Okay, I'm back again for the I-don't-know-how-many time. As usual, my bad on the randomness of the story's chapter posting. I've suddenly become busy at work after 11 months. Who would've thought, huh? I'm gonna really try and finish this story before my next big vacation, which is back to America, so I'm hard at work, even if it doesn't seem like it!


Wesley, James, and John crept through what appeared to be an endless cave that was only very dimly lit. They could barely see their hands in front of their faces, yet they dared not grab any kind of source of light to risk being found out. A constant cloud of smoke hovered on the ground, obscuring their view of what they were walking on, if they were even walking on anything. There was a particular odor that emanated throughout the entire place. It was a smell unlike anything else that any of them had ever experienced before.

Wesley made sure to keep as close to James as he could. He didn't want to admit it, but he was more scared now than he had ever been before. No haunted house could equal what he was going through at that time. Every now and then, a muffled groan could be heard throughout the cave, which was enough to make Wesley grab James like a security blanket. Because the torches hanging from the wall were few and far between, James found himself constantly being tackled by Wesley.

John, however, remained calm. He casually strode through the endless tunnels without uttering a word. He was careful, yet always on guard. He seemed to know where he was going, but the two brothers were convinced that they had been going in circles for at least thirty minutes.

They walked on. Wesley was too nervous to say anything, while the other two just never bothered to speak for fear of getting Wesley started on a random rant about how scared he was and how he wanted to go back home. As they continued, they heard another muffled groan come from nowhere in particular. Wesley grabbed James' arm on cue, but it wasn't until he tripped on something that things became worse.

Feeling Wesley's weight shift dramatically, James shuffled his weight to keep Wesley from falling. Wesley bent down to feel what he tripped on, but pulled up a large skull that was still moving. He was about to scream, but James saw it coming and quickly moved to cover his mouth. Instead, Wesley instinctively glimmered out in a bright shower of blue and white lights for a second before returning to his spot. That happened to him sometimes when he became extremely frightened. James gave him a stern look, while John quickly scanned the area for signs of movement.

"Why did you do that?" James snapped very quietly. "What if we get caught?"

"I was scared!" Wesley mouthed back. "I can't do this anymore! I wanna go home!"

"I knew he couldn't go for long without saying that," John added quietly. "You owe me twenty dollars, James."

"Y'all took bets on me?" Wesley asked. "That's not…"

"Who's down there?" a voice boomed. It didn't come from any particular place.

"Now look what you did!" James scolded Wesley. "Hide!"

The trio ducked down below the smoke, much to Wesley's hesitation, behind a corner. Soon after, two demons walked through the area, having tracked the source of the mysterious light. They wore toga-type clothing that was draped over one shoulder. Both had long rough hair that extended just below their shoulders. They both looked like gladiators; each one carried a large shield and a small sword in a sheath that was tied around their waists.

"There's no one here," one demon said to the other.

"They light came from here," the other demon insisted. "You know our orders. We're to investigate any disturbance fully."

"Fine," the first demon said.

As they patrolled the area, James kept a tight grip around Wesley's mouth, knowing that Wesley could easily alert the demons to their presence. Silently, he communicated with John; they were going to quickly jump out and vanquish the two demons so that they could keep moving. Wesley wanted to disagree with the plan, but one look from James changed his mind. They all mouthed to each other a three count: "one...two...three!"


That's the way to do it; just count to three and go in hard and fast! But will that strategy be good enough to keep James, Wesley, and John alive? There's only one way to find out!