The Quest is BACK ON! DisreputableCharles and Hikaruchan

Miyoko nodded and attempted to stand on her own. She could but her legs felt like liquid, so shaken was she by the events that occurred.
She stayed close to the Immortal, however, following his lead as they walked up to the now visible Hall.
What sort of sick test was that?

Riker and Shane stayed a few steps behind the others, and he felt a desire to do something to hold her close. Take her hand or wrap an arm around her shoulder. But she didn't exactly seem keen to look at him at the moment.
Instead, he whispers to her, "I know Soren said it was some test, that trance, but it didn't happen to me. I mean, I saw the Hall whenwe rode up here and then all of your eyes went blank. But it didn't happen to me. What did you see, exactly?"
 
"I know it's difficult." Soren spoke quietly as they strode a bit ahead of Riker and Shane. "I saw...her. And I didn't think I could bring myself to leave. But Miyoko," he said, turning to put a hand on her shoulder, "you're strong. Whether or not you realize it right now. You may very well decide the fates of us all." His eyes, those eyes so old in a face so young, looked at her with a solemn sense of trust, as though he anticipated something unknown to the rest.


Words seemed caught in her throat as Shane tried to answer Riker. She didn't want to leave him hanging, but she felt also that she couldn't tell him what she had seen. Not yet, anyways.
"I...nevermind." She looked up at him, eyes seeming to suggest that she was hiding something, and said, "It's not important..." Sighing quietly, she reached for his hand and linked their fingers together, walking closer to him. "Not right now."​
 
All Miyoko could do was nod as if consent. But it wasn't easy. Soren might know perhaps, the curse that plauged all Aquarians, but not being one himself...She shook herself out of that thought. She couldn't be so selfish right now. Soren had just seen Mirelle and that must have been...excruciating.
"Right."

It was obvious that Shane was holding back, perhaps something important. But he trusted her and her judgement, he couldn't help that. He was at her mercy.
Riker squeezed her hand tightly as they climbed up the steps finally at the door of there destination.
"So...do we just knock?"
 
There was a strange ringing in his ears, somewhat painful, so that Soren winced when he detected it. He wondered if the others were similarly afflicted, but as he looked to Miyoko and back at Riker and Shane, he knew it was only himself. Turning back to the door, the Immortal frowned in pain and answered,
"Depends. The Hall isn't going to lend us any hint on this one."


"It's just a door." Shane spoke with more confidence than before; she could sense no foreign magic here, not like she had at the entrance. Pulling Riker with her, she strode up to the wooden barrier and delivered a high kick that sent it swinging back powerfully on its hinge. Satisfied, the Elf moved forward, but was struck with understated horror at what she beheld.
The underground reservoir.
She whipped around to Soren, her sharp eyes asking a question that needed not be spoken.​
 
Miyoko was the first one to feel it, the pit of darkness from a source she recognized echoing through her head. He was using her weakness against her, trying to take control.
She couldn't fight it.
It's like her body is some cage, she can see and hear, she just can't operate it. He's taken over her.
"Soren, I think we should go closer. It's safe."
It's her voice, it's just not her, it's Him.
Playing her like some puppet.

"Well, if Miyoko thinks it safe then-"
Riker was cut off by Shane yanking him back away from the reservoir.
 
When Riker stared at her, confused, Shane shook her head vehemently and said,
"That's not Miyoko."
"What---?"
"I know her presence; I can sense it. It's left her." She looked past him to the hollow shell of an Aquarian and said, "She's possessed."


Soren, on the other hand, had instantly recognized the presence that now infected their friend. Seething, he stepped forward, but then there was a terrifyingly resonant echo that caused him to whip around.
The door closed and seemed to dissolve, leaving them in the cool darkness of the reservoir, lit by only a few wall sconces. He narrowed his eyes and turned back to what looked like Miyoko, saying,
"This is a sacred place. She is our friend." Soren fumed and continued, "And you soiled them both with your presence, you filth."​
 
Miyoko felt suffocated, He was hurting her from the inside out. He was literally stopping her lungs.
"You will go."

And then Riker stepped up, he could see it too. The emptiness in those usually full, lively eyes. It made him clench his fists in slight fit of anger, "We won't do anything until you let go of Miyoko."
"You are the moronic one, I see. She is my hostage. I can kill her like this. And I will, unless you go through the portal to the other side."
 
Narrowing his eyes, Soren took another step towards the thing that had once been his friend and spat,
"This has nothing to do with them. The punishment to be dealt is mine; why make them suffer as well?" He was growing more and more enrage by the second, though it didn't show blatantly, which was perhaps what made it so terrifying to see him this way.
"Let. Her. Go."


 
She can feel the thing inside her shake with amusement.
"Even the Immortal doesn't know? This is so much larger than some debt owed. It has been since you came to this world. These four souls....the power one can contain from them. Why should I ever let her or any of them go."
 
"You have no right! The deal was for me alone!" Soren now shouted in pure, unbridled rage, crossing into the reservoir's dimension and in doing so prompting his comrades to follow. "Though I wouldn't trust you to keep your promise...you will be punished by the laws of the Ancients!"
"Will I really, little boy?" The voice was the sort that sent a chill down one's spine. "Perhaps I will take more. An Aquarian with the eyes of a Seer. A human child with the stamina to house a fire demon. An Elven girl with the whole power of earthen folk locked away in her mind...especially those two." The puppeteer raised the limp arm of Miyoko to point towards Riker and Shane. "The boy is weak; I saw it previously. If I take him, the girl will follow. And then they will both be mine."
At the mention of Riker and Shane, Soren felt a stinging sensation in his chest; that had once been himself, and He knew it.
"You will not touch them."
​"Won't I? You're in my world now. Or rather, the world that was once yours."

 
The Miyoko-thing began to walk towards Riker and Shane, making that protective instinct kick in.
He stepped infront of her, knowing that that the attempt was probably futile.
"You're not taking her."
There was an earsplitting ringing in his head that made him want to keel over, but he stood his ground.
Didn't I tell you, boy, Humans and Elves will never work together? It's in your blood, she repulses you.
I won't let you take her.
And that makes you a fool. Do you honestly think no harm will come of your affections?
I'll protect her.
You can't protect her from everything. You will be the reason for her end.
Riker tried to ignore the voice, "Sor-Soren, take Shane out of here, he hasn't been in your heads yet."
 
"There's no getting out now, Riker," Soren said in a low voice, turning his head ever so slightly towards the boy. "Not for Shane, not for any of us." Looking around the subterranean cavern, he said, "We've crossed over. You're in my world now."
"Correction. This world belongs to me."


"Riker." Shane now spoke, in a voice so quiet yet so far from anything calm or gentle. She placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed past him, looking the Miyoko-thing in the face.
"And what devilry will you inflict on us now?"
"Ah, the Elf. I have seen what waits for you, in the darkest reaches of the Void. Yours will be the greatest suffering, foolish girl." The thing now spoke openly, so that all could hear what it said to Shane. She narrowed her eyes and instinctively gripped the hilt of her sword, though she knew that weapon would do her no good. It served only as a means of security.
"Do what you will to me; I do not fear you."
"Your bravery is better named overconfidence. It will not keep me away." There was great and terrible laughter, and a darkness like none of them had ever seen crept in eerie tendrils about them. Shane backed towards Riker; the presence cackled and left Miyoko, coming into the very air around them.
"I tire of playing with you maggots. Now you shall be prey to my last triumph...even you, the Immortal Soren."

Soren looked up just in time for His last syllable, and then she appeared.
Was it possible?
Mirelle. Standing feebly, a little distance before him, looking as though she were about to collapse. All reasonable thoughts left Soren's mind; he dashed forward and caught her, holding her so tightly to him that release seemed an impossible action.
"...I waited for you." She said quietly.
"I know."
"Are we going to die?"
"After all that has happened...would I give up that easily?"​
 
Riker put an arm around her waist as she backed toward him. This wasn't about affection, this was protection. He NEEDED to keep her safe.
Was that...a tremor? Shane wasn't even attempting to hide fear now, and he couldn't a hide a shiver down his spine as well.
What exactly had they gotten into?
Whatever that things was, Riker had no doubts it could make a hellish nightmare out of their lives. At least it had disappeared for now.

Miyoko slumped down onto her knees, feeling like she had been beaten and tortured meticously so it she would be tired enough to die. That thing...it had fed off their pain. Off the pain of Shane and Riker, off the pain that Miyoko and Soren harbored.
Soren.
With what little strength she had, she flicked her head in his direction. He was clutching a girl.
Not just any girl. The girl. Mirell. Miyoko would recognize that energy anywhere.
 
"Oh Gods..." Soren held Mirelle tighter than he ever had; centuries of separation tend to do that to people. With every ounce of willpower he possessed, the Immortal lifted his head to appraise their situation. And the safety of it was deteriorating with every passing second. The walls of the Void seemed to be forming around them, a prison slowly constructed by their enemy.
Soren knew what was to come.
Had it not been shown to him, the price to be paid?


"Riker," said Shane softly. Somehow the sound of his name brought her comfort, even in this moment when she suspected their imminent doom. She gripped his arm tightly, because if nothing else, she could not let him go.
The twisted limbs of darkness extended ever further around them, to the point at which escape seemed impossible. Abandoning shame, Shane turned around to Riker and held him tightly, when at that moment a voice spoke in her head.
You still have a chance to save them.
Her eyes shot open; that was a tone she knew all too well.
It feeds off of life. But it has not been used for millennia; one soul should appease it...
Part of Shane knew that this was meant to taunt her, but still...she couldn't let something happen to him, or any of them.
And so she pulled away from Riker.