Chapter Eight: The Test of the Tower

It was almost nightfall when they reached the tower. Rynn had collected some more arrows; one a box of explosive tipped magic arrows and a few more health elixirs. She was getting impatient wondering what was happening to her brother and why it was really necessary to take this stupid test.

The moment Arokh landed in front of the tower, Rimril materialised before him.
"Ah, I see you were successful" he said bowing before the majestic beast. Rynn slid off the dragon's back and stood by his side fixing Rimril with tired and impatient eyes.
"We encountered difficulties but nevertheless we are here now" Arokh grinned, his eyes flicking over to his bonded to see if she acknowledged him.
Rynn met the dragon's glance for a split second and stepped forward to speak to the guardian magi.

"What now? I want to get this over and done with" she snapped impatiently, easing forward towards the tower doors.
"Don't be so hasty" Rimril answered "The tower is full of traps that test your mental and physical capabilities. Impatience will get you killed."
Rynn sighed and frowned at the mage.
"He's right Rynn" Arokh said softly. "We have come so far and we don't want to fail now."
There was a long pause and eventually Rynn mumbled "I will be careful, the thought of finding my brother will keep me going. Now, if you would Rimril, open the doors."

Rimril did not reply but the doors suddenly swung wide open and without hesitating Rynn ran straight through turning around briefly to take one last look at Arokh.
The dragon and the magi looked after her for a moment. "She is certainly keen" Rimril said as she disappeared up the stairs at the opposite end of the entrance hall.

"Do you think she will be okay?" Arokh said quietly, his head hung low, deep down he thought the woman would fail, she was far too over confident.
"Yes. She will be fine, I can sense it" Rimril assured him turning to face the dragon.
"Well, she will be a while, what about getting to know each other? I mean, I knew you as an apprentice mage but clearly you are more than that now. Aren't you?" Arokh asked Rimril wanting to know how he managed to get to be the guardian magi.

Rimril laughed "I am still an apprentice but seem as I am the only surviving magi of the Order, I guess it makes me a master. Draw your own conclusions Arokh."
Arokh gave a sad smile. "I remember that last battle well. A tragic loss."
"Yeah but it seems that the Dark Union has come back and the threat is real. At the moment, the three of us are not much match against them but once you and Rynn get the Runeblade it will be much easier." Rimril continued walking over to a rock and sitting down.

"What happened to the Runeblade?" Arokh asked suddenly.
Rimril shifted about on the rock as if he was uncomfortable, how Arokh didn't know; he was not a mortal form. "Ill let you in on a secret; the legends say no-one knows what happened to it; it was meant to be this way. The blade was not broken in two, rather the rift crystal separated from the blade. You know where the crystal is but the blade was taken away by the remnants of Navaros's troops and kept hidden from the world." Rimril explained.
Arokh coughed and sat down by Rimril's side.
"Somehow, I have the feeling it will be easy to find..." He said looking up to the now almost jet black sky.

Suddenly, Rimril froze, horrified as if he had seen his worst fear. Arokh looked up concerned and quickly looked behind him to see if anything had sneaked up behind but there was nothing.
"What's wrong?" Arokh demanded, he did not like this at all, somehow something felt different in him too; he could tell something was wrong.
"The Rift. Its open!" Rimril said with fear in his voice.
"What!!" Arokh growled raising his voice. "You mean...?"
"Yes, the Succubi have managed to re-open it" Rimril faltered.
"But how, they do not have the rift crystal" Arokh wondered, now highly concerned for his and the world's safety, the fear even showed in his eyes.
"Don't worry Arokh. There is a safeguard in place, although the rift is open, no-one can enter or leave without the rift crystal. It’s my magic they copied." He laughed slightly in bemusement.
"I don't know what they are planning but it cannot be good. It would explain the vast amounts of grimstone they have been mining. Me and Rynn passed through a large mine on our way here" Arokh noted.

Rimril shook his head in dismay. "Grimstone. They must be building a gateway to the rift world; they cannot get in through the normal entrance so they must be building an alternative way in!"
"Then why would they bother to open the rift? I don't suppose you think? Navaros was killed wasn't he?" Arokh asked fearfully desperate for answers.
"I don't know my friend. You should know better than me...." Rimril was suddenly cut short as an energy bolt shot from the sky knocking him unconscious and severely weakened. Arokh immediately glanced around in anger firing a fireball in the direction of the energy bolt but it was all in vain. He suddenly found himself surrounded by Succubi and then everything went black...

Inside, Rynn stopped as a feeling of nausea went over her. Something was wrong but she could not turn back; the test of the tower was one way only. Having made her way through the first test, she moved on to the second. She now had Arokh to worry about as well as her brother...

Rynn advanced further up the stairs; the last 'test' was fairly difficult, as lava from a nearby volcano had seeped into the ancient fortress destroying the lower levels. Rynn had to jump onto unstable ruins to reach a doorway at the top of the room. It was also unbearably hot and she did not have any water with her. Licking her dry lips to stop them splitting she walked through another portcullis which slammed shut behind her preventing her return.

Ahead, the test involved jumping over lava pits onto protruding stones. "Easy" she thought as she stepped up to the edge. Immediately, stone blocks started to come from the walls meeting in the middle. It was not so easy after all; she would have to jump onto each stone at the right moment to avoid been either squashed or pushed into the lava.
"Great. Just great" she moaned. She could not stay there for too long though as the fumes from the lava below was becoming unbearable and she faltered for a moment; the heat was beginning to get to her. However Rynn was agile and quick, she put all her weapons away and leapt onto the first stone jumping to the second just as a stone block came from the left dropping to where she had just been standing. Not stopping to take a breath, she leapt to the second stone neatly evading another crushing block and finally she did a double jump onto the third stone and eventually into the passage at the other side.

"Phew" she sighed leaning against the wall to catch her breath; the passage was somewhat cooler and brought some relief. The next two tests were very similar and Rynn managed to get through them with ease. She also managed to find a secret cave opened by a rock fall, which contained a war axe in pristine condition and a couple of health elixirs.
As Rynn dropped into the final room, it appeared to have a dead end; a high wall was at the opposite end and between it and the ceiling she could see a huge bell suspended high above in a shaft beyond the wall. Seeing no way to get through, she leant on the wall and to her surprise a brick retracted and a loud sound of stone scraping on stone echoed through the room.

Above, stones began to fall from the roof. "A trap!" she exclaimed and ran out of the room as quickly as she could but the portcullis slammed shut in her face. She cowered in the doorway watching the falling stones ready to move if one should come near her. To her amazement, the stones began to arrange themselves into stairs leading up and over the wall!
Suddenly as soon as the rocks started falling, they stopped. Rynn ran from her hiding place and ran up the stairs and onto a circular platform, which started to move upwards as soon as she stepped on it. Above the ceiling had a circular hole in the centre, big enough for her to fit through so she carefully stood in the centre of the platform as it met the ceiling above pushing her through the hole into a new room.

The room was brightly lit by a magnificent crystal domed ceiling very similar to the one in Heron's tomb she visited that morning and in the centre was the huge bell she saw from below. Rynn looked around the place in awe; she had passed the physical tests, now she had to survive the elemental tests within the tower itself.
Driven on by the thought of Arokh and her brother she climbed the stairs encircling the bell and hit it as hard as she could with the bellhammer. The hammer broke instantly but it had done its job; the room was filled with a loud "dong!" as the bell rang out. Suddenly, the bell fell from its mountings and smashed through the floor below revealing a swirling blue portal.

"Is that supposed to happen?” She asked herself. Shrugging, she decided to leap into the swirling blue mass below her. “Well, here goes, time to get this over with" she remarked and jumped into the portal.

Everything went blue for a moment and her vision went hazy then it was all over; she fell into a freezing pool of water, a stark contrast in temperature to the lava pools she encountered in the physical tests. Shivering, she swam to the edge and through a small doorway into a large cavern partially flooded with water. Two flame knights appeared at the opposite end but disappeared as she swam across the flooded section to fight them.
"Strange" she thought but continued onwards into a man made stone tunnel, which lead down some stairs and into a square room filled with jets of flame coming from the floor. "The fire test, the first of the elemental tests" she thought as she looked into the room.

Rynn pulled a nearby lever and the flames all went out enabling her to enter the room. As she half expected, the gate slammed shut behind her locking her in. She could see another locked gate at the other side and four floor switches were on the floor. The room was lit by four large blue glowing crystals fastened to a column in the centre of the room. Two corridors were at the left and right hand sides of the room, with a floor switch at the end of each one. Both had flame jets leading up to the switches which suddenly burst into life.

"Hmm, I wonder how this works?" she said out aloud and began to step on the four switches which seemed to disable the flame jets in the passages for about 30 seconds. Eventually, it dawned on her; she had to disable the jets then run down the corridors pressing the switches at the end before the time ran out.
"Okay, this isn't that hard" she said and quickly ran over the four switches in turn then running down the left corridor hitting the switch and then repeating the process with the right. As she moved into the centre of the room again, the gate opposite to where she came in opened and the crystals went dark. She quickly ran at the gate ducking to roll under it just as the entire room went up in flames.
"One down, three more to go" she mumbled.

Meanwhile, Arokh awoke to find himself moving. He looked around with bleary eyes and saw that he was on a ship, heading towards the Succubi lair at the southern end of the archipelago. He was bound to a platform by his feet and neck making him extremely uncomfortable; his neck was aching due to the position he was in. A muzzle was fitted round his mouth clamping his jaws shut and the metallic object felt uncomfortable against his teeth. At the helm of the ship were a couple of wartocks, Arokh wished he could roast them alive but he couldn't. He let out a loud groan and tried to get more comfortable.
"Shut up" A Wartock yelled from his left who he had not noticed. A sharp pain followed as the Wartock kicked him in his ribs. Arokh didn't bother to try to speak and watched the coastline come nearer.

Back in Rimril's tower, Rynn felt the blow and let out a cry of pain. "Arokh!" she yelled followed by a quiet "what are you up to?"
She was busy with the next test, air, which was more difficult than the fire test. She would do anything to hear Arokh's voice at that moment. Rynn ran frantically around the room stepping on floor switches desperately trying to figure out the sequence whilst being pursued by miniature tornadoes. Eventually, she stepped on the last switch and the tornadoes died down and the crystals lighting the room went dark. She had survived the second test, two more to go.

Now confident, she ran up the stairs leading from the room and came to a fork in the path, one led on to the third test, earth and the other led to a small room which some armour and a bow could be seen on a pedestal. Rynn's armour was a little worse for wear so she decided to try and get the armour and bow, which would almost certainly be useful against the winged Succubi.

Carefully, she walked into the small room and looked around; it did not seem to be booby-trapped this time. She pulled the lever opening the cage around the pedestal and took the two items, the bow and armour of the Order, once belonging to Rimril himself. The armour was in good condition but the bow was showing signs of age; the string was flimsy and the wood was rotten. However it was a powerful bow and she added it to her collection; it would serve as a backup weapon at least...

Pleased with her progress so far, Rynn went on to the next test feeling that if the others were that easy, this one would be no real challenge. She wondered why no one else had made it into the tower, surely in six centuries there had to be a few have a go heroes?
As Rynn entered the earth test, it was even simpler than the other two; all she had to do was jump onto various platforms to get to the other side.
Carefully she jumped onto the first solid looking piece of ground and looked down off the edge; there was nothing below but darkness. A piece of stone fell off the edge and Rynn stopped for a moment to see if she could hear it hit the bottom but she heard nothing. "Definitely not a good idea to fall off" she thought.

In a matter of a few minutes she was over to the other side and ready for the final test of lightning which proved more difficult than the others did. As Rynn ran around the room trying to figure out the puzzle, the bolts of lightning that flashed around the room hit her knocking her to the ground. She had used an invulnerability potion the first time she was hit but the blasts still knocked her about. Finally, she stood on the last stone floor switch and the lightning ceased. Heart racing, she ran out of the room and into another large cavern which has a deep pit in the centre. She could see a bridge crossing it and going into another stone structure on the other side.

An eerie feeling came over Rynn as she walked down the dusty passageway leading to the bridge.
"It’s quiet. Too quiet" she muttered to herself and as those fateful words left her lips, about thirty ticks dropped from the ceiling surrounding her. Alarmed, Rynn drew the first sword that came into her hands and began hitting the floor in hope of hitting the things but she was hopelessly outnumbered. Remembering her attack on the goblins earlier, she pulled out a fire crystal and used all of them in quick succession till there was nothing left moving.

She put her hand over her mouth to mask the smoke and smell of fried tick and hurried over the bridge and through the doorway. There, in front of her on a pedestal was the rift crystal.
"At last!" she exclaimed and ran up to the pedestal noticing the floor switch in front of it. The crystal was surrounded by a transparent barrier, which prevented anyone from grabbing it. Without thinking of the consequences, Rynn stood on the switch but the barrier did not dissolve as she expected rather huge rings of fire shot out from the pedestal burning her legs. She shrieked in pain and jumped over the following two rings; they were not as high as the ones produced by the fire crystals enabling her to jump over them.

Rynn healed and looked around the brightly-lit cathedral like room decorated with ancient artefacts and golden furniture. Two large blue crystals were in high alcoves at either side of the room above the rift crystal. Rynn could notice a pattern on each of the crystal but couldn't understand what they meant.
Noticing two doorways on either side, she took one and found that it led up to one of the crystals overlooking the rift crystal. A lever was beside her and shrugging, she pulled it but at first nothing appeared to happen. Thinking of nothing else to do, Rynn went back into the room below and looked up to the crystal noticing the image had changed.

"Time for another try" Rynn said to herself drinking an invulnerability potion and stepping on the floor switch. This time, the same miniature tornadoes came out of the pedestal that was in the air test and after a short moment dispersed and disappeared. It suddenly dawned on Rynn what she had to do; she had to survive all four of the elements then she could take the crystal.
She ran up to the other crystal changing the pattern to a new one and repeated what she had done, this time not using any potions hoping that it would help her; she thought 'cheating' would not be allowed. She repeated the process again with the fourth element and stood by the pedestal as the floor fell away - earth.

With only a few centimetres to stand on, she saw the barrier slowly dissolve and she reached over and grabbed the rift crystal, the floor instantly reappearing and the door on the opposite side of the room opening. Rynn hastily placed the rift crystal in her pocket; she did not want to risk putting it into her backpack should it be damaged or stolen in battle. Taking one last look of the room, she hurried through the now open door and jumped into the awaiting portal.

Rynn landed with a splash in another pool of water. "More water" she mumbled as she climbed out, shivering with the cold. Looking out of the doorway, she saw that she was back in the entrance hall of Rimril's tower. Outside she could see the dark sky; she had been in the tower for a good couple of hours and rushed out back into the islands expecting to see Arokh but he was nowhere to be seen.
"Arokh!" she yelled but no reply came. "Arokh!" she shouted again, a mild panic beginning to set in.
"He is not here" a hoarse voice came from nearby. Rynn looked over to where the voice was coming from and saw Rimril, barley alive and cowering by a rock.

"Where did he go?" she asked.
"He... was... taken. By the Succubi. Overwhelmed us" Rimril struggled.
"What? Where did they take him?" Rynn asked in dismay. Without Arokh she would have a hard time and it would surely delay her reaching her brother now.
Rimril raised his head with great difficulty and eventually managed to speak. "I... Don't know. I'd suggest looking in the Succubi lair to the south.... If you follow the islands you can reach it in an hour. Go... you are the only one who can keep the flame alive!"
Rimril gave a groan and collapsed.
Rynn did not seem to notice and continued to ask questions. "Okay, but what about? Oh, I'm sorry" she said as she suddenly noticed the magi was dead.

Rynn felt sad for a moment but her sadness soon turned to anger.
"I guess Ill have to find this place on my own" she thought as she began to make her way south. She looked up into the sky noticing three of Drakan's four moons lighting up the sky. In the east, the alien world of Sessool, the next planet in the Drakan solar system could be made out just above the horizon.

Meanwhile, back at the Succubi lair, Arokh had been taken off the ship and into the lair to await his fate. 10 wartocks were needed to carry the him and the platform he was fastened to around in the lair.
"Grrffhhh! I didn't think a dragon could be so heavy!" One complained to his companion.
"Yeah" the other Wartock replied as they set the platform down next to the docks.
A couple of Succubi flew into the room followed by Queen Shilla who flew up to Arokh and landed before him.
"My god, what a magnificent prize" she shrieked. She looked at the dragon in the eyes and saw the uncertainty and fear within them.
"Leave me alone with the dragon" she commanded to the Wartocks and the Succubi behind. One nodded and they all left the room.

The fat, ugly queen of the Succubi stared lovingly at the dragon, her head cocked to one side. "Here, let me take this off for you my sweet" she said softly, undoing the muzzle around his mouth. She slowly pulled it away and wiped the saliva off the part that had been in the dragon's mouth and licked her fingers. "Hmm, tastes so sweet" she continued licking the remaining saliva off the muzzle, her face drawn into an expression of overwhelming pleasure.
Shilla began to walk around the dragon stroking his body as she went.
"So handsome, so powerful... So sexy. It would be such a waste" she murmured as she reached his rear. Arokh's head followed round to see what she was doing. He dared not to try and kill her, not whilst he was defenceless.

"I wonder what you would be like when making love? Hmm, I bet you’re fantastic" she exclaimed as she crawled underneath to stroke his crotch. She then placed her head between his rear legs and breathed in deeply letting out a low moan of exctasy pausing to slowly lick the base of his tail. Arokh twitched as he felt himself becoming sexually aroused. This was too much for the dragon to bear.

“My god, that’s impressive. You are a big man aren’t you? Can I….” Shilla asked hoping for an answer but Arokh interrupted her mid sentence as he finally lost his temper. "Get your hands off me you dirty bitch!" he exploded in a fit of rage. Shilla immediately walked round to his side away from the reach of his mouth. "Aww, you don't like that? Oh go on, I'm the last female you will encounter."
"What? You must be joking! Are you desperate or something?" Arokh snapped glaring at the queen with scorn and disgust.

Shilla frowned and replied "Surely you know of the Succubi and their ability to seduce any male creature?"
Arokh ignored her answer and stared at the ground. "Why have you brought me here?" he asked quietly.
"Hah, I thought you would figure that one out. I know that your bonded will come and rescue you and she will have the rift crystal with her." Shilla explained.

"Assuming she has it?" Arokh pointed out.
"Oh she has it alright otherwise you would be stone my sweet Arokh" the Succubi queen replied.
"How do you know my name?" Arokh demanded surprised that this ugly hideous creature would know his name. He didn’t remember her name from the Dark Wars and it was unlikely that she had lived since then.
"Oops, I've already said too much. Let me just say that our master has great plans for you which does not involve your bonded" she scowled and turned to walk away. She stopped and began to walk back round to the dragon's side. "Are you sure? I'm good you know" she whispered into his ear.

"If you get too close again, Ill bite your head off. Get lost" he snarled turning his head away the best he could.
"Temper, temper. If you change your mind, let me know" she said as she kissed his neck.

Arokh watched as she flew up and out of the room leaving him alone to ponder his fate. He felt miserable and uncertain of his future and he was becoming worried that Rynn will fail him. He shuddered with disgust as he thought of the prospect of him making love with that thing and tried to make himself as comfortable as possible.

Queen Shilla walked back into her throneroom a short distance from the docks and was greeted by her bodyguard who stood next to the throne like a steel clad statue, the Mournblade sword at his side.
"Everything is going to plan" She barked at him. "See that you instruct our forces in the islands to kill that damn Rynn. I want that rift crystal now!"
The knight gave a puzzled expression pausing for a moment. "But, my Queen, wouldn't Arokh be turned to stone if the woman is killed?"
Shilla gazed at her bodyguard thoughtfully and eventually replied "You are correct. Accidents do happen, the dragon is only a bonus gift. I'm sure Navaros will understand. Furthermore, he wasn’t much fun; he didn’t want to play."
The Ebon knight bowed and left to inform the queen's messengers, the same two who had greeted Rynn and Arokh the first time they came to the islands.

Shilla planted herself down on her throne and pressed a button on one armrest. There was a low humming noise as a small grimstone screen came down from the roof and swivelled round to face her. An image flickered into life on the screen showing a large meeting hall with a small rift gate in the centre surrounded by a low wall. The gate was no bigger than a human's body and a ghostly bubbling noise emanated from the purple swirling mass.
"We have the dragon my lord" Queen Shilla said confidently at the screen.
A loud inhuman voice came from inside the rift. "Excellent work. And what about a body for me to inhabit?" The voice questioned.
"I have selected a few young boys from villages around the lands. I will leave it up to you to decide which one you want. Everything is going to plan, don't you worry."
"I am not worried,” The voice shouted in anger. "You have wasted a lot of time Shilla due to the incompetence of your Succubi. I want the dragon and the boys bringing to me as soon as possible."
"Yes my lord" Shilla answered and turned off the screen. She wanted to wait for Rynn first before delivering Arokh and the ten boys but she couldn't wait too long.

"Ah, you are back" she grated at her Ebon knight. "We have new plans. I want to wait a couple of hours to see if we can capture or kill Rynn. If not, we must take the human samples and the dragon to Navaros or he will have both our heads. Then we can worry about Rynn and the rift crystal."
The knight nodded and grinned. "Wouldn't Rynn be killed anyway once our lord has done with Arokh?"
Shilla smiled as she thought of Arokh's destiny. "Yes, you are correct. It will be one nuisance out of the way. For now, we wait."

A Succubi crashed to the floor as Rynn shot the final deathblow. Out of the corner of her eye, Rynn saw a lone bat dragon flying across in front of her. She swivelled round to take a shot from her bow but Rynn realised that the dragon had not seen her.
"Its best not to provoke an attack" she said quietly to herself.
The path ahead seemed clear but she could hear goblin voices below. Cautiously, she peered over the ledge to see a goblin encampment below; several goblins were apparently dancing around a campfire. Another two stood nearby, their dart guns ready.

Rynn equipped her bow with magic arrows and squinted down the arrow shaft so it was in line with one of the snipers and let it go. The arrow went streaming to its target in a show of yellow and blue light knocking the goblin to the ground. The dancing stopped and everyone looked in her direction. There was frantic scurrying from below and shortly afterwards, a barrage of arrows came her way, some ice, some fire and some poison.
"Bad idea" she said under her breath and ran down the path as fast as she could but one of the fire arrows caught her in the side piercing the armour. Rynn yelped at the burning pain and pulled the arrow out throwing it to the floor as it started to burn her hand. She could not stop now to drink a health potion; she had to get out of there.

Grimacing with the pain, she stumbled and fell as another barrage of arrows followed. She rolled out of the way but went rolling down the steep slope landing right in the encampment on her back looking at the stars. She tried to get to her feet but another arrow hit her in the leg and another goblin came up to stab her with its bayonet. Rynn reached for her sword and sliced the creature's arm off, it running away in pain, blood gushing from the stump.

Bleeding heavily, she struggled to her feet and quickly looked around. Three goblins were standing next to a couple of explosive barrels behind her and another one was getting ready to fire in front of her. She stared at the flaming arrowhead and as soon as she saw the goblin's finger hit the trigger, she dived to one side. The arrow whizzed past her head and embedded itself in one of the barrels, which exploded in a spectacular display of pyrotechnics turning the nearby goblins into little meaty chunks.

The goblin who had attacked looked on horrified, Rynn took advantage of the situation and threw her short sword at the amphibious creature knocking it unconscious. She struggled over and retrieved her sword jumping into the air to avoid another attack and swiping down with her sword neatly lopping the goblin's head off. Only one more remained which wisely fled for its life and Rynn leant against a grassy mound and drank a health potion. Now, the wound in her leg healed, she ran after the fleeing goblin, which hopped along shouting for assistance. Rynn followed and eventually caught up with it slaying it with deadly accuracy before any reinforcements could be alerted.

Rynn did not even notice the giant on the path ahead as she was too busy with the goblin. An explosive barrel smashed into the rocks on her left startling her with the thunderous explosion.
"Oh crap" she mumbled and ran back down the path to take cover behind a rock. She sat there until the giant had exhausted his supply of things to throw at her and ran out to face the giant who was now advancing quickly towards her.

Knowing that it was impossible to take one on in melee combat, she began firing arrows wildly with her speed bow, the giant pausing with each hit but still advancing determined to make a kill. When he got too close for comfort, Rynn switched to the lightning axe she found and began to circle the creature hitting its legs simultaneously letting off one of the lightning charges. The Giant roared in pain and desperately tried to pick Rynn up in its hand so he could throw her to her death but she was too quick for him. Eventually, Rynn dealt the final blow, the creature groaning and toppling over. Rynn quickly ducked and rolled out of the way as the creature crashed down to where she had just been standing.

"Phew, that was a hard fight" she thought wiping the sweat from her brow. All she could hear now was silence apart from the crickets and other insects that populated the land. The path beyond the giant led back down to the beach and Rynn walked carefully along the soft sand. She suddenly noticed a locked gate closing off a small cave; a bow could just be seen inside. Remembering some ruins she had seen from above, she decided to backtrack along the beach to where she had saw them. As she neared, there was a grinding noise and a square hole opened up in the ground and slowly a coffin rose vertically out of it.

Rynn stood there mystified and pointed her bow at the coffin. Nothing seemed to happen for a while then all of a sudden, the coffin lid blew off hitting the ground with a loud crash as it shattered into several pieces. A mummy ghost like creature came floating out flew over towards Rynn. Its body consisted of blood stained bandages wrapped round a rotting corpse, its bones visible amongst the putrid flesh and the sight of it made the young woman’s heartbeat to race with fear.
"What the hell?" Rynn said out aloud. She looked at the creature's skull 'face' and a cold shiver went down her spine, her heartbeat now a prominent thump, thump, thump in her chest; it was the most frightening thing she had seen. She turned to run but she was frozen with fear, then, the creature let out a ghostly scream and unleashed a couple of green floating skulls which homed in on Rynn hitting her. She could feel her life force being drained away.

Her fear had subsided a little and she now was able to fight; she fired an arrow at the ghost and it disappeared with a scream of agony. Rynn could still feel her heart almost pounding out of her chest but yet she now felt somewhat relived. But the creature was not dead; it came back. Drinking another health elixir, she dodged the green skulls and ran at the ghost attacking it with her sword. Again it disappeared and came back, Rynn hitting it again. She was absolutely terrified and screamed "Arokh!" in vain hoping that he would hear her but he didn't. The ghost made another appearance and Rynn lunged at it taking one hit from the floating skulls, but this time, it gave an agonising scream and exploded.

Rynn's legs were like jelly and she collapsed to the floor to rest, eyes darting all over the place should the ghost come back but it didn't. She wondered if it was a hallucination as drinking too many health potions did have side effects and long-term liver damage but the wounds on her body proved the ghost’s reality. She shook her head and dismissed the idea. She would have to be more careful to avoid injury so that she would not have to drink more of the red healing liquid. After a short moment, she examined the coffin and saw that there was a key inside but it was difficult to reach. She carefully lined herself up with the coffin behind her and did a backward flip so she was standing on the top of it and reached down to take the key.
"I wonder what this is for?" she mumbled as she jumped down and returned to the locked gate.

The locked cave contained a dragonstrife bow; a magical bow that had heat sensing capabilities, usually used for taking down dragons but it would also be useful against the Succubi. Unfortunately, it only had 50 arrows so she had to use them sparingly but now she had a better chance of reaching the lair alive. A weapon like the dragonstrife bow was a weapon not easily come by especially in the desolate islands. It was almost as if the gods of Drakan were in her favour, placing the weapon there for her to discover but Rynn just put it down to sheer luck. She just hoped that she would be lucky enough to reach Arokh before he or her was harmed.

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