Closed Return to the Aperture. (Abstract)

[Ximal]

There was that voice again sighing...was it displeased with his answer ? Xi trailed after karl through the darkness not quite sure of what to do...Or even if this was a wise choice? Was it just Xi or were the walls moving in? Xi's breath remained steady even as his heart beat began to speed up. Karlk though seemed to be showing the signs of terror breathing erratically and ragged. Then Karl began to fall Xi snapped out his arm to grab his wrist before hauling himself up. Xi shook his head lightly the man was clearly completely mind-frayed from being down here too long. Then the place widened out the darkness feeling like it was receding until. Up went the purple lights...The torches bathing the room in an iridescent purple glow. Xi stepped further into the room... Something about this place was not quite right...Then karl took off in a spring towards the centre of the room and Xi followed but only walking he wanted to get the full scope of this room. Xi took a deep breath and then met up with karl in the core of the room... Then the room around them sealed it'self in stone...What the patch... Xi's hand rocketed up to fish out the two stones from the pouch around his neck pulling them into each hand. Just awaiting the stone to transpire. Then came that shrill childlike voice, not a god and he liked to mess with people. Xi slowly exhaled. and then responded with a loud roar, about half of his full volume. "Then tell me, what do you want from me!" The silence returned for a few ticks before...out from the blackened stone stepped a fully shaped humanoid stone golem...made of pure stone, seamlessly walking. Jut it had no joints it had no ability to move and no head!? Xi watched the golem lean onto the floor all four limbs pressing into the ground and Suddenly Xi was reminded of the jamoura...Large lumbering beasts, ridiculous amounts of strength...but no speed and no turning capability. Xi brought his mind to a focus and head the voice of the purple clad woman in his head. Just squeeze the stones... Xi watched the monster walk forwards even as a roar bellowed out. "Karl! Get behind me. Xi squeeze his hands lightly enough to cause the gauntlets to spring forth the hard granite stone snaking up his arms filling out the whole of his fore arms like a solid granite shield. The stone over an inch think and almost impervious to every kind of attack. Xi though felt his speed drop in half, so in return Xi centred himself and heightened his reflexes. Centring his mind but keeping his body filled with his flux, he was going to use a combination of powerful strikes and flux. Depending upon what the situation called for. Xi lined himself up and reminded himself of somebody. Xi smirked before roaring out. "Djas vasat!" Xi slammed his hands together. Whether he'd just told the beastie to fight him or that he would fight. Wither way it was better than running and dying tired, if he stood and fought...He at least had a chance at life.

[Abstract]

Karl, having seen the monster squealed, and jumped backwards without needing a reminder from Xi. He stared at the monster in horror, backing into the wall behind him.

The monster apparently understood the ancient tongue, as he growled when he heard Ximal's exclamation. In common, he replied "You are not battle! I am battle! DIEEEE" The voice was apparently coming from his non-existent head as the creature charged at the human before him. It swung a massive arm towards Xi's head easily, a foot thick of pure stone headed for the man.

By now, the room was full of the voice's cackling laughter, apparently watching the two fight. Behind, Karl was perfectly silent, not moving, not speaking a word. In fact, the reason for this was that he was actually half sunk into the stone, the back half of his body trapped in the wall. Still, the man didn't speak, either not noticing, or acting as if this was completely normal.

[Ximal]

Xi smirked finally he had an answer to what the words "djas vasat" actually meant. I am battle...Good. Xi closed his hands tightly And watched as that huge club like arm. Lifted from the ground, the lumbering rock beast swinging at him and trying to take his head off with a huge rock like lump of stone. Xi smirked and stepped in towards the beast. Using his till superior speed advantage, even with his speed halved he was still fast. At least when crouch dashing into a larger foe. Xi then brought his right arm into the rock beasts core hitting with all of his weight behind the punch the gauntlet making him hit for over two tons of impact force. more than enough to pulverize stone. his left arm snapping upwards and into the rock beasts arm. he was aiming to both break a hole in the monster and break off it's massive club like arm. "As far as this battle and we go...I AM BATTLE!" Xi then whether or not that punch landed started firing of a series of snapping jabs still quick even with his stone hands on. His punches coming on hard and fast, within the space of a few seconds he'd fired out six jabs. Without his stone hands he could have probably gotten out more like fourteen. He needed an entirely new fighting style for these and with them. It was simple he'd punch the target till it stopped petching moving. The laughter of the room rang out as xi threw his punch, as if this was some sort of spectral coliseum. Ksarl had gone quiet as well watching probably, Xi didn't dare take his eyes off fo the target infront of him until he was sure the blow had landed than and only then did his turn his head slightly to see karl sinking into the wall before wondering what the blind petch was going on. Was karl part of the aperture or was he used to doing this? Whichever it was Xi had a target infront of him. And he was not running. At least not until he had no other option.

[Abstract]

As Xi punched the stone monster, a strange thing happened. Though it slid back almost a foot, most of the shock was absorbed by another thing. His entire hand, gauntlet and all, had been absorbed into the stone. When the other hand jabbed inwards, it too was stuck, but only about halfway in. If he tried to pull, it would feel like his hands were, quite literally, trapped in solid rock. They were unmovable.

The monster roared with laughter, and again swung his massive arm at Ximal's head. In his current state, it would be impossible for the man to avoid the blow. It hit solidly, not hard enough to crack the skull, but enough to knock Xi out and cause a large headache for when he awoke.

When Xi did awaken, the room was empty, and Karl was poking his forehead. "Move, move, move" The man was practically humming to himself, prodding to the beat of his made-up song. Behind the two, from the wall the stone monster had come out of, was a perfectly square hallway, going on into oblivion, and lit by the same purple torches.

"Awww what a failure! How sad. Really, punching isn't the solution to eeeeverything!" The voice had returned, whining, but amusement in it's voice. It cackled once before continuing. "One down, two to go! The more you fail... the worse it gets!!" It burst into laughter, and the sound slowly faded down the hall before them.

[Ximal]

Xi awoke after his rather...annoying defeat from a stone creature apparently made out of some kind of stone liquid. I fucking hate it here...nothing fights fairly... Xi sighed and stood up from the ground slowly his head still ringing from the blow too it. The words "move move move" were being repeated with a single minded pain to his head each word stabbing like a knife being injected into his skull. The stone wall hand changed and Xi in rage fuelled stupor snapped at karl who was now poking at him. "Would you quit that! I've a headache the size of hai." The wall the monster had come out of had changed into a square hall way and then came that shrill childs voice shouting happily. Punching everythign wasn't the solution. One down and two to go...Was this gods-damned voice testing him? Xi in anger unable to control his rage snapped out. "Petch you! You really want to say i failed? How about for once you aperture people decide to play fairly and send something which isn't a gods dammed magical monster at me? Huh? Send something which isn't enchanted by this place and we'll see who fails then how about you show your self? Hiding behind a never ending wall of darkness to shroud yourself!" Xi squeezed his hands tightly and reduced the gauntlets of stone back into smaller pebbles. Petchign cowardly monsters...Fighting with untold bullshyke backing them up. If that petching statue hadn't been able to become liquid. I'd of turned it into rubble. Xi calmed himself down and stepped forwards. Following the voice of still trailing laugher down the hall, he'd be dammed if he was going to let this stop him he was for all intents and purposes pissed off and wanting to find out what exactly this voice wanted of him. "How about for ponce i at least get a dammed hint ans to how the petch i'm supposed to defeat these things..." Xi clenched his fist tightly the leather gloves over them creating with the tightness of his grip. Still Xi marched down the hall way to what ever this voice decided to throw at him next.

[Abstract]

Karl had pouted slightly at Xi's yelling, but stopped the poking. Ignoring the rest of the rants he walked away, heading down the hall a little before Xi. Despite his yelling, the voice refused to answer, leaving them in silence.

As they walked, a little creature scurried out from one of the walls. It was a tiny blue... weasel. Karl squealed in delight and snatched it up, nuzzling the thing with his face, refusing to let go or move. "Bluuuuey! Bluuuuey I missed you!" he crooned, apparently recognizing the creature. He slowly relaxed, eyes closing, seeming to dream almost. The weasel began squirming as this happened, attempting to wriggle out of the man's grasp. It was to no avail, so instead stared straight at Xi himself, giving a pitiful face.

[Ximal]

The walk down the long square tunnel took it's tole, Xi was beginning to have his headache hammer agianst his kull and when it finally began to subside due to the silence out burst karl again screaming "bluey". This guy was almost more trouble than he was worth. Still Xi saw what he was after and what he'd picked up, a small blue weasel? Xi shook his head unsure of what to do with both karl or the furry rodent. karl though seemed to loose himself in thought. Xi though was a little more preoccupied with figuring out what the little blue thing wanted from him. A pitiful look and a lot of attempt at movement. Xi sighed and spoke out lightly. "Karl...I think your hurting, "bluey"...He don't exactly look happy not being able to move..." Whether or not Karl listened to him Xi stepped onwards, letting karl adore his "pet". Xi however was more preoccupied with the voice. Speaking out again trying to get it's attention. "What exactly do you want form me...Why did i have to fight that semi-liquid slab of stone there ? Look i'm sorry i yelled can i just be told what your after? Last time i was down here it was very different, what exactly do you want from me this time..." Xi sighed half not expecting an answer as he continued to walk down the hall way calling out after karl. "If you don't keep up i'm gonna leave you behind." A half joking manner to behest he couldn't really afford to leave karl behind...After all, like it or not he was probably the only thing which Xi could anchor himself to being sane about...That and the feeling of his head ringing like a bell.

[Abstract]

Karl simply ignored Xi, finally collapsing on the floor sitting, and loosening his grip on the weasel. Using this chance, it darted out of his grip and sat on the ground before Ximal, as if expecting a pat as well. Karl sat oblivious to the world around him, a ridiculous grin on his face.

The voice finally replied to Xi's yells, responding with a little giggle, and nothing more. Apparently to it, this was all an excellent game. "You might want to move on. I've got another few thingies for you..." It explained, before bursting into laughter again. "Just for fun... I'll give you a little advice. Don't touch it" It was being strangely helpful, though really only because it wanted to torture the man with more... interesting adversaries.

[Ximal]

Xi glanced over his shoulder, looking down at karl who now sat solemnly on the floor, he was prone to slipping between mentality and Xi knew that from the time he'd spent with him, though that blue ferret was messing with him. Xi then caught the giggle of the voice returning in response to him XI grunted and glared at the darkness. serving no purpose other than to fuel his anger. Though Xi with a simple hearing of the voice saying it wanted him to move on. Xi smirked though as the voice said to not touch the ferret on the ground . Xi glared at it. and then fluxed his leg. Don't touch it huh? Fine. Xi glanced down at the corricore and then flux punted it with two times speed and strength punting it down the hall like a bolt of lighting. For some strange reason...He felt a lot better. Xi exhaled slowly and walked back over to karl hauling him up by his shirt and then dragging him down the corridor by it if he had too. "Fine you want to play...I'll play your games but what do i get if i participate and win ? You said there's two left...What if i win the next two?" Xi smirked and headed towards the end of the corridor.

[Abstract]

The weasel made a short squeal as it was flung across the hallway, disappearing soon after landing. Karl, when dragged, heaved himself up and began slumping along with Xi, apparently not paying attention to anything around him. The voice, in reply, stated simply "It's a game. You win, you get a prize! You lose... you get punished!" It said all this in an utterly delighted voice, as if the whole concept of a possibly death game was magnificent.

It took a few chimes to reach the end of the passage, and over that period Karl slowly regained his senses... mostly. The corridor widened abruptly, not enough to seem like a room, but enough that when the entrance and exit were suddenly sealed, it was square shaped. Conveniently, the area was one of the few lacking torches, dropping the two into pitch darkness. Karl squealed slightly at this, but it was more the next sound that was causing his terror.

There was a hiss coming from all around, the sound of a gas escaping from... somewhere. After a few moments, a whisp of wind could be heard between the two men. Karl cried out again, jumping back from the noise. "Numbeeeer two!" The voice cried out of nowhere, which was followed by more cackling. But this time, it wasn't the cackle of the childish voice. It was whiny, and even higher. It didn't sound quite... human. As if any of the things here sounded human.

Slowly, a slightly glow appeared. It was in the shape of a human, though floated a few feet above the ground. In fact, it looked exactly like... Karl. Except for the simple fact that it's eyes were bright red, and mouth grinning a little wider than it should have been able to. "Come! Try hitting me nowww" It cried, laughing again maniacally.