by Damon Glatz
All the people Daisuke had killed. Every life he took. He had passed hundreds of tunnels and passageways throughout the walk deeper into hell. Each leading him to a different eternity of suffering.
He looked back to Ohitekah. Standing next to him. The boy gave him hope. A chance to redeem himself. Make the world a better place.
"Just keep leading the way Ohitekah, I will manage."
"Please father. We miss you."
Daisuke shook his head and walked forward again.
Not yet.
"What is that?!" Darius shouted.
Oh no! Not him now. Ohitekah turned around. Darius was frozen in place, in some sort of weird stance.
"Darius! It's fine, it's—"
"Shh!"
Red cut him off. He placed a hand over Ohitekah's chest. The group fell silent. Ohitekah listened to the darkness. He heard nothing.
"What's going on?"
"Shh!" Red hissed again. Ohitekah heard nothing but in his heart, he experienced a moment of panic.
He felt something.
The ground was starting to shake, ever so slightly. Every moment the tremors growing stronger and stronger.
"It can't be!" A man shouted. "The giant! It's coming for us!"
"It’s far," Red said quietly. "We need to keep moving."
"But what direction is it coming from?" Darius asked. "We could be moving straight toward it."
Red hesitated. Darius was right, it could be in front of them. Red looked at the men around him. They were in no condition to fight the Earth Mythic in the dark. They were brave warriors, yes, but not for this fight, not against this foe.
"Ohitekah and I need to go on alone," Red stated. The rumbling began to grow louder.
"We can't see!" Someone shouted.
Red shot out his hand. A fire erupted and created a ring that circled the men.
"This fire shall burn as long as I am alive. If it goes out... Run." Red created an opening in the ring for Ohitekah to exit through. "I will come back when the beast is defeated."
Ohitekah stepped through the ring. After he met Red on the other side he turned and looked through the fire to Darius, who nodded. Ohitekah returned the nod.
The fire was a good idea. No one can wander off now.
"Let's go." Ohitekah looked to Red. "We don't have much time."
Chapter Fifteen
Guardian of the Underworld
Ohitekah and Red raced toward the footsteps. The ground shaking more and more with each moment.
"Remember," Red shouted "We are not killing it. Only taking it down to get past."
Ohitekah nodded. His heart began to race. They were accelerating straight to the Mythic of Earth.
It’s made of stone. Can fire and thunder even effect it? If it’s made out of rock does it have a heart? How is it alive?
Out of all the Mythics, this one intimidated Ohitekah the most. He couldn't even picture in his mind how it could appear. ‘A great stone giant’ was its only description.
Maybe no one ever lived long enough to get a good look of it.
The rumbling stomps became strong enough to almost knock Ohitekah over. They must be very close by now.
Red came to a stop. Ohitekah waited in silence. The stomps stopped as well. The corridor they had traveled through lead to a much larger cavern.
This must be one of the lairs of the Mythic, Ohitekah thought.
The cavern was pitch black, Red hesitated to light a flame.
The room felt eerily still. The only sound in the room was Ohitekah's breathing. For a sinking moment, he felt completely alone.
"Move!" Red shouted suddenly and dove to his side. Ohitekah followed instinctively, moving to his opposite direction. There was an earth-shattering crash that fell in between them.
The cave must have collapsed, good thing Red saw it coming. Perhaps that wasn't the Mythic after all? Just a cave in. We were lucky to dodge it, Ohitekah pondered.
Red held his palm to the boulder that fell from the ceiling and created a glowing ball in his hand. The stone was massive, it created a crater where it struck. Ohitekah studied Red's face. He stared at the boulder with concern. Suddenly, he jumped back from the boulder. Ohitekah felt a need to move back as well.
The boulder moved. It began to slowly grind itself into the crater, crushing smaller rocks beneath it.
What?
The boulder began to change shape. Ohitekah began to realize what he was looking at. The stone rose off the ground and lifted into the air. It uncurled itself, revealing three fingers and a thumb.
This was the fist of the Earth Mythic.
"Run!" Daisuke shouted. He sent a pillar of fire into the hand that was moving to hover above Ohitekah. The hand burst into flames and made it more visible in the dark, but it did little to stop it. Ohitekah did as he was told and ran from the flaming stone above his head. The fist punched into the ground behind him, missing.
The impact sent Ohitekah soaring into a stalagmite pillar he did not know was in front of him. He could feel some of his ribs snap from the crash. He shook his head and managed to stand back up. His ribs would heal themselves in a moment.
He took one step forward and was sent straight back down to the ground from the force of a tremendous roar that bellowed from the darkness. The roar echoed around the walls of the cavern and Ohitekah was forced to cover his ears.
The source of the roar was far above him. The room turned dark again. Ohitekah could tell by the low sound of the sound and its altitude above him the Mythic must be massive.
What scared him the most was his inability to see what he was up against. He could only imagine what the beast truly looked like.
"That is enough," Red exclaimed from the shadows. He exploded into an intensely blazing aura and launched himself into the air. From both his hands he shot out fire that trailed around the edge of the cavern. Outlining the exact dimensions of the cave. The cave glittered and glistened like the sea on a starry night. It seemed as if every wall and tower in the cavern was sprinkled with every jewel imaginable. Their brilliance reflected off the red fire Daisuke outlined the floor with. The cavern was so large in fact, that the center of it still escaped the light of the blaze.
Slowly, the Mythic revealed itself.
One thundering footstep after the other, it stomped into the light. The legends were true, it was actually made entirely of stone. The legs created craters where it walked. They had no feet or toes. They were thick jagged stone towers that crashed into the ground beneath it. The legs bent and stood as if it was a person's. They met at an incredibly dense torso that appeared to be a mountain with legs. Its long arms hung low, almost dragging on the ground.
The head of the giant was small compared to the rest of the body. It had a jaw that hung open. An uneven row of stone teeth lined its mouth. Its eyes were dark pits sunken into its stone face that displayed a permanent gaze of rage. It had no other distinguishable features of a living creature.
Does this even have a heart? If it’s all stone how can it die?
The Mythic lifted its stone hand and motioned to punch Daisuke out of the air. He swerved and dodged the strike.
This is going to be different from the Thunder Mythic. It is very slow, easy to dodge an attack, but its defenses are impenetrable.
"Just keep moving!" Daisuke landed back on the ground and dodged another swing. "We are faster, keep an eye on it and think of a way through its defenses."
He fired a column of fire into the Mythic's face. The giant barely noticed the attack.
Ohitekah nodded. He sped to a far part of the room, far out of range from the monster. He studied its movements. It seemed easy to taunt, whoever was louder or more visible it moved to attack. And as long as you kept out of its range you were safe. But one hit from those stone fists would be more than enough to kill anyone.
His rib felt better, he was healed.
Ohitekah drew his sword.
Let's start with the obvious and work from there.
>
He rushed to the base of the monster and sliced at the stone of its legs. The sword sliced against the rock and made no mark at all. The pillar of earth lifted off the ground and was stomped down to crush Ohitekah.
He quickly moved back and out of the way. The stomp was hard enough to shake the entire cave. Stalactites fell from the ceiling, the first barely missing him. He looked up and was able to dodge the rest. Any that crashed into the Stone Mythic exploded on impact.
He's using the cave against us, but is it deliberate?
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Red leap into the air. He kicked off the falling icicles of stone and made his way to the face of the beast. His sword burst into flame and he sliced into the Mythic with everything he had. Ohitekah could feel the heat from the attack. It was strong enough to send the giant coiling back from the strike with a roar of agony.
At least Red could hurt it... That’s something.
Red spun in the air and landed softly on his feet. His slid his katana to his side and watched his opponent stagger.
The stone giant collected itself and stood back up. It reared its massive head to face them again. There was no damage from Red's attack.
How? Our attacks are too weak. It's not made from flesh and bone like the other Mythics.
Red gave a laugh. Ohitekah looked to him concerned.
"The God of Darkness thinks he created an immortal Mythic." Red looked up and faced the beast, he began to glow with another blazing aura. "But everything burns... And everything melts."
He held his palm to the Mythic with a grin. The giant took a step toward him and raised his fist.
In a sudden burst of power, a thick torrent of fire engulfed the entirety of the Stone monster. It lifted its hands to protect its face and bellowed a roar of pain. Ohitekah had to turn away as the column of fire burned as bright as the sun in this dark cave.
"Not hot enough!" Red exclaimed. The aura around him burned brighter and the spiraling tornado around the Mythic grew in intensity.
"Red!" Ohitekah shouted. "Remember! Don't kill it!"
Daisuke let out a long shout as he forced more power into his inferno. His body began to shake with the energy. The tower of flame twisted faster around the giant. Its arms flailed around its body as it tried to find a way to escape. He pushed harder, Ohitekah had never seen an attack of this power from him before.
“Red! No! Don’t lose control!” Ohitekah shouted towards his friend.
Daisuke threw his hands to his side and extinguished his attack. The Giant stumbled and fell to the ground. There was a glowing pool of melted stone under the Mythic. It struggled to stand back up, its legs were gone. Nothing under its torso except a pit of magma.
Red did it. He melted it.
Something caught Ohitekah's attention. There was quiet laughter from his left. It was Daisuke.
His laughter grew in volume as the Mythic struggled to stand. The laughter was unusual. It seemed dark, twisted. The voice was not Daisuke. Red placed his hands on his face as he continued to laugh. It became incessant, uncontrollable laughter. He fell to his knees and seemed as if he could not catch his breath from his fit.
Ohitekah took a cautious step back.
"Daisuke?" He asked quietly.
The laughing stopped. His head slowly turned to face Ohitekah. His eyes were red. He glared at Ohitekah with hate.
"Finally," The Mythic said under his breath. The voice was raspier and lower than usual. The mythic stood up and drew his sword. He faced Ohitekah.
Ohitekah drew his sword.
"Daisuke? No! It's me!" Ohitekah stammered.
The Mythic began another fit of laughter. With a burst of flame, he launched himself at Ohitekah at a blurring speed. His black sword aimed at the heart.
"What do you think is going on?" one of the Spades asked Darius. They could hear the quakes and the roars of the Mythic echo down the tunnel.
"It’s been a while... Obviously, Daisuke is still alive. Otherwise, his fire would not still be burning. But it sounds like they’re fighting," Darius replied. They looked around, all of them still trapped in the ring of fire.
"Was it a good idea to let them go like that? If they lose we're trapped in here."
"Why did we even come? We're just slowing them down." The men started to argue.
"We came because if they needed our help, we would be here for them," Darius interrupted. "We came because Sierra needed our help. And we never leave a Brother behind."
The men fell silent.
Darius turned to face the fire. He wondered if the Mythics needed his help. If they were actually able to defeat the Stone Mythic.
"Darius?" A voice called out. He turned to address it, it came from outside the group. The fire was still blazing around his men. He squinted, he could make out a face through the flames.
"Mother?" Darius stared. "Mother, is that you?"
He took a step towards her.
"It can't be... You're still alive. Why are you here?"
She shook her head. "You never came back. You left me alone and never came back."
"No! I'm here! I can save you! I can take you back with us!"
He approached the wall of fire.
"Darius... It's been too long. I can't go back but you can still be with me." She reached her hand out to him. "You left home three years ago. Come back, Darius."
"Have I really been away that long?" he asked. She gave a low nod, a tear filled her eye.
He reached his hand through the flame. She was only a step away from him. Their fingers touched, she was cold. He could not feel the fire at all.
He pulled his hand back hesitatingly. "How did you die?"
She shook her head. "Why does that matter?"
Darius stared into his mother's eyes. "How do I know if that's even you?” He stepped back. Her face had a flicker of anger.
"Darius! I was wrong! It’s only been three days! You can still save me!" Her voice was panicked and sharp.
"My mother's not dead."
Her face changed. She let out a low cackle and stared into his eyes.
"No," She spoke. The voice was not hers. It was dark. As if a shadow could speak. "But you will be." With a smile, the vision of his mother stepped back into the shadows.
He turned around. His men were staring at him in shock. Darius felt something on his fingers and examined his hand. It was burned and when he saw it, the pain rushed up his arm. He ripped a piece of cloth and wrapped it around his palm.
"I saw a vision. I stayed here. That’s what’s important." He said firmly to his men.
He turned away from the group. The room suddenly became filled with darkness. The men shouted. The fire was gone.
"Daisuke! He's dead!" Someone shouted.
"We're trapped here! There’s nothing! No light!"
Darius faced down the long tunnel. He could hear the crashes of a battle. The floor continued to rumble. He drew his sword.
"Ohitekah is still alive. He needs our help!" Darius faced the darkness and ran as fast as he could.
"Daisuke! Stop!" Ohitekah launched himself into the air. Dodging his strike. "I won't attack you!"
"Well, that makes one of us!" The Mythic shouted. There was an explosion at his feet and he was propelled up toward his target. Ohitekah guarded and blocked the slice. Red fired a blast into Ohitekah's chest and launched him across the cavern and into the cave wall. He regained consciousness briefly before crashing into the hard ground beneath him.
Ohitekah had no time to feel pain. He stood up and stared at Daisuke who hovered in the air across the cavern.
"Red! Please listen to me! It's Ohitekah! You need to focus!"
"He can't hear you, child! It's all over for your friend! After two hundred years... He's mine now!" The Mythic slashed his sword through the air and fired several balls of fire hurtling towards Ohitekah. Ohitekah used his speed and vanished from the attack. Appearing in a corner of the cave, he held his breath. He could feel the explosions rock the cav
e from the attack he just dodged.
He's lost control. I can't fight him. I need him to change back.
"You can't hide from me boy! I can hear your thoughts!" The Mythic fired another column of fire in his direction. Ohitekah flew up and away from the impact. He hovered in the air and watched his friend take aim.
"Daisuke, I know you're in there! You don't need to do this! It’s me, Ohitekah. We're friends."
The fire Mythic shook his head. "He can't hear you, child. Just give it up." He lifted his palm for his next attack.
There was a rumbling below them, Ohitekah took a moment to glance down. The earth Mythic was beginning to move again. With its hands, it pulled a fistful of stone from the ground and pounded it into its body. The stone took shape and began to move.
It’s rebuilding itself. It’s using the earth from the cavern to create new legs.
"Daisuke, no! We can't waste any more time! We need to stop the Mythic. We need to save Sierra!"
"It's too late for all that child. Sorry to disappoint you." The Mythic fired a column of flame straight at Ohitekah.
I need to save her!
Ohitekah punched his hand forward and shot a long crack of lightning at Daisuke. The two elements clashed in midair and exploded. Similar to how it did when Daisuke used his fire against the Thunderbird.
The fire Mythic moved his sword into position and flew at Ohitekah. Ohitekah rushed forward and the two collided in the air. The Mythic attacked and swung his sword wildly, Ohitekah deflected the attacks.
He doesn't fight as Red does. I know how Red handles a sword.
The two traded strikes, steel clanging against steel a hundred feet in the air. Ohitekah held his own better than he expected.
If this was really Red trying to kill me, I would have lost by now.
There was a loud crash behind them. The Mythic of Earth was beginning to stand up.
No! It's healed! I took too long!
Ohitekah found an opening and punched Daisuke in the face.
"Don't hurt your friend now!" The Mythic sneered through his teeth.
"I'm not worried. Daisuke can take it." Ohitekah used his speed again to warp to Daisuke’s back and grabbed him by the neck. "I'm not too sure about you though!" He squeezed him as hard as he could and unleashed a surge of electricity.
