Episode 9: The Spirit of Adventure (Part 6 of 8)

As our Heroes walk into the large temple, they find immediate relief due to the fact that they are now shielded from the cold winds blowing outside. As they warm their newly acquired bodies, they glance around the inside of the structure to find that they are inside of what appears to be the remains of the church which no doubt lay here before the temple was destroyed. Benches and altars lay scattered in ruin as an eerie glow pierces through the collapsed roof, causing the moonlight to illuminate every corner of the chamber.

"Well, I guess Sunday Service is over," Locke remarks, looking at the wasted church. "I wonder how this happened."

"It must have been that giant rock Marven was talking about," Lilanei responds, as her eyes concentrate on a large pit which lays in the ground at the back of the room.

"Do you think the giant rock bought the monsters with it?" Locke asks.

"Maybe," Lilanei states. "But speaking of which. . . I don't see any of these monsters! I wonder where they're all hiding."

"That's a good question," Locke says. "Let's go and find out."

Locke then steps forward and looks around, trying to spot something if anything that may be of interest, but he sees nothing. As Locke busies himself searching the room, Lilanei simply walks forward to the large gaping pit at the end of the room; however, before she can reach it, the ground beneath her slightly quakes. Suddenly, the ground gives way as a large hole opens under her new body, and with barely a squeal of fright, she disappears into the darkness.

"Lil?" Locke asks as he turns around to see that his friend has gone; running towards the spot she was standing on, he cries, "Lil! Where are you?"

As Locke approaches the hole in the ground, he hears Lilanei moan, "Ow. . ."

"Lil, are you okay?" Locke cries, still feeling strange that his words echo with Lilanei's voice down the pit.

Lil grumbles, before painfully saying, "Yeah. . . I think so. Luckily your large butt cushioned my fall."

"Yours would've provided ample padding," Locke retorts with a smirk as he pats it.

As he does so, he hears Lil cry angrily, "Don't you dare touch it!"

Locke stops and grumbles, before finally asking, "What do you see down there? Is it just a hole, or does it lead somewhere?"

After he asks, he hears some shuffling down in the pit before a loud crack sounds from below. Locke then notices a bright circle of light appear in the hole, as he can now see Lilanei standing on solid ground on the bottom of the pit.

Lilanei looks up to Locke before saying, "It's a long hallway! It's really strange, too. . ."

"I'll come down," Locke states. "Can you catch me?"

"Erm," Lil mutters hesitantly. "I'll try."

"Okay, here goes," Locke says before he, in Lilanei's petite body, closes his eyes and jumps down the pit.

Locke falls swiftly and lands initially in the arms of his former body; however Lilanei is surprised by the weight and not used to performing such a feat herself, and so both Locke and Lil fall violently to the ground.

"Owww," Locke grumbles as he rubs the green haired head of his new body before he looks to Lilanei who lies on the floor on her back, looking very dizzy, as Locke says, "I thought you'd be able to catch me since we switched bodies."

Lil blinks, before muttering, "Yeah, well. . . You surprised me, is all."

"Oh well," Locke says as he stands and then offers Lil his hand; Lilanei blinks again and takes his hand as Locke pulls her to her feet, after which she stumbles slightly before dusting her clothes off.

"You know," Lil begins, "if anybody saw us this way – they'd have quite a laugh."

"Heh, I suppose so," Locke chuckles. "Well, let's forget it and just get moving."

"Alright," Lil simply responds as she holds her sunrod aloft and down the long and wide hallway.

As the sunrod shines down the hallway, they notice that the walls are very peculiar – as they are made of solid blocks of ice, which reflect their images back at them much like mirrors.

"This is weird," Locke notes, his new feminine voice echoing throughout the hallway. "Either this underground passage has frozen, or we're no longer inside the temple."

"This must've been formed by the monsters, I suppose," Lil guesses as she glances to her reflection, grimacing slightly.

"What kind of monsters?" Locke asks curiously.

"I don't know!" Lil exclaims as she looks back at Locke in her body. "I'm just making assumptions right now. . ."

"Well, maybe we'll find out soon enough," Locke replies.

Undaunted, our Heroes continue their walk, being careful not to slip over on the frost which coats the top of the dirt ground. After about ten feet, Locke feels a neck-tingling sensation that someone is following them. He stops and snaps his head back to look behind he and Lilanei with a concerned expression on his face.

Lilanei stops walking, looking to him quizzically as she asks, "What is it?"

"I," Locke begins before he turns around to face his front once more, “just got the feeling we were being watched."

Lil glances to the ice mirrors which line the hallway and mutters, "It's probably just that ice. . . It's giving me the creeps."

Locke murmurs and carries on, leading the way for our Heroes despite the fact Lilanei holds the sunrod which illuminates their path. After about the same distance as before, the neck-tingling sensation returns as Locke shivers. He stops once more and this time glances all around the hallway – not just behind them. Lilanei stops walking and glares at Locke slightly as Locke's eyes rest finally on the glass-like ice, which lines the hallway.

"You know," Locke says. "Call it. . . well, female intuition I suppose, but I get the feeling we're being watched. What you said about it being the ice could be very true. . . I think something is behind this – quite literally."

Lil looks to the ice and shivers as she cries, "Can we just stop messing around? It's—it's scaring the willies out of me! It looks like our reflections are. . . watching us!"

"Maybe they are," Locke whispers as he stares at his reflection.

Locke walks up to the ice mirror directly in front of him and stares at it even more intently than before. As he does so, he notices a very slight ripple begin to creep across the mirror as an extremely deep, low moan begins to emit from beyond the ice.

"That's. . . not normal," Locke announces, raising an eyebrow.

Lilanei begins to slowly step back, the moan seeming to grow louder and louder, as she cries, "What is that sound?”

"Let's shut it up!" Locke screams as he kicks violently at the plate of ice in front of him; however, he howls in pain as Lilanei's sandaled foot which he now controls collides with the hard ice and Locke steps back, limping slightly.

Lilanei growls and cries, "You buffoon! Stop it, before you break my – eek!"

"Stop it!" Locke cries in frustration. "You're making me sound so girlie!"

As Locke turns his head angrily at Lil, his eyes widen as he notices a slightly skeletal, moldy, and icy hand gripping Lilanei's shoulder. The hand protrudes from the ice and before Locke can respond, he hears a very loud moan from behind him as a frosted corpse slowly steps out from the ice he had just kicked. Snatching out Lilanei's spellbook from her ruck sack immediately, Locke quickly fumbles through the pages before his eyes set on a spell he has seen Lilanei use in her own body before. He thrusts his free hand out and begins to read the text from the book, attempting to call forth an orb of power to throw into the zombie he faces. A small white orb forms in the center of Locke's palm, and to his surprise, the orb begins to grow. Nevertheless, after a couple of seconds, the orb ceases to grow and simply cancels out – breaking into a shower of small white sparkles.

As Locke's magic fails, he hears Lilanei emit a low cry as the zombie continues to grasp her shoulders tightly, the cold which flows like an aura from its body causing her to shiver wildly, drop her sunrod to the ground, and become immobilized. His concentration locked on Lilanei, Locke fails to notice when the zombie behind him begins to move forwards; however, the zombie merely stumbles on its own dead legs and makes no ground, forcing Locke to pay it his full attention once more.

Meanwhile, Lilanei continues to shiver wildly as she stutters, "L-L-Locke. . ."

Sensing the urgency of the situation, Locke skips a few pages of Lil's spellbook and comes to another spell he has seen her use many times. Once more, he thrusts his palm out in front as he reads the ancient text from the book. Yellow energy begins to build on the floor of the hallway, illuminating the frosty floor with a warm yellow glow. The energy begins crackle and spark violently until it forms into a whip-like shape, and much like a whip, it lashes out at the armless zombie which threatens him – albeit the attack being executed in an unsteady and clumsy fashion. The energy strikes the zombie successfully in the chest, causing it to fly backwards into the ice wall it once came out from and forcing the zombie to moan further.

The other zombie which stands behind Lilanei, who is still currently frozen in place, continues to emit a deadly cold aura from its body – forcing Lilanei's own body temperature to continue to drop and drop. As this happens, Lil feels blood trickle down from Locke's nostril and her eyes widen as she feels the skin of Locke's former face begin to crack and peel from the intense cold. Blood begins to freeze to her cheeks and as Lil begins to whine in pain, Locke hears the armless zombie from behind him emit a loud moan as it slowly begins to march forwards once again. The cold chill which flows from its body causes Locke to shiver and feel a sharp pain inside Lilanei's body.

In the meantime, despite the cold which lashes out at her, Lilanei feels a brief sense of relief as her body begins to regain its range of movement and she clumsily stumbles forwards quite a distance into the center of the hallway. She turns stiffly to the Zombie with a vengeful glare before withdrawing the crossbow from her back. Lilanei rests the crossbow awkwardly in her hands and points it towards the zombie which stands in front of her. With her mostly inexperienced aim fixed, she squeezes the trigger of the crossbow causing a bolt to fly out from it which flies through the air and strikes the zombie in its undead chest.

Still holding the spellbook in his hand, Locke steps back about ten feet away from the zombie in front of him, until he feels his back press against Lilanei's so they now stand back to back with the zombies either side of them. Flicking the pages some more, Locke comes across another familiar spell; he then points his finger out towards the zombie facing him before mumbling an incantation. Within moments, energy begins to form around Locke's index finger before quickly shooting off as a bolt of energy which collides with the zombie's chest once more, injuring it further as the creature moans in pain.

Leaning back against Locke's more petite frame, Lilanei continues to glare across the hall and to the zombie which looms ominously near the ice wall. It begins to step forwards, but as its right foot meets the floor, the zombie's decayed knee collapses underneath it temporarily as it fumbles. Meanwhile, the armless zombie on Locke's side of the hall attempts to step forwards, but its own foot slips on the frosty floor causing it to fall backwards into the ice wall once more. Finally, Lilanei returns the large crossbow to the holster on her back before her hand reaches for the large double sword which she grasps nervously in her hands. With slight trepidation, Lilanei emits a cry before she dashes towards the zombie and slashes the double sword in a sideways motion. As the left-most blade collides with the zombie's side, it stumbles to its right as the blade cuts away much of its moldy frozen flesh.

With his frustration mounting more and more from the daunting battle, Locke feels a burning rage spark inside him. His eyes, which are actually Lilanei's, violently flash very quickly before Locke raises his hand and motions it towards the armless zombie in front of him. The zombie stands motionless for a moment before it then grits its teeth and lets out a loud moan of pain as suddenly its body becomes engulfed in flames. As the fire takes hold of the zombie, flesh begins to melt and drop from its body and the zombie's moans of pain become louder and louder.

Now seeming quite enraged, the frigid zombie which battles Lilanei suddenly turns, and with a frightening moan, it rushes to Lilanei's side and slams itself into her body. Within an instant, the coldness which envelopes its form seems to rush from its body and engulf Lilanei's figure in intense cold – causing Locke's former slightly tanned skin to immediately pale and turn blue. Lil shivers for a moment and lets out a choked breath of air as she finds she can no longer move just as before, as more blood seems to drip from her nose and broken skin on her face – the breaking in her skin now spreading to her neck.

Meanwhile, the the armless zombie begins to stumble towards Locke, the fire which engulfed it having since been extinguished, as charred flesh hangs on to some parts of its body while other parts are completely exposed – the creature's innards displaying freely. It moves forwards and into close proximity with Locke, who begins to shiver violently from the cold aura which surrounds the zombie; however, the instant Locke feels the pain inflicted by the cold, the zombie once again moans as it is once again engulfed in fire – the flames now more intense than before as the fire eats away at the zombie's flesh until it becomes nothing more than pieces of the frost floor. The instant these pieces fall to the ground, they combust and explode in a splash of ice and flesh; nonetheless, acting quickly in his petite frame, Locke leaps away from the explosion and avoids any damage that may have resulted from it.

Gaining confidence from vanquishing one zombie, Locke turns and sets his sights on the zombie which continues to stalk Lilanei. Taking the spellbook once more, Locke flicks to a page he was currently viewing and holds out his palm before he begins to read the incantation – a bright ball of energy immediately beginning to form in his palm. After a few moments, the orb grows and shoots from his hand, flying through the air and colliding with the zombie's skull – the force of which causes chunks of flesh to fly from its head. Now turning its head, which drips with flesh and melting ice, the zombie moans towards Locke before rushing at him, as quickly as a zombie can possibly rush. Immediately, Locke finds himself being thrust into as the zombie headbutts him in the chest. Locke feels an intense cold take over his body as he becomes frozen on the spot and he feels a stinging pain surge through his body due to the intense cold.

While frozen on the spot, Lilanei's face twitches as her arm slowly begins to move, the effects of the intense cold which enveloped her, or rather Locke's, body beginning to dissipate. Eventually, Lilanei regains full mobility in her arms, even though her legs are still trying to thaw out. Slowly, she holsters the double sword and withdraws the crossbow once more. With only her arms mobile, she raises the crossbow and immediately fires it at the zombie's upper back, a bolt flying through the air and colliding with its back as flesh rains due to the impact of the bolt. Moaning in great agony and fury, the zombie does not turn to Lilanei, but instead attempts to attack Locke once again. It begins to rush towards Locke in an attempt to slam its body into him; however as it does, Locke somehow regains mobility through his frame and is suddenly able to move as he dips out of the way of the zombie's path. As the zombie stumbles forward, Lilanei immediately rushes behind it before she slams Locke's crossbow violently into the creature's skull. As she does so, the creature's body falls to the ground before erupting in a great explosion of flesh. However, as it does so, Locke grabs Lilanei by the arm and drops the ground, forcing the pair of them to crouch on the floor to protect themselves from the resulting explosion.

Locke finally looks up from the ground first as sees the charred remains of the two zombies lying scattered about on the floor. He lets out a chuckle of victory before attempting a spit at the nearest zombie; however his saliva simply freezes due to the cold aura that remains in the air from the two monsters. As Locke grumbles, Lil suddenly emits a loud sneeze, which is muffled due to her face being buried in the frosted ground.

"I'm glad that's over," Locke sighs.

Finally mustering the strength to push herself up slightly, Lilanei wipes her bloody nose with her right hand before saying, "If all the monsters in this place are like that. . . I want out."

"Same here," Locke agrees. "But we've got a job to do, I suppose. Let's just hope it doesn't get worse from here."

Sniffling as she pushes herself onto her backside, Lilanei reaches into Locke's ruck sack and retrieves two potions, which she opens and drinks consecutively without hesitation. Locke mimics her, withdrawing a potion from Lil's ruck sack which he wastes no time in drinking as well.

Emitting a loud sigh of relief as her cracked skin stops bleeding, Lilanei sniffles and mutters, "I suppose we'd best get this over with."

"Yep," Locke says with a sigh. "Let's keep going."

The two stumble to their feet, bones chilled thoroughly as they then begin to walk stiffly down the hallway – Lilanei making sure to retrieve the still-functional sunrod she had dropped during their encounter. Illuminating the hallway, our Heroes take great caution as they march down its long and slowly narrowing passage. Finally, they come across a large archway which leads them into another chamber. As they step into this chamber, they stop to observe their surroundings and notice that it appears to be no more than an empty room with a hallway leading out of it – around a bend to the upper right corner of the room. They pause in the room for a brief moment before then attempting to continue forth; nevertheless, they stop when they hear an all too familiar clicking and the echoing sound of a “kekeke.”

"I know that noise," Locke growls.

As he utters his angry words, Locke notices the familiar floating visage of Amun as he drifts into the room from around the bend, teeth clicking together erratically in his usual fashion; seeing the creature, Lilanei appears to perk up as she cries, "Great! Maybe he's going to switch us back now!"

"He'd better," Locke grumbles in irritation.

Nonetheless, as they stare across at Amun, he simply floats in place, cackling quietly to himself.

"Hey!" Locke finally cries out. "We've had enough of this. Change us back at once!"

"Enough of what, obnoxious tot? Do you not understand the lessons taught?" Amun finally responds with a cackle.

"What lessons?" Locke hisses.

"Lessons, he says with a serpent tongue! Rewards are not gained until the job is done. An evil creature remains to be fought, and for his neck, I thought you sought!"

"We do, but not like this!" Locke shouts. "I don't wish to remain in Lilanei's body anymore! Change us back!"

"Not like this!" Amun cries. "From the two who shared a kiss, long ago in tremendous bliss!"

Lilanei blushes as she mutters, "He sure does know a lot for a dead guy. . ."

"He'll know pain if he carries on like this," Locke whispers to Lil, before turning to Amun and stating, "Stop with your rhymes and just change us back. Or I'll crush your head into dust!"

"Tut, tut, tut. You're rather stuck, for Amun is in a tremendous rut. An evil creature haunts these features and to it, you must be its teachers! To oblivion, you must send him, or your curse will be never ending."

"You're no real help," Locke sighs. "Just go away."

"Away? Away? But, Amun must play! Just a few more moments, you must stay!" Amun mutters before he cackles with a "kekeke" and turns as he rushes down the hallway.

"What did he mean by that?" Lilanei exclaims worriedly.

"I'm afraid to ask," Locke replies ominously.

The two then suddenly hear Amun cackle once more as the ground beneath them begins to rumble. Our Heroes look to each, and before either of them can react, the ground beneath them begins to crack and separate as a large pit suddenly opens up beneath Lil's body just as before – and with a scream, she falls down a deep ten foot hole.

"Lil!" Locke cries. "Not again!"

Locke immediately attempts to jump into the pit, but before his feet can enter the hole, a large and transparent slab of ice suddenly materializes between the pit and Locke's feet, causing him to land hard on his toes.

"Argh!" Locke cries in anguish before his voice echoes throughout the room as he shouts, "What? Lil!"

As his eyes widen down through the slab of ice, he notices Lilanei begin to look very distraught as the walls of the pit appear to begin to seep with water. As he begins to emit a cry, Locke stops suddenly as he hears a large stomping begin to sound from around the bend in the corner of the room. His head snaps to the side and as it does, he catches the massive shadow and figure of an Owlbear as it begins to emerge into the chamber.

"Lil!" Locke cries again as he slams his foot against the sheet of ice that traps Lilanei in the pit.

His anxiety intensifies as he realizes that water continues to trickle into the pit. With no luck smashing the ice open with his foot, Locke takes Lilanei's staff from his back and tries to smash the ice with its blunt end, but again the results is the same – the ice seems unbreakable.

"Damn!" Locke howls as he turns around to see that the Owlbear continues to walk towards him; conflicted, Locke decides he would be much better to Lilanei alive rather than dead and therefore he opts to fight the creature as he shouts, "Come on then, Beastie!"

Keeping the staff out in his hand, Locke – either through pressure or good memory – quickly mumbles the first spell that comes to his mind. As he does so, the orb that is mounted on top of Lilanei's staff begins to pulsate with a white light. The white light gets brighter and brighter until a force of white energy seems to surround the orb. With his attack ready, Locke tilts the orb tied to the top of the staff towards the Owlbear which causes the white orb of energy to fly out from the staff and collide with the Owlbear's face. With its face being violently snapped back by the blow, the large creature emits an ear piercing roar before it begins to quickly advance towards Locke. Lumbering before the youth's tiny figure, the Owlbear instantaneously shifts its weight into its back legs until it stands and towers high above Lilanei's body which Locke's mind now possesses. With another roar, the Owlbear raises its right paw high into the air and attempts a deadly slash for Locke's upper body with its sharp talons; however Locke simply leaps back, avoiding the slash which only proves to further irritate the creature.

During this time, although Locke cannot hear her, Lilanei emits a cry within the pit as a gush of water suddenly seeps from the walls, filling the hole quickly with ice cold liquid up to Lilanei's, or rather Locke's, ankles. The water is very frigid and causes Lil's feet to begin to numb, as pins and needles seemingly prod at them painfully.

Now holding his free hand out towards the Owlbear, Locke once again remembers another incantation he noticed in Lilanei's spellbook. Within seconds, a purple hue takes to Locke's hand and with every second that passes after that, the purple hue grows darker as the colour forms into another ball of energy – this one a dark purple colour which begins to crackle with purple energy. Locke winds his arm back a little bit and then thrusts it with forwards, causing the orb to fly out of his palm and collide with the Owlbear's stomach who now stands towering above him. The cold force tightens the Owlbear's skin underneath its large fur coat, and as it moves from pain, the skin splits causing blood to flow and mat up in the creature's fur.

As the creature cries out in anguish, its sinister eyes rest upon Locke's small figure before it slashes both of its upper legs up into the air. It attempts a sweeping downwards slash attack as its body drops towards the ground; however once again, Locke uses his natural agility to leap back and avoid the Owlbear's deadly strike. In the meantime, Lilanei's mind rushes as she attempts to figure out a way to escape the cold and hazardous pit. Seeing that the walls in the circular pit are slightly damp, Lil manages to sink her mostly gloved hands deeply in the surrounding ground, and flexing her new masculine muscles, Lilanei lifts herself from the ground at the bottom of the pit. As her head and shoulders rise over her hands, Lilanei then digs her feet into the sides of the pit also and slowly pushes herself up further with her legs before she quickly lets go of the walls with her hands and digs them into the pit walls a couple of feet higher. The pit still continues to fill underneath her as she stops to look back down at the gathering water on the pit floor.

Once again, Locke continues on his string of good luck as he begins to recite another spell from Lil's book that he had used earlier against the zombies. A faint humming is heard in the room as yellow energy begins to bounce very slightly up and down off the floor. With each second that passes by, the energy grows and begins to form whip-shaped lines on the ground until Locke thrusts his hand up into the air – causing the energy to flick out at the Owlbear in a whipping-like motion as it strikes the bear in the head with a tremendous crack. The force of the attack disorientates it as it stumbles backwards. Now greatly enraged due to the attack, the Owlbear nevertheless shakes the effects of the whip off before it charges forward, its massive body causing the ground beneath it to rumble slightly. As it lumbers forward, it suddenly raises a paw in the air and slashes it sideways at Locke's abdomen. Despite not tearing flesh from Locke's new body, the Owlbear does tear some of the clothing from Locke's body – the paw leaving a large bruise in its wake as a cold wind begins to bite at Locke's side. Locke clutches his side with his free hand and shivers due to the intense, freezing cold.

The pit seemingly begins to quicken its filling as the water continues to rise higher and higher beneath Lilanei's body. However, she remains a safe distance from the freezing water below and with laboured breathing, Lilanei remains in her position as her muscles begin to shake and tremble – the stress of the weight she carries beginning to strain her muscles. Shivering, Locke stays in his position, his legs extremely rigid due to the intense cold which eats away at his person. Placing his staff back on his back, Locke then withdraws his dagger and with laboured breathing due to the cold air enveloping his body, Locke aims the tip of the dagger at the Owlbear. The tip begins to glow a bright white colour.

Panting, Locke looks to the Owlbear and cries, "Suffer my the fury of my magical blade, Beastie!"

With that, the orb flies off the tip of the blade – the orb now turning into a bolt of energy which collides once again with the Owlbear's head, cracking the bear's head open as blood runs from the top of its head and covers its bird-like features. The Owlbear roars, now quite painfully due to the blood which seeps from its wound and down its face. Nevertheless, it musters enough energy to stand on its hind legs once again as it weakly slashes its left claws forwards and across Locke's chest area. As the Owlbear strikes with its claws, Locke feels another sudden shock of cold run through his body, forcing him to stay immobilized for a few seconds – but thinking of the peril he and Lilanei face, he immediately comes out of his shocked state and rubs his injured chest.

As the water further fills the pit, Lilanei has a lapse in concentration as her hands suddenly slip away from the muddied walls, causing her to slide swiftly down the pit with a cry and back into the frigid water as her waist becomes completely immersed in the ice cold water. As she hits the ice water, her body goes into a shock-like state as her blood pressure begins to drop from the cold and her breathing becomes heavy and swift as she begins to hyperventilate from the cold and the panic of her situation. Locke immediately looks to the Owlbear and wastes no time in charging the tip of his blade once more and preparing for another magic attack. In seconds, another orb envelopes the tip of the blade before it shoots off the weapon and the bolt of energy collides with the Owlbear's already bloody body, the energy digging into the Owlbear and stabbing it much like the dagger Locke holds in his hand. The Owlbear stumbles back before then very slowly teetering forwards and collapsing as it drops to the floor, dead – the force of its drop sending a loud “boom!” through the room as ice breaks away from various corners of the room and the room vibrates. Wiping his brow, Locke then turns and rushes back to the sheet of ice to see Lil immersed in the water.