Meeting Ashila
[Edited by PN]
Before their eyes, a city stands in the far distance. A clear wall stands in between them and the city, blocking the road to the city. Alex and Andrew are somewhat shocked to see the city in the far distance shimmering in light, as if a reflection over the water surface. Andrew puts his hands on the wall, only to be shocked by a force that throws him to the ground.
"Are you alright?" Alex rushes over.
"Yes, I am fine. But I would suggest that you not try that." Andrew stands up with help from Alex.
"I wouldn't.." Alex sighes, "now what do we do?" He looks around and sees that this 'wall' goes as far as his eyes can see.
"I think we will have to find some other way around it." Andrew replies.
"I know that, but how? This ..wall.. has no end; or at least it looks that way.." Alex complains. Not having had anything to eat for a while now, his stomach is growling.
Andrew looks along the wall with his superior sight. "Hmm, that way, there seems to be a section where the energy output is at a minimum." He points to the right.
"Really?" Alex cannot tell, but he is willing to give it a try.
The section looks like a hole in the wall, only this hole leads to a different location that what they saw before. The area is not emitting any kind of energy. Andrew eyes the section, but still insists that Alex not touch it, just in case.
Alex and Andrew look through the 'hole' into a space with many paths and surfaces extruding from all direction inward. A boy is laying on an extruding ledge not too far up the wall. He is not moving, maybe asleep. A dark shape movs up along the wall, with its tentacles reaching toward the boy, seeking to capture him.
"Watch out! It is under you!" Alex shouts trying to warn the boy.
The boy jumps up just before the tentacles reach his dangling legs. The monster speeds up its ascent, trying to catch the boy. The boy runs into one passage, turns to run up the wall, then into a arch and comes out from the arch on the ceiling to the far side. Alex watched in awe, "That place is a labyrinth?!"
The boy is on the move again, this time he runs toward the left side to the portal and before Alex can find him again, the boy runs pass the portal with the bottom of his shoes facing Alex, as if running on flat ground, only on a wall!? "What the..?"
The boy has somehow returned to the center of the space, right side up this time, facing the monster that was after him. A blue light flows out of his hands and forms a short blade attached to his arm.
[fight]
The fight quickly finishes and the boy on another of the ledges. The boy thinks back and is confused about what had caused him to wake up. "um.. hm.. I was sure that someone warned me to watch out.."
Alex shouts to get the boy's attention. "Hey there?!"
The boy looks around but cannot find anyone, "Who is there?!"
"Over here! Can you see me?"
"Over where?.." the boy looks around, confused.
Alex approachs the portal, only intending to hit the 'wall' or floor to the other side, but soon as he touches the portal, he realizes that it is not a glass wall, but a one-direction portal. Alex loses his balance and falls into the portal. Andrew grabs Alex's feet trying to pull him out, only to find that impossible. Not willing to leave his little friend in that strange place, he enters the portal as well.
Ashila watches as a boy, not much older than him, pops out of the ground/wall, then another person pokes his head out as well.
Alex is very disoriented because of the sudden shift from falling through a wall to emerging from the ground. He shakes his head to clear it. When he finally gets enough bearing to recognize his location, he looks up trying to find the boy. The boy however is not there anymore. "Where did he go?" Andrew manages to stand up and look around. Being an android, he seems to adjust quite well to the strange orientation. "I think he left his seat."
"I can see that.." Alex is still under the influence.
"Are you looking for me?" A voice comes from behind, startling Alex.
"Waa?! You scared me." Alex is somewhat startled.
"Scared you? You are the one who popped out of the floor and you say I scared you?" the boy retaliated a bit, "who are you? And how did you get through the floor?"
"..I am Alex, and I don't know how I did it either.." Before Ashila can ask more questions, Alex's stomach complains loudly again and gets everyone's attention.
"Oh, you are hungry, well you should have said something earlier. Come on, I have enough food for ten people right now." Ashila offers.
"You do?" Alex blinked, he does not see any storage or food laying around this place, just flat surfaces that nothing is growing on.
"Yeah. Come on." Ashila leads the way toward the middle of the room, "the name is Ashila, by the way."
"Ashila.. what is your last name?" Alex asks.
"I have always been called Ashila, I don't think I have a last name." He answers.
In the center of the room there is a small pit where red light glows. The heated air coming out of the pit distorts the shapes behind it. Ashila drags the monster over to the pit and proceeds to cook the monster.
"... ..." Alex watches in awe while Andrew scans the monster for its content to determine if it is eatable.
"It will be ready in a little while. There is a spring below, you can clean up a bit if you like." Ashila hands Alex a bucket, "and can you get some water while you are there? That way we can have something to drink afterward."
[Maze solving, clean up and come back with water.]