All of them stood at the edge of the abyss, looking down into the dark.
"If you jump down there, you have the chance of saving your friend or at least saving her soul form eternal torment." Medusa smirked from her stop in the tree.
"Can we trust her?" Gin asked glancing at the others.
"No, but we have to help Yukari and we have nothing better to go on." Tsukune held his head low staring into the pit.
"How do we know there isn't another swarm of those things down there?" Ruby asked.
"That's the chance we are going to have to take." Kurumu said her face streaked with dried tears. She then took Tsukune's hand in hers, his Ruby's hers Gin's his Mizore's and hers Moka's. As they jumped off the edge they could hear Medusa shout.
"Follow the light!"
And with that they fell. For what seemed like ages they fell into total darkness. They did not scream nor panic, only gripped each other's hands tighter. After so long the light of the gaping crag they leapt from was no longer visible above them but rather below.
"Did we get turned around?!" Moka shouted, her voice bouncing back from the walls.
"No because we are still falling in that direction." Mizore stated calmly. The light grew brighter and brighter until they passed through the last of the black and into an open cavern. Where an orb of light that shone like the sun. As their eyes adjusted to the light, Gin was the first to notice.
"Ground!" He yelped. In a moment of shock everyone let go of each other's hands.
"Brakes!" Gin screamed. Ruby took hold of Moka and Mizore. Kurumu grabbed Tsukune and transformed, the five of them began to gently float downward while Gin continued to free fall.
"Hey what about me?!" He screamed. Hitting the ground like a meteor, causing sand to billow in a great cloud around him. The others landed where he crashed head first into the sand. Only his flailing legs were to be seen kicking about. Tsukune and Moka each foot and pulled him to an upright position. His hair was now salted with sand, his face had a mask made of and his shirt had a sandy overcoat. He shook madly like a wet dog after a bath, sending sand flying onto the others.
"That was…Awesome! Let's do that again!" He shouted with a triumphant look on his face. The others, now covered in sand themselves, watched with annoyance through scratchy eyes.
"Well, where are we?" Kurumu asked dusting herself off. They all looked around and saw nothing but sand dunes for as far as the eye could see.
"It looks like a desert." Tsukune said looking around.
"It certainly feels like it." Gin grumbled taking of his green jacket,
"Speak for yourself…" Mizore mumbled already sweating.
"Where do we go from here? We have to hurry and find Yukari." Kurumu stated walking around the group on circles, looking out across the sand.
"She said to follow the light. That must mean the orb. So we follow it as it sets." Tsukune said pointing to the orb then drew his arm down until he was headed in a direction.
"Let's go." As they began to walk a voice rang out with joy.
"I have an idea!" Ruby bounced with excitement. Pulling out her wand and mumbling a few words. In a flash of light and a puff of smoke, a giant crow appeared.
"Ok, hop on." She said with a proud smile. They all climbed onto the crow and held to its feathers tightly. With Ruby sitting in front the crow gave a loud squawk and flapped its massive black wings, slowly lifting them into the air.
The great crow took them high in the air and they began to fly out across the dunes. Just as the group was getting comfortable with the rocking of the bird as it flew, an endless wall of pitch black darkness shot up and towered high above them, the bird balked in midair then slowly flapped its wings as they hovered. Crimson eyes shone from within the black and a deep booming voice thundered over them
"You all are very foolish to have come to this place of death and desolation. You believe you can fly to my home and take what you want?" The voice spoke making them cover their ears. The eyes disappeared but the wall remained and the sound of hundreds of flapping wings filled the air.
"Oh shit! Down you blasted bird! Down!" Gin shouted as the horde of devils returned from the black. The bird squawked and dove to the ground.
"No! No! No! Not this fast!" Ruby screamed.
"No! Faster! Faster!" Gin shrieked hanging onto the bird's tail feathers as a pair of devils clung to his shoes. The crow plowed into the ground beak first, killing itself and sending the group flying in a flurry of feathers and sand. Each of them crashed to the ground then stumbled to get up again and run.
The hordes lie to the dead crow and feast upon its flesh. Tearing it open, gnashing their teeth and fighting amongst themselves for a piece of it.
"Oh my God…" Moka covered her mouth as she watched.
"Quick let's get going before they finish." Tsukune grabbed her shoulders and pulling her away from the blood bath. She slowly ripped her gaze from the massacre.
"Has anyone seen my shoe?" Gin asked holding up his shoeless foot. The shoe then fell from the sky and hit his head with a Clop. A lone devil snickered and flew away.
They all quickly marched away from the horde and continued walking until the orb started to sink and light began to fade.
"We best not risk traveling at night and being caught by something worse than those things back there." Mizore said panting from the heat even though it was growing night.
"Thanks sunshine that's just what we needed on our minds!" Gin snarled.
"She's right though. We should stay here and not travel at night. Ruby can you give us some light so we can see if anything is coming or a spell that will protect us in the night?
"I'm too weak for a protection spell right now but I can give plenty of light." Ruby said aiming her wand at the ground between them and a fire appeared between them along with several orbs of light appeared around their camp. Each of them huddled around the fire and kept a close eye on the darkness around them.
"Ok we will take two hour shifts and change out as the lookout. I'll go first then I'll wake up the next and so on. If the light isn't back by the last person then we will have to leave if we want a chance at saving Yuakri. Get some sleep everyone." Tsukune then sat by the fire and watched as his friends gradually fell asleep.
Two hours later:
Tsukune gently nudged Kurumu's shoulder and she sat up with a groggy look on her face.
"It's your turn Kurumu. If there is even the slightest thing, wake us up." She nodded then sat up by the fire with her knees tucked under her chin.
One hour later:
Tsukune was fast asleep, dreaming of the way things were before he was turned. In his slumber he felt a hand touch his chest just over his heart.
"What wro…?!" He was cut off by a hand that slapped over his mouth
"Shh!" Kurumu hissed, looking over her shoulder to the others. Moka rustled slightly but remained asleep.
"Is something wrong?" Tsukune asked, looking around.
"Yes. I was getting lonely." She smiled weakly to which Tsukune sighed then with a soft smile gave her a warm hug.
"Ok, two sets of eyes are better than one." He sat with her by the fire, both staring into the warm glow while occasionally looking up to check their surroundings but nothing ever came.
Tsukune yawned loudly.
"Sorry I'm drifting off." He began to go back to sleep when Kurumu shook him.
"No you can't go to sleep now. It's not even close to Gin's turn." She protested clinging to Tsukune's arm. He yawned again and turned back around and sat beside her once more.
"Tsukune there's something I want to talk to you about." Kurumu said quietly watching the flames dance.
"Sure anything." Tsukune muttered, dozing.
"Do you think…What I mean is…I was going to say…God why does this have to be so hard?" She grumbled.
"Zzz…"
"Tsukune?" She looked over to see he had fallen asleep sitting up.
"Oh well…It can wait." She said to herself, reaching over and pulling the sleeping young man to her. He leaned into and his head gently fell on her breasts.
"Soft pillow." He mumbled in his sleep, squeezing them gently. She blushed deeply and giggled.
"Silly boy." She smiled releasing her tail and wings. She wrapped her tail around his body from waist to chest then wrapped her wings around them both like a blanket, then drifted off to sleep with her head resting on his. The night remained quiet and everyone slept peacefully, especially Tsukune.