Ascension Chronicle: The Tower Of Calamity

The three heroes never stopped moving through dark, threatening hallways that looked alive with threats from the unseen. The echoing air resounded with a peculiar, eerie hum, and even the lively, playful Nyx clung stiffly to Liam's shoulder, their small body trembling at sensing danger.

"This place feels... wrong", declared Clara, gripping her bow tightly in hands.
"It is," Liam agreed, grabbing his Darkfang sword. "It's as if they're watching us."
As they walked further, the floor beneath them started getting loose. A dim radiance was revealing a set of runes carved in the floor. Suddenly, without even a chance of reacting, the corridor shook with a low rumble and the blinding light consumed them whole.
Then, when the light vanished, Liam and Clara and Nyx found themselves transported to an incredibly large chamber. The walls pulsed with a faint red light, just like that of heartbeats, while in the center of the room stood a large, ancient pedestal onto which a ghastly creature had laid. It took the form of a huge creature with six limbs and a head shaped almost like a twisted blend of bat and spider. Its eyes turned malevolence, while its clicks echoed throughout the room.
"What is that thing?" Clara asked, her voice very even despite the fear that welled in her bright blue eyes.
Liam did not have a chance to answer. The creature raised one of its clawed hands and brought it crashing down upon the pedestal. Runes all around it began to light up, and an energy field enveloped Liam, Clara, and Nyx.
"Liam!" cried Clara, reaching out for him, but it was far too late.

The energy field pulsed and twisted, and there came an odd sensation, light and free, as though they were not people but would-be unraveling and remaking something humanoid. Nyx screamed high before the light consumed everything.
Eyes wide and viewing everything from several angles, Liam tried to clear his vision when he staggered under some strange weight in his body. Everything felt odd, he thought. He looked down at his own hands and froze in place. They were thin and unfamiliar.
"What the-" His voice cut through the sharp, distinct sound of woman. Silence.
"Liam?" came Clara's voice from his left. But when he turned, he found himself wide-eyed staring into a mirror.
"Clara?" he whispered in utter horror.
Clara-the one that now contained Liam's body-stared at hands going through the motion as if flexing them didn't look real. "This... this isn't happening."
Nyx fluttered nervously, hopping from one adult-sized creature to another, probably sensing the weirdness of the occurrence.
"What did that thing do to us?" asked Liam-now in Clara's body.
Before Clara could say anything, the beast let out an awful sound, its voice carrying unnatural power. The runes on their pedestal grew even brighter, and dark tendrils of energy shot toward them, forcing them to scatter. "We'll sort it later!" shouted Clara, now deep-voiced and sonorous in Liam's body, finding his hold on the Darkfang sword awkward and unfamiliar.
With strong muscles straining against the bow, Liam was unable to draw Clara's celestial bow entirely even as the tension was far more robust than he was used to. "This is impossible!" he muttered, fidgeting with the weapon.
The beast launched itself upon them, body slamming its six limbs into the earth thundrously as Nyx darted out of the way, a hiss and growl causing its very small figure to faintly glow as it attempted with its tiny self to protect its masters from the attacks of the strange beast.
"Focus, Liam!" Clara called, echoing the aggravation in her voice as if to help him swing the sword and barely miss the creature.
"You try to concentrate when you're in someone else's body!" Liam shouted back, released the arrow though it went way off course.
The monster let out a laugh that spoke threat; its voice was very deep and otherworldly. "Your souls are twisted, unbalanced; you cannot defeat me like this."
Liam gritted his teeth. "We'll see about that."
The chamber changed, the walls closing in as another pulse of dark energy swept across the creature. Liam and Clara were forced backward, their motion heavy and ponderous as they stumbled in bodies not their own.
"We can't fight like this," Clara stuttered out from a deep breath.
"We don't have a choice," Liam said.
The monster lunged forth again, claws just barely missing them. It was playing with them now, relishing their struggle.
The chapter closed with Liam and Clara standing back to back, stimulated by the odds stacked against them. They knew they had to be together, even under such a strange new predicament, if they were to make it and find a way to destroy the creature.
To be continue...