by Brian Nyaude
35
I will be honest, it was the anticipation that was killing me. I had been falling through the passage for what seemed like a half hour or more, unaware of what was in front of me or behind me. The tunnel walls were flat out smooth, I could barely latch onto anything. If that prisoner had come through this way then how had he climbed all the way up? Trying to make sense of the things I had seen through Okaya made my head ache. Really, I had seen my fair share of weird stuff in many countries; however, Okaya by far topped them all in terms of creepiness. Before I knew, my legs hit the ground roughly, sending an eerie jolt of pain throughout my whole body. I think I was standing on solid ground. Looking briefly around, faint light came into view, revealing everything around me. One by one, candles lit up all the way through this new underground passage. Confused, I lowered my shoulders down and took a small break. Out of nowhere, I heard screams coming from every direction, followed by horrible laughter. What was this madness? I began to sweat a little as fear and anxiety began to take its toll on me. This place was really starting to get to me in a very bad way.
“Must keep going,” I thought to myself barely able to walk as my knees trembled. “Tye and Paul are here somewhere.”
I felt them clearly, large and terrible energies from very strong enemies. This sensation sent massive chills down my spine, I could barely stand it. Combine that with the heat in this place and you get one scared and confused Rid. Even my sweat was burning, turning into gas before it fell down my neck. Who could live in such conditions?
“What are you doing here soldier?” a terrible voice came from behind me, making me jump away. “Bahaha you have never been down here have you? That woman keeps on recruiting amateurs each year and it truly is annoying me. You rookies can’t handle the madness and seem to die young.”
Why was it that every bad person I met always snuck up on me from behind my back? It was truly an irritating trait they all shared. I glared back and caught sight of monstrous human who was almost the size of Ogana and carried a huge club in his hands. It was bloody and he reeked of rotten flesh and onions. But why onions? I mean I could understand rotten flesh; however, not onions, completely not what I was expecting. He walked closer to me and smiled lightly like we were friends. There was something about his red eyes that sent cold chills into my heart. This person! No, I don’t think he was even human at all and I didn’t mean it literally.
“Well speak,” he rattled raising his club and adjusting his weight.
This fiend was truly the definition of frightening on all levels of that word.
“I was I was sent to look for a prisoner,” I stuttered trying to keep my composure away from panicking. “His name is Paul.”
He looked at me weirdly like I had said something funny before laughing at me in a mocking manner. All my fears slowly vanished at the thought of him laughing at me when I mentioned Paul’s name. This monster was in need of a fierce beating, even more so than Dashe.
“Oh that guy,” he burst out laughing again with tears falling out of his eyes. “He is down on the last level of the floor to your right. You should have been hear when I pummeled him and his friend before Katarina took her turn. Those were truly the good times. Ahh, I see so your superior told you to come down to practice your torturing skills on our mute prisoner. Well have fun soldier and don’t hold back. He is a tough one to crack.”
What? I couldn’t believe everything that came out of his mouth. Shaking slowly, I felt a surge of fury rush through my body the moment I heard him talk about beating up my two friends. My rage was followed by tears, realizing my friends were suffering tremendously and I wasn’t there beside them. It had been my fault that they were captured. If only I had never taken those objects. If only I could go back in time and right my wrong. After a few moments of regretting deeply, I lowered my fists and took over my emotions. I did not attack the huge man for what he had done even though he deserved it and even more. Revenge was no way to save them and besides if I attacked him, I would only alert the guards to my position.
“I’m going to end this madness,” I whispered to myself, walking away from the giant man towards the hall to the next floor.
Everything in this country was all wrong. So many people had suffered without anyone standing up to do anything about it. Ebi’s words were finally starting to make sense, the Rainku needed to be stopped now. For too long, these savage monsters had preyed upon us uncontrolled and unrelentingly. Whether by my hand or someone else, they had to be defeated and sent back into the abyss. I came to the end of the floor and stopped. There were brown concrete stairs leading down to the next floor. Something suddenly caught my attention quickly. Further down, there appeared to be a small and faint glimmer of light, coming from inside a thick walled room. Even with my enhanced vision, I could not penetrate the walls completely to see what was inside. Oh well, it wasn’t important so there was no need to concern myself with such a petty find. What lay ahead of me now was my main and only concern. My friends were down there waiting for me. Inside the mouth of the beast, there was definitely no way to turn back. I followed the stairs down until I came towards a fork in the middle. One went left and the other went right. They all led to different sections of the underground layer of the castle. According to the huge man I had met moments ago, Paul and Tye were at the last floor on the right. So all I had to do was go right. This was so intense, I mean I was so anxious and excited at the same time. I was about to see my friends who at the least hoped were still alive and well. Without hesitation, I climbed down the stairs to the right, watching my every step carefully. The last thing I wanted to do was to drop my guard down inside the layer of my greatest enemy. Briefly, I felt the air shift around me and became heavier and toxic. Disgusting! What a truly horrible smell. Wait, I stopped in my tracks, sensing a powerful presence below me. Just like the other monstrous humans in this place, it felt so dark and sinister. No, I think this presence was far much darker and powerful. I could take one guess. It had to be her or who else could it be? But what was Katarina Fox doing down here?
“So much for my surprise attack,” I snickered in a comment in a whisper.
Yes, I felt a rush of fear creep in slowly. My knees buckled on me, making it hard to keep moving. Truth be told, I wanted to get away as far from this place as soon as possible. Just then, her energy disappeared without warning into nothingness. Was that really her? Had I imagined it out of fear or was it truly real? A drop of sweat fell on my eyelid and I quickly wiped it away with the palm of my hand before continuing down the stairs. There was no longer any point in hiding since the soldiers knew I was still inside somewhere and they had possibly alerted their master. At this point, it was probably best to think that I was walking into a trap, not that I could help it anyway. Sooner or later, our paths were going to cross. If possible, I wanted it to be after I had freed my friends from her clutches. Placing my back against the wall, I descended down on the last step quickly observing my surroundings. The smell down here only got worse and it was constricting my lungs and making me a bit dizzy.
“Please let there be no people down here,” I whispered calmly holding my breath, walking through the new corridor.
I was finally here, getting closer to my friends with each step I took. Despite all the hard obstacles, I felt happy and calm for some unknown reason. Don’t celebrate just yet, this was just the beginning of the end. Heat brimmed down from everywhere on this floor. It was hot, I mean really hot. You could cook dinner by placing the pot on the floor hot. Call me crazy, but I think this was Pitto, the layer of the fire dragons. To my right and then left, I saw metal doors, the kind used in a dungeon. Sadly, I think prisoners lived here. So where were the dragons? It certainly was a hot enough to assume there was here. Deep down, I was curious to see them. I had heard rumors about them and wanted to see a real one for myself. Strangely there were no guards around on this floor. Perhaps, they couldn’t handle the heat. I know I couldn’t. Watching my steps, I tiptoed to one of t
he doors close to me and peeped inside curiously. There was a man lying on the floor barely breathing and sweating heavily. How was he even alive? Could anyone survive down here? I looked through the other doors and noticed the same thing. So this was the place where the vilest of her adversaries were kept. How could she do this? I had to help them but how? The doors were jammed inside and only the true guards knew how to open them. I tried putting all my weight on the door in front of me and it didn’t work.
Ow! Hot! The door handle scorched the palms of my hands badly. How these people were surviving down here was truly a mystery. They had less than a week or so to live judging by how weak their life force was. Realizing there was nothing I could do, I turned around and walked away in regret.
“I’ll come back and set you all free,” I yelled to all of them though I doubted they heard me. “I promise.”
Could I truly keep that promise? Needless to say, my chances of walking away victorious were grim to none. She was just too powerful. To make things worse, she had another unknown power which Ebi failed to mention on several occasions. If it worked on him then what were the chances it wouldn’t work on me? At the end of the floor, I felt another presence. It was small and barely noticeable to anyone, but me. My eyes widened as my heart began to race. It felt familiar; however, I couldn’t tell exactly who it was. It had to be either Paul or Tye. But why was I sensing only one of them instead of two? Had something happened? Anticipating the worst, I picked up the pace and started running carelessly ignoring the dangers around me. I stopped completely, in front of this hard and impenetrable door. At last, the only thing standing between me and my companions. There was a knob on the door which I quickly gripped and forced open. The large door screeched as it opened wide apart.
“Hey wait your turn,” a voice said coming inside. “I’m not done beating him up yet so come back after a little while.”
Inside, I saw a man strapped from chains all around his hands and feet. Next to him, a guard stood holding a long whip in his right hand. Slowly, I got in and I closed the door behind me. Upon closer look, I realized who the shirtless dangling man was. It was Paul. Despite his worn down appearance, I knew it was him. I had finally found him at last.
“Well if you are staying, grab a whip and help me make him talk,” the guard said in distasteful voice. “Maybe we can be the ones that make him talk.”
Talk! What did that mean? Paul had been the most active and talkative person in our group of three. What was wrong with his voice? What had they done to him? And where was Tye? I looked around and saw empty blooded hand chains next to Paul. Someone had been there next to him, I am guessing Tye. The guard laughed and lashed Paul on the back with a whip twice before wiping his forehead. Anger stirred right out of me, almost making me lose my mind. Driven mad by rage, I sprinted swiftly towards him a kicked him in the head with a powerful kick. He didn’t fall surprisingly, but my leg was ricocheted back with twice the speed. How could this be? That kick was one of my best close combat finishing moves. It should have knocked him out permanently; however, it didn’t.
“What’s the meaning of this?” he roared at me with intense rage. “Explain now soldier?”
What was his head made of? It felt like I had hit a dense solid object. My entire left leg echoed throughout my body with unbearable pain. I straightened my back, feeling the numbing pain in my leg slightly. At this point, there was no longer any need to hide my true identity. Out of anger, I had attacked him, revealing myself as the enemy. I took a few steps back and peered through the glass opening in the large door. There were no other guards closes by, meaning this was going to be a one on one battle. Even saying that, I knew this was not going to be a walk in the park. This soldier was truly strong, far much stronger than the others I had faced outside. Paul suddenly looked down with an express of concern on his face. It felt like he knew it was me somehow. He smiled and dropped his head to the ground without saying anything verbally. He had been through a lot and I wasn’t going to leave this place without him or Tye. I took a few steps forward and stopped, removing my helmet and mask. Focusing instantly, I activated my mind slipper technique and tried to enter the soldier’s mind while his guard was down. To my surprise, he didn’t try to move at all or block it at all. In fact he stood rather confident. He dispelled the technique somehow without even doing a thing.
“I see,” he chucked placing his hands on his helmet before vanishing into the wind. “So you are the intruder who has been making this ruckus. Now it all makes sense, this guy must be your friend.”
“What the!” I looked in all directions.
The soldier had vanished like the air, lingering out of my sight. I could still feel his presence all around me, like he became the air itself. Sensing danger behind, I jumped up barely dodging an attack that destroyed a wall behind me. I don’t know how, but I felt it before it came.
Okay, where was he now? He had completely vanished again into the thin air. I was at a disadvantage, the heat was getting to me and my enemy was extremely fast. I could not see him despite his massive body that weighed more than a ton of rock. Taking refuge in a corner, I watched carefully for anything out of the ordinary. It was then, small fist size chunks of hard crystals began to emerge fast towards my position. Because of their speed, they were barely visible, almost transparent. I only saw them because of the power of my eyesight. Instinctively I dug my feet into the ground and then jumped up as high as I could. More crystal rocks followed them, coming into the air too. I barely dodged a few of them before falling down to the ground. My arm hurt, it had been struck by one of the small crystals. Thanks to the coat, the wound was not that deep.
“What now?” I thought to myself, looking around out of sheer frustration. I removed the pieces of tiny crystals stuck on my coat and rolled up.
My enemy was too powerful. Using regular tactics was not going to heel him over. To my left, tinier crystals emerged, going in every direction I could ever think of dodging. It was now or never to act and I chose now. Within a split of a second, I summoned my yellow energy, concentrating it to the limits before releasing it in form of a small sphere around my body. It wasn’t as big as the one I had used on the old man, but it was effective enough to destroy all of the crystals within my radius.
“Very good, nicely done” the soldier commented, becoming visible again to me. I could see his sinister eyes staring down at me through his helmet mask “Why don’t we try this again?”
No, I didn’t want to drag this fight any longer and risk the chance of getting Paul caught in the cross fire. It had to end now. Upon using the first blast sphere, I had made a loud ruckus throughout the whole underground basement. It wouldn’t be long before reinforcements arrived to back him up. I hoped to be gone by then. I took my eyes off him for a second and focused, extending my arms out while raising my energy as much as I could. The orange energy appeared along with my two guns. Following it, a brush of yellow energy came all over my body immensely. The two powers blended together, balancing each other’s weakness whilst giving me a large burst of strength.
“This will end it,” I replied him raising my guns.
I fired quickly at him without allowing him a chance to vanish again into the air. To my disappointment, I missed. He had scurried out of harm’s way like a rat way before the bullets were even fired. My bullets hit the wall hard, breaking the steel plating off them to the other side.
He might have disappeared; however, I was ready for him this time. I could feel his lingering shadow in the air around me. Dashing to my right, I saw through his crystal attacks easier than before, getting out of harm’s way before things could get dicey. My sense of perception had increased greatly. That aside, I was still unable to keep up with his speed because of my painful body and also the large amount of strain I was under upon summoning my third blast.
“So you are the fool who sneaked into the castle huh?” he asked me while attacking me relentlessly with his massive crystal f
ist. “What were you thinking? You don’t really think you stand a chance now do you?”
Good question! Even now I regretted coming alone. Even more so, it was guilt that drove me greatly towards this suicide quest. It was my fault my friends had been captured and tortured. I could not bear the thought of abandoning them and fleeing like a coward again.
“You are absolutely right,” I said to him looking down for a second. “But truth is, I have sacrificed a lot to make it this far. It would be a shame to just turn tails and run back. Katarina will find me regardless of where I am so I won’t run, not without my friends.”
I heard him laugh out loudly like he was mocking me greatly. He suddenly ricocheted his entire weight at me and landed a massive blow to my chest. I heard something snap inside followed by uncontrolled pain. I squinted my eyes a little trying to ignore the pain. His weight was pressing hard on my shoulders as he tried to overpower me. Before I knew it, my head hit the ground hard. The soldier placed all his weight into his right hand, trying to press hard against my head. Unable to bear the pain, I grabbed his arm and pushed it away from me. Getting back to my feet just in the nick of time to avoid a fatal shoulder spear. I grabbed both his arms and began to push back, starting our final tug of war. He was tough and as strong as I expected. But I did not give up, knowing fully well what would happen if I did. My legs were on their last stand, about to give out at any given moment. Was this as far as I was meant to go? Had I changed or was I still that weak coward my father hated so much? But then it hit me, the reason why I was going through all this pain in the beginning. It was not revenge that pushed me forward but the brotherhood love and friendship I had formed. Unlike my stepbrother James I hated, Paul and Tye were more like family to me. They were people who meant something to me, something I could never leave without. When I learned of their kidnapping, I was devastated. It felt like my heart had been ripped open and left for the world to see. I looked at Paul slowly and finally found my resolution and will to fight and live on. I could not afford to die here. Everyone had placed their hopes in me because I had been chosen by the gauntlet. I had done the impossible and went against the Rainku. For the sake of my fallen comrades, I would struggle on. Sturdily, I began to push him back towards the other wall. I was so caught up by my determination that I did not realize I had lifted him up in the air and sent him flying into the wind. The soldier smashed into a wall fiercely and did not get up. Whilst, I just stood there panting heavily in pain.
“I once had nothing to fight for, lost in the dark, but then I found something greater to protect,” I replied him beaming with even greater power than before. “You will never understand because you fight for yourself. I may look like a fool now, but if it’s to save my friends then I will proudly call myself one.”
For some strange reason, I felt lighter than usual. I couldn’t feel the strain and pain from using my third blast fusion anymore. I lowered my shoulders and looked down at the fallen soldier. By chance, I hoped he would stay that way. It would be bad if he got up and came for some more because I was tired, completely worn out. To my disappointment, he did just that. I watched the soldier get back to his feet, wiping off the debris from his mask.
He laughed. “Do you think you have what it takes to bring Katarina Fox down? You might be stronger than me, but she is far more powerful than anyone you have ever faced before.”
True, I was inclined to agree. She was strong; however, strength wasn’t always everything. Nothing was always certain in life. As long as I still had breath left in my body, I would fight on till my body and soul crumbled. Even if my life ended here, it would be worth it.
“You know something?” I snickered in a comment to cut the silence. “Even the strong have to fall someday, nothing lasts forever. Katarina’s reign shall end at our hands.”
“Interesting words my young friend, but the truth is you shall fall by my hands,” the soldier laughed as he crystallized his entire body along with the walls behind him.
Finally, he was becoming serious and it was something I had eagerly waited for. It gave me a chance to test out my true power and see I how much I had improved. Again, his presence completely vanished, only to appear in front of me with his hand in my stomach. I grunted slowly as he had knocked my breath with a punch to my stomach.
“See what did I tell you?” he spoke trying to free his hand away from my grip. ”Your words are nothing but words. Someone as weak as you can never take down Katarina Fox. You are too weak and you care for others which only make you even weaker and pathetic.”
At the last fraction of a second before his attack connected, I had managed to grab a hold of his hand and decreased the impact of the attack to my chest. Holding tightly to his hand, I rested my body for a couple of seconds.
“You who fights for himself and for the fun of seeing others in misery will never beat me,” I responded him throwing his body into another wall.
Whoa! I could not believe how strong I had become. It seemed the power of the gauntlet increased when my emotions were strong and solid. At this rate, there was no telling how strong I would become. Looking around, I was clearly running out of walls to throw him into. I looked down at him and no longer saw him as a threat anymore. His mist power had been bothersome, but not anymore. It was time. I had to end it now before other guards showed up. Seconds ago, I had felt large energies converge towards our location. By my guess, his reinforcements and trouble for me.
“I have to go so I will end it quickly if you don’t mind,” I warned him as I raised my guns up and fired point blank at him.
I had no intention of killing him, but just knock him out for as long as possible. Without anywhere for him to run to, I saw the bullets hit him and engulf him completely into the last metal wall standing. There was a loud bang followed by a quick rattle in the ground. Thankfully, he didn’t get up or move at all. It was finally over.
“Like I said, even the strong will fall one day.”
36
