This is the third chapter, edited over with the coments from the other two stories in mind. After a little while on its own, I will remove all that i have and put the first three chapters together, seperating them by dashes rather than their own links. I'll also have to remember to post a note on the main page explaining why my stuff is so long=P.

Anyway, enjoy.

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Chapter 3

Although he had calmed down a bit, Alex couldn't sleep. The day's events had filled him with too much energy. Amazing! I just spoke with...I don't really know. I kind of wish I knew who or what Malacite truly was, and for some reason not knowing makes me uneasy. More than that, there was something odd about this set up. Why did the command for silence, something that only works on the damned, work on him? Did Demino bring him back from the dead? I didn't sense any death within that cavern, which means he must still be alive... The more he thought about it, the more unsettling it became for him. Eventually, around midnight he decided to walk around to try and ease his thoughts.

Weaving between trees, he walked about for what seemed like a few minutes, thinking deeply about what he had heard and seen. He soon became so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he forgot to pay enough attention to where he was going. With a muffled thud, he walked straight into something very hard and fell backwards onto his rear. Quickly he stood and returned his attention to his surroundings, discovering he had fallen onto the grassy ground at the entrance to.... the cavern.

Immediately, he took a careful look around, making sure none of his Master's sentries were guarding the entrance. Demino had told him to stay in his tent and rest, and he had no desire to be caught disobeying him. Even if coming to the cave were a complete accident, Demino would probably punish him. As if by reflex, Alex rubbed his arms in remembrance of the last time Demino had punished him. That wound had only just healed up.

There were no sentries. Confident now that he was alone and unobserved, Alex stood and looked at the cavern's entrance. Caution warned against entering the cave, but curiosity won out in the end. Alex decided to enter the cavern. Looking ahead, he realized that it was much darker than before with the moon above instead of to the east when its light reflected off of the western wall and provided some illumination. Calling energy into his right hand, he drew a few symbols and, muttering their names, produced a small candlelight on the tip of his index finger. It was incapable of producing heat or becoming an open blaze, so it was perfect for lighting the way.

The cavern itself was quite large, easily the size of a medium sized temple, although with the limited amount of luminescence created by Alex's light he could only see a few steps ahead. Resting throughout the only room of the cave were thousands of crystals growing out of the rock, clear and slightly blue as the white light refracted off those close by. The light that split in the closer crystals quickly spread throughout the room, dimly illuminating it.

Straight ahead, Alex saw the largest crystal residing in the entire cavern. Of them all, only this one had a ring carved around it in the stone, along with a complex set of runes and symbols. Only this one also possessed a ring of gold and silver at its base. Alex had seen many bindings before, but this one by far was the greatest in complexity and, he assumed, in power. Slowly razing his gaze, he once again saw the faintly illuminated form of Malacite's face, for the light from his finger did not reach the entire body.

Now that he was in front of Malacite, Alex once again pondered whether Malacite was alive or not. As soon as he entered the cave, his sense of death vanished. He had been able to sense the essence death brought with it ever since he was young, and normally felt it everywhere to some degree as an ever-present chill. The absence of this sense, or rather its seemingly instantaneous diminishment caught him off guard.

Did that mean that nothing had ever died within the cave? This thought in itself seemed impossible, for even in the holiest of places Alex had the faint sense of death around him. How could this cave be so pure? Glancing at the other crystals, another thought came to his mind. Are there others in this room like him, held within crystals?

Suddenly Alex felt an enormous force in his mind similar to what he felt when he went too deep in water except far greater. He fell to his knees and clutched his head tight, desperately trying to figure out what the force was and how to repel it. Then as quickly as it had come, the pressure on his mind abated until it was just a tingling in the back of his neck. Then he heard a voice, as if someone was whispering in his ears. Thinking it was his master, he whirled around and prepared to beg for forgiveness; when he turned around though there was no one behind him. Once again, the voice spoke, this time loud enough to be audible. No young one. I am the only other person here, and I'm in the other direction.

Alex slowly turned towards the crystal, fear gripping him. What his eyes fell upon made him blanch. The crystal ahead of him now possessed its own inner light, the eerie glow revealing Malacite's entire body. As his sights returned to Malacite's face, he discovered that Malacite's eyes were open and glowing. Fear paralyzed him at the spot, despite his inner thoughts screaming Run, run away! Even when the energy within the room began to flux, even when the other crystals in the room grew brighter and with a multitude of varying colors, he didn't budge.

It was only when the voice spoke again that he was able take a step backward, lose his balance, and fall to the floor. 'Calm yourself,' echoed the voice.

"W..w...What are y..you" Alex attempted to say through his trembling.

"I doubt you would believe me if I told you," came the disembodied voice again. Even though Alex could identify the voice as Malacite's, he couldn't see Malacite's lips moving. "At the moment though, I am the one preventing you from getting caught in the trap."

"What are you talking about? What trap?" said Alex, temporarily ignoring the fact that the voice had not come from within the crystal. Confusion took the place of fear as he looked around for possible threats

The voice hesitated for a moment, and then spoke, sorrow present in every word. "This cave is my prison, as you can plainly see. Those who placed me here do not wish me to be freed. The glowing crystals around you 'could' imprison you like me if they were not being halted, and I assure you that they will if I cease restraining them."

Alex became concerned as he posed yet another question. "Why would you help me?"

"Three reasons: One, although your master treated me like a slave, you did not. You simply asked questions; thereby I hold no grudge against you. Two, you are innocent at the moment, and being so I do not wish you harmed. Three, I would rather prevent more from meeting my fate. I may be lonely, but spending eternity with another would become dull if not humdrum." Noting Alex's obvious apprehension at his reasons, Malacite added, "If those are not enough, then there is always my selfish reason, escaping this eternal fate."

'Does that mean he will let the trap get me if I refuse to help him?' Alex thought to himself as he blankly stared at Malacite.

"Don't worry; I would only request your aid, not command it,'� Malacite said, as if predicting the next set of questions. With what sounded like a quiet chuckle, he added, 'Like I could do such a thing like this...But that's beside the point. If you wish to let me remain here, that is your choice. Eventually another will come and I shall have another chance. I will say though that if you do help me, there may be something in it for you."

'Like what?'� asked Alex.

'What is it that you desire,'� asked Malacite in return. 'Power? Riches? Treasures? Adventures? You name it; I can likely get it for you?'�

'I don't really know'�'� said Alex slowly.

He pondered over his situation for quite a while before Malacite added, "Sorry for seeming impatient, as I'm sure I do, but I can't hold these blasted things off forever while I'm still within the crystal."

Alex nodded. "I understand and'� agree to help free you. Will I still get something for freeing you if im unable to decide now?'�

'Of course,'� said Malacite. 'You can have as much time as you need to come up with your desire, but time is slipping away and this is becoming progressively more and more difficult to hold off.'� As if to prove his point, the glow from the crystals around them flashed briefly. Alex' sight blurred briefly, forcing him to close his eyes for several seconds while it clarified.

'Fine... fine... however..." Pulling out a silver knife, Alex cut the palm of his right hand. In one of the few lessons Demino had actually taught, Alex had learned that a blood oath normally held people to their word, especially among magic users. Alex was unsure if there were any special circumstances for Malacite's current state, but he was running out of time. Reaching out his now bleeding palm, he said, "You must swear by blood that you will not harm me once you're freed."

For a moment it seemed as if Malacite would refuse, for he looked very troubled. "I have no wish to harm you, but time is slipping away and I have no way of proving my intentions to you. If this is the only way you will be willing to aid me.....so be it. Place your hand on the base of the stone, for my hand is currently unavailable."

Although not entirely understanding the commitment he was making, and after a brief hesitation, he ran up and touched the crystal with his bloodied palm before he could change his mind. As his skin made contact with the crystal, the crystal's glow became a blinding beam of radiance. Moments passed as if they were hours as Alex waited for the light to dim. Then with a crack, he heard the crystals in the cave shattered, and everything went dark.

Panicked and now completely blind, Alex quickly called to mind the words to a spell for defense in case something attacked him. "Settle down," called a voice in the darkness. "You are fine. Your eyes are just re-adjusting to the lack of that harsh light." Relaxing slightly at a slight recognition of the voice, he let the spell he had ready fade from his mind. He switched his dagger to his bloodied hand, just in case the need to defend himself arose. Although the voice did sound familiar, it did not entirely match any he knew.

In the darkness, he heard footsteps of someone behind him slowly approaching. He flinched and readied his weapon to strike as someone or something placed its hand over his eyes. Then there was warmth, lots of warmth, along with a faint yellowish light that he could now apparently see. When the warmth ebbed, the hand withdrew itself and there were more footsteps. Then there was the rustling of a cloak or robe, followed by silence.

Slowly opening his eyes, Alex looked into the blackness of the cave. As he was about to call a light to his palm again, he heard whispers ahead of him. In a matter of moments, the cave was once again lit with dim light, bringing the entire cavern into clear view. As he glanced around, he noticed that it was from the shattered crystals that the light emanated from. As his eyes shifted from shard to shard, they eventually fell on a figure ahead. There, on the broken form of the large crystal that had been his prison only seconds before sat Malacite. His appearance, apparently along with his voice, had changed quite dramatically.

When Alex had seen him before within the crystal, Malacite had long silver hair that had gone down to his waist. Now there was a tangled mess of dirty blond hair that made it to his shoulders. Another difference was his face. Before, his face had been thinner, almost like the eruditian and Elvin folk to the north and south respectively. Now it was a bit wider and rougher with a short, trimmed beard and an eye patch covering his right eye.

The robes he wore were the same though: a silvery grey lined with a darker grey around the edges. They seemed a bit large for him, reaching beyond his hands and fell below his ankles. Underneath he wore an unusually lose white shirt and baggy brown pants going even lower down his leg, sweeping the ground below his feet. These were held on by a blood red silk sash around his waist.

As Alex absorbed Malacite's appearance, his gaze shifted to the area around Malacite. Behind him, there were several objects that had not been there before resting against the wall. A black staff close by, an unusually dark and well made bow to his left, and a short sword sticking out of a nearby crystal. Each was well made, and from what Alex could perceive, showed exceptional craftsmanship. The staff seemed to be made of ebony or black marble, being an inch or so in diameter. The bow was slightly smaller than a longbow, with many 'branches' twisting off of it. It seemed to be made of pure darkness...or rather an absence of light.

The sword caught Alex's attention more than the other two. It wasn't the well decorated silver scabbard, or the glint of the blade, but rather the hilt that caught his eye: at the very top of it sat the figure of a woman with her arms outstretched beside her. In one hand was a gem with the brightness of a star, in the other a gem that seemed to be made from an absent of light like the bow. About where the figure's waist ended the blade changed from its white marble like figure to a blue leather-ish handle, just big enough for someone to pu their hands close together around it.. At the base of the blade was the hilt which was likewise decorated with areas of light and areas void of light.

It was several minutes before Alex returned his attention to Malacite. At that point, he realized he was starring, wide eyed and mouth gaping, at both Malacite and the weapons behind him. He quickly closed his mouth and began to avert his gaze. However, he stopped mid turn when he realized that Malacite's eye was starring back at him.

"Are you alright, Alex?" said Malacite, looking a mixture of amused and concerned. The voice he had heard in the dark was indeed Malacite's it seemed, although now it was deeper and more....alive.

"How did you....how did I....but it'� and you....what was...Huh!?" said Alex as he became hysterical. The shock of all that had occurred had finally set in and with a plop he fell to his knees, completely stunned.

"Your not taking this very well.....are you?" replied Malacite. Malacite stood up and walked over to Alex, placing his hand on Alex's shoulder. Immediately Alex calmed down, his entire body relaxing. With a louder plop, Alex fell flat on his back. "Guess he isn't used to this sort of thing. Ah well. He will wake up in a few hours." He said while he returned to his seat.

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