Rising Shards

Whether I was gracefully diving or flailing and crying (it was the latter), I somehow missed the jagged rocks and landed in the water. I flail-cry-swam to the nearest land, pulling myself up on a flat rock. Once I let a real good panic stricken cry out, I felt a bit clearer headed. I somehow survived the attack from those robot goons. Terina goons, whatever that means. Mabye the same as the Order of Terina that messed with Kalei? Why would they be here, though?

I tried to remember what my mission was supposed to be in some sort of self grounding exercise. In addition to documenting my surroundings, I was just supposed to get home, right? But that was assuming I was in the right place, and not washed to some faraway place in the void.

Probably by Jeans. Jeans and Ovie.

Although the thought terrified me, I couldn’t fully lock away hearing Jeans’ voice again. Whatever she was plotting with Ovie had somehow beamed itself into 09, and also beamed down a big wave of something that looked like blood. I didn’t swallow any of it at least. I checked my backpack again, somehow finding the contents of it were still dry. I told myself to thank Stella later for getting such a sturdy, waterproof, voidproof backpack. I tried using my power blocker, but it crashed on me almost instantly and was taking forever to load again so I gave up.

The only paths I could see were some handholds leading back up the crevice wall, and a cavern. I picked the cavern.

I at least didn’t need my bloodsaber to light the way through, as light poured in from holes in the earth above me. The pathway through was short, and what waited for me at the end of it made my jaw drop. It was an open space, filled with piles and piles of treasures. If I had any space in my backpack to carry any of it, I’d have a fortune.

“I could buy so much Raina Starlight stuff,” I whispered, unable to keep the giddy thought solely in my head.

At the center of the treasure room was a rocky throne with a waterfall flowing behind it that glistened with all colors of the rainbow. Within the waterfall, I could see a spiraling staircase that led above. On the throne sat a titan in sand colored armor, looking to be a similar being as Kiki. The titan raised their right arm, clanging together giant scissor blades, which made me jump and hide behind a pile of gold blocks and other strange parts.

As I hid, small, crab-like creatures approached the throne, all carrying treasures of their own to the apparent leader.

“My dear subjects,” The titan boomed. “What gifts have you brought today?”

The titan’s eyes appeared bored behind its mask at the treasures presented to it.

“Bah! Have you nothing I haven’t seen? Nothing that tickles the imagination of the mighty Lophor Hothon?”

I really didn’t want to get any closer to whatever the heck a Lophor Hothon was, so I used the piles of coins, gems, and other artifacts to sneak around, inching towards the stairwell. Normally, I’d be paralyzed with fear, but after hearing Jeans’ voice again, getting hit with a big blood wave, and escaping robot lava creeps by jumping off a cliff, that side of me was a bit numbed. I made it past the throne and spotted a spiraling stairwell that led above. It too was covered in gold. I sighed in relief, as the waterfall was loud enough to block the noise. I was practically in the clear.

“Oh?” Lophor Hothon said. I ducked, thinking I was spotted. But the titan was reacting to something his minions brought. “Now this is truly interesting.”

I squinted to see the crabs bring a boy forward. The boy appeared to be knocked out, as he fell to the ground when the crabs dropped him. They brought a glass case next to him and pointed at it, then back to the boy. I recognized the case instantly. I had seen it before in one of the memory trials. Oka’s memory trial. It was from Oka’s school, Tesata, in a room she was never allowed to go on (although I assumed she must have snuck in for memories of the sword to be in her mind). The same bloodsaber was inside it.

“An organic on its own isn’t interesting,” Lophor continued, more to himself than anything it seemed. “As I’m sure you’re all aware. But this one was seeking the treasure we found in the ruins…curious…”

Even though he had his back to me, I could feel malice coming from the titan. But what could I do? I could escape while Lophor was distracted.

I thought about what my friends would do. Laenie would probably cry and hide, which, same on any other day, Aira would be consoling Laenie, Lillia would probably have some innate knowledge of Exumi and big Exumi and how to defeat them, Kalei would have jumped into the fight right away. I thought about what Oka would do. She’d definitely save anyone in danger.

I looked around again for anything I could use, hoping that the treasures around me would give more options than I had on the beach. But all I could focus on as a potential weapon was the bloodsaber.

The glass was cracked on the case, and Lophor easily crushed it with his scissor blade. He threw the blade to the side, on a path directly in front of me. I luckily wasn’t spotted, and he went back to looking over and prodding the boy with some foot pokes.

I held my right hand out, hoping I could actually get the bloodsaber tether to work this time. I concentrated as hard as I could to get the bloodsaber to come to me, to fly to my hand. I clenched my fist and tried again. And tried again. Still nothing.

The titan was looming over the boy now. Even if the teachers said they could stop us if we were in true danger, I couldn’t shake that this place wasn’t exactly where they intended me to be. If that were the case, the knocked-out boy might be in serious trouble. And all that stood between the monster and him was me, unless one of the robot crabs decided to have a sudden change of heart.

Even if I couldn’t get the bloodsaber tether trick to work, there was still one thing I could do. I sprinted to the bloodsaber, faster than I could ever remember running before. Right as I grabbed it, I fumbled it and slid into the nearest pile of treasures. I recovered quickly and grabbed the bloodsaber, pricking my finger on the blood collector and igniting it. The crabs and Lophor all turned to me.

“Another organic…” Lophor looked in confusion, his attention turned away the boy. “And a thief at that.”

Lophor rose, towering over me. The dulled fear feeling was fading at this point, and I could feel my heartrate start to spike as I thought about all the ways this giant could easily kill me. But there was no turning back now. I’d have to somehow fight this beast.