Perditions Tale, Chapter 4: "The Blood of Betrayal"

[CelesJessa]

"I tire of these worthless maggots." Cid sighed, "Is it time, Skurai?"
Skurai just smiled evilly, "Yes, Lord Cid. Everything is in place."

"Fine then, cast it already." Cid snapped as he stepped back along one of the walls to watch the show. Skurai took his cue and started chanting quickly. The chants flowed together like a song... but not a victorious song, a song of death. The demonic symbol drawn on the floor soon started to glow eerily.

Slowly, one by one, each person started to feel weaker. It was like the fatigue that the tainted water had caused earlier, but this was far more intense. It felt as if their souls, their very being, was being drawn out of them.

Cesia's eyes drooped, but she refused to let them close, for she feared that if she closed her eyes, they would never open again. <It's my fault. If I wasn't so trusting of Cid. If I hadn't trusted him...> She felt tears burning at the back of her eyelids, but she refused to let them flow, <I tried so hard to stop my premonition... but I couldn't change it... Maybe my premotions aren't a gift after all...>


Meanwhile, Cid smiled haughtily as he watched the others grow weaker. Soon it would be over and the kingdom would be his for the taking. <All of their hopeless blather and bargoning was tiring, don't they realize there's nothing they can do?> He thought as he stifled a yawn.

(OOC: alright. ^^ hehe, sorry for making you all wait so long for me to make a new thread today. )

(EDIT OOC: Awww curses. I tried to fix the title, but it's not fixing... >_< perfect, and I was doing so well too.)

[Forever Zero]

OOC: Hope were saved soon, because if we didn't have much to talk about chained to a wall, we won't have much more to say while having our life sucked out...

Vace sagged against his chains, no longer able to stay standing. The only thing that kept him from giving up and letting himself die was the deep burning hatred towards Cid. He fed his own flames, swearing that he would survive no matter what so he could have vengence, but it became harder and harder by the second.

[Darth SS]

OOC: Dear god, more of the same.

IC: Ark looked up, and phased. Everything ground to an abrupt stop, but Ark reappeared. Skurai glared at him and said, "You just delay the inevitable you know."

Ark looked at Cid and said, "Heh, I just realized something wrong with your plan. You got a nation, but people would rebel. Any way you roll the dice, you're going to lose. No ammount of power in the world can stop paper-work."

[BMHadoken]

OOC: My guy has no supernatural powers...he's just a guy who can jump high...should I be affected?

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: It's not draining supernatural powers, it's draining your life...

[Squishy Cheeks]

Cid felt a wave of exhastion. Then a surge of Adrenaline

"NOOOOOOO!!!!!"

[Darth SS]

Ark wondered if he was that afraid of paper-work.

[Forever Zero]

Vace wondered if along with their powers, he gained their personalities...

[BMHadoken]

"What...the...hell...who yelled...this is getting really fu...yeah..." Jude muttered. Light was splashing around his head like...well it really can't be described in simple metaphor, just lots of light.

[CelesJessa]

(OOC: BM, yes, he's draining your life force, not just your powers, (I guess IHMN already pointed this out) and SS: no this is not going to be the same thing, gimme some time, please, alright?)

[Darth SS]

OOC: Well, no offense to you, but I fail to see how our repetively posting about how our characters are getting weaker is going to be much different. And I'm guessing from Cid's "NOOOO" something's gone wrong.

[CelesJessa]

OOC: yeah I know, but I'm not Jad, so he posts when he posts/when he's done writing the post. Something will happen, trust me.

[Squishy Cheeks]

Cid fell to a knee. "What have you done!?!"

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Jad... Just make a big post and be done with it

[Darth SS]

OOC: Please.

[LilWhiteMage]

Dawn slumped in the chains, her eyes barely staying open as she looked over to Cid, a faint look of confusion on her face.

[Squishy Cheeks]

With the last bit of strength Cid's hand flicked forward and skurai stopped. He staggered and slumped against the wall. A dagger emerging from his chest. Cid staggered to his feet clutching his head and walked out of the room. Soon everyone noticed the door beginning to burn.

[Darth SS]

"Would someone tell me what the hell just happened?"

OOC: Can I escape now?

[BMHadoken]

"What the hell is going on here? Can anyone get free?" Jude said as the entire door burst into flame.

[Forever Zero]

"Well... I think... it is... safe to say... that was... completely unexpected..." Vace managed to get out, still exhausted by the draining process.

[CelesJessa]

(OOC: yes, escaping is possible now)

Skurai had fallen, and with that, the magic barriers on the heroes' bindings, as well as any magic caused by the sorcerer lifted.

Cesia struggled to free herself from the chains, "Somebody! See if you can get out!" She looked at the flames in fear.

[GatoFiero]

A tingling feeling of slight discomfort was affection Thid, but he knew that after they were done with the others, it would get much worse for him.

Cid: "NOOOOO!!" Stagers, "What have you done!?!" Goes out of room, door catches on fire.

Thid: wtf just happened?

[Darth SS]

Ark phased clean out, ran over and grabbed Cesia. "Don't scream." He phased both of them and pulled her out, and started panting. It was a lot harder doing two people.

"Who's next?"

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: get zero

[BMHadoken]

"Ok...lets see...this is gunna hurt..." Jude said aloud. He squeezed his taloned toe things together, then squinched them through the tiny hole, although a few audible cracks could be heard. His legs were made for traction and speed, not endurance.

"Right...now for my arms...hmm..."

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Zero could break free himself... They're normal chains now.

"Over here." Lynx called Ark over to get him out next.

[CelesJessa]

Cesia tried to quickly think of somebody that would be able to help get people out so that Arc wouldn't totally wear himself out.

"Umm... uh. Get Kalimare out!" She figured Kalimare might be able to break the bindings open now that they weren't magically fortified.

[IHateMakingNames]

"He can break his own chains... Over here, I'm the only one here who can't... And Tama... And Dawn... Well, do me first."

OOC: Celes, you might wanna break Zero free for him...

[Darth SS]

Ark trotted over to the cat, grabbed him and phased them both. To describe it to someone who wasn't used to it, it was like a breeze was going through you, you felt fuzzy, and you felt very light.

As soon as he had him free, Ark put the cat on the ground. "Dawn, you're next." He walked over to her, grabbed her by her shoulders and pulled her through. Then he promptly collapsed on his arse. "I*gasp*don't*gasp*think I can *gasp* do anyone *gasp* else."

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx shook himself, trying to make himself feel normal again. Afterwords, he looked over at Skuria. "Hm... There goes my chance for a while..." Lynx walked over to the dead mages body, and began to sniff around.

[BMHadoken]

(OOC: Where are all of our weapons anyways?)

"Dawn...sweetie, if your not too busy, mind fixing up my feet?" Jude cried out. Ark was gone for an escape, so he decided he'd try to kick his way from his chains.

[LilWhiteMage]

Hearing her named called after being freed, she made her way back towards Jude. "I.. I can try..." In all honesty she was too exhausted from the drain to do anything of use, but she would at least still try.

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx continued to sniff the mage, since he had gotten a scent of something weird. He had started trying to dig into the robes, and eventually got under them, looking for what he smelt. He found a small vail full of a blue liquid near the wizards back. Wonder what this is...

Lynx tried to pick up the vial, but the fact that he was a cat, and the robes were pushing him down. He accidently broke the vail in his mouth, chocking on the liquid. "*COUGH, COUGH*" Lynx started to gag, then felt very funny.

[Darth SS]

OOC: Oh crap.

IC: Ark forced himself to stand. "Any clues on how to proceed from here?"

[CelesJessa]

(OOC the weapons are elsewhere, we'll find them shortly. Meanwhile, I'm breaking Kalimare out for him, just for the sake of the RP)

Kalimare made quick work of his chains, then he moved on to the remaining prisoners. He hoisted Tamakatari on his back, since he was probably the only one who could easily carry an unconcious Tama all by himself.

Cesia glanced at the firey exit to the room, "Looks like we might have to do the same thing we did at the bandit's hideout..." Cesia wasn't particularly happy about having to jump through fire again, but she wasn't about to stay and get burnt alive in the room.

[Darth SS]

"What did you have to do?" Ark noticed the fire. "Oh, that. Goody. Well, no time like the present."

[IHateMakingNames]

Luckly, no one was looking at the dead wizard and Lynx, so I don't have to described what it looked like. But afterwards, Lynx had disappeared, and a human was facing up on the back of the wizard. The new human stood up, taking the dead wizard with him. Holy shit... Lynx thought to himself, looking at human arms. Then he started making sounds that would have been cheering, but came out as random jiggerish. I got a body! I got a body! I... Have no idea how to talk!... AND THERE'S A DEAD GUY ON MY BACK!

The new Lynx started reaching behind him, cutting the dead Sukia out of his own robes with the cat claws that were still on him. Eventually he cut through enough robes to let the wizard out.

After that, Lynx stood still, looking at his new shelf. Lets see... I got human arms, and human hands... With claws... And human feet... Also some claws... A... He reached behind him. A tail... And... He started feeling his face. Human mouth... With fangs... Human nose, human eyes... I think... No ears... Lynx was feeling where his ears should be, then felt up more. He found some ears, on the top of his head. Cat ears... And some hair... His hair was silver and black, like his fur from before, and short.

OOC: No more cat...

[BMHadoken]

Jude, having been healed by the now exhausted Dawn who he was helping to support, looked over the door.

"Its wood surrounded by stone...let it burn...wheres the cat?"

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: If anyone is curious as to why this happened, it's because I felt a large lack of black magic in our group...

After some thinking, Lynx realized something. Human body... Human magic... All those magic book will finnaly be at use... But, I need to chant... He started making weird noises with his mouth, not being able to use his new, human vocal cords. ":ƒ¥♥ñ╢A" I got an A!

[BMHadoken]

(OOC: IHMN, nice quote...I woulda used the Nintendo help line one...he he...)

"Sound it out little guy. What does it look like. Don't go too big too fast." Jude advised.

[IHateMakingNames]

"♀░ö{╫t-ttt▒║╪,╙.o,oo┌m$6┼█>k-k±n,n" Atton...

[LilWhiteMage]

Dawn leaned her body up against Jude, shutting her eyes. So tired... She just wanted to rest now. She put her arms around him weakly, letting out a sigh.

[BMHadoken]

"Ok, that was a tad step backward...hmmm...ok...maybe stress? Or we could do it phonetcially?"

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx then stopped trying to say letters, having accidently gotten around half of them down, and frantacly pointed at the door. "Fó½ire )╚prea?ô{in♦…"

[BMHadoken]

The small room had now started to fill up with smoke, and Dawn wasnt getting any more lively in Jude's arms anytime soon.

"Ok, cat...thing, no pressure, but can we get out of the room soon? Just use Quik-Spell or something, its ONE DOOR!" Jude yelled.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Well, the stone hallway of the thieves place burst into flames, I don't see why this place won't.

Lynx gave Jude an evil glare. I can't talk and he wants me to use a complicated spell...

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: and part of the hallway, and most of the first floor, and it's spreading to the scond floor and stables.

[BMHadoken]

"Listen...try singing. Singing makes everything easier. I've known guys who lisped every letter of the alphabet who could sing perfectly...either that or I throw you and we see if you break down the door, just do something."

[GatoFiero]

Wow, thought Thid, Its a cat girl...uh i mean cat boy!

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx slashed Jude across the face, then turned to Vace. He held out his arms like he was holding a sword, and swung it around, aiming at the door. Then Lynx put his arms infront of him, made a boom noise, and threw his arms around. Then pointed at the door again.

[BMHadoken]

"Stupid...good things ladies are present. Damn...I'm bad at this game...ok, one more time, how many words...wait a second, screw this." Jude said. He went to the point farthest from the door, got a small running start, then jumped his hardest and broke through the weakened door. A few seconds later he jumped back in, his clothes inflamed.

"GET IT OUT! GET IT OUT!" He cried, rolling around on the floor.

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx walked up to the rolling Jude, and pointing his hand at him, palm first. "Aqu- Aqui... Aqua Vo- Aqua Vulgo" As he was saying the words, Dawn would be able to tell he was trying to cast something, then mess up and start over. When he finnaly got out the two right words, a spray of water shot out of his palm, dousing Jude.

[gh0st]

Despite the possibility of death, Taim felt the distinct need to break out in laughter. He'd picked himself out of his chains, and turned around just in time to watch the cat turn into a....man-cat-thing. At any other time, this would have been funny. Lynx, the newly-cat-person-thing playing charades with some of the densest individuals known to mankind. Jude's singing suggestion was merely the icing on the cake.

[LilWhiteMage]

>_>; I'm just gonna hope and assume Dawn was set down somewhere before he jumped.


Dawn opened her eyes for a brief moment as she heard Lynx's attempts to cast the water spell. She knelt on the ground and watched as he finally got the spell right and put out the fire on Jude.

[BMHadoken]

"*Gurgle* Thanks...good to see no hard feelings, just minor burns. On the plus side, I thought I saw all of our weapons just outside...it mighta been the heat playing tricks, but I remember my own spear. Ok...think you can keep that water spell of yours goin for awhile Lynxy?"

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: infuego grande

[BMHadoken]

OOC: Are you gunna do anything? Really? And can we get our weapons back? How big is this place anyways?

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: Well it's a good sized keep and now it's on fire. BURN BABY BURN!!!! might want to try and get back into the caves beneath here. fellow the fresh air before the flames backdraft that way.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: He have a much of a choice on that as he does... And this is why Cid is going to lose, he burns his own places

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: Cid 86ed the place, and is on route to the capital. Can't stop the evil one.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Yes we can...

[LilWhiteMage]

Lesson children: Cid is a pyromaniac. >_>

^^;


"Can we please.. just get out of here, and soon?" Dawn said softly, slumping further onto the ground.

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: He's mounted and already riding to the capital. How do you plan to beat him?

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: He was injured by the spell... Your not that far ahead of us

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: You've been down there for quite awhile, and yes he is that much ahead of you. The spell wasn't a total failure.

[BMHadoken]

"Here Dawn, try not to breathe too deep." Jude said, ripping off some of his shirt, drenching it, and wrapping it around her mouth. "There, that should keep some of the smoke out. I'm goin back for some of the weapons." Jude said. He laid Dawn down and jumped through the fire. He returned with his spear and the swords, steaming thanks to his previous drenching.

"Here. We should go...if anyone knows where we should go." Jude said, handing out the weapons.

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx sighed, and put both his hands together, facing the hallway. "Inundantia flumen!" Water slowly formed infront of Lynx, then a large stream of water flew out of his hands, drenching the hallway, flooding it. It went down the hallway, extinguishing all the fire.

Lynx fell to his knees and started breathing heavily. Spells take a lot out of you...

[Squishy Cheeks]

OOC: well the basement isn't on fire anymore. the floors above you however are still burning quite strong. and if you dilly dally much longer are going to start falling in around you.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: It went up the stairs... And would it matter? The stables must obviously be on the bottom floor, so we're just going to grab some horses and head out.

[LilWhiteMage]

She held the cloth over her mouth and nose, watching as Lynx again used another water spell to get rid of the fire. "You don't need to cast anything else... you'll wear yourself out more." She knew that when she first learned how to do her spells, she overdid herself and promptly passed out. Last thing they needed was Lynx to pass out from overexertion in this new body of his.

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc:The stables are on fire too and the horses are gone. and if you think the basement was bad the first floor is far worse, more fuel and better ventilation. The rest of the keep is an inferno.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Water hit stables, some tied up horses are in the back...

[BMHadoken]

OOC: Thanx Celes, if we want to know more about th castle, we'll wait, k? (directed towards the overcontrolling Jad)...and maybe the wizard kept some Wyverns in the level were on with a escape hatch...I dunno, itd be coo...

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: Celes wants you to go back the way you came. The horses are gone they bolted away from the fire those tied are charred. the ground levels of the castle and up are a furnace right now.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: It's not like your going to be able to do anything once Cid reaches the kingdom alone... What is he going to do, walk up and stab the king... Gaurds would jump and kill Cid(They would be more loyal to king, not Cid). Or go back and tell them princess is dead, they make army, see princess coming back, arrest Cid and later executed...

Also, our guys have no idea how they got there. How would they know how to go back?

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: LOL wait and see King Cid will be a very real threat, and the question of who are the traitors will kind of reverse when you all see your wanted dead or alive posters.

perdition
Pronunciation: p&r-'di-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English perdicion, from Late Latin perdition-, perditio, from Latin perdere to destroy, from per- through + dare to give -- more at PER-, DATE
Date: 14th century
1 a archaic : utter destruction b obsolete : LOSS
2 a : eternal damnation b : HELL

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Ugh... I have a big feeling this entire thing is going to turn out in a large, inlogical(Even for a fantasy RP) mess...

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: Celes and I have all the kinks worked out. Cid is alot smarter than you give him credit. It's a shame I have to hand him back to Celes.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: That still doesn't mean that things that would never happen still won't... Guess I'll have to wait and see though

[BMHadoken]

OOC: So wait...we've been there for about maybe ten, fifteen minutes max (five for Ark and Kalimare to get everybody out) and then the spell casting (maybe five), so unless you got over that spell in a few seconds, and got a horse right after that, your really not that far away from us. Or whatever...I don't think your gunna get to do your thing IHMN...

[Squishy Cheeks]

Far enough away, and putting distance fast.

[GatoFiero]

"I think it's time to run like hell and not look back!"

*DASH*

[CelesJessa]

The group had finally made it out of the room and was making their way through the burning building. (OOC: have you guys already gotten your weapons or not?)

It was going fairly well, until they reached a fork-in-the-hallway. One path left, and one right. The ceiling was threatening to give away to the fire above.

"Which way should we go?"

[Forever Zero]

OOC: We did get our weapons back.

"One way's as good as another at this point, just take one!" Vace said. Just to give an answer, he pointed to the right.

[BMHadoken]

(OOC: Yeah, the weapons were given back)

"Uhh...I'm right handed, so we go right, they'll both have to lead somewhere." Jude said, then took off down the right hand path.

[CelesJessa]

"Hey wait!" Cesia called as she chased after Jude down the right hallway. After running down the hallway a ways they came to a hole in the ground.

"Woaah!" Cesia stopped, right before accedentally falling into the hole. She glanced down it, it was pitch black. "Uhh... I vote on not going down there..." She pointed down into the darkness, "But it looks like the hallway goes on for a little bit more. Should we jump it?" The hole wasn't that big, but it still was intimidating to think of jumping over it.

(OOC: it's like a choose your own adventure book! "If you go down the hole, turn to page 13, if you attempt to jump over it turn to page 50. If you decide to go back, go back to page 32. ^^ hehe I loved those books. ^^ )

[BMHadoken]

"I can make that jump." Jude said. He proved his point by hopping the length, then hopping back.

"I guess I could carry someone over. Its not that big, and the ground on the other side seems strong enough to survive the force of the jump."

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx looked down at the hole, then across it. He could barely walk with a human body. Stupid two legs...

[CelesJessa]

"Why don't you carry Dawn over." Cesia glanced at the tired Dawn. Cesia was also feeling tired from the drain that Skurai had cast, but for right now, her adrenaline was keeping her going. She then glanced at the now-human Lynx, "Lynx, do you think you'll be able to make it? Human bodies are a lot less agile than cats..."

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx sighed. "I've treeped abut sexteen times so far, I kan't."

[CelesJessa]

"Well, your talking is getting better..." Cesia grinned, despite the situation, then glanced at Jude, "Maybe somebody should carry Lynx over as well..."

[MasterZero]

((btw, thanks for keeping me in this, i need to get on more often cause it seems there are ten pages before i look every time))

Kalimare, without thinking, swooped up Lynx (yes, he can do that), and then lept across the hole. His strength was enough that he had carried both persons on him across with him(Lynx and Tamakari), but now he was exhausted. He set the two that he carried across onto the ground and then collapsed.

"Just...give...me...a...minute...to...rest..."

[CelesJessa]

(OOC: no worries, I'm not kicking anyone out of the RP. Plus sometime I even have several pages to read through when I get on too.)

The others leaped across fairly easily, weither being helped or making it across themselves.

"Whew." Cesia sighed after making it across the pit, then glanced at the fatigued Kalimare, "We're not completely out of danger yet.." Cesia said, referring to the smake that was starting to fill the building. "Could somebody else possibly carry Tamakatari for a bit to give Kalimare a break?"

(OOC: I know not everyone is on, but who would be a good choice of character for carrying Tama? I was thinking maybe Jude...)

[BMHadoken]

There was an awkward pause, and then Jude spoke up.

"Well if no one else wants to help the guy..." Jude said. He hoisted Tama up, trying to hide the strain.

"Hmm...Lynx, why don't you help Dawn walk, and she'll balance you so you won't be falling like a drunk."

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: The fire is going to be worst near the exits cause of the air. It would be sucking outside air in to fuel the flames.

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: Expect the floor we are on isn't on fire...

[BMHadoken]

OOC: We're heroes, we'll make it through, you worry about your trip.

[CelesJessa]

Just as they were up and ready to move out again, a burning piece of the ceiling fall down, narrowly missing the group. And the rest of the ceiling wasn't looking like it was goingto hold up much longer. The group ran to the end of the hallway... which was a lorge picture window overlooking a long drop what looked like a large pool of water below, perhaps a spring in the mountains.

"Uh..." Cesia looked out the window, "Looks like... a dead end." Not even a second after she said it, a buring beam fell down, blocking them from going back unless they wanted to run through more fire and jump over the pit again, "What now?"

[Squishy Cheeks]

ooc: hope there are no moat monsters

[IHateMakingNames]

OOC: My guess is no...

[Forever Zero]

Vace looked out the window, then looked back the way they came, and said, "Well in the interest of not getting burned to a cinder soon, I suggest we jump."

[CelesJessa]

Cesia stared at Vace like he was insane, "J-Jump?!" She looked out the window again, "We don't even know how deep that water is!" But she figured they were going to be jumping through the window soon, since nobody in the group seemed very excited about jumping through more fire to figure out a new way out.

[IHateMakingNames]

"I kould juss exti- eex- extij... water the fires."

OOC: Just image that the entire time they were going, Lynx was practicing on his speaking

[LilWhiteMage]

"You'll end up passing out if you try to pull another water spell like before." Dawn quickly reminded Lynx as she herself had a time just trying to hold him up.

[Forever Zero]

"Well, we can either stay here and burn to death, or jump into the water that may be too shallow and go splat, either way unless we do something quick, the answer has been decided for us," Vace said as the fire spreading across the roof got worse and threatened to cave in. "However, do you know any spells that could give us a softer landing perhaps?" Vace said to Lynx.

[IHateMakingNames]

Lynx glared at Vace evilly. "I bekame a humam a ninute ago, and starteg using magik a minute ago... I kould barely pull ophph that wator spell, how do you think I will be able to make winds strong enough to lower us softly?

[LilWhiteMage]

"What part of 'he can't do anymore spells right now' did you not understand?" She frowned and tried to explain quickly. "If he does anything else, he'll be likely to pass out and not do ANYTHING for at least a day. And the fact that his body was weak to begin with might even make it longer."

She turned her head and glanced back at the fire that had started back up behind them from the beam that had crashed down. "We'll just have to take a risk and hope that the water is deep enough for us... And if anyone gets hurt, it's not like we can't fix that.."

[Forever Zero]

"Didn't have to be anything big or impressive, it was only a suggestion. Well, if we're going to do this, we'll have to be quick, because when we break out the window, the fire's going to go crazy." Vace said, getting ready to jump out the window.

[CelesJessa]

Cesia coughed as the smoke started to fill up more, "Well... if we're gonna do it... we should all jump at once..." She said with a sick feeling in her stomach as she glanced down again. "Everyone ready?" She looked to the others before they made their leap of faith.

Before anyone could say anything, another beam fell down, this time breaking the window for them, and somehow, weither they had instictively jumped out or if they had been pushed out, they suddenly found themselves freefalling down, the water quickly coming up to greet them.

(OOC: new chapter in a sec, I'll get on writing it soon (just have to finish up a few things around the house first) so be patient. ^^;; )

EDIT OOC: Hey, question, should we just have two chapter 4s like we do, then the next chapter will be 5, or should we say this is chapter 5 and make the next chapter be 6? (I know I screwed up the numbers of the chapters)