Chapter Ten
The Fire Still Burns
"It's so dark down here…," said Mangus.
"'Ere, lemme 'elp!"
The Baron conjured a flame in his hands and lit a torch.
All of a sudden, the other torches lit up.
"Okay, THAT'S creepy," remarked Mangus.
Lita turned around, hearing something.
"Sho's there?" she said, pointing her halberd at the source of the sound.
No rply.
"I said, WHO'S THERE?," she repeated threateningly.
"Awww…," said a familiar voice from the shadows, "I wanted to jump out and say, 'boo.'"
Out of the shadows came the last person any of them expected to see again.
It was the Guardian of Metal, alive and well sown to the last tassle.
Everyone's jaw dropped.
"But…but…you're dead!" stammered Eddie in disbelief.
The Guardian Shrugged.
"I got better," he said casually.
"Wait…what?" said Eddie.
The Guardian sighed, obviously having had to explain this in the past.
"Whenever a Guardian of Metal dies, they burst into flames…and then are reborn from the ashes. Unless, of course, they select a successor, and then they just vanish—but I'm having too much fun for that!" explained the Guradian.
"…You do look like Ozzy Osbourne," mused Lita.
"You wouldn't BELIEVE how many time I've gotten that."
"Anybody know how we're getting out of here?" asked Ophelia.
"I do…but the last time I came down here was about five hundred years ago," said the Guardian.
"'Es that old?" whispered the Baron.
"The exit should be this way…," said the Guardian, leading them on.
Suddenly, a roar shood the tunnel.
An enormous, Tollusk-like creature filled the passageway behind them.
It's roar sounded angry, bit its eyes had a familiar blankness to the…
"The Master of Puppets! He's controlling that…that…whatever that thing is!" said Lita.
"I'll handle this," said the Guardian. "When I say 'duck' everybody duck."
The guardian rolled up his sleeves, revealing runic-looking tattoos snaking down his arms.
A glow began to spread down his tattoos. The creature began to slowly back away, unsure of what to do.
The glow reached his writs.
"DUCK!" screamed the Guardian.
Everybody ducked.
BLAM!
A powerful shockwave erupted from the emissary's hands, scorching the monster to a crisp. Unfortunately, the newly-resurrected Guardian of Metal was severely weakened by the ordeal of his death and rebirth.
The shockwave also knocked the Guardian off his feet, slamming the all-knowing Ozzy look-alike into the wall.
The Guardian slid lifelessly down the wall to the floor.
"I guess he won't be up to raising the Coliseum again…"said Lita.
Lita gently gathered the Guardian of Metal into her arms.
"So much for finding the exit," said the Baron. "Our only guide's unconscious…"
"We should get moving. The Master of Puppets knows where we are now," said Lita.
The five of them (plus one unconscious passenger) pressed on.
"Do you think the others are okay?" asked Mangus.
The others were the Kill Master, Fletus, and the Drakes . They had left with the buses.
"I dunno, Mangus," said Eddie. "I dunno."
Suddenly, a massive creature approached them from the opposite end of the tunnel.
It was fearsome.
It was black.
It was…fluffy?
It was a Metal Beast, and riding it was none other than Rima, the queen of the Zaulia!
"Edward! We have been searching for you! The Accusing Ones are attacking our home!"
"Were they wearing white armor?"
Rima nodded.
"They came out of nowhere, calling us dirty heathens, attacking us, unprovoked."
"Yeah, that's DEFINITELY them. We came to Talonblaze to find a way to diver those crazy lingtning bold thingies," said Eddie.
"How did you find the bridge?" asked Lita.
"My people have known about the hidden bridge for ages…"
Rima gasped in shock, staring at the limp form cradled in Lita's arms.
"It cannot be!...Rakal-Thaza?"
"Say what?" said Mangus.
"Rakal-Thaza is a legendary being, his tale handed down through generations of Zaulia. He lives deep underground…an emissary of the gods…"
"The Guardian of Metal…that's him!"
"What…happened to him?"
He got killed and then got reborn and met us here and there was this giant monster, and he did this thing and fried it, but accidentally knocked himself out and now we're here…lost," said Mangus in a single breath.
"He wasn't at full power," explained Llita.
The Guardian's eyes fluttered open.
"That's what she said," he said.
Eddie, mangus, and the Baron snickered.
Ophelia just shook her head.
"Do you remember the way you came by, Rima?" asked Eddis.
"Yes. Follow me."
Rima guided her furry steed down the passage.
"And you can put me down now, this is getting awkward," said te Guardian.
"Oh," said Lita, putting him back down.
They pressed on for what seemed like ages.
"I think we're goin' around in circles!" said the Baron.
"I think we're goin' around in Catacombs," remarked the Guardian of Metal.
"If only Wormwood was here, she'd give you a rimshot," said Ophelia.
Eddie frowned.
"I think I've seen that rock before…"
"There it is!" said Rima. "The moving room that brought u here!"
"Dude! Finally! An elevator!"
They all piled in.
Eddie pushed the up button, and the platform rose until it deposited them at…another tunnel that was closer to the surface.
"'Ey," said the Guardian, "This elavata' doesn't go all the way to the top!"
"Kind of like a certain keeper of timeless secrets I know," said Eddie.
"Hey!", the Guardian protested.
They headed towards the light at the end of the corridor and exited the Catacombs.