Thalys started heading up the slopped path towards the higher sections. As he took the first step, he knew it was a bad idea. The floorboards creaked defiantly, slowly bending down with the weight of his step. Thalys looked down, his eyes going wide. Suddenly, the board gave way, and Thalys had to leap forward to avoid falling himself. The board he landed on gave a similar creak, so he shrugged and ran on. Soon enough all the boards behind him began to fall from his steps, and the only way he was to avoid falling was to keep running forward. Just then, the path ahead of him gave way from the constant shaking, leaving him no path to run on. So he did the next best thing. Using his superb dexterity, Thalys began to run along the wall, thanking the gods that the slope wasn’t too high, or that wouldn’t have worked. He hit the boards on the other side of the gap in a mad dash, for they too began to fall.
“Oh, I do hope they don’t expect me to fix this…” Thalys mumbled under his breath as he looked back to see that there was no long a path down. He couldn’t worry about how to get down at the moment, however, for he certainly didn’t want to go down as quick as he would.
Finally he neared the end of the trail, only to find that the ladder to the support beams had fallen long ago, leaving him nowhere to go. The nobleman scanned the area desperately before his time ran out. The first thing he noticed was the hug counter-balances. A plan quickly formulated in his mind, and he ran all the harder. Just as he reached the end of the trail, he began to run along the wall again. At the right point, he kicked off the wall, propelling him right towards the wide rope that supported one of the weights. He sent a large green blade of super fast wind at the rope below him just before he clasped onto the rope, wrapping his arms and legs around it to get a good hold. His cutter did the work, slicing right through the thick ropes, sending the weight crashing into the floor below.
Down went the weight, right through the floor and through the one below it, smashing into the earth below the windmill, causing a great shake. The people outside gasped at the sound, but were even more surprised when Penn peaked inside and returned with the news that one of the weights had fallen.
With no counter-balance, the other weight began to fall as well, pulling the still-attached rope with it, all around the top and to the other side. Thalys clutched onto the rope all the tighter once it began to fly upward. He timed it just right, and jumped off to land on a rafter before the entire rope went around the mechanics and down to the floors below.
A huge sigh of relief escaped Thalys’ mouth as he looked at the scene below, but he quickly remembered why he was up here, and turned to regard the shadowy figure staring at the wall nearby. Thalys leaped across the small gap and landed on the same rafter as the figure, so that its back was facing him.
The figure was quite petit, standing just below 5 feet, having a very slim figure to go with it. It had black skin, no ears, no hair, and its head was slightly elongated in the back, ending in a pointed crown. It wore a tight fitting jacket with white runes over it, and its black pants were puffy, tightening around the high, pointed boots it wore. It had nothing covering its solid-black hands, which were clenched in fists at its sides. Whatever it was, it certainly wasn’t human.
“Who are you…?” Thalys asked, someone surprised by the appearance of the figure.
The thing turned around, revealed a featureless face, having nothing other than eyes on it. Oh, how those eyes shined! They were bright white, lacking pupils, and shining of their own luminescence it seemed. The figure’s eyes stayed narrowed, as if they were locked in place like that, as it stared upon Thalys.
“Who are you?” Thalys repeated, putting his hands on the hilt of his blades.
Still no response.
“Either you answer me or I slice open your throat!” threatened the nobleman, growing impatient.
That brought a reaction from the thing, tilting its head curiously, yet those eyes kept on glaring. A low echo-like noise seemed to imitate from around the thing. It sounded almost like an otherworldly laugh, but barely able to hear.
Out flashed Thalys’ sabers, striking for the throat threateningly. They never got halfway there…
In a sudden flash of movement, the creature stepped forward, smacking away the sabers with ease, and landing a few quick strikes on Thalys’ chest plate.
Thalys lurched back, surprised at the unnatural speed of the being. He readied his blades again and dived forward, going in a flash of movement, swirling his blades this way and that.
Hardly daunted, the creature began to swat away all of the strikes with equal speed, even pressing forward with its movements. Thalys stared incredulously at the thing when they stopped the attacks. How could it swat away his swords without cutting its skin? This was just one of the many questions flashing through Thalys’ mind as he prepared to attack again.
On came the nobleman for a third time, slashing in hard with his left blade. He stopped the blade short of the swing and ducked a bit, bringing his right blade over his head. He charged that blade with light energy, then launched it out of the blade at the creature, who crossed its arms over its face.
The blade hit the thing directly on its blocking arms and dissipated. Thalys stared at it for a long while, trying to figure out what happened. The being, showing no pain from blocking the attack, put its hands back down to their customary position at its sides.
Thalys took this opportunity to launch a quick fireball at the thing. The creature stuck one arm out, open palmed, and accepted the fireball. The flames hit the hand and were absorbed into the beings arm, the white runes on its jacket glowing red with the energy.
“Oh…” Thalys said, beginning to understand what was going on. He suddenly found a fireball being thrown his way, and he crossed his blades in a meager defense against the too-quick attack. The fireball engulfed him and sent him crashing into the protective cylinder behind him. He shook off the flames and sent a splash of water on the flames that were on the wood. He sighed and looked back at the figure, which was standing as still as a statue.