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Air rushed past as the friends fell down the chasm. All of them were screaming.

"WHAT DO WE DO?!? WHAT DO WE DO?!?"

James looked around frantically, his arms flailing.

"I DON'T KNOW!!!"

His mind raced as he thought about their options.

"James is your magic working again!?!" Lydia yelled.

He tried again and this time the elements responded. "YEAH, IT IS!!"

"I see some ledges coming up. Gather as much air beneath us as you can!"

James was confused but didn't really have time to argue.

"DONE!"

"Algon, give it some fire!"

"What kind?"

"Anything, just make it hot!"

Algon pointed his palm at the swirling air currents below. "Tell me when!"

Lydia's eyes glowed as she calculated the distance. "Alright, NOW!"

"FIRE PRISM!"

The blast superheated the air pocket, which exploded outwards. It picked them up and threw them to the sides of the chasm. They landed with a thud, bruised and battered, but no longer falling to their doom.

"Ow, Ow, Ow. My head hurts like crazy," Delta groaned as he sat up.

"Holy..." James said as he looked up. "That was a huge drop."

The chasm stretched up and he could barely make out the top.

"What the heck happened? One minute, we were running for the exit, and the next, we were falling!"

"It probably had something to do with that artifact that the guards had. All the shaking and stuff didn't start until they began to shut it down.

They looked around. The ledge they had fallen on jutted out over the chasm. It looked like a bridge that had been destroyed. A hall behind them led further into the temple.

"Guys, where's Algon?"

Lydia's call caused both James and Delta to leap up.

"What do you mean?"

"Look around! He's not with us!"

Algon was indeed missing from the group. They all started looking around, and Lydia even ran over to the edge.

"Do you think he fell down?!?" she asked.

"Don't be ridiculous, guys! I'm over here!"

Algon's voice echoed from above and the group looked up. He had landed on another ledge on the opposite side of the chasm.

"Oh, thank the gods you're alright. We were so worried!"

"Yep, just a little hurt. I don't think I can make it to you, though."

"Are you sure?" Lydia glanced at James worriedly. "Can you use your magic to make a bridge or something?"

James bit his lip as he estimated the distance. "It's too far to use the air," he said finally. "And I can't sense the walls at all. They're not made of any element I know of."

Lydia tried to calculate a way to rescue Algon but stopped as he glanced over his shoulder and left the edge of his ledge.

"Hold on, there's a passage back here!"

"What do you mean?"

He reappeared. "I think our best bet is to split and meet up later. There's no way I can get to you guys right now; this is really our only option."

"Are you sure? Will you be alright?"

Algon gave a small gulp. "I'll be fine," he said in a semi-shaky voice. "I'll see you soon enough."

He turned to leave but stopped when James called out.

"Hey, stay safe, ok? Don't die."

Algon gave a small smile. "Always, you idiot."

He disappeared from sight and James and his friends turned to face their own tunnel.

Delta unholstered both of his pistols. "I'm a bit low on ammo from our fight with Ran," he said, checking his stores. "That could be a problem."

"I'll fix it when we get back," Lydia promised. "Until then, don't waste rounds. And DON'T split up."

Delta sighed. "Yeah, that was a stupid idea, wasn't it. Right now, never even crossed my mind."

James walked forward. "I'll take the front, Delta, follow in the back. Lydia, you can go in the middle."

The other two nodded. "Sounds good. Let's do this."

They walked into the passageway, which lit up with a purple glow when they entered. After the events of earlier, all of their guards were up and prepped for anything. They all headed deeper into the temple, hoping that they would meet their friend soon.

After Algon had left the edge of the ledge, he walked over to his hallway. The other sections of the temple had been much lighter; this one contained a dim glow. The small size and lack of lighting made Algon think that it was a side passageway, one that wasn't used for main travel.

"They're going to be ok; you're going to be ok," he said hesitantly. "You're brave when your friends are around, so you can still be when they're gone."

His staff came out and its light shot forward, illuminating much more of the hallway.

"Dang, my hand's shaking. I guess any normal person would be scared a little in this situation."

He breathed out and walked towards the hallway, staff held out and several spells at the front of his mind.

"I hope it doesn't take too long to find them."

James' group was still moving. Initially, they thought that they would be heading down and twisting path, but to their surprise, they had yet to see a single turn or branching route. The hallway continued forward endlessly, going up and down seemingly at random.

"When will this end?" Delta asked from the back of the group. "This is lasting forever."

"I had no idea the temple went this deep," James said, thinking about what it had looked like from the outside. "It was big when we flew in, but this is just nuts. We must have fallen further than we thought."

"Finally," Delta called out. "A turn!"

In front of them, the hallway curved off to the left.

"Be ready," James warned. "We can't tell what's around it."

"I know, I know," Delta said impatiently. "But let's go. I can't wait to get off this boring straight part."

They advanced around the curve, finding nothing but additional hallway. Delta sighed.

"Great, more straight parts. Let's go."

They started to walk down the next section of long path but realized Lydia wasn't following for some reason.

"Why aren't you coming?"

Lydia scrunched her face in concentration. "Something...feels really off."

They both looked at each other.

"That's really vague."

She huffed. "Well, I can't help it. I don't know why, but my instincts are telling me to be worried right now. I feel like it has to do with the route we're on.

"There haven't been any other ways to go. Are you sure you're not just overreacting?"

"Very certain. My powers are different from normal fear and worry."

"We are moving in a new direction for the first time in a while," Delta put in. "Maybe you're responding to that."

Lydia shivered. "Well, my instincts just reacted to a thing you said, and it wasn't very small either."

"What, responding? Time? Direction?"

"That's it. The direction. Something's bothering my powers about the direction. But what?"

James shrugged. "I don't know what it could be. We just turned the corner and have another straight hall ahead of us. Not too complicated."

"Turning the corner. Something about that is what's weird."

James and Delta just looked at each other and shrugged as Lydia walked back around the curve.

"Wait a minute! H...how is this possible?"

They glanced at each other again and went to meet her. She was pacing rapidly around the curve, looking up and down the hall.

"What the heck are you doing?" James asked, a little concerned for his friend.

"Trying to figure out how something could be this wrong!"

"Could you be a bit clearer please?" Delta said, confused.

"How are you guys missing this?" she said frantically. Delta was dragged forward and pointed down the hallway.

"See it now?!?"

"Uhhh..."

"Agh!! Look!! This was the original hall we came down, right?"

They both nodded.

"And then we turned the corner, right?"

Nods again.

"Look at the angle of the bend. How did we emerge onto a straightaway if WE JUST TURNED ALMOST 360 DEGREES AROUND?"

Delta stopped, realizing what she had just said. "But that would mean that the two hallways would intersect?"

"They should, but they don't. That's not exactly normal."

"I'm sure we just missed it. Let's go look again."

They all walked back around the bend and halted suddenly.

James swallowed hard. "Guys, this staircase wasn't here before, right? It was a straight hallway, right?!?"

The other two were equally as shocked.

"No, I'm pretty sure you're correct."

"But then how is this even possible? What's going on?"

"I might have an idea, but it isn't a good one."

James and Delta both turned to look at Lydia.

"What is it?"

"Remember how those guards had that lantern? And remember how the shaking and lights only started when they were turning it off?" Lydia said slowly. "We're in a structure created by beings from another dimension. They probably had different ways of interacting with Space, Time, and other things. Which means that this building wouldn't use the same rules we're used to. The lantern was acting as some sort of stabilizer for those odd rules, and when it was turned off..."

She trailed off and looked expectantly at the two. They glanced at each other with a shrug.

"Ugh, I would have thought you known at the least the basics about this stuff," she said, rolling her eyes.

"Sorry, we aren't science nerd like you," James said. "So what happened when the lantern was turned off?"

"The inside of the temple became a mess. It doesn't adhere to our normal perceptions of Reality, thus the reason the passages can go any which way. We're completely lost and out of our element."

"How are we going to find Algon then? How are we going to get out of here?!?"

"Right now?" Lydia gulped. "Pray to Alcyrion, because we're really screwed."

Over in another section of the temple, a good distance from where Lydia, Delta, and James were talking, a figure stepped out of a dimly lit tunnel.

"Jesus," Algon said, hanging back at the entrance as he tried to peer into the darkness. "This is a lot darker than everywhere else. And it feels like I'm just going deeper. I hope the others are doing ok."

He held out his staff and ignited the tip, sending light scattering across the floor.

Algon suddenly jumped backward, finding himself overlooking a large drop. "This room is much bigger than the rest. Lucky I hung back, or else I might have been seriously injured."

He followed a ramp that curved down to the floor of the chamber. At the bottom, he could see that it was a large circle, with four pillars on the outskirts. A smaller pillar sat in the middle, almost like some sort of pedestal.

"What the heck is that for?" he wondered. "It's covered in Void runes, but Lydia has the Ulnth, so I can't read them."

Bending down, Algon moved the staff closer so the light would illuminate it. The strange metal of the pillar, which had numerous runes set into every part, didn't have any near the front. Instead, a shape could be seen, carved deeply into the surface.

Algon's fingers traced the air as he followed the lines of the carving. "Is that some sort of ring? Or maybe a...crown? Why would a Void temple have something like this?"

He took a look at the runes but still couldn't understand them. "Man, it'd be nice to have Lydia here. Then I might be able to figure out some more."

Algon reached down and lightly touched the pedestal in the middle of the carving. A boom echoed through the room as purple light coalesced above the pedestal and the other pillars glowed. Everything began to rumble ominously.

"That can't be good," he said, jumping back. "I must have triggered some sort of defense. Crud!"

His instincts thundered, and he yanked his staff, instantly drawing a Flame Shield in front of him.

Two small bolts of purple streaked out from the shadows at the edge of the room and crashed into the barrier. Algon was forced backward by the attack and saw that a white mist had begun to creep out of the walls and pillars.

"This is just like the forest! Not good!"

The Flame Shield shattered as it was hit by more bolts and Algon saw several hazy shadows rise and begin walking towards him. They threw more attacks and he hurled himself out of the way, gaining a bit more distance from his attackers.

Standing up, he raised his staff and summoned a bright orange sigil. "Clap of Fire!"

A shockwave of heat and pressure echoed outward, blasting the shadows over. Algon turned to the ramp that would take him back up to the door, but he scrambled away as he saw that the mist had crept up behind him too. More shadows emerged and the ones that were knocked over stood back up, purple light filling their hands as they stalked forward.

"What do I do? What do I do?!?" Algon thought frantically as he spun around, looking for a way out. "I could make a ring of fire just like in the forest, but that would only tire me out! I need to get rid of them all at once!"

He remembered back to the events of the tournament and the training he had done while at Rioyda. "Right, I guess I do have something, but I wasn't able to test it out in the forest. Let's hope this works!"

The lava in his body glowed with a bright light as he concentrated his magic. Power blasted out as he yelled, fully reaching for his Alpha powers for the time since the battle with the Elemental.

He gave a shaky smile, barely standing up as he tried to hold on to his magic. "This is a lot harder than last time. If I had tried this in the jungle, I would have burned everything to a crisp!"

He looked up at the shadows to see they had almost reached him. "Luckily, the inside of this temple probably won't burn as easily, so I don't really have to hold back!"

He slammed his staff into the ground and yelled, "Special Move: Fire's Rise!"

The entire room filled with flame, blasting out and up from the ground. Algon stood in the center, focusing intently on continuing the flow of magic until everything was ash. Or, at least as close at the Void-creatures could get.

He finally released the spell and fell to his knees on the ground. The temple was completely unharmed around him. He was breathing heavily, but as he was made of fire and rock the smoke-filled air didn't bother him.

"Look's like it's over. That's a relief; I don't think I could pull off that spell a second time."

He stood up, then the walls shook and the mist appeared once again.

Algon was shocked. "You've got to be kidding me!!!"

He was now worried. A mage at his level had to use a lot of magic to cast a Special Move. He couldn't defend against the shadows a second time. Seeing that his only option was to retreat as quickly as possible, Algon dashed back up the ramp and raced through the doorway. Beneath him, the mist roiled as it rose up, Void-creatures appearing once again and climbing slowly up the ramp.

Algon ran, knowing that this would just lead him back to the chasm, but not having any other option. White mist seeped out of the lattice pattern on the walls as he flew by, flowing down to follow after him.

He continued to head upwards, sprinting around corners and through doorways.

"I must be getting close to the ledge," he thought. "I'll have to take a quick break there and then figure something out!"

Suddenly, he emerged out into an incredibly large hallway that he hadn't been in before.

"What? How'd I get here? There was nothing like this when I went down the first time!"

He looked to his left to see white tendrils creeping out of the darkness. Behind him, the mist emerged as well.

He could almost hear Lydia's voice in his head: "Now is not the time to worry about that, idiot! Just RUN!"

Algon sprinted out of his side passage into the large hallway, heading down the right side.

"Gods, I hope the others are doing ok!"

Unfortunately, the others were doing much worse than ok. They had still been talking when the walls rumbled and glowed. Initially, they had been confused, but when white mist, the same stuff that Algon was dealing with, flowed off the walls, they decided to stop worrying about the spacial anomalies of the temple and instead run. Lydia led them back to the original straightaway, reasoning that because the pathways were constantly changing they couldn't end up back at the chasm. Luckily, she was correct and the hallway shrunk down to a fraction of its original size.

"Jesus!" James said as he looked back to see the most coiling after them. "We were so not prepared for this!"

"Less commenting, more action!" Delta said, spinning around to blast the mist with his pistols.

"Stop wasting ammo, idiot. You're not doing anything."

A tendril suddenly sprang from the ground in an attempt to snag James. He jumped, managing to avoid it, but crashed into the wall. A small shape appeared where he had hit, glowing a bright blue.

"James, come in! We've got to go!"

"Hold on! Lydia, come look at this, quickly!"

She hesitated, glancing back at the encroaching danger, but ran over anyway. "This better be good!"

James pointed to the shape. "Look at this," he said, talking as fast as he could. "It's some sort of talon marking, as I don't think it's from the Void!"

Lydia understood. "Someone else has been in these halls before, otherwise they wouldn't have just left a random mark!"

"What the hell are you guys doing!?!" Delta finally noticed that they had stopped and zipped over.

"I think we've found a clue as to how to get out of here!" James said. "Lydia, can you figure it out?"

"I...I don't know. We can't stay here long enough, otherwise, we could die! There's got to be another way!"

"If we keep running, there's no telling where we could end up. You can do this; Delta and I will buy you time."

"Hold on, we will?" Delta protested. "I'm all for fighting, but as you've noticed I CAN'T EXACTLY SHOOT MIST!"

"Well, can you hit those things then?" James pointed over to where the mist was. It had almost reached their position, and shadows were rising up and walking towards them.

"Ok, ...that's something I think I can shoot." Delta drew both of his pistols. "I haven't had time to refill my stores, so I'm low on blasty ammo. How much do you need, Lydia?"

"....no idea?"

"Well then. Let's get em!"

Delta immediately began to fire precise shots at the shadows and James concentrated, drawing up the heat in the hallway.

"Wall of Fire!"

Blazing flames, exactly like the ones that Algon had summoned in the jungle, sprang up to block the path. The mist recoiled, unable to go any further and Delta let up on his suppressing fire.

"Nice! How long can you hold that for?"

"As long as I need. We should be ok..."

His words died as one of the shadows crossed the border, others following suit. Its hands glowed and a purple bolt shot towards them.

"Never mind, statement retracted!" James yelled as he formed a sigil in front of him. The attack was stopped in the nick of time, blocked by a shield made of solid air. "Delta, shoot them!"

"Quick Draw!"

The shadow fell back under and an onslaught of bullets and his companions didn't fare too well either. However, they weren't harmed at all, standing back up as soon as they had gotten knocked down. Delta transitioned to slower shots in order to save his rounds.

James fired off strands of lightning. "Dang it, I can't use Earth in here! There's nothing for me to grab on to!"

"Look out!"

A bullet whizzed by James' ear. "What was...?"

"A shadow!" Delta interrupted and pointed at the wall. Mist was flowing out of the lattice and shadows were rising up as well, completely bypassing the fiery barrier. One reached out towards them, hand glowing purple, and got slashed by Ruin.

"Holy cow! Just exactly how much training have you been doing with that thing?"

James was a dervish, not fully understanding how to use his sword properly, but still being effective all the same. He sliced apart shadows one by one and they didn't reform or stand up, but more we're quickly emerging to take their places.

Delta joined in, increasing his rate of fire in order to keep the shadows at bay. Seeing that the mist was getting too close for comfort, James cast a pulse of Rolling Thunder, but then fell to his knees, supporting his weight with his sword. The flame barrier flickered briefly.

"What's wrong!?!" Delta asked after seeing his condition.

"This sword drains so much of my magic. Pure Elementalists already have small reserves, but this is stupid. I didn't realize how huge it was until now!"

The barrier flickered again and the mist began to creep through. More shadows spawned on the outside and inside, stalking towards the friends menacingly.

"I've got it!" said Lydia suddenly. They both spun around, having sort of forgotten about the person they were defending during the heat of the moment.

"It's so simple. The talon marks were left by a Mythical Mage as a pathway out. They're linked, so now with my fiddling and a bit of power....there!"

A line of marks lit up along the tunnel.

"Are you sure this will lead us to safety?" Delta asked, still a bit unsure.

"Do you want to see what happens if we stay?" James said, sheathing the sword. He maneuvered his earlier air barrier to protect them as they ran down the hallway, following the markers. The passage took several turns, and then intersected a much larger hall.

"Man, I hope Algon's ok!"

Almost like a coincidence, a burst of flame erupted from the left as they were about to run through the entryway. They could hear a small voice yelling, "Flaming Spear!"

"That sounds like Algon!" Delta yelled.

They entered the large hallway to see Algon fighting off another fog of mist and its accompanying shadows. He was startled when lightning suddenly shot past him, hitting several shadows at once. Spinning around, he was greeted by a grinning team of idiots.

"Guys! You're ok!"

"We are right now, but we need to get out of here!"

"I don't know how we can do that. Space is weird here; it doesn't act like it's supposed to."

"We've got our own Weird, and she figured out a path that will lead us to safety. Let's go, we can talk when we're alive!"

The markings led away from the shadows, so the friends raced down the hallway, with James and Algon proving cover fire. Delta, to his dismay, discovered that he had run out of bullets.

"I need to talk to Lydia later and get that fixed. Mental note!"

The hallway emerged into a huge room and James was the first to recognize it.

"I think this is the ramp room. We might be almost out!"

Mist was pouring from the upper ramps and they could see shadows lining the walkways above. Echoes of power from another dimension rang in the air and the fabric of Space seemed to shake.

"Let's go! Let's go!"

The markings led them to a long straightaway. At the end was a portal of white light.

"We've made it!!!"

James suddenly had a strange premonition.

"Everyone, jump as high as you can when we get there!"

"Why?"

"Just do it!!!"

They blasted through the portal, leaping into the air. Exactly like the last time, the chasm was hiding beneath their feet, but James gave them all a tiny burst of air pressure to clear it. They tumbled onto the opposite side and rolled to a stop.

James looked up and saw sky. Despite his tiredness, he leaped up and threw his hands into the air. "WE MADE IT! WE'RE ALIVE!"