Welcome to Gaia! ::

Flames had spit and sputtered but it seemed the way that the chosen bath stood its ground. It was almost like that one Indiana Jones movie, only with more lava licking the path as Israfel crossed.

And Israfel DID cross. He did splendid! And now he was out of harms way. All that remained now was for his team mates to do the same.

There also seemed to be a chest at the end of this journey. Dare Israfel decide to open it?

Eben was surprised when Israfel decided not only to not fly across the lava, but began walking across. He followed along his path with his pen in his book so that they would know if it was good or bad. He stood, dumbfounded and very impressed when his teammate made it across unscathed.

"Well done!" he called across to Israfel. "No pun intended, I assure you," he added as an after thought.

Ebenezer still had his doubts though, and he wondered if the path would be safe for all of them. Still, Israfel had been brave enough to try, and he was ready to do the same. Marking their passage in his journal, he shoved it back in his bags and nodded at Sepheran. He was ready to go.

He followed Sepheran gingerly across, cringing the entire way.

It was difficult to say exactly how long they had been there. "They" being two statues made out of copper, standing on raised pedestals set between two doors. The statues had the bodies of dogs and the heads of lions; they were Fu Dogs. Each one wore a different collar decorated with skulls; one had a collar that was red, the other a sky blue.

Each Fu Dog had one paw raised, resting on a sphere. Or is it a skull? It is difficult to tell. They move, their paws tightening around their treasures as you approach.

"Well met," they greet in unison. "Your trials are almost over, Students of Amityville. What you have gone through is a sample, a mere taste of what is expected of some on a daily basis. But you are not here for that."

They fall silent, looking down and studying each student carefully. The one with the light blue collar speaks first. "Your last trial awaits you. It will not be easy."

"You will get to choose," the red collared one says, "This is a choice for each of you to make."

"Not as a group."

"Not together."

"But individually," the two say in unison gravely. "You may only go through one door. Once you have made your choice and gone through it, you cannot back out."

"The doors are locked for now," the one with the red collar says. "They will unlock when the time is right."

"For now, consider your options," the sky blue collared one says. "You may change your mind before entering, but once you go through a door you cannot return."

The statues fall silent as they exchange a glance with each other. "To determine which door you pick, please tell us...

• Orders.
  
  
  
• Choices.
  
  

Sepheran had been relieved to make it to the other side of the room, to be honest he had half expected some flames to shoot up at him halfway or something. Luckily that didn't seem to be the case and him and the rest of his group was now on the other side of the room.

He was surprised however when a pair of statues came to life and started talking of making a choice between two doors, and apparently it was an individual's choice on which to enter. Sepheran frowned a moment. Choices...or Orders? He eyed the doors. It was a funny concept really, choosing to choose or choosing to take orders. Either way they were still choices no? To be honest though he liked his freedom of choices, this way he wouldn't regret something even if the choice was difficult. Yes...it had to be choices.

Eben felt more than a little overwhelmed. They'd managed to survive the slides and the lava and now, he had to make a decision. It was odd that he hadn't noticed the interesting statues before but now they had demanded that they each make a decision as to how they were going to continue.

Such an interesting concept. Orders versus choices. Could be a good subject for a poem . . . Eben locked that idea away for later and made his decision. It had to be choices. No other choice.