Chapter Fourteen - A Corrupt World of Darkness

"So you think he knows?" Rowen asked, knowing the answer as he pushed forward over the crumbling land below him.

"I don't think so, but he has been acting strangely," Sage replied with a hand to a branch supporting his steps.

"Well, she is mad as anything at him; that's usually something that would make Ryo dive out to his own little world," Rowen reassured.

"I really don't know what's bugging the guy, but I just hope he has enough sense to put it aside while we're here."

He'd better, Rowen thought, or you'll be burnt to a cinder.

They pressed on in the rocky terrain trying to maintain footing on the rocky ground. The sky might have a bright golden glow but the shadows over the land caused by the tremendous peaks seemed to give an air of nightfall. "Where is he, anyway?" Sage interrupted the silence. A cold wind blew from a cave they had passed earlier, as if to answer his question.

"Snow, inside of a cave... why doesn't he just say 'come in here, it's a trap'?" Rowen remarked.

"Shall we go?" his companion asked with a half-smirk.

The two inched their way closer to the cave entrance as the wind seemed to blow in and out periodically. Rowen rosined his bow and cocked an arrow aimed skyward as he prepared to enter. With a nod to his comrade, he jumped in front of the entrance, snapping his bow and arrow in front of him, prepared to fire if he saw just about anything... but there was nothing. Only further darkness.

Sage inched his way in behind Rowen as they walked on into the darkness, Rowen never releasing his ready aim, Sage with his hand to his sword. The sound of crunching snow under their armored feel was of little comfort.

"Man, I really hate this part..." Rowen echoed, trying to break the eerie silence the cave gave.

"Oh really? I find this to be the most exciting part!" a light voice echoed in response.

Sage gasped lightly as his sword blade whistled in its withdraw. "Show yourself, Cale!" he bellowed.

"Now that wouldn't be fun, would it? It's not sporting, after all, two big bad Ronin Warriors against one little old Demon of Darkness? No, not fair at all. I should give you some kind of fighting chance!" Cale's cackle echoed throughout the caverns.

"You evil piece of..."

"Rowen! This is no time for that! Come on, we have to stay focused here," Sage interrupted. Rowen would have given Sage a look of his own but it would be pointless, as they couldn't see each other at all. A sudden grunt worked its way up from Rowen's stomach as a sharp hurtful knee thrust came colliding into the small of his back, sending him hurling to the rock hard yet cold and wet ground. "Rowen!" Sage cried as they were separated. The Warrior of Light held his sword high, preparing to shed light in the area.

"Go ahead, Halo, shine your delicious light energy; my blade grows thirsty for its power!" Cale's voice echoed deviously.

"Don't listen to him! Take him out, Sage!" Rowen's voiced shouted from somewhere in the darkness.

"A bold tactic, can you risk it in this darkness? One false move and your friend dies as well." Sage grunted as he realized how true Cale's words were. "You are a fool, Halo!" and with that, Cale charged his opponent.

Sage would have been instantly sliced in half if his inexpressible sixth sense hadn't guided him to raise his sword perfectly in defense. Even though the strike had been deflected, Cale's strength was nowhere near the level Sage had trained for; it was much higher. The swords clashed, bringing Sage to the ground. His back against the wall, his only support, he could feel it crumbling as he was being driven into it by the Dark Warlord's strength.

A domino of metal striking metal was heard through the cave as Sage felt his foe's force pull away from his blade. Sage stood up, feeling that Cale had been chased away by something but didn't have to wonder long as to what it was as hid armored foot stepped on what had to be one of Rowen's arrows stabbed into the ground. "You just keep talking, Warlord, you're going to realize that you ain't the only one that grew in strength here!" Rowen's unmistakable voice shouted.

"So I see, but it will not help. All your training has done nothing but add more meat to your bones for when I kill you and serve you up fresh for Talpa's victory banquet!"

"We'll see about that!" Sage hollered as he charged with his mighty blade thrashing down, and shocking to Cale, made contact with his gauntlet. From there Sage definitely had the advantage. He hadn't managed to strike Cale in any greater fashions but the Warlord of Darkness couldn't manage an offense. As their blades clashed, the sounds echoed throughout the caverns and the resonance seemed to aid the Ronin.

Rowen, however, was still holding back an arrow shot. Sage's ability to sense things out may have him on the advantage, but wasn't doing much for the marksman. In this pitch-blackness it was hard to keep track of where the warriors were, let alone get a good target. Their movement was so fast and quick, he was going to hurt himself with his quick neck movements. "Damn it, Sage, stay still, will you?!" he whispered harshly. Truly aggravated, the Warrior of Life tried everything to calm himself and as soon as he tried, his journey through the countries mountains came back to him.

With a quick smirk, Rowen pointed his aim upwards. "Sage! Duck and cover!" he yelled. As soon as the last word escaped his lips, the resonance of the Shock Wave charge could be heard and a second later, Rowen's distinctive battle cry echoed through the caverns. "Arrow Shock Wa-ve!"

Immediately the cave started to collapse as the golden arrow drilled through the hard rock ceiling. Debris came crashing down and shattering as stalactites stabbed the earth. "Just like a second coming," Sage said, grinning as he recalled his experiences of the past week, leaping from falling stone to falling stone and basking in the light that had made its way in from the crater Rowen had formed.

"You treacherous little rodents! Don't think this will save you!" Cale hollered with anger. He followed Sage through the opening in the ceiling, as did Rowen. As the light entering their eyes dazed them a bit, it was obvious that Cale wouldn't have much of an advantage on the outside. The netherworld sky was never that bright but in the pitch-blackness of the cave, it was blinding.

"Things are a little more even now, Cale; I suppose this is where you would run away," Sage smirked, squinting towards his opponent.

"I wouldn't quite say that! There still are only two of you; I'm afraid you still won't be much sport for me!" he cracked.

With that, he leapt off towards Sage only to be thrown violently to the ground by the direct hit force of one of Rowen's arrows. "Why do you think you can ignore me, horn-head?"

Cale pushed himself up from the rocky ground and tried the best he could to wipe the blood from his jaw under his armored mask. "Very well, I shall eliminate you from the problem right now!" he responded loathfully. He immediately leapt from stone to stone trying to reach Rowen until he landed on a large pillar that collapsed below him. As he landed with the rubble from the pillar compiling atop him, he came to see Sage standing triumphantly over him with his sword over his shoulder, smirking lightly.

This set Cale off a new level, the strain and anger in his face reached a new extreme and in a large black blast of wicked energy, the entire rubble blasted off his back, catapulting Sage hard into another stone pillar. "You wretched scoundrels! How dare you challenge me!" his voice echoed in the distance. Rowen and Sage both had shock written all over their faces. It seemed that with increased power, their tempers become uncontrollable.

"Watch it down there, buddy! He's going to blow!" Rowen hollered.

"No kidding! What the hell is happening here?!" Sage shouted in reply, climbing up towards his fellow Ronin.

"I don't think we're safe as long as we're anywhere near him. I was just kidding before, but I think he really is going to explode, look at him down there!"

The two turned their gaze to the self-destructing warlord below. Black lighting was emanating from his armor as Cale was seeming about to explode. It was striking every stone rock and pebble nearby, the very land they stood on surged with the dark light.

"We got to take him out! Now!" Sage hollered, losing his balance. They exchanged a glance and leapt off to separate pillars that seemed to be the only sturdy things in the area, and each took aim. "Thunder... Bolt..."

"Arrow... Shock..."

They began to charge for their attacks and Cale immediately caught on. In his volatile state, he carefully drew his blade and also began to prepare his attack. "Black... Lightning... " he began.

The Ronins nearly lost their focus when they realized what Cale was about to attempt to do. He's lost it! Rowen exclaimed in his mind. He gave it no more though, let out on final shout and let the arrow fly! "Wa-ve!

"Cut!"

"Sla-sh!"

A mass implosion of light ensued, dragging the warriors in. Panic gripped them as they had expended too much energy trying to take Cale out before he blew them away. The light and force died out and the falling dust finally settled, and for the third time that day, three warriors adorned in subarmor were half-buried in the ground. There was no motion, no attempt to move, just three extremely sore warriors.

After about a half an hour of silence, some dust rolled off Cale as he tried to speak. "You... you do know... that you couldn't have defeated me... if I hadn't helped you from the inside..." he gasped for breath.

"You're still alive?" Sage asked in an exhausted yet humorous voice.

"Barely..." he responded. "Oh, we're real sorry about that..." Rowen huffed sarcastically.

They all exchanged a weary smirk, then plunged themselves back into their rest.

Cale was using a makeshift sling to keep his arm in place. It had obviously been nearly destroyed in the blast. He was accompanied by Sage and Rowen slowly and carefully walking at his sides. "So you knew of the dangers?" Cale asked.

"Yeah, we found out about a week ago. We were afraid our training for that long wouldn't be enough but hey, we're alive," Rowen explained.

"Yeah, it's been one hell of a week," Sage added.

"I take it the other Ronins are engaging in battle with the other Warlords?" Cale stated questioningly.

"Pretty much. Hopefully they had the same luck we did," Sage responded.

Cale seemed to ponder something quickly, then looked up again at his companions. "But there are three Warlords, and five Ronins; please don't tell me someone was foolish enough to go into battle alone," he went on.

"Actually... Anubis... stepped up to fight Sekhmet with Ryo," Rowen tried to explain, and Cale seemed to grow in surprise.

"Anubis is still alive?!" he exclaimed almost happily.

"Hey, we were surprised too, but I for one am glad that he's still around!" Rowen explained in reply.

"I have hope to meet him soon." Cale stated tiredly.

"Well, that's where we're all going now. Actually, we're hoping you'd guide us there," Sage responded.

"You do know Kayura is there? She guards his stronghold."

"Yeah, we know. We're all going to fight that one out together."

".Good team." Cale whispered to himself. ".Very well. into hell we go."