As the first Skandian decoys set up positions, Will readied his bow, watching the enemy lines intently. There were about as many as they'd thought: approximately six hundred, twice the amount of men they had. They hadn't noticed that the Skandians and demigods were there yet, apparently hyper-focused on getting out of Tartarus to the outside world. They were even fighting amongst themselves for the opportunity to get out first. Will wondered wryly if they were going to do the army's work for them.
To his right, Cassandra, Horace, and a group of smaller Skandians (a bit of an oxymoron, given that no Skandian Will had ever seen could be classified as "small") crept off. Their job was to wait for the decoys to goad the bulk of the enemy forces away from the Doors, then creep in and secure the Doors for themselves. Once that was done, the rest of the Skandians would come in full force to storm the remaining monsters and take the elevator up.
The first decoy group boldly marched forward into no man's land, shouting war cries. The monsters turned immediately and about fifty detached from the group - overkill for the small group of ten Skandians, but expected. Alyss had been counting on the fact that years in Tartarus with no kills would leave the monsters hungry for whatever they could get. The Skandians gave ground quickly and the monsters followed eagerly - until another group of Skandians, fifty strong, came up out of nowhere and encircled them. Within minutes, all fifty of the monsters were dust. Will surveyed the group and nodded in satisfaction - only one Skandian had died there. If they were lucky, he might even reform quickly enough to join them once more, although Will doubted that would happen.
The unexpected demise of fifty of their number enraged the remaining monsters, for a solid two hundred of them now charged at the Skandians out on the battlefield. At that moment, the second decoy group, on the opposite side of the battlefield, emerged. Now the two hundred hesitated, wondering which group to go to first. It was this moment that Will had been waiting for.
Will nocked three arrows to his bowstring at once. Using what he'd been practicing in his last days of battle, he infused them all with light and released. They flew straight into the midst of the monsters, exploding violently like a bunch of lethal fireworks. Only a few monsters turned to dust, but the rest reacted exactly how Will had planned: all semblance of order fled from their ranks as they leaped and jumped about, trying to avoid being targeted like that once more.
The first group of Skandians raced in to take advantage of their disorder. Seeing this, the rest of the monsters finally moved forward to attack themselves. Will released a few more of his light arrows but wasn't able to obtain the same effect now that the monsters knew to expect it. He frowned, putting his bow on his back and drawing his knives. He looked back at Erak, waiting for him to give the signal.
In the meantime, the second decoy group had drawn more monsters away, to once again have a surprise fifty Skandians behind them. This time the monsters had wised up, converging quickly on them and almost overwhelming them. It was then that Erak lifted his hand.
"Charge!"
The entire rest of the Skandians - all two hundred of them - charged forward, meeting the monsters straight-on. Alyss, Will, and Erak ran with them.
The monster army was a heterogenous mass of monsters - Temujai, Telekhines, Empousai, giants, and dozens of different monsters Will had never even seen before all at once. Will fought side-by-side with Alyss and Erak, letting Erak carve out a path for them as he and Alyss cleaned up anyone Erak missed. He and the rest of the Skandians were beginning to glow red - Skandian berserker fury, which made them stronger, faster, and incapable of feeling pain.
For awhile, everything was a blur of dust, blood, and unending streams of monsters. Whenever Will began to grow tired, he reached out with his sixth sense and tugged, and new energy flooded his bones. They fought on, slowly advancing up the treacherous fields of Tartarus towards the Doors of Death. Even the battlefield itself was against them - there were times Will tripped over stones he could've sworn were not there a moment before, or his foot lodged into a sudden sinkhole. Yet even still, he and the Skandians were gaining.
As time wore on, the battle began to turn from two unified fronts to dozens of smaller fights, allowing the Skandians to push further and further in. When Will looked around, he realized they were almost to the Doors.
A bright beacon suddenly went off near the Doors, and Will's heart leaped. That was the signal that Cassandra's group had made it - they'd secured the Doors of Death!
Erak saw it too, for he gave a mighty cry. "Onwards, men! To the Doors!"
The Skandians gave answering shouts, renewing their assault against the monsters. The monsters suddenly realized, too late, that their exit had been cut off and they were now caught between two sides with no way of escape. Some fled, harpies or other winged monsters taking to the air to flee, while others tried to group up as best they could. Will, Alyss, and Erak and a few Skandians who'd fought with them the whole time pursued those, allowing the rest of the Skandians to get to the Doors.
It was only a few minutes later that Will glanced back at the Doors and saw them open, Skandians cramming inside for the ride up. The plan was working.
"To the Doors!" Erak cried again, this time to Will and the ones around him. There were still a few isolated battles here and there, but it was more pressing for them to get to the Doors so they could defend it once the monsters' reinforcements came.
They ran to the Doors, cutting down any straggler monsters that still remained. Will arrived panting, dust painted over his entire body and pain throbbing from injuries all over his body. Alyss, Erak, and the other Skandians had fared about the same, but all were still determined to fight.
"Cassie!" Alyss said, sounding relieved. "You're safe."
Cassandra and her group had been guarding the Doors, Horace and their Skandians standing in front while she worked magic from behind. She was about as pristine as one got in Tartarus, but Horace and the others looked about the same as Will. Still, Will had to admit he was surprised that he counted the same number of Skandians now as had gone out to fight. Not a single one of the ones with Cassandra had died.
"The first group has gone up," Horace informed them breathlessly, resting his sword on the ground as he spoke. It was a sign to how exhausted he was that he did so. "We've got a minute or so until we can send the next group up."
Erak surveyed the field, as did Will. They'd lost a few dozen Skandians, but their numbers were still above 250. Will couldn't believe that for once, things were actually going well. "How many went in?"
"20," Horace said, nodding at everyone's surprised expressions. "It was a tight fit, but they have to be able to overwhelm the monsters on the other side."
That was true. In order for the Doors of Death to work, someone on the mortal side of the Doors had to hold the button for the elevator down for the whole ride, otherwise the contents of the elevator wouldn't make it through. That meant there were monsters up there, waiting for their next load. In order to get out, the Skandians needed to overwhelm the monster guard and hold down the button themselves.
A steady stream of Skandians were coming towards the Doors now, while those that were there had formed up into defensive ranks. Erak called for the group they'd decided would go up next. A few had died, so Erak called for some from the group after.
Meanwhile, Cassandra, Will, Alyss, and Horace eyed the elevator interface. It indicated that it was almost to the mortal world. That was where the real fight would break out - the Skandians there needed to overwhelm the monsters as quickly as possible, otherwise Erak wouldn't be able to send any more up.
Will turned back to look into the distance. The feeling of dread he'd held before still simmered. He could see dark shapes fluttering into view over the hazy, fiery sky - harpies, or perhaps even worse, Temujai. He was sure there were more coming on foot.
The fight to take the Doors had by no means been easy, but Will wondered why they hadn't seen any of the monster big hitters yet. Had they all already gone up? And Morgarath, Lord of Tartarus - where was he? If Tartarus really was his bones and blood, he should already have realized what was happening. Whereas just moments before he'd been ecstatic that their plan was working so well, now the thought only made his apprehension increase.
The elevator door pinged. As one, the four demigods turned to it, watching with bated breath to see if it'd be sent back. Monster reinforcements clashed with the Skandian forces on their side, and Will knew he should go help, but he couldn't tear himself from the interface.
One minute passed. Then another.
"They should've secured their side by now," Alyss muttered, tapping her nails nervously against her side. "Were there more monsters than we thought?"
Erak shouted out orders to the Skandians, calling for the next group up to come to the elevator. They joined the four demigods' tense waiting.
Another minute.
"Maybe," Horace said very quietly, like he didn't want to be heard, "they didn't..."
The interface pinged. The next moment, the elevator door opened, empty. Beside it, the interface read Mortal side active.
"They did it!" Will said. "Alright, next group - get in there!"
The next group of Skandians hustled in swiftly. The doors closed. Cassandra pressed the button and the elevator was back off.
Now that the mortal side was hopefully secure, Will turned back to the battle on their side. In the last few minutes, monster reinforcements had begun pouring in, and Will knew it would only get worse as time went on. He gave a quick glance to Alyss and the two of them moved back out to the frontlines, letting Horace, Cassandra, and their Skandians guard the Doors by themselves.
Exhaustion had settled in by the time the next group of Skandians left the battle-lines to go up. Will was tugging on his sixth sense indiscriminately now, but the more he did, the more his surroundings seemed to fade around him. The haze of the sky had turned to a blur, and even Alyss right beside him was somehow difficult to make out. Will's varied injuries should have been hurting more and more, but increasingly he began to feel disconnected from them. When he tried to feel alarm at that, the emotion slid through his fingers and he kept fighting.
Beside him, Alyss was fighting like a demon - instincts only, pinpointing and slicing through her targets with unnerving precision. Erak ripped through monsters like cotton candy; around them, Skandians butchered and slew. But the reinforcements were beginning to increase in number, and the Skandians were only decreasing.
Another group of Skandians left. They were down to less than two hundred now. Now they had to fall back, no longer able to stand their ground. Will stabbed at a monster's weak point and missed, his left dagger impacting its horn instead. The dagger shattered on impact and Will swore, narrowly dodging the monster's next blow. A moment later, it froze and disintegrated.
Will glanced around to see Alyss next to him, arm still outstretched from the killing blow.
"Thanks," he said breathlessly, and she nodded in acknowledgement and readied herself for their next foe.
Will straightened and backed up a few steps, hastily taking stock of the situation. He was down to only one dagger now. He'd never trained in one-handed weaponry, and he had a feeling that if he tried to learn it now, he'd die. So he ran back towards the doors, taking his bow off his back and nocking an arrow to it. It was hard to find a good target in the frontlines - Will would be risking shooting an ally instead - so instead he focused on the reinforcements who hadn't yet joined the fray.
The fourth group entered the elevator right as Will ran out of arrows. Even using his powers, he'd only picked off a couple dozen monsters - not even a dent in the hundreds that were flooding in. Will surveyed them grimly, dread and panic intermingled within him. This was only going to get worse from here on out.
Breathing deeply, Will gripped his dagger and stepped back into the midst of the battle, merging back in with Alyss and Erak. His unease about using one dagger was soon proved legitimate as he made mistake after mistake, with Alyss only barely managing to salvage him each time. He gritted his teeth as he blocked another strike from sharp claws. The monster reared back and struck again, quicker than Will had expected.
Will grabbed at his sixth sense and gave a mighty tug, grasping for energy. At that moment the monster faltered, and Will drove his dagger through its heart. Will's heart gave a heady throb and the smell of sulfur flooded his nose, strong enough to make him nauseous. He hefted his dagger and kept fighting.
Minutes passed. Groups five and six left, taking the grand total of troops down to less than 150. Will's vision had begun to grey out - dust was everywhere and his entire body throbbed in pain. Will had stopped thinking clearly; every movement no longer felt like his own. His thoughts were wild and formless, and the more he tried to think, the less he could.
Group seven started back towards the elevator. Or was it eight? Will couldn't remember.
A giant swung its heavy club straight at Alyss when her back was turned. Will was too far away to stop it, and his dagger was no use against a giant's club. Raising his left hand, Will focused his light into a cutting blade and threw it at the club. It split in two, the front half dropping at Alyss' feet. She jumped, turned, and in the next instant cut the giant's achilles, then as it fell stabbed it in the heart. She glanced at Will and said something that was lost in the noise of battle.
Another group entered. Then another. They were down to less than a hundred, and as their numbers lessened, their casualties increased. They were practically up against the Doors now and barely managing to hold the position. Will looked around. If they lost one more group, would they be able to hold the Doors?
The exhausted Skandians were beginning to falter as ceaseless waves of monsters pressed in. Even Erak was beginning to lose his berserker rage. It was then that Will felt a new presence at his side. He glanced over and saw with surprise that it was Horace. Horace's group had been stationed next to the elevator - that Will was now fighting beside him showed how close they were fighting to the Doors themselves.
"There's too many!" Will yelled over the fray as a Tem'uj sliced into his shoulder. He shoved a burst of light into its face and it turned to dust. "We need to fall back!"
"We can't!" Horace yelled back. "There's nowhere else to go!"
Will's heart dropped. Looking around, he saw the same despair in all the Skandians who'd heard. Skandians were brave, but even brave men would flee if pushed. He realized that they weren't far from breaking rank and running - although what good that'd do when they were blocked in was anyone's guess.
Beside him, Horace stepped backwards and said, "Cover me."
Will moved automatically to do so, expelling a shield of light to protect them. His head throbbed like it had been split open and the sulfur taste was back, stronger. He could sense he was getting to the end of his powers. Even his sixth sense was beginning to fail him, like a muscle that was worn out from overuse. And unlike when he'd been on the mortal world, no god would be helping him now.
Not that they've ever helped you before. Your own father abandoned you, after all.
A sudden sense of rage covered him and he thought about how unfair it was that the gods should be so powerless, so incapable of helping their own children, let alone the rest of the world. How could such selfish, pathetic creatures even call themselves by the name of 'god'? Will clenched his jaw and swiped viciously at the Telekhine in front of him. He sliced it in two and lit it up with another burst of light to finish it off.
Around him, Skandians were giving off roars and war-cries, and as he looked, he saw their berserker rage descending over them once more. Alyss herself gave a violent shout as she neatly disemboweled a Tem'uj. What in the world? Just moments ago, they had been - they all had been - on the verge of giving up.
The next group of Skandians ran for the elevator. Will took a moment to look back and saw Horace, jaw set, eyes red and a blood-red haze cloaking his body. It was a horrifying sight, and Will understood what was going on. Days ago, when Horace had gotten angry about Will asking Erak to join them, he'd unintentionally made the other three demigods angry as well. He was repeating the same thing now, using his power as a son of Ares to promote more bloodshed.
The morale boost stabilized the line, but only until the elevator came back again for the next group. Once they'd loaded on, Will and his allies were officially down to less than fifty. Erak, Alyss, and Will had purposefully planned for the strongest soldiers to be the last ones to go, but even Erak's great strength could not compensate for vastly inferior numbers, for Temujai and giants and empousai bearing down on them in hordes.
Something else had to be done. Erak and his Skandians were fighting bravely; Horace and Alyss fought like gods of war themselves instead of just their children; Cassandra's Mist drove dozens of monsters to flee or falter or trip over imaginary objects. It simply was not enough.
A low, cold voice - a familiar one - muttered to Will, What's the point in any of this? You have nothing left in the mortal world anyway. Halt's dead, and if he wasn't, he'd never forgive you. The Rangers will never accept you - how could they? Horace, Alyss, and Cassandra all live separate lives from yours. You'll be all alone, an outcast... a stray, back on the streets where you belong.
Why bother getting out?
Everything around Will - the screams and cries of soldiers, the shrieks of monsters - became muffled. Will stepped back and surveyed the situation silently. The feeling of dissociation was stronger than ever. It wasn't really him standing there, but someone else - and it didn't really matter whether they lived or died. After all, if nothing changed, they'd all be dead soon.
The elevator door dinged and a horde of Skandians rushed in, wrestling with each other to get in. As they shut, they left behind just 25 - 20 Skandians and Erak, Will, Alyss, Horace, and Cassandra. Will looked out at the masses of monsters. The already dark sky of Tartarus was black with the forms of Temujai, who intermittently swooped down when it was least expected. The fields before the Doors of Death were dark with dust and blood, and hundreds of monsters trampled that into the dirt.
Will looked down at the dagger in his hands, coated in dust, a crack running down the blade. Even drakon bones were no match for Temujai flesh, it seemed. Taking a deep breath, Will gripped his weapon and started forward mechanically.
The monsters were pressing in all around. Will watched and saw a point in the defense where a Skandian was about to give in. He ran for it, throwing a great bolt of light at the attacking monsters. One disintegrated instantly, and others around it gave way, startled and afraid of the light. Will kept going, pushing past the Skandian and into the midst of the massive horde of monsters.
His sixth sense was screaming at him and Will finally gave it full rein. He cut through the enemy flank like a spear, surrounding himself in a perpetual shield of light to ward off enemy attacks to his unprotected back. His skin prickled like it was on fire and his ears rang, his stomach hurled within him and every inch of his body screamed in pain. He kept going anyway.
His vision, already blurred and hazy, went dark and his ears rang so loudly he could only make out his own heartbeat, racing far faster than any human heart ever should. His nose was filled with the scent of sulfur and blood, and his tongue was filled with ash. He fought through the world, utterly senseless now but for the screaming of that new sense - his sixth sense. Somehow, he knew where his enemies were - knew when they were coming for him - knew when and where and how they attacked, yet he never saw them or heard them at all.
Seeing the demigod decimating their forces, the monsters who had been intent on breaking through the tiny ring of defenders and securing the doors suddenly lost interest and began turning towards Will - yet all Will knew was that there were more. More to fight, to burn, to kill. As they surrounded him, he pulled from deep within him and let out all his power at once in a violent shockwave of light. Dozens of monsters disintegrated instantly.
There were still more, he could sense, hesitating now. He grinned at them, trying not to stagger as they began to close in on him. His body felt strangely light and heavy all at once, and he knew it wasn't from exhaustion. His chest was tight and he had the urge to start laughing.
"If only you could see me now, Halt!" he said. "Wouldn't you be proud?"
Wasn't there something Halt had said to him? That he couldn't use his powers in battle - that he was too weak, too untrained, a danger to himself and others? Hah! In that, at least, Halt was right. Will was a danger to others, and the thought only made him want to laugh.
The monsters closed in again, ripping viciously at him as though to kill him before he could react. He laughed once, wildly, swiping with his dagger, a bright line of power cutting through the air and slicing monsters in half. More things were screaming at him, more and more and more and he could barely take it. His head - no, foot? No, arm. Which arm? His stomach - cramped, cut, sliced open? The scent of sulfur was stronger than ever. He could barely breathe.
He went to attack again, but a monster beat him to it, brunt force smashing into Will like a train. He flew backwards, crashing into living flesh that attacked him too, biting and clawing and tearing. He screamed, sending out another wave of light and rolling back to his feet at the monsters died around him.
There was more screaming. Will fought more viciously, wanting it to just shut up. Stab, slice, cut. Dodge. Shield, blast, bolt. Dodge. Wouldn't Halt be proud to see me now? He thought as monsters died all around him. Wouldn't Halt love me? Wouldn't Halt-
No, he suddenly realized, and the hesitation cost him. Halt wouldn't, didn't, couldn't. Halt hated him. Halt despised him. Halt had never forgiven him and never would, had let him go into Tartarus, let him fall and suffer through hell.
No... no. Halt hadn't just let him fall.
Halt had thrown him in himself.
The screaming grew louder, and Will jerked his head in the direction of it, mouth open in a snarl. There, monsters and monsters away, was something else. His vision cleared just slightly, and he saw in a blurred-out daze a large, black set of doors. They looked... familiar?
There were people getting in them, but they were smaller than he'd expected - smaller than he remembered other people being. There were supposed to be more, he thought, furrowing his brow. More, and bigger. What had happened to them? Why were there only four left?
"WILL!"
He recognized that voice. He hesitated, straining his eyes towards the figure, trying to make it out. Right as he thought he recognized the person, another group of monsters attacked. Will pulled on his sixth sense. When he looked back, the recognition had faded.
"WILL! Do you hear me? Come on! The elevator's open, we don't have much time! We can't hold it for much longer!"
He tipped his head, taking a small, confused step towards the voice. He did know the voice, didn't he?
"Will, come on! Erak's trying to leave without you!"
Erak.
Yes... yes. He knew Erak. The Skandian, pained and bitter but also noble and kind. A friend. Will looked at the elevator again and this time he recognized all of them. The voice was Alyss', his friend - his best friend - his... his something more. She was standing there, monsters and monsters away, in the doorway of the elevator, calling for him.
Like a dream's sudden recollection, he remembered why he'd done this in the first place: to buy time. He'd succeeded, it seemed.
"Will! Will, come on! Get over here! Time's running out!"
Will took a step towards her. Nothing made sense. Things were screaming all around him: voices calling use me, use me, his body rebelling against him in every way. Above it all, that cold, familiar voice was back.
There's nothing for you up there. Here is where you belong.
More monsters crumbled to dust. He was moving back towards the Doors now, but with every use of his powers, the why of what he was doing faded. Things were just - dying around him, and Alyss was screaming at him, and other voices were yelling too. He was running now, shaking off the cold voice, desperate to get to the Doors in time.
He was almost there now, his lungs burning from exertion. 100 feet, 80 feet, 60... Alyss, Horace, Erak, Cassandra were cheering him on. 40 feet, 35, 30, and suddenly they stopped and their expressions dropped in horror.
Will spun. Every muscle in his body locked up involuntarily.
"Will, Will, Will," said Morgarath, Lord of Tartarus, in that cold, familiar voice. "Did you really think I would let my sacrifice leave?"
A/N: Alright. Here's where things are gonna start to get real, real fast.
I am going to do something I've never done before: commit to an actual update schedule. You'll see why soon. I hope to have the next chapter out by next week or a little before that, and then the next... 3 chapters, I think, or possibly 4 out in the same time frame of a week after each other. I'm probably not going to keep this up indefinitely, but I think (I hope) it'll be appreciated, since I'm not exactly known for my quick updates. That's partly why it's taken me so long to update this - I have the next four chapters partially written already, so I hope to get them all out soon!
I hope you all are still enjoying this!