The beating of the heart just kept increasing, such that it was getting difficult to hold it in my hand anymore and I had to place it on the floor. At this rate the thing might even explode. But it didn’t. We travelled over fifty kilometres.
And then we saw the temple. It was an ancient temple, overgrown by plants. Many parts were in the process of crumbling. Fungi and moss grew rampant over it.
The trees didn’t grow very thick here and we were able to land in front of the temple. It was a strange temple. There was one main doorway, and just over the doorway there was a large ‘3’ written. Inside we could see a sarcophagus. I had a feeling that the vessel was inside the sarcophagus, because otherwise the temple was quite vacant.
Danor was about to march right inside.
“Wait!” I said and he stopped short of entering through the doorway.
Lana looked at me confusedly.
“What?”
“Do you actually think this would be so easy?”
A knowing look came over the faces of Lana and Danor and they nodded.
“I don’t like that three,” I said, looking up at the number above the doorway. There was something very menacing about it.
I made my swords materialise in my hands and I handed one to Danor.
“Okay,” I said. I cast a nice glance around the place, looking for any signs of trouble. “Stay on you guard. Now we enter.”
We stepped through the doorway. The moment we did so the sarcophagus disappeared like it had never been. There was a sound above, and I saw that there were a few numbers in this side of the doorway as well.
3-0=3
Was that because three of us had entered?
I tried to go out of the doorway, but even though I could still see the Sphere outside, I couldn’t move out! It was like there was an invisible wall.
“We can’t get out,” I said to Lana and Danor. I failed to hide the panic in my voice.
They too pushed against the seemingly invisible wall. But they failed to do anything.
“We are trapped,” Lana said, her eyes wide.
“What do we do now, sir?” Danor said. Barely had he spoken that a sound reached us. The next moment the room suddenly ballooned in size and acquired the proportions of a football field, so that we were all struck with fear.
At the far end of the room I saw what could be a second doorway.
“A demon,” Danor said in a terrified voice, pointing at one corner of the room.
The demon was big. Three times the height of Danor. He had horns on his head. It was like a monster version of the demons that worked for the succubi.
The demon charged towards us. And as it did so, the size of the room contracted. From the size of a football field, it shrunk to the size of a badminton court.
The three of us leapt in different directions so that we could avoid the horns of the oncoming demon. The moment I rolled back up to my feet, the size of the room changed again, expanding. Now, Danor and Lana were a great distance away from me and also from each other.
My eyes fell on the other doorway. I realised it could be the only way out for us. I pointed towards it and signalled the others to move as fast towards it as possible, even as I myself broke into a sprint towards it. I was the one closest to it and I reached the second doorway first. There were numbers above the doorway as well.
3-1=2
There was a different room on the other side of the doorway and I tried to go to it. But I couldn’t. A translucent wall separated the other room from the one we were in. Lana and Danor reached me, panting.
“We can’t go through,” I said.
The demon was charging again.
I gritted my teeth.
“We’ll have to kill the demon,” I said. I reckoned that was the only way to unlock the doorway.
As the beast came at full speed towards us, the shape of the room shrunk. I was not able to anticipate it, though Lana and Danor were able to. The beast hit me right in the chest so that I went flying a good few metres away. I struck a wall and I slumped to the ground. My chest felt like it was on fire.
My sword was also thrown away. While I seriously doubted if I could cause any harm to the demon with the sword that I had taken from the bandits, at the same time it would have felt better to be holding it in my hands.
But then I realised something.
The demon had horns, large ones, but horns all the same.
I could tame him.
The demon came for me again, but I dodged him. It went for Danor. Danor, being the giant he himself was, met the demon like a warrior. Danor and the demon wrestled each other for a time being, and Danor was even able to stab the demon in the back.
Except the hide of the demon was too strong, and when Danor tried to stab him a second time, the sword shattered. The demons grabbed Danor by his legs and swung him away. Danor landed hard on the floor and he struggled to stand up. He must have broken a bone or two.
Then the Demon turned his attention towards Lana.
Lana used her powers to hover above him. The demon tried to leap and grab her feet and failed. Lana dived down and hit his chest with her fist. The demon recoiled. Dana was about to go for a second strike, when suddenly the room shrunk.
It shrunk so much that the room assumed the size of an elevator. All of us were centimetres away from each other. The demon ignored me and Danor, but he grabbed Lana and punched her right in the face. The next moment the room expanded again. Lana flew a long way away and hit her head on a wall.
And then the demon came for me again.
He was grinning.
I knew that while he could shrink and expand the size of the room as per his will, I also knew that he couldn’t shrink the room too much for a very long period of time. Otherwise he would have already done that and gotten all of us.
The demon charged. I waited. My back hurt like hell but I told myself that if I didn’t compose myself at this moment, then I would end up dead and no part of my body would ever hurt again.
The moment just before the demon was about to hit me with his horns, I sidestepped, effectively dodging the attack. However, the demon, overcome by inertia, kept going forward. I used the opportunity and I leapt onto his back. He tried to shake me off, but I could climb higher, using his shoulders for support and I grabbed his horns. I grasped the horns as hard as I could.
The demon cried out in pain. He fell onto his knees. I was finding that his mind had a greater barrier than the one I had to overcome while taming the succubi in the succubi-held town.
But I had also levelled up earlier, and I was able to push my mind harder. Finally the barrier gave way and I could make the mental connection.
“Get out!” I said to the black magic in his head. The black magic lashed out. It screeched and cried and tried to fight back. But I was in control. In about a minute the black magic had left the demon’s mind.
The demon began to shrink in size, his features becoming more like that of a human. In a matter of seconds the demon had totally transformed into an old man with silky white hair. I reckon succubi can really charm anyone, even people in their nineties.
The man was still unconscious, but he was small enough and more bones than flesh. I hauled him onto my shoulder. It was then that I realised that the room had shrunk back into his original size now that the demon was no longer controlling its dimensions. Danor, who had been hurt, was being helped by Lana, who herself had a dark bruise on the side of her forehead. I walked over to them.
“I tamed him,” I said, placing the man down near them. “Are you two all right?”
Danor and Lana nodded, but Danor was standing with his weight on just one leg.
“His leg is broken,” Lana said, “I might be able to fix it, but not before my own wound heals.”
I looked at the second doorway.
“I suppose, if we go inside that then there would be yet another demon waiting for us.” I still didn’t understand the numbers though.
“You
two go in,” Danor said with a meek smile. “I think I am finally of no use to you, sir.”
“You fought wonderfully,” I told Danor. “Let nobody tell you that you are useless.” I turned at Lana. “Will it take long for your wound to heal?”
She touched her forehead.
“I am trying to heal it, a few minutes at best.”
“I don’t think we have a few minutes, sir,” Danor said and he pointed at the second doorway. The lower portion was turning into a wall. No, not an invisible one, but one of brick and stone.
“We need to get to the other room,” I said, my heart beat picking pace.
“Then let’s go, forget my wound.”
“What about Danor?” I asked.
“I doubt he will be able to go if the two of us go,” Lana said. “Look at those number above the doorway. One subtracted from three. That means only two can enter.”
“Are you sure?” I asked, though the more I thought about it the more it made sense. I reckoned a maximum of only three people were allowed in the first room and only two were allowed in the second.
“What else will the numbers stand for?” Lana said. I nodded. I placed a hand on Danor’s shoulder.
“Be safe,” I told him.
“You too, sir,” Danor said, “Now hurry. I will stay with my new sleeping buddy.”
Lana and I passed over to the other room. The doorway sealed completely, cutting the view of Danor and the old man who had been the demon previously.
I turned to face the other room. A shudder rocked me when I saw a great snake some distance ahead of us. I breathed a sigh when I realised that the snake was actually a statue. The snake had three heads, each of them possessing a pair of horns. Had it been a living creature, it would have been an extremely hard job to tame it as I would have to tame each head separately.
“Look,” Lana said. She pointed a shivering finger at the tail of the statue. I frowned and watched, my heart sinking like a stone in water, as the tail of the statue cracked, and bits of it fell to the floor, revealing scales of a live snake underneath.
The crack spread.
“Try to distract it,” I said to Lana. “I’ll get behind its head and try to tame it.” Mere moments ago I had been so relaxed thinking the snake was really a statue. One by one, chunks of the outer coat of the statue fell to the floor. The snake underneath came to life and shook away the pieces of the statue that were still attached to its body.
In a matter of seconds it was completely free. And now the three heads hissed at me and Lana. I gulped.
The head in the middle opened its mouth wide, revealing sword-like fangs that needn’t inject venom to kill, even though I knew the fangs were quite capable of injecting venom as well.
Lana flew away from me in a bid to distract the demon snake. The head on the left side watched her earnestly. The head in the middle was looking at me fixedly, while the head in the right side kept glancing towards the back, as though it expected an attack from anywhere.
Damn, it would be hard to deal with this demon.
For a while the three heads of the snake just observed me and Lana.
And then Lana went for the attack. She suddenly shot towards the left head that had been following her every movement. She landed a massive punch right in the middle of the head, right between the horns and then she flew away to a safer position.
The snake-head opened its mouth wide. Venom shot out from its fangs. Lana made a move at the very last moment and was able to escape the venom. The venom went and fell on the wall instead. Immediately the part of the wall on which the venom had made contact began to fizzle and melt.
I realised that we had to use a really nice plan. It was hard to distract a demon that had three heads. I beckoned Lana and she flew back to me, even as the snake approached the two of us.
“Distraction isn’t working,” I said to Lana. I was looking steadily at the snake and I realised that it was moving slowly not necessarily because it was too relaxed or tired, but because it was able to move at only a certain speed. It was not easy to carry the three heads, which were together much heavier than the rest of the body.
I saw a window of opportunity in this. Lana was powerful. There was only a single tail. There was enough space in the room to try out a few things. I turned towards Lana, and even with the snake approaching us menacingly, I managed a smile.
“Care to spin a snake?” I told her. I quickly told her about my plan. Lana began to hover, while I approached the three heads of the snake. This time it was I who was going to be the distraction.
I began to run left and right in front of the three heads of the snake, waving my sword. The heads became locked at me, for I was in front of a different head every second. Lana took the opportunity and she was able to fly over the heads of the snake and landed near the tail. I had been observing her and for the tiniest moment I had not looked at the three heads.
Suddenly the snake charged in a way that I had not thought it was capable of. The next moment, I was lying with my back against the floor, smelling the foul breath of the middle snake head, while at the same time pushing against the fangs of the snake-head with all my might in a bid to prevent the snake-head from swallowing me. I watched as a drop of venom oozed from the tips of each fang.
My heart stopped beating.
At the precise moment before any of the drops could fall on me, the snake was pulled away from me. It was Lana. She had grabbed the tail of the snake and now she began to spin the monster. Even as I scrambled to my feet, making sure no venom had contacted my skin or my clothes; I had to admit that Lana was one strong woman.
Five times Lana spun the snake, which kept hissing even as it went round in circles. Then Lana let go, the massive snake flew a short distance and its heads collided against the wall. The eyes of the three heads were shut in pain. This was my chance. I ran at full speed to the snake and I climbed onto the head on the right side. I grabbed the horns and focused my taming powers. I broke into the snake-head’s mind and chased out the black magic. The snake-head went limp.
One down, two to go.
Except the other two snake heads were ready. The head in the middle pounced at me. I leapt away and instead the snake-head ended up biting the other head which I had tamed. My eyes fell on Lana, lying on the floor a good distance away. She seemed all spent. She wouldn’t be able to carry out the move a second time.
I decided upon my next course of action. The middle head with much effort pulled out its fangs from the head that was now limp. The snake tried to move towards it, but with the right head down, it was having a hard time as it had to drag the limp head along.
I put my legs to use and I ran towards the snake’s tail. The middle head shot venom at me, but it missed me by a couple of metres. I reached the torso of the snake and I changed my mind. I quickly climbed onto the back of the snake and made my way towards the two heads, moving over the back of the snake.
I aimed with my sword and I threw it. It spun as it went and embedded itself near the nose of the snake-head on the left. It was one lucky throw. As the snake-head on the left began to hit itself on the floor in an attempt to get rid of the sword, which only went deeper ever time the snake-head hit itself on the floor, I was able to move on top of the middle snake-head. I grabbed the horns hard, refusing to let go, even as the snake-head swung itself like mad to throw me away. I was able to break into his mind and chase away the black magic. As the middle snake-head went limp, I let out a sigh.
In response, I heard an angry hiss from the left. I gulped and turned to watch the left snake-head staring directly at me. It had given up trying to get rid of the sword. It revealed its fangs. I closed my eyes, expecting to feel my face melt the next second.
Instead, a very strong forced impacted the snake so that I was thrown to the floor. I opened my eyes and looked up. Lana had somehow been able to conjure enough strength to come and hit the left snake-head at the nick of time. She flew down to the ground and fell on her knees, he
r face pale and eyes unfocused. I quickly ran to the left snake-head, for despite everything it was beginning to stir again. I grabbed the horns and in a matter of seconds I had chased away the black magic.
The entire snake began to shrink in size. In a few minutes the snake had transformed into an old lady, who had silvery hair much like the old man in the other room. She was unconscious.
I went over to Lana, who looked quite dazed. She had spent a lot of energy.
“Are you all right?” I asked her. She made the smallest of nods. I touched her forehead with my forehead. Then I realised what I was doing made no sense, and I quickly pulled my head up, as Lana slowly opened her eyes. She lifted her hand just a bit and pointed at one of the walls.
A doorway had appeared there. This doorway led to the room with the sarcophagus. There were also some numbers over the doorway like the previous doorways.
2-1=1
“I don’t think I’ll be able to go there,” Lana said, her voice strained.
“You don’t need to,” I said, “you just rest here. I’ll go and destroy the succubus vessel.”
I was about to get up when Lana grasped my hands. She looked into my eyes. The two of us had never looked at each other like that before. And then she let go.
I walked to the doorway, my body in pains from all the exertion. After a final glance at Lana and the old lady, I stepped through the doorway. The moment I did so, the doorway turned to wall.
I exhaled and I approached the sarcophagus. Who knew what dangers lurked in this room?
I touched the lid of the sarcophagus first with a finger and looked at all the dust that was settled over it. Then I grabbed the lid with both my hands and pulled up, giving all my energy. The lid came off and I threw it onto the floor.
There was a succubus inside the sarcophagus.
For the first time in my life I had met a succubus that could cast no charm, for she was mummified, her eyes closed. She was mostly covered in bandages, but there were places where her skin was exposed. It was black, having a very ancient look. Also a queer aroma hung about her.
So that’s it? A mummified succubus? What was I supposed to do next?
Chains of a Succubus Page 13
