USH'S MATRIX GAME 2006 FIFTH ASSIGNMENT- 'The Pagoda'

"Why is it we're always in the dark when it comes to Meltius?" Cloud jokes, trying to bring some humour to the situation.

"I get it. 'Cause he likes keeping us clueless and we're in...a dark room..." Ares says, realizing the lameness of the pun and how he just killed it further.

"I feel inclined to make a comment about him being a cripple," Heph sulks, "but I can't think of a good, relevant pun."

"Well, that joke is now nice and dead..."

"Okay, you guys are all fired from the Joke Squad now." Hawk peers through the darkness trying to make out the room around them.

There is a click noise, like sokething small sliding along.

Then you hear a laboured noise of breathing- hahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

"Melitus?" Mors asks, into the darkness.

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"So. You have returned."

"Indeed, and we are only hope to save Matrix. Do you support our goal?" -Melkor speaks warily.

"You know the answer to..."

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"... that question Melkor."

"Well, I don`t know you, but I assume that you care about your existance.

Do you know me?"- He asks, wondering how much Melitus knows.

"You seek answers about the nature of..."

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"... Machines. But you will never be satisfied. The rest of you should watch this one."

"Watch?!"- Melkor laughs.

"What you speak of is irrelevant now. My existance is almost at end, and I can only hope that my current quest is finished before I die. Which is soon." He stops laughing as he coughes blood again.

Berserker stands in the Dark wondering where Melitus is and what else may be in the room.

"Oh Melkor. You have lost your faith."

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"I suspect you are not the only one."

In contrast to Sennacherib, Melitus speaks quietly, with a kind of drab certainty behind everything he says, not unlike a schoolmaster.

"What has he lost faith in," Berserker asks.

"Survival"- Melkor speaks to Berserker, seeming more thoughtful and uncertain suddenly.

"Do you know of any means of survival for us?"

"You... many of you... are losing faith in many things. In victory. Your lives. Maybe the Oracle. For Melkor..."

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"...even the cause he fights for. But what about faith in your friends... Azrael?"

"Yeah oddly enough that sounds right," Berserker waits for a second, "Melkor never told you his name, you must know a lot of things."

"Maybe your friends have something to..."

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"... say on that matter. I am not, after all, the first you have..."

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"... met displaying such knowledge."