03-21-2009, 01:02 AM
In the light of recent circumstance, Sophia ran.
Of the many things that the girl could be running from, perhaps the furthest from her mind were the soldiers chasing her. The game in which she had been cast into had since fulfilled its likely purpose—to threaten the lives of its participants, plant a seed of doubt of their morality and values, and, most of all, entertained the viewers that made such a lavish competition possible. The thought of it made Sophia want to vomit. The chase had already depleted the group; Juno ran away and hadn’t been seen since, and Zena…Sophia honestly had no idea what happened to Zena. She hardly had the time to think about it.
Part of her wanted to go back to help the newly-formed blonde woman, whomever she was, but the part of her that wanted to survive kept running. Regret and guilt stung at every string of her heart with each step that she took, but she knew that she couldn’t stop; not when so much had been lost at the hands of Kai and his cronies. She looked behind her shoulder to see if Ares was following. The tailed man remained a few steps behind; probably intentionally, though Sophia didn’t know if it was to watch out for her safety or just to watch…her. She slightly rolled her eyes and continued her pace.
“Doin’ okay back there?” Sophia called out, taking a right when met with a fork in the path.
“Hm?” Although Sophia wasn’t in a position to notice, Ares’ concentration was broken. He looked up. “Oh, yeah. Yeah. Everything’s fine, girly. Just worry about yourself, eh?”
Lots of that going around, Sophia thought.
Sophia didn’t know how, but lighting was never really a problem inside the cave. It was odd, since the defining characteristic of caves and like caverns was darkness; that’s why bats typically dwelled within them. However, Sophia could see where she was going just fine, though she couldn’t tell where the source of light was. What she did see, however, caused her eyes to widen significantly; the right path in the fork yielded a dead-end. Tears welled up in her frantic eyes as she skidded to a stop and looked around.
“…oh no,” Sophia closed her eyes tightly.
“Now, now…there’ll be none of that,” Ares was looking around. He shrugged, conceding that there was indeed nowhere else to turn but back. “We’ve managed to gain some distance on the grunts. You need to rest?”
Sophia raised an eyebrow. “No, I’m fine.” She had been wondering for a while now why everyone—minus Juno, of course—was treating her like the weak link; like the helpless princess that they just had to bring along. She wasn’t the most gifted athlete to ever exist, but she was far from being fatigued. Sophia supposed that she had to stop for a moment earlier, but that was due to emotional fatigue more than anything else. She shook her head; maybe this was to be expected. She would just have to prove that she’s not just a liability.
“Well…alright,” Ares shrugged again. “Let’s go back, then, before they catch up to us.”
“R-right.”
The pair continued their chase scene back down the path, winding around and within the rocky terrain until they were met with the fork once again. Sophia recalled an old adage that when one comes to a fork in the road, they are to take it. Sadly, that adage served no practical purpose in real life, and if it meant that they were to split up, the priestess thought it a bad idea. To make matters worse, a blast sounded from the side—their brief window of opportunity had all but closed as their pursuers caught up to them.
“Found ‘em!” one of them shouted to the others. “Bastards are quicker than I thought, but they’re dumber than shit.”
Obnoxious laughter could be heard from the direction in which the goon shouted. Sophia stewed over the comment, but she really wouldn’t be dumber than…that if she stood there any longer. She looked at Ares and the two exchanged nods and took off.
“Don’t go down the middle!” the tailed man shouted, not even stopping to look.
“Go down the middle? Okay!”
The priestess sprinted down the path and disappeared in the background.
“They split up! You two go after the girl!”
Ares frowned and slowed his pace upon hearing that, turning back around. He rolled his eyes when he noticed Sophia’s absence. “Oh…son of a bitch,” he muttered before taking off again at the sight of two pursuers giving chase.
Sophia soon began to realize that Ares was no longer with her, and, subsequently, that she misheard the tailed man. And to her chagrin, she could see why he had warned against this path. Apparently he had taken the time to look down the path that Sophia had not—if she had, she would have noticed the lack of light. Footsteps behind her made it impossible for her to turn back around, but the darkness made it equally difficult to know where she even was.
Bats survive in caves, she reminded herself.
Bats also use sonar, the cynic inside retorted.
Sophia sighed and shook her head. The point was that if an animal like a bat could survive in a cave, so could she. Raising her arms, she began to feel around, still trying to keep up a pace so that she wouldn’t be caught from behind by one of Kai’s soldiers. Air turned into cold stone quickly, and she knew she was out of space to work with. She closed her eyes as she felt along the cave wall, hoping to find the edges of another path. However, the footsteps drew nearer, and she found nothing.
“Dammit, I can’t see a thing,” she heard one of the soldiers say.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” the other responded. “I wish the boss gave us one of those night-vision dealies that he put on the cameras.”
“They weren’t supposed to get this far.”
“Yeah, yeah…” the other one sighed audibly. “Well…I dunno…start shootin’ stuff, I guess.”
His partner agreed by cocking his gun. The pair counted to three under their breaths and opened fire, shooting randomly in the air. Ki bolts zipped past her head, and she gasped, crouching to the ground a bit. The light from the energy lit up the room, revealing the crazed visages of the soldiers as they opened fire. Luckily, they didn’t seem to see her before they had to stop and reload. Shaking but determined, she started to double back to the entrance.
“Shh! Did you hear that?” she heard one of them say.
“Yeah…”
Sophia gulped and lifted a hand. Taking a deep breath, she created a ki orb and absorbed it back into herself as quickly as she could. The priestess rolled forward as the solider to her left gasped and raised his gun to fire. Another ki blast shot from his barrel and crashed into the chest of the other lackey. Sophia groaned and broke out into a mad dash back towards the fork—hopefully she would make the right path choice this time. She had to.
There was only one more way to go.
Of the many things that the girl could be running from, perhaps the furthest from her mind were the soldiers chasing her. The game in which she had been cast into had since fulfilled its likely purpose—to threaten the lives of its participants, plant a seed of doubt of their morality and values, and, most of all, entertained the viewers that made such a lavish competition possible. The thought of it made Sophia want to vomit. The chase had already depleted the group; Juno ran away and hadn’t been seen since, and Zena…Sophia honestly had no idea what happened to Zena. She hardly had the time to think about it.
Part of her wanted to go back to help the newly-formed blonde woman, whomever she was, but the part of her that wanted to survive kept running. Regret and guilt stung at every string of her heart with each step that she took, but she knew that she couldn’t stop; not when so much had been lost at the hands of Kai and his cronies. She looked behind her shoulder to see if Ares was following. The tailed man remained a few steps behind; probably intentionally, though Sophia didn’t know if it was to watch out for her safety or just to watch…her. She slightly rolled her eyes and continued her pace.
“Doin’ okay back there?” Sophia called out, taking a right when met with a fork in the path.
“Hm?” Although Sophia wasn’t in a position to notice, Ares’ concentration was broken. He looked up. “Oh, yeah. Yeah. Everything’s fine, girly. Just worry about yourself, eh?”
Lots of that going around, Sophia thought.
Sophia didn’t know how, but lighting was never really a problem inside the cave. It was odd, since the defining characteristic of caves and like caverns was darkness; that’s why bats typically dwelled within them. However, Sophia could see where she was going just fine, though she couldn’t tell where the source of light was. What she did see, however, caused her eyes to widen significantly; the right path in the fork yielded a dead-end. Tears welled up in her frantic eyes as she skidded to a stop and looked around.
“…oh no,” Sophia closed her eyes tightly.
“Now, now…there’ll be none of that,” Ares was looking around. He shrugged, conceding that there was indeed nowhere else to turn but back. “We’ve managed to gain some distance on the grunts. You need to rest?”
Sophia raised an eyebrow. “No, I’m fine.” She had been wondering for a while now why everyone—minus Juno, of course—was treating her like the weak link; like the helpless princess that they just had to bring along. She wasn’t the most gifted athlete to ever exist, but she was far from being fatigued. Sophia supposed that she had to stop for a moment earlier, but that was due to emotional fatigue more than anything else. She shook her head; maybe this was to be expected. She would just have to prove that she’s not just a liability.
“Well…alright,” Ares shrugged again. “Let’s go back, then, before they catch up to us.”
“R-right.”
The pair continued their chase scene back down the path, winding around and within the rocky terrain until they were met with the fork once again. Sophia recalled an old adage that when one comes to a fork in the road, they are to take it. Sadly, that adage served no practical purpose in real life, and if it meant that they were to split up, the priestess thought it a bad idea. To make matters worse, a blast sounded from the side—their brief window of opportunity had all but closed as their pursuers caught up to them.
“Found ‘em!” one of them shouted to the others. “Bastards are quicker than I thought, but they’re dumber than shit.”
Obnoxious laughter could be heard from the direction in which the goon shouted. Sophia stewed over the comment, but she really wouldn’t be dumber than…that if she stood there any longer. She looked at Ares and the two exchanged nods and took off.
“Don’t go down the middle!” the tailed man shouted, not even stopping to look.
“Go down the middle? Okay!”
The priestess sprinted down the path and disappeared in the background.
“They split up! You two go after the girl!”
Ares frowned and slowed his pace upon hearing that, turning back around. He rolled his eyes when he noticed Sophia’s absence. “Oh…son of a bitch,” he muttered before taking off again at the sight of two pursuers giving chase.
Sophia soon began to realize that Ares was no longer with her, and, subsequently, that she misheard the tailed man. And to her chagrin, she could see why he had warned against this path. Apparently he had taken the time to look down the path that Sophia had not—if she had, she would have noticed the lack of light. Footsteps behind her made it impossible for her to turn back around, but the darkness made it equally difficult to know where she even was.
Bats survive in caves, she reminded herself.
Bats also use sonar, the cynic inside retorted.
Sophia sighed and shook her head. The point was that if an animal like a bat could survive in a cave, so could she. Raising her arms, she began to feel around, still trying to keep up a pace so that she wouldn’t be caught from behind by one of Kai’s soldiers. Air turned into cold stone quickly, and she knew she was out of space to work with. She closed her eyes as she felt along the cave wall, hoping to find the edges of another path. However, the footsteps drew nearer, and she found nothing.
“Dammit, I can’t see a thing,” she heard one of the soldiers say.
“Yeah, I know what you mean,” the other responded. “I wish the boss gave us one of those night-vision dealies that he put on the cameras.”
“They weren’t supposed to get this far.”
“Yeah, yeah…” the other one sighed audibly. “Well…I dunno…start shootin’ stuff, I guess.”
His partner agreed by cocking his gun. The pair counted to three under their breaths and opened fire, shooting randomly in the air. Ki bolts zipped past her head, and she gasped, crouching to the ground a bit. The light from the energy lit up the room, revealing the crazed visages of the soldiers as they opened fire. Luckily, they didn’t seem to see her before they had to stop and reload. Shaking but determined, she started to double back to the entrance.
“Shh! Did you hear that?” she heard one of them say.
“Yeah…”
Sophia gulped and lifted a hand. Taking a deep breath, she created a ki orb and absorbed it back into herself as quickly as she could. The priestess rolled forward as the solider to her left gasped and raised his gun to fire. Another ki blast shot from his barrel and crashed into the chest of the other lackey. Sophia groaned and broke out into a mad dash back towards the fork—hopefully she would make the right path choice this time. She had to.
There was only one more way to go.