"Pant, pant… damn, damn, dammit!"
Kyrios ran as fast as he could through the small hallways. The Hellions weren't far behind him anymore.
(Shouldn't have tried to free those people, why couldn't I wait until I was on the way out? Damn, I've never been a hero, picked a good time to become one!)
He nearly tripped as he made a quick right turn; blinking over his shoulder he saw what made the floor so slippery, it was covered with blood.
(What is going on here? Everywhere you look there are dead bodies, and all of them used to be Cyrus.)
Kyrios glanced over his shoulder to see if the Hellions where still following him but didn't see them. He reduced his speed and turned right at the nearest intersection. There he stopped running and leaned against the wall to catch his breath; the Hellions had chased him down the halls for a long time.
(So… are the Hellions and the Cyrus fighting each other? Or is there another group at work here? Shit! Sarita! I should have hooked up with her a long time ago. Hope she's still alive, shouldn't have dragged her into this. Where the hell am I? This fortress is like a maze, don't know which way goes up or which way goes down.)
A noise from the other end of the hall alerted Kyrios that someone or something was coming his way. He checked his weapons, only four clips left.
(Well there goes the 'standing your ground' idea, let's try the other thing I've made Avalanche big with; running like hell.)
Kyrios sprinted back into the hallway he'd run through before, only to end up in the arms of his first problem. But the hellions where facing the other way, and didn't see Kyrios.
(Woops, wrong way!)
Kyrios turned, but the blood on his boots made him slip and with a loud thud he met the floor. Alerted by this ruckus, the Hellions turned and saw the pray that nearly escaped them. They immediately re-started their chase, growling and clawing at Kyrios.
(Man… don't these guys ever get tired!)
Kyrios got back on his feet as fast as he could, but the Hellions gained ground to fast. His eyes searched the hall for anything he could use as a weapon or a way out. About halfway down the hallway there was a lid or something, Kyrios didn't know where the opening would lead, but he decided he'd rather take his chances with whatever's down there, than with these guys up here.
The Hellions where getting close, he could feel their stinking breath in his neck. This gave him the adrenaline boost he needed to reach the lid in time. With the last remains of the adrenaline boost, he pulled the lid open and jumped down. Just in time, he could feel the claws of the Hellions strike at him, but they only ripped his pants.
It was a long way down, and a terrible smell rose out of the pipeline.
After a long drop, Kyrios landed on top of something soft and mushy. He couldn't see what it was; this room didn't have any lights. He tried to move and his hands became smeared with something sticky and wet. Kyrios raised one hand to see what it was but couldn't make out what it could be.
The room he had landed in had the distinct odor no one would ever forget if they'd smelled it once: the smell of rotting meat.
(What is this? The smell, damn, even my own cooking smells better.)
A sound caught Kyrios ears; it was a vague banging sound. It sounded like someone put their sneakers in the dryer and left them spinning.
Kyrios tried to pinpoint the origin of the sound, but the sound seemed to emanate from all around. The banging grew louder and louder.
Kyrios grabbed a gun he'd placed in a holster on his upper-right-thigh and made sure that it was loaded. Satisfied that it was, he did the same with the gun in the left holster.
The banging sound had grown to an ear shattering clatter; it kind of reminded Kyrios to the loud banging shit which the youngsters dared to call music.
When Kyrios prepared himself for whatever would enter this room, his mouth curled to a grim smile; at least he'd take some Hellion scum down with him.
The first movements occurred near the vent duct he used to escape the Hellions.
Kyrios didn't hesitate and fired away at whatever used the duct to come down. The blasts of his guns lit the room and revealed the source of the terrible stench. The images Kyrios saw where warped by the stroboscope effect of the gunfire, but one thing was sure: the room was filled with dead bodies, human bodies mutilated beyond belief.
(What the hell's this place! No way I'm gonna end up here like those poor souls!)
The room when dark again after the first invading wave ended, though not silent. The other ventilation ducts where ready to cough up out their loads.
Kyrios reloaded his weapons and waited with his eyes wide open for the next wave. He didn't have to wait long; all the ducts spewed out their loads at the same time.
"For Kuno, the planet and Avalanche, die bastards die!"
Kyrios opened fire and didn't stop firing even when the guns fired their last bullets.
"Damn Kyrios! What's taking you so long?"
Sarita was getting impatient of waiting for Kyrios, she could think of a million other things to do right now and waiting in a fortress with death lurking around every corner for someone that most properly dead wasn't one of them.
The one that introduced himself as Cadwgawn had already left, saying that waiting was one of the worst possible things to do in a place like this. Sarita sighed and tried her comlink one more time: still no reaction.
'Click.'
Sarita looked around her; what was that sound?
'Clang.'
Sarita took her guns in her hands and whispered: "Kyrios?"
Nobody answered her so she left the room to investigate the hall. When she got outside she didn't see anyone, and after waiting for some time for another movement, that didn't happen, she holstered her guns again and walked back to the meeting point.
Back there she picked her comlink from her belt and tried to contact Kyrios once more. There was still no response on the other side and Sarita begun thinking the worst.
She sat down and looked through the room, it was hard to believe that Kyrios had come back here after the first time he tried to kill Sephiroth, and even harder to believe was that the entire place hadn't changed much afterwards.
'Ka-blam!'
Sarita jumped up: this time she was sure she heard something outside.
'Skloff.'
She looked at the door: it sounded as if something was banged against it, something different than metal, it sounded as if a human body was slammed against the door with great force.
Without thinking she jumped over the object she sat on before and hide in the shadow.
The door was torn out of its hinges right after she landed. Pieces of the door landed on top of her, leaving large splinters stick out her skin.
Ignoring the pain, Sarita carefully peeked out her hiding place and immediately she wished she didn't.
What she saw looked like a 'normal' Hellion, but wasn't. It looked like the WEAPONS had given birth to a new WEAPON the size of a large Hellion, a very large Hellion.
It was four times the size of a human, with large horns growing out its spine. The use of these horns where clear to see: it already carried four bodies of its victims on them.
It's hands had long 'claws' and spikes covered the lower parts of its arms. In its left hand/claw it carried a human in an army outfit.
The human was still alive, barely.
Sarita's eyes filled with tears: there, in the hands of this 'thing', was the person that was like a father for her.
The monster threw off the bodies from its back and threw Kyrios next to them. It grabbed one of them and bites off its head and part of the shoulders. It made disgusting sounds while chewing the chunk of human in its mouth. It finished the body in five bites, and was still hungry.
Sarita's hiding place was right next to the place where the bodies lay, and she could clearly make out the face of Kyrios. It was covered with large slashes, and so was the rest of his body. It was obvious that Kyrios tried everything he could to escape, but nothing could escape this monstrosity.
Kyrios tried to open his eyes, but that's not an easy thing to do with a crushed eye socked. He managed to open one eye and stared Sarita directly in the eyes.
The monster grabbed another corpse and saw that Kyrios was still alive. Its face turned into something that seemed like a smile and it spoke with a rasping voice: "Don't die! Blood taste good when alive, bad when dead! Thorir don't like blood bad, like blood good!"
After that it started eating again.
Sarita could clearly see the fear on Kyrios face, he tried to speak, but his cracked lips couldn't form any words. Sarita could imagine what he tried to say, but she couldn't do that: she couldn't kill him to end his suffering.
Kyrios tried to move closer to her and by doing so; he unintentionally switched on his comlink.
Sarita's comlink crackled once to indicate it opened up a link. She immediately grabbed it and press the silenced button, but it was too late, the monster had heard the sound.
It lifted the casket Sarita hid behind, leaving her exposed. Immediately she grabbed for her weapons and fired away at the thing in front of her. She could clearly see her bullets enter the beast's body, but it didn't seem to bother him much. It threw away the casket and again it seemed to smile.
"Must be Thorir lucky day, new yum yum's, woman yum yum's! Tastes so many better than man, lucky day it is."
The beast totally forgot about Kyrios now that he found a meal that tasted so much better to him. Its enormous claw moved slowly towards Sarita.
Sarita re-loaded her guns as fast as she could but the enormous claw closed around her before she could fire another round. Entangled in the monsters grip, did Sarita the only thing what was left to do; she screamed.
"Leave the woman alone and face a worthy foe, beast of darkness!"
A male voice came from the ruined remains of the door.
"More munchies? Lucky, lucky day this is."
The monster Thorir turned its head to face the new meal that presented itself.
"Lucky day? We'll see about that."
A man wearing a snow-white blouse and dark khakis covered with a black cape stood inside the ruined doorpost. His face could not be seen because it was covered by shadows, the only features that could be distinguished where his eyes. They had the same glow as the Cyrus had, but this man was not one of them, he was more like Cadwgawn. The half long hair of the man was silver of color and a scarlet bandana kept it from falling in his eyes. Stepping out of the shadow, he took a sheathed katana from within his cape and held it up in the air.
"Man has knife, Thorir not need knife, Thorir has claws and teeth."
The silver haired man standing in the opening raised his katana, unsheathed it and got ready to attack.
"Now, put down the lady and fight, that is, you can also run if you're too scared to fight."
Thorir let out a loud roar and threw Sarita to its other victims.
"I said put her down, please forgive the beast for its manners miss, I'll teach him to show some respect for a lady."
The beast turned in and it let out a roar when it raised its arms. It roared again and barraged towards the man.
Even with this enormous beast storming towards him, the man didn't move. He waited until the monstrosity was close enough, leaped over it, slashing it with his katana. The man landed elegantly and left a cut on the beast from shoulder to hip. Thorir growled and turned hacking at the man with its enormous claws, but to no avail, the man evaded the claws so all the monster hit was air.
The man leaped forward, thrusting his katana between Thorirs eyes. The monster stumbled backwards, clawing at anything in its surrounding. The barraging monster redecorated the fortress by demolishing a wall. Then it reached for the blade, pulled it out its head and threw it to the ground.
"Figures, for this to succeed there had to be a brain inside its thick scull."
The man rolled over to his sword and picked it up from the ground.
"Thorir now mad, will crush you bad, nothing be left of you, no eating for me, but you crushed!"
"Yeah whatever!"
Thorir and the man stormed towards each other and as they clashed, they cleaved their weapons through their opponents. They stood there for a moment; their backs facing each other, the only sound filling the room was the breath of both fighters.
"Ha! You missed Thorir, Thorir still…"
The monster fell to one knee as its upper body slowly separated from its lower body.
It fell on the ground with a splat, blood squirting out the many sliced internal organs.
The man fell to one knee and placed a hand on the place where Thorir had struck him. Blood seeped out the wound, staining his snow-white blouse.
"Just a scratch, I'll survive. He nearly got me though, must be losing my touch."
He got up and flattened his clothes. He took the bandana he used to keep his hear out of his eyes and strapped it around the wound, covering the bloodstain in his blouse. He cleaned the blade and sheathed his katana. After doing this he turned to face Sarita, trying to make it as dramatically as possible.
But it was not a fair lady he faced, but he stared directly into the blood-shot eyes of the monster Thorir. The man was pinned against the floor by one of the claws before he could do anything against it. Thorir's other claw trusted down to squish him like a fly.
The man closed his eyes and waited for the ending blow. He heard a swish and a thud followed by a howl coming from Thorir. The man opened one eye and looked up at the bloody stump where a shoulder used to be. He scouted the room to see who just had saved his life. He saw a blond man wielding an enormous sword standing next to the severed arm of Thorir.
"Munchies are hard to eat, but are foolish to fight! Thorir heal himself, be good as new, kill humans, eat humans!"
Thorir grabbed his detached arm and connected it back to the blooded hole. The arm and shoulder grew back together and where ready to be used again.
"See? No can die, Thorir can. Forever Thorir is!"
The silver haired man got up from the ground and drew his sword.
"Hey blond! Let's get him together okay!"
Cadwgawn nodded and leaped in the air.
The silver haired man jumped forward.
Not knowing which human to attack, Thorir stood there, indecisive.
Both swords struck him at the same time, cutting trough the flesh with immense power. The blades cut him again, even before the blood gushing out the wounds could reach the floor.
Cadwgawn and the silver haired man didn't stop hacking and slicing until there was no more left of Thorir than a big pile of bones, entrails and chops of flesh.
"That takes care of that, thanks blond."
"………We'd better get out of here, the monster didn't lie when he said that he's forever."
"What do you mean blond?"
Cadwgawn nodded towards the pile that used to be Thorir.
"He's already regenerating himself as we speak."
"Then we'll chop him to pieces again, we make a good team blond."
"………So you want to spent an eternity chopping a monster to pieces? Go ahead, I've got better things to do."
Cadwgawn walked over to where Sarita had dragged Kyrios during the battle against Thorir. Cadwgawn didn't know the man, but he could see he was in a bad state and that he meant a lot to Sarita.
"This the one you wanted me to meet?"
Sarita looked up and nodded, her eyes where filled with tears. She tried to attend the wounds Kyrios had, but there where to many. Slowly all the life left Kyrios and Sarita knew it. She tried another recovery spell but the magic had lost almost all of its power.
"Here maybe this will help."
Cadwgawn handed her a potion.
Sarita thanked him and tried to make Kyrios swallow the fluid.
It seemed to help a little, because he opened his eyes. When he saw Sarita's face he smiled and tried to speak. Then he noticed Cadwgawn and his eyes glimmered with hope. Kyrios tried to sit up but there where to many broken bones in his body. He looked at Sarita and spoke to her, very slowly; "You've found… him. Good… cough… girl Sarita. You've …gurgle… found him."
Kyrios looked at Cadwgawn and smiled; "You've …cough, cough… came back. I …gurgle knew you would. Welcome couch back …"
Kyrios last breath whispered: "Avalanche."
Sarita bowed over Kyrios and started crying, her tears dripped on Kyrios forehead.
Cadwgawn looked at her and didn't know what to say or do, so he left her alone with her grief.
The man with silver hear walked towards Cadwgawn and nodded at Thorir's remains.
"He's pulling himself together faster and faster. If you don't want to fight him again, we'd better get out of here blond."
"…Okay, and the name's Cadwgawn not blond, got it."
"Sure, by the way, my name is Dehat, nice to meet you, blond."
Cadwgawn ignored the last remark and looked at Sarita. He felt sorry for her, loosing two close friends on the same day.
Cadwgawn and Dehat gave Sarita some time to say goodbye to her friend.
"Hey blond?"
"…"
"What was that just now anyway? That man saw you and he worshiped you. What was in that potion you gave him?"
"…I noticed his reaction too, but it had noting to do with the potion. It was like he recognized me or something, maybe he thought I was someone else."
A growl behind them ended their conversation abruptly.
Simultaneously they turned and saw that Thorir had fully restored himself. The monster wasn't bluffing as it said that it lived forever. It let out a loud laugh when it saw the surprised looks on Cadwgawn and Dehat's faces.
"Told you, Thorir forever! Now die!"
Thorir's eyes started to glow and a red glow formed around his claws. Both of the fighters drew their weapons and moved away from where Sarita was. The monster growled and fired two red-hot fire blasts from its claws, scorching the floor where Cadwgawn and Dehat stood a second ago.
"Whoa! This thing is still capable of using magic!"
Dehat shouted out.
"Looks like he's got another trick up his sleeve!"
Cadwgawn nodded at a little red gemstone on one of the monsters spikes. The gem started to glow intense when Thorir focused to use the powers stored inside.
"That color! We must hurry and stop him before it can use the power of this summon materia!"
Dehat rushed towards the monster to stop it before it could complete the summoning. Cadwgawn wanted to jump forwards but hesitated and looked at Sarita; she would be killed if she stayed out there in the open. He looked around and saw a huge bookcase standing not far away from her.
"What are you waiting for, an invitation? Come here and help me with this thing!"
Dehat was trying to fight Thorir but couldn't land one single blow; the monster had drew up some kind of force field that protected him from physical attacks.
"Be with you shortly, got to take care of something first!"
Cadwgawn jumped towards the bookcase and tried to pull it away from the wall. It was heavier than he'd expected but he managed to pull it towards where Sarita sat. There he tipped it over, providing some kind of shelter for Sarita.
"That takes care of that, now for our other problem."
Cadwgawn joined Dehat who was still trying to find an opening in the field that protected Thorir.
"It's no use blond, this field is way to strong to be broken. Guess we'll just have to face whatever it's summoning."
"…Here it comes!"
The light that the spirit emitted blinded Dehat and Cadwgawn for a moment and when their eyesight returned they could see that Thorir had summoned the fire-spirit Ifrit.
"Well blond, guess this is it, time to pay the piper."
Cadwgawn shook his head and stormed forwards, "Not yet, there's still a way to survive!"
"Yeah, but that would involve running the other way, not facing a elemental-spirit!"
Ifrit saw that Cadwgawn stormed at him and growled. It focused its energy and launched itself forwards in a cocoon of fire.
Cadwgawn dodged the attack and turned to face Ifrit. The flames had charred his hair a bit, but other than that he was fine. Not knowing what to do against this spirit, Cadwgawn grabbed the red gem that was attached to his sword and hoped for the best.
"Eat this!"
Cadwgawn was surrounded by a blinding light and disappeared to make place for a half naked woman. The woman had a silver-gray skin color and the only clothes she wore were a bikini made out of ice.
Dehat witnessed this with amazement; this man had the ability to summon the ice elemental-spirit Shiva.
When Ifrit saw Shiva it snarled out of fury and focused it's powers to their maximum. Flames engulfed the entire room and the air became too hot to breathe normally.
Dehat jumped behind the bookcase to find some shelter from the flames.
Shiva slowly opened her eyes and looked at Ifrit, slowly raising her left arm cooling the air around her to a sub-zero temperature.
Ifrit rushed at her, flames scorching everything around him.
Shiva lowered her arm and large spears made out of ice appeared in the air, piercing Ifrit's body.
The intense heat that Ifrit produced melt the ice spears, but the melt water drained him from his strength. He disappeared back to his own dimension with a grumble, forcing Thorir to return to the battlefield.
After defeating Ifrit, Shiva wasn't needed anymore and went back to her own dimension.
Thorir looked around him and saw the damage that Ifrit's flames had left. The entire room was blackened and smelt like someone had left his or her meat to long on a barbeque. Thorir let out a loud guffaw.
"Humans stupid to fight Thorir! Humans now know!"
Suddenly it stopped laughing and looked down at its chest: a sword had been run through him and the point could be seen sticking out. Thorir went berserk when it realized that the humans where still alive and tried to reach for the human who had forced the sword through him.
Cadwgawn did his best to hold on to his sword but lost his grip and was sent flying through the air. He landed near the door, bumped his head and lost consciousness.
Dehat had heard the barrage of the monster and re-joined the fight. He saw that Cadwgawn was unconsciousness and tried to get the raging monsters attention by hacking off some of the spikes on its back. This did the job and Thorir launched a fireball at him.
Dodging the ball, Dehat landed right in the claws of Thorir.
Holding on to its prey, Thorir moved his claw to his mouth.
The fight between the two spirits had weakened the ceiling and a huge part of it tumbled and landed on top of Thorir, saving Dehat from a certain death.
Cadwgawn regained consciousness and saw that Dehat was stuck in one of Thorir's claws. He got up and hurried to help Dehat out but Thorir didn't let go of his prey.
"Stop fooling around and just cut the damn arm off!"
"…I lost my weapon."
"You what!"
"I lost my weapon alright!"
"O great, well why don't you summon Shiva again?"
"……I don't know how."
"Here take my sword, now cut me free!"
Cadwgawn took Dehat's katana and chopped the arm off, freeing Dehat.
"So where did you lose you're sword?"
Cadwgawn pointed at Thorir who lay buried beneath a piece of the ceiling.
Dehat looked at the rubble and asked, "He's got it?"
"…Yes."
Dehat started laughing, "Well, have fun when you try to get it back. Maybe he'll give it to you if you ask it politely."
Cadwgawn stared at the ground with a troubled took on his face, causing Dehat to laugh even harder than he already did.
"Now me really mad, don't laugh at Thorir." Came a muffled voice from underneath the rubble. This caused Dehat to really go into a fit, little tear rolled over his face from laughing. Even Cadwgawn smiled for a second, but his face straightened when he thought about how to get his sword back.
"That's enough, how are we going to get my sword back?"
Dehat whipped some tears from his face and looked at Cadwgawn.
"Well blond… I don't know. You think of that, I'll sit here until you figured something out."
Dehat sat down on the floor and watched Cadwgawn with a big smile on his face.
Cadwgawn glared at him and raised his hands, "Come on, what do you want me to do against that monster without a weapon? Or should I just wish my weapon back to me?"
After saying these words, a small crack appeared in the slab that covered Thorir.
Cadwgawn lost his temper and kicked against a small rock.
The crack grew a little bigger.
Cadwgawn walked over the slab and stopped when Dehat said something, Cadwgawn didn't notice the small crack that grew bigger and bigger.
"Just one more remark like that and I swear…"
Cadwgawn stopped talking when the ground beneath him seemed to explode. He fell down and looked up with amazement; the reason that the ground had erupted was his own sword, it had broken through the ground and now it floated in the air.
"Whoa! How did you do that?"
Dehat was even more surprised than Cadwgawn.
"I don't know."
"There's a lot you don't know."
A small piece fell from the ceiling, landing on top of Cadwgawn's head. He looked up and saw that it wouldn't be long before the roof would collapse. He walked to his sword and said when he took hold of it: "Time to get moving."
"My thoughts exactly blond."
Sarita still held Kyrios in her arms and it seemed that what was going on around her didn't reach her anymore.
Dehat kneeled next to her and said; "Time to go miss, I can understand you're woes, but this isn't the safest place to be. Your friend knew this and still he came here for some reason. Whatever the reason was, try to honor him by for filling his destiny."
Sarita didn't respond to the words nor did she react when Dehat placed a hand on her shoulder.
Dehat shook his head; "It's no good, she's in shock. We must carry her out of here."
Cadwgawn nodded and kneeled in front of Sarita. He softly toughed her shoulder and without knowing why he whispered: "Come with me little one, I'll protect you."
These words hit the right spot because suddenly Sarita stared Cadwgawn directly in the eyes.
"Wha, what? You… Those where… But you're not…!?"
Red circles where around her eyes, formed by crying, but now her eyes weren't sad anymore. Her eyes shined out a new longing, a longing she never had before.
Cadwgawn stared her back in her eyes, wondering where these words just came from, and why Sarita stared at him the way she did.
Dehat looked at the ceiling and saw that it would crumble at any time, so he tapped Cadwgawn on the shoulder and said with a huge grin on his face; "C'mon Casanova, we got to move, the roof will come down any second now."
Cadwgawn got up and offered Sarita his hand. She stared at it for a second and took hold of it. She got up with the help of Cadwgawn and looked at Kyrios again. She still couldn't believe that he was dead; some part of her thought this was all a bad dream and when she'd wake up she would she his smiling face again.
Cadwgawn grabbed her and gently pushed her out of the room. They left the room just in time: the ceiling came crashing down making it impossible to re-enter the room again.
Sarita walked to the door opening and leaned against the doorpost.
Cadwgawn watched her as she stood there crying. He didn't know what to say to her so he thought it would be best if he'd let her alone for a moment.
Dehat kicked him and nodded at Sarita.
"Go to her blond, she needs a shoulder to cry on right now."
"……And then what?"
"O man, do I have to tell you everything, just go to her."
Cadwgawn walked over to Sarita and looked at her. Still a little unsure what to do he looked back and saw Dehat ushering him to put his arm around her.
Cadwgawn shrugged and slowly he raised his arm.
Sarita turned her head and looked at him with a surprised look on her face.
"What are you doing?"
"……Nothing, just wanted to make sure you're alright."
Cadwgawn turned away and hoped that she didn't see that he blushed a little.
"Thanks for you're concern but I'm alright now. We all knew the danger of going here, but we also knew how important our mission was. And now I have to press on even harder, for Kyrios, Kuno and for myself. But I can't do it alone so… could you help me?"
Dehat had heard every word and responded before Cadwgawn had the chance; "Of course he'll help, right blond. And you can count me in too."
Sarita noticed Dehat for the first time and stared at him with her mouth open. She'd never seen anyone with silver hair before.
Dehat saw her staring and bowed; "I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. The name's Dehat and I'm sort of a sword for hire."
He took one of Sarita's hands and gave it a gentle kiss. He straightened himself and looked at where Cadwgawn stood just a second ago.
"Hey blond! Where are you going?"
Cadwgawn looked over his shoulder and shrugged.
"I don't know, to tell the truth, I'm not even sure why I came to this place. But something tells me that whatever it is I'm looking for is in here somewhere. Come, I saw a room with a small spring this way. We can fresh up there and figure out what to do next."
He walked further without waiting for their reaction.
Dehat looked at Sarita and gave her a boyish grin: "Let's follow him before he gets himself into trouble."
Sarita nodded and wondered what this was all about, maybe something she said. That reminded her; "Hey Cadwgawn, Wait up! About what you said to me earlier! Cadwgawn wait!"