Disclaimer: Don't own much of this aside from a few OCs
Chapter 11: Give the Devil his Due
They managed to get to across the hall without much trouble, and at the end was a door that supposedly led to the main hall.
"Here we go." Rayne said as his hand grasped the handle.
"How do we know which door leads to the warden's office?" Alonzo asked raising his fists in preparation for anything on the other side.
"Trial and error I suppose," Hyuuga responded pointing his spear outward.
"We won't know until we see," Rayne pushed the door open.
The hall was ominous, like the prison. It was dark and made of stone and empty, and the shear size of it made it look more like a ballroom than a main hall.
A few wooden doors were on the other side, but none of them stood out as the warden's office.
They crept inside looking for signs of life. It was completely empty. At least that's what they thought.
"What's that?" J.D. pointed to the very end of the room. Stone steps led up to a platform, illuminated by the moonlight from a large glass window. A fairly large silhouette blocked much light from shining through.
Focusing in the dark they took a good look at the figure.
It stood still and tall, holding a large spear in its clawed hands. The figure had a large metal helmet over its head, completely blank except for a few slits around the mouth area. Its body was muscular and void of any clothing except for dark tattered loincloths wrapped about its waist. It was like a statue.
"I think it's some morbid sculpture," Rayne said readying its gun.
Angelique's eyes narrowed at the thing. It couldn't be statue. Something about was too…human. She stepped forward. Human, maybe, but not completely.
They drew a little closer, to get a better look in the dark. That's when Angelique could make out a dark band around the figure's neck.
"It's…"
"Maahes."
Rayne cocked his gun as the figure began to move. Its movements were powerful and jerky, like it was a statue come to life. It slowly lifted its spear and began descending the stairs step by step.
"Guys, get Angelique back," Rayne ordered and J.D. grabbed a hold of her small form and whisked her away as Hyuuga advanced for his attack.
With a shout he jumped in the air bringing his spear down. The figure was powerful and fast contrasting with his previously jerky movements. He blocked Hyuuga's attack, and brought the end of his spear to the side of Hyuuga's head. Hyuuga stumbled to the ground grimacing.
Rayne fired his gun three times at the monster. Maahes flinched a little but it otherwise had no affect on him, instead he charged at Rayne.
Alonzo spear-headed the creature before it could ever reach the red-head, wrapping his arms around its midsection and pinning it to the wall.
"Rayne," Alonzo grunted with exertion," get a good shot on him. I don't know how long I can hold him."
Maahes brought its arm back, smashing its elbow down on Alonzo's back with a sickening thwack. The creature stepped over Alonzo and advanced towards Angelique and J.D.
J.D. shoved Angelique out of the way and she tumbled to the floor, as J.D. blocked Maahes's spear attack with his nightsticks. To J.D's surprise, Maahes had more strength than he thought, that was evident as he started sliding back from the force of the monster's attack.
Angelique reached for her sword, ready to help J.D. when something about Maahes caught her eye. Its bare back was exposed to her, the plains littered with lash and whip marks. Like a violent, blood red roadmap.
With a mighty shove, the figure broke through J.D.'s defenses, sending him flying back, hitting the far wall.
After a moment the creature turned its expressionless head in Angelique's direction. Though she was still on the ground she brought her sheathed sword at her side her other hand on the hilt as Maahes slowly made his way to her. He stood still, towering over her, his spear at rest at his side. It leaned down, seemingly inspecting her for a moment, before he moved his free hand towards her.
A shot was heard and Maahes reeled a little to the side as the bullet shattered a part of the helmet on his right side.
Rayne was charging towards the monster, "You get away from her you freak!!"
Rayne flew after him but Maahes violently shoved him with his shoulder sending Rayne flying backwards.
Maahes turned his gaze back towards Angelique. The helmet now revealed a dark human eye. He bent down and brought his clawed bloody hand to her face, gently gripping her jaw. She was paralyzed with fear and sadness. The monster's grip was so gentle and a single tear streamed down from the creature's exposed eye.
Maahes stood up taking his spear in front of him, gripping it with both hands, and plunged it into the ground. Maahes moved no more, truly like statue standing vigil over Angelique.
The others regained their strength and cautiously began to move towards the figure.
"Angie, are you hurt?" J.D. called.
"I…I'm fine."
"Well, now, look who has caused all of the ruckus," a dark dull voice said from the steps. A bald man with a blond goatee, in a black trench coat stood near the steps that led up to the platform. Shining on both sides of his neck were shining triangular chips.
Rayne's eyes grew wide, "No way! Don't tell me you've made yourself into an Artifact."
The bald man didn't answer, "You managed to defeat our latest experiment, but you wont get past me."
"He's made himself into an Artifact?" J.D. asked.
"No, I have no purification powers," the man responded stepping closer. With a burst of inhuman speed he flew towards Rayne knocking the gun out of his grasp, and giving him a blow to the stomach. "Instead I have enhanced speed and agility."
"That's dangerous," Rayne groaned.
"For you maybe," the man sneered.
Hyuuga set himself up, "What kind of business do you Rebels have here, torturing these people."
"They're worthless Migrants who were arrogant enough to think they can be better than the mainlanders."
Hyuuga spat bitterly on the ground and charged at the man with power. The man grabbed the spear and flung Hyuuga to the side. Hyuuga regained balance and charged once more. The bald man was too focused on Hyuuga and didn't notice Alonzo running up behind him and tackling the man to the ground. He gave the man a good right hook with his brass knuckles, leaving a bruise on the side of the man's face.
He grunted in response and shoved Alonzo off. He grabbed the privateer by the neck and brought his knee to Alonzo's ribs. Alonzo grunted and collapsed with a painful rib injury.
The bald man turned in time to catch Hyuuga's blow and jabbed him in the jaw. Hyuuga stumbled backwards.
"Hyuuga! Alonzo!" Angelique called in concern.
J.D. shouted and rammed his nightstick into the man. He grabbed J.D's nightsticks and started to force himself against his opponent in a battle of power. They strained against each other for minutes and after a while J.D.'s balance was beginning to slip.
Angelique stared up at the statue pleading in her mind. Please, Maahes, save them.
It was a ridiculous plea. But she stood no chance against the bald man's enhanced powers. She wasn't even sure if she had any purification powers left to strengthen her friends. So there was only one hope…
J.D. felt his strength begin to weaken, but he kept pressing against the man's power. Anything to keep Angie and the rest safe.
"Time to give up Artifact," the man smirked.
Suddenly, J.D. felt the weight against him lift. The bald man crashed into the steps. J.D looked over and found the man's attacker. Maahes.
Angelique closed her eyes in her silent plea to the figure above her, but when she opened her eyes, Maahes was gone. Instead he was yards away, near the weakened J.D. He had thrown the bald man into the steps before he could damage J.D even more.
"What the-?" Alonzo groaned, still clutching his ribs.
The man shook his head to clear it and looked up to see his creation standing over him.
Maahes gripped his helmet and lifted it up and off his face.
Angelique's eyes widened.
Long dark hair tumbled down over the marred back and a human face was hidden under the helmet.
Nyx.
Nyx was Maahes? The same creature the Medinans counted on but turned against them? She trembled at the reminder of the young woman who was raped earlier. He had done those things to his own people.
"Nyx what are you doing?" the bald man staggered to his feet and backed away a little.
Nyx's expression was blank and unemotional. He brought his hand up to the collar that controlled him. With a sharp tug he snapped it off, the pieces scattering the floor. He bellowed a roar as his body shifted and stretched, human skin breaking away revealing something bigger. A black leonine creature.
They all stared transfixed at the large muscular monster. The lips of its snout was pulled back revealing a row of long ivory teeth. It began growling and stalking towards the bald man.
The man tried to remain calm and played the lion tamer, "Alright, let's calm ourselves here…"
His voice was drowned out by the storm brewing outside. A flash of lightning stopped his sentence. Quickly he turned for one of the side doors, but Nyx caught him before he could even move towards the door.
He pounced on him.
Rayne rushed over to Angelique to shield her eyes from the carnage their friend was committing, "Don't look Angie." But that didn't stop the horrible, gurgled, screams of the man or the sound of tearing flesh from reaching her ears. She buried her face into Rayne's jacket to dull the sound, and she couldn't stop the tears from leaking from her eyes.
The screams stopped but the sound of the monster growling and chewing human flesh remained for a while. Even Rayne and J.D. had to turn away, feeling a little queasy.
Nyx stopped feasting and rose, his black body shrinking and the fur falling away until human Nyx was left standing in his tattered waistcloths. He turned to face his former friends, the glow in his eyes disappearing to fathomless dull blue, almost black eyes. His face was covered in blood. He brought his arm up to wipe away the blood around the mouth.
He didn't address them, nor did he seem to notice them as he turned back to the mauled remains of the attacker. He reached down and grabbed one of the shredded arms and dragged the body down the steps leaving a bloody trail behind. He didn't say a word to any of them nor looked at them as he passed the group heading towards the door that led to the prison.
"Nyx," Angelique said softly, starring at her friend's tarnished back as he effortlessly dragged the body through the doorway.
J.D. knocked himself back to the present, "Should we follow him?"
"What, are you nuts?" Alonzo hobbled over grabbing his side. "I don't know if you saw but he transformed into a black werelion-thing and ate a man."
"He's heading towards the prison," Rayne said distantly. "We should see what he wants there."
"More proverbial lambs?" Alonzo suggested.
Rayne lifted his gun, "If he dares to do anything I will bring him down with this."
Angelique hoped that would be a last resort. They followed the blood trail to the prison fast enough the catch Nyx before he entered.
Nyx entered and dragged the corpse down the row of cells. The Medinans began to catcall and jeer in a different language but the group could understand some of the comments.
"Well, which one of us are you going to rape now?"
"Kill me next Maahes, I can't stand living in this place anymore."
The jeers dyed down as they realized he wasn't going after anyone and they spotted the body that he was dragging. He reached the end of the row and stopped at a circle that was attached to the wall, with a hand shape inside. Nyx lifted the body's hand and laid it on the print.
The sound of tumbling locks rang throughout the prison and all at once, the cell doors unlatched.
The Medinans paused for a moment but slid the doors open and rushed out swiftly, some carrying others too weak to stand.
The prison was now empty. Nyx dropped the hand and left the body, slowly returning back towards them. He still held no expression; he was cold and lifeless. Still they decided they should follow him. They promised themselves that if they found Nyx, dead, alive, or otherwise they would bring him back to Sunlit Mansion.
They found themselves outside, rain violently pouring down. Soldiers ran up to them from all directions, their guns and swords pointed in their directions.
"Stop it there, Nyx," the muffled voice of one soldier called. "If you come quietly and turn your friends over, we'll only give you forty lashings instead of sixty."
Nyx hunched over, the faint sound of his bones cracking could be heard. He was going to transform again.
"Wait, Nyx, don't!" Angelique called and made to move towards him but Rayne grabbed a hold of her. "It's too late Angelique."
Nyx flung his head back, baring his white teeth at the Rebels, eyes glowing as he roared angrily, "I'll kill you!! All of you!!"
The Rebels were astonished as he began peeling at his own skin and the dark lion-creature appeared once more and set forth to slaughter all who stood in his way.
"We should help him," Rayne cocked his gun and aimed at one soldier.
Alonzo scoffed, "Like he needs help."
They fought their way through the disoriented soldiers, but as they fought they lost sight of Nyx, but his growls could be heard. They made it up the grassy hill and dove into the forest, where it was safe. They took one last look down at the Rebel compound, spotting soldiers' bodies littered across the ground, but Nyx was not in sight.
They roamed into the forest, safe from the Rebels. They caught their breaths. Alonzo pressed his hand on the side of the tree and leaned on it grasping on his side.
"Alonzo, are you okay?" Angelique asked. "You're not hurt too bad?"
"I don't know. I just took a shot from Nyx in the back and another in ribs. I'm going to end up with some interesting bruises in the morning," he complained.
Angelique lifted up the side of his shirt. The area around his ribs was purple, but not swollen.
"You have a couple of bruised ribs but you should be fine by morning if you get some rest."
"Yes, doctor."
They then heard rustling and several growls from with the forest. They stood close together, frantically looking around the forest to see what the growls were from. From up above from the braches several animal-like figures began leaping from branch to branch and crawling down the trunks of the trees. That's when they found they were confronted by several, fifteen or so, creatures like Nyx. Some were spotted like leopards or cheetahs, others had plain coloring, some had more bull and canine features but they all were growling and roaring at Angelique and her group.
Angelique unsheathed her sword, her being the closest to this band of transformed Lisimbas. They hissed and growled in response, a few advancing towards her.
A roar pierced the sky, and seemed to come from the heavens themselves. The Lisimba paused. A large dark figure leapt from branch to branch and jumped down landing on the ground in front of Angelique. The earth seemed to shake as the dark creature landed; slowly it rose towering over the Lisimba.
It was Nyx, his mane looked characteristically like his hair and several faint scratches were embedded in his skin under the fur on his back. Nyx growled and roared at the Lisimba. A few of the other creatures responded with growls and grunts but Nyx stood his ground and soon they lowered their heads in submission, retreating from the more dominant figure and disappeared into the night.
Nyx looked back at Angelique, but it was hard to know what the creature was thinking. It grunted and the black lion slowly shrank in size, fur falling away and more human features replaced the monstrous ones. Human Nyx was left standing, but shaking and didn't have the strength to stand much longer and he toppled to the ground.
"Nyx!" Angelique cried as she threw down her sword and rushed over to Nyx's body, falling to her knees. Nyx was shivering and twitching. She rolled him over to cradle his body in her arms. He gave no response, his darks eyes staring at nothing, she almost thought he was dead if it weren't for the shivering and the subtle rise and fall of his chest.
The other men raised their guard as they heard footsteps, but to their relief Ismail popped out from the trees, panting a little. His gaze immediately fell upon the girl holding the Maahes incarnate.
"So now you all know."
"That he's a monster…yes," Rayne answered lowering his weapon.
Ismail leaned down next to Angelique, staring down at the weakened and blank Nyx.
"How many times has he transformed?"
"Twice."
Ismail sighed, "The transformation truly has taken a toll on his body. The shifting of muscle and bone is not good for him in human form."
"There were others here like him," J.D. said looking down at his former comrade.
"The few Lisimba who live near here probably heard his call and that must've triggered a reaction for them to reawaken their transformation abilities."
He paused, scratching his scruffy beard, "It would be dangerous to stay around him for much longer. Once he has tasted human flesh, he will find it hard to resist the urge to taste it again, according to lore."
"We came here for him, we're not going to leave him," Angelique told the Medinan, her hold around the dark haired man becoming tighter.
Ismail stood and regarded the girl and the monster she was holding. He bestowed upon them a look of sympathy, as he evaluated his options.
With a hesitant sigh he responded, "There may be a way to seal the creature within him."
A/N: We find Nyx now. I took a quote from Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. Because that scene was epic and I couldn't resist. Next, will Nyx ever return back to normal? Stay tuned to find out. Please review.