Of Good & Evil

XI. From the Earth

"So much for sneaking in," Passion said, covering her face with her hand.

Xenon gave a triumphant laugh and said, "I told you I could blow the wall open!"

"Nobody said you couldn't!" Time argued.

They stood in front of one of the domes, the side now blown open from Xenon's attack. Xenon stood, admiring his handiwork as he sat his hands on his hips and nodded at the destruction. The edges of the rubble were slowly emitting smoke from the explosion.

The group had originally planned to attempt to sneak in, grab Scopes, then sneak back out. As they approached the dome, Xenon suddenly turned to Hardy and said that he bet he could blow open the wall with one of the new powers he had learned from the book he read in the library with Passion. Hardy told him it was a bad idea and reminded him that they were trying to sneak in, but the next thing they knew, Xenon was poised in front of the wall setting off his attack.

"There is no way they don't know we're here now," Hardy said, looking around to see if anyone was approaching.

"Good! Bring them all on," Xenon said, holding his fist up, "I'm tired of all this sneaking around anyway."

"No sense in arguing about it now," Time said, "We may as well just press forward and expect a fight."

The group stepped carefully over the smoking rocks and into the dome, carefully watching for any resistance to appear. When they were inside, they looked around and marveled at how much different the halls of Phantom Diamonds were to this one.

They started to walk down the hallway connecting the first dome to the rest of the facility, and they took note of everything being almost inversely colored to Phantom Diamonds. As they walked down the hall, they noticed that the walls and floors were all white, accented with gold. The carpet they were walking on was black, but along the sides were little strips of gold laid into the fabric.

"Man, these dudes really have an obsession with gold, don't they?" Xenon said, looking around the hall as they walked.

"What did you expect?" Time said, paying no attention to the lavish hall, "The guild is called the Golden Specter."

"Yeah, but I mean, it's not like our halls are lined with diamonds," Passion said with a smile, "But oh my gosh think about how pretty it would be if it was!"

"We're getting off track here," Hardy said, looking forward, "We got a homie to save."

"Right," Xenon said, gaining a determined look, "Don't you even worry, Scopes. Xenon is here to save the day."

As they reached the end of the hall, they entered a large room with a platform suspended in the center, four curved ramps leading to the center. They walked up the nearest ramp, curious what was at the top. As they approached, they noticed the holographic screens surrounding the platform and the control panels stretched around the circular platform, only pausing for the entrances to the platform. Time and Passion walked up to either side of the platform and began searching the consoles for any information about where Scopes might be located.

As they were typing away and looking into the facility, Xenon walked past them and down one of the ramps slightly and noticed a small pile of a strange dust-like material. He bent down to get a closer look and scooped the material into his hand. His hand felt strange after picking it up, like it was buzzing.

"Hey guys, check this out!" Xenon said, turning to the others.

"Not now, Xenon," Passion said, still frantically searching the console.

"You should seriously look at this stuff!" Xenon said, "It's making my hand feel all weird!"

"Just try not to touch anything," Time said with an irritated tone in his voice, "We're trying to find Scopes."