Chapter 34: The Final Nightmare
As Willie took a few steps forward, he glared at the girls and suddenly opened his mouth, exposing hundreds of crooked fangs, long sharp teeth, in a twisted grin. The girls could only watch in horror to find Willie crouch down on the floor like a predatory animal, hissing and growling. His back became hunched up as his eyes glowed like molten red orbs, and his ears rose high and pointy before his black hair had fallen completely on the floor, revealing a bald and skeletal head figure. His arms grew wider and sinewy that ended in skeletal hands with razor sharp claws and his legs grew longer until his deformed, beast-like clawed feet burst out of his boots. With no place for the girls to run out of, they could do nothing more but sit awestruck and horrified the moment when black leathery bat-like wings sprouted from his hunched back and stretched outward to span the shadows before them. Willie's monstrous apparition grew and flew a few feet off the ground, now glowering over the girls, its eyes seething with unearthly fire, causing them to tremble as they gazed upward, horrified and repulsed by the loathsome abomination Willie had transformed into. It issued forth a low rumbling growl and threw its horned head back in diabolic rupture.
Unable to run with no support in their legs, the girls cowered before the creature that was supposedly the real demon of Grimshaw Manor, with the one they had fought with being a puppet to hide the real form beneath. It was obvious that Gilbert had been the first host to merge with the demon, and now…just now, Willie had become the next to merge with it. There was no denying it. It was then that the demon spoke in a combination of its own voice, Gilbert's, and Willie's.
"I am Xaggan, Lord of Shadows, taker of souls, bringer of death and eternal torment," it bellowed, its voice becoming more demonic as the combined voices were lost to a completely and inhumane force. "Your interference has no place in my domain. Only the restless dead dwell here under my control where there is no escape from their eternal sorrow. Hatred, fear, pain, and suffering are my power. I am Legion, I am eternal. You cannot resist me. Not even a gypsy curse could keep me at bay. You may have come this far, but it will do you no good. Your greatest fears will continue to haunt you until my hunger is quenched and your souls are finally mine. Retreat from this domain, or face eternal restlessness."
It was at this point that the girls seemed to spasm like the Lord of Shadows had just hit a bad nerve, a feeling of pain like no other. Maggie was the only one to look up and glare at the demon who called himself Xaggan.
"Even if you destroy me, you'll never escape alive!" roared the demon. "So welcome to your new home and say goodbye to the land of the living!"
Roaring to the skies, the Lord of Shadows burst out of the throne room, causing the ceiling and walls to cave in. It was at this point that the girls came back to their senses quick enough to dive for cover with Madame Zora's help as stones fell all around them. They watched as the Lord of Shadows rose into the red sky. All across the land, ghosts and spirits halted their usual activities to stare at the enormous form of the abomination rising upwards. The throne room crumbled around them as the demon reached its full height and roared again.
The girls watched everything from below. As terrifying as that creature was, their journey had come full circle and now they were going to finish it. This was the final battle and they were not going to give up. Not when they have something worth fighting for and still do. And no Lord of Shadows was going to take that away, no matter how scary or powerful he was. They had a power of their own to use against him. Picking up the Staff of Light and the lantern, the girls raced toward the abomination. Their hearts were racing like crazy, and this would not be an easy fight. Not that they would have ever imagined themselves fighting against a creature larger than anything they had ever seen. It stayed afloat flapping those nightmarish bat wings, staring down at the three.
"Run, run from your fears or die trying!" It taunted.
"NO, WE WON'T RUN, NEVER AGAIN!" Maggie shouted angrily in response, now sick and tired of the evil ones telling them to give up and throw in the towel. "YOU MAY BE BIGGER THAN THE MANSION ITSELF, BUT YOU DON'T CONTROL US, NOT AS LONG AS WE STAND TALL AND SHOW YOU WHO'S BOSS!" Now she was holding the lantern, ready for the fight of her life. "WE'VE EXPERIENCED ENOUGH FEAR YOU CAUSED. NOW IT'S YOUR TURN!"
Even if they take the fall, the girls would now do anything to never cower and give into the beast that is more than determined to bring them down.
The beast of Grimshaw Manor found it odd to find that these three were not that easily persuaded, but no matter. Nobody and nothing was going to defeat him that easily. The beast roared and fired a hoard of fireballs, big and small at the girls who were now sticking closer together than ever, following Madame Zora's lead, readying themselves, and smiling confidently and dodging to the side. At Madame Zora's command, Grace whipped out the blunderbuss and aimed it at the demon's left wing, causing him to roar in pain. She dodged back to her friends, only to be slashed across the face by a sharp rock that fell from above the broken ceiling, cutting her skin and causing her to bleed. The girls saw that the demon was now preparing to swing his clawed hand at them, and had little time to react when it came and almost knocked them overboard. Maggie kept holding onto the lantern as she got back up, and realized that several black oily tentacles were attempting to surround them, and paralyze their bodies. Luckily the power of the lantern drove them off, while some withered and died.
The girls fried several more black tentacles and freezing them with the slingshot of fire and ice stones saved up from the last several levels. Looking up, the beast was prepared to strike at them with the other hand, giving Grace the chance to use the blunderbuss again and fire at the other wing, this time ripping through and seeing it roar in agony. Now ready to make their next move, the girls rushed over to land on another piece of the ruined throne room, nearly exhausted from all this fighting and leaping. The demon steered its massive bulk around, and suddenly opened its gaping maw as a blast of purple colored energy beams fired out, sending the girls dashing off in a panic, only to be caught in a bombardment of the assault. The Lord of Shadows burst out laughing as he ended the attack, a cloud of smoke covering the area, believing he had become victorious. He had stopped cackling to wait and see if the girls had survived.
The girls lay on the ground motionless, their bodies covered with several injuries. All their weapons, save the lantern had been charred. But they were still alive, if not barely, managing to open their eyes with difficulty, struggling to stand up correctly. Grace still held onto the Staff of Light, still glowing, despite feeling blood in her mouth and spat out a few drops of it to the ground. The girls looked up at the demon and smiled.
"Why continue to defy me?" roared the demon, raising its right fist. "We both know it is over. Now you die!"
The girls let out a brief scream as the giant fist came down to crush them. A deathly silence followed as the demon smiled with satisfaction, thinking it was finally over and three new souls were his for the taking.
But Xaggan soon regretted the words he said, as a sudden sheer blast tore through the palm, later incinerating his entire right hand. It roared in pain to see a huge chunk of his hand, fingers, and its wrist which had fallen forever into the dark abyss below. Nearly falling over, Xaggan looked down to see what caused that sudden bright beam, and within a second, the right side of his face was burned off. Managing to recover from this attack quickly, and spotted what looked like a giant beam of the brightest light surrounding the girls, with the help from not only the power of the lantern, but with every piece of the soul stones they found and rescued in all levels had now been floating in the air to lend a helping hand. The demon could not believe its eyes.
"How dare you all defy me?" He roared with anger. "I am your master and you will all bow down before me!"
"OH WILL YOU SHUT UP ALREADY MASTER BOW-DOWN-TO-ME!" Maggie retorted, staring up at the demon. "WE'VE ALREADY FIGURED OUT YOUR WEAKNESS JUST AS MADAME ZORA SAID HERE! YOU MAY BE A CREATURE OF DARKNESS AND CHAOS, BUT THANKS TO ALL THE FRIENDS WE MADE, THE SOULS WE RESCUED, AND OUR PRECIOUS MEMORIES OF OUR FAMILY AND EACH OTHER, WE'D RATHER EMBRACE THE GOOD TIMES WE SHARED WITH ONE ANOTHER AND NEVER GIVE INTO DESPAIR OR LOSE SIGHT OF WHAT'S IMPORTANT!"
"Why did it take you so long to figure this out?" The demon demanded.
"Because we were still afraid and struggling with our worst fears," Maggie asserted. "But we're certainly not afraid of you, or of Willie, or Gilbert. We through being told by creatures like you to give up and give in. It's time for you to face your own downfall!"
"I will not go down alone!" the demon bellowed. "If I do, you're coming with me!"
"Then do your worst!" Maggie challenged. "Even if we fall, you will never harm or corrupt anyone ever again! We'll be sure of that!"
Every single of the lost souls came to help lend their positive energy into the lantern, looking at the girls with smiles, bright with confidence and reassurance. Pearl's girls had helped them, and now it was their turn to do the same. So whether the light was coming from the lantern, or their hearts, or maybe both at the same time, the girls were not entirely sure. But that didn't stop them from focusing all the power on the demon to send it back inside the amulet, and never come out of it again. The Lord of Shadows roared in defiance, firing every fireball and energy beam at them, only to be deflected back at him, unable to destroy the shield of light. He started to shriek in shock and disbelief. Through their hazy vision, the girls watched as Xaggan struggled to get away from the beautiful, bright light everyone projected, now swirling around him like a bright mist. Shock bloomed across his features as the realization of his defeat sank in.
"NO, HOW CAN THIS BE? I'M THE LORD OF SHADOWS!" shouted Xaggan, opening his mouth into a final horrified scream.
"TIME TO GO BACK IN THE AMULET WHERE YOU BELONG…AND THIS TIME, FOREVER!" cried Madame Zora.
Everybody was now helping the girls to push forward and keep the light shining brightly than ever, swirling around the demon, bigger and harder than ever. A flash of white fire shot out from all sides of him, writhing in agony and trying to reach out as it was slowly falling and shrinking every second. The demon made a small squeaking noise as his whole body burst into flames, and crumbled away, allowing Madame Zora to utter aloud the entrapment spell, and this time finishing the rest of what she had overlooked before all this chaos. Everyone watched as what was left of the demon was dissolved and sucked into the falling red amulet. The battle was finally over and the Lord of Shadows was forever defeated. The girls had now fallen to the floor from exhaustion, watching as the ruby amulet with the demon trapped for eternity perish and fall into the dark abyss below, never to be found or used in the wrong hands ever again. And then somehow, they felt themselves falling, but not into darkness, but into a blinding light of happier and cherished memories. And what was ever left of Gold Tooth Willie, he had now become a floating specter where the girls could have sworn they heard him cursing at his defeat and failure to bring them down, unable to hear what he was saying as the sound of thundering hooves echoed nearby, revealing a blinding life of what appeared to be riders on horseback with law and order badges attached, having come for Willie to snatch him up, and disappear with him where he too was never seen again.
"Thank you everybody."
The girls continued to fall, smiling with relief and happiness that the game and nightmare was finally over, and started to remember the happier times that they had and which they would have together as the years go by. Enjoying another beautiful day with the entire family on Patch of Heaven, where they are certain everyone must be waiting for them. In other words, they were going home.
AN: Finally the story and the battle is nearly over. And I never thought that I would even get this story to end perfectly due to all the writer's block I had ever since this story began back in 2015. But despite all that, it was still fun writing it, even when I sometimes had trouble with description and needed help from others on ideas and such. For all you that have read it, I hope you enjoyed it and all things must come to an end sometime, but I always refuse to end it tragically. I was even listening to Kingdom Hearts battle music when writing out the final battle, making it more enjoyable.