Misplaced in Dimensions (closed)

[slut_in_white]

Veresanna cast the spell quickly - she was quite good at it, it was one of the few non-direct-combat spells she was very talented at - and then watched with unconcealed fascination as Derek got ready. She tilted he head as she looked at the laser sight and the computer, as then smiled. "You're certain this isn't magic?" she asked, leading him into the temple. She hadn't realized how much she missed having companionship during these expeditions. It was strange how she felt she could trust him to watch her back out here in the wilderness, despite only having met him a few hours ago.

 

[JadeKnight]

Derek chuckled for a moment at her question.

“No, it's not magic. Although there have been people in the past that seem to think science is magic. It's really all a matter of understanding how things works.”

He smiled as he followed her into the temple, looking down at the computer every now and then. He knew that if any movement was picked up, they would hear beeps as they scanner pinged the movement. As they moved deeper into the temple, the light slowly disappeared from around them. Since he couldn't see in the dark, he stopped for a moment, feeling through his vest. Finding his flashlight attachment for his pistol, he clipped it on the side before turning on.

“Much better.”

The flashlight shone a beam of light out in front of them, filling the tunnel.

“Any idea what we should find in here?”

 

[slut_in_white]

Veresanna considered the question carefully.

"Most likely? There will be animals of some type who have taken refuge here. Whether they are inclined to avoid or attack is a question that remains yet unanswered, but I suspect we will learn soon enough. It's also possible that some of the barbaric tribes have taken up residence, though were that the case, I expect we would have met some by now." She paused, frowning a little, then turned to look at Derek. "None of the ancient records I checked indicated anything about caverns or tunnels beneath this city, but that doesn't mean they aren't there. And if they are, then we'll have much bigger things to contend with. Evil things from the bowels of the earth find their way up to places like this from time to time through such caverns. We should be cautious."

As she said the word 'cautious,' she took a step and felt slight resistance followed by a crunch as the resistance gave way and her foot hit the ground. Then she looked down. There was a crushed skull of some humanoid thing under her boot, and the rest of the bones scattered about nearby. She made a face. "Well. That doesn't exactly bode well."

 

[JadeKnight]

Derek listened to her as he shined the light over the crumbling walls of the tunnel they stood at the entrance of. He glanced towards the scanner for a moment, nodding for a moment as it looked like things were clear for the time being.

“Evil things from the bowels of the earth? That sounds worth investigating. Such things don't exist where I came from. I actually expected to come to a time twelve million years in Earth's past.”

The sound of something crunching beneath Veresanna's boot caught his attention. He shined the light down at the bowl pile before leaning down to examine them. He looked up at her for a moment.

“Looks like he had a bad day.”

He grinned for a moment before standing back up, heading down the hallway. Every few moments he glanced at the scanner at the light moved around the walls and down the hallway. It didn't take them long to come to a very large chamber. Derek whistled softly as he moved the light around as much as he could. He estimated that it was at least fifty yards square and nearly thirty feet high to the ceiling. A large staircase alter was in the middle of the chamber, fifteen steps high. Chunks of the ceiling had fallen in various parts of the room, layers of dust everywhere.

 

[slut_in_white]

Veresanna looked around the huge room, frowning. Everything was covered in religious symbols, but she recognized none of them. The temple was old, but it wasn't that old. The elven pantheon hadn't changed in thousands of years. She should have at least been able to tell which god this temple was dedicated to.

Her footsteps echoed loudly through the hall as she crossed to stone floor toward the altar. There, she saw an image of a twisted, grinning mask, and felt her heart drop into the pit of her stomach like a stone. "Oh no..."

She looked around again and found that, now, she did know what some of the symbols meant. And none of it meant good things for the two explorers. She turned to face Derek. "I'm sorry, I didn't know who this temple belonged to. I wouldn't have come, I wouldn't have brought you here if I'd known there was a Cult of Abaddon here." The name would have struck fear into the hearts of anyone from this world who heard it. It took her a moment to remember that the name didn't mean anything to him. "He is an exiled god, cast from the pantheon after he plotted against his siblings. He was the god of secrets and tricks, and nothing good. Since his downfall he has been stripped of much of his power, but he still holds sway in places like this, and he seeks revenge." She shook her head. "The walls and doors will change. The way we came in will almost certainly not lead us back out again. I can't even promise that we will ever get back out again. That depends on how much power Abaddon still holds here." She looked around. "And that still doesn't mean we won't run into other things here. Creatures stick on the temple as we are, or even servants of the god who come willingly."

 

[JadeKnight]

Derek raised an eyebrow for a moment when she spoke about a Cult in a way that should have made him feel fear. Pushing aside the skepticism for a moment, he pulled up his logs on the computer, trying to get everything down that she said. He gave a little chuckle for a moment.

“The guy sounds like an interesting little god. He reminds me of Loki, an Earth Norse God. Loki was a god of tricky, often having his own little agenda. He often got into trouble for his tricks, though he did help the gods as well. More often than..”

Derek was cut off by a small ping from the computer. He pulled the motion tracker up, watching two dots light up on either side of them. Finding it odd the dots weren't moving towards them, he shined the light around in the general direction of one dot. It took a few seconds for the light to reflect off a set of compound eyes, which were connected to a large spider's head. Derek took a moment to catch his breathe before he fired his pistol. A small sparkling white and blue orb shot from the muzzle, the feel of static left by it's passage. The orb hit the spider's head, knocking it aside as arcs of electricity danced over the spider.

“It's stunned, kill it!”

The soldier jerked around in the direction of the second attacker, seeing a second giant spider. Derek fired a second shot, drawing his knife with his other hand. He was sure how long the spider would stay stunned, so he covered the distance quickly. The titanium blade sunk into the spider skull with a thunk, Derek shaking the blade so that he skewered the gooey mass inside to cause massive damage. He placed one foot on top of the collapsed spider, pulling his knife free.

 

[slut_in_white]

When Derek turned around, he saw Veresanna standing over the other spider, pulling her sword out of the creature's many eyes. She made a face at the black goop that covered her weapon and went about cleaning it off as best she could.

When she was finished, she looked up at Derek, smiling slightly. "That's a useful bit of... not-magic you have there." She gestured to his computer. Then she sheathed her sword and took a look around. "Well," she closed her eyes and held out her hands. "I can feel magic at work here... it's not easy to read, it's so chaotic, but I think our best chances might be going over... there." She opened her eyes and pointed, only to frown when she realized she was pointing at a blank wall.

She walked up to the wall and began to run her fingers along the rough hewn stone, knocking on it every few feet. The sound was muted and heavy the first few times she did it, but the fourth time came the hollow echo of someone knocking on a wooden door. She grinned, pointing at it with her finger. A moment later, the disguised door exploded inwards in a shower of splinters and Veresanna turned to look at Derek. "Shall we?"

 

[JadeKnight]

Seeing that Verasanna dispatched the spider nicely, he gave a little chuckle. He had to hand it to her, the elf knew how to handle herself. He looked at his knife for a moment, cleaning it off on the furry spider remains as she made the comment about his computer. He smiled and nodded, slipping his knife into it's sheath.

“Thank you. And you handle yourself pretty well.”

He raised an eyebrow as he watched her next movements. He had heard what she was saying, but really didn't understand completely. He began to have doubts about her when she pointed at the blank wall.

“And what's special about the...Whoa.”

He blinked a couple of times when she pointed at the wall and it exploded inwards, disappearing. He gave a nod for a moment.

“Sure thing. Ladies first.”

He followed after Verasanna as she stepped through the destroyed door, stopping to examine the destruction.

“Very nice done, just as good a a patch of c-6.”

 

[slut_in_white]

Veresanna stepped into the darkened tunnel, her hand resting on the pommel of her sword, ready to draw at the first sign of a fight. She glanced over she shoulder at Derek, frowning at his comment. "I don't understand... seasickness?" she asked, clearly having misunderstood "c6" as "seasick."

 

[JadeKnight]

Derek laughed for a moment at her misunderstanding, and shook his head for a moment.

“Not seasickness. C-6”

He used the pointer finger of his left hand to trace the letters in the air.

“C....6....It's a type of explosive material we used to blow things up. Not sure what to compare it to in this world though. I have some in the trailer, but only a few pounds of it. Can't use it just willy nilly.”

He smiled for a moment, glancing at the computer.

“Looks clear at the moment. Let's keep going.”

 

[slut_in_white]

Veresanna laughed, embarrassed at her mistake. It seemed so obvious, now that he had explained it.

As they travelled through the hallway, they had the disorienting experience of switching directions while apparently still moving forward. Veresanna felt it and stumbled, reaching for one of the walls - the effect was entirely magical, so she doubted Derek felt anything. Once she had steadied herself, she reached forward with her magical senses to make sure this was still the right direction. She was met with a backlash of energy so strong that she was thrown backwards, colliding with Derek as she struggled to maintain consciousness.

 

[JadeKnight]

Derek followed after Veresanna carefully, giving her room to do what she needed to guide them. His attention was divided between watching the scanner, their surroundings, and watching her. He looked up for a moment when she stopped in front of him, apparently coming to something in front of them. He shined the light in front of her for a moment, looking confused. He noticed her stumble for a moment.

“You ok? Do you see something?”

Seeing her reach forward, he figured something was up and waited on her to figure it out. He umphed softly for a moment when she was pushed back into him, dropping the pistol on the ground. He stumbled backwards himself, but stayed up right as his arms wrapped around her waist to hold her up. He gulped for a moment as the closeness between them allowed him to get a bit of her feminine scent.

“Are you ok?”

 

[slut_in_white]

Veresanna groaned, her hands going to Derek's to hold them against her waist until she caught her balance. She had her eyes closed, struggling against the headache that was pounding through her brain as a result of the backlash.

She turned her head toward Derek instinctively when he spoke, her eyes popping open. She blushed, immediately aware of how very close they were. His hands were still gripping her waist, even though she had recovered her balance. "I'm fine.." she whispered, her voice quiet and hoarse. She made no move to step away from him, feeling frozen in place by both his touch and her own surprise.

 

[JadeKnight]

He continued to hold her as she stayed back against him. He licked his lips for a moment as they felt a little dry, her hands over his as she stayed against him. He wasn't sure why, but he didn't want to let her go just yet. When she did manage to answer him, he gave a little smile and nod.

“Good..”

Even though he probably should have let her go, he didn't. Instead the urge to kiss the elf came back once more. This time he did follow though, his lips pressing against the soft lips of Veresanna. He held the kiss for a few seconds before releasing her completely. He wasn't quite sure what to say, looking at her in the glow of the flashlight from the floor.

 

[slut_in_white]

Veresanna shot Derek a sultry grin and walked toward him. She rested her hands on his shoulders and leaned toward him to return the kiss. Her breath on his face was cold and smelled stale, the first indication that something was wrong.

The second was the cry of fear that came behind Derek a moment later, causing Veresanna's eyes to snap open and look over his shoulder, hissing. A bolt of light missed Derek's head by inches, smashing into Veresanna's face and sending her reeling backwards.

The third indication that something was amiss was that Veresanna's face, which should have been burnt and bleeding from such an attack, was completely unharmed.

The voice behind Derek cried out in some other language, and the image of Veresanna in front of Derek disintegrated, leaving a vaguely female creature with a gaping black mouth behind, screaming in rage.

"Derek!" The real Veresanna came running up behind him, blade drawn and her other hand glowing bright with magic. "Are you alright?" she asked, glancing at him as the creature advanced on them.

 

[JadeKnight]

The next few seconds after the kiss was an assault on his senses, and enough to tell Derek he was out of his element in this world. The cold, stale smell of the Veresanna in front of him was definitely not right for someone who was suppose to be alive. He took a momentary step backwards for a moment when the flash blinded him for a moment as the bolt smashed into the woman in front of him.

He had half-registered the scream behind him a second before the flash, but he hadn't been able to react to it. His hand went to his knife handle as he blinked away the flash as best that he could. He wasn't able to make the details out of the magic attack, except to see the form disintegrate away from of him.

The afterimage of the flash had all but disappeared when the real Veresanna came running up behind him, ready for the attack. He didn't risk the glance at her, but kept focused on the creature in front of them. His eyes glanced around quickly, noting his pistol a couple of feet away where he had dropped it when he had gotten bumped into. Since the strange magic attack didn't seem to faze the creature, he doubted the stun effect of the pistol would do anything.

That left the pulse rifle on his back. He had slung the rifle on his back so that he could pull it up into position at a moment's notice. His right hand reached back and pulled it forward by the barrel quickly. He grabbed the muzzle guard with his left hand as he brought the butt of the rifle to the shoulder, his right hand on the handle, finger on the trigger. A red dot crawled up the creatures torso to the center of her forehead.

He took a deep breathe for a moment before pulling the trigger. There was soft pop followed by a quick series of smoke rings between the barrel and the creature. A small red hole stayed in the middle of the creature forehead when he dropped the muzzle. The creature stood for a moment longer before dropping to her knees and falling forward, a fist-size opening in the back of her head.

“I believe she's dead now.”

 

[slut_in_white]

As soon as she was certain that the creature was dead, Veresanna sheathed her sword and took Derek's face in her hands, looking him over with concern. "Are you alright? Gods, that was too close." She shuddered, frowning. Her gaze flickered down to the husk on the floor and then back up to his face, flickering from feature to feature as if she still expected something to happen.

They stood still like that for several moments, staring into each other's eyes, Veresanna with an expression of concern shifting slowly to relief. She pulled him suddenly into a hug, taking a deep breath. "Thank the gods she didn't kiss you. I'm sorry, I should have been more careful... Things in a temple such as this are never what they seem." She drew back again so she could look properly at him, though she left one arm around his shoulders. She used her other hand to push his hair out of his eyes, smiling.

It was only after that that she seemed to suddenly realize how she was behaving, and she dropped her hands suddenly, blushing furiously. "I'm sorry, after what just happened... I should be more aware of these sorts of things..."

 

[JadeKnight]

He stayed with his weapon up for a few moments after the creature dead, looking further down into the darkness for any more threats. Taking a deep breathe for a moment to calm his nerves while Veresanna examined the dead body as well. He shifted the rifle, slinging behind his back once more as he looked back at her.

He blinked for a moment as he suddenly found the elf hugging him. He hadn't quite expected that, wondering if it was another trick like before. His left hand clenched for a moment before he relaxed as she pulled away for a moment. He gave a little wry grin for a moment.

“I just got caught off-guard for a moment. Just human error on my part.”

He smiled a little more at the elf's blushing, adding to her beauty for a moment. He shook it head gently for a moment as he reached out and laid his left hand on her shoulder, keeping it there for a moment.

“No need to apologize Veresanna. I'm outta my element here, so I should have had my guard up. Things like this don't happen where I came from. Thank you for saving me.”

He moved his hand from her shoulder to rest it lightly against her blushing cheek for a moment, feeling the soft heat beneath his fingers. He pulled away a moment later before moving to scoop up his pistol once more.

“I'm ready when you are.”