Everything looked the same, as if we were on a giant rock, only the occasional spike of a mountain here and there to make it easier to navigate. Edgar was going the fastest now, and we followed him the best we could. There was nothing to weave through, just more fog, so as long as we kept close enough to see through the fog we had sight of Edgar. We were trying to be as swift as possible, but we knew it would be useless. The monsters had long limbs that allowed them to have bigger strides, one of their steps equal to five of our own. The ground seemed to have settled down after Merlin's transformation, but with the creature getting closer the land once again began to tremor.
Once we reached the summit of the mountain ahead of us, two of the creatures were upon us, and the ground shook so bad that climbing up the mountain quickly was almost impossible. Edgar hopped up on ledges, grabbing onto the edges when he lost his balance.
"You have to try to climb the mountain." Merlin said, pushing me ahead of him. "I'll keep them off our trail." Merlin made no glance back at me, giving me no option but to obey him. His light energy began to brighten in such a way it was like his body was now created out of static electricity.
As Merlin threw one of the monster back I began to climb up the mountain, but the ground continued to shake, making my progress very slow. I tried to keep calm, focusing on breathing in and out as I searched for places to grab onto and push off of. I felt confident in myself, that I could do this, and Merlin would be behind shortly, after all he took care of that one easily enough.
The mountain shook relentlessly and it took almost all of my strength to keep hold of the ledge. Glancing down I saw three of the monsters closing in on Merlin. He was now encompassed in an aura of energy, as he was before, only this time all three beasts jumped on him, his power quickly weakening. I watched in horror as I thought I would never see my brother again, just as one of the monsters was thrown off, smashing right into the mountain. The crash then caused convulsions to peak and my grip began to loosen, any grip I had previously coming undone. I fell quickly down, seeing the sharp teeth eagerly awaiting my arrival, just as something snagged the back of my dress, causing my descent to turn into an ascent.
I looked up and was greeted by the screech of a griffin. Struggling, I tried to get out of its grip, but it's claws had dug into my dress, causing the dress to rip when I struggled. Defeated I watched as my brother grew farther and farther away, still trying to fight back against the unknown fiends of darkness.
Eventually the griffin let go, allowing me to tumble into another kind of temple with open, tall arches, more stable and put together then the one we had arrived in. The griffin did a running land, landing in front of me, its white tipped brown feathers fluttering against the wind. I scooted away from the griffin as quickly as I could. It stopped, looking at me thoughtfully and then almost seemed to bow before me.
I stood up and walked towards it. It gazed up at me, but did not move. Raising a hand to it's head, I felt the soft touch of the feathers beneath my fingertips. Now it looked up at me curiously.
"You have to take me back." I said. "My brother is in danger, I have to save him."
The griffin shook its head slowly and then moved out from under my hand, pointing towards a stairwell that went down into the stone floor of the temple. It looked back at me, feet firmly planted.
Taking a deep breath I headed down the stairs. I had no idea what this griffin could want with me, but it did not kill me, and even saved me, so I thought I may as well trust it. Who else do I have left?
Once down the stairs little candles surrounding the small room seemed to burst to life, casting out all shaddows. The room was aligned with little shelves carved from the stone, but they were full of cobbwebs and dust. Then, there in the middle of the room, was what looked like a stone table with a long case upon it, also made of stone. I walked over to it, growing quite interested in this oddly shapped thing in the middle of the temple. It was maybe seven feet long, and was as wide as one of the fat pillars that sat at the front entrance of the temple. I looked at it closely, but saw nothing special about it. Then, slowly, I reached out, touching the cold surface.
The instant I touched it, cold turned to warm, and a bright light overcame me. I tried to shield my eyes as I fell backwards, and once the light died down I moved my arm from my eyes and saw that what was once stone was now a kind energy field, and underneath that field wasn't stone either, but a man.
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