So much to do, so little time

Moria blinked a couple times and pushed herself up off the... stain glass? Startled, Moria pushed herself onto her knees and looked down at what she was kneeling on. The stain glass was yellow, and seemed to be a part of something greater. Moria stood and started forward, intent on finding out what the stain glass was showing.

Take your time, don’t be afraid

Moria whirled around when she heard the voice again, the voice that had pulled her out of the darkness. It sounded like a young man, not much older than she was. While she didn’t see any young men, she did see her best friend Harriet, Harri for short, still lying on the ground, unconscious.

“Harri!” Moria said, dropping down next to her friend and giving the other girl a shake. “Come on Harri, wake up.”

“What have I told you about waking me before noon?” Harri mumbled, burying her face in her arm.

“Harri, it’s way after noon,” Moria said. “Please, wake up.”

The door is still shut

“What?” Harri demanded, pushing herself up. “Who was that?”

“Dunno,” Moria admitted. “We’re the only ones here.”

“Where’s here?” Harri asked, moving to her knees.

“It’s where you dragged us to when you pulled us through that door,” Moria said. “Remember that?”

“Hey, if I remember correctly that door saved our lives,” Harri huffed. “Big evil black demon and all. Remember that?”

“I suppose you’re expecting a thank you,” Moria muttered.

Now, step forward. Can you do it?

“Where is that damn voice coming from,” Harri growled as Moria stood up. “Hey, what are you doing?” Harri objected, grabbing Moria’s hand. “This could be a trap!”

“And your solution is just sitting here?” Moria retorted, pulling her hand away.

“It usually works,” Harri muttered, sitting back and crossing her legs and arms.

“I just want to see the stain glass,” Moria said as she walked across it, her eyes looking over the design. It was of a young women with extremely fair skin, short hair and very red lips. Even if the women hadn’t been surrounded by seven dwarves, Moria would have known who she was. “Harri, this is Snow White.”

“What?” Harri asked, scrambling to her feet and quickly going over to Moria.

Power sleeps within you.

If you give it form, it will give you strength.

Choose well...

“Okay, that voice is really starting to bug me,” Harri muttered.

“Were those here before?” Moria asked, pointing to the three pedestals that had appeared at the edges of the stain glass. Each pedestal held a different item. The one to their left had a shield, the one right in front of them had a sword, and the one to their right had a staff.

“Do we have any other theories as to what happened besides going through that door and ending up here?” Harri asked meekly, looking at the three pedestals.

“No,” Moria answered, her gaze lingering on the sword.

“Didn’t thinks so... Oh! Magic wand!” Harri turned and raced over to the pedestal with the staff.

“Harri! Wait!” Moria yelled, grabbing the back of her friend’s shirt and pulled her back. “Traps, remember?”

“No, you’d just rather we go look at that sword,” Harri snorted. “Don’t think you can fool me.”

“Why don’t we just read what it says first,” Moria suggested, kneeling down to look at the words carved in the pedestal. “‘The power of the mystic. Inner strength. A staff of wonder and ruin.’”

“I like that one,” Harri said, reaching for it. “Ready?”

“Wait, let’s see what the others say,” Moria suggested, moving over to the sword. “‘The power of the warrior. Invincible courage. A sword of terrible destruction.’”

“I don’t like that one so much,” Harri said, moving over to the shield. “This one says: ‘The power of the guardian. Kindness to aid friends. A shield to repel all.’ Oh, this one is way better than the sword.”

“Well, it would be the perfect way to compromise,” Moria suggested.

“Us? Compromise?” Harri asked.

“You’re right. Rock, paper, scissors?”

“Uh-huh.”

The two girls met in the middle of the stain glass and held out their hands. After the regular chorus of ‘rock, paper, scissors’, the shot revealed Moria with paper and Harri with scissors.

“Mystic staff,” Harri decided, bounding over to the staff and pulling it off of the pedestal.

Your path is set.

Now, what will you give up in exchange?

“Shield,” the both said at the same time. Moria made her way over to the shield and lifted it off the pedestal. As she stepped back, the shield disappeared from her hand.

You have chosen the power of the mystic.

You have given up the power of the guardian.

Is this the power you choose?

Harri and Moria exchanged a glance, not really sure what to do at this point. Moria finally shrugged and looked up at the darkness above them.

“Yes,” she said rather shakily. “This is the power we choose.”

For a moment, nothing happened, and then the stain glass began to shake. Turning around, they saw the edges of the stain glass breaking apart and dropping into the darkness below them. Grabbing onto each other’s arms, they raced towards the center, hoping to find some safety there. It was too late though, and the ground broke up underneath them, sending them plummeting to the blue stain glass below them. They landed gracefully and took a moment to look around. They were at the bottom of the picture, near the ends of a blue ballroom gown and a pair of feet. One delicate foot was sliding into a glass slipper.

“Cinderella?” Harri asked.

“Probably,” Moria agreed, looking around. Her eyes caught sight of a small column of spinning, glowing light.

You have gained the power to fight.

“Where is that voice coming from,” Harri wondered, looking up into the darkness above them and spinning around, trying to get a better view. As she looked and listened to the voice, she didn’t notice Moria slowly drifting towards the column of light.

Use this power to protect yourself and others.

“All right mister disembodied voice!” Harri yelled. “Harri says that it’s time for you to come out. So why don’t you just show yourself- please?”

Moria stopped in front of the column of light and stared through it. In the center was a silver sword with a black hilt... or was it? There was something wrong about the way the blade was positioned on the hilt. Actually, looking it over, the blade didn’t look like very much at all. Just a straight cylinder with no edge. The tip was buried into the stain glass, and she would have to pull it out if she wanted to get a look at it.

There will be times when you have to fight.

Harri looked down at the Mystic Staff, which she still held in her hand. “You know what, this is a mystic’s staff, which means it has magic... hm...” Harri frowned and thought for a moment before waving the staff in the air. “I call lightning!” she yelled, waving the staff wildly in the air. “Come on lightning, show me where our mad watcher is” Harri moved her lips around when nothing happened. She whacked the staff on her knee a couple times. “Come lightning. Come here girl. Come on, I know you can to it.” Still nothing happened. “Moria, I think this Mystic Staff thing is broken. I can’t summon any lightning.”

Unfortunately, Moria wasn’t paying much attention to Harri at that point. She was running her hand over the hilt of the sword. Something inside her kept insisting that she draw this blade out of the stain glass, but a small part of her continued to argue that it was a bad idea.

Keep your light burning strong.

“Just keep talking, mister ghostie,” Harri grumbled, slowly turning in circles. “Cause pretty soon I’m going to figure out how to work this staff thing and then you’re...” Harri trailed off as she saw small, black, bug like things slowly pulling themselves out of the stain glass and coming towards her. They were the same little black bug like things that had attacked her and Moria at the lake. “Ah, Moria... they’re back.” She looked at the staff and started to wave it wildly around. “Lightning, lightning, lightning!”

Still not listening to Harri, Moria closed her hand around the hilt. She closed her eyes and felt something within the blade hum to life.

Behind you!

With a swift yank, Moria pulled the blade out of the stain glass and whirled around, slashing upwards. The blade cut the bug in midair and cut right through it. The black bug exploded, dropping little green and yellow balls on the ground. Moria stepped forward towards Harri and the balls swirled around her before disappearing. There was a small flash of light near Moria’s left wrist, and when it disappeared a small watch like device was on Moria’s wrist. Looking down at it she could see a small green line marked HP and another small blue line marked MP. Harri had received a device that showed the same numbers, but hers were glasses with black rims and pink lenses. Through the right lens she could see the HP and MP lines, “What the crap?” she said, going cross-eyed.

“It’s a key!” Harri exclaimed, pointing at Moria’s weapon. Moria stepped back and held the blade up so she could get a good look. At the end of the cylinder were two prongs that could only be described as key ridges.

“Harri! Look out!” Moria yelled. Harri turned to several more bug things coming up behind her. She let out a small ‘eep’ and ran as quickly as she could to hide behind Moria.

“My lightning isn’t working,” she said in explanation, giving Moria a sheepish grin. “But your key-sword thingy seems to be working just fine.”

“Shoulda picked the sword,” Moria muttered, starting forward and slashing wildly with the... key-sword thing. She took out quite a good number of bug things, causing a number of the green and yellow balls to scatter across the ground. Harri took an immediate interest in them and began to race around picking them up. Through her glasses little numbers next to the word ‘munny’ appeared. She grinned as she moved around until she noticed that if felt like she was moving through mud. Harri looked down and saw that she was sinking through a big hole of black.

“Uh... Moria” Harri called.

“Little busy,” Moria yelled, struggling to stay above the darkness and battle the bug things at the same down. It was a futile battle and both girls sunk beneath the blackness and disappeared.

They appeared again under it and landed gently on another pane of stain glass. This one was just a large, pink building with flowers. At the far end of the pane was a transparent pink door.

“So, what do we do?” Harri asked, looking around.

“Dunno,” Moria admitted. “Usually the voice comes up and tells us what to do.”

“Uh-huh. Right when we need him to be helpful, he shuts up,” Harri muttered. “I see now, okay. Yeah, sure.”

“Come on. Let’s go look at this door,” Moria sighed, making her way over to the door. As they had suspected, it was transparent and Moria could slide her hand right through it. While Moria tried to find a way to get through it, Harri slowly circled it and tried to find a hidden switch or something. At least, that was what Moria decided to assume that was what Harri was doing, but in reality she would never know. She preferred to think that Harri was doing something useful, even though she knew it was a delusion. “I can’t find anything.”

“I’m still waiting for voicy to start chatting up a storm,” Harri admitted. “Think he’s going to?”

“No.”

“Didn’t think so either,” Harri sighed. “Hey, was that there before?”

Moria turned around and saw a small chest on the other side of the stain glass, right where they had just been. “It could have been behind us. We didn’t actually turn around.”

“You really believe that?” Harri asked.

“No, but I can pretend,” Moria said. Together they walked over to the chest. Moria knelt down next to it, setting her key-sword on the ground next to her, and tried to pull the chest open. “It’s locked.”

“You do realize that you have like a universal key lying right next to you,” Harri pointed out.

Moria picked up the key-sword. “We do not know that this is a universal key.”

“We do now,” Harri said, tapping the key-sword with her Mystic Staff. “I here-by dub thee universal key-sword. Okay, try it now.”

Moria looked at the chest and then back at Harri. “There’s no lock.”

“Oh! Just!” Harri grabbed the cylinder part of the key-sword and pushed it down onto chest, tapping it a couple times. The chest sprang open and both girls stared at it in surprise before Harri smiled. “See, what did I tell ya?”

“You had no idea that was going to happen,” Moria snorted.

“Course I did,” Harri huffed, watching Moria open the chest the rest of the way. “Gosh.”

“Uh-huh,” Moria agreed sarcastically, pulling out a small glass container. The label read ‘potion’, whatever that meant.

“Oh, maybe mister voicy is trying to kill us,” Harri said as she peered over Moria’s shoulder.

“Don’t you think he would have done it already if that was his goal?” Moria asked. “With the first stain glass shattering and the black muck in the second?”

“True,” Harri whispered, turning around in a full circle. “Hey Moria, there’s a big wooden box with stars on it between us and the door now.”

Moria started to stand when the potion in her hand disappeared. Her watch-thing beeped at the same time and she looked at the screen. The words ‘Potion: One’ flashed twice before it went back to the original screen.

“Moria, you need to tap the box with your key-sword thingy,” Harri prompted. Moria finally turned around and looked over the box.

“There’s no lid,” she observed. “I don’t think it’s going to work this time.”

“Course it is. See, watch.” Harri waved the Mystic Staff wildly in the direction of the box. “Fire!” Of course, nothing happened. “Drat. Stupid thing’s broken. Fire!” Harri yelled again, this time accidentally (on purpose?) hitting the box with the staff. It broke apart sending little green and yellow balls rolling across the glass. Harri squealed in delight and ran across the glass, collecting all of the little balls.

“Harri! The door is solid now,” Moria called, going over to the now solid, pearl colored door. She grabbed a gold handle and slowly pulled it open. Light spread out from the door and engulfed them.

Hold on, the door won’t open yet.

First tell me more about yourself.

“I like fire,” Harri stated as the light faded out. “And if you show your stupid face I’ll light it on fire.”

“Harri, it’s the lake!” Moria said. The two looked around. They were exactly where they were before the bug things had attacked them and Harri had pulled them through the door. “Was it a dream?”

“Don’t think so,” Harri said, holding the Mystic Staff up in front of her face. “Cause otherwise this stupid thing wouldn’t be broken. I don’t dream up broken magic wands.”

Moria noticed then that she was still holding the key-sword as well, which meant somehow they were still in the stain glass land with the voice. But the lake... it looked so real.

“Harri! Moria!”

Running up to them was their friend Michelle. She stopped before them and smiled. “What is most important to you? Being number one, friendship, or your prized possessions?”

“Friendship?” Harri and Moria said at the same time, exchanging a glance before looking back at Michelle. “Friendship,” they repeated firmly.

“Is friendship such a big deal?” Michelle asked, before going past them.

“Hey, Michelle, wait!” Moria called, turning after Michelle. The other didn’t answer, and just kept walking. Moria was about to go after her, but someone tapped her on the shoulder.

“Chris?” Harri asked. “What are you doing here? I thought you were out of town until the...”

“What are you so afraid of?” Chris asked. “Getting old, being different, or being indecisive?”

Harri turned Moria. “Well, we’re both not exactly normal. And we certainly aren’t afraid of being indecisive. Getting old?”

Moria shrugged. “Sure.”

“I guess we’re scared of getting old,” Harri told Chris.

“Getting old, is that really so scary?” Chris asked, before drifting away after Michelle.

“What is going on here?” Moria asked. “It’s almost as if they’re ghosts, or shadows of themselves or...”

“Rachel!” Harri yelled, waving as another one of their friends came up to them.

“What do you want out of life?” Rachel asked. “To see rare sights, to broaden your horizons, or to be strong?”

“Truthfully, I just want a platypus,” Harri said honestly.

“Would that go under seeing rare sights, or broadening our horizons?” Moria asked Harri.

“I like sunsets.”

“We want to broaden our horizons,” Moria told Rachel.

“To broaden your horizons, huh,” Rachel said, before following the other two.

You want friendship.

You’re afraid of getting old.

You want to broaden your horizons.

“Okay, okay, okay,” Harri stated, looking around. “It’s light out now. I should be able to see him.”

“Did the thought that he might not even be here ever cross your mind?” Moria asked.

“Then how would he be talking to us?”

“Speaker phone,” Moria muttered.

Your adventure begins at midday.

Keep a steady pace and you’ll come through fine.

“My cell broke when the stupid bug things hit it!” Harri objected.

“What adventure!” Moria demanded, looking up at the sky. “I’m getting sick of your riddles. Just tell us what’s going on.”

She didn’t get the answer she wanted as the lake began to glow, blinding both of them again.

The day you will open the door is both far off and very near.

“Didn’t we already open the door?” Harri asked as the light faded. They were back on the stain glass, surrounded once again by darkness except for the light coming through the glass.

“Obviously not the right one,” Moria grumbled, looking around. “No way off this one. That’s not good.”

“Why isn’t that good?” Harri asked absently, swinging the Mystic Staff around.

“Well, because the first one shattered and the second swallowed us,” Moria said. “I hate to think what this one has come up with.”

“Oh.” Harri continued to swing the staff, looking at the blackness above them as she did so. Moria put her time to better use and looked around the stain glass. This was of another young woman in a pink dress with a gold crown tied within her long blonde hair. She appeared to be sleeping, and all around her were growing black vines with thorns.

“Sleeping Beauty,” she muttered to herself. Except for that rather random pink design, all of the other stain glass floors had shown a fairy tale princess. There had to be a message in that somewhere, since the voice was no longer being very helpful.

Still swinging around the Mystic Staff, Harri finally looked down at the ground. She was just in time to see a black bug pulling itself out of the floor. Harri stared at it for a moment, before swinging her staff at its head. “DIE!” The staff hit the bug on the head right between its antennae. She lifted the staff again and continued to whack at the little bug until it exploded into yellow and green balls.

Moria turned when she heard Harri yell, raising the key-sword. Two more bug things were sliding out of the glass right in front of her. When they were finally out of the glass, she lunged forward swinging the key-sword at the two bugs. After two hits the bugs were knocked backwards towards Harri. The other used the Mystic Staff to bop their heads until they exploded.

“We did it?” Harri asked, looking around for more bugs.

“I think so,” Moria agreed.

There was a flash of light from the edge, and a rainbow colored stain glass stairway appeared. Harri looked at Moria, who shrugged. They made their way across the stain glass and up the stairs.

The next bit of stain glass was of a young woman with brown hair. She wore a stunning gold ball room dress. Behind her was a growing rose bush. Harri looked at Moria.

“Um, the Beauty and the Beast?” Moria suggested. “It’s hard to tell without any other characters, but roses were always a big part of that story.”

The closer you get to light,

“Ha! I know what to do with you!” Harri yelled triumphantly. She grinned and gleefully and sat down on the ground, crossing her arms and legs. “I won’t do anything anymore. So ha!”

Moria stopped paying attention, and instead looked down at the key-sword. She could almost feel something tugging on it.

The greater your shadow becomes.

“Nope, not listening,” Harri said, shaking her head and tipping her nose in the air. “Nope, not at all. You can just keep talking and I’ll just keep ignoring you. Yup, this is the way it’s gonna work from now on.”

“Harri,” Moria said, slowly turning so she could follow the pull of the key-sword. “Something is wrong.”

But don’t be afraid...

Harri plugged her ears and closed her eyes. “Lalalalalalalala!”

Moria finished turning and found herself facing Harri. Her eyes narrowed as she stared behind her friend. It seemed like something was rising up out of the stain glass behind Harri. “Harri,” she called again, stepping forwards as she watched the darkness. “Harri move!”

“Lalalalala...”

It opened its eyes. Moria gasped when she saw them, hovering several feet above Harri’s head. Harri was going to be crushed. “Harriet Preston! Get your butt over here right now!”

Harri finally opened her eyes at looked at Moria, who seemed to be yelling something. “What?” she asked, taking her fingers out of her ears.

“Run!” Moria yelled, pointing at the demon. “You’re going to be squashed!”

Harri turned her head to look at what Moria was pointing at and her jaw dropped. She let out a small squeak and scrambled over behind Moria.

And don’t forget...

“Don’t forget what?” Harri yelled. “Come on, it must be something important!”

“Move!” Moria yelled, pushing Harri aside. The two hit the glass hard, but were just able to miss getting hit by the demon’s hand as it plunged into the glass.

“This is really weird,” Harri muttered as she sat up.

“You think?”

“No, look,” Harri said, pulling off her glasses and handing them to Moria. Moria slid them on, frowning when she saw a blue light targeted over the hand.

“It’s where we strike,” she said, pulling the glasses off and handing them to Harri. She scrambled to her feet and raced forward, raising the key-sword and quickly slashing down on the hand. She continued to hack wildly at it, not sure if she was doing any damage but never-the-less content with the hits. She yelped when something struck her back, and she turned to see three bug-things. “Harri.”

“Um, lightning!” Harri yelled, holding the staff in the air. “Didn’t think so.” Harri shrugged once and ran forward to beat at the bugs with the Mystic Staff. Moria and Harri worked on the bugs as the hand withdrew up into the air. “Hey, Moria. You take the big thing and I’ll go after these guys.”

“How is that fair?” Moria growled, turning her attention away from the bugs and back to the demon.

“There are more of these,” Harri replied as if the answer was obvious.

Moria rolled her eyes and raced over to the demon’s foot and tried to hit it with the key-sword. She stepped back in shock when the weapon slid right through. That didn’t make any sense, since she had been able to get in hard hits on the hand.

“Harri! Target it with your glasses again!” Moria yelled.

Harri took a moment to get rid of the last bug and then quickly looked over at the demon. “The blue circle thing is on the chest!”

Moria looked up at the demon’s chest. “You’re kidding me...” She shifted quickly when she saw it lean forward. “Harri, watch out!”

Harri quickly ran out of the way as the demon slammed its hand back into stain glass. Moria ran forward and swung the key-sword at the hand, grinning when she felt it make contact. Bugs pulled themselves out of the darkness next to her and Harri ran up behind them and started whacking things with her staff. She felt like she was doing a fairly good job until she realized they were sinking again.

“Moria!” she shrieked.

“Damn it! Not again!” Moria groaned.

Don’t be afraid.

“A little late for that!” Harri yelled as she struggled to stay above the darkness.

You hold the mightiest weapon of all.

“What weapon?” Moria snapped. “Please, help us!”

“Come on lightning!” Harri yelled, waiving the staff above her head.

So don’t forget...

“I don’t think I’ll ever forget this,” Harri muttered.

“Harri!” Moria yelled, holding her hand out for her friend. Harri turned and reached out, but their hands sunk under the darkness before they could reach each other.

You are the ones,

Who will open the door.