The Coming Storm [Still Accepting, and OPEN] [Sparky Co-owns]

"First thing to do though is to find out if everyone is okay with that," Rhian turned to Alice, waiting for her reply about knocking on the door.

"I have no problem with it, as everyone else knows, it seems like the only option we have if everyone wants to continue." Blair pointed out as he looked past everyone towards the door, still studying the overall design of it. "Now who wants to knock on the door for all of us?" He asked, knowing that he certainly didn't want to be the one standing closest to the door when it opened.

"No offense Collin, but I'm not sure if it would work that way.T he way the riddle goes makes it sound like it the number of people that need to knock on the door is only one, or possibly three at most if it does require multiple knockers." Blair pointed out as he stated his opinion.

Alice shifted, opening her mouth to speak, but shrugging instead. She looked at the door again, "I'm okay with it..." She said to Rhian, her voice unsure, "We don't seem to have any other options," The blonde glanced around the empty room, "It's worth a shot, I suppose." It was either this, wandering around for something else, or just plain leaving. The third option wasn't very attractive after Bali-Lali's threat, and the second idea made her think about what they might find-which was a Hell of a lot worse than knocking on the door.

She turned to Blair, "I'd rather not knock...But if no one else wants to, I will." She regretted her words as soon as they left her lips, but her short moment of confidence of mind surprised her enough not to take it back.

Collin felt his face heat up at Blair's comment. "O-Oh yeah..." he looked over at Alice when she made her offer and felt a sudden tug of fear in the pit of his stomach. He shrugged his shoulders in a sign of not caring who knocked on the door. And he didn't care, as long as they got it over with.

"I'll also knock if no one else will." Rhian was kind of nervous about this though. Nobody knew what was behind that door, but the only way to find out was to knock on the door. They really didn't have many options and it was worth the risk.

Nate could tell that the others were nervous (truthfully, so was he). But, he also knew that this was the only way in, so what the heck? "Well, if you two don't have a problem knocking, then I don't."

Alice stared at the door wearily for another moment before looking to Rhian and Nate, "Um, would either of you mind?" She asked, her voice sounding a little small with the intimidation she was recieving from the almost ceiling-high door. "Knocking, I mean. I'd...Rather not." She said, pausing to glance up at the door again, her violet eyes running over the details again and again, her imagination reeling wildly in her mind. She thought she might lose the very breath she took in with every second her mind conjuered up something worse, but she forced herself to calm down. Nervousness was okay, but Alice wasn't going to let herself get all worked up until she really knew what was behind the door.

"Um, sure. No problem." Nate replied. He took a couple steps towards the door, until a similar nervousness engulfed him. He paused for a bit, gazing at the massive door, each engraving on it transforming into some horrible demonic figure and coming to life in his mind.

"I'll...knock as long as Rhian knocks too." He stated, looking over his shoulder back towards the group.

"Don't worry," Rhian said in a cool voice, though she was a bit nervous inside too,"I'll knock with you if you wish." Rhian took a few steps forward beside Nate. Her eyes trailed up and down the door. This time, she felt more afraid, feeling as if there actually might be a demon or something behind hte door. Rhian gulped. "So-o, a-are you re-ady?" her voice cracked.

Nate blinked in surprise a couple of times when he heard the blonde's reaction. Despite Rhian being slightly younger than everyone else in the group, she always seemed like the bravest to him, and that was something he really admired about her. I suppose everyone has their limits. I mean, just look at this freaking thing. The teen suddenly remembered the extra pairs of boxers he wore, and hoped that none of the girls in his group would need them.

Feeling his face turn a little warm, the teen shook his head to make the blush disappear. This was definitely not the right time or place to be thinking of things like that.

Resuming his focus on the door, Nate inched up closer and closer to the door, and poked it lightly with his stick a few times. No response. "I'm ready..." the teen replied rather quickly. "Are you sure..." he paused in between sentence to clear his throat."...that you're okay with this?"

"Yes, I am." Rhian replied. She felt her mouth go dry. Can i really do this? I shouldn't think that. i must be strong enough so we can get on with this and open the door. Rhian exhaled to calm herself. Then she turned to Nate. "Do you care to do the honors first?"

"Who ever is going to knock can they please just do it now before we're too late or something weird happens!?" Blair snapped impatiently and nervously as he stood up off of the steps. The boy was self admittedly very nervous at this point, and he didn't care if he came off looking like a hypocrite as long as the moved on quickly enough.

Alice jumped at Blair's unexpected outburst, looking over at the other teenager in her surprise. But the blonde didn't say anything, because he was right. She didn't care what happened anymore, she couldn't stand waiting around any longer with her imagination reeling on a horrid spin of disaster outcomes. Bali-Lali itself could crawl out of the tall door, as long as she could know what was going on. And it wasn't like Alice had all the time in the world, if her grandmother found out she wasn't asleep in her bed, the old woman would be sure to take her world away from her. All she needed was an excuse, and Alice would be strapped up in a white room for the rest of her days.

Nate flinched and winced in pain at Blair's sudden outcry. The teen's ears weren't expecting an outcry in the massive vacant room, and the echo didn't help much either. "Oww...alright, alright." he replied. Stepping forward, Nate gave the door one last look over before he slowly, yet casually raised his left hand, and knocked with the back of his knuckles.

At Nate's knock, the door remained closed, but something else happened. Scraggly forms of shadows crawled up the walls, and an eerie smoke curled out from them as well as the door. A voice, loud and slightly intmidating, filled and echoed about the room with its words.

"Sleep and confusion...Death and decay,"

"Who calls upon the first of the tower guards?"

--

Alice didn't move, her breath having stopped in her throat at the sudden and unexpected, overpowering voice that resounded off the walls and high ceilings around them. The first thing her mind registered was that the voice was most definitely not a friendly one. And after the show this place had given them already, that wasn't something she wanted to hear in any case at all. Her dark eyes widened slightly as the smoke spreading along the ground washed past her feet, up to her ankles, and her mind imagined things lurking within it.

At first, Rhian was relieved that nothing happened immediately after nate knocked. She was expecting the door to swing open after he knocked, but instead, smoke came whirling out. She held her arms, and looked around and saw the shadows climbing up the walls. "Oh great. Darkness never helps because it will be hard to know what will happen next." She said as she pressed her back against Nate.

Rhian heard the voice that echoed through the room, and wondered where it was coming from. She gulped, "It's us. We came the other night, and do you think you could help us?" She felt awkward saying that. How was anyone supposed to know if whatever was talking would help them?

Collin swallowed thickly, legs shaking. He wanted to turn and run back, but he didn't want to leave his friends. He glanced over at Rhian when she spoke to the creature before looking back to the smoke and Alice. He took a small step forward.