The Hunt
The night after the fight
The moon was getting closer to ending it's cycle for the night when thick smoke and mist returned to the place known as Sawtooth cave and went down the tunnels. Once down there, it turned into Pennywise. He was hurt, bleeding and angry. "How was I supposed to know I had to deal with real fucking mages?! I almost died and it's only been like what? 3 days? " he thought madly. "He must've sent that help, it couldn't have been anyone else." He started gnawing on his already mutilated victims, healing himself.
The instant he finished, he suddenly felt a baloon of his pop and saw a portal open in front of him. "The very instant..." he thought and stepped through, answering the summoner's call.
When he opened his eyes he was back in the summoning room. The demon had his back turned and spoke in a cold and impassionate voice:
"You have acted imprudently, clown. "
"Well, I believe it slipped your mind to mention that they are real fucking mages..." replied Pennywise ironically.
"I have told you not underestimate them and consider them a great enemy. That should've been enough. Now, if we're here... take this, and do not disappoint me again, or hell will seem like a paradise compared where you will go if you die this time." He offered him a ring. The clown put it on.
He never felt so much power flowing through his veins. He felt like he could take on anything, anyone! It also progressively healed the rest of his wounds. He laughed maniacally.
"Well, well many thanks to you, sir!" he said, bowing. "Those mages will be sorry they ever crossed me HAHAHHA!" he screamed.
"Make it so." he opened another portal and pointed to it. "Go."
Pennywise offered him another baloon and jumped through the portal. He opened his eyes and he was back again in his cave. "Well, well, we should test this badboy!" he said looking avidly at the ring. He transformed into the mist once again and went for the wolves' den, a ravenous feeling overcoming him.
At Kate and Humhprey's den, a few minutes later
Claudette stirred and woke up, but couldn't shake off the feeling that she had been woken up by something. She opened her eyes and looked outside, but the cold dark did not reveal a single thing. She heard then a strange sound and got up and glared at the direction where it came from. Everybody else was still fast asleep. She took a tentative step outside and tried to smell the air, but no scent came to her nose.
Then, behold it was a red balloon. She stared at it blankly before taking two more steps towards it. She finally was in front of it but a scream died into her throat when something grabbed her, but she instantly knew what it was. She looked straight into the face of the leering clown, but showed no fear. The clown knocked her out with one hit and dragged her to his lair...
Next morning
The Archmages teleported to the ranger's cabin, only to find Kate and Humhprey's family and Fleet already there, most of them looking like they cried heavily. Lara opened her mouth but Kate said in a brittle voice:
"Pennywise pupnapped our daughter last night."
Lara gasped, and the other Archmages swore.
"Well fucking great, we have a monster to kill and a wolf to save." said Fannaeras.
"You mean to say she might still be alive?!" asked Humphrey, eyes widened, he too in a brittle voice.
"I think so at least, you said last night she's a strong Alpha, not afraid of much." shrugged Fannaeras.
"And if it's a typical fobomorph, it really can't do much to it's victim unless it is engulfed by fear." added Shalidor.
"So there might be a chance, yes, but we cannot guarantee anything, sadly." said Ithilden. "But we assure you we will do our best to save her." the wolves smiled slightly.
"Thank you." spoke Stinky, bowing his head.
"Very much." added Runt, smiling slightly.
"No need to thank us, it's our job to get rid of this shit." said Mithrandir. "So, the sooner we start the better, let's get on with it." he finished, with the other Archmages nodding.
Shalidor raised his hand and muttered an incantation, and a smokey trail became visible.
"There's our trail. Let's go." he said.
They went forward and they heard a shout behind them, which suprisingly was Eve:
"Good luck! Please... bring my granddaughter back."
They didn't answer, but merely nodded and moved on.
Some time later
Trail broke off, became visible again, and so on they followed it until they went out of a shadowy and unwelcoming dark forest and climbed a rocky hill and stopped at the entrance of a cave which had two great rocks in front, looking like teeth. They saw the big cavity which was leading down.
"Well, down there is our prey." said Shalidor, lowering his hand.
"Alright... who the hell's going first?" asked Kharazim.
"I am." said a voice behind them. They turned around to see Claudette's boyfriend.
"Great, you followed us all the way here?" asked Lara ironically. He nodded. "How didn't you detect anything?" she asked the others.
"Haven't sent waves for living. Only for demonic beings. I didn't care if there was anything alive, around us, it would've detected all the birds and shit."
"Right..." said Mithrandir. "Fleet, was it?" he asked the teen wolf.
"Yes, it's me." Fleet replied.
"Well, time to go back home, then, hop-hop." said Shalidor annoyedly.
"No, I'm coming with you." Fleet shot back.
"Dammit, we don't want another wolf dying because of this stupid clown, go home already!" said Kharazim exasparatedly.
"No! Someone will need to carry her probably, who knows how you will be after the battle, exhausted, maybe even half-dead. If there's someone to carry her, or her body, it's me."
"Fuck it then, we don't want to waste anymore magic to teleport him back." said Fannaeras. Lara sighed.
"Fine, you're coming, but if you die, it's your fault." she snapped.
"It is and always will be." replied the wolf.
Without another word, he inspected the hole and prepared to jump.
"Hey!" called Shalidor. Fleet turned. The mage waved his hand into a sign and the wolf's paws felt lighter and stranger. "You won't fall to your death like that." smiled the human. "Thanks." smiled back Fleet, and jumped. He landed safely because of the spell, and called back to the others: "It's an alright landing, you can jump!" Shalidor casted the Alteration spell on all his friends, including himself and they all jumped down. Then Shalidor did another spell.
"That's to muffle our footsteps, we don't know how good it is Penny's hearing." he quickly whispered. The rest nodded. Fannaeras, Shalidor and Mithrandir all made the same lights they did for the Howl, but white, to illuminate the tunnels. Shalidor brought up the trail again and they started following it completely silently for a long while. Luckily, the clown didn't go through all tunnels, so the trail was pretty clear.
Suddenly, Lara dissapeared, dragged along what seemed like an extremely small tunnel. She didn't have time to even make a sound. When she was let go of she quickly jumped up, unsheathed her sword, and telepathed to the others where she is. She received an answer that they are trying to get to her as soon as possible.
She looked around the small cave and suddenly saw Pennywise looming around a corner, grinning. She started going for him, but he dissapeared and she heared squeaking instead. She paused, confused untill she saw tens of rats swarming towards her. She dashed away and switched to her staff, and started throwing them back, killing them, but to no use as even more came to replace them. She desperately dashed away, now not even having time to hit them, just dashing in all directions possible. Then her hopes rised up when she heard Shalidor's yell from a wall:
"LARA! HERE! TWO LONG DASHES THIS WAY!" She did as he told her, and fell over Fleet. She couldn't believe it, she escaped that alive.
Kharazim broke the wall with one kick, and Shalidor shouted: "YOOL, TOOL SHUN!". A great wave of fire came from his mouth filled the whole room, burning all the rats down, squeaking loudly as they perished. Fannaeras sent a skull and blasted down some rocks, blocking others which were incoming. They were safe. For now.
"Let's move on, everybody look at each other, don't want this shit happening again." said Ithilden as Shalidor revealed the trail once again and they went one silently, Shalidor renewing the muffle spell.
A few minutes later
After wandering through the confusing caves and tunnels for a few more minutes they finally reached a long dropdown. They jumped one after the other, but where it should've stopped in a large cave, it continued. Thankfully for the quick reactions of the druid, he made roots shoot out of the ground quickly and they provided a safe fall. The cave which they landed in was big, to say the least. Stalagmites and stactites were spread through it's entirety, even ores appearing there and there. It was cold, damp, and most certainly unwelcoming. But strangely, it was lit, you could see fairly easily through it.
"It's somewhere here." said Shalidor quietly. "Be ready."
"I feel it's presence somewhere here also." added Fannaeras.
"Fleet, go find a hiding spot." whispered Lara.
"Not until Claudette's with me!" he whispered back. The she-elf face-palmed and looked around the room. They noticed four mutilated and gnawed on bodies... floating in mid-air. And next to them, floating in the same manner, but seemingly intact, was...
"Claudette!" said Fleet loudly.
"Shut up, let's go and get her!" hissed Kharazim and they all hurried to her, Shalidor placing frost runes behind and around them, so they could be alarmed when Pennywise was approaching and to slow him down.
Mithrandir managed to grab her tail, and pulled her down. Fleet immediatly embraced her.
"Wake up, wake up, please wake up... why isn't she waking up?!" he asked the mages desperately.
"Looks like she's catatonic..." muttered Ithilden, looking in her eyes. "A really strong sensation ,emotion, or memory must be invoked so she would wake up form this state...".
Fleet remembered that Claudette told him one day that his embrace and kiss are the strongest and best sensations she could ask for. So he did the exact same thing. He locked lips with her kissing her passionately, embracing her with his forelegs, while he kept telling himself in his head: "She gotta wake up, she will, she won't leave me now, she can't."
Finally, to his ecstasy, he felt paws embracing him and her kissing him back. He almost couldn't believe it, he saved her... They broke apart and just beamed at each other, almost crying out of happiness. They almost started kissing again when Lara said, but in a voice which told that she was smiling:
"Alright, lovebirds, we found a hole here, go there, and we'll close it out. We'll let you out after the battle ends.". She pointed it out to them. They quickly ran in it.
"And if you value your life dammit, stay here." said Mithrandir. Ithilden made roots rise and covered hole completely.
"Now that we got that over with, where is that fucking clown?" said Fannaeras.
"I feel like we won't have to wait long..." said Kharazim, and pointed to a red baloon floating in the middle of the room. They all readied for battle, preparing magic and unsheathing weapons. The baloon popped.
Children's laughter began to ring and they saw two shadows of two wolf pups which clarified, and looked identical, seemingly playing together, in front of them.
"Dean and Kyle..." said Shalidor, staring at them. "Must be..."
The two wolf pups continued to play, laughing happily, how only pups can laugh, how only pups can play. Like nothing else in the world mattered... like it was just the two of them left... like they were dreaming...
On their right, but fairly close, a man and woman were dancing merrily. The woman was in a wedding dress, the man in a suit.
"John and his wife, Betty..." spoke Kharazim blankly, watching them. "Must've been their wedding day..."
The ranger and his wife merely continued to dance. They danced beautifully and quickly, both dancing their hearts out it looked like. Like nothing else in the world mattered... like it was just the two of them left... like they were dreaming...
On their left, two men, were playing guittars. They sang along, words that no one understood, but seemed to have the time of their lives.
"That's Patrick... the other ranger... the other must be a friend of his..." said Mithrandir quietly.
The two friends continued to sing and play the instruments, seemingly having the time of their lives. They laughed through the singing, and purely enjoyed themselves. Like nothing else in the world mattered... like it was just the two of them left... like they were dreaming...
But dreams never last forever.
All the spectres stopped at once what they were doing. They turned towards the Archmages, looks of sadness and sorrow on their faces.
"We could've built lives for ourselves..." said the twins quietly.
"I could've embraced my wife again..." added John.
"I could've shook my friend's hand one last time..." said Patrick.
"But you didn't..."
"You left us..."
"To die and rot..."
The voices were getting rougher, sadness changed to contempt, sorrow to disdain. The shadows were also slowly approaching.
"We shall never become wolves now! And it's your fault!" screamed the twins.
"I shall never see my husband again! And it's your fault!" yelled Betty.
"I shall never meet my friend again! And it's your fault!" shouted Patrick's friend.
The Archmages were confused. Each pair were looking at different pairs of shadows, looks of pain and sadness etched in their faces. But they all saw something then behind them... a shadow was looming behind each of the spectres...
A shadow of a clown.
The Archmages suddenly realised what all of this was. A ruse. Pain became anger, sadness rage.
Shalidor showered Dean with waves of fire, and Fannaeras Kyle with waves of green fire, burning them. Mithrandir shoved his sword into Patrick then throwing him off with a jab of his staff, and Kharazim shoved a shining golden fist into the ranger's friend's mouth, sending him flying back. Lara burned Betty with a mass of green light from her staff, and Ithilden John with sunlight from his staff. All the shadows dissapeared, died, leaving only smoke behind. Then the smoke gathered together and Pennywise appeared. He unsheathed his claws and fangs.
"Let's dance." he said, leering. And so, the battle commenced.
Lara tried to hit him first with an uppercut of her sword, but it was parried and she was forced to dash away to avoid the bite. He sent winged demons to keep Mithrandir busy. Shalidor hit him with lightning bolts, but Pennywise immediately responded with long slashings of his claws. He broke through Shalidor's barrier, but was thrown back by Fannaeras's stamina-draining shockwave.
Ithilden wasted no time in showering him with falling stars. Pennywise was hurt, but still fighting. He suddenly dashed at the druid and warlock, and rammed into them, throwing the two painfully into the wall of the cave. He then, with the help of his new ring, teleported behind Shalidor, and slashed him across his back and the human quickly reacted, fireballing him right in his face, but then slumped down, bleeding, and started healing himself.
Kharazim dashed towards him and hit him multiple times painfully, but then the clown started parrying his hits and finally hit him in the stomach, throwing him backwards. Lara managed to cut off Pennywise's arm, but then the monster let out an extremely loud scream, making the she-elf stagger, and then the severed arm clawed her across the face, and she quickly dashed away.
Fannaeras and Mithrandir hit him simultaneously with whips of fire and flaming skulls. The clown dodged the skulls but was painfully whipped across his back. He caught then the whip and tried to take it, but Mithrandir disspelled it before he could. Ithilden tried to ensnare him with roots, but the clown quickly freed himself and hit the druid powerfully in the head, breaking through his shield.
The new ring shined brightly and Pennywise seemed to slow time down, as he dashed to each Archmage, clawing and slashing them, all except Fanneras, who managed to shield himself in time. When time went back to its normal state, the warlock and clown locked eyes. All the other Archmages were on the ground bleeding, healing themselves, all encased in barriers.
"Alright clown, let's even the playground…" said Fanneras, and smashed a runed stone in his hand. The clown tried to attack him, but he was thrown back by seemingly nothing. Wings erupted on the elf's back, his hands became claws, teeth fangs, and horns grew on his head. He broke the shield and dashed at Pennywise. The sound of claws on claws echoed through the cave and they were fighting so quickly, it looked blurred.
Even the Archmages could barely make out their movements. Fannaeras then hit him with fist, which was glowing with dark-purple light. It threw Pennywise backwards and the warlock started draining him. The clown tried to break free, but to no use. He teleported using the ring, but the enhanced draining of life wasn't stopped. He wriggled and screamed, but his life was being drained out by the warlock. The clown finally slumped on the ground, completely exhausted and almost dead. Fannaeras flew next to him and plunged his claws into the clown's chest. It hollered in pain, but had strength do to nothing.
The elf pulled out the monster's heart and crushed it into his claws. Pennywise disintegrated slowly and painfully. And he was finally gone. Gone forever. Fannaeras took the ring, and after examining it a little, slipped it on his index finger. He closed his eyes and murmured an incantation. He saw the demon giving it to the clown, and warning him to dissapoint him. Then suddenly, another vision interrupted him, and the summoner spoke directly to the elf, though not looking at him.
"This is just the beginning, Archmage. It won't be the last time you'll have to face nightmares…" he said quietly and Fannaeras opened his eyes again, to find himself into the cave. The ring vanished from his finger. "Well, shit… a Nathrezim…" he thought. "We're gonna have a hell of a time here." He suddenly curled up, feeling immense pain. He transformed into his normal form again, but not easily. He slumped to the ground, completely drained of power. He heard footsteps next to him and Shalidor helped him stand up.
"Come on, friend, let's get out of here." he said quietly. The druid pointed at the stones with his staff, and they made a path which was going up. They climbed through it, with the two wolves behind them, even helping them walk. They finally reached the surface, and they fell to the ground, no strength left in them whatsoever.
"Are you alright?" said Claudette shocked.
"Yeah, we're fine, just… horribly tired" whispered Lara.
"We're probably going to pass out…" said Ithilden.
"But it's going to be fine, we're gonna wake up for sure…" finished Shalidor.
Fleet and Claudette quickly howled for help, and others answered them, telling them that they're coming. The Archmages then passed out, one by one.
A few hours later
The six friends woke up to find themselves in a den, the sunset's golden rays covering them with warmth. They got up, extremly sore, but sat back down, not being able to stand yet. Probably hearing them, Kate and Lily entered the den.
"You're awake!" said Lily happily.
"How are you feeling?" asked Kate.
"Sore as fuck, but alright otherwise." said Fannaeras, while the other mages approved.
"Great to hear!" said Kate, while Lily called her parents, and the rest of the family.
The Leader's, Kate's family, Garth and Fleet came into the den.
"We cannot thank you enough for saving Claudette." said Humphrey, smiling broadly.
"She would've been dead without you." said Eve.
"We thank you immensely." added Winston.
"It was our duty." said Ithilden, bowing her head.
"Oh yeah, this is not gonna be the last shit we have to fight." said Fannaeras dully. He told them what he saw in the vision.
"So basically, we have a Nathrezim on our tails, wanting to kill us, and summoning monsters out of hell." said Mithrandir.
"Yep." answered the blood-elf.
"Seems like we won't leave anytime soon…" said Kharazim.
"It will be our pleasure to have you here with us." said Tony.
"And relief that you're protecting us." added Garth.
"You said you have a place to stay?" asked Kate.
"Yep, we do." said Lara.
"South-east of here. We'll go back once we can properly walk."chuckledShalidor.
"You can remain here as long as you need." said Lily.
"Yeah. You don't happen to have a bite to eat, do you?" said Fannaeras, as his stomach grumbled.
They then ate, and enjoyed the rest of the evening. The Archmages recovered their strength and teleported back to their treehouse. They could have a refreshing rest, to worry tomorrow about the next horrors they would fight. After all, tomorrow's another day.
A/N: Well, there's one monster down! Who knows how many left to go :). I shall give you a hint for the next one to be summoned out of hell. He has claws for fingers... was burned alive... and is the killer of a well-known slasher movie. That ought to be enough. Thank you DananX for the suggestion of introducing Slenderman, I certainly will make a chapter with him :D. Maybe Sirenhead too. Until next time!