The Daunting Affray! (Round 1: Temple in the Sky!)

"Limbo!" Leonardo cried, "We've died and gone to Limbo!" "Actually Fa-" Luis began, but was quickly interrupted by the rambling priest. "Though standing here it's not so bad, perhaps a bit grey..." "Father!" "Oh look at that! I still have some of my tools, I could probably suss out some of the properties of this place, it might even be fun!" "FATHER!" "Eh? what is it?" "We aren't dead, and we aren't in Limbo! and shhhhhhh." Luis said, bringing his voice down to a whisper. "Then...where are we?" Leonardo asked looking out at the bleak grey landscape before them. "another world? Like you claim to be from?" "Well...not really" Luis replied "it's a domain, it kind of exists everywhere." "Oh...how does it work?" "it...it's complicated...god shenanigans you know. There is only one person who could possibly tell you how it works and we really don't want to wake him up. The important bit is that we can use it to get away from that...lava pit thing..." "Oh, are we going to wait and return after it's left?" "Even if we wanted to we couldn't do that, time doesn't pass here..." "What?" "We could stay here for centuries but not a second would go by in the other world. If you look, everything here is frozen in time, excepting ourselves of course, the whole thing is all trapped in a single moment. Welcome to Timeless Space." Leonardo explored his surroundings with excitement. "Astounding! but...why doesn't it look like the island?" "Because it's not. The way I understand it it's essentially a reality superimposed over the original, completely different geography, but equivalent points in space." "Then how are we supposed to know where we're going? We could end up reappearing in a wall or off the side of the island!" "Calm down Leo, I used to fly spaceships between dimensions, I can handle a little bi-spatial navigation. I have a nav program in my glasses, it keeps track of my movements, we should be able to return to anywhere I've been. Furthermore, we can only enter or exit this place through shadows, it won't be too difficult to find a safe place to exit." "So where are we going to go?" Leonardo asked poking experimentally at a piece of frozen grass. "Hmmm, I think I have an idea" Luis grinned, "Now let's get moving, this place always makes me nervous"

Mouse stood in front of Father Curiosity's door. He took a deep breath, this was going to be harder than he thought. Tentatively he knocked on the door. "F-Father?" he stammered "I...I told the High Priests about the Demon" The Father didn't reply or even come to answer the door. "T-They said they were going to summon the Archons..." Maybe he was angry. Mouse hadn't meant to betray his trust, he just couldn't stand the idea of a demon in the temple. It was against everything the angels had told him. Frankly it was for the Father's own good, who knew what that demon could do to him. Mouse paused for a minute reviewing his thoughts. Could something have happened to Father Curiosity? Could that be why he wasn't answering? "Father?" Mouse slowly pushed open the heavy wooden door and peered into the room. Empty. Mouse slipped through the door and into the room. The Father must be out, maybe he had left something behind, some clue to his whereabouts. Mouse walked past the desk and the chairs, the bookshelves seemed to loom over him. A simple coffee table sat in the center of the room, illuminated by sunlight pouring in from a window across the room. Mouse stopped at the window gazing out at the garden, that beautiful garden. He had definitely been right in calling on the Archons, this place was too glorious to be defiled by demons, they would be purged and the world would return to how it was supposed to be.

Mouse turned back just in time to see the coffee table leap at him. He barely managed to duck in time and the table crashed through the window, flipping out towards the garden. Mouse stared at Father Curiosity and Luis standing where the innocuous table had so recently rested. He managed to squeak something about Archons and Demons and the will of the Holy ones before collapsing into a rather pitiful heap on the floor, deep in the embrace of unconsciousness.

"Mouse? Oh dear...did he say Archons?" Father Curiosity rushed over to the fallen Mouse. "Oh dear oh dear..." "Father, is he ok?" "He's perfectly fine, but I'm afraid he's put us all in danger..." "Father?" "I think he may have relayed your presence to the Archons." Leonardo fumbled nervously, still kneeling over Mouse. "Normally the higher priests would not listen to his worries, Mouse is known for being excitable...but after what I've seen, these...contestants...I fear they may have been more inclined to listen. If the Archons have been released...Oh...Oh Dear..." "Father..." Luis lifted the old man to his feet. "What is an Archon?" "The ancient soldiers of the gods, powerful creatures of combat. They will destroy everything on this island they view as impure. If they have been released...oh this could be a catastrophe..." "But...they won't hurt the worshipers or the priests right? They will only be hunting us contestants." "well...theoretically yes, but it's been centuries since the Archons were last released...many things have changed, they might not view our worship as pure anymore, they almost certainly won't approve of my work." "Alright, What do we do to stop them?" Father Curiosity slumped into a chair an aura of defeat seemed to hover around him. "I don't know..."