Blackstone - The Temple of Trials

A Powerful Force

I ran down to the beach and without thinking about it, I jumped Out of Time and ran across the water. Wind filled the galleon's sails and it accelerated away from me, but I wasn't going to be stopped now. I couldn't let the Grimm Lord get away. They would just come back. They had to be dealt with now.

I ran up under the Galleon and did a quick Fast Time jump that took me onto the decks. I didn't know what to expect. A hundred bad guys with swords and guns, probably.

But there was nothing. No one was on deck. The wind creaked in the sails and I felt uneasy. I was looking forward to feeding bad guys to the Wend, but there was nobody on deck. Worse there was a distinct feeling of Evil. It surrounded me like a creeping black mist. The very ship seemed to embody it. It was almost like the ship was a Being Unto Itself.

"So, little girl, I see you've come to me," a rough voice said behind me.

I spun around and beheld a beautiful looking man dressed in the shining steel armor of a Spanish Conquistador. The man's piercing black eyes radiated intelligence and strength. I unsheathed my Etheric Knife and activated it. The warm comforting feeling of Blue and White Dragon Fire enveloped my wrist.

"So you're the big bad Lord, huh. You know I was expecting to find someone a little more imposing," I said with as much confidence as I could muster. Somehow, I was expecting to find a hideous ugly creature. I'd been shown pictures of the Grimm Lords during training at the Forge and they were always disgusting and ugly, but this man was beautiful. Oh, well, I guess nobody was perfect.

I streamed Blue and White Dragon Fire at the Grimm Lord before he could run his big mouth any further, but to my surprise the man vanished as soon as the dragon fire reached him.

"Surely, you can do better than that," the man's disembodied voice spoke. It was like the very Ship was Alive and had Spoken to me.

I turned around in a circle, looking for the source, looking for anything I could kill. I was starting to get frustrated, but worse than that, I was starting to feel the cold tinge of fear creeping in, invading my gut like a nest of black widow spiders. I shook my head and forced myself to concentrate. Fear Kills, I thought and clenched my right hand around my Etheric Knife.

"Do you know who I Am, human? Do you even have a concept of what you are facing?" the rough voice spoke to me from all around.

"Come out and face, me!" I screamed at the ship.

"First, you must know who I AM, little girl," the rough voice said.

Just then, the cold arctic blast of the Wend coursed through me. I instantly dropped to the deck...

In the nick of time, because a huge mast swung down from above, slicing thought the air in a vicious killing arc. The mast missed me by inches, and I felt the cool air of its passage against my face.

The cold force of the Wend again warned me and I rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding a pulsing net, coated with green slime, that dropped down from above like the bladed death of a guillotine . The deck hissed and the net sank through to the lower decks in a cloud of steaming vapor. I didn't know what was on that net but it surely would have scalded me to death.

You're In it Now, Eliza, I thought as I ran to the rear of the ship. I was actually starting to think that I was in over my head, and I cursed myself for thinking this was going to be easy. If only Mary could see me now. I know what she would say. Never underestimate your opponent, Little Star. It will lead to your undoing.

"Impressive, young one. I see you have been well trained, but the fun is just beginning," the rough voice that I was starting to think of as the ship, spoke from all around me.