Chapter 9: The Light at the End

Renee Eamon:

"What is this place?"

I stop walking when I see something in the sand. Running right up to it, I see what looks like ancient stone ruins. The ruins include some pillars and a pathway, both are made from crumbling stone.

"Ancient ruins," I think. "Is this the place? Finally! Yes! I can grab one of those game pieces the Headmaster mentioned!"

I follow the crumbling pathway until I see a large entrance. The entrance is made from stacks and stacks of crumbling stone. It looks like it was built right into a sand dune.

About to run in, I stop when I realize something. Looking at the entrance again, I see that it's pitch-black. It makes sense since the entrance is facing away from the moon. I narrow my eyes to try and see better but it's no use.

"I can barely see inside. Maybe I should turn back. No! Come on, Renee! You have to be smart about this! This is Yellow Sun Academy. You can't screw this up. Not after all you did to get here in the front place."

I shake my head and look around for something can use. As I look around, I see some long brown weeds growing in the cracks between the crumbling stones. An idea sparks in my head and I reach over to pull out some weeds. Grabbing only the longest weeds, I have about a handful of them before I raise my hand. In my hand, I have my shining white shield. Pushing a button behind my shield, a secret component opens, and my broadsword shoots out of it.

I grab my sword and wrap the weed around the blade. Once tightly secured, I strike my sword against the stone over and over again until the weed catches on fire and ignites.

"Yes," I shout, raising my homemade torch into the air. With my torch burning brightly, I take a deep breath and venture through the entrance and into the dark.

It doesn't take long before I find myself in a maze of stone hallways. There are hallways going in every direction, all of them leading into pitch darkness.

"Which way do I go? Why aren't there any signs around here? Shouldn't there be signs pointing to the game pieces?"

As I keep walking around, I start to hear footsteps. It sounds like they're moving fast, and getting closer. About to turn a corner, I accidentally run into someone. As we run into each other, our lips meet, and I feel a jolt. The jolt sends shivers down my spine. It makes me feel alive and so full of energy. The jolt lasts only a brief second before we both fall onto the ground.

"Ouch," I cry. I shake my head and look at the person. With the torch in my hand, I can clearly see a girl also on the ground. The girl has short brown hair and is wearing a dark blue jacket and pants with armor pads on them. Also, she had on silver gloves with crossbows on them.

As she moans and rubs her head, she finally notices me.

Jump:

"Ouch," I cry, rubbing my head. Pushing through the headache, I look to see a young boy with short yellow hair. He's wearing a chest plate and armor sleeves over a hoodie and pants. Also, he appears to be holding a sword that's on fire.

About to ask who he is, I stop when I hear the familiar tapping. I push myself up and help the boy up.

"Move," I scream, pushing the boy as the tapping chases after us.

"Wait," the boy shouts as I push him. "What are you doing? Why are you chasing me? What's that tapping?"

"It's bad news," I answer. I stop when the two of us come to an intersection. Once again, I'm faced with three different hallways, each going in a separate direction. "Quick! Which way did you come from? Please tell me you remember which way you come from?"

I slap myself on the face when I hear the boy's answer.

"Uhh..."

"Watch out," I shout, looking at the black dots as they reach him. The black dots gather all together and form a large, towering lump. They tower over him and from the look of it, prepare to bring him down, but before they can, the boy turns around and screams. He swings his flaming sword and cuts off a piece of the lump.

The lump screams as it loses its head. It stumbles back while black dots fall from it.

"Wait," the boy screams, looking at the flaming sword in his hand. "I know what these are. I know what these are!"

"What are they," I yell, walking up to him with my crossbows.

"They're called swantle," the boy answers. "They travel in swarms and work together to eat their prey. They can form arms and bodies to overpower their foods."

"Swantle," I repeat. "Wait, I have heard of these before. I read about them once. They lived in darkness, and hate light! More specifically, they hate fire."

I eye the boy's flaming sword.

"Keep swinging that sword," I shout, pointing at the flaming sword. "Swantle hates fire!"

As the boy keeps the swarm of swantles back, I use my wrist-mounted crossbows to knock a few of them down. However, no matter how many bolts I shoot, they go right through the lump of swantles.

"Come on," I say, looking left and right. "Where's the exit? Where's the exit? It can't be too far away. I mean, I ran right into this guy! If this guy had got any deeper, he would also have swantles after him!"

"Uhh, bad news," the boy says as he keeps swinging his sword. "The fire on my sword is starting to die down! And I didn't think to grab any more weeds!"

I look toward the flaming sword and see he's right. The fire is getting smaller, and with a smaller fire, the lump of swantle is growing bigger and bigger. More swantles crawl out and climb onto the lump so now it even had arms.

As the lump of swantles swings its massive arms, it shakes the pathway, causing some stone and even sand to fall.

"Wait, sand?"

I look again and see some sand raining down from above us.

"Keep them right there," I shout, raising both my crossbows and firing as many bolts as I can into the ceiling. The bolts stick to the ceiling, in between the cracks in the stones. Some stones actually coming out, I look toward the flaming sword.

"Quickly," I say, hitting the boy on his shoulder. "Stab the stone that is falling out! Stab it and push it out!"

"Are you crazy," the boy shouts. "If I do that, then the fire will die out and the swantles will get us!"

"Unless you can remember which way is out, then the swantles already got us! Just do it!"

The boy groans as he steps forward. He screams as he stabs a loose stone in the ceiling. As he does, the fire around his sword dies out and the lump of swantles rushes toward us. Just before the lump could reach him, the boy pulls out the loose stone. It drops into the lump and disappears.

"Now what," the boy asks as he jumps back.

"Now we step back," I say, grabbing the boy and jumping back. The lump prepares to move toward us but as it does, the loose stone falling out causes a chain reaction. Other stones fall from the ceiling and onto the lump, stunning it. It's only a few more seconds when the whole ceiling collapses, a combination of ancient stones and sand from the outside falling onto and crushing the lump.

The boy and I watch as most of the swantles are killed while what few of them remain are scared by the moonlight. They run back into the pitch-black hallways.

"Hey," I say, tapping the boy on his arm. "I can't help but get the feeling this isn't the ruin the Headmaster mentioned."

"No kidding," the boy replies. "Do you, uhh, want to get out of here and find the right one?"

"Yeah. Let's go."

With a nod of our heads, we climb up the pile of stone and sand and back outside.