Hey all.

I have no clue if the text is messed up or something because (from my perspective) it's actually taking the MLA format that I copied onto the doc haha. It's a bit odd to see that after being able to paste from Word but oh well. It looks appealing either way.

Anyway, I have uploaded another chapter! I kinda went away from it but I was so close to being finished with it. I kinda didn't think I would put much drama in here but I did. I'm not good at drama though because drama is 2much5me.

Happy reading!

Chapter 11: They're Alive!

ChungPOV

You walked down the path once more with renewed strength and brought your Destroyer back on your shoulder to hold it up. 'Man,' you thought as you heaved it up a little more while pulling some of your long hair out from under it, 'Why DOES this is feel heavier every day? Is it because I'm not strong enough…?' You frowned at the thought because you practiced every day and you were able to carry it around, even now. It troubled you as you were walking down the path when Ina broke your chain of thoughts, saying, "Hey, Chung. Are you feeling all right?"

You nodded, "I'm fine but this cannon really does feel heavier. I have no clue why it feels so heavy whenever I pick it up."

She nodded slowly, "Maybe you need to try something different, Chung. You should try to do others exercises that work up the other parts of your body. Have you been doing other types?"

"Ah," you said as you scratched your head and laughed sheepishly, "Not really? I haven't really thought of other things to do besides the one that I do now."

Ina giggled and lightly punched your arm, "Silly. You should do other things so that your entire body will be stronger. Maybe I'll train with your some time to see if I have some input for you."

You laughed and chatted away with her which made you feel a bit better; surprisingly and all of a sudden, the cannon was easier to hold as well as you spoke to her about food and sleeping habits. She was sort of lecturing you about how important it is to sleep well and eating the right foods to keep you up and about. Raven also butted in by saying, "Meat is a great source of protein. But always keep in mind that carbohydrates are your main source of energy and fat is the secondary source. Remember that, Chung."

You were surprised that Mr. Raven said something out of turn and you stuttered out thanks with Ina giggling behind you. Rena laughed as well, "Raven, are you still treating these guys like little kids~?"

Raven huffed but he had the tiniest smile on his face, "They need to grow up strong, Rena. I'm only looking after them the best way I can."

She pinched his cheek, "You're so cute, Raven! Spoken like a true father would about taking care of children, haha."

Raven blushed when Rena mentioned children and closed his eyes to calm himself down. Elsword chuckled, "I ain't no kid! I can take anything on like you can, Raven!"

He sighed with a sweat drop falling from his forehead, "What have I gotten myself into? All I was doing was giving advice to Chung…"

The group laughed from the jovial conversation as the afternoon sun was making its descent towards the other side of the valley. It was a beautiful sight that took your breath away with the beams of light hitting against the lake surface and reflecting faint light towards you. By the time the group got to the other side of the lake, the last of the sun disappeared behind the valley and left the lake shrouded in darkness. The moon light was peeking through the clouds that gathered over head. You felt that ominous feeling again that you experienced those few nights ago but this was stronger than ever. You gripped onto your Destroyer to the point where the armor stabbed into your palms and you yelped a little from the pain. Ina and Nate looked to you and you smiled sheepishly. Ina smiled, "This is a little bit creepy, yeah?"

Nate chuckled, "I'm not bothered at all. Although, this absolute silence is extremely ominous."

You can see everyone freeze to listen to the silence. He was right; there was absolutely no noise coming from anywhere besides the sound of the marine animals and crickets and cicadas buzzing, croaking, and chirping. No sign of lizards anywhere. Aisha got a shiver up her spine, "This is becoming very, very creepy. Let's just get this over with please."

Elsword nudged her jokingly, "Oh-ho-ho, do we have a scaredy-cat in our little band of fighters~?"

Aisha turned around, smacking him with her staff and yelling at him to shut up and calling him names but Elsword was laughing deviously as he was being slapped and hit. You wondered if they will ever get along one of these days while chuckling nervously with everyone else. However, Rena stepped forward with her glaring stare and said in such an ice calm voice, "Are you two forgetting what is happening at hand right now?"

They stopped—literally frozen in place—when they heard her voice and quickly came back with their tails between their legs. Rena took in a breath and sighed with a smile on her face while patting their heads; telling them that they made the right decision and how they must be growing so fast already. You had a shiver come up your spine and a sweat drop appeared on your forehead, saying, "So, I guess we start off into the village?"

Rena had a big grin on her face, "Yes~! We shall start off into the village like we said we would."

She took hold of Raven's human hand and dragged him behind her with him having multiple sweat drops on his forehead but he still complied with her dragging him. Delta did the shaking thing that dogs do when they want to get water off and said, "If we are going to the entrance, let me guide the way." Everyone followed behind Delta where he nudged the part of the wall where the entrance was and said, "Please enter with caution everyone. Though some lizards are free from Berauk's grasp, many are still under the influence of Kayak; both willingly and unwillingly. I can already sense some of them walking behind here as patrol."

Everyone readied their weapons with Raven approaching the entrance first with extreme caution. When he exited, there was a loud sound of a lizard yelling and the sound of metal meeting metal. You saw Nate shrug and smirk, "So much for being careful now."

Everyone charged forward to see a bunch of lizards walking down to fight against the group but it was not as much as the lizards that lined Dragon Road and Bethma Lake when the group first arrived here. You smacked away many lizards with your cannon and you came after a dark spear man before he disappeared. You stopped for a moment to think about what happened but then something tried to stab at your leg. You jumped back and looked around. 'Shoot…where it he?!' you thought when you felt another swipe coming from your right but this time to dodged and took a swing in the direction where it came from. There was a confirmed hit and the lizard went flying back and you yelled, "Be careful of the invisible lizards!"

Ina kept dodging swings from the invisible spear men as she exclaimed, "Are these the guys that Kayak summoned back from the dead?!"

Eve skidded back with Oberon trying to hold her upright from the blow, "Give me a moment to scan the area."

However, you saw Delta lunge at one of the invisible lizard men and scratched out the eyes; making the poor creature squeal in agony while taking its cloaking off. You saw that they were a darker color than regular Lizard Men and looking at the blood, it was pure black. Once Delta was finished with his prey, he turned to you saying, "Chung, behind you!"

You turned to block the attack and quickly countering it. You saw that once you counterattacked his cloaking was off long enough for you to knock him out with Brutal Swing. You were slowly becoming aware of their movements of trying to find places where you are open for an attack. You also saw everyone else catching their little pattern and were taking them down one by one. Once they were all dealt with, you continued down further into the village with everyone on high alert and the moon light shining your way around the little village. You did experience more lizards that tried to stop the group's progress to find Kayak's hideout but they were easily defeated.

But you were wondering why every part of the village was being heavily protected.

You took a survey around you to see that there were lizards everywhere on buildings that look exactly the same. You gasped as you realized something. You whispered, "I think we may be lost."

"What?!" Elsword exclaimed as he took a look around as well to see that he didn't recognize the area as well. He spun around, "Where are we?"

Everyone else was staring at their surroundings too. Aisha began panicking a little at how dark the area was with very little moonlight to point out any landmarks. Rena tried her best to calm her down but you can tell, even under the shadows, that Aisha was scared out of her mind.

Then the presence you experienced returned.

You looked around to see if the presence was physical this time but, of course, there was nothing that stood around you besides a few invisible Lizard Men that tried to attack you. You blocked it easily and knocked the lizard away from you. You spun your head around once more and thought, 'This presence was far greater than any mere lizard. Where the hell is it?!' There was a light behind you with a scared Aisha holding it close to her. You saw Rena patting and rubbing her shoulder, soothing her by encouraging her to keep the fire lit to try and find any landmarks that they may recognize. You came closer next to Ina and asked her, "Is there a set direction where we will be going?"

She nodded, "Eve and Delta assume that Kayak's hideout is more towards the north where the Dragon's Nest is. And—from the looks of it—the landmark that's supposed to help us is the chief's house up on the hill in the middle of the village. We're still a bit away but now that we know where we're going, I think we can make it."

You nodded. It was better than wandering around the village for hours on end until the sun comes up. Delta then turned on his flashlight from his eyes and took lead to reach the chief's tent. His light illuminated against the cloth walls that were decorated with a variety of bones that wrapped around and around the hut. You saw that the very bottom had giant lizard bones and a shiver crawled down your spine. You were all walking toward the chief's home and Aisha whispered with a hint of shakiness, "Where do we go now?"

Delta took a look around and let out a small, somewhat robotic ruff, "Around this house, there will be part of the lake to the left, but on the right there will be a path toward the Dragon's Nest. We must proceed with caution though. I can sense a good amount of lizards on the other side; one of them has power greater than the warrior you fought back in Dragon Road."

Everyone seemed to have nodded in understanding and they crept up around the right corner to see if there were any lizards patrolling. You were feeling that powerful presence once more but this time it was stronger than ever. At that point, you were sure that this power came from that one source in the bundle of lizards. Elsword reared back into Aisha's face causing her about to cry in pain but Elsword covered her mouth while whispering, "There's a lizard right there. We don't want all of them to be alert of us."

When he removed his hand, Aisha rubbed her nose while whispering harshly, "Why is your hand so sweaty?! Ugh, it smelled so bad!"

He chuckled but he whispered to Nathaniel, "Do you think you can get rid of them fast?"

Nate stared at him with a smile on his face, "Do you really have to ask?" He then jumped up on the top of the hill where the chief's house was—which was somewhat over a thousand feet up—and you could see him crooning over the unsuspecting lizards. You didn't really know if it did happen but you thought you saw parts of his flesh rot away to reveal his skeletal lower jaw. After that, you didn't really know what happened next for it happened in such a blur.

NatePOV

You watched the poor lizards walking around, thinking that they were about to find a bunch of kids barging in. But you crooned over them for a little bit more before bringing out your orb. You turned it around in your hand to see if there was any change to it. But time is of the essence. You stood and said, "Noripan, give me a poison enhancement to my blade."

Immediately, green ooze poured out from a random opening from the orb and you quickly poured it over and you could smell the wretched recipe that Noripan concocted. You swiftly jumped— one arm out stretched and the other tearing skin away from your mandible—and you fall gracefully to the first, unsuspecting lizard. The sound of your blade entering the shoulder of the lizard made you smile in bloody delight. Of course he didn't die instantly but the poison was already setting into the body and restricting his movement to a mere, pitiful crawl. There were plenty more to suffer under the pain of Noripan's poison and you smiled deviously. The rest have not spotted you yet but you quickly went over to kill the rest. It was like killing unsuspecting prey because you're just that silent; it was extremely satisfying to you. You were sad that it all happened so fast once you finished cutting down lizards. You looked over to where the rest were and said, "They're all dead. You guys can come out now."

They all surveyed the fallen bodies which were dealt with a less bloody method than last time. Ina approached you as you were rubbing your glasses once more to clean out any blood and she said, "You worked like an assassin out there."

"Ha," you scoffed as you placed them back on the bridge of your nose, "You shouldn't associate me with an assassin. Assassin do not wear glasses."

She stared at you for a moment before chuckling, "Don't be silly. Anyone can be an assassin if they are able to kill so quickly and quietly like you did."

You thought about it but you shook your head, "Nah. Besides, what's the point of killing with such precision when someone like me prefers a bloody mess?"

"The one you left behind wasn't a bloody mess."

"Look again."

She looked back to one of the Lizard Men and she gasped in surprise at how fast the body was rotting. Some had already turned to skeletons with no flesh left on them. Vultures that were lurking along the branches came down upon the corpses faster than a jaguar catching its prey. She turned back to you with a frown, "I guess I was wrong then."

You smiled and regrouped back with Delta. He led the way a bit further down the path but stopped as his bright lights landed on something that was…not so ordinary. It was another lizard warrior that was in front of you and it would not have surprised you. But this lizard was dressed in a darker color than the ones you fought. You heard Aisha whisper in a hushed and scared voice, "It's…it's undead."

You nodded in agreement as you brought your scythe out. You saw that it was hardly moving but it was staring daggers at the group with its crimson red eyes. It then made a sound and threw the scimitar at Elsword. Everyone dodged out of the way with Elsword cursing, "Why me?!"

"He must have been given and image of recognition," you said as you skidded to one side, "Of course, your red hair is instantly recognizable besides Rena's yellow-green one."

He sighed but then came at the lizard in a fury with his magic and said, "Wind Blade!"

It cut into the side of the lizard because it was abnormally fast for a creature raised from the dead. You made an amused sound and charged at it and swung with all of your might. He lifted his sword up to block the attack but you landed an incoming knee into his face; causing him to stagger back and making sounds that may have been curse words in their language. You saw that Ina came in close to initiate in close quarter combat with the lizard and it delivered something extraordinary. She jabbed at the lizard with a swift but controlled punch and it dodged it easily. However, she also targeted where she thought the lizard would not think to protect such as the legs or the arms. It was working quite well but this lizard was smarter than the ones on Dragon Road. It learned that she was targeting the very places he would not think to protect in a heated battle so it used its scimitar to its advantage. Ina would end up punching the sword where she would land some hits and it made a loud clang like sword meeting sword. However, there was one spot where the lizard completely took his guard off of: his back.

You treaded lightly so that he would not hear your footsteps coming around and you swung your scythe as hard as you could into the back of the lizard. It made a pained sound but shook you and your scythe out like it was only a mere scratch. Ina gasped before she ducked from the slash and she said, "Delta! Give me a hand!"

Delta literally came out from the darkness like a tiger would to its prey and latched onto the lizard with his hands. The destructive chimpanzee nature seemed to have kicked in to his systems and he lashed out at the poor reptile. It became confused at the loud screeches and the strong hands that grabbed and scratched and punched. You and Ina took this chance to strike him down—both taking careful measures not to hit Delta—with Ina saying, "Bone Breaker!"

A fist with concentrated energy landed on the stomach of the lizard and you could hear the satisfying cracks the ribs breaking. This drove you to smile deviously and yell, "Blood Reaper!"

You stabbed into the same place where her punch landed and you seeped away at the blood, or black blood, from the undead lizard. At this point, Delta lumbered away back into dog mode and casted a warning that you may get hurt but you were not listening to him. The reptile cried out in pain and wiggled around with the sword coming dangerously closer to you but you didn't mind. You loved seeing a creature—an undead one of all things—to cry out against something that will inevitably kill them. The cries of the lizard slowly came to a stop along with the thrashing when you twisted the blade to the right faster than a heartbeat. You chuckled to yourself as you whispered while the sun was slowly rising up behind you, "Your time was finished a long time ago, pitiful warrior. Let us hope you will never be revived again." You began to cut off every limb of the creature to make sure the he would never be used again by Kayak. You took great care into carving the head into tiny pieces; gingerly carving the eyes out so that they were still held together and destroyed the hypnotizing pendant. Your hands were a bloody mess as well as your clothes once you were finished and you said, "And now to let the terrors of the sky close in on him. He will not be rising back again."

No one was that uncomfortable with all the blood on you because they were all glad that you took care of the lizard by making sure he will never rise again. Ina whispered, "You reek of dead lizard."

With a smiled, you retorted, "Be glad that this will be the last dead lizard that was reincarnated. I'm sure this will send a message to Kayak that we are serious and that we are not afraid of a few undead creatures."

You were sure Aisha had something to say about your statement but she remained silent. You took your place behind Raven, Aisha, and Elsword, with Ina next to you and Chung lumbering closely behind. Ina took a look around and spotted an open cave to her left and she exclaimed, "There's a cave entrance over there!"

Elsword scoffed, "There's another cave over here though."

"And here too…" Aisha said as she pointed to the right.

Everyone looked around to see that there were three gaping caves in total connected to different parts of the cliff side and they looked down into each to find that they were clones of each other. Elsword scratched his head in confusion, "I thought there would only be one cave on the cliff side."

Rena sighed as she got up from her crouch, "I don't think we should underestimate Kayak just yet. If he is able to conjure up the dead then we should not be surprised that he is able to make multiple entrances. We must be careful if we do not want to fall into…wherever these may lead to."

You raised your eyebrows as you passed a finger through the entrance. However, you pulled it out before it closed to turn back into the cliff wall. Ina gasped and fell back on her butt by how quickly the entrance disappeared, "I guess…that's not the right one."

You chuckled as helped her up, "Someone else should try one of the other entrances to see if one of them closes. Be careful though; don't want to lose a finger or a whole hand."

They gathered around the two entrances with Elsword trying the entrance to see if it will close around his hand. Aisha was pestering him with complaints that he should be a little more careful with Ina and Delta watching very closely. He was able to get his body through without being closed off from the rest of the group and he walked back out to yell at the others, "Hey! I don't think this one is enchanted. Are you guys still figuring out the other one?"

Raven, Rena, Eve, and Chung were thinking about what they should do before Eve thought about it and said, "The other enchantment reacted to a live organism that passed through the barrier. Maybe another organism will activate the gate once more. But the problem is what organism we must use."

The group was thinking about it before Ina said with a somewhat questioning tone, "What about simply walking in like Elsword did?"

"Well, we must heed what Miss Rena says," Eve said as she crossed her arms, "We do not know if the portal will send us anywhere or if it will close the cliff wall around us and crush us."

You spoke up, "I can always do what I did again."

"But what if the portal is faster this time?" Rena said with a worrying tone. Even she thinks of you as a child that needs to be protected.

You smiled—teeth showing—and said, "Then I'll bring out the little Death in me to remove my finger."

Everyone raised their eyebrows at the response and a following silence. Elsword picked at his ear and asked, "And how do you think you're going to do that?"

You walked up to the entrance and pulled out the orb in your pocket. It was still, very cold, and duller than ever. You breathed a warm breath over the orb to bring it to life and Noripan's voice whispers, "What is it that you want?"

"If my finger or hand were to be caught in the wall in front of me, will I be able to pull it out with your powers on me?"

Noripan didn't say anything until he sighed, "Do not use my powers with such trivialities that can be solved through simple thinking. Do you see how much life there is around you? Try those, please. I was having such a nice nap too."

You rolled your eyes but you shoved the orb back in your pocket and pointed toward the plant, "Try the plant first. That's a living organism, right?"

Eve stared at it for a little bit and nodded, "Yes. Grass and plants are also living organisms but I do not think that will work."

You shrugged, "You never know unless you try. And we could also use the fish that are in the lake."

Rena made a displeased sigh, "Do we have to use the grass or fish?"

"If we do not want to be separated from each other, then we must," Raven said as he plucked a few pieces of grass from the ground and threw them into the entrance that may be the fake. No reaction. He then walked up to the edge of the water and watched the murky sheen reflect back at his face. His shadow does not seem to reflect on the water just yet so he motioned for Delta to come over. Ina and Delta came to the shore to see what Raven was thinking. They chatted for a while and, to your surprise, Delta turned into a fishing pole. They began fishing for quite some time and you did not expect for them to take such a long time just to catch one fish. You walked over to the two with Chung and Chung asked, "Are you guys getting anything?"

Ina sighed as she sat upright, "It's really hard to get anything without any sort of lure. Do you guys have any idea?"

"Use your hands." You said with a silly smile.

She stared at you for a minute before asking, "And how do you do that?"

You swayed side to side with your hand on your chin, "Well, from what I have read people use their fingers as lure—imitating the wiggling of a struggling worm. However, I do not know of any method of keeping hold of the fish because they are—hehe—slippery creatures."

Ina stared at you once more before she looked back at the water and said, "Is there anyone that wants to try that?" There was an air of silence at the little group before she sighed again, "Alright, I'll do it. Don't expect me to catch something right off the bat though."

And she did catch something. However, it was still gruesome to try to keep the damn thing down. She caught a pretty big fish that had his mouth biting on all four fingers and Raven was trying to hold onto it with his Nasod arm with no luck. The fish kept slipping out of his grasp, hilariously, and it was successful when Delta used his hook. Ina threw the fish through the one that the group deemed fake and, sure enough, it closed almost instantly to reveal the real cave in front of them. Rena remarked at how smart we were and that you all did a good job with handling the situation. Of course, Ina and Chung were sheepish with Rena's overwhelming praise while you and Raven just smiled at her.

Entering the cave was something different than the atmosphere you were surrounded with at the lake. The air noticeably became stuffy and hot for anyone to breathe in, the ground turned from rich soil to hard gravel, and there is an ominous light that may be emitting that heat at the end of the tunnel. You heard Ina say, "I'm not too fond of that light…. It looks suspicious."

Eve gave her input, "Moby and Reby detect heat signals in the cave ahead. We may be walking into a death trap."

"Why is that?" Aisha asked in a worried tone.

"The heat up ahead is lava. We have to tread carefully if we do not want to be burned alive." Delta said as he sniffed the ground.

"That Kayak," Elsword growled, "He is smarter than we thought. Being a lizard, he can probably withstand heat better than us. But we have to stop him if we don't want him to revive the dragon. Come on guys!"

With that, you walked in at a brisk pace but came to a stop as you stepped into the cavern and a small geyser shot up flames from the ground. It almost burned Aisha before Elsword pulled her back from the geyser and muttered, "And you say that I'm not the careful one…. Be careful."

You heard Aisha call him an idiot but she also muttered her thanks to him before watching the ground. Everyone had to dance around the occasional burping flames; some were almost as big as Chung's destroyer and one almost burned Rena's leg if Raven hadn't intervened. I was apparent that you were not getting anywhere with all these geysers so you just stared at a bundle for a while. One shot up to the right of you and you jumped a little but you crossed over the hole. Before you knew it, you stopped inches away from another pillar that breathed fire; the heat was right in your face and the flames almost got your nose. You quickly went forward to where the geysers were less populated. You leapt over the last of the damned things and stood next to Rena. She called out to others to be careful as they crossed the path Rena took or you took. Aisha was already here because of her ability to teleport—which you were genuinely curious about and interested to know—and it still astounded you of how convenient it is. Everyone trickled in and rested to take care of charred clothes, hair, and skin. Elsword seemed to have taken a misstep on the way because his knee was red and burnt badly. You stared at his stoic face as Rena took to the wound and reprimanded him, "You should have been more careful! This wound is terrible…"

"It doesn't hurt," Elsword said before loudly saying, "OUCH!"

Aisha rolled her eyes as she applied medicine on the knee, "Don't be an idiot next time, Elsword."

As soon as Elsword was able to continue, the group started back at the quest at hand to find Kayak. There were lizards along the way but none weren't too hard to defeat. However, you still had to dodge around geysers in order to not be wounded by rogue flames. The group continued onwards until Chung asked, "Do you think we're almost there? There seems to be no end to these enemies and the cave seems to go on forever."

"It feels like an elaborate trap," you added as you stalked around the area and placed your hand on a ledge, "This looks a little too familiar."

Raven also inspected the area and sighed, "This is where we rested…. Kayak is throwing everything at us."

You looked around to see if there were any signs of a magic dome or anything that could be keeping you in the same place. You leaped back up on the ledge and made your way back to the way the group came but as you came closer, there was this weird sensation of going through something but not breaking the barrier entirely. You reached your arm out and the same feeling was felt from your fingers to your shoulder. You quickly summoned your scythe out and took a slice at the wall next to you but the rebound was strong enough to throw you back. You growled softly, "He put up a shield to keep us in. It doesn't seem to break under a regular weapon."

Eve put her hand on the magical shield and said, "It may be broken through magic. There is nothing that can penetrate the barrier except for a more powerful magic. Do you think you can pull that off, Aisha?"

She inspected the power behind the magic and she laughed, "Too easy really."

Before you knew it, you heard a shatter all around you as the invisible barrier fell down and the shards landed all around you; every shard dissolving into thin air. You smiled at her and said, "Nice one."

She smirked and straightened herself, "I am a master magician after all."

You slightly rolled your eyes and made your way down the new path. You had your scythe at the ready but you observed the area around you. You noticed that as you walked further into the cave wasn't as big as you expected it to be. Rather, it was a small, little thing that seems to house a handful of lizards that are on Kayak's side. It was not much of a battle. You sliced down the rest of the remaining lizards and looked around again. You felt a powerful presence up ahead and you signaled for everyone to stop. Elsword said, "Why are we stopping?"

"Because we're gonna run into whatever is ahead of us. I suggest that we walk cautiously towards the source."

Everyone nodded and proceeded with caution, weapons drawn. Over the rise, you saw what looked like a tall staff but it was not just any staff. It had the animal head on it that you recognized and you cursed under your breath. It was who you expected: Beruak. Everyone else was surprised at the sight of Beruak but you were angry. You went forward with a dangerous voice, "Why did he do this? What more can be gained from a dead chief? I'll make sure thy soul will rest."

The battle did not even last for a minute.

You dived right toward the undead lizard and impaled your scythe into the chest of the chief. Before he even react to your sudden and powerful presence, you shoved your hand into his chest to pull out the heart that Kayak seemed to have replaced; it thumped very slowly, but not enough for the body to die. You stared into the eyes of the Beruak slowly dying once more and you crushed the heart with your bare hand; the black pieces tumbling to the ground and rotting. You stood back up with one of your hand stained with black blood and you whispered, "Rest now."

You turned back to everyone. They all had their eyebrows risen in surprise at the gesture but only Rena was nodded her head and giving her condolences to Beruak; her ears were twitching sadly. Ina walked up to you with a handkerchief and she placed it on your dirty hand, "I think we should get going now, yeah?"

You nodded as you stepped over the dead body with everyone else trailing behind you. Chung caught up—to your surprise—and he asked, "Do you guys see something up ahead?"

Up ahead was a bare wall with jagged ends sticking out of it. That was it. You scratched your head, "I don't think there's much here."

Ina and Delta walked around and knocked on the dead end that they were lead to. Delta's ears twitched and he knocked against the cavern wall. There was a resounding echo that could be heard in the tiny cavern. You smiled, "Not the smartest lizard just yet."

Chung came forward and loaded his cannon and warned, "This is gonna be a little bit messy."

He fired at the wall and it made a loud, satisfying explosion and rocks fell to the ground; some shattered into more pieces and dust jumped up from the dusty gravel. When it settled down, the other side opened into a new cavern with a figure standing next to a river of lava.

It was Kayak.

Everyone came inside and faced the crazed lizard dancing next to the river. He was laughing a psychotic laughter that made you agitated but Elsword yelled, "Kayak! This is the end of you and your evil ways!"

Kayak laughed once more and pointed at the group, "Ah, but it is you that will meet your end here now! Once I summon the dragon back to the living, you will all perish under the flames of the ancient dragon. Be gone trespassers!"

A few shamans appeared under his call to protect him but they were nothing to the group. Rena and Aisha took out the backup that he called and they pointed their weapons toward the old lizard that made a surprised sound. However, he was conjuring up something because he began to swing his staff in a circular motion. You dashed forward to stop whatever he was doing but he wasn't fazed by your attacks. He then slammed his hand on the ground to create a trail of fire around him. It spread quickly along the ground which put everyone on high alert. Everyone jumped out of the way onto rocks that jutted from the walls but Chung tanked all the hits that came his way. Ina yelled, "Chung!"

The part where his clothes are revealed is charred a bit and his hair also suffered the flames too but swatted them out quickly. Chung then took the advantage of Kayak conjuring his next skill to use Steel Edge. It did not make him phase but Ina took the initiative. Delta jumped down from the rocks and changed into a unicorn; the horn was longer than the usual length. She jumped on Delta's back and you saw her energy gather in her hands. The horn was skewed through the side of the crazy lizard which did make him flinch but it was enough for everyone else to start their assault. Ina landed a solid punch on the side of the lizard's head that caused it to bleed. Raven landed a punch on the reptile's gut; flames were pouring from the evil arm. Elsword let loose a Flame Geyser even though it did not do much but it hindered his recovery to stand back up. He managed to get back up and cackled, "You insolent fools! Do you really think you all can stop me from reviving the dragon? You must think yourselves as heroes…when in the end you will all die the same way. I shall not say it once more: be gone!"

He gathered energy in his free hand and summoned geysers that looked like Elsword's. Elsword didn't see that coming and he took the brunt of the blow. The fire scraped against Raven's back and left a burning scar. Rena gave a horrified gasp as she helped him up and she asked, "Are you okay, Raven?"

He nodded but he also winced when he tried to swing his sword. Rena let him lean on her as she tried her best to treat the wound. Elsword quickly patted out parts of his clothes and growled, "Your power of fire lacks the burn. I'll show you the real power of fire." He made his way to the crazy lizard and yelled, "Phoenix Talon!"

Kayak yelped as he was overcome with a bright fire that inflicted severe burns on the scales. He jumped around in pain and pointed his staff at Elsword, "You shall pay, stupid kid! You and your friends will not be coming out of here alive!" He began to swirl his staff once more and tapped the ground to summon more enemies. However, these enemies were the shadow lizards that you faced hours ago. You exclaimed, "Again? Why can't you leave the dead alone you bastard?"

"They are my minions under my control. Who are you to say that one should not use the dead as soldiers? You are but a simple boy."

You charged for the demented reptile and took a stab at his ankles but he was surprisingly swift with his staff. Ina took her chance to slam her hands on the lizard's skull but she only made contact with the top of the wand. It did make a loud crack because of the power behind her punches. The shadow lizards tried to help out their master but Aisha and Eve were blocking their way to him. However, he swatted at the unsuspecting Aisha that yelped in surprise and teleported away from the fray. You stabbed your scythe into the shoulder of Kayak and twisted harshly to the left. He screamed and started shaking wildly to get you off but you stuck on him like glue. Delta changed into a cougar and tackled him to the ground. Your breath got knocked out of you and you lay back for a few seconds. Delta sunk his teeth into the neck of the reptile and he howled once again. The paw retracted metal claws that sunk right through the tough scales. You tried to push them off of you but it was harder than expected, especially if there's a giant lizard and a cougar on top of each other. However, Kayak threw Delta off and your scythe slipped out from the wound. You stood up and tried to get your bearings but you fell to one knee. Ina's comforting hand was on your shoulder and you heard her ask something. You looked up at Kayak trying to keep Delta off him. Aisha, Chung, Eve, and Elsword were helping Delta in wearing the lizard down. Rena was still taking care of Raven's severe burn. You slowly stood up with Ina still trying to tell you something but you didn't hear a thing. You heard Noripan whisper softly, "Unleash thy power, young one. It will end quickly."

Your hands reach up to rip off a piece of skin from your jaw line to reveal the skeleton underneath and you whispered, "Even shadow shamans like you will face the sins you commit against the dead…. Now perish."

Your scythe was drenched in a dark aura and your blood stained one side of it. Kayak was fending off the others and turned to you. You walked over to the wide eyed Kayak as he exclaimed, "No…this should not be coming true! You can't hold the power of the Monster himself; you're a kid!"

Every step you took made Kayak take a nervous step back. You lifted your scythe over your head; the very sight of it seemed to grow larger the longer one stared at it.

It all ended within seconds.

The blade of your scythe met with the fearful Kayak and sliced right through the shoulder you stabbed into. He stood still for a moment and with a sickening squelch the top part of his body slid down. A thud rang around the cavern. The sound of the reptile's blood is spilling down on the floor and onto some of the unsuspecting members of the gang. You picked up the scroll that was meant to summon the dragon and you threw the dastardly thing into a geyser. However, as your skin reformed on your jaw line, you swooned a bit. Before you knew it, you were down on the ground with someone shouting and trying to pick you back up. You heard a voice whisper in your head, "Careful. I don't want my host to die so quickly."

Everything was blurry; brown and blurry with a hint of grey. Or was that silver? Some yellow and green came into view with tan looking down at you. A buzzing sound filled your head along with a soft, high-pitched sound resonating in your head and making your brain swirl in agony. You were picked up—very gently—and carried a good way across a bright tan or brown ceiling. You tried to move your arm to get your bearings (because for some reason you thought you were still on the ground) but you could not feel your arm being lifted up. A muffled voice rang in your head and a light brown color came into your view. It was slightly comforting and you reached your hand out to it. The voice came to you again and something closed your eyes. It was difficult to open them again to see what was happening but you felt better with your eyes closed.

-223-

An unforeseen amount of time passed but the first thing you felt as you woke up was the soft blankets wrapped all around you. You opened your eyes to the sight of Chung sitting on a chair and his eyes were on the verge of closing. He noticed your movement and jumped up, saying, "Nate! Are you okay?"

You lay your head back on the soft pillow; relaxing the tense muscles in your neck and you softly replied, "Better than ever."

He sighed and walked out. You heard his muffled voice tell the others about your recovery and the first person that came in was Ina. She somehow slid across the carpet and crouched down to see your open eyes. You heard her sigh in relief, "I'm glad you're awake."

"What happened while I was asleep?" you muttered as you rubbed your eyes.

"You stopped breathing more than ten times," Rena said as she stood at the doorway, "Raven had to resuscitate you about eight times to keep you alive. Aisha and I worked a while to see if we could keep you breathing longer than ten minutes."

Ina patted your hand, "Everyone was worried. Even Elsword looked frightened about your condition."

You absorbed the information for a confusing moment and smiled, "Am I supposed to be flattered?"

Ina chuckled, "You could say that. Even Mister Raven was appalled by how many times your breath stopped. And truth be told," she leaned in closer so that you could smell her scent, "I was worried you might die."

You could see a cloud pass through her bright blue eyes. You offered your hand and patted her head, "I can't be killed that easily, dear."

She gave you the smile you always loved and she stood. Her steps receded out of the room and you heard Rena sigh happily, "Ah, young love! I wish I could be back in my youth when I was still beautiful."

You turned over when you heard the muffled speech of Raven and Rena's gleeful laugh descending down the stairs. Chung silently stepped back into the room and asked, "Do you want anything to eat or drink?"

You told him no thank you. As you looked at his face, you saw something smudged on his chin. 'He must not have known that it was there' you thought. As he turned around, you said, "Wait!"

He looked at you for a mere second and you expected a surprised face but there was something else hidden within his gaze; an ominous and an unexpected feeling of pure malice. Those deep blue eyes did not hide his envy of you. You tried to sit up but your sight became blurry once more. Chung laid you back down on the pillow and you asked him, "Do you not enjoy my presence, Chung?"

"What do you mean?" he responded as he sat back down on the seat in the room.

"It's a pretty straight-forward question," you said as you turned over to face him, "Do you not like me? That might be the better question to ask, huh."

He did not respond but stared at you. You were becoming increasingly uncomfortable with such a powerful gaze from a boy like Chung. 'I guess that may be because of his father…' you thought nervously. He softly replied with a smile on his face, "It's nothing, Nathaniel. Just try to rest up, okay?"

You stared at his face for a while longer before your head gave in and you sighed, "Whatever you say. You have a smudge on your chin by the way."

His eyebrows perked up and he felt his chin. He laughed and said, "I'll go clean it off right now then."

He stood and left for the bathroom in the room. Your eyes drifted closed to a dreamless slumber.

-223-

You opened your eyes to the sound of loud knocking at the door. You recognized the sound of Raven's Nasod arm hitting wood so you stood to get the door. Raven jumped a little at the sight of you but he patted your shoulder with his human arm and asked, "Are you feeling better, Nathaniel?"

"Yeah. Do you know what time it is?"

"It's almost noon. Lunch is just about ready too."

You noticed that the seat Chung sat in was empty. Raven told you that he was already downstairs because he was called down by Ina. He urged you out and down the stairs. When you entered the dining hall, the villagers were there too. Stella, Chacha Buch, Richian, and Toma were seated with the El gang. Ina jumped up to give you a hug and expressed her happiness of your recovery. She sat you down at a place at the table and Stella began talking to everyone, "On behalf of the village, Bethma thanks you for getting rid of the shadow shaman Kayak and preventing a serious danger plaguing Bethma for years on end," Stella chuckled as she set her glass of wine down, "You can say we will support you in whatever endeavor you may face in the future."

Richian began clapping happily and spoke in an odd voice, "Oh yes~! Bethma will offer whatever you need on your journey~!"

Elsword was busy scarfing down food to pay attention and Aisha was scolding him for being rude towards Stella. She smacked the back of his head and his head made impact with the food he gathered. He looked up at Aisha but licked off the food from his face with a smile, "Why scold me when we just helped out a village in preventing a serious destruction? Lighten up, Aisha!"

She puffed up one of her cheeks in agitation but she went back to eating some of her food. Raven was the one that asked, "If you do not mind, do you guys have any information about Wally or where he may be?"

Stella shook her head, "We have no further information about Wally and we have no clue if he is even in Bethma. Your clue that you found from the komodo was the only lead we had."

Everyone hung their head low but you heard a weird cry (or maybe an "ahh") from Richian as he stood from his seat, "I have odd news that may help~! "

Rena tilted her head to the right, "News? You have news about Wally?"

"Oh yes~! I went to check on the mines I own and I heard drilling inside them~!"

"Isn't that normal for a mine?" you said as you raised an eyebrow and ate the food in front of you.

"Ahh~ But there's a problem with that, young man~. You see, my father's mines were used to mine the little shards of El. However, he cleaned the mine of El and there is no more. There should be nothing left in the mine right now but I hear unauthorized drilling within the cavern. And I am heavily worried that the mine might cave in~!"

"Ahh," Stella said as she snapped her fingers, "That's what I forgot about! I didn't think much of it because, uh well, I thought Richian was hearing things. But I heard them as well when I had time to investigate the entrance. We waited until you all came back but I forgot all about it; now with establishing a truce between the humans and lizards again."

Everyone seems to understand the situation but they waited for Elsword to finish his lunch. He was still scarfing down rice and beef loudly. Aisha sighed, "Are you finished yet, Elsword?"

He munched on the food a while longer, wiped off the excess food, and grinned, "Now I am. We should get going right away if we want to catch up with Wally!"

Richian flipped his purple hair side to side and exclaimed, "Fanta~a~astic~! I shall show you the way to my mines~."

It was around three PM that they left for the mines. Richian was talking with the group; sometimes filling in on the mines but most of it was about his hair. You got a small headache from hearing him. 'At least this isn't boring,' you thought as you sighed. Upon arrival, you heard the distinct noises of drills resonating from the cavern. You all hurried to the entrance and the drilling was louder this time. Delta sensed it as well; his ears perked up and he sniffed the air, "There is something down this mine. However, I advise that we proceed with caution. These mines tremble and shake from whatever is going on down there."

Eve placed her hand on the wall. She retracted her hand in surprise and disgust to figure out that the walls were grimy and wet. Oberon offered a handkerchief to his Queen but she seemed to ignore him completely; she said, "I think I have a reason to believe that this mine is unkempt. Why did you have to leave this mine is such a state?"

"Well, I don't come down here often~. I thought that it would be best to leave it like this since I have no use for it."

Everyone looked at each other and they began their investigative descent into the dark mines. Delta's light source was the brightest light. But the light could only make one look so far. You could barely see over the horizon where the light ended and the dripping noises did not help the predicament one bit. The group walked further into the ominous cave until they reached a fork in the road. Delta assessed one side while Eve investigated the other with Oberon peering at every nook and cranny closely. You shifted your glasses onto the bridge of your nose and squinted down one hall. It was a gaping, dark hole that screamed suspicious. You heard Aisha moan behind you, "We dealt with undead Lizard Men and now we're spelunking in a dark cave that could have gross stuff like bats or spiders or…mice. Can we please just get this over with?"

Delta came back with Ina, "I have found readings along this corridor that there is a large amount of Nasods mining for something."

"I have the same readings as well," Eve said as she emerged with Oberon nodding this head, "There are a considerable amount of Nasods hidden in this corridor that are mining for something within this cavern. We may have to split up in order to tackle this obstacle."

"We may not be able to do this in one day like we did last night," Raven chimed in, "This is a mine we're dealing with and who knows how far this goes down or up. It may as well be a labyrinth in disguise with the new diggings."

Everyone stood there for a while, thinking of something to do but Elsword heaved his sword onto his shoulders, "I think it is best we follow Raven's advice. We may be adventurers but we're not expert Nasod drillers," he began laughing at his own joke but stopped at the glare of Eve. He nervously cleared his voice and continued, "We'll just split up into two teams of four and follow the trails. We may need markers that will help indicate which tunnels we take so we must find something that will help. Let's get back up to the surface. I'm getting claustrophobic just looking at these walls."

"We're already so far in," you said don't guys want to figure it out now rather than face the consequences of it later?"

Ina placed a hand on your shoulder, "I think we should give it a rest for now. You must be tired too, right?"

You chuckled softly, "I do not tire easily, my love. However, I will concede to the fact that everyone may not be like me in terms of fitness. So, I guess, this may wait for another day."

You followed the others back to the village and to your left was the beautiful setting sun. It was an enjoyable scenic walk along the craggy valley and everyone seemed to enjoy the view. You could hear Rena talk excitedly to Raven about how beautiful the color of the sunset was and how she wished she had someone to have a romantic getaway with. It sounded like crazy talk to you but deep in your heart, it was something that you fancied as well. 'Maybe one of these days,' you thought fondly, 'Maybe I might feel better and relax and think about everything.' Elsword stopped to look at the view and he let out a satisfied sigh, "Even though we're still on a mission, I still enjoy the beauty Elrios can offer. Where else can you watch something so majestic?"

Everyone nodded in agreement and they kept walking along the path. Chung exclaimed, "Hey! There's a place where you can watch the sunset right here. Do you guys want to relax before going?"

There was a bit of hesitation but, of course, Elsword walked to the spot and he smiled. It wasn't his usual smile where he's thinking of something funny or being cynical but it was an almost happy and joyful smile. It put everyone into shock but your attention eventually went back to the view. You saw that Rena sat down with Raven and was snuggled up to him; Raven was struggling to stay up against Rena's overbearingness but he settled for comfortably leaning onto his Nasod arm. You took a glance over at Ina as she was sitting down at the edge of the cliff. You also sat down right next to her and tapped your finger on your thigh. You heard Chung sit down somewhere behind you. You didn't know how to approach the situation but you unknowingly began by placing your hand on top of hers. She seemed to jump at the touch and she laughed, "Am I in the way?"

"No! Oh no, you're fine. Just a little accident haha." You responded sheepishly and you turned your bright red face away. You wondered how to try and be smoother but you felt her shift a tad bit closer to you. It made you panic a little because you did not know what to do so you just sat there as she eased against your shoulder. Your heart was beating faster than usual but you thought, 'Okay, this is good! This is the first step into something…I think.'

Ina looked up at you, "Do you not mind this?"

"Uh, um," you stammered a bit as you fiddled around with your hands, "I don't mind; not at all!"

She giggled and leaned closer to you. You relaxed a little and leaned into her to enjoy the sunset. You didn't know if it felt romantic but you thought that it was one step closer to being comfortable like this with her. As the top of the sun was meeting the horizon, the entire gang was relaxed with each other with the moon climbing up from behind. You stared at the dark sky becoming spotted with stars and whispered, "I didn't know that this many stars can appear in the sky."

You felt Ina tilt her head as she asked, "You don't see the stars that often?"

"Well," you shrugged, "I had no memory of knowing these many stars existed in the entire sky. Rather, I was away from the outside and always inside…"

At that point there was no other noise around you. Just a loud, high pitched sound pounding against your head and an image emerged. There was sand everywhere; the wind blew up some tiny sand storms that into your eyes but you did not react or flinch. A gentle, delicate hand landed on your shoulder and you turned to see who the person was. The sun created the person's silhouette but you could make out some features: twin pony tails, a pair of horns on the head, bat wings, and a tail flicking side to side. The figure said something to you but you couldn't hear anything it was saying. It took your hand and brought you into a darkness that you…recognized. You wondered who it was and where you were but you were shot straight back into reality. Ina looked at you questioning look, "Are you okay? You seemed to be glazed over, Nate."

You sat there for a few seconds before taking off your glasses and wiping your eyes, "I think the heat is affecting my eye sight. It's nothing that bad though! These glasses are still a pain."

She still had a worried look but she patted your hand, "You can tell me anything. I do worry about you, you know."

You gave her a pleasant smile but you were panicking on the inside. 'Who in the world was that? Is that the person that took care of me? Is that…' you thought but you tried to remember the name. 'Karen? Karina? Kari! No…but it was something close to that. Think Nathaniel!' Your train of thought was whisked away when Ina leaned back into you again and she began talking once more. Of course you listened diligently and responded accordingly and you enjoyed soaking in the night sky. The crickets were now starting their tunes and the wind picked up and died down.

You still heard Rena and Raven chatting happily, Rena giggling every so often and bear hugging the poor guy. You can hear Chung and Eve talking to each other: Chung sounding timid but polite and Eve giving out such straight-to-the-point questions with little to no hesitation. She did not sit on her drones but she sat next to Chung on his Destroyer. You thought of it as a tad bit weird but you didn't dwell on it further. Elsword and Aisha were bickering but they were secretly enjoying their argument whenever you hear both of them laugh and scowl at each other. They were sitting oddly close—maybe dangerously close—to each other and were leaning against each other's backs. It made you smile a little to know that they are slowly getting along. However, you then heard Aisha yell angrily and a loud smack reached everyone. Elsword yelled, "Stop smacking me! If you really want me to stop being dumb then you should stop giving me brain damage!"

Aisha huffed, "Just because I'm becoming your friend doesn't give you the right to break into my personal space so suddenly. I also felt you touching my chest!"

Elsword's face reddened, "I wouldn't touch any girl's chest, especially non-existent ones like yours!"

There was another smack but it was a hard smack from the palm of her hand. You could tell that she was struck hard by Elsword's comment: her eyes were filled with anger and sadness and her mouth was quivering. She turned away with a sob and yelled at the top of her lungs, "IDIOT!" and teleported away. Elsword leaned up with his hand held against his slowly turning red cheek. Chung helped him up and he said, "Did Aisha leave back to the village?"

"I hope she did," Rena said worryingly and she turned to Elsword with an angry expression, "Ya! What were you thinking back there?! Did you really think that comment was necessary to the one you always fight with? I suggest you go right now and apologize! To have such a nerve for saying things like that!"

"Well she deserves it for thinking so low of me every single day! She always treats me like I'm a retarded two year old when I'm only just two years younger than her. Plus, I did NOT touch her anywhere! I swear!"

"I believe you," Rena said as she placed her hands on his shoulders, "I do believe that you did not mean to touch her. But there was no need to directly insult her looks so bluntly like that. Even though Aisha may seem like a horrendous person to you, you got to know the better side of her that doesn't want to kill you 24/7. After something like that she trusted that you wouldn't be a terrible young man but you shattered that image for her right after with the insult."

He was silent as he stared at Rena. However, you did see that he was processing that information as he constantly looked at the path and back at Rena. You heard Ina speaking up, "If you want to apologize, you've got to go now. I can tell you're feeling bad about the insult from the way you look."

Elsword looked at her sullenly and then at the path and he hung his head low, "I should."

Rena softened back to her usual look and she patted Elsword's shoulder, "Be heartfelt, Elsword. Hurry now."

He said nothing but he began to run back for the village.

Rena sighed, "What a way to end a beautiful night. At least it got us back to thinking about heading back."

"I think it taught Elsword something," you said as you picked yourself back up, "Maybe then he might think twice about insults."

Rena sighed but she managed to crack another smile, "I'm sure he will be better."

There was an awkward silence between everyone but Raven straightened up, "We must be going back as well. We need some rest to help us tomorrow."

You wished that you could stay there longer but the darkness crept up fast upon the group and the clouds were clothing the moon in an eerie light. So you started back to the village once more. There was an air of silence between everyone and it felt a little bit too heavy on your shoulders but—before it could get worse—the group arrived at the village. Elsword and Aisha were nowhere to be seen. You assumed that Elsword was still trying his best to apologize to Aisha inside the residence and everyone else thought the same. Once you entered the building, you heard their voices almost immediately; one of the voices belonged to Aisha but you could not hear Elsword's. It was odd that Elsword's voice couldn't be heard since he is a loud young man. Rena walked over the foot of the stairs and said, "They must be upstairs."

The stomping of feet could be heard and you looked at Ina. She looked at you and shrugged one shoulder. Then someone was descending down the stairs. Aisha's feet came into view and she stopped so that she was in full view. You saw that her face was still bloated and red but it was calm and collected. Rena stepped forward and rested her hand on Aisha's shoulder, "Do you feel better, Aisha?"

She nodded her head. Another set of feet walked around above you but they did not descend. Aisha sighed, "I thought he would come down too but I guess not haha."

There was an awkward silence between everyone but you stepped forward, "I think it is time for us to turn in for tonight, yes? Everything is finished and done so we can finally relax tonight."

"He's right," Ina said with a smile, "I think it would be good if we all rested for the night. We will need it in the morning."

Everyone agreed and started up the stairs. Ina left with Aisha and you went for your room. It was an awkward and uncomfortable night for everyone with the sudden dramatic outburst by Aisha but you were relieved that you were able to just lie down. However, your heart was glad that you had the chance to be with her and you lay there, eyes wide open. You wondered if there will ever be another chance to be that close but you doubt it.

But you lay there; awake and wondering and thinking.

I thought for sure that the format will go back to default but I guess it stays as MLA haha. Thank you so much for reading! Maybe next chapter they'll finally be out of the Bethma region. :P

So long!