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Chapter 14: Welcome to Necropolis
Siômo and Reptantis raised their hands over their faces to block out the bright light. They had no idea what was happening, but they felt a sudden case of dread and despair. The light began to fade after a few tense moments and they slowly lowered their hands.
They didn't know what just happened, but one thing was for certain. They weren't in the ancient temple anymore. The place the light brought them to was completely different than the temple.
The area they were in was a forest, but all of the trees were dead and there were no leaves. The ground they were standing on had small patches of dead grass, but it was mostly warm sand. They looked up at the sky to see a black void above them and red colored lightning occasionally flashed in the distance with a loud boom afterwards.
"Where are we?" Reptantis asked quietly as they looked around the strange environment.
"I do not know… but I do not think that we are in the Death Marsh anymore." the Skræling replied as he took a few steps forward and the dead grass crunched under his feet.
They both flinched in surplice when a sickly green mist appeared out of nowhere, only to fade away. Once the mist faded away, a robed skeleton with four arms stood before them. Its glowing green eye sockets and bloody face looked extremely disturbing along with the scenery around them.
Reptantis gasped in fear when he saw the skeleton and he quickly fumbled for his shotgun, but he ended up dropping it because his hands were so shaky. He bent down to pick it up, but he stopped when he heard his companion's voice.
"Wait, I know you…" Siômo said to the skeleton as his eyes widened. "You are Nekromant… the spirit who visited me when I was a child." he realized as he took a few steps back.
"Hmm… I'm glad that you remember me…" the necromancer spoke with a dry voice and a cackle at the end. "Now then… I'm sure you and your Sleg friend are wondering where you are…" he figured as he raised one of his left hands and the shotgun on the ground slowly floated into the air and landed in the surprised Sleg's hands.
"Yes, what is this place?" the Skræling questioned with tense muscles.
"You are in my realm, Necropolis… the realm that I rule. My realm's landmasses consist of floating islands… and there are five main islands and each have one of my minions guarding it. And you are on one of my main islands." Nekromant explained with his dry sounding voice that sent chills down the two men's spines.
"Floating islands? That does not make any sense. I have seen some insane things… but floating islands do not sound believable to me." the bearded native stated firmly, starting to regain his confidence.
The dark deity cackled darkly from the human's comment. He found their fearfully and angry responses to be very entertaining.
"I'm sure that you two will reach the end of this island and you will see for yourselves that you actually are on an island. You see, you are on the island, Atrum Nemus, guarded by my minion, Maiden Maria. In order to return to the Lost land, you must find the teleportation scroll on this island; not too dissimilar from the scroll that brought you here. Once you find the scroll within the forest… I will tell you how to save Awehsohs and allow you to leave my home." the necromancer informed them both before a sickly green mist began to emit from the ground around him.
The two mortals stepped away from the mist just in case it was harmful and watched as it went up the undead creature's body. Siômo wanted to ask Nekromant more questions about the place they were in, but the mist faded away and the necromancer was no longer there.
"Well… that was scary." Reptantis commented shakily after a long moment of silence. "How do you know that… thing?" he asked, really wanting to know.
"He… came to me when I was a child. I think he knew that all of this was going to happen… even back then." the Skræling replied with a heavy sigh at the end.
"Oh… well, you heard what he said. That scroll is somewhere in this forest and we need to find it." the Sleg reminded with a determined expression and he pumped his shotgun so two shells were ready to fire in the chambers.
Siômo nodded as he kept a firm grip on his Viking sword and double edged tomahawk. The two men looked around the dead forest a little more before they started walking in a seemingly random direction. They were both wondering why they were brought to Necropolis in the first place instead of just being told where to go, but there was no way to get an answer until they found that teleportation scroll.
As they walked through the dead forest, they began to notice that a few strange objects could be seen hanging from the trees. It was too dark to see what they were exactly, so Reptantis took out his flashlight again and turned it on.
The Sleg pointed the light at one of the hanging objects and both men gasped in surprise when they saw what looked like the corpse of an anthromorphic cat or cheetah hanging from the tree.
The corpse looked like it was a few days old and it smelled putrid from sitting out in the open for so long. Thanks to the light wind, the corpse was softly swaying from the rope around its neck.
"This place is a nightmare…" Siômo commented with horror in his voice as he and his companion took a step back from the suicide victim.
Reptantis directed his flashlight away from the corpse, only to see a few more corpses hanging from other trees around them. He was about to voice his unease, but he stopped when they both heard the sound of multiple wings flapping behind them.
The duo quickly turned around to see what looked like four skulls flying towards them. These skulls resembled those from a human, but they had fangs and their eye sockets were glowing blue. They each sported black bat wings on both sides of the skull and they were flying directly towards the two men.
The Skull-Bats screeched and hissed as they approached the two armed men. Reptantis took aim with his shotgun and squeezed the trigger, but the undead creatures easily dodged the wide blast of lethal pellets. It didn't take long for them to reach the two companions, but Siômo just barely knocked one of them to the ground with the broad end of his Viking sword.
Before the skull could flap its wings to fly away again, the muscular native stabbed it between the eyes with his sword. Its eye sockets ceased to glow and its wings went limp, signifying that it was dead.
Reptantis growled in pain when one of the Skull-Bats bit into his shoulder and he started bashing the back of the skull with the butt of his shotgun. It finally let go and attempted to fly away, but the Sleg shot it out of the sky before it could get too far.
As they fought the more annoying than threatening enemies, more Skull-Bats began to fly towards them by the dozens. The two men noticed this and glanced at one another.
"There's too many of these little bastards!" Reptantis shouted as he used his shotgun as a melee weapon and bashed one of the flying creatures to the ground.
"I know! We need to flee!" Siômo replied loudly before he started running in a random direction with his companion close behind him.
The Skull-Bats screeched angrily as they began to give chase. The two companions glanced over their shoulders occasionally as they ran to see the glowing pairs of blue eyes in the darkness, but they kept running no matter what. After awhile however, the screeching stopped and they couldn't hear the sound of flapping wings.
"I… I think we can stop now." Reptantis commented shakily as they ran and they gradually slowed down to a stop.
They rested their hands on their knees and slouched as they panted from both the adrenaline rush and the running. They've dealt with various dangers before, but this was unlike anything either of them has ever experienced before. This place filled their very souls with dread and despair.
"This place is evil…" the Skræling mumbled quietly as his dark brown eyes slowly looked up at his scaled companion.
"Yeah… I hope we find that damn scroll soon." the Sleg replied with a nod of agreement.
Reptantis shined his flashlight around the area and was relieved when he didn't see any bodies hanging from the trees around them. He and Siômo started walking again, but they made sure to pay more attention to their surrounding so they wouldn't be snuck up on like earlier. They were slightly surprised to see what looked like the edge of a cliff to their left however and they looked closely at it.
The edge stopped abruptly and it seemed to be fairly steep. They couldn't even see the bottom, just more of the black void.
"I guess that four armed skeleton was telling the truth. We really are on a floating island." Reptantis commented with a quiet sigh.
Siômo was about to comment, but he stopped when they both noticed a pair of glowing blue eyes in the distance. The Sleg shined his flashlight at the eyes, and they both gasped at what they saw.
There was a skeleton of a large dragon flying through the air and its eye sockets were glowing bright blue. The creature must've been at least twice as big as the Pteranodons they rode. It let out a roar as it flew above them, but it didn't make any hostile movements towards them, much it their relief. The Bone Dragon didn't seem to be interested in them at all.
"Now I've seen everything." Reptantis commented flatly as the skeletal creature roared again and flew off into the darkness, most likely to another island.
"I have a feeling that this land will have you stand corrected." Siômo commented as he shook his head and looked around again.
The muscular native thought he saw something in the darkness and tapped the Sleg's shoulder with his hand. His companion aimed the flashlight where he was looking, revealing a dirt path that they could follow.
"This may lead us to the teleportation scroll." the Skræling commented with a look of determination, wanting to leave this dreadful place.
"It could also lead us to our deaths… but it's not like we have another choice." Reptantis replied with a groan.
The two men began to walk down the eerie path and only the sounds of their footsteps could be heard. The forest was strangely quiet, making them both feel very uneased. They almost preferred fighting some kind of monster than dealing with this dead silence where they could be ambushed at any given moment.
After awhile of walking, the dirt under their feet was replaced with a stone brick path and the trees between the path got more and thicker with death foliage. They both noticed that the path was leading them slightly upwards and there were occasionally stair-like steps they had to climb.
Reptantis kept his flashlight shining in front of them so they could see where they were going, but everything else was submerged in almost pure darkness. The stone path eventually ended at a large clearing with a stone ground and a pedestal on the other side of the clearing. The Sleg shined his light on the pedestal and they could easily see the scroll they were searching for.
"It can't be this easy." the Sleg mumbled as they both looked around the area, only being met with darkness and silence.
"I agree. This is obviously a trap." Siômo replied as he rubbed his bearded chin in thought, wondering how they should approach this.
"Well, we can't just stand here all day. I suggest you stay here while I go over there to see just how close I can get without something happening." Reptantis suggested with his usual guttural voice.
"Are you sure that you are willing to put yourself at risk like that?" the Skræling asked with concern in his voice.
"Yes. Don't worry, I trust you to keep me safe." his scaly companion replied with a smirk and he replaced his shotgun in favor for his pistol so he could easily shoot while holding the flashlight.
The bearded native nodded with a light chuckle and took out his plasma cannon. Reptantis looked over at the pedestal and slowly began to walk over to it. He was hoping for the best, but was planned for the worst.
Seconds went by as he approached the scroll and he kept his light pointed at the pedestal. Once he was right in front of it, he holstered his pistol and slowly reached for the scroll. Siômo was very tense as he watched all of this and he had his plasma cannon set on the standard firing mode.
Reptantis rested his three fingered hand on the ancient scroll and carefully looked around, expecting to be attacked. When nothing happened, he wrapped his fingers around the scroll and slowly took it off the pedestal. Once again, nothing happened.
'Is that skeleton thing toying with us?' the Sleg asked in his head as he stuffed the scroll into one of his pouches and shined his flashlight around the area.
"Hurry back here before something bad happens!" Siômo called, feeling very uneased from the whole scene.
Reptantis nodded and rushed over to his ally. Once they were standing side by side however, they heard a hiss in the darkness, startling them both. They looked back over at the pedestal to see glowing red eyes within the darkness.
The Sleg quickly aimed his flashlight at the eyes and they could see what looked like a female standing next to the pedestal. The woman had a curvy body with very pale skin. Her breasts could easily be seen, but all of her body parts from the waist down were covered in dark brown fur. Her head resembled a goat with ram horns and black bat wings could be seen on her back. Sharp claws could be seen at the end of her finger tips and her feet resembled that of a bird of prey.
"Is that thing… Maiden Maria?" Reptantis asked with wide eyes, remembering that Nekromant mentioned that the guardian of the island was named Maria.
The two men aimed their guns at the creature and it took a few steps forward. The bird-like claws on its feet clicked against the stone as it approached.
"Stay back or we will shoot!" Siômo warned, not wanting to fight a woman, even if said woman was an evil looking monster.
Saint Maria didn't heed his warning however and hissed threateningly as she approached them. Once they started to open fire however, she spread her large bat wings and quickly rose into the air.
Reptantis and Siômo immediately stopped shooting because they didn't want to waste their precious ammo and they watched the glowing red eyes soar through the darkened sky.
"Do not fire until she is in clear sight." the bearded native instructed as they loaded fresh clips into their weapons.
Once Maiden Maria was within the flashlight's range, they both took aim, but something happened. She raised her clawed hands and a bright flash of light shot out in all directions, blinding the two men. The light didn't hurt them, but it definitely hurt their eyes.
Taking the opportunity, the monster tackled Siômo and raised her left hand to slice at his face. She let out a roar of pain however when Reptantis blindly fired in her general direction and at least two bullets hit her back. The Skræling quickly used his left hand to unsheathe his sword and he stabbed her through eh chest, earning another roar of pain.
The two men had regained their vision at this point and the Sleg growled as he took proper aim with his pistol. Maiden Maria jumped away from Siômo with a snarl because she tore the sword out of her gullet in the process. She noticed that the Sleg was taking aim with his gun, so she raised her left hand.
All of a sudden, some of the branches from nearby trees shot towards Reptantis and wrapped around his wrists. He growled as the plants forced him to aim upwards and he fired into the air a few times.
The half-Viking saw what was happening and quickly stood up. He grabbed the plasma cannon that he dropped when he was tackled, but instead of using it, he shouldered it and used his right hand to take out his double edged tomahawk.
The monstrous woman noticed the human behind her and was about to have him the same treatment as Reptantis, but the allusive Skræling quickly rolled away from the tree branches that attempted to grab him and he chopped at her shoulder, making her hiss in pain.
Maiden Maria swatted him away with the back of her hand, causing him to fall to the ground. He quickly stood back up however and attempted to stab her with the sword in his left hand. She sidestepped the attack however and she summoned light in her clawed hands to blind him.
Siômo gasped in surprise as the bright, white light blinded him and he had to shield his eyes. The monster was so focused on him that the tree branches holding the Sleg in place loosened slightly.
Thanks to his military training, Reptantis was able to use his pure strength to break his right arm away from the vines, the same pistol that was holding the pistol. He growled as he took careful aim at the monster that was about to kill his friend and he squeezed the trigger.
Maiden Maria roared in pain as Reptantis' bullet pierced through her neck and she immediately started chocking on her own blood. She held her bleeding neck with both hands as she looked at the Sleg who shot her. Not wanting to die, she quickly took flight into the darkness and fled.
The tree branches completely loosened their grip and slithered back to their original positions before the fight. The Sleg ran over to his native ally once he was free.
"Are you okay?" he asked as the Skræling rubbed his eyes to try to get rid of the spots he was seeing.
"Yes, I am aright… thank you." the human assured as he finally stopped rubbing his eyes and he sheathed his weapons.
"That's good. You know, we really deserve to get some female action for everything we've done so far." Reptantis commented jokingly with a smirk.
Siômo laughed at his companion's comment and he watched as the Sleg reached into his pouch and took out the scroll. They both glanced at one another before Reptantis unrolled the parchment and they could clearly see the red symbols on the paper.
"Congratulations… you've found your ticket out of my world." a familiar voice spoke up from the darkness.
The two men quickly turned around and the Sleg shined his flashlight on what spoke to them. Nekromant was standing directly behind them and was looking down at the scroll in their hands.
"You've found my scroll… so I will tell you how to find Awehsohs." the necromancer began as he raised one of his hands slightly. "Awehsohs has been taken to the Lost Land's northern Volcanic Region… at the Sleg's castle. If you wish to go there and successfully save him… then find a way out of the Death Marsh… and travel to the Suspended City. You will find aid there." he explained to them with his eerily dry sounding voice.
"Why can't we just go to the Volcanic Region?" Reptantis asked as he took an involuntary step away from the four armed skeleton.
"Because the Sleg army is now expecting the Son of Stone to barge into their front door to save his brother. Going straight there would result in your deaths." the undead deity explained truthfully.
The two companions thought over his words for a long while before Siômo sighed heavily.
"Fine, we will heed your advice. Now let us return to the Lost Land." he demanded with a heavy frown.
"As you wish, Son of Stone. Just remember one thing… I will be watching every step you make." Nekromant stated calmly before the two men disappeared in a bright flash of sickly green light, returning Reptantis and Siômo to the Death Marsh.