The Luna Legacy
Judgement

Morning broke over the Temple in the marshlands, Dex was still asleep by the archway. Ashe and Ariel were fast asleep in their tent. Sebastien quietly approached the camp, in truth it was Lumina, wearing the appearance of Sebastien, Dex heard footsteps and sprung awake.

"Roisin?" He said, before his mind had awoken, he focused on the figure, then drew his Celestial Lance. "Who are you?" He growled.

"A friend" Sebastien smiled.

"Hmm, really? How'd you find us all the way out here?" Dex kept his weapon raised.

"You made yourselves quite easy to find with that campfire last night" Sebastien shrugged.

"Hmm, so who are you then?" Dex asked.

"Sebastien Gallus, an ex-student at Wynd Academy" Sebastien stated. "Never heard of you" Dex grunted. Ashe burst out of the tent.

"Wait, Dex! He's telling the truth!" Ashe shouted. Dex lowered his spear and it dissipated into the air. Ashe ran over to Sebastien, unaware that he was actually Lumina.

"I thought you'd died..." Ashe sighed.

"Yeah, it was a close call, I managed to escape before everything went to hell, then laid low." Sebastien began. "Then I began hearing the news about the heroes of Ishtall and followed your story, it eventually led me here." He said, smiling. Ariel exited the tent and yawned.

Sebastien scanned the three of them. "Hmm, where's the other, I heard there were four of you?" She asked. Dex looked into the Temple, then back to Sebastien.

"She went in there, being chased by Rory Ferras, but they didn't return." He sighed deeply.

"Rory? I heard you guys put that rabid dog down?" Sebastien asked.

"So did we, until he turned up yesterday." Dex explained.

"Hmm" Sebastien looked inside the temple, and felt the walls. "Yes, this is a temple dedicated the Lord of the Underworld" He said, running his hand along the wall. "Strange that it's gate would be active though" He pondered.

"You seem to know a lot about this" Ariel said, as she rested against a nearby tree. Sebastien smiled and approached Ariel, and held his hand out for a handshake, Ariel refused.

"I don't trust you" Ariel said flatly.

"But I told you, he's fro..." Ashe began.

"Ashe, you said it yourself, you thought he was dead, yet here he stands, sound familiar?" Ariel said, looking into Ashe's eyes. Ashe nodded subtly as she realized what Ariel was thinking. Dex quietly approached Sebastien from behind and tackled him to the floor.

"Where is Roisin!?" He yelled.

"Huh?! Get off me!" Sebastien grunted.

"You may have fooled us yesterday with your glamour, but not today, whoever you are" Ariel said as she tied Sebastien's hands together with rope, noticing that one was robotic.

"Yesterday? You think I was Rory?" Sebastien asked.

"I think you glamoured yourself as him, to trap Roisin" Ariel kicked Sebastien in the stomach, Sebastien coughed.

"Where is she?" Dex shouted.

"She's obviously in the Underworld! Let me go and I can take you there!" Sebastien barked back.

"Yeah, and trap us there too, no doubt..." Ashe smirked.

Sebastien grunted, Lumina knew she could easily break these binds around her hands, but for now she had to play along.

Roisin and Rory had begun to approach the Temple now. Rory felt angry with himself, though, had he always felt this way? Had he mistaken love for hate? No matter. It could never happen, she hated him. Rory sighed.

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"We'll be out of here soon" Roisin said, noticing Rory looking down.

"Hmm, why do you care how I feel?" Rory asked.

"We're stuck here together, I don't want you losing your energy if we're ambushed before we get out of here" Roisin said.

"Yeah, that makes sense" Rory nodded, and sighed again.

A loud screeching roar echoed overhead as the skeletal dragon flew over the forest. Roisin and Rory ducked down to the floor as the behemoth beast burned part of the nearby forest. The screeching roar abruptly stopped, followed by a panicked screeching, and then silence.

Rory looked into Roisin's eyes terrified, there could only be one reason the dragon fell silent like that.

"Judges" He said, shaking. Roisin gulped, Rory put his hand on Roisin's, but she swiftly pulled it away.

"What do yo..." Roisin began saying angrily, but was shushed by Rory.

"Don't look, whatever you do don't look, just face down in the dirt" Rory said, as he buried his face in the forest floor, Roisin quickly did the same.

About a minute of pure silence passed by, followed by strange sounding footsteps, the rhythm of the steps was unnatural, they didn't follow any kind of pattern. Then came the breathing, so loud and deep, the direction shifting between left and right.

"Roisin" A voice said, Roisin recognized that voice, it had been so long since she heard it, it was her mother.

"M... mum?" Roisin asked as she began to look up, she found herself face to face with the most horrific sight she could imagine, it looked like a skull, made from a thousand insects scurrying about at a rapid pace, the eyes were so hollow and empty and the surrounding hair was a mass of tentacles and snakes. Roisin screamed in terror, backing away.

Rory took a deep breath, and stood up, and roared as loud as he could, the creature stared at him.

"Don't you dare think you can judge the next Emperor of Aranei!" He grinned maniacally. Channelling the emptiness he had felt so long into pure emotion. He looked at Roisin and smiled.

"Run, Roisin, and live" He smiled.

"But what about you?" She panicked.

"I've got business to take care of" He smirked, Roisin nodded and ran off into the woods, the creature looked as if it was about to give chase, until Rory jumped onto it's back, the rest of the body was a mass of legs and arms, all squirming and grabbing. The mass of arms grabbed Rory as the head rotated around and faced him.

"Judge this" He smirked, pulling out a bottle of alcohol from his pocket, with a cloth stuck out of the top, he lit the cloth and laughed.

Roisin heard an explosion behind her, but she dared not turn back, she had to keep going until she reached the Temple, she had to escape.

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