A home once was

She could see a dim light somewhere in this insane darkness. Hakuen's voice was in that direction. Juem trailed behind her as she headed towards Hakuen and the headthrobbing drumbeats. When she reached the anubi, the drum stopped and the place was lit with torches. I'm here, Kien sounded, tapping the anubi femme on the shoulder. You're not hurt, are you?

<span style='color:steelblue'>Do you think we should follow?</span> Juem asked, watching the floating ball of light. <span style='color:steelblue'>Or should we just attack one of them and demand where in the world they took Hakuen's friend?</span>

 

The Ball began swaying in the air, almost a sort of dance, before continuing it lazy drift towards the exit. There was a rumble, and The anubi figures suddenly lurched, tearing free of the wall and brandishing partisans, spears, and all manner of desert weaponry. They began shuffling towards the three, as the light slowly got farther and farther, and the darkness grew, all acompanied by the scraping of stone against the floor...

 

<span style='color:steelblue'>Great... Instead of attacking them, they're attacking us</span> Juem stated before he crouched into a fighting stance. Kien, out of habit, automatically reached for her dagger. She was shooting fire and arrows with her eyes at the anubi who got ever closer.

Hakuen, I don't think they're in the mood to talk... Kien said.
<span style='color:steelblue'>Yeah. Would you look at their faces? It's like they've not eaten for years!</span> retorted Juem.

 

The massive stone monoliths totally ignored hakuen, only hearing the ancient anubi chant running through their thick stone heads. The first one, carrying a pair of large curved swords, suddenly swung them downwards at her, still staring ahead experssionlessly... The ball of light had made it to the entrance, and began drifting down the light filled corridor, seeming to dance all the way...

 

<span style='color:steelblue'>What she say?</span> Juem asked as Kien bounded after Hakuen and he after her.

Said you better shut your mouth since you don't know a thing about anubi. Kien replied and dodged a thrown dagger which flew over her head and stuck itself on the stone wall. Juem cast an annoyed look at Kien. She said anubi don't eat other pendragons.

They followed the ball of light down to wherever it was taking them. Kien could hear the footsteps of the zoned out anubis behind her. Hakuen, sure this is the right choice? I mean, what if that light lead us to greater danger?

 

The corridor continued on for a ways before curving off down the right lower right. The light was still drifting lazily ahead, just before it dissappeared down the distant slope. The source of light was visible now, patches of light shinning across the corridor. There were tiny holes matching up with the streams of light, and the entire pathway appeared as a crude version of a laser protected walkway. A small piece of rock suddenly fell from the roof, through several beams of light, and without warning the tiny holes erupted in a storm of needles. The needles slammed into the rock as it fell, leaving no more then crumbling dust as it landed softly on the floor. The shuffing came again, as the stone anubi continued the chase. A chant could also be heard from where the ball of light had dissappeared...

 

Juem's brain was turning, turning, working... on how to get past the fatal laser beams. Kien was busy looking at the ground and Hakuen was thinking too. Then something clicked. <span style='color:steelblue'>You two,</span> he said to Kien and Hakuen. <span style='color:steelblue'>I might be able to use kinesis and try to cover us with those rocks on the ground. The lasers will hit the rocks, giving us some sheild. All we have to do is stay under the rocks and run like mad!</span>

Kien pondered on this. It could work but it was still risky. She turned to Hakuen. What do you think?

 

The scraping of stone grew louder, and suddenly a massive stone blade slammed down only a few feet from Kien. There was another loud scrape of stone, and suddenly the wall tembled, as the stone golems threatened to collapse the entire corridor. Even now the lights looked calm and serene, just waiting for something to cross them so they could fill an intruder full of needles... Whatever they were going to do... They had better do it quickly... The corridor might not last much longer...

The light had completely dissappeared by now, and only the torches and the light beams were left to brighten the pathways. Through a winding set of paths and rooms full of all sorts of bobby traps, undead and elemental monsters, and even a burial chamber, a ceremony was going on, which would be complete as soon as the slowly drifting ball of light got there...

 

The laser beams seemed content, for while Rogue projected her own fake light, their needles stayed put inside the walls. The golems smashed the corridor again, and a small bit of dust and debris filtered down, setting off a few of the needle traps ahead. But, satiated, the lights continued to ignore the group... The golems smashed on silently yet again, and the ball of light drifted towards the next obstacle...

 

While Hakuen was running with her light, Juem quickly did his kinesis trick and soon they were covered with rocks above them. It was a little hard and he wished they were going to be safe.
A little faster, please... shouted Kien, who was an impatient runner. Then the group headed to the next obstacle and Juem was already feeling a little tired.

 

The crashing of the golems suddenly stopped, and the beams of light suddenly shut down as soon as they were across. After a quick curving slope, the corridor opened out into a large roomy underground chamber, lit up by the glow of magma. A crumbling pathway led over the pit of magma below, and the heat came up in waves, distorting vision. In a few places the pathway had completely broken and large gaps opened up, just wide enough to jump across. The gaps led down into the lava, and it was no wonder why they did, because at frequent intervals, large spurts of scalding magma fired up into the ceiling, ruining the finely carved Anubi symbols there further. If all this wasn't bad enough, a pair of stone creatures hung from the ceiling partway across, looking almost as if they could drop down, rear up, and attack. Gargoyles... That one might see on skyscrapers from earth, save with distinctly Anubal designs on collars round their necks. The creatures remained lifeless however, staring down at the three as they entered the fiery lair... If one looked hard enough, they could probably see pieces of rock and pillar rising up from the boiling molten rock below, revealing that it was a fairly shallow lake, but not shallow enough to prevent one from burning up if they touched the substance... The small ball of light was already halfway across the pathway in this expansive molten playground, heading towards a hazy heat distorted extrance on the opposite side. The final call came when the three finished entering the room, for a large stone disc rolled into place to cut off any escape, and a second slab of intertwined stone and steel dropped down, cutting off access to the stone disc so it could not be moved. Now there was only one way forwards.. And that was ahead...

 

Juem began to panic. But he managed to keep a straight face. <span style='color:steelblue'>Okay.. I'm outta ideas. If anyone wants to go back, I'm glad to accompany. There is no way we can get through that!</span>

Kien studied the stone disc and the rest of the materials that prevented them from moving forward. We could try and blast them off... Does anyone has a bomb or magic or any of the sorts with them?

<span style='color:steelblue'>Let me rest for a moment... I'm getting a little tired.</span> Juem said and then sat down on the ground, ignoring the heat.

I'm getting a little fried. Quickly think of something. We're gonna be toast soon. Kien said.