The Citadel

Panting and sweating Flurry Heart leaned against a wall holding a hand on her wounded stomach, it wasn't to deep fortunately but it was bleeding a fair amount. She had plenty of other cuts too especially on her arms and legs and all of them hurt but this one was the worst. They had made some distance between themselves and the mirror room running trough a few corridors and up a flight of stairs. At the moment they had stopped just before a bridge that lead over a huge chasm.

She lifted her hand to look at the extent of her injury and winced, her hand was red with blood as too was her clothes. Flurry carefully moved some of her ruined clothing out of the way to better see the wound itself. There was a long gash that stretched itself from just above her bellybutton and off to the side of her abdomen.

"You look horrible, will you be able to carry on?" Zyzix said as she hovered just in front of her.

"I'm fine." she lied. "I just need to get these wounds tended to."

"Then you are more persistent then I thought you where princess." Zyzix laughed.

Flurry just grunted in response wanting to instead focus on patching herself up as best she could. She didn't know any healing spells as they where way to complex for her but she did know a spell thought to the soldiers that could stop the bleeding at least. She took a few deep breaths and concentrated and igniting her horn with magic. Focusing on her worst injuries she moved her magic aura over the wounds one at a time inhaling sharply at the stinging pain. Once she was done she had a quick overview to make sure she didn't bleed anymore and thankfully she didn't. To make sure the wounds would not reopen right away Flurry Heart ripped of the sleeve from her shirt to bind the gash on her stomach. She also ripped a few pieces of cloth from her tattered skirt to patch some of her other wounds, her clothes where beyond saving anyway.

Having finished her self treatment she tried to dry of some of the blood on her hand on her skirt before walking over to Zyzix who was floating over by the bridge.

"Still clinging to life I see." Zyzix said.

"Yes for now anyway." Flurry replied while leaning on the railing.

"Let us hope it remains that way, it would be a shame to lose such a useful ally." the wisp snickered.

Flurry Heart raised an eyebrow and at that comment but decided to let it slide, there where more important things to do then to fuss about words.

"Let us be on our way, we are closing in on our goal."

Limping slightly because of the wounds on her leg she followed her companion over the bridge. She was determent to make it home again whatever it took. Thinking about home once more she moved her hand to fiddle with her necklace while she looked at her surroundings. Glancing over the railing she thought it was crazy that there excited a pit this large and deep within the citadel itself. She could see neither the roof or the bottom but she could see plenty of bridges snaking there way across the gap like branches of a tree. About halfway over the bridge Flurry decided to ask her partner something that had been bugging her for a while.

"Hey Zyzix."

"Yes?"

"How come I haven't seen any kitchens, bedrooms or dining halls in this castle?" Flurry questioned.

Zyzix laughed like she had said something stupid which caused her to frown a bit.

"Ah princess the reason why you have not seen any of that is simply because this citadel is not meant to be lived in like that."

"What do you mean?" she asked confused.

"This entire structure is a monolith, a conduit for astral powers to be gathered and funneled into storage." Zyzix explained like it was obvious.

"Do you really need such a big place just for that?" Flurry replied in deadpan tone.

"When we are talking about this kind of magic then yes."

"Sounds stupid to me." Flurry mumbled and looked the other way.

Glancing over the railing again as she walked she noticed movement on one of the bridges down below which caused her to look down. A few bridges below them she could see the souleater that she fought outside the main gate slowly moving across one of the bridges. Flurry Heart didn't know how it made it here but she had no desire to encounter that creature again if she could help it.

"It would seem our friend has found a way inside, we should make haste before it catches up with us." Zyzix said having also noticed it.

Flurry thought that was an excellent idea and nodded in agreement as the two increase there pace to hopefully avoid the souleater.

~~~~~~

After a while of uneventful traveling they came across another giant room, this citadel had plenty of those it would seem. This room however looked more cavelike tough with its rough cut walls and uneven floor. There was also a strange ambient lighting of turquoise throughout the place that Flurry could not pinpoint where it came from. At the center room however was a huge blob of black sludge that looked eerily familiar to the sludge that eye monster came out of. There where also several rocks of various sizes floating in the air slowly rotating, if this hadn't been such a horrible place then this room could almost have been tranquil.

"Be on guard princess, there might be enemies around." Zyzix suddenly warned in a low voice.

Flurry Heart stopped walking and quickly began to scan the area while slowly drawing her sword from its scabbard.

"I don't see anyone so how can you tell?." she asked.

"The energy of the room feels strange." Zyzix said.

They continued to move forward carefully keeping close to the wall doing there best to remain undetected. Hearing a faint rustling sound from somewhere Flurry once again stopped to have a look around. She couldn't see anything moving in room at all which made her nervous, she decided to have a glance at the ceiling as well just to make sure no monsters where crawling around up there. But again she saw nothing which was good in a way since she'd prefer not seeing a monster hanging from the ceiling. They where almost at the other end of the room anyway so maybe this time they where lucky enough to avoid combat.

Just as she was about to start walking again something grabbed her by her legs and tail and violently yanked her backwards towards the ground. Barely did she have time to react to as she manage twist herself to catch a groove on the floor with a hand preventing herself from being dragged further. Quickly turning her head to see what was attacking her only see a pair of gray arms with long clawed fingers coming from a shadowy pool on the floor. While trying to kick herself free from her assailants grasp she called out to her companion.

"ZYZIX WHAT IS THAT?!"

"I have no idea but do not let it drag you down into its shadow." the wisp said.

Failing to to kick the thing off her legs Flurry Heart swung her sword at it and succeeded to cut it across the back of its hand. With a growl the thing quickly retracted its arms back into the circular shadow on the ground giving Flurry the chance to get up on her hoofs again.

"Let us be on our way before it decides to try again." Zyzix said.

"Yeah." Flurry agreed.

Pointing the sword in the direction of the shadow she carefully walked backwards towards the exit. Believing she was in the clear she turned around and increased her walking pace to get out of there faster. But of course things where never that easy, she didn't even manage to take ten steps before another shadowy pool opened up on the wall this time. She dodged the first swipe of the clawed hand by just a hair by ducking under it, but the second one hit her in the shoulder causing her to fall. She drew in air trough her teeth holding a hand over the wound on her stomach in pain as she climbed back on to her hoofs. Looking towards the wall Flurry gasped at the creature crawling out, it was tall and slender with two long arms and a snakelike lower body. The head however was just a drooling mouth pretty much with wolf like teeth, it had no eyes for it was missing the entire upper part of the head. Still it felt like it was watching her like a predator as it slowly moved closer and growling menacingly.

"It would seem like this creature won't let us leave without a fight." Zyzix said

"Hope you are up to the challenge, it would be a shame for you to come so far only to fail now." her companions words almost sounded threatening.

The monster let out a roar and launched at her, she manage to block its assault with a shield spell. Enraged by this the creature slashed at the magical barrier like a rabid animal but Flurry Heart was steadfast in her defense. Observing her foe from behind her shield as it continued its frenzied attack on it she waited for an opportunity to counterattack. After seeing an opening Flurry dropped the barrier and swiftly went on the offence and stabbed the creature in its belly. It let out a loud howl of pain before spinning around and hitting Flurry with its tail sending her flying before landing on her back a few meters away. The monster then opened up a shadow pool on the floor to crawl into and escape. Flurry Heart let out a groan and a cough as she picked herself up off the ground for what felt like the hundredth time now. She scanned the room looking for the creature but she could not see it which she both liked and didn't like at the same time.

"It seems like you have driven it off for now, we should take this opportunity to leave before it comes back." Zyzix said.

Flurry Heart nodded in agreement and hurried towards the exit but still keeping an eye out for any suspicious looking shadows. Leaving the room behind they entered into another dark corridor, she kept the sword in her hand just in case the thing decided to attack again. They continued to move at a steady pace and eventually came to a large circular room with a dome ceiling full of strange symbols. There where many doorways lining the walls and the air in room had a slight burnt smell to it.

"You do know which way to go right?" Flurry asked.

"Do not worry princess I know which way is the right one." Zyzix said calmly.

Putting her trust in her ally's words she followed the wisp trough one of the openings and after a short path entered a smaller round room. There was only one thing of note in there and it made Flurry Heart very uneasy, for in the middle of the room was another twisted obelisk very similar to the one she had used to exit the dungeon.

"You are not suggesting that we use that thing I hope." Flurry said worried pointing at the stone structure.

"It is the only way to get to where we need to go so I do suggest we use it." Zyzix said.

"I was nearly killed by one of those things before, I don't think they are safe." she argued while keeping her distance from it.

"Clearly you where using it wrong then." Zyzix snickered and flew over the the obelisk.

"Let me show you how to operate it."

Nervously Flurry Heart walked closer, she really didn't want to relive the horrible experience of getting drained of magic a second time.

"You see there is a rune of power in front of the door, from this rune you can grab a thread of magic that flows throughout the planet."

"When you have it lift it up to the door and connect it so the gate can draw the power it needs to open."

As Zyzix spoke she started to glow slightly brighter and a thin red glowing smoke strand arose from under her and moved slowly towards the obelisk. When it touched the stone door it immediately started flowing more rapidly as a dull hum filled the air and the runes on its surface lit up one by one in a red glow. A few seconds passed and the door slowly opened and the magic flowing into it stopped and everything went quiet again.

"Shall we continue?" Zyzix laughed mockingly.

Flurry frowned at her companions dismissing of her traumatic experience, she thought that she could show a little sympathy at least. But regardless of her feelings the door was open and she took great care to not touch anything as she made her way trough for fear of the obelisk starting to drain her.