Luna Star, Part 22

The passage led deeper down although Sibyl wondered if down had any real meaning here. It might be possible to continue to head down and down and then you end up where you had started. It just felt like that kind of place. The place opened up into an almost normal looking light. The room looked like a giant forest except the trees were like giant flowers.

Joy and Sibyl looked up and there seemed to be clouds up in the city like the passage had opened up into a valley which was cut deep into the rock. There was no path through the flower forest so they wandered through the trees toward the feeling of Luna.

“This is an unusual thing to find in the Hollows. Very different from the other places. Who do you think is responsible for this place?” Pondered Sibyl.

“No idea but it is nice compared to the darkness of all the previous passages. Pity that it will probably return to those dark caverns after this. Do you think there is anything strange hiding in the flower forests. Seems a rather unusual place to hide I suppose.” Asked Joy.

“It’s just assume that there is nothing out there. Remember this place can respond to people’s thoughts. If we think that there is nothing in the woods then there is probably nothing in the woods. And if there is then we are more then capable of dealing with it. That is probably the best thought process.” Said Sibyl.

“Good point,” Said Joy and forced a smile the best that she could. They continued to walk through the forest and Joy thought she saw an animal off in the forest somewhere and she decided that it must be a deer. Deer liked forests and it wouldn’t be strange to see a deer even if the forest was made of out flowers.

Finally the reached the edge of the forest and found a passage in the wall that would leave the strange forest. Joy looked back at the forest this time with a real smile, “I suppose some places here aren’t that bad. If only all of the areas were like this.”

Sibyl nodded in agreement. “Yeah. Luckily there was a passage nearby. This is the best route toward Luna so I’m glad we won’t have to go too far out of the way to find the right way.”

The passageway continued to slope down as they continued the long path toward where they felt Luna. “Is it just me or does Luna still feel far way.” Asked Joy.

“I agree. She does fear far away. I wonder how far we will have to go to find her.” Said Sibyl.

Eventually the path evened out and they walked straight for a ways. There were a few splits and turns here and there but they kept on Luna’s trail through the tunnels. They did however make sure to mark there path. Sibyl felt fairly certain she could find her way back even without them but it would be safer this way.

Finally they came across a hole in the passage which was propped open with several large beams like a mining shaft. The wood was carved with a bunch of black and white runes.

“This, these runes. This is it.” Said Sibyl, “This is the entrance that Zephy mentioned.”

“Then Luna should be just through here.” Said Joy and she walked through the crack in the wall and into large dark chamber. She could see the flow of water running toward her from across the chamber. She walked several steps inside the room before finally saying the thing that she had been afraid was true, “She isn’t here.”

Sibyl was following right behind Joy and said, “Yes, she is still far way. I wonder where she might have left to.” She shook her head, “This is a problem. I’m going to contact Zephy. Try and shine some light here and see if there is any clue you can find out where Luna might have left to.”

Joy was having Ouroboros shift into something that began to generate a lot of light. Sibyl began to contact her body. She had to strain to be able to sense herself. The distance was beginning to get beyond what should could easily reach. Sibyl wondered what would happen if she went too far away for her to be able to reach her body. Then the finally manage to make a connection. It was a weak connection and it took everything that she could manage to keep it open.

“Hello Zephy, Blackberry, are you there?” She asked through her lips. She could only manage an audio channel, visual data was just too much for her to do.

“Yes, we are where.” Came the voice of Blackberry. “Have you found Luna yet?”

“There has been a problem.” Responded Sibyl and she could tell that her voice was weak and faint. “We found the location that Zephy mentioned however Luna isn’t there. She must have left however I can’t imagine where she might have went to.”

There was a long pause on the other end and finally Zephy spoke, “That is a problem. Straying from your home realm while in a dream state can be dangerous. Things would be more real for her then they would be for either of you. You should find her as quickly as possible. Let’s hope she left because she just got tired of waiting and not because something power found her. You will probably need to go deeper in to find her.”

“The only thing that we can tell is that she is still far away however we will do the best that we can to locate her. It should be noted however that I don’t know if I will be able to contact you again until we have found her. The distance from the portal is causing the connection to be extremely weak, too much deeper and I won’t be able to make a connection.”

There was a little more lag, “Alright, just be careful.” Came Blackberry’s voice, “There have already been two attempts to get past Zephy by creatures from the Hollows. We can keep it clear here for a while longer but try and get Luna as quickly as you can.”

“I will. Good Luna there too.” Said Sibyl who the broke off the connection. She turned to see the entire room illuminated by the brightly glowing green lantern. “Is there nothing that Ourboros can not become?” Asked Sibyl.

The room was brightly illuminated and Sibyl could make out the strange unknown runes all over the walls. The ones on the wood had been the same ones that the magical girl transformation sequence used but the ones on the wall were like nothing she had seen before.

Joy answered while Sibyl was examining the room, “Complicated gadgety I believe. It can simulate a lot of those effects with various magical power though. However I’m not certain that its real limits are.” She looked at the lantern and then said, “Actually I think Ouroboros might be getting better. I’m not sure if it could have done double axe or flaming inferno before.”

“Or maybe it can do more because it is in the Hollows. I suppose you will have to test that later to find out.” Said Sibyl. “Now Zephy said that we may need to go deeper to find out where Luna is but I’m not exactly sure what deeper means in a place like this.”

“While I’m not certain if it count as deeper there is the direction that the water is coming from. It could be that Luna went that way in an attempt to find an exit. That is where I would head if I didn’t know where the exit was.” Said Joy.

Sibyl nodded, “Yes that seems the most likely path. Plus that is the way I can feel Luna’s presence coming from. We had best be careful though. The path that Luna chose to escape is probably leading directed into the most dangerous parts of the Hollow.”

They continued through the passage the water was coming from. They couldn’t tell if it was leading up or down but because of the flow of water it must be leading up. The passage twisted and turned and split and branched but after a long while they found the path actually rising. The passage turned into stairs and then they stepped out into a rough mound of dirt. All around them was pitch black water stretching as far as they could this.

Sibyl shivered as she remembered the first time she had left her body, “This reminds me of that time. Maybe it was here.”

Joy tilted her head, “Here? What do you mean.”

“When I first left my body it was because of something that the Shadowed Soul did and I found myself in a place like this. There was a large body of dark water and a tower. I proceeded some of the way into the water but I was told by a giant black crow that I should return and I followed his advice.” Said Sibyl.

“Do you think that this was that place then?” Asked Joy.

“Maybe. All that was similar was the black water. Maybe there is a tower out there with a nearly endless staircase that leads to our school. Maybe that is what Luna is looking for.”

Joy and Sibyl stared off into the dark waters. Then Joy said, “I guess we need to go out there looking for her. Who knows how far this lake will go.”

Then they began wading through the water toward where they felt Luna. “We are getting closer to her. Just a little more and we will find her.” Said Joy although she could feel the icy cold up to her knees. Ouroboros glows orange slightly and Joy could feel the cold chill fade from her legs.

Sibyl was able to walk along the surface of the water and avoid getting wet at all. That put her a little taller then Joy even with her currently smaller size. She hadn’t bother to change back to normal size once they had exited the smaller tunnels.