CHAPTER 17: A CHOCOBO?
Alucard's first impression of the future cavern was that it was quite damp. Water poured off the ceiling's sharp stalactites. Alucard was in a long hall void of any form of life filled with the dripping spikes. He started to walk forward and soon felt quite in danger. He jumped back and saw one of the ceiling's stalactites had detached itself and had practically impaled him.
Alucard: I'd better be careful... He continued to walk for a bit until another one fell, this time he barely avoided it and made him crash on the floor. As he tried to get up, his hand felt something on the floor. There were switches on the floor to make the damn things fall! Alucard turned into a bat and flew safely out of the cave. The next room was filled with a huge lake as far as the eye could see. Alucard transformed into a bat again and began to fly forward. After a good 15 minutes of flight, he reached a ledge. Once reverted, he walked onto a small room. Inside was a small Slot for an artifact and above the slot was some text.
"Hidden beneath your feet, key of the deep
Guarded by the annoying, acquired by the cunning
Deep within the tides, the path shall reveal
Once returned the sea shall obey."
Alucard: What's this mean? Hidden beneath my feet... He looked at the earth and noticed the earth had been moved recently. He started to curse not having a shovel in his inventory. He kept reading.
Alucard: Guarded by the annoying... There isn't anyone here, so it couldn't be under my feet... ... unless... He went back out and peeked under the ledge. He saw a small opening in the cliff under the ledge, barely above the surface, but too small to fly in as a bat. He sighed in a desperate fashion. He got his holy symbol out, strapped it on and eased himself in the cold water. Keeping the tip out of the water was the prerequisite for the artifact's functioning, so he swam close to the surface, going into the underwater corridor. Rapidly, he felt something wrap itself around his leg and he immediately gets dragged down. He looks at what got his leg and noticed a rope had been tied around it, at the other end was a heavy boulder. He rapidly slashed the rope and returned to the top where he wouldn't be breathing in water. His lungs burned from all the water that had come in during his trip to the bottom. He felt something fly by and bounce off the ceiling not too far from him. The ceiling above Alucard gave way and fell straight on him, causing quite a bit of pain. He heard laughing from below and guessed those were the "Guardians" spoken of above... He continued down the corridor for a bit longer before something hard connected painfully with the area between his legs, making him go in a foetal form, sinking his snorkel fully under the waves. After a breath of hot poison, he rapidly raised his head back and tried to stay at the surface while recovering from the bugger's assaults. He continued down the hall until he was at the end, in front of a wall. He looked around and noticed something shiny at the bottom. Ready to receive heavy damage, he dived down to retrieve the shiny. He reached and grabbed it without knowing what he just took and started to go back up. Alucard got heavy resistance from the small object, but finally got it free. He also felt heavy water movement. Staring down, he saw that the floor had detached itself and had fallen down quite a bit before crashing on another floor. He contemplated his object and found it to be nothing more than a pin. Swearing innerly, he continued his descend to the bottom of the path. Once at the remains of the old floor, he saw a small chamber on the side. In the small chamber with an altar on which was his artifact, a statue of a kraken. This statue also posed him resistance and he also managed to tear it out. He heard a loud boom shortly after. He hurried back out of the room and headed back to the surface, but found that his way up had been blocked by a new floor to replace the old one. He was running out of energy... his vision began to blur... he leaned one a wall to help support him and went right through it. He swam blindly across the narrow hall, crashing into the walls often until he saw light above, he raced for dear life to the surface, reaching it less than a meter away from the exit. He forced his body up on the ledge and passed out...
***********************
Magus awoke from his titanous fall on a hard and wet floor. His head hurt considerably and his mind wasn't too clear...
Magus: Ow... What happened? He looked around and found himself in a cave. Around him were countless stalactites except for the small ring he was in. The ceiling above him had a large hole leading up for a very long time, the other end out of sight. Beside that hole were a multitude of stalagmites and just as many bats sleeping around them.
Magus: Yeah... The floor in the church collapsed... I guess I fell down to the caves, I'm surprised I survived such a fall... He headed torwards a small cave to his right. Inside was a large hall going on for quite a bit. After a dozen minutes, he saw the exit. Beyond was a speck of yellow standing alone. As he got closer, he saw a chocobo. A chocobo is a large bird a bit taller than a man that's about a mix between an ostrich and a canary... sorry for the crappy description, but it's just hard to describe...
Magus: Nani? What's a chocobo doing here? This is no place for a bird like you... The thing chirped and gently lifted it's left wing. Magus saw that the yellow feathers were covered in red. A deep wound was present in the bird's wing. Magus put on a smile and healed the bird's wing. It squawked happily and circled around him, jumping and walking.
Magus: Thanks. But I've got to leave now... Magus headed out of the cave and heard that the bird stopped being so agitated. He turned and saw that it's feathers had gone completely grey now. It's feathers had a light glitter to them at the tip, as if made of daggers. The usually weak legs became larger and the flat claws grew more like a raptor's. It's back grew a line of spikes making it unridable. It opened it's blood red eyes and let out a terrific roar that might make a dragon cower in terror. It's beak was now filled with very sharp teeth.
Magus: So this is, the legendary Hellchocobo... I thought it didn't exist. There's a tale speaking of a man, a chocobo breeder that had managed to breed a chocobo of unfathomable beauty and strength, one that won every competition it entered. It was his pride and joy. One day, his wife got fed up with his passion for the bird and gave him a choice, her or the bird. The man hesitated and his wife took that wrong. She packed and left, but as she left the house, she was run over and died. The man felt very wrong about what had happened and managed to contact the underworld. He made a contract with them to return his wife in exchange for something of his... He accepted before he asked what it was... They followed their end, but had lost more than he'd hoped... The underworld had swallowed his prized chocobo. The man never quite recovered from the loss... as for the poor bird, it was given to Evaris Elfslayer as a present. It got corrupted by the underworld, mutating it into what it is now, a demon, pet of the demon king and hater of all humans, for it never forgot the treachery of it's former master. It is said that if it dies, another is born in one of the lower plains and the young one will go kill it's father's assassin when he least expects it... Magus: I'd never thought I'd see one, even less fight one... It charged at immense speed, missing him outright, turning and stopping. Magus felt a sharp jerk of pain in his arm and noticed a gash there... He also heard a large portion of the cavern's wall crumble, where the bird had turned.
Magus: So the wind it's speed generates is a weapon... this is going to be hard... He took out his swords and waited for it's next charge. Like the last time, it charged, not trying to hit it's target at all. Magus leapt at it and swung hard, but the Hellchoc veered and avoided the strike, spitting something at him, hitting his right arm. The liquid hissed and burned across clothes and skin until it hit the bone. That arm was now unusable. He sheathed his remaining sword and picked up the one on the floor for use. Once again it charged, once again he swung, and once again it dodged. It shot it's acid-like substance again and Magus threw his sword at it, piercing it's side and the tip came out the other side. It stopped running and collapsed. Magus healed his arm, unsheathed his other sword and went to finish it off, but found he didn't have the will to do so. He put his sword back and took his other one out of it. He bent down and healed it enough for the wound to close and for it to be able to walk, not run. He headed to the door and noticed it was following him, now back as a normal chocobo.
Magus: Now what? It squawked happily.
Magus: What? Do you want to follow me? It squawked happily again.
Magus: Well this is unexpected. Magus pet the bird and finished healing it. The bird started to jump happily, circling him. Magus laughed and gave it a bit of food. The two went deeper in the caves...
***********************
Alucard regained consciousness a few hours lately. He got up, trying to remember why he'd collapsed and noticed his clothes were wet and remembered his deadly escapade under the sea... He entered the cave and went to the altar. As he examined it, he noticed around 6 tiny pinholes in it. He took out of his pocket the statue he'd risked everything to get. On it's base were 6 pins. He placed it in it's place and heard a great rumble followed by running water. He went out and saw that the lake's water had begun to spin at high speed, creating a whirlpool in the center. Alucard turned into a bat and went over it, seeing the ground in the center. He slowly swooped down, ready to fly out at the slightest sign of water returning to normal. He set foot on the rocky floor in the center of it. He looked around and saw a rusted trap door in the floor nearby, unearthed now from tons and tons of water. As he got close, one huge tentacle burst from the water, wrapped itself around him and yanked him in. He now faced a giant kraken in it's natural environment.
Alucard: Dammit... losing strength... Haven't fully recovered yet... Guess this calls for drastic measures!! HE took out a thunder brand and activated it's effect, letting masses and masses of lightning travel the water. The electrically charged water zapped everything it touched, including Alucard, making him drop it. The bolts fried his foe in mere seconds and inflicting mass damage on him. He swam out of the deathtrap he'd created by dropping the sword while active, making it's effect permanent. He reached for the trapdoor and discovered it opened horizontally, so maybe below wasn't flooded. He yanked it open and jumped in. He heard the water recess and rapidly closed the trapdoor before water got in. He was now in a cave dripping with water. He followed his small corridor to the next room where the door to the past stood, but before he could reach it, 5 mecha-zombies fell from the roof. These were different from the past ones because they had large claws, spikes, wings and a tail. Alucard turned to mist and went across them, reverted at the door, opened it fast and slammed it shut, panting.
Alucard's first impression of the future cavern was that it was quite damp. Water poured off the ceiling's sharp stalactites. Alucard was in a long hall void of any form of life filled with the dripping spikes. He started to walk forward and soon felt quite in danger. He jumped back and saw one of the ceiling's stalactites had detached itself and had practically impaled him.
Alucard: I'd better be careful... He continued to walk for a bit until another one fell, this time he barely avoided it and made him crash on the floor. As he tried to get up, his hand felt something on the floor. There were switches on the floor to make the damn things fall! Alucard turned into a bat and flew safely out of the cave. The next room was filled with a huge lake as far as the eye could see. Alucard transformed into a bat again and began to fly forward. After a good 15 minutes of flight, he reached a ledge. Once reverted, he walked onto a small room. Inside was a small Slot for an artifact and above the slot was some text.
"Hidden beneath your feet, key of the deep
Guarded by the annoying, acquired by the cunning
Deep within the tides, the path shall reveal
Once returned the sea shall obey."
Alucard: What's this mean? Hidden beneath my feet... He looked at the earth and noticed the earth had been moved recently. He started to curse not having a shovel in his inventory. He kept reading.
Alucard: Guarded by the annoying... There isn't anyone here, so it couldn't be under my feet... ... unless... He went back out and peeked under the ledge. He saw a small opening in the cliff under the ledge, barely above the surface, but too small to fly in as a bat. He sighed in a desperate fashion. He got his holy symbol out, strapped it on and eased himself in the cold water. Keeping the tip out of the water was the prerequisite for the artifact's functioning, so he swam close to the surface, going into the underwater corridor. Rapidly, he felt something wrap itself around his leg and he immediately gets dragged down. He looks at what got his leg and noticed a rope had been tied around it, at the other end was a heavy boulder. He rapidly slashed the rope and returned to the top where he wouldn't be breathing in water. His lungs burned from all the water that had come in during his trip to the bottom. He felt something fly by and bounce off the ceiling not too far from him. The ceiling above Alucard gave way and fell straight on him, causing quite a bit of pain. He heard laughing from below and guessed those were the "Guardians" spoken of above... He continued down the corridor for a bit longer before something hard connected painfully with the area between his legs, making him go in a foetal form, sinking his snorkel fully under the waves. After a breath of hot poison, he rapidly raised his head back and tried to stay at the surface while recovering from the bugger's assaults. He continued down the hall until he was at the end, in front of a wall. He looked around and noticed something shiny at the bottom. Ready to receive heavy damage, he dived down to retrieve the shiny. He reached and grabbed it without knowing what he just took and started to go back up. Alucard got heavy resistance from the small object, but finally got it free. He also felt heavy water movement. Staring down, he saw that the floor had detached itself and had fallen down quite a bit before crashing on another floor. He contemplated his object and found it to be nothing more than a pin. Swearing innerly, he continued his descend to the bottom of the path. Once at the remains of the old floor, he saw a small chamber on the side. In the small chamber with an altar on which was his artifact, a statue of a kraken. This statue also posed him resistance and he also managed to tear it out. He heard a loud boom shortly after. He hurried back out of the room and headed back to the surface, but found that his way up had been blocked by a new floor to replace the old one. He was running out of energy... his vision began to blur... he leaned one a wall to help support him and went right through it. He swam blindly across the narrow hall, crashing into the walls often until he saw light above, he raced for dear life to the surface, reaching it less than a meter away from the exit. He forced his body up on the ledge and passed out...
***********************
Magus awoke from his titanous fall on a hard and wet floor. His head hurt considerably and his mind wasn't too clear...
Magus: Ow... What happened? He looked around and found himself in a cave. Around him were countless stalactites except for the small ring he was in. The ceiling above him had a large hole leading up for a very long time, the other end out of sight. Beside that hole were a multitude of stalagmites and just as many bats sleeping around them.
Magus: Yeah... The floor in the church collapsed... I guess I fell down to the caves, I'm surprised I survived such a fall... He headed torwards a small cave to his right. Inside was a large hall going on for quite a bit. After a dozen minutes, he saw the exit. Beyond was a speck of yellow standing alone. As he got closer, he saw a chocobo. A chocobo is a large bird a bit taller than a man that's about a mix between an ostrich and a canary... sorry for the crappy description, but it's just hard to describe...
Magus: Nani? What's a chocobo doing here? This is no place for a bird like you... The thing chirped and gently lifted it's left wing. Magus saw that the yellow feathers were covered in red. A deep wound was present in the bird's wing. Magus put on a smile and healed the bird's wing. It squawked happily and circled around him, jumping and walking.
Magus: Thanks. But I've got to leave now... Magus headed out of the cave and heard that the bird stopped being so agitated. He turned and saw that it's feathers had gone completely grey now. It's feathers had a light glitter to them at the tip, as if made of daggers. The usually weak legs became larger and the flat claws grew more like a raptor's. It's back grew a line of spikes making it unridable. It opened it's blood red eyes and let out a terrific roar that might make a dragon cower in terror. It's beak was now filled with very sharp teeth.
Magus: So this is, the legendary Hellchocobo... I thought it didn't exist. There's a tale speaking of a man, a chocobo breeder that had managed to breed a chocobo of unfathomable beauty and strength, one that won every competition it entered. It was his pride and joy. One day, his wife got fed up with his passion for the bird and gave him a choice, her or the bird. The man hesitated and his wife took that wrong. She packed and left, but as she left the house, she was run over and died. The man felt very wrong about what had happened and managed to contact the underworld. He made a contract with them to return his wife in exchange for something of his... He accepted before he asked what it was... They followed their end, but had lost more than he'd hoped... The underworld had swallowed his prized chocobo. The man never quite recovered from the loss... as for the poor bird, it was given to Evaris Elfslayer as a present. It got corrupted by the underworld, mutating it into what it is now, a demon, pet of the demon king and hater of all humans, for it never forgot the treachery of it's former master. It is said that if it dies, another is born in one of the lower plains and the young one will go kill it's father's assassin when he least expects it... Magus: I'd never thought I'd see one, even less fight one... It charged at immense speed, missing him outright, turning and stopping. Magus felt a sharp jerk of pain in his arm and noticed a gash there... He also heard a large portion of the cavern's wall crumble, where the bird had turned.
Magus: So the wind it's speed generates is a weapon... this is going to be hard... He took out his swords and waited for it's next charge. Like the last time, it charged, not trying to hit it's target at all. Magus leapt at it and swung hard, but the Hellchoc veered and avoided the strike, spitting something at him, hitting his right arm. The liquid hissed and burned across clothes and skin until it hit the bone. That arm was now unusable. He sheathed his remaining sword and picked up the one on the floor for use. Once again it charged, once again he swung, and once again it dodged. It shot it's acid-like substance again and Magus threw his sword at it, piercing it's side and the tip came out the other side. It stopped running and collapsed. Magus healed his arm, unsheathed his other sword and went to finish it off, but found he didn't have the will to do so. He put his sword back and took his other one out of it. He bent down and healed it enough for the wound to close and for it to be able to walk, not run. He headed to the door and noticed it was following him, now back as a normal chocobo.
Magus: Now what? It squawked happily.
Magus: What? Do you want to follow me? It squawked happily again.
Magus: Well this is unexpected. Magus pet the bird and finished healing it. The bird started to jump happily, circling him. Magus laughed and gave it a bit of food. The two went deeper in the caves...
***********************
Alucard regained consciousness a few hours lately. He got up, trying to remember why he'd collapsed and noticed his clothes were wet and remembered his deadly escapade under the sea... He entered the cave and went to the altar. As he examined it, he noticed around 6 tiny pinholes in it. He took out of his pocket the statue he'd risked everything to get. On it's base were 6 pins. He placed it in it's place and heard a great rumble followed by running water. He went out and saw that the lake's water had begun to spin at high speed, creating a whirlpool in the center. Alucard turned into a bat and went over it, seeing the ground in the center. He slowly swooped down, ready to fly out at the slightest sign of water returning to normal. He set foot on the rocky floor in the center of it. He looked around and saw a rusted trap door in the floor nearby, unearthed now from tons and tons of water. As he got close, one huge tentacle burst from the water, wrapped itself around him and yanked him in. He now faced a giant kraken in it's natural environment.
Alucard: Dammit... losing strength... Haven't fully recovered yet... Guess this calls for drastic measures!! HE took out a thunder brand and activated it's effect, letting masses and masses of lightning travel the water. The electrically charged water zapped everything it touched, including Alucard, making him drop it. The bolts fried his foe in mere seconds and inflicting mass damage on him. He swam out of the deathtrap he'd created by dropping the sword while active, making it's effect permanent. He reached for the trapdoor and discovered it opened horizontally, so maybe below wasn't flooded. He yanked it open and jumped in. He heard the water recess and rapidly closed the trapdoor before water got in. He was now in a cave dripping with water. He followed his small corridor to the next room where the door to the past stood, but before he could reach it, 5 mecha-zombies fell from the roof. These were different from the past ones because they had large claws, spikes, wings and a tail. Alucard turned to mist and went across them, reverted at the door, opened it fast and slammed it shut, panting.