Corrupted Radiatons

by Michael Rogers

  Jester: "Muffy, did you end up telling them the colour combinations?"

  Muffin: "Green, blue, red, purple, white, black and every single one."

  Jester: "... You're not meant to tell me!"

  Muffin: "Oh dear."

  Madora: "Deary me, what will happen if they get it wrong?"

  *Two villagers wearing cone-shaped hats stood on either end of the unconscious guild members and raised their arms, causing Lezard and the champion to levitate.*

  Muffin: "Take them to a vacant hut."

  Jester: *He looked at Madora.* "Scoldrants will appear. Each will progressively get stronger until they reach and exceed Guardian and Ancioldrant level."

  Madora: *She looked at the tree with an emotionless face.* (An accidental transportation of more than one Earthling. Yet, their futures could possibly save this world? I'll pray to the Astragons for a safe trip back.)

  ----------

  *Rachael and Nathan stood in front of another board with ten coloured crystals.*

  Rachael: "A symbol for fire."

  Nathan: *He reached forward and touched the red crystal.* (This is very easy.) *He watched a green sphere suddenly engulf them and transport them to another level.*

  Rachael: *She stepped out of an expanding green sphere, looking to her side at Nathan.* "I told you about Ash." *She continued to walk forward.* "What's the deal with you and Luna?"

  Nathan: "What about us?" *He gently stretched his arms, as if they were still giving him discomfort.*

  Rachael: "It's obvious there's something between you two."

  Nathan: "Haven't we had a talk like this before?"

  Rachael: "I dunno." *She smiled.*

  Nathan: "What do you want me to say?"

  Rachael: "Just the truth." *She kept talking with her smile.*

  Nathan: "You want to talk about this here?"

  Rachael: *She stopped and stared at a line of unusual symbol-like writings.* "What are those?"

  Nathan: "It says transportation."

  Rachael: (Transportation?) *She looked confused.* "I don't understand-"

  *Rachael leant forward and touched the symbols out of curiosity, causing them to scratch into English.*

  Rachael: "Whoa!" *She withdrew her hand in confusion.*

  Nathan: "Now it says teleportation."

  Rachael: "Could you understand that?"

  Nathan: "I'm not very efficient at them for obvious reasons, but words used for Rostical incantations have their own symbols."

  Rachael: "The symbols were scratched in the wood and they suddenly changed-"

  Nathan: "And that impresses you?" *He spoke with a condescending smirk and touched the purple crystal.*

  Rachael: "Purple?" *She whispered to herself with urgency, as if she hadn't thought about the colour.*

  *Another green sphere engulfed Rachael and Nathan and was transported to another level down.*

  Rachael: *She looked over the ledge and noticed green mist at the bottom.* "We've almost reached the bottom."

  Nathan: *He stood at the end of the pathway.* "This one is the symbol for light." *He shouted from the other side of the pathway, catching Rachael's attention.*

  Rachael: "Huh?" *She quickly jogged around the pathway and up to Nathan.*

  Nathan: "Sorry, you were getting a little distracted."

  Rachael: *She shook her head.* "It's okay." *She touched the symbol and watched it suddenly scratch itself out.*

  Nathan: (It's changing again. Perhaps to her language?)

  Rachael: *She watched the symbol change into the word Radiatons.* (Radiatons.)

  Nathan: "Light and Radiatons, white would be-"

  Rachael: "I don't like how I left the others. We should move ahead." *She reached over and touched the white crystal, causing the green sphere to engulf them.*

  *Rachael and Nathan stepped out of the expanding green sphere and noticed green mist in the air.*

  Rachael: (I'm starting to get anxious about the others. Lezard was still unconscious. Luna and Karol were practically motionless.)

  Nathan: *He watched Rachael walk ahead with a slight jog to her step.* "Aren't you tired?"

  Rachael: *She looked at her hand while continuing to walk.* "I was tired when she used her Rostical on me."

  Nathan: "..."

  Rachael: "Okay, here's another." *She happily announced as if Nathan's question didn't mean anything to her.*

  Nathan: (I guess it feels natural to always have Rachael energetic-) "What's this one?"

  Rachael: "Shadiatons." *She leant up, as she touched a black crystal.*

  Nathan: "Hey hey-" *He quickly ran up to Rachael, just as a green sphere engulfed them both and shrunk as it transported them down another two levels.*

  Rachael: "Sorry-" *She stepped out of the expanding green sphere and walked towards a triangle-shaped wooden door.*

  Nathan: *He looked over Rachael to the door.* "This seems kind of pointless to me."

  Rachael: *She looked over her shoulder to Nathan, watching him walk up to her.* "The crystals?"

  Nathan: "Yeah." *He placed his hands on his head, causing him to wince in pain.*

  Rachael: "Maybe it's a simple security system?"

  Nathan: *He looked at the symbols on the door, followed by four crystals.* "There's only four here."

  Rachael: "It's like they would punish people without the basic knowledge of Rostical."

  Nathan: *He nodded his head.* "Yeah."

  Rachael: "What do the symbols mean? There's no way either of us could reach up there." *She stopped in front of the door and looked up to the engraved symbols.*

  Nathan: "Which is the best element required for life."

  Rachael: *She looked down and stared at a red, blue, green and brown crystal.* "Wow."

  Nathan: "Fire." *He reached towards the red crystal.*

  Rachael: *She knocked Nathan's hand away, causing him to frown in pain.* "Sorry."

  Nathan: "Well, fire is the symbol for life. It's hot and strong."

  Rachael: "You could say the same to water. Its properties are interchangeable. Without it, life wouldn't be possible."

  Nathan: "Then you can say that to air! Without that, none of us would be here."

  Rachael: "Without the ground, the planet wouldn't be here."

  Nathan: "..." *He looked mentally stuck at what to do.*

  Rachael: "What you think would happen if we got one wrong?"

  Nathan: "...."

  Rachael: "We need to think this properly."

  Nathan: "Shame Radiatons isn't the answer."

  Rachael: "Why's that?"

  Nathan: "Radiatons is the embodiment of life."

  Rachael: "But still, why Radiatons? I always got a holy vibe from it, nothing to do with life."

  Nathan: "They say, Radiatons and Shadiatons have all four neutral elements inside their core Neuron structure."

  Rachael: "Pardon me?"

  Nathan: *He smirked.* "Dawn was explaining some of her research to us. After hours of getting lectured, I guess some of it stuck?"

  Rachael: "Well, what the heck-" *She leant forward and placed both hands above two crystals, cueing her to look at Nathan with a smile.*

  Nathan: "Alright, alright." *He scratched the back of his head and stepped forward, positioning both his hands above the two other crystals.*

  Rachael: "Now!"

  Nathan: "Let's do this!" *They shouted and pressed on the crystals at the same time.*

  *All four crystals lit up and a large green sphere engulfed Rachael and Nathan, pulling them towards the door.*

  –

  *Nathan and Rachael stepped out of the fading sphere and noticed they stood outside.*

  Rachael: *She looked up and stared at a blue sky with clouds.* "We back near the village?"

  Nathan: "Did we accidentally take the exit?" *He mumbled to himself and stared at the vegetation and trees.*

  Rachael: "This is interesting-"

  Nathan: *He shook his head.* "I'm not familiar with this lands
cape."

  Rachael: "Well-" *She quickly took her shoe and sock off, kicking the ground underneath her.*

  Nathan: *He felt a slight rumble.* "Do you feel anybody?"

  Rachael: *She tilted her head to the side, as if she was listening to something.* "I understand the tree is huge, but I still could feel people several kilometres or miles away."

  Nathan: "So...?"

  Rachael: "I don't-" *She stopped and looked up in shock.* "That can't be right."

  Nathan: *He looked up to the sky in confusion.* "What is it?"

  Rachael: "I need to-" *She kicked again and concentrated, as if she was feeling the rumbles in the ground.* "I can't explain it, but I can feel the entire area here."

  Nathan: "Rachael."

  Rachael: "Uh, sorry. It's hard to register and commentate what was happening. I can feel the area, including the distant space and the sky."

  Nathan: "How can you feel the sky?"

  Rachael: "We're underground."

  Nathan: *He scratched the back of his head and listened to birds chirp in the distance.* "Maybe you did hurt yourself more than you thought."

  Rachael: "And someone is standing behind us." *She whispered and watched Nathan casually look around.*

  Nathan: "I don't see anyone." *He mumbled back.*

  Rachael: *She frowned and pointed at the air.* "Come out!"

  *A man suddenly appeared in front of Nathan and Rachael, raising his arms, symbolising he meant no harm.*

  Nathan: *He tried to hide his surprise.* (He was this close to us? For how long?)

  Man: *He adjusted a smaller cone-shaped hat.* "I'm Harvey, the Harvester."

  Rachael: "I'm Rachael and this is Nathan."

  Harvey: "You're here for my delicious Fiftydeductions."

  Nathan: "Right to the chase-" *He smirked.* "Yes we are."

  Rachael: "Madora sent us."

  Harvey: "Here." *He opened his palm and revealed a small grey stone with hieroglyphs on it.*

  Rachael: "A stone?"

  Harvey: "It's a seed."

  Nathan: "That little stone-, seed has the energy of fifty Rostical Users?"

  Harvey: "Correct."

  Rachael: *She looked around Harvey.* "Are you by yourself?"

  Harvey: "We needed to keep this place hidden. After a yucky run-in with the Consultants, we needed them to believe the Fiftydeductions were no longer obtainable."

  Nathan: "The Consultants." *He frowned to himself.*

  Harvey: "Either way. Take it and leave." *He grabbed Rachael's hand and dropped the stone in it.*

  Rachael: "Just like that?"

  Harvey: "Just like that."

  Nathan: "No catches?"

  Harvey: "No catches."

  Rachael: "No special tests, or-?"

  Harvey: "Put your shoe back on. Madora sent you and you weren't lying. You're both annoying me. Good bye." *He smiled and waved, causing a green sphere to engulf Nathan and Rachael.*

  *Harvey looked up and watched the green sphere shoot up towards the sky, as he adjusted his cone-shaped hat.*

  Harvey: "Well. They were annoying. Surprised they got all the simple answers correct."

  ----------

  *Nathan and Rachael stepped out of an expanding green sphere which sparkled red.*

  Nathan: *He opened his eyes and listened to leaves rustling, as he stood just outside the path leading inside the tree.* "Outside?"

  Rachael: "That felt rushed, but-" *She opened her hand, staring at the stone-like seed with a smile.* "It couldn't have gone any better."

  Nathan: "I wonder-" *He mumbled and started to jog down in a rushed-like manner.*

  Rachael: (The others-) *She thought to herself in realisation and started jog after Nathan, watching branches spiral down, forming into a large pathway.*

  Nathan: *Each footstep caused the leaves to shake.* "Luna! Karol!"

  Luna: "Aye? Haven't you left yet?"

  Nathan: *He ran up to Luna and bent down, seeing if she was okay.* "How are you feeling?"

  Luna: "I'm feelin' dandy, aye." *She grunted in a sarcastic-like manner, keeping her eyes closed.*

  Nathan: *He smiled in relief.* "Good to hear."

  Luna: "Wateva."

  Rachael: "Karol?"

  Luna: "Nah, he's been quiet aye." *She continued to speak with her eyes closed.*

  Rachael: "How is he?"

  Luna: "He's OK." *She opened her eyes, as Nathan bent his knees to pick her up.* "Wat are you doin'?"

  Nathan: "You plan on walking yourself?"

  Luna: "..."

  Rachael: *She gently picked up Karol and leant forward, ensuring he was stable.* (I hope he's okay.)

  Nathan: *He grunted and started to walk forward.* "Let's see how everyone else is going."

  Luna: "Wat's with the grunt? You think I'm fat, huh?" *She spoke with a smirk, knowing Nathan couldn't see it.*

  Nathan: "Whatever."

  Luna: "Aha."

  Rachael: "He's rather cold." *She sounded concerned.*

  Nathan: (It might have something to do with the blood.) *He thought to himself, hiding his concern.*

  Luna: "Rach-"

  Rachael: "Yes?" *She unintentionally replied with eagerness.*

  Luna: "We used a Hi-Owgee." *She spoke as if she was drugged up.*

  Rachael: "With who?"

  Luna: "Karol."

  Rachael: *She smiled in a worried-like manner.* "Is that why he's-"

  Luna: "And Nath."

  Rachael: "And?"

  Nathan: *He looked over his shoulder and nodded his head for confirmation.* "Karol somehow did it."

  Rachael: "I thought it was only possible with two people?"

  Nathan: (Same.) *He looked forward in determination, as if he wanted to ask Madora.*