The shaft was roughly fifty meters deep, with well-worn handholds dug into the rock. Siyo slowly picked, and lowered himself, one slip up, and he would fall, and it might kill, or injure him so that he can’t move. As he neared the bottom he saw dim lights, lighting a metallic hall. He marveled at the intricate carvings burned into the wall. They almost appeared to be pictures of a time long past, and the architecture was like none he had ever seen. As Siyo walked down the hall, it grew brighter, and suddenly, it opened into a massive chamber.
In front of Siyo was a small panel, with flitting lights sparkling across it. He hesitated, and then placed his hand upon it. Nothing happened, and then, a metal panel began to extend in front of him. At the end was a circle the size of a Cyclone Battle Tank. It hummed with power, and the circle glowed an eerie green. Siyo walked up to it, and stepped on it. It was hard light, just like a standard photon rifle, or most other guns would fire. He stepped completely on it, trusting the light would hold him, if not, it would be a long fall. The light pulsed blue, and Siyo started to descend. The ring was an anti-gravity lift, and it was carrying Siyo to the bottom of the chamber. Siyo was stunned by the size of the chamber, by looking up the way he had came. He turned his attention to the center of the room, and a tower like object sat there. When he approached, lights on the floor, flashed beneath his feet, and spread across lines in the floor, like vines. By the time he reached the first step on the tower, the entire floor was pulsating a rainbow of colors. The carvings on the sides grew increasingly detailed, and he saw many different pictures. Pictures of war, battle, and times of darkness were the first. Following them were pictures of prosperity, wealth, and power, but all the pictures had a common object in them. All pictures had a time reader, in the center. These pictures were from the time of old, greater than probably his grandfather’s age. He reached the top, and a small globe shined brightly on a table. He slowly walked towards it, and when he reached for the globe, it disappeared. He turned around, startled, and the small globe was behind him. Before he could try to grab it again, it started to expand.
He didn’t move as he was covered with light, and enveloped by the globe’s presence. He felt very strange, as if stun rounds from a gun were hitting him. The light vanished, and the feeling with it, the experience only lasted a couple of seconds. After he adjusted to the sudden absence of light, he peered around, and he wasn’t in the same place as before. He was back in the metallic hallway, but it was darkened, and the carvings were gone. At the end of the hall, he could see a very large glow. As he got close to it, he figured that it was a bright white glow, surrounded by an archway. When he got within fifty meters of it, he ran into an invisible wall. He tried to pass it, but it repelled him again. He looked for a switch, a button, another sparkling panel, but all he saw were a cluster of carvings. They had pictures, but these were pictures of, figures, creating a prison around a tall being, with the familiar clock symbol. He wondered what the clock meant. A clock told time, so, the figures must be putting time into a cage. Then it struck him, this was time’s prison, and so who was the tall being in the picture? He analyzed the next couple of carvings, it showed the figure, wrecking homes, planets, and bending the clock to his will. Siyo sat back on his heels and thought out loud about it.
“So, if this guy with the clock is breaking things, and he is trapped in a cage in that other picture. Then the guy still locked in this cage, is a controller of time, but if they pictures in the other chambers worshipped him so, why would then cage him?”
His answer was the pictures in front of him, the lord of time, became evil, and wanted chaos. Siyo turned, and decided that it was time to leave this prison, and maybe tell the DI about it. Before Siyo could exit the chamber, a loud roar came from the white glow. He spun around and brought up his sword.
“Fool, you will not leave my prison! I am the bender, the controller, of everything that was, and everything that will ever be! Release me, or I will find another to do it!”
As Siyo quickly thought out that releasing this guy would be a bad idea, a huge arm started to claw out of the portal. Siyo watched for all of five seconds, before he turned and ran. He got no farther than ten meters, when he was back where he was. He felt that he moved, and he was certain that he did. He started to run again, but he still appeared where he started. He figured what was happening, the lord of time, the being on the other side, was reversing time, demonstrating his power. Though Siyo couldn’t move, the arm was, and it was fully out of the portal, and a body was quickly following it. Siyo couldn’t think of anything to do, but one.
“I will release you! To do so, you must tell me how, Time Lord!”
Siyo waited several minutes before the Time Lord answered.
“Good, you have found your fate unstable, as I have shown you my powers. However, it is beyond just you, to open my prison. I will require four, to release me. Return within two days, or you will be instantly forgotten from this world. Leave me, and complete your task.”
Siyo wondered why four, including him, were necessary, but the prison must be heavily guarded, for a being such as the Lord of Time. Siyo noticed that he was no longer in the chamber of Time. He was on the edge of the chasm, where the handholds down were in front of him. He pushed the boulders over the hole again, and started to wonder if what happened at the shrine was reversed. He was beginning to feel relieved when a booming voice sounded in his head.
“I hope you have no forgotten, you must release me, or you will die. Do not forget.”
Siyo was crushed; there was no way out of releasing this “Lord”. He turned, and with the thought heavy on his mind, he remembered, that the games were still on. He instantly pushed the thought away, saved for later, though his life was a great cost to fail the Time Lord’s test, his honor for losing his title was more. He picked up his photon rifle, and peered at the entrance, it seems the Time Lord really did reverse time; the stun grenade was still in place. He listened carefully, and heard a soft fall of feet. He put his back on the wall, hoping to shadow him from unwelcome guests. A few minutes later, he saw the figure, and instantly confirmed it was Ranyk. Ranyk was looking at the cave entrance, as if he knew Siyo disappeared inside it. Siyo stood still, if he moved, Ranyk would confirm that he was there. A flash of light streaked across the sky, and Ranyk fell.
The streak took no less than one second, but its impact was noticeable. A sniper from across the canyon had spotted, and shot Ranyk, saving Siyo from practically certain loss, of the games, and his title. Siyo stifled his sigh of relief; the sniper could be looking at him now. He waited, and watched, though he could not see the sniper, the sniper might see him, and could be waiting for Siyo to let his guard down. He couldn’t lose now, so he waited, almost thirty minutes before moving. He started slowly, sliding down the rough rock wall. Once he reached the floor, he slid like a Vesmos, slinking back to the relative safety of the cave. He brought up his suit’s clock; it was only a few hours till sunrise. He needed to hurry to eliminate the remaining recruits; he didn’t want to be out in the desert when day broke.
He checked his mission status, three left, one was the sniper, and after he checked the roster, the remaining two were higher up. The third and seventh in the camp, the sniper was the tenth, due to his lack in ability with anything but camouflage and sniping. Siyo quickly decided how to get the recruits to come to him, a huge explosion. As long as he could remember, no one had used an explosion as a tactic, so it should pipe his or her’s interest. He checked his remaining equipment, three more grenades, and a nice bonus, an extra rifle power core. The core will provide the starter, while the grenades provide the bang. When the core explodes, it will make the grenades go off, creating an explosion the size of the barracks. Siyo found his camouflage kit; it would provide minimum invisibility against the sniper. He was betting that, the poor invisibility, would be helped by the dark of night, but he knew that you couldn’t rely on machines completely, they could always go wrong. He slowly exited the cave, and made his way to the bottom of the plateau.
When he reached the bottom, he selected a good spot to rig the bomb. There was a slight depression in the ground, and about one hundred meters away, was a clutch of rocks, perfect cover for the explosion. He slid into the depression, and piled the three grenades into a triangle. He carefully placed the photon rifle core on top, and lined a wire to a rifle trigger. When he pulled the trigger, the core would produce light bullets, but they would hit the grenades, making a light show across the desert. Siyo would stay behind his rocks, and wait for the recruit’s interest to draw them in. Siyo readied himself, grabbed the rifle switch, and pulled.
The explosion blinded him, and deafened him, and the flash of light was greater than expected… the rifle core must have had a bigger bang than expected. After the light flash, the desert was dead quiet, like a mausoleum. Siyo’s hearing was returning, as two pairs of feet ran towards the explosion. Seems the recruits thought someone was injured in the explosion, they were about to be corrected. Siyo peeked over the top of the rocks, and saw two of the recruits dashing towards the crater. Siyo counted to five, and stood up, and fired two bursts of three.
The recruits fell, and almost immediately, Siyo heard a battle cry. He spun around, and a recruit, Deleon, was charging at him. Deleon was an unrivaled melee combatant. Siyo may have the best armor in the camp, but Deleon had two pieces of Firebird Armor, the greatest armor ever made by Raiken. The Walker-like armor was usually equipped with a Photonic Gatling Gun, a High Power Rail Gun, Anti-Projectile System, Missile Pods, and Heavy Shielding. It also had two Ion Sword Gauntlets, one for each arm. Instead of requiring a holster, the Ion Swords were IN the gauntlets, and flashed in and out at the command of the owner of the armor. Deleon was equipped with these gauntlets, and he knew how to use them.
Siyo dashed backwards, and brought up his sword. With his free hand, he activated the Compact Photon Bow, which was stored in his left gauntlet. As it unfolded, he parried the initial charge of Deleon’s dual swords, and Siyo jumped high in the air. Siyo brought the bow to bear, activated his right gauntlet, and fired a volley at Deleon. He dodged them easily, and lashed out at Siyo. Siyo had just touched the ground, and he rolled out of the way, and performed a rolling arc with his sword, and blocked Deleon’s counter with his bow. As Deleon’s blow glanced off the bow, Siyo’s sword tapped the forearm of his armor. Deleon went rigid, and attempted a last attempt at Siyo. Siyo easily blocked it, and de-activated his bow. The Games DI’s took Deleon away, and congratulated Siyo on his victory, and his new surprising tactic. Of course, they frowned at him wasting a power core. Siyo waited, and a Tsunami Drop ship descended, and the troop bay opened up.
“Well done Siyo! Another victory, and another commendation, you are the star show at this camp.”
Siyo recognized the Head Drill Instructor, but behind him, a Raiken in full black armor was watching him. Siyo dismissed his gaze, and walked into troop bay. The pilot’s voice sounded over the intercom, “Going up, and heading back to base.”
