Deception, just a short story I threw togethor

<center>Deception, a short story by Jeremy Buchanan</center>

Ariel looks around the small group, her friends, all banded together for one cause. The dark cave illuminated only by the faint glow of the torches. Shadows created moving around like ghostly figures. She thinks of how they’d wound up here, trapped in this nightmarish cave on a quest to obtain the mirror of Grakma, the only thing capable of sealing the demon Shokar into a mortal body. Her four companions halting as they reach a large door. Drix the bulky swordsman of the group walks up to the door and attempts to push it open and grunts as it refuses to budge. Eleria, a female elf, examines the area around the door for a switch, while Dobbo, a short gnomish magician, examines the arcane writing on the wall above the door. Finally Edward, her lover, holds her close while he watches the others do their work. Ariel clasps the heart locket he gave her and prays for good luck.

After a brief silence Dobbo speaks up and shouts excitedly, “It says we can open the door with a spell of fire and ice used at once. Hmm there’s something else written here.” Dobbo spins towards the others with a worried look on his face and shouts, “It says that the mirror-” His voice is cut off as a ghostly claw pierces through his chest causing him to drop to the ground dead as a spectral cat pounces towards Aerial.

Aerial shrieks and fires a blast of icy energy into the cat which forms around it turning it into an ice sculpture. Eleria runs over to Dobbo and checks him and then looks at Aerial with tears in her eyes, “He’s dead, he didn’t stand a chance.”

Edward looks towards the gate, “We can’t let his sacrifice be in vain. We must obtain the mirror. Ariel with me now on the count of three, one, two, three.” Edward and Ariel fire a blast of fire and ice into the door which rumbles violently and slides open with a large grating noise. Drix runs in and looks the area over followed by Eleria.

The room is rather small about forty feet squared and there is a door with a pedestal in front of it on the other side of the room. Drix takes a step forward and a creak is heard and Eleria pushes him out of the way of a flying arrow which crashes into the opposite wall, the acid covering it melting away at the strong granite. Eleria sighs, “You have to be more careful, this place is loaded with traps,” and walks over to the pedestal and starts sliding cubes around on it until the shape changes, “I think I’ve figured it ou-” She is interrupted by a green dust cloud flying towards her from the door as it opens and coughs on it.

Drix walks over to her and sets his hand on her shoulder. She doesn’t respond for a second and then turns around her face pale and streaked with green veins. Edward pushes Drix away from her as she stabs her dagger forward taking the blow to his own gut instead. Edward rolls to the wall moaning, “She’s not Eleria anymore that was zombie dust.” Eleria leaps at Drix and he slices her in two with his massive claymore causing her body to fall to the ground and shrivel into nothingness. Edward gaps holding his stomach a look of pain on his face, “I’ll be fine, don’t worry about me, the mirror is right there.” Edward points through the now open door and standing in the middle of five scepters is a shimmering mirror.

Drix steps through the door and looks around, “Hmm, there isn’t anything in here, just this big statue of an ogre. Pretty realisti-” The giant statue grabs down and picks Drix up by the head looks at hi for a second then squeezes his hand. Drix screams as he pulls a strange ball out of his belt and throws it into the statue. The ball explodes reducing the statue to bits just as Drix heads explodes sending his brains all over the chamber.

Ariel screams as Drix falls to the ground dead and then looks up at the mirror, “Shokar will dir, I swear it on my friends.” and charges up to the mirror rips the nearest scepter out of the ground and then grabs the mirror and turns back to the door. “Edward I have the mirro- Shokar.” Where Edward was laying a dark skinned figure with red eyes and a jeweled crown is standing. He points at the mirror and a pebble flies into it smashing it into thousands of pieces. Ariel looks at the shattered mirror and then falls to her knees and looks up at Shokar, “We, we failed. But how, the mirror was supposed to-”

Shokar interrupts her, “Nothing but lies, I’ve been in Edward’s body for a very long time. That mirror is not a means of my defeat. It was the only thing preventing me from bringing my army into this world.” Shokar points behind Ariel. A massive red portal has opened up and millions of snarling hissing demons are looking through it at them. “You and your little band of misfits was just perfect for the task, easily manipulated, just enough people for the task, and not likely to reach this room with anyone but you alive. But I like you, I have chosen to let you live and be my queen. You will help me conquer this weak world.”

Ariel spits at Shokar and holds a dagger to her throat, “I would rather die then serve you.”

Shokar laughs, “That doesn’t sound like the Ariel I knew in the bedroom. But it’s not like I’m giving you a choice. Remember that locket I gave you?”

Ariel freezes unable to move as a heart locket around her neck changes into the shape of a spider and grafts to her breast. Her skin starts changing shape getting darker and more demonic while her hair loses all color and becomes completely white. She stands up and smiles her sharp teeth and evil green eyes glowing fiercely, “Who do I get to kill first?”