Chapter 7
Serapis

They had felt the rumbling, yet they had not heard the last screams Leon and Bernard would ever make.

Link had no problem catching Zelda, but she nailed him with a bony elbow right in his stomach nearly causing him to lose his grip. "And just where do you think you're going?" he gritted out.

"Get your hands off me!" she retorted.

"I'm simply doing what I was hired to do. Promise me you won't run and I'll let you go."

"Fine, I promise…now keep your end of the deal!"

"That's real princess-like," Link said with a smirk as he relinquished his hold on her.

Nodin abruptly came running up. "W-what did your people…They better not have…How could they have gotten past…" he fumbled to form complete sentences yet failed miserably; a frantic look sparkled in his eyes.

"What?" Link asked in confusion.

"Come on, we've got to find Kiani and Kitty!" Nodin said urgently as Fay and Dr. Shivens finally caught up.

"Think you can get us there?" Fay asked him.

"No, we'll have to go it the hard way," Nodin glumly told her.

"…Feel free to lead the way anytime now…" Link said slowly. It was evident he wasn't the only one left in a baffled state. Everyone else, excluding Nodin and Fay of course, had not been able to figure out what exactly was going on and what the big deal was.

"You're right, come on!" Nodin replied.

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Kiani's dark eyes narrowed when he heard the rumbling. Apparently someone had lied about there not being more people brought into this place…That could be the only possibility.

He did meet up with Kitty, but when the rumbling had occurred he had darted right on by her towards the prison chamber. He just had to keep the creature from making its escape…Even though he had not seen the surface in years, the land above would be doomed if he didn't.

When he arrived at the jeweled door though, he found it sitting there wide open. From where he stood, he could see a pool of blood shimmering in the magic-produced light of the empty room.

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"What is going on?" Ami asked when Nodin and company joined them.

"They haven't explained anything to us either…" Link muttered in reply.

"Where's Kiani at?" Fay questioned worriedly.

"He went on ahead…He had me wait for you guys…" Kitty softly clarified.

"Then we've got to go after him," Nodin said.

"You won't be going any where…" a sibilant voice hissed. Fay instantly held out her hand and a golden colored sword appeared in its grasp.

Link looked around to see who had spoken, but found no one. Well, not until a creature of significant size dropped down right in front of him that is. It was with more awe than fear that he studied this creature.

Its massive head was like that of a humanoid cobra, its black scales glimmered in the light around its hypnotic yellow eyes, and deadly fangs jutted out from its upper jaw. Its body resembled a very muscular human, though it was covered in more of the coarse black scales. Its hands and feet were big and disproportionate to the rest of its body as they extended into the long, curved fingers and toes, each with a dangerously sharp claw attached.

"W-what is th-that…thing?" Dr. Shivens asked; his body language giving away his immense fear.

"My vengeance shall be complete this day…" it growled in its snake-like voice.

Kitty was visibly shaken, but she stood her ground. "We've brought you down before and we can do it again! We've shown that we can beat you, Serapis. If I were you, I wouldn't even try anything."

"Aw yes, you just keep telling yourself that when I'm sinking my teeth into your flesh."

Link drew his sword and joined Fay in a battle stance. Nodin and Kitty stepped up beside them as well.

"Is this strange boy in green a replacement for Kiani?" the creature, now known as Serapis, asked with a hoarse laugh as though it found humor in the situation. It struck out with a well-muscled arm at Link, but Link was too quick on his feet for him and was able to avoid the blow.

"Actually, I'm right behind you," Kiani's voice abruptly resounded out, coming from behind the monstrosity that was Serapis.

"Get him when he turns his back to us…" Fay whispered to Link.

Serapis immediately whirled around upon hearing Kiani's voice, just as Fay had known he would do and she went on the attack and drove her weapon into Serapis' back. Sparks scattered everywhere as the sword struck the hard scales, but it did not pierce through. She froze with a look of astonishment, as if this had never happened before. Kiani dove pass Serapis and joined them on the other side. Serapis turned as well, laughing.

"I've had plenty of time to improve, even being imprisoned as I was," he said with what looked to be a grin on his strange face; not an ounce of pain was evident in his voice…Fay's attack had not hurt him in the least bit. It seemed more like it had humored him. "In fact, I can show you what else I can do…"

Princess Zelda surprised them all by stepping right in front of it, "Why don't you just go back to the hell hole you came from?"

"Dang…" Link said with a laugh despite the dire situation, as he yanked her back before Serapis could get her.

"I will do no such thing!" he roared and a ball of pulsating energy abruptly appeared above his head before slamming into the ceiling above them.

There was a booming explosion and chunks of stone began falling down. Serapis charged through this and swung his claws in a wide arc, severing the head of Eliot who was the unfortunate one that had been unable to duck in time. Ami let out a scream and then turned heels and ran in the opposite direction.

Link cast Eliot's lifeless corpse a sad glance, but he didn't have time to be concerned when Serapis was preparing to repeat the attack. Serapis' claws went flying at Zelda, but Link was able to deflect them by catching them on his sword.

The hallway wasn't all that wide, and Link knew they needed to get out of there and come up with a strategic plan to take down this creature. Maybe Ami's idea wasn't such a bad one after all…

Link signaled to Shivens after sheathing his sword and then dragged Zelda with him in the direction Ami had gone. Dr. Shivens followed right behind him. Those other people could deal with Serapis…he had been hired to protect the princess and that was what he was going to do. Projecting one last look backwards, he was taken aback to see a large slab of stone fall downwards, separating Serapis from the annoying four.

"We've got to regroup and make plans!" Nodin was heard yelling. "Teleport us out of here Kitty, now!" And in a flash…they were gone.

Link heard an exceptionally loud crash, but kept on going. "Th-that thing…is coming after us!" Dr. Shivens suddenly exclaimed. Link merely picked up the pace, picked Zelda up into his arms, and hoped that Dr. Shivens would be able to keep up. He had caught up to Ami by this point and she persisted to run alongside him.

They narrowly avoided having their heads cleaved off when a lethally sharp blade shot out of the wall at neck level. Luckily enough for them, Link had excellent reflexes and had knocked them over as he ducked under it.

Ami's eyes were wide in shock at the close call and Dr. Shivens didn't utter a sound. They continued onward with Serapis' heavy footsteps driving them on. Link chose to take several different turns off that main path they were on with the hopes of losing their pursuer…it didn't work.

Serapis was getting closer and closer by the second, and despite Link's plan, he felt they were doomed to be caught should circumstances remain the same. Zelda didn't struggle in his arms and instead, she had her head buried in his chest and hands clinging to him in a death grip. He didn't know why he had picked her up…it had just…felt like the right thing to do. He certainly hoped that 'right' thing was based upon a sense of duty to do his job…not unbridled emotions that should have diminished a long time ago.

A blast of energy struck a wall in front of him and suddenly, there was no where left to run. Before them was a pile of continuously falling rubble from the blast, and Link knew Serapis now stood behind them waiting. If he had to…he would fight.

"W-what are we going to…do?" Dr. Shivens asked, already having turned to face the predator that hunted them.

Link set Zelda down on her feet and drew his sword from its sheath. "I will do what I can, all y'all are gonna have to get past him while I serve as a diversion."

There was no protest to this but if one had looked closely, they might have seen the worry that flashed across Zelda's sapphire blue eyes before it was replaced with the justifiable fear they all felt.

Link never had a chance to put this plan that was sure to end against his favor because Kitty abruptly appeared as Serapis broke into a charge, and in a flash, the hallway and the creature were no longer to be seen in their line of vision…

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Yes! I finally finished this not-so-good-yet-very-hard-to-write-chapter. I got a new video game and I like it so far. Props to Jupiter-Lightning for helping me name my evil creature dude! I think she said Serapis is of Egyptian origin meaning something to deal with a dead bull…nice huh? Well, I just like the name regardless of meaning so meh…lol.

Dissections are nasty…whether it's a worm or a frog, it's just plain nasty. Thank goodness for people willing to do that stuff while I do the paperwork involved, lol.

Anyways, don't forget to check out reviewer replies.
-blondie91

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda… Serapis, them guardian peeps, and whatever other junk I made up in this would be mine however. Yippee…