CHAPTER 14 – Infestation

Reina braced herself for the fall, for it wasn't like with last time, being taken on by surprise with no way of knowing what would greet her at the bottom.

Only the orange glow of the candles that lit the interior of the Church left a shaft of light above her making her blood-red hair even more vibrant as her light blue eyes seemed to glow from it.

What surprised her though was that lit torches were lining the white bricked walls. But something was off.

She expected Shades right off, but there were none. Absolutely none.

This was wrong, something about all of this was completely and utterly wrong.

With her growing sense of unease, Reina began heading further down into the tunnels, noticing that the layout was slightly different from the last, but that was also due to barely recalling what she did come across the first time. Given that she had run blindly before, only now she ran with purpose.

She entered one of the rooms hoping to come across some clues, only to find what looked like a charred blackened corpse in some type of armour. Kneeling to take a better look, she found that this body had parts that were still glowing like an ember as if it had just been lite ablaze, yet the armour itself held no scorch marks.

And upon looking at the scorched man she saw that same strange writing along with the chest plate of the armour.

Galgaliel Soldier.

Reina frowned; she couldn't recall seeing something like people dressed in armour. At all, in fact. There were no soldiers, no one dressing in armour, some might have found it to be practical but if the body wasn't used to the weight, it would only be a hindrance when trying to escape Legion. The only time Reina had ever come across armour was when she had explored some of the forgotten abandoned cities where there were places those buildings housed pieces of art or artifacts from times that had long since passed and were lost for a time before being rediscovered.

It was almost funny. She rather enjoyed looking at the anecdotes of info for a certain artifact on display, if it was still there, that is. Since so many of those places had been pilfered or destroyed long before she came to such a place.

She understood the need for money, she was no fool, but the want and distraction of something that was hundreds if not thousands of years old didn't sit well with her.

But there was nothing that she could do about it.

There had been a time, long before all of this, Reina would have been happy to just live in a place secluded from the world with the things she'd collect over time. Books, maps, odds and ends, regardless of its use. But that was just a dream that had long since died. Because now, she had no place to which she could truly call home. No place where she would feel safe.

Always on the run.

Reina stood, intending to leave, but stopped when she heard something. A strange scraping of metal across the stone, coming from behind her. When she looked back, to her shock the charred man was now standing, his body swaying as if to try and stay upright, his whole body vibrating, making a strange faint humming sound from the armour as a result of it. The corpse's eyes glowed a strange amber colour, as though he were burning from the inside.

What? Was all that Reina could think before the body lunged at her with a sword raised above its head as it staggered towards her, in which she quickly dispatched it with her spear. She was sure that it was dead. But then to her horror, it got up again.

What in the world was going on?

She killed it again. And again, and again. But it wouldn't stay down.

What was this?

Seeing that there was nothing that she could do, Reina quickly left the small room and kept going forwards, only to her horror she came across even more of these undead monstrosities.

Shit, there's more of these things!? Reina thought as she fought them off, keeping them at bay with her weapon, knocking them down before pricing them in the head, the most effective way to make sure that they wouldn't get up again, but it proved to be of little use to these creatures and since she didn't know what would work, she had no choice but to keep moving. Really, the best she could do was to either avoid them, dodging or even vaulting over them with her weapon, or knocking them back as she kept running. Thankfully, they were slow, the problem with that if there were a bunch clustered together, then they could pile on top of her if she wasn't careful.

The further Reina headed into the tunnels the more she came across these undead soldiers. And since she currently only had her bombs while also in a place that could easily collapse if she even used one of them, she had only her spear, and weapons like it to keep them at bay. I need to ask Artemisia to forge me some throwing knives, should have done that before coming here. Live and learn, I guess. If I get out of here with my hide intact, I'll be sure to bring it up.

For a while, she was content with just making small bombs, but in situations like this throwing knives would have made a better alternative when throwing to keep those even further in a distance. The reason she never had knives was because of how hard it was to come across a decent knife, but also needing to recollect it after it was thrown.

It was tedious, and a bother to do so, hence the small bombs. But now that line of thought hampered her ability to fight.

Her frustration mounted with the sizable onslaught of foes. Yet the moment she reached a chamber, she saw that some were only partly animated. Bodies missing limbs, or crawling on the ground, or wandering with their legs because the top half of them were missing. She wondered why that these undead soldiers were only partly coming back, or not at all until she saw the extent of the damage in the room. The scorch marks were left from fire.

Caim had been here.

Emphasis on had.

But this gave her a trail to follow rather than wandering around aimlessly like a chicken with its head cut off.

Following the path of destruction, charred remains of the undead soldiers, Reina felt like she was getting close to… something. It wasn't nessicarily Caim, simply because it was something she had felt in the previous Church.

Whatever it was made her heart pound. But that wasn't the only thing. She felt something pulling at her mind, tugging her to go further, deeper down until the ground beneath her feet began to shift, the whole of the tunnels trembled and then broke, causing her to fall into another hallway. Thankfully with no enemies in sight. This slight change didn't stop her from moving.

She must have been close.

And the closer she got, the more frequent the tremors became. Whatever was the cause of it, was right ahead.

Reina skidded to a stop when reaching a set of familiar-looking doors. Only this time there was a different image than before. This time the symbol looked almost like that of a bull's horns/head encircled with stars. Her hands clenched and unclenched, the last time she touched a door like this her head felt like she had been pierced in the eyes with a blade. She didn't want to feel that again, but if Caim was on the other side of this door, fighting whatever awaited beyond it, she needed to head through.

Extending her left hand, she felt a familiar shock of electricity and pain behind her eyes before the symbol faded and the doors opened wide. When the pain had subsided Reina rushed into the large room, but to her surprise, nothing was there.

Was she mistaken?

The room was just like the previous one, yet instead of blue, it was of yellow, with what looked to be ships carved into the white stone walls as if depicting a great naval battle against some kind of sea monster. While the statue at the far back was just the same as the first, a woman with long hair surrounded with flowers, kneeling with hands clasped together while the mouth was open as if it were singing before an alter.

There were no signs that anyone had come here. Shoot, the floor that she had fallen through must have been the right way to go. She turned to leave and had made three steps only to stop dead in her tracks when she felt something pull at her followed by the faint sounds of a song, broken and disjointed but a song nonetheless. It felt like she was being pulled by invisible strings as she slowly looked back towards the alter. Her feet were unable to move forward. Whatever it was that called her wouldn't let her leave. With a wary frown, Reina moved closer to the altar where a weapon lay in wait. It looked to be a spear in the shape of a giant cross, that was made of white and yellow gold. And much like the first one, she had seen; this weapon had inscribed into it at the hilt the Roman numeral number for Five. V.

She merely looked at the weapon from where it lay before glancing at the statue. Did it want her to take this to? To test it, she tried to move back but found after one step she couldn't move. With a tried breath she picked it up, slightly annoyed that it was lighter than it looked. "Fine, I'll take the damn thing…" she muttered to the statue with annoyance. She had just found another weapon, but this, much like the other from the previous Church, seemed different, but she couldn't figure as to why.

Before she could speculate the reason, however, the ground began to shake once more, and the ceiling broke open. Where a large creature and a familiar face came crashing to the floor.

Caim! Reina thought as she rushed over to him, as the man staggered to his feet. And though he was scowling, he looked almost relieved to see her. She was just amazed that he wasn't dead. But it was a moment short-lived as he turned his attention back to what had fallen alongside him.

"Is that a… giant crab with a ship for a hat?" Reina found herself saying that Caim merely lit the sword he had with fire and made a sign for food. Was he thinking of eating it?

Could you even eat it?

Or maybe he was trying to make a joke, given how she had been in this City. If so, it was terrible. But it did make her scoff as a faint grin came upon her face. "Well, if you can do so I say go for it."

He seemed to laugh silently way before launching in to attack. While Reina stayed back and watched to try and get a better idea of what this monster was about. It was vastly different than the last. The first had lumbered about, as if moving almost aimless, but this one seemed to hold a set pattern of only moving from side to side. What's more that ship atop its head, made Reina wonder something.

Deciding to test this unspoken theory, Reina took one of her ready-made bombs and tossed it at the ship's hull. Where, when it exploded, cracking the wood and causing the mast and sail to be lit ablaze. Causing the giant crab to scurry and panic, running into walls, bringing more damage to itself as it caused the walls of the room to shake and debris to fall. Both Reina and Caim moved to avoid it, though, amid the falling stones from the broken ceiling, one seemed to hit in a spot of the giant crab's forehead, right between its eyes. Where it then collapsed to the floor where it became dazed.

Reina took the open opportunity, avoiding the falling stone as she made her way to the crab. Leaping into the air when she got close and pierced it with her newly acquired weapon. Where the giant crab shrieked upon its weak point being hit. Its giant claws flailing about, striking Reina, throwing her back. Yet during her fall, Reina felt a familiar burning behind her eyes once more, where much of her surroundings became slower. Where she could see where the debris that threatened it hit her, and avoided them with ease before it went back to normal. What it was, she wasn't sure, but much like before decided now would be best not to question something that gave her aid.

Caim in the meantime was focused on burning the ship, becoming a distraction for the creature to remain focused on him, while slashing at its legs mercilessly and even going to slash the underside of its belly to do some damage, doing what he could to avoid being hit, while doing as much as he could to keep the crab's attention on him. He seemed to take great joy in seeing the monstrous crab panic, while it tried to swat Caim as if he were an annoying fly or more like a mosquito or wasp with how he kept charging at it. Perhaps their fight from earlier before crashing through the ceiling had something to do with it why he took such pleasure in giving the beast such torment. Either way, it would cause the crab to panic, sending it scurrying about and hitting nearby walls, causing more stones to fall hitting the weak point atop its head, making it collapse, so Reina would again take the initiative to strike it once more. And this time Reina would avoid being struck by the giant claw. She felt that if she had the misfortune of being caught rather than swatted away it would either crush her to or snap her in half. It would be death regardless of which.

But maybe, she could somehow get this to work in her favour. The moment she thought that the burning sensation returned, her surroundings began to slow once more, she took as many bombs she could hold in one hand, that being three, lighting them and tossing them to the boat. Causing the whole thing to explode and fall off the crab. Revealing a grave injury that this makeshift hat was covering. One that looked to have been a heavy burn.

When she landed on the ground, the moment time went back to the way it was originally, she concluded that she might have acted a bit too rashly, given that the giant crab now stomped and shrieked in outrage and protest over the loss of its boat-hat. And went for Reina as vengeance, she intended to try and use that strange ability only for immense pain to explode inside her skull. Whatever this ability was extended and constant use on repeat had negative side effects. The crab, on the other hand, took this opportunity to lunge at her, intending to crush her with its massive claws. Reina braced herself for the oncoming hit, dreading the impending impact, only it never came.

And as the pain in her skull vanished, she saw that it was Caim, who somehow managed to stop the crab's charge. Using the flat side of his blade to brace for it, the ground cracked beneath his feet to remain in place as he gritting his teeth to keep the massive creature from moving any further forwards.

He glanced at her over his shoulder as if to check that she was alright, and once he confirmed it, he motioned for her to finish this. To strike in that one newly revealed spot. The monster was on its last legs now, and only needed one final heavy hit for it to go down for good.

Reina looked to the place in question, leaping into the air, and tossing the spear as hard as she could, the moment she had she could feel that same slow down for a split second as she put all of her strength into her left arm just before tossing at the crab. Then when it pierced its shell, she landed atop her weapon, using all of her weight to push down on it with her foot. The moment she had the crab screamed in pain; blood sprayed out like a fountain as it writhed trying to shake her off. Caim took the chance to pierce it through the mouth, hitting as deep as he could go before it slumped to the ground.

Moments later, the colour drained and became like the same white marble walls then it crumbled into a pile of salt. Reina didn't react to the monster's death as she looked down at her hands, her mind flooded with confusion as to the reality of what she managed to take home to roost. What in the world happened? Why did time suddenly slow down? Why did it make her eyes hurt? It was a bit different than what had transpired with the lumbering white creature that cried for its mother. What's more, with her added speed and mobility, she found to have become stronger when time slowed as well. None of it made any sense to her.

Then out of the corner of her eye, Reina's attention shifted from herself, to what lay on the floor in the pile of salt. A large red crystal, just like the first. She merely looked at it, shifted her stance, the moment she had moved away from it, the same feeling from before caused her whole body to remain still, unable to move until she did whatever this thing wanted her to do.

Sonofabitch… I hate you whatever you are. Reina thought with an intense self-loathing as she picked up the crystal and placed it on the altar.

Not a minute after everything shook, then halted just as quickly as it started.

Caim, in response, gave Reina a scrunched-up scowl, clearly signing to her in what she did. She responded with an equally confused stare, holding up her hands and shrugged. How the hell was she supposed to know something would happen when placing what was the equivalent of a blood-red diamond on the alter would cause a reaction? It didn't happen before.

Then, the tremors happened again. More violent this time. This place, the City, was sinking even further!

Biting her lip hard, she bit out. "We gotta go!" then ran for the door, skidding to a stop to make sure Caim was following, when he left the room, the doors closed as they ran to leave the underground, not noticing that the door had closed behind them and the emblem had changed to that of a flower made of angel wings. They went up the hole Reina fell through then following the way she had when looking for Caim. Only to see the undead soldiers impeding their escape.

Shit! Shit! Shit! Shit! Reina cursed as Caim used his magic to burn through the enemies. Only for the ground to rumble and a large chunk of the ceiling landed on the soldiers just a few feet away from where Reina and Caim were, turning them into paste. Fucking shit! She cursed again. Now they were trapped.

They were going to die in this place. There was no way out now. They were screwed.

"That's right…" the voice returned. "You'll die, but… if you don't wish for that to happen then you know what you must do…"

Her teeth clenched in response, hands gripping the sides of her skull, nails digging deep into her scalp, threatening to tare out her red hair as she squeezed her eyes shut.

"Come now… you don't wish to die, do you?"

"Shut up…" she muttered. "Just… shut up…"

"You know what will happen if you don't…"

"No…"

Her heart rate began to rise, her breath shortened, as her gaze fell to the red ooze of what was the undead men that had once blocked their path as images from her nightmare flashed in her mind. Of the dead and dying, of voices from Legion, of the dark clouds from the smoke and burning flames from homes. Of the person leading those with red eyes, she couldn't see the person's face, shrouded with white hair that was streaked with blood, as red eyes bore into with a knowing stare.

Only for a stinging pain to erupt from her left cheek. The voices gone, only silence remained as her surroundings returned to her. She looked at Caim, as her left hand went to her now red cheek. He slapped her. And before Reina could get a word in edgewise, Caim pointed to an open door close to them. A door that showed a shaft of light, freedom. Without a word to Caim, she ran for it, wanting to get out of this godforsaken hellhole. The ground above them had fallen, the remains of a street lay slanted, giving the two an easy way to leave the underground and reach the top side of the City, well, so to speak. They were still stuck underground, and from the looks of it, the tremors were less frequent and the Shades that had come out once more seemed more preoccupied in staying in darkness then brothering with them. However, a new problem arose.

With all the fallen debris, getting back the way they came, was near to impossible. Even Caim wasn't sure of where they could go to get out.

"Hey!" someone called out. "If you're trying to get out, come this way! A path has opened up to the surface!"

The duo had nothing to argue against listening. Following the voice that called out to them, guiding them to this new exit. "Hurry! This way!"

A tall building had fallen, slanted on its side, its top had seemingly broken through to the surface. The building, however, wasn't particularly sturdy itself, they needed to be quick.

I'm not going to die here! she thought as she pushed herself as hard as she could go. Ignoring the pain from the muscles in her legs before breaking through to the top. And the moment she saw the bright blue sky, and even brighter sun, did she then fall to her hands and knees to catch her breath. Her lungs felt like they were about to burst.

When Reina finally caught her breath, she looked up to the one who helped them as they approached with almost silent footsteps, and was shocked to find that this person who helped them escape the falling City, was practically a child.