"Get up and place your hands on it!"
BAM!
The gunshots continued behind them as they finally found the will to stand up. Slowly making their way to the lighthouse they looked at each other. Ace and Shree had only met each other, but they at least trusted each other to an extent, both of them were just trying to get home. But they didn't know a thing about the man with the rifle, for all they know he might be someone or something planning to grill them later on.
"We dun have a choice Ace."
"I know."
They came to a stop in front of the mysteriously gleaming tower. It had no doors leading inside, no windows to peek through, nor any stairs leading to the top. They shared a look at each other and finally placed their hands on the tower. Their vision started growing foggy, while bodies got heavier, and felt their consciousness starting to drift away.
"Damn it...again..?"
This is the second time these two lost consciousness in the span of 24 hours because they touched a weird thing, which isn't a lot, but still weird. Except this time they didn't lose their consciousness entirely. It was as if they were being moved extremely fast, at a speed their brains nor their body could keep up.
Shree slowly opened his eyes, and the sky was still ash gray. Beside him, Ace was blinking while trying to clear his foggy eyes. They were on a large flat circular platform with a strange glowing shape inscribed on it. The platform itself was at least a 100 metres in diameter, and had a circumference that glowed in an enchanting sky blue pattern. There was only one path connecting to it, a small bridge connecting the platform and a near sky high fortress that looked to be in ruins. Its walls seemed to reach the high heavens as they shot into the clouds.
"Shree...those things...aren't alive right?"
"Let's just hope not."
There were two enormous statues on either side of the other end of the bridge. Knights draped in moss, with swords plunged deep into the earth. They looked as if they had been abandoned since time unknown, yet they performed their duty till date.
Ace and Shree slowly made their way towards the ruined fortress. They were cautious of the two statues, but there was nothing they could do. The fortress gates were wide open, with rusted swords sprawled along the bridge. The ruins were not in full view as the fortress stretched at least as far as their eyes can see.
Sizzle!
A booming sound alerted them the moment they stepped onto the stairs at the end of the bridge leading to the gates. Two great fires came to life atop the cressets on either sides of the steps. Bright yellow flames danced in the wind as if to welcome these two.
"I think I peed a little...just a little."
"Let's keep walking Ace."
Ace nodded his head, and started making his way towards the gate. And as they stood in front of that massive gate leading into the ruins, they looked inside the fallen fortress.
"A large fight definitely broke out wherever we are Shree."
"Or maybe a War."
The large garden was filled with all kinds of weapons sprawled across the entire area. Claw marks on the walls of the innumerous buildings that stood the test of time. And at a great distance towered a majestic building, it was half destroyed but that could not dampen the glory it emanated.
"This isn't a ruined fortress Shree..."
"It's a fallen city. Ace look at the tower in the centre of the garden there."
"A lighthouse...?"
It definitely looked like a ruined megalithic city, but they didn't have the time nor the energy to explore it. What they saw was a tower similar to the lighthouse they touched a while ago. It teleported them here, and that means this one might be able to teleport them somewhere as well. They had no other leads to follow, poking around and hoping to get lucky was the best they could hope for.
"It's not lit like the other lighthouse Shree."
"Well those Cressets weren't lit when we got here either. They definitely detected us, so let's hope the lighthouse will detect us too."
Sometimes our eyes play tricks at us. They make some things seem closer to us, and sometimes farther from us than they really are. But this time it was really stretching the 2 ounces of patience these two had left in their bodies.
"We have been walking for an hour!"
"What do you want me to do Ace!?"
And it took them an hour longer even after the couch potato's complaint. As they stood in front of the lighthouse once again, they looked at each other and then put their palms on the lighthouse.
Crackle!
Roar!
I firestorm blasted out of the torch at a great speed spreading in all direction with a deafening sound. An inferno blazed in the middle to become the light that illuminated the entire city. But oddly enough, even as they stood in the middle of this madness, all these two felt was a gentle warmth that comforted their tired bodies and minds.
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"Here we go...again...Shree."
"Let's just hope it's...home this time..."
Their vision blurred yet again, and their consciousness drifted away with a heavy mind. That marks the third time they lost consciousness in the last 24 hours, and the count just keeps going up. A gentle gust blew by the place they stood, but they had already disappeared into the warm yellow light.
Clang!
The sound of two massive swords being pulled out of the ground only to be thrusted back into the depths of the earth reverberated through the empty city. A subtle light could be seen emanating from within the visors of the knights' helmets guarding the city gates. And it was a good thing Ace and Shree had already been teleported away, or they might have soiled their pants today.
Pop!
Torches attached on the walls of the innumerous ruined buildings across the cityscape started lighting up. The dark gray sky covering the city started clearing into a beautiful starry night sky that was unperturbed by the light pollution caused by the numerous lit torches in the city.
"I really can't get used to this...Ace you up?"
"Can I have 5 more minutes...please?"
"Get up already..."
Ace and Shree were sprawled on the floor, looking up at an archaic looking domed ceiling. Neither of them really wanted to get up anymore, they were parched, hungry, and honestly tired of running around.
"Great another big gate...except this one's sealed."
"And...we are trapped Shree."
They were on a large glowing platform similar to the one before, except this one was walled up with a domed ceiling. This time they didn't need to look at each other nor say a word. They started walking towards the ridiculously huge gate to put their hands on it.
CREEK!!!
"I am not even surprised that it opened."
Ace sighed as he took a few steps back along with Shree. They didn't know what they were expecting to see, and they were too tired to even act nervous anymore.
"What? Who are you!?"
"Hmm? How did you get in there!? "
Two men dressed in vibrant green justacorp coats that reached their knees stood on the other side of the gate. They looked alarmed, confused, and clearly ready to attack as they clenched their fists which started glowing yellow. But in contrast, Ace and Shree seemed to have caught something in their eye all of a sudden, because their eyes became watery. These two looked ready to cry just after a few hours of getting chased by a few demons and perhaps a chihuahua.
"Can I give you two a hug?"
"You are already weird, so please don't get weirder Ace."
Ace, the couch potato didn't even try to hide his feelings of relief. But this at least seemed to have helped in making the guards lower their fists ever so slightly. One of the guards looked at his colleague and then back at Shree with a stern face.
"You just committed one of the biggest crimes in the Interstice. This will get even messier if you don't cooperate, identify yourself."
"Uhh...I am Shree, this is Ace."
"..."
An awkward silence pursued for a second between these four men. It was clear the guards were expecting a different kind of answer, or at least in a different format perhaps.
"What...?"
"You said identify ourselves? I am Shree and this is Ace?"
"..."
Surely something was going wrong, given the very frequent awkward silences.
"Why and how did you two go inside that chamber!?"
"I think you saw it wrong, we weren't trying to get in there. We just got teleported in there, we were just trying get out!"
Ace bellowed. He was hungry, thirsty and more importantly out of patience. He just wanted to go home, and the two people who seemed to know how, were being of no help.
"What are you two talking about!? That chamber has been closed fo-"
Sizzle!
The ancient patterns inscribed on the platforms burned a dazzling blue, and a yellow blaze grew on it to reveal a tattered person sprawled on the floor.
"So that's how we teleport, pretty cool if you ask me Shree."
"I agree...that does look cool."
Shree and Ace looked at each other to make a simple remark, but the faces of the other two guards watching it had already turned blue, then to green, and finally white. The man sprawled on the ground finally got up with groggy eyes as he turned to Ace and asked.
"Do any of you know the way back to Mexico?"
"Get in line for directions dear neighbour."
As casual as these three acted, the guards had already nearly shat themselves. Two pair of eyes widened to their limits as they dropped out of their defensive poses. With his legs frozen, one of the guards uttered in a low voice as he stared at the other three.
"Sound it.."
"SOUND IT!"
He yelled so loud that the three new comers flinched, and finally looked back at the guards. One of them was frozen while the other ran to a statue in the middle of the great hall they were in. The circular hall itself was massive with 9 gates and a massive passage into it. It took the guard only a second to place his hand on the statue that was at least half a kilometre away.
RUMBLE!!!
WHOOSH!!!
A sudden sound as if a jet engine suddenly powered up roared out of the statue. A red ominous light shot into the unbelievably high ceiling that Ace and Shree couldn't even catch a glimpse of. Circular red rings of light continuously shot out of the statue at incredible speeds. And the three men stood there with dumbfounded faces as they watched this all happen.
"Amigos...on a scale of 1 to 10, how fucked are we?"
"11."
"11."
"Oh. It was nice meeting you two. But...I think I am going to go back now."
Even before he bid them goodbye, he started running back onto the platform while Ace and Shree looked at him blankly. But, he didn't get too far. The guard who was at least 50 metres away from them suddenly appeared in front of the gate from thin air.
"Or...since you insist so much, I can stay."
"Shree I think we are definitely lacking some good instincts..."
"We should have started running too...so yeah, definitely lacking in that department."
Crash!
Boom!
Thud!
...
...
Ear shattering sounds assaulted the three men who gave up all hope on living through this nightmare. And people appeared around the statue out of nowhere. It wasn't just one or two, hundreds of people started appearing from thin air, only to turn towards the three as if they were animals in a zoo.
Sizzle!
Amidst the ear shattering cool-looking entrances, a gentle sizzle caught the attention of the hundreds of people who gathered here. A petite young caucasian woman slowly sat up while she clutched her head with one hand and looked around as if she just woke up. Once upon a time in his 11th grade, Shree shouted out an answer to a question in class. And the answer was as wrong as it could be, because his answer suggested that the helium atom weighed 2 tons. The way the newcomer froze up like a dead frog reminded him of his dark past.
These three excluding the newcomer were already certain that they were going to die today. And so understandably they started reminiscing their past. At least Ace and Shree had been reminiscing quite a lot for the past 24 hours. But she was not the end of it.
Sizzle!
Sizzle!
...
...
"At least we are not dying alone amigos. Cheers to that~"
"Cheers~"
"Cheers~"
More and more people started to appear on the platform while the great hall was already housing a few thousand people. Thousands of pairs of eyes kept staring at the newcomers with speechless faces. And so the day only keeps getting more exciting for Ace and Shree whether they accept it or not.