Luna Star, Part 21

Sibyl coughed to get everyone’s attention, “Over the last couple of days I have been practicing my powers and I think it would be useful in this situation. Just give me a second while I transform.” Sibyl stretched out her hands in front of her and said “Magical Power hear my call and be set free.”

The white runes appeared around her and a few transformation moments later she was wearing her blue costume. Zephy smiled in amusement, “That is a rather interesting theme that you have there. I’m assuming that Blackberry is responsible for that, assuming you all show that particular method of transformation.”

Blackberry glared at Zephy, “Yes, do you have a problem with it. There is a long, time honored tradition of magical girls using transformation sequences just like that.”

Sibyl coughed again, “I was going to show you what I had been practicing if you would care to pay attention.” Once she had their attention again she sat back down at the desk chair. There was a blue flickering glow and then a translucent form of Sibyl stepped out of her own body.

“Ohh, your Sibyl special ghost form.” Said Joy, “You figured out how to do it deliberately.”

Sibyl’s spectral form nodded, “Indeed, plus I learned a few new tricks to help make it even more interesting. Watch.” The spectral Sibyl took several steps away from her body and then her body began to move. It was slow movement and it raised its hand and waved at the spectral Sibyl. “I can remotely control my body. In my tests I was even capable of controlling it from across the city. Though I’m not certain if I can do it from a different world. This way however I can compensate for my body and I can do things I normally wouldn’t be able to do.”

Blackberry nodded in approval, “Certainly a useful talent. I’m sure it will come in handy and hopefully it will work while in the Hollows so that you can give some feedback.”

Joy giggled a little, “My own personal ghost assistance. It’s like a have my own comic strip or something.”

Blackberry tried to return the group to the game plan, “Well, now that we have that sorted. Zephy, do you think we are ready to begin?”

“Just a moment,” Said Joy, “I need to transform too.” She did the same thing that Sibyl did and a few moments later she was in pink and ready to go. “Alright, now I’m ready.”

“Good, now assuming the cat doesn’t need to transform I’m going to open the portal.” Zephy moved toward the outside wall and then spread her arms. The two points of red light on her head burst into fire and congealed into two red horns. Another flicker of fire at her waist and she had a tail. Her hands glowed in fire and her nails became painted red. The she reached out with her hands and pulled at the air.

There was a weird sound of ripping and there was a line running down the wall. Zephy pulled at it and it opened into a hole what led into some sort of dark room. The light from the Luna’s room didn’t illuminate that much into the room and neither Joy nor Sibyl could make out much from the other side.

“Alright, the passage is open. Now I’ll keep it open as long as I need to but you should try to finish as quickly as possible. You are inexperienced in the Hollows so it is best of you spend as little time there as you can. Also the quicker you rescue Luna the better it is for her, remember she has already been here for days.” Said Zephy.

Joy and Sibyl nodded at each other and then Sibyl walked through the portal. Joy waited until Sibyl was all they way through before following after her. Blackberry remained behind with Zephy and once they could no longer see the two of them through the portal asked, “Do you think that they will be alright?”

“If you are telling the truth about them fighting a Shadowed Soul and surviving then they should be fine. Compared to something like that the Hollows are going to be easy.”

“They were lucky to survive the Shadowed Soul. It was only because of the strange power that Luna unleashed at the last moment that we were able to survive and force it to escape. That is what landed us in this situation too.”

Then like the voice coming over an intercom system the body of Sibyl spoke, “Thank you for worry about us but we are currently fine.”

“I see that you can talk across the dimensions just fine. That is reassuring. Keep us informed of anything important that happens to you.” Said Blackberry.

There was a long pause, “We will do so. However there seems to be some lag while connecting to my body. Important matters won’t reach you quick enough. Also I can’t really do anything while keeping up the communication. Just keep that in mind.”

Blackberry nodded and then realized she might not notice something like that and said, “I understand.”

                                                                                                    

Sibyl’s spectral form nodded and she ended the connection with her body. It was difficult keeping the connection open, the distance and dimensional change made the connection difficult. “Alright, I made contact with them.” Said Sibyl to Joy.

“Alright. Now we need to find Luna.” Said Joy. They had traveled for a couple of minutes before the attempted communication. They had arrived some sort of cavern and it had taken them a while to find any sort of exit to the place. It was very natural looking and they had managed to location a few exits to the place. Once they had those discovered they made contact back to Blackberry and Zephy.

“Well, there are several exits. I can feel Luna’s presence because it is quite distinctive so it is easy to tell which direction she is in. However there are several of the passage ways that she could be down and we have no way of knowing which way is the right one.” Said Sibyl.

“Well we should stick together, otherwise who knows what might come after us while we are alone. Perhaps we should just choose one of the passages at random and if it doesn’t feel like we are getting closer to Luna then we will turn back and try another route.” Said Joy.

“Yeah, while I’m fine with splitting up because I don’t have to worry about injures it would still be safer to stick together. Now I recommend going that way,” Sibyl pointed toward one of the passage ways. “While her presence isn’t as strong that way I feel like there is a nasty breeze coming from that directing and I think that it will lead us to Luna.”

Joy blinked her eyes and superior, “You want us to go in the direction that you sense danger.” Joy took a deep breath before continuing, “But I think you are probably right. With Luna here she is probably in the most dangerous location in place and going straight toward it is probably our best best.”

Sibyl nodded and then the two of the began walking through the passage way. It was slightly tilted downward and it was a big low so the both had to hunch a little bit. At least Joy had to hunch, Sibyl did something and she shrunk becoming a little big smaller then she normally was. Considering she was already small that was saying something.

Joy wanted to make sure she was ready in case anything happened so she whispered, “Ouroborus Awaken.” The bracelet shifted and became a small dagger. Good for close quarters combat and she knew that now that it was activated it could became anything that she needed it to in just and instant and less then a thought.

The passage eventually changed to become mortared brick. It eventually opened up into a large room full of long stone slabs. Joy whispered to Sibyl, “Is this a tomb?”

“Certainly looks like it.” Whispered Sibyl back. The room was lit by torches and they could made out that the stone slabs were actually giant sarcophaguses. There very even cubbies in the walls that had wrapped figures in them. They were probably dead, or at least Joy really hopped that they were dead. Sibyl continued, “Quite creepy really, I wonder whose mind dreamed this up. Do you think it was Luna?”

“I certainly hope not.” Said Joy still in a whisper like she was afraid that the dead would hear her talk and decide to change her living state.

“I’m going to check with Blackberry and Zephy. Maybe Zephy has some idea of what we are looking for or what Luna’s place looks like.” Said Sibyl then her form changed and became more indistinct. It had happened this way before when she had contacted them the last time but this time she was even more faded.

“Um, Sibyl? Are you there? Doesn’t leave me alone in the creepy tomb. It is almost like the dead are going to awaken and come after me.” Said Joy and as if on queue there was a groaning creaking sound. One of the tomb lids was getting pushed aside from the inside. “Sibyl, hurry. I fear they might have heard me and have decided to wake up.”

However Sibyl just stood there indistinct as the corpses of people began to crawl out of their tombs and out of the some ledges and began to shamble toward Joy. They began to get close to Joy and she gritted her teeth and said, “Alright Ouroboros, we can do this.”

Then the dagger flickered and expanded becoming a large axe that swept out easily and decapitated one of the undead. The axe continued to arc in a long motion bringing it into another of the undead and keeping the others out of arms reach. They pushed in but the axe swung again and brought down another one.

“Ouroboros, this isn’t fast enough. They are still coming in.” Said Joy in terror. Then the axe split, breaking into two parts, two half axes. With one in each hand they split their attacks between the undead keeping them back. After several moments of chopping the undead were down. Then Joy had one terror filled moment as the part of the dead that she had chopped to bits began to move again.

They began to crawl toward her. “Ouroboros, we need a new strategy.” However Ouroboros shifted to an already used strategy. It blazed red in fire and become red like an ember. Joy’s arm reached out and the room filled with fire, blazing hot and bright but Joy barely felt anything. Moments later the room was scorched empty except her, Sibyl’s faint image, and a bunch of stone sarcophaguses.

There were a few moments of silence and Ouroboros shifted back into dagger form in case it was needed by Joy again soon. Then Sibyl flickered into solid form again. “And I’m back. Zephy says you should mention any thing about U N D E A D because thoughts in the Hollows can sometimes have a nasty habit of coming true.”

Joy looked exasperated. “That would have been great to know a few minutes before I was attacked by a huge swarm of undead looking to eat me. Anything else you would like to report, hopeful that won’t be too late.” Joy sounded a little bit annoyed.

Sibyl noticed the lids of the coffins had been pried off and then glanced at the ashy piles near Joy’s feet. “I see, sorry it took me a bit to get back. The connection quality to really terrible now. It seems the farther from the portal the harder it is getting to connect back to my body. Also Zephy mentioned that the room that she found Luna in was a large circular chamber with lots of strange runes covering the walls. There wasn’t any other important things she wanted me to mention.”

“Good, now I think that the doors over there provide the best option toward Luna. I think I can feel her presence coming from that direction me clearly.” Said Joy and she moved toward the doorway. She pushed at the door but it seemed shut tight. “But it seems to be locked or something and it is made of solid stone so I don’t know if we can get through this way. I suppose Ouroboros might be able to do something about it though.”

Sibyl looked and the door and felt at the seam. “Let me see what I can do.” She pushed at the door and her form turned foggy. Then she began to pass through the door. A couple of moments later she was on the other side of the door. Joy could hear her say from the other side, “It is bared from this side of the door. Maybe to keep the undead in. I’ll unbar it just wait a second.” There was the sound of something heavy being moved and then Sibyl pulled the door open. “Alright, Let’s go.”

“You are incredibly useful you know that. How do you do something like that?”

“Can’t really explain but if you ever find yourself without a body then I think I would be able to help you.” Said Sibyl.

“I’ll keep that in mind, although I’ll try to avoid being without a body at any point.” Said Joy.