The Systems Challenge

Elmo was surprised at how bored he got and how quickly. There wasn't anything for him to do, so he couldn't occupy his mind with anything. Not only that, but he felt like he couldn't stay awake for much longer after the others went to sleep, given the light completely went out. Leaving him not even able to see his hand in front of his face. The dark itself felt like it was trying to soothe him into nodding off.

Although, having the piece of wood in his hand was at least comforting to have, even though he wasn't sure if he'd be able to light it with the dark this deep. While he hadn't been that surprised when he realized the light was dimming, he'd expected it to be as dark as it always showed in the movies at the darkest, which meant there was enough light that you could still see what was going on, even when they indicated that it was completely dark. At least then he'd be able to still have some light he could see with.

He couldn't help but chuckle to himself as he found that he couldn't even see his hand the moment before it touched his face. It definitely was a new experience for him. If he hadn't seen the light dim before it went out completely, as well as the others in his team notcing it was getting dimmer as well, he might have thought that he'd gone blind.

However, while he couldn't see anything now, he found his hearing had increased significantly. He wouldn't have expected to hear much, but in the distance, he could hear the drip of some liquid, maybe water. Though, which direction that sound was coming from, he couldn't be sure. All he knew was that he could hear it.

Time went by slowly. Painfully so. Elmo thought he might have noodded off a few times, but each time he didn't stay asleep for long if he had. He wanted to get up and walk around, but he while he was afraid of accidentally walking over debris, like that from the table, he was more afraid of accidentally stepping on Kim and waking her up.

Finally, he couldn't handle it anymore. After he woke up for the umpteenth time, he carefully made his way over to Jonas by crawling. He wasn't sure he wouldn't accidentally step on Jonas if he walked over.

Jonas didn't take much to wake him up. Elmo had barely started shaking Jonas when he sat up.

"What time is it?" Jonas asked drowsily.

"No idea," Elmo replied. "All I know is that it's just dark."

Jonas sighed. "Not really surprised," Jonas said. "Would be nice to have some light to see with, but-"

Elmo waited to see if Jonas would continue, but when he didn't, Elmo spoke up. "'But' what?" What were you goi-" Elmo started to ask, but stopped when Jonas put a hand on Elmo's mouth.

Is this how he is when he wakes up? Elmo asked himself, not sure what to make of his actions.

"I guess you don't hear that, huh?" Jonas asked.

"Hear what?" Elmo asked as Jonas removed his hand from Elmo's mouth. "I don't hear anything."

Jonas sighed again. "Didn't think so. Go get a fire started. Something's coming here. I'll wake up Kim.

"O-okay," Elmo said, confused as he crawled back to where the piece of wood was.

"Scorch," Elmo called when he got the wood. The first time he saw a glow for a moment before it was out. The second time it looked like the wood had a dark spot on it. Eventually he was able to get a weak flame to appear on the wood, which he carefully nurtured to create a bigger flame after five times using his scorch spell

When Elmo got it strong enough he wasn't worried it would go out on its own right away, he looked around. He saw that Jonas had gotten Kim awake and unsurprisingly Elin was resisting getting up.

Elmo walked over to the pile of wood to get another piece to light up.

"What's going on?" Kim asked, as she finally gave up on waking Elin.

"Something's coming this way," Jonas replied.

"You sure?" Kim asked, looking towards the doorway they'd originally entered this room in.

"Yeah. It's faint, but I can hear scratching coming from where we came from. I'm not sure what to expect, but it does sound like it's coming this way." Jonas answered.

"What do you suggest on doing?" Kim asked.

"I'll try out my shadow merging skill and see what I can find before I run out of MP," Jonas replied. "I'll return as soon as I can."

"Let's hope it's not anything significant," Kim remarked as Jonas started to shrink.

Elmo watched as Jonas essentially melted into the shadows surrounding them. Soo, it was as if he hadn't been there in the first place.

"Elin," Kim said sweetly. "If you don't wake up now, you'll make me take extreme measures."

Elmo wasn't sure what he should do at the moment, since he already had the fire going and they didn't know what to expect.

"Mmmm, it's still dark out, Cynthia. If my father wants me this early, he can come out himself to get me," Elin murmured as she kept sleeping.

Kim sighed. "Maybe we should have made Elin take first watch," she remarked as Elin continued to sleep while she extricated herself from Elin.

"Hopefully whatever this is won't be a significant problem," Elmo said.

"Would be nice, but I doubt it," Kim replied dryly. "Until I know more about this place, it probably would be better to assume that anything out of the ordinary should be considered a potential problem."

"What about it going to 'night?'" Elmo asked.

"Look kid, the light going out as we approached 'night' here is a problem. If you can't figure that out, then you're going to be a liability," Kim said. "If you want to remain a liability, then we'll leave you sooner or later. Liabilities would have the ability to get the rest of us killed."

"Sorry," Elmo replied, not sure what else to say. Especially with how he didn't expect her to react like that. Besides, he was still learning just as much as she was. It didn't seem especially fair for her to come down on him like that, but at the same time, he probably should have put more thought into his statement in the first place.

It wasn't long before Jonas ran back in the room. Elmo assumed his MP ran out, otherwise he'd likely come out of the shadows rather than coming back in like he did.

"What'd you see?" Kim asked.

"Y'know, it's funny. Apparently when I'm in the shadows, I can see perfectly well in the dark, but outside them, I'm like how you guys are: blind," Jonas remarked.

"Okay then," Kim said, sounding like she was trying to be patient. "What'd you see?"

Jonas sighed shaking his head. "I saw skeletons. Walking this way," Jonas replied, sounding rather tired.

"How long before they get here?" Elmo asked.

"Not long enough," Jonas answered.

"Should we stand to the side and hope they pass us by?" Elmo asked.

Jonas gave Elmo a look that said all he needed to know in response to his question.

"What do you think we should do?" Kim asked.

"Well, if we let them inside the room, we'll give them the advantage, but if we hold them at the entrance, we'll still have the option to fall back if we need to. If you and I take the front, then Elmo and Elin can use magic as they see an opening," Jonas replied, rubbing his chin as he thought.

"How many are there?" Elmo asked.

Jonas sighed. "I didn't get a chance to see. I barely had time to encounter them before I had to pull out of the shadows."

"How about an estimate?" Kim asked.

"At least ten. Even if there's only half that, this'll still take a lot out of us," Jonas answered.

"When will they get here?" Elmo asked.

"I know I was the one who went out scouting, but seriously, enough with the questions. Even if I used a radar gun clocking them at say 10mph, that doesn't mean they'll stay at that pace," Jonas complained.

"Maybe we should try waking Elin up again?" Elmo asked Kim.

"Not sure what to do about her," Kim said, shaking her head.

"Well, since we know she hates to be called 'princess,' why not try that?" Elmo suggested. "At the very least, it should get her moving. If only to yell at whoever calls her that."

Kim smirks at Elmo. "Devious. In a fun way, too. I might start to like you, kid, if you keep those ideas up," Kim remarks before turning to Elin. "Hey princess, it's time to wake up."

"No, Cynthia, I'm still in bed. She can wait in the dining hall," Elin murmured.

"Don't you want us to show you what's coming, princess?" Kim continued, amusement glittering in her eyes, even through the poor lighting.

Elin's eyes opened a little. "Wait, are you calling me something?" Elin asked drowsily.

"Of course, princess," Kim said.

Elin didn't seem to have a reaction. "Oh, okay," Elin closed her eyes. Then a moment later they popped back open in alarm. Elin sat up fast, almost hitting her head against Kim's. "I'm not a princess! Stop calling me that!"

"At least she's awake now," Jonas remarked, sounding rather annoyed by the whole situation.