conclude after you have both gone through them enough for us to collect accurate data. Resources will be provided during the tests. The tests will last exactly four days and you will be informed of the Director's choice the following day after your final testing day. Your quarters will be at the end of the hallway. Please exit the lab and wait for your female companion."
"No point in asking you any questions, huh?" The man opened the door Justin entered, motioning for him to leave.
"Fine." Justin stepped out, the door shutting behind him. He peered into the glass panel across from him, not finding Cam. There were a few other doors scattered along the hallway with one door at each end.

He hoped she didn't laugh at him.
Well, not too much.