Monster In The Mountains PART II

Pit! Pit! Pitta! The sounds of water droplets beating down on Fuu's forehead echoed through the motionless and dim chamber she was being held in. Achingly her eyes gradually opened, as if they hadn't been moved in a century. At first things appeared blurry and distorted but very gradually things started to come into focus. She was starring at a ceiling of stalactites protruding downwards like the teeth of a carnivorous lizard.

Damn, This can't be a dream she thought bitterly rolling over on her side. It was real as real could get. Placing a hand on the floor she felt the cool and rough surface of stone. Gazing across the floor of her cell she saw a small snail come crawling towards her. With a small shriek she crawled away from it and tucked herself into a little ball in the corner of the room.

"Where the hell am I?" she wanted answers immediately, her heart beckoned to know where she was. Looking across the room she saw the bamboo bars that caged her in from the free moving world. They were a pair of double closing doors that were held together by an intricate locking device. Thumbing through one of the hidden sleeves on the inside of her kimono she felt the sweet sensation of hope burst through her being. She had her hair pen that unfolded into a lock pick. "I bet I can bust that thing," she said under her breath. Even though she knew she was the only one in the cell it was still a good idea to always be a little extra cautious at the moment. Slowly she crept over to the double bamboo doors and started to work on the lock. The lock was composed of four chains that were suspended between a small silver piece of metal. The four chains were also fastened by a hook that held the four small chains in place by way of tiny metallic calipers. On the outside of the metallic object there was a small slot shaped like a triangle, Fuu assumed that that was where the key would unlock the chains. Peeking between the bamboo stalks she didn't see anyone, in fact she didn't see much in the way of anything outside the cell. There was nothing but a dark hallway that was dimly lit by a torch that was hanging on the far side of the hallway. There were a couple of other cells with bamboo doors, but she couldn't tell if anyone was inside them.

Let's get down to business she thought courageously and slid the lock pick between the double doors and started to work on picking the lock. A large variety of clicking noises resonated from the lock; the mechanism to opening it was much more complex than it seemed at first. Come on come on! I don't have all day! Her emotions of fear and uncertainty seemed to grow with every passing second.

"Don't waste your time," a calm voice lurked out from the shadows and bounced off the damp stone walls of the subterranean dungeon. Fuu looked up from the lock almost instantaneously and saw nothing but the dark cells.

"Who's there?" Fuu questioned. "If you're a guardian of this horrific place come out and take me!" she demanded standing up from where she had been picking the lock. It wasn't overly conspicuous but both her legs were shaking and her heart was racing like a comet headed for a planets atmosphere. Even though she sounded aggressive and full of self assurance she was frightened beyond belief.

"I'm nobody but a lonely prisoner like you," the voice spoke again. The voice was certainly male, and it was very raspy and riddled with pain, yet still very lucid. "Though now I have someone at finally I can speak to, for the time being." Fuu didn't know if this voice belonged to a sentinel keeping watch trying to trick her, or maybe he was someone else who had been banished to this dark place. To keep things on the safer side she didn't remove the lock pick from the key hole but she halted from trying to pick it.

"Well can you at least tell me who these people are, or do you not know too?"

"You don't really want to know?" the stranger spoke again. "I'm not even sure if I can refer to them as humans anymore." Fuu suddenly felt her heart jump; she could already sense that the stranger's story was only going to get worse. "I believe they are members of this cult, a very strange faith that began here in the mountain range. They are a collection of people that have lived like this predating the Anui people. Vulgar displays of power as well as the thirst for blood shed have been two of their most prominent notorieties. However, there is something else that makes them seem even more primal."

"What?" Fuu asked, her heart was starting to race again profoundly.

"Every so many year's people, mostly young girls would disappear from villages only to be brought to this dark domain." Fuu really didn't like where this was headed. "They would be brought for the first feeding of Chong Xair."

"Who or what is that?" Fuu snapped.

"He is a massive, a true freak of nature actually, a gigantic aquatic creature that resides in a cave at the bottom of a dark murky body of water. When he awakens from hibernation he feasts before heading out to the forests." Fuu felt full of fear again, what was happening, this all seemed like a nightmare, not a reality.

"How do you know all this?" Fuu asked.

"Some years ago I was the one person from Edo period who made contact with these people. Initially I wanted to bring them the studies of Shinto and other ideas from the developing cities along the coast. However, they soon feared me and banished me to this grim place. For years I don't know how long its been now but I have dwelled in this obscurity of the shadows and watched those come and go." Oddly enough, Fuu's lips curled into a smile.

"Then this is your day of luck then," Suddenly from behind the bamboo bars of one of the cells she heard rustling noises, possibly he was scrambling to his feet. "I have a companion who will help me out of this, and if you want to run free with us your welcome too." For a few seconds all heard were the sounds of the water droplets beating down on the stone floor as it echoed through the calm air.

"Well I hope your right. That's all I can say because I feel like I have lost most of mine."

Clack! Clack! Clack! Fuu heard foot steps ring out through the halls. Someone was coming towards them, who was it, Fuu jumped behind a small bolder and peeked around it and watched as her sell door opened with a creek. There were two cloaked figures but the person they held was someone she vaguely recognized. It was a female and looked to be roughly around her age maybe a year or two older, they threw her to the floor and left without saying a word or making a sound. Fuu crept out from behind the rock and over to her new cell mate.

"You ok?" she whispered in a comforting voice. The girl was wearing a yellow kimono with a pink ribbon and purple trim, Fuu rolled her over on her side and felt her heart squeeze like a snake clutching its prey. Yuri!It had been some years since there last adventure and now it looks like they were about to find there way out of yet another fiasco.

Well how did ya like this chapter, the next one is going to be in Mugen's perspective, and we may encounter someone else from their past!

Later!