"Are you crazy?" her shield mate bellowed. He exposed himself to attack as he used his shield to protect his fallen comrade.

"Haven't you gotten us into enough trouble?" he demanded and swung his sword through the zombies arm. "Don't give them any ideas about demons breathing on us. We've got more than enough trouble fighting off the undead. Damn these games to the forgotten realms of Hell." The scenery began to shift from an unkempt field filled with silent armies to- they couldn't see quite what.

"No! Not with us in it," she screamed. "And you told me to be careful!"

They were surrounded by darkness. It was deeper than the darkest night, blacker than pitch, blacker than the bottom of a well with a lid on it.

"You had to send us here," her low voice sounded disgusted. "You had to send us to the one place we know nothing about, where we don't know what we're fighting, or how to defeat it. Bravo, bravo."

"Well, these realms are forgotten. How could they send us here?"

"They're immortal. They never forget anything, Jasper!"

"Well, it's your fault we're here! If you hadn't wanted to steal their treasure, Jade, we wouldn't be in this mess."

"I didn't want to steal it. I just wanted to see it," Jade protested her innocence.

"Seeing, stealing it's all the same to you," Jasper hissed in the darkness.

"What's that?" she whispered, her ears pricked sharply and she strained to hear the faint sound that had come to her.

"What's what?" Jasper asked.

"Hush," Jade's irritated voice echoed slightly in the depths, "I'm trying to listen." The sound came again, it was a soft, dry rustling, like scales being dragged across the floor. Jasper heard it that time to. As one they pivoted towards the sound.

Jade held out her left hand and it began to glow a vibrant, dark green. It had black flecks in it that matched her eyes. Jasper's right hand began to glow a deep reddish-brown behind his shield.

They stood in what appeared to be a huge cave made entirely of black onyx. The mage lights were swallowed up by the darkness almost as quickly as they were created. Jade and Jasper could dimly see two exits in the far wall and the noise came from one of the exits.

"Appearances are deceiving in Hell," Jasper murmured an old proverb. Jade nodded slowly, straining her eyes in the murky light. Two figures appeared in the exits, in the holes in the wall.

"May the Goddess protect us," Jade gasped. In one hole a demon stood. It was covered with ochre scales, it stood seven feet tall with a tail almost as long as its height. The demons claws were sharp and dripping with poison, as were its teeth; both appendages were eight inches long at the very least. On the demons back was a pair of wings. They were leathery like a bat, tipped with three inch talons, and they oozed slime. Its gaping maw rang with a snarl.

In the other hole stood a silver elf, an angelic creature of light. It had pale blue eyes and long silver blond hair. It stood six feet tall and had a slender body. From where Jade and Jasper stood they could just see the slightly pointed tips of his ears. It stood straight and tall like a sword and it smiled ever so slightly, pointed teeth showing through its thin lips.

The demon and elf advanced into the room reaching out, the demon as if to attack and the elf to welcome. Jade and Jasper stepped backwards.

"Appearances can be deceiving," Jade cried. Jasper's eyes widened. They swung around to see only one exit. The elf stood there, arms outstretched to kill, hands clenched into claws and its nails looked like daggers. It snarled in fury.

Jasper raised his sword and shield and stepped forward to fight the monster. Jade swung around, drawing a dagger from the belt at her waist, and stepped into a position where she could guard Jasper's back.

Across the hall there was now only a single exit and another elven monster came at her. It growled and gave off an ululating scream. Jade's sword came up and she prepared to attack. She used her dagger to block one of its hands and hacked off the other with her sword. Two hands grew back in the place of the missing one.

"A hydrolax," she cried. "Jasper, they're hydrolaxes!"

"No," he gasped. "The heart, Jade, go for the heart! It's the only way to kill them!" Jade parried the hydrolaxes hands with the flat of her blade.

"Easier said than done," she grunted.

"Uh-hunh," he replied. After that they fought in silence, looking for an opening to the creatures' hearts. Jasper used his shield, as Jade used her blade, to thrust away the hydrolaxes venomous hands. Jasper slipped on the onyx floor and fell, exactly as Jade had in the field.

She threw her knife end over end into the 'lax's heart and pivoted around to face the other one. She lunged forward, thrusting her sword through its heart. Both hydrolaxes collapsed at her feet.

"Now we're even, Jasper. Are you all right?"

"Yes, Jade, I do believe I am." She reached out a hand and helped him up. "Do you think we could get out of this game now?"

"You already are," an echoing voice said. The world faded and reformed into a shining white hall. They stood before the Immortals.

"Behold our treasure," one of them boomed.

"Where?" Jade asked eagerly. Jasper groaned softly.

"You are our treasures, we are the treasures. Very few people survive the games and those that do are to be treasured," another one said.

"The games are a test," a third Immortal continued. "Those that pass become Immortals."

"Welcome to our ranks, Guardians of the jewels, thieves, and fighters. You are the Immortals of Luck," a fourth said.

"Welcome," they all said. Jasper and Jade looked at each other with wide eyes and they felt their mortality die.

~Finis

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