Shadow stalking

     SERVERE...? But... SERVERE was Jonas, and he was dead... Wasn't he...? I had seen the remains of SERVERE in the tunnel beneath his house, guarding the final entrance to the Solus stone in the secret library... His last words were scribbled down in his diary, and left hidden away in the secret room of his library, likely to be written just before HoN Co. got to him! He was dead! I was positive! Wasn't he...?

"AMPHIS? Calm down... Look at me, look at me! What do you mean you saw SERVERE...? He's dead... You can't have seen him..."

"I... I... I... Saw him! He was there, standing in front of me..."

"Alright, AMPHIS, I'm going to need you to calm down... What did he look like? Are you sure it wasn't a reflection of something, or a shadow...?"

"No... No... It was him... It was SERVERE!!!"

UOPETA released his grip from AMPHIS's shoulders and looked back at me and THEROS... If THEROS and UOPETA were thinking what I was thinking, they would be freaking out right now! I couldn't think of anything to say; admittedly I hadn't known SERVERE at all, but the fact that someone I knew and thought a lot of was now saying a long since dead companion of theirs was now alive... Well, it was hard to comprehend...

"What do we do now...? AMPHIS can't possibly have seen SERVERE... He's dead... You said so yourself, didn't you Syeonyx...?"

All I could do was nod slowly... That's what I had seen. I couldn't prove it was him, but it was almost impossible for it not to be... The remains of a person was lying outside the entrance to the concealed library, as though they were standing against intruders, and paid dearly for it!

"I don't know then... Do you think it could be the stress...? Maybe AMPHIS isn't at home underground as much as the rest of us... Maybe we should get him back to the surface...?"

We agreed that would be the better option; taking AMPHIS away from the site he supposedly saw SERVERE would likely help quite a bit, but before we could take him back to the entrance, and back to base, he had begun to walk slowly off deeper in the cavern, behind the lava flow... What was he doing...? Was he trying to look for SERVERE...?

"AMPHIS...?"

There was no reply. Only the sounds of his echoing footsteps growing quieter and quieter with each passing moment we stood there... After a few seconds, and exchanging some odd glances, we set off in pursuit of AMPHIS, who had wandered off into the dark on his own...

     We followed AMPHIS for some time, going down twists and turns, around sharp bends, and tight corners, through minuscule archways and over thin, crumbling paths. AMPHIS was practically running continuously, ignoring the perils and dangers that lay all around and before him! I could see from UOPETA's face that we really needed to stop AMPHIS before he hurt himself! He was chasing shadows! There was no-one there, yet his mind was making him think there was! He was chasing his sub-conscious!

"AMPHIS! WAIT! THIS IS INSANE, YOU'LL HURT YOURSELF!"

AMPHIS ignored all of our cries, and as we continued, we began to move away from the parts of the caverns and tunnels we had illuminated... THEROS had to take out a torch and use it to light our way forward, whilst AMPHIS continued on regardless! This chase was becoming increasingly dangerous, especially now that AMPHIS couldn't see! Every now and again, we would hear shouting from up ahead, as though AMPHIS was trying to communicate with the phantom he was chasing.

"THERE HE IS!!! HE'S AROUND THIS CORNER! WAIT!"

Eventually, from up ahead, we saw light growing in intensity, and began to wonder what AMPHIS had found. Were they torches? Had he actually been following someone? Had we been wrong? But as we got closer, the ever familiar warmth began to flow over us, and the sudden realisation of what AMPHIS had found caused us to speed up... Lava! We had to stop him before he did someone stupid! Rushing to catch up to him, we rounded a bend and stopped abruptly. AMPHIS had stopped as well, and now stood motionless, staring at the pool of lava before him. We cautiously approached him, hoping that he wouldn't do anything stupid.

"AMPHIS...? Are you alright...?"

AMPHIS said nothing; he continued to stare at the lava, not saying or doing anything...

"AMPHIS...?"

"He... He... He was right there... I saw him... He disappeared..."

Disappeared...? Was he saying that this figure he was following jumped into the lava?!

"He was there one minute... And gone the next... I blinked... I blinked and he disappeared..."

"Come on AMPHIS. Away from the lava... Come with us... We'll take you back to the base... We can discuss this..."

"I saw him..."

UOPETA took AMPHIS by the shoulder, and led him away from the lava pool, with him continuing to mutter to himself, staring at the ground as he walked away. THEROS and myself let out a huge sigh of relief! That could have gone so much worse!

     We managed to bring AMPHIS back to the base without further incident. He was completely unresponsive; he hadn't said anything to any of us the entire way back... Only AMPHIS knew what was going round in his head; probably a battle of wits between the parts of him that want to believe, and the parts that want to stick rigidly to reality. We took him to the discussion room and sat him down, whilst UOPETA went to fetch the others. We needed to discuss this deeply, and get to the bottom of what AMPHIS had seen. It was unsettling for AMPHIS to say he had seen SERVERE, but then to chase this phantom through the caverns and tunnels... Today could have proved to be a lot more trying than it already was... COLUS walked into the room, followed by OROTHO and Amie.

"What's this about AMPHIS seeing ghosts...?"

Syeonyx signing off