It did not take Erica long to locate the second of the
Ember Shards. It had landed in one of the abandoned temples in the desert
wastes, north of where she had encountered Jacob and Caerulea. She hoped that
she wouldn't encounter any of Vaz'qui's minions at the temple, but she knew
better than to let her guard down. If there were any enemies waiting for her at
the temple, she'd be ready for them.
Being a powerful fire-wielder, Erica did not mind the
scorching heat of the desert; in fact, she felt her powers growing stronger
with every step she took under the blazing sun. The sand, however, frustrated
her to no end. Though she was able to cover her mouth, she could not stop the
sand from getting into her eyes, and after a while of blinking away tears of
irritation, she had to resist the temptation to turn the entire desert to glass.
"I should have brought goggles," she muttered to herself.
Finally, the temple became visible through the swirling
sands, and Erica knew she was finally close. Even at this distance, she could feel
the Ember Shard's energy radiating from within the stone walls of the temple. It
was a large temple, and no doubt filled with false passageways designed to make
her lose her way, or traps that would somehow still be operative despite having
lain dormant for centuries. Her own temple had been no different, after all.
Even if she had managed to beat Vaz'qui and his minions here, she would still
have to be very careful as she made her way through.
As she approached, Erica pondered which would be worse:
the temple door being open, or the temple door being shut. If it was open, that
would most likely mean she had not been the first to arrive. If it was shut,
there might not be an easy way inside. She was thus both relieved and
frustrated to find that it was shut tight, without a button or door handle in
sight. "Now how am I supposed to get in…?" she wondered to herself.
Erica decided to try the simple "hidden switch"
approach. She slowly started patting down the walls either side of the door,
hoping that something would happen. As luck would have it, part of the wall
suddenly sank beneath her hand, and as it did so the door shuddered and began
to slowly rise up into the ceiling. Behind it lay a dimly-lit sandstone
passageway, leading further in than she could make out. If someone had come
here before her, they had left no obvious trace of themselves.
Cautiously, Erica proceeded through the entrance. Not
three steps in, she felt a floor tile give way under her foot and instinctively
dropped to the floor, expecting a sudden volley of arrows or perhaps a giant
swinging pendulum. Instead, the front door promptly slammed shut, leaving her
trapped inside the now pitch-black corridor. She was not concerned about the
lack of light - she could create fire, after all - but she was concerned about
how she was going to get back out of the temple, with the door now closed
behind her. Maybe there's another exit
here somewhere, she thought to herself. Or
maybe I'll just have to glass the whole temple and smash my way out.
Igniting bright flames around both of her hands to light
the way, Erica started to make her way through the temple, paying extremely
close attention to her surroundings in case of any more traps. Every footstep
was tentative, ready to draw her foot away in an instant if she felt the floor
start to give way again. If there were any more traps, she managed to avoid
them, and soon she found herself at an intersection, with corridors leading off
in four different directions.
Erica did not panic. Instead, she simply concentrated on
the power resonating from the Ember Shard, trying to sense which direction it
was coming from. "That way," she said after a moment, pointing down
the third corridor from the left. She continued onwards down that corridor, but
remained vigilant. There was no telling what other traps lay in store.
Through the firelight, Erica suddenly made out a series
of holes in the walls either side of her. The good-old-fashioned arrow trap. Not today, she thought to herself.
Suddenly abandoning her cautious attitude, she sprinted forwards and, as she
felt a floor tile give way under her, immediately unleashed a burst of fire in
all directions. A hail of arrows burst forth from the holes only to be immediately
knocked off course by the fiery explosion, spinning away and scattering
harmlessly across the sandstone floor.
With the arrow trap successfully dodged, Erica continued
on her way, and only a short time later she found herself in a small room.
There was a small hole in the ceiling, and a bright ray of sunlight shone
through, lighting up the immediate area. At the bottom of the sunbeam lay the
second of the Ember Shards, glittering scarlet amongst the gloom. There were no
traps guarding it; it simply lay there, ready for the taking. "Too
easy," she said with a grin, as she stepped forward to retrieve it.
"That's far enough, Ember Guardian!"
Erica froze, one hand already reaching out to grasp the
Ember Shard. "Shoulda known," she muttered to herself. Snatching up
the stone, she straightened up and turned round to face the interloper. She had
short, spiky emerald-green hair, and wore a knee-length brown dress with white
detailing. Erica could guess at once who this woman was. "I really shoulda known," she
muttered. "Viridia, isn't it?"
"That's 'Viridia, Mistress of the Earth' to you!"
retorted the woman with a grin.
"In that case," said Erica, "you'll have
to call me 'Erica, Guardian of the Ember Stone, who also got here before
you'." She waved the Ember Shard at Viridia, grinning confidently.
"You getting here first means diddly squat,"
said Viridia. "I'm here now too, and this is the desert: my domain. You're not getting out of her
alive, Erica, and that Ember Shard is mine!"
"Firstly, even if you do somehow take it from me -
and you won't - it'd be Vaz'qui's, not yours," Erica began. "And secondly…"
Clutching the Shard tightly in her hand, Erica assumed a combat stance.
"-you're forgetting that the Ember Stone increases my power. Just this one
Shard gives me enough power to fry you alive. So bring it on, bitch. I'm more
than ready for you."
"We'll see about that!" said Viridia, and with
a wave of her hand she sent the entire ceiling crashing down towards Erica.
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