Chapter 4:

"This décor could really do with some work."

While it was reassuring that Lazarus could still joke so casually, Lyner was having a hard time concentrating. On his surroundings, that was. The grip that Ayatane had on his hand was surprisingly difficult to tear his focus away from.

He didn't truly understand why, under such circumstances, that he was hyper focused on Ayatane's hand around his. He wore his gauntlets, and Lyner wore his thick, heavy-duty gloves. There was no warmth being exchanged between their intertwined hands.

Yet, it was the grip that Lyner found...fascinating.

There was something in the way that Ayatane gripped his hand. A strength behind the touch that indicated, insinuated, that only under the most extreme circumstances would Ayatane release his hold around his hand.

It meant more to him than words could describe.

And yet...As hyper focused as he was on Ayatane, his presence and the hold of his hand, he was still aware of the others of their group. And how they had fanned, with him in the centre of a protective circle.

Needless to say, he wasn't used to it. Being the one who was protected. He was the one who did the protecting. He took pride in that, in always being the one to step forward and give safety and security to others.

So be on the receiving end...

How was he supposed to act? What was he supposed to do? It was so...awkward!

"I don't know if it this décor, but I'm getting a feel of Deja-vu here," York commented suddenly.

But now that he mentioned it, they had been walking for a good fifteen to twenty minutes, with only a few sharp corners as minor obstacles. After the mummy horde, and the attempts to separate Lyner from the others; it was awfully quiet.

Lazarus abruptly pausing in his steps caused everyone to come to a halt as well. "Hey, just a realisation, but if whoever is watching us can control traps from a distance, who to say they can't make us walk around in circles?"

"Oh, now you bring that up," Zelos simpered, annoyed. "We're being toyed with here."

Lyner sighed and scratched the back of his head in frustration. So...their attempts to avoid walking obliviously into a trap was futile. Great. Though, they really should have expected as much.

A scraping and scurrying sound interrupted further observations and conversations. A noise that was becoming all too familiar, as was the flickering out of torches at the end of a long corridor. Tell-tale signs of another mummy horde. Hopefully, oddly, as they knew how do deal with those things. No one was in the mood to be dealing with a new and unknown breed of monsters.

Lyner most certainly wasn't.

Instinctively, everyone stepped forward, their weapons raised in preparation for battle, if there were to be one. It was pure habit that propelled Lyner to move to the frontline, only for Ayatane to tighten his hold on their joined hands and pulled him to the backline. A place he was not at all used to.

And the manoeuvre revealed a second purpose for their clenched hands; preventing Lyner from reaching for his sword.

A shrill sound that could only originate from metal cut through the air sharply and Lyner became tense when something dark fell in front of him. Between him and Ayatane.

And it took him a second to realise what had happened; spikes had crashed down from the ceiling, violently separating Lyner from everyone else.

Yet, Ayatane kept a hold of Lyner's hand, their fingers still intertwined through a gap between the spears. The noise immediately prompted Ayatane to spin around to look at him, as Lyner used his free hand to grasp at the bars.

Unconsciously, they readjusted their hold on each other's hand, momentarily parting only so that they could press their palms together and interlock their fingers together tightly. The touch was reassuring as neither of them has been struck by the falling spears. Whether it was just luck or the spikes had been purposely spaced to ensure that they kept a hold of each other, it didn't matter.

He was just glad that neither of them got a possibly rusty spike through their hands or arms.

"Are you all right?" Ayatane immediately asked, his gaze locked onto his.

Lyner nodded. "I'm fine

His relief was short-lived, however. He was still separated from the others, and they were still dealing with the latest mummy horde.

Lyner tightened his hand around one of the now prison bars and noted that the spikes were made from steel, surprisingly. Maybe even solid steel. They felt out of place. Regardless, it was going to be a pain to get through them. Maybe there was a switch somewhere?

He mentally berated himself. A switch? As if it would be that easy!

"Damn it, they finally decided that the pit traps weren't working, huh?" York griped aloud as he continued to fire rounds at the stumbling monster horde.

Lazarus wasn't wearing his usual carefree expression, though. "They might cause a bit of a problem, though."

"We'll just have break through them. We don't need to destroy them all, just enough for Lyner to slip through."

"Better do it quick, before something else happens."

Just as Raze said those words, Lyner had the urge to looked upwards, inexplicably laying his eyes on a thin section of stone jutting out from the otherwise uniform ceiling. After everything that had happened already, he immediately knew what it was, what its presence meant; a slab of stone was about to crash down from the ceiling, on Ayatane's side of the steel gate.

Lyner didn't want to let go of Ayatane's hand, but he had to. He didn't want to be the reason for Ayatane's hand being crushed under who knows how many tons of solid stone.

Slipping his fingers from Ayatane's, he pushed back against his hand. "Protect yourselves first!" he managed to yell, just as the slab of stone fell from the ceiling. For a split second, he saw Ayatane looking back at him in surprise.

And then...a black stone slab blocked Lyner's view.

After the sounds of settling stone faded away, he was left in a deafening silence. He backed away from the wall and with an outward breath, his shoulders sagged in defeat. They did it. They (whoever they were, which was yet another frustration) had managed to separate Lyner from his companions. Perhaps partly his fault; he wasn't used to be protected, after all.

Ayatane and the others would be fine though, right? They could handle themselves easily against a bunch of mummies or whatever. As for him...

Now what? Turn around and start walking? Stay there and wait? Neither felt right to him.

A prickling sensation on the back of his neck caused Lyner to spin around, automatically reaching for his weapon as his eyes quickly surveyed his surroundings. His cast his gaze over at the walls, only fleetingly noting the small slots opening up on the walls. Just as he gripped the handle, his mind registered the oddity of the openings of the walls.

Before he could even surmise the heinous purpose of such things, white strips that were similar to the bandages of those mummy monsters shot out from the numerous slots. They moved as if they were alive, spiralling out and snaking toward him. The ribbons of bandages then firmly ensnared him; capturing his wrists, prompting him to unwillingly relinquish his weapon as his arms were pulled over his head. More bandage snared his legs, pinning his knees together to prevent him from moving. And finally, wounding around his waist and chest, restraining him even further.

"Oh, come on!" he couldn't help but yell in frustration as he fruitlessly tugged at his new restraints. "This is completely over the top!"

With a wince, he peered up at the ceiling, hoping that there would be no more of those bandages. The guy in charge was going out of their way to ensure that Lyner would not fight back. Not easily, at least. Maybe even a display of dominance, as if they needed to assert that. Worse still, the bandages were agitating previous minor injuries, threatening to turn them into hinderances.

He turned his gaze forward and did a double-take, startled to realise that he wasn't as alone as he thought.

A figure stood silently several feet away. Tall, muscular, and bare-chested with a white cloth wound around their waist. Yet, they were surprisingly pale. They wore some kind of ceremonious head mask in the shape of a canine. Pitch black in colour, seemingly made from stone. Obsidian, maybe. Decorated with cloth and braids.

Looked incredibly heavy either way.

"You..." Lyner murmured in surprise before he tensed in anger and glared at the figure. "You're the one behind all of this?"

"I am."

He furrowed his brow, puzzled. That voice didn't sound...real. Wispy and hollow. As if the voice wasn't coming from an actual person. They weren't speaking to his mind, thankfully, but they most certainly were not speaking with a normal voice.

Not that it really mattered.

"What do you want with me?"

"Reasons."

Lyner barely retrained the urge to roll his eyes in sheer frustration. A nonsensical non-answer. Great. Clearly, the guy wasn't about to explain his dastardly plan to him that easily.

"But it is me that you want?"

"Yes."

Ok, good. He got something from them.

Despite the restrictions of his bindings, Lyner managed to glance at the solid stone wall behind him. He couldn't hear a thing of what could be occurring on the other side. He was trapped, separated. But the others didn't have to be. Was there a way to get them out and back to the surface?

He was in no positioned to bargain, but...

"If...if I agree to go with you, will you let the others go?"

"Is that your condition?"

Condition?

...Condition for his total surrender? Yeah. Yeah, if the others were freed, able to make it back to basecamp, they could be...safe. It didn't matter what happened to him after that. However, that was only they agreed to honour their end of the agreement. If they falter, then he would not make total surrender easy for them.

"If you let them leave this place unharmed, then I will go with you willingly."

"Then agreed. I will grant them a chance to leave. It is up to them whether they accept it."

A rueful half smile appeared on Lyner's lips. Accept it, huh? He doubted Ayatane would. No, of course he wouldn't. Lyner certainly wouldn't agree to such terms. But he hoped that he could at least grant them a small respite.

That...was all he could do for them.

... ... ... ... ...

Lyner's name died on Ayatane's lips as a solid section of sandstone slammed down from the ceiling, falling purposely between him and Lyner. So close that his fingers grazed against the stone as it fell into place. Lyner had seen it coming. He reacted before Ayatane himself had even noticed. Push against his palm, forcing their hands apart.

Just before the stone separated them, Ayatane saw a look of concern in Lyner's eyes. But not for himself. Never for himself.

Ayatane slammed his fist against the wall, revealing only a hint of his frustrations. Damn it. He should have foreseen such an event. He should have known that the failure of the previous attempts to take Lyner would only cause those who wanted him to try more drastic measures.

They finally got to him. Ayatane could have dealt with the bars, but the solid stone would be tricker. He could have, should have gotten to him first.

"Damn it, they got Lyner..." he murmured bitterly.

"Heads up, we still got a mummy horde here!" York snapped, causing Ayatane to turn away from the stone wall.

He could care less about the approaching horde. They were easily enough to deal with. He was far, far more preoccupied with finding Lyner again. That was far more important. But how...?

"We've got quite the cunning enemy here," Lazarus said between firing off shots towards the mummies. "They've got Lyner and the upper hand now."

"What are we suppose to do now?" Raze asked angrily as he, too, turned his blade toward their enemies.

Good question. Getting through the horde was their first step. After that, they had to find a way to navigate the pyramid, along with all it's traps. If they have to get destructive, all the better. Their enemy had grown bolder, so they must do the same.

With his hands on his blades, Ayatane was about to unleash an attack that would take out a great portion of the mummy entities, they unexpectedly halted in their approach. They became stock still, seemingly frozen. And that caused Ayatane to also still, his brow furrowing in suspicions and anticipation.

He did not expect them to turn face and scurry away quickly.

"What now?" Zelos groan with a mixture of exasperation and annoyance.

Ayatane tensed, his stomach clenching. "Had Lyner done something...?"

"Something stupid, probably," York muttered under his breath.

Not entirely stupid, but protectiveness and desperation no doubt. And Ayatane's nausea heightened when a section of wall several feet in front of them suddenly depressed inwards and then grinded to the side. Revealing a tall set of stairs. One with a bright light shining down.

"Looks like a way out of here," Lazarus stated what everyone else was thinking. "A bit too convenient, wouldn't you agree?"

Raze lowered his sword to his side, yet kept a firm grip upon it nevertheless. "This can only mean one thing..."

"That dumbass sacrificed himself," York finished, an obvious scowl on his face.

Had Lyner truly just handed himself over to their enemy under the condition that they could leave?

Yes, that was the most likely scenario. Ayatane sighed and ignored the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose. Oh, Lyner. They really needed to do something about his suicidal, martyr-like tendencies.

But first...

He looked at the stairs with distain. If their current antagonist believed that he would just abandon Lyner, they were horribly wrong. It was quite insulting actually, that they believed he would be so easily persuaded.

"I'm not interested in leaving just yet," Ayatane said as he stalked pass the stairs. "Not without Lyner."

Raze immediately followed, not uttering a word.

"Wouldn't be the same returning to camp without him," Lazarus said in his usual carefree manner. "Besides, we wouldn't hear the end of it if we did."

York scoffed. "I can hear the nagging already."

"Yeah, yeah. Let's just get this dumbass and get out of here already," Zelos grumbled, briskly as usual.

A half smile appeared on Ayatane's lips as he heard the footsteps of his companions behind him. So, it was unanimous. They were not leaving without Lyner, so he had better be prepared to be rescued.