Re: The Grand Battle [Round Six: Library of Lies!]
02-28-2010, 01:59 AM
Originally posted on MSPA by Aryogaton.
“You really think this will hold them?â€
“Ari probably not, but I'm sure the girl will be incapacitated for a while.â€
Drake sighed. “It's about time we get some peace and quiet anyway. You stay here, then. I have some research to do.†With that, Drake disappeared, careful to not give Arnold the chance to reply. Arnold refreshed the spell holding the two in place. I have plans too, asshole. The Gentleman refroze them again for good measure, and disappeared himself.
***
Aeon dived towards the opposite bookshelf, pressing against it and placing him in a position so that the spider could not see him. He watched the shadow of the spider crawl on the bookshelf before stopping directly above him. It moved with a strange crackling and shifting sound, like sandpaper on cellophane. Aeon could only assume that such was the nature of the library. He reached for his adaptive tool to see the spider through a reflection, and remembered the mirror that Eximo flung at him. He took that one out instead and held it in front of him, positioning it such that the spider was visible above him.
What he saw perplexed him. There was a spider in the reflection, but it was not the same as the one he had been observing. Rather, its exoskeleton was replaced with parchment, covered entirely by inked words. The strange sound it was making as it moved was actually the crinkle of paper. But before Aeon could make heads or tails of this predicament, the spider disappeared. A shadow briefly passed in the hallway, and the spider landed directly in front of him.
Aeon dived to the side, dodging the spider as it pounced. Within an instant he wielded a rapier, and lunged at the monstrosity, the blade of his adaptive tool hitting it directly in the middle of a mass of eyes. As soon as Aeon leapt back, the wound spurted a short spray of black liquid, staining the floor and the books around him and the spider. Undeterred, the spider charged again. Aeon sidestepped, a faint whiff was heard, and a dismembered leg writhed on the floor. At this point black liquid, unidentifiable as blood or ink, covered this particular part of the library. The spider writhed for a moment, and then collapsed, its remains becoming something indistinguishable from a pile of soaked, black paper.
Aeon looked at his hands, now covered in ink-blood. Dammit, I just got this shirt, he thought as he walked in the direction the spider was heading before it made the sudden turn.
***
Amethyst silently cursed to herself. Although her body was more or less frozen in time, her thoughts were not. In her peripheral vision, she saw a sudden change. Focusing at that spot, she saw a barely distinguishable, hollow, person-shaped bubble in the ice.
***
We cannot let Amethyst die!
Eximo wheeled as fast as he could towards the position where Amethyst had vanished, before halting suddenly.
If Amethyst is still there, we will be forced to attack her.
For a brief moment the machine returned to cleansing, but broke into a sprint a few second later.
If we notify Lifeform Aeon, he might be able to help her where we can't.
With this Eximo dashed towards Aeon's location, doing its best to clean some of its path simultaneously. After what seemed like hours, it stopped at the remains of the spider. Aeon had already left. Eximo stopped for a moment, took out a brush, and attempted to scrub off some of the ink-blood on the floor. It was stubborn. Deciding that this task would take too long given current circumstances, it continued its pursuit.
***
In the void of four-dimensional space, Ari approached a shadowy figure watching a set of screens.
“Yes?†the Director said.
“I have learned much during my experience in this game. However, I would like to take this one step further.â€
The Director turned from the screens, facing Ari.
“I would like to become your apprentice.â€
***
Arnold removed his helmet. In front of him there was a bookshelf, its top half visibly empty and its bottom half filled with biographies. He knew that the secret to the location of the Director's book was hidden here, but did not know where to start. He began to remove books one at a time, searching every corner of the shelf. When he removed the last book and found nothing, he began to fumble through the biographies of the Gentlemen who took part in this particular battle. Taking a glance at the last page, he saw the page number to be several thousand.
Ugh. This is going to take a while. At least all of the other contestants are fairly busy.
***
A tendril of light burrowed through the ice. Soon, cracks began to appear, which lengthened and multiplied. A rice-grain-sized piece of ice fell from an edge, then another. Soon, the ice was breaking apart, crumbling in a well-controlled manner. Amethyst collapsed into the pile of snow, almost entirely sapped of her mana. She was lifted and sat against a bookshelf by a column of light.
“Hey.â€
Amethyst did not even look up.
“How would you like it if I give you a source of mana?â€
Although her interest was piqued, she showed no sign of attention. Ari summoned a particularly radiant orb of light, and held it in front of her. At once Amethyst sprung up, sensing a source of sunlight, which disappeared unceremoniously.
“Now I've got your attention. Well, I'm sure that there are dire consequences if you aren't given a source of mana soon, so it's going to be in your best interest if you do what I tell you… The first of which is to follow me.â€
***
Aeon stopped at a familiar intersection. Just beyond the corner, he knew that there was a bookshelf that could hold the secret to his escape from this accursed game. However, he also knew that there was someone already there, fumbling through books and muttering to himself. Curious, he took the strange mirror and held it to the side, such that the Gentleman was visible. Strangely, the entire bookshelf was made of paper, though the Gentleman and the biographies were not. Aeon tilted the mirror to the side, and to his surprise, the reflection moved in the wrong direction. Tilting the mirror such that his own face was visible, he saw that the reflection was merely flipped horizontally. He looked again at the Gentleman, and saw that in the bookshelves other than the important one, some books were made of inked parchment and some were not.
Taking note of this and wondering why he did not notice this before, Aeon pocketed the mirror and waited for the Gentleman to finish with his search.
Spoiler
“You really think this will hold them?â€
“Ari probably not, but I'm sure the girl will be incapacitated for a while.â€
Drake sighed. “It's about time we get some peace and quiet anyway. You stay here, then. I have some research to do.†With that, Drake disappeared, careful to not give Arnold the chance to reply. Arnold refreshed the spell holding the two in place. I have plans too, asshole. The Gentleman refroze them again for good measure, and disappeared himself.
***
Aeon dived towards the opposite bookshelf, pressing against it and placing him in a position so that the spider could not see him. He watched the shadow of the spider crawl on the bookshelf before stopping directly above him. It moved with a strange crackling and shifting sound, like sandpaper on cellophane. Aeon could only assume that such was the nature of the library. He reached for his adaptive tool to see the spider through a reflection, and remembered the mirror that Eximo flung at him. He took that one out instead and held it in front of him, positioning it such that the spider was visible above him.
What he saw perplexed him. There was a spider in the reflection, but it was not the same as the one he had been observing. Rather, its exoskeleton was replaced with parchment, covered entirely by inked words. The strange sound it was making as it moved was actually the crinkle of paper. But before Aeon could make heads or tails of this predicament, the spider disappeared. A shadow briefly passed in the hallway, and the spider landed directly in front of him.
Aeon dived to the side, dodging the spider as it pounced. Within an instant he wielded a rapier, and lunged at the monstrosity, the blade of his adaptive tool hitting it directly in the middle of a mass of eyes. As soon as Aeon leapt back, the wound spurted a short spray of black liquid, staining the floor and the books around him and the spider. Undeterred, the spider charged again. Aeon sidestepped, a faint whiff was heard, and a dismembered leg writhed on the floor. At this point black liquid, unidentifiable as blood or ink, covered this particular part of the library. The spider writhed for a moment, and then collapsed, its remains becoming something indistinguishable from a pile of soaked, black paper.
Aeon looked at his hands, now covered in ink-blood. Dammit, I just got this shirt, he thought as he walked in the direction the spider was heading before it made the sudden turn.
***
Amethyst silently cursed to herself. Although her body was more or less frozen in time, her thoughts were not. In her peripheral vision, she saw a sudden change. Focusing at that spot, she saw a barely distinguishable, hollow, person-shaped bubble in the ice.
***
We cannot let Amethyst die!
Eximo wheeled as fast as he could towards the position where Amethyst had vanished, before halting suddenly.
If Amethyst is still there, we will be forced to attack her.
For a brief moment the machine returned to cleansing, but broke into a sprint a few second later.
If we notify Lifeform Aeon, he might be able to help her where we can't.
With this Eximo dashed towards Aeon's location, doing its best to clean some of its path simultaneously. After what seemed like hours, it stopped at the remains of the spider. Aeon had already left. Eximo stopped for a moment, took out a brush, and attempted to scrub off some of the ink-blood on the floor. It was stubborn. Deciding that this task would take too long given current circumstances, it continued its pursuit.
***
In the void of four-dimensional space, Ari approached a shadowy figure watching a set of screens.
“Yes?†the Director said.
“I have learned much during my experience in this game. However, I would like to take this one step further.â€
The Director turned from the screens, facing Ari.
“I would like to become your apprentice.â€
***
Arnold removed his helmet. In front of him there was a bookshelf, its top half visibly empty and its bottom half filled with biographies. He knew that the secret to the location of the Director's book was hidden here, but did not know where to start. He began to remove books one at a time, searching every corner of the shelf. When he removed the last book and found nothing, he began to fumble through the biographies of the Gentlemen who took part in this particular battle. Taking a glance at the last page, he saw the page number to be several thousand.
Ugh. This is going to take a while. At least all of the other contestants are fairly busy.
***
A tendril of light burrowed through the ice. Soon, cracks began to appear, which lengthened and multiplied. A rice-grain-sized piece of ice fell from an edge, then another. Soon, the ice was breaking apart, crumbling in a well-controlled manner. Amethyst collapsed into the pile of snow, almost entirely sapped of her mana. She was lifted and sat against a bookshelf by a column of light.
“Hey.â€
Amethyst did not even look up.
“How would you like it if I give you a source of mana?â€
Although her interest was piqued, she showed no sign of attention. Ari summoned a particularly radiant orb of light, and held it in front of her. At once Amethyst sprung up, sensing a source of sunlight, which disappeared unceremoniously.
“Now I've got your attention. Well, I'm sure that there are dire consequences if you aren't given a source of mana soon, so it's going to be in your best interest if you do what I tell you… The first of which is to follow me.â€
***
Aeon stopped at a familiar intersection. Just beyond the corner, he knew that there was a bookshelf that could hold the secret to his escape from this accursed game. However, he also knew that there was someone already there, fumbling through books and muttering to himself. Curious, he took the strange mirror and held it to the side, such that the Gentleman was visible. Strangely, the entire bookshelf was made of paper, though the Gentleman and the biographies were not. Aeon tilted the mirror to the side, and to his surprise, the reflection moved in the wrong direction. Tilting the mirror such that his own face was visible, he saw that the reflection was merely flipped horizontally. He looked again at the Gentleman, and saw that in the bookshelves other than the important one, some books were made of inked parchment and some were not.
Taking note of this and wondering why he did not notice this before, Aeon pocketed the mirror and waited for the Gentleman to finish with his search.