Disclaimer: You already know what I'm going to say.
Chapter 8: TRIGON
"Zaith, wait." Velia said.
"What's wrong?"
"There's something one your hand. Let me see it."
Zaith lifted his left hand and placed it into Velia's, who took it graciously and began to inspect it. Almost at sight, she was shocked at what she saw. Burn marks the center of his palm, and blood trickled from his wound.
"When did this happen?" Velia asked.
"Probably when I tossed that thing earlier; its fur felt like it was on fire when I touched it."
"Let me see your other hand." She said, releasing Zaith's hand.
Zaith lifted his sword, and then dug it into the ground so that it would not fall. He then placed his right hand into hers, who found similar results on it. After a moment, she released is hand, then began to speak.
"Take your jacket off." Velia said firmly.
"What!" Zaith said in response.
"I need your shirt, now take off your jacket."
"Alright." Zaith said.
Zaith gave a small sigh, and then took off his jacket as instructed. Once off, he tossed it onto the sword, and then waited for Velia to speak again.
Velia moved towards Zaith, and then raised her hand to his cheek. After a moment, Zaith became lax, though confused as to why her hand lay on his cheek. Slowly, she lowered her hand to his left shoulder, where she took hold of his shirt and then tore off his sleeve.
"What are you doing?" Zaith asked.
"Helping."
Velia took the sleeve she tore off and wrapped Zaith's hand, tying a small knot on the back of his hand so it wouldn't come off. Immediately after that, she tore his right sleeve off and began to do the same to his right hand.
Zaith then put his jacket back on and grasped his sword with his right hand.
"Thanks, Velia." Zaith said, nodding to her slightly. "Come on Star, let's go."
There was no reply or movement when he said that, so he turned around, finding only the blood spattered walls from before. There was no sign of Star Fire, and the only sound that was audible at the moment was the two's breathing.
Suddenly, a scream was heard above them, most likely on the next floor.
"That was Star Fire's voice!" Zaith said.
He began to run to the far end of the room, where the staircase that led upstairs was. Velia followed him as he climbed the stairs, racing to find his friend. Once the two reached the next floor, they stopped in confusion, as they found nothing in the room, not even blood or a door.
"What? Where did she go?" Velia said.
Suddenly, a piece of the ceiling came down, and a cloud of dust rose from the rubble. As it cleared, Zaith and Velia could see red light coming from a hole in the ceiling.
"NNNOOOOOOO!"
"That was her! Come on!" Zaith said as he ran to the pile then jumped to the next floor. Velia ran to the pile, but had to climb up the larger pieces of rubble, as she could not jump as high.
"Here." Zaith said as he reached down and grasped Velia's arm. He pulled her to the next floor, and once she got her bearing, Velia began to dust herself off. Once she was done, she took a look around, but stopped as she saw the look of the city.
Black clouds littered a flaming red sky, which replaced the usual sky blue people were used to. The bay changed from its dark blue and sea green to a blood red, and thousands, if not millions of corpses filled the water and covered the shores. Strange beasts like those from earlier crossed the beaches and roamed the streets, maiming all those that got in there path.
The cities building lay in dismay, and many sky scrappers and other buildings crumbled into the streets. Many were caught on fire, as zombies and skeletons could be seen rummaging through he rubble of the buildings, searching for something to kill. Were pipes could be seen through the pavement, and the streets seemed to have been in a single jagged line through main street, as if an earthquake had struck the city.
As the two looked on, pillars began to rise from the ground throughout the city, and with them, thousands of skulls littered the ground around them. Dark tentacles came as well, and they immediately began to grasp at anything moving around them. One grabbed a human running from some zombies; another grabbed a hound like beast, such as those from before. All that were taken were crushed, and then left to die as they fell to the ground.
Velia, terrified at what she saw, moved over to Zaith and held onto his sleeve, finding support in him. Zaith wrapped his arms around, understanding her fear.
"What the hell I going on." Zaith said as he continued to look on in horror.
Just then, the floor beneath them began give way to their weight, and they to began to fall. Flight after flight, they passed sets of stairs. As the wind ran through their hair, they came ever closer to the ground, and in an attempt to stop, Zaith grabbed Velia's leg and a guard rail from the staircase. They stopped, but a moment later, the rail gave way, and the two fell some more. Zaith quickly grabbed onto another rail, and then tossed Velia on the stairs.
"Oww…" She said after landing onto one of the many steps. She began to rub her pain, trying to relieve the pain.
Zaith jumped over the rail, landing next Velia.
"You alright?" He asked.
"Yeah… I'll be fine." She said as she stood up. "Where are we?"
Zaith went to the guard rail and looked over the edge. After a moment, he looked back at Velia and began to speak again.
"It would seem we are on the seventh floor." He said as he began to slowly walk down the steps.
"Where are you going?" Velia asked.
"The sixth floor."
Upon reaching the next floor, he saw a pool of blood under the door, which he soon opened. Velia followed him, and saw what looked to be a blood spattered corridor. The walls had many battle scars, as cuts and breaks covered all the walls.
The two, now weapon less, took several steps into the hallway, only to be greeted to a sinister laugh, which Zaith remembered all to well. Several more steps into the hallway, a light blinded the two, and when the light dimmed, a person stood in front of them, their hair hanging in front of their face.
Zaith moved forward, ignoring the person. The light flickered, and the person vanished. He began to run to the end of the hallway, followed by a frightened Velia. At the end of the hallway, a single door formed the exit. Zaith went to grasp the handle, but Velia stopped him from doing so.
"Please… don't."
"You've already seen this in your dreams right?"
"And I don't want to see you die again."
"I'm not dieing… not this time."
Zaith drew his gun out, and then opened the door. A crazed woman rushed towards Zaith, only to be met with a solid door. Slowly, Zaith opened the door once more, finding a new, and much more color scene.
Purple lined the room, and in the middle was Star Fire, lying down on her bed.
"Star Fire!" Velia said as she took several steps into the room.
"Wait. Remember the dream, that isn't Star Fire."
Just then, Star Fire rose, and the sight bothered Velia. Her arms were gone, as well as her breasts, her faced was charred from flame, and her hair was a complete mess. Velia took several steps backwards, walking into Zaith, who did not budge.
Blood began to splatter the walls, the floor vanished into black nothingness, and spikes came down from the ceiling, encircling Star Fire's bed. Star Fire began to morph into a four legged beast like the ones earlier, and then charged at Zaith, breaking through the spikes. Zaith, anticipating what would happen next, stood there motionless.
The beast became a mist of black smoke, and then before it could reach the two, both Velia and Zaith began to fall backwards. They entered a strange abyss, and when the blackness left their eyes, they were greeted by what looked like Raven's room.
As they landed, Zaith spoke quietly to Velia.
"Watch the door for me alright."
She nodded, and then turned around, finding a shadowy figure next to the door. Raven arose from her bed and moved towards Zaith.
"Zaith, are you alright?" Raven asked.
"I'm fine. But who ever you are, you're going to hell!" Zaith said as he raised his gun to Raven's face and pulled the trigger. Then, Zaith quickly turned and shot the figure in the heart, and as the figure fell to the ground, the hood fell backwards, revealing himself to be Shadow.
"Come on!" Zaith said as he hurried to the door. Velia followed him, and when they passed through the doorway, they found themselves back on the roof, looking out to the city.
"ZAITH!"
Zaith turned around, only to find two things. One, all of his friends, including Velia, had been locked into a large metal cage. Two, a very large beast that stood on two legs was directly behind the cage.
"Red skin, loin cloth, white hair... Something says very ominous." Zaith said sarcastically.
"Zaith be careful!" Raven said from inside the cage.
"KNEEL BEFORE ME, HUMAN, FOR I AM TRIGON THE TERRIBLE!" Said the large beast/person/thing. It was more like a roar, but he was pretty big, so it might seem normal to Trigon.
"Riiiight… But seriously dude, you need a breath mint. I recommend some Tic Tacs." Zaith said.
"I DON'T BELIEVE YOU UNDERSTAND WHO I AM, FOOLIH HUMAN!"
Trigon bent over and clutched Zaith, who tried to dodge, but was unsuccessful. Slowly, he began to crush Zaith in his palm, who began to squirm out of his hand. Trigon squeezed harder and harder, and with the intense pain, Zaith found it hard to stop from screaming.
"AAAHHH! LET… GOO OF ME YOU ASSHOLLLLLLLEEEEEEE! AAAAHHHHHH! SHIIITTTTTTTT! AAHHHHHH!"
"HHMM, YOUR NOT DEAD YET!... I'LL JUST SAVE YOU FOR LATER, THAT WAY I CAN HEAR YOUR SCREAMS OF PAIN TIME AND AGAIN! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Trigon then carefully opened the door to the cage and tossed Zaith in. He shut it, and then spoke once again.
"I HOPE YOU ENJOY THE ACCOMIDATIONS. AFTER ALL, I WOULDN'T WANT MY NEW TOY TO BREAK SO EASILY! ANYWAY, I SHALL BE BACK SHORTLY; I JUST HAVE A PLANET TO DESTROY!"
Thus, Trigon jumped off of the building, headed towards the city. His landing in the sea of red could be heard high above.
The others rushed over to Zaith, who was now breathing quite heavily.
"Zaith, are you alright?" They all said at once, though it was hard to tell for Zaith at the moment.
"…Yeah, I'll be (cough, cough) fine."