Skyline Gang: Trial of Darkness

Chapter 20

I am almost finished with uni. Plenty of time to do more writing at last XD

I was also able to get these two new chapters finished in between breaks.

Enjoy these two new chapters!

The day came and went. They were getting closer to the temple. Bud estimated that if they started early enough in the morning, it wouldn't take too long of a walk to get there. At least a mile and half now. They would've kept going but it got dark and too dangerous to try to go any further. Just one more night. One more night and this would finally be over. Honestly, if it were safer to do so, Dude would've happily ran for that mile since it was something that he's capable of. But it was better to be safe than sorry. Rule number one of travelling in a group: don't split from them. There's been enough of that since the earthquake. Not to mention, the monster that chased them was still out there somewhere. It hasn't made one appearance since they outran it before. Why it didn't show up again was a mystery. If it gave up, great! But if it shows up again, there's no telling if things will make it easy to get away. Especially if it came while they slept. The Skyline Gang will have to take turns keeping watch again.

"Misty, put it back in the case." Bud sighed, feeling extremely exhausted. Misty had done it again. She got bored and fed up and pulled out the Sceptre so fast that no one could catch her.

"I'm just looking at it!" Misty smirky, twirling around the Sceptre like a baton. Due to its length, it nearly whacked Candi and Pip on their heads. They both evacuated out of her way.

"With amount of times you've taken it out of the case, you shouldn't be that obsessed with it." Mimi scowled, fighting to tie her hair back in a ponytail. Misty only laughed, still playing around with the artefact. Black mist started to come from it, spreading throughout the camp. It started to suffocate the three electric lamps that were surrounding them. Sprout, Mimi, and Bud started to shiver a little from the darkness. They each held onto the Sceptre. With it being exposed in the open again, it felt like, how it was when they needed to switch with holding it. Dude had it worse. He had been exposed to it more than almost everyone else. He hadn't heard that whispering for so long that he almost forgot completely about it. His teeth had to be clenched as there was this urge for them to chatter. His body was trembling. His hair stood up on end and his chest felt tight. There was this feeling of something being constricted around his neck. This darkness...he felt it before.

Why was it always him?!

"Misty, put it away!" Dude suddenly shouted. His voice was so loud and demanding that it caused everyone to freeze. Misty especially acted like a stone statue right then and there. After a couple of seconds, she cautiously placed the Sceptre of Shadows away. As she sat down, the darkness melted away, allowing the light to come back. Sprout, Mimi and Bud finally stopped shivering from the Sceptre's dark magic. Dude however, still felt the after effects. He just had this urge to run away.

"Dude, are you okay?" Pip asked, noticing how pale Dude had gotten.

"Excuse me..." was all that he muttered before he stood up and walked away, taking a lamp with him. He ignored that no splitting from the party rule. Honestly he didn't care about that. He just wanted five minutes away from that stupid Sceptre. That's all. He walked as carefully as he could, glancing down at the ground so he wouldn't trip on a root or fallen branch. By time he stopped walking, he was looking over a cliff. He shuddered a little as he remembered what happened at the bridge. He still denies that he has a fear of heights, but he can't deny that the thought of being high up makes him queasy. At least he had a clear view of the landscape. Nothing but jungle. With the moon being out though, it was honestly quite stunning to look at. It just gave this silvery effect to the canopy. And so many stars were out. Without the light pollution, the stars had never been so clear before. It was like being surrounded by billions of diamonds. A couple of constellations could be seen. A night sky like this made Dude forget about the Sceptre for a little bit. He looked back over the jungle, taking in the land once again. That's when something broke in the trees. He could see what looked like a structure in the moonlight. It was like a pointed tip of a cone. Was that the top of the temple? Well, at least he had a good general direction of where the Gang needed to go now. Dude was snapped out of his thoughts when he heard rustling behind him. He whipped around, expecting an animal or monster to jump out at him. However, he relaxed a little when he noticed a light through the trees.