Chapter 3: Independency
"Unfair!" David yelled. "How come you get a new power? Not like you need it."
"Seriously," Charles joined in. "We're the Four Corners, and we have dumb powers. We should have better powers if we're supposed to fight so much evil with it."
"You have that awesome light power," Annie said, "and the force field generating power now too."
"Not my fault," Sabrina said. "It's not like I forced myself to get it."
"You still have it," Charles said.
"Besides," Sabrina said, "it saved your ass a few minutes ago."
"She's got a point there," Annie admitted.
"Well, still," David said, trying to press the subject. "If we're meant to vanquish so manydemons and save innocents, we should have better powers than this."
"You already know that your powers will grow and you'll get new ones when the time comes," Sabrina said. "It took me years to get this one anyways. I've had my magic far longer than any of you. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a warlock to hunt down."
"Oh no you don't," Charles said. "You're not going after him alone."
"Stop me," she said, as she orbed away.
"She's going to get herself killed," Jordan said.
"I'm going after her," Charles said.
"How are you going to get to the Underworld?" David asked. "You can't orb like she can."
"But I know someone that can," he said in reply. "Robert!" Robert appeared in orbs.
"Yes?" he asked.
"I just had a vision," Charles said, lying through his teeth. "I saw Sabrina being killed. She went to the Underworld, you need to take me there to help her." Robert didn't want to put his charge in danger, but he did want to save his other charge.
"Come," he said, grabbing Charles and orbing.
"Liar," Annie said as they left.
Robert and Charles rematerialized in a dark, cavernous place. There were torches hung around on the rocky walls. A damp smell clung in the hot, humid air. Charles was expecting to see demons all around, but none were in sight, instead, just tunnels of rock and some clearings where he assumed demons gathered.
"Where are all the demons?" Charles asked.
"They're around," Robert said. "They don't just sit out in the tunnels and clearings. They have lairs."
"Oh," Charles said, fearful that they'd walk into one of these 'lairs'. "Where's Sabrina?"
"I don't know," Robert said, closing his eyes. "I'm trying to sense her, but it's hard to do that in the Underworld. There's too much evil blocking her."
"How can we find her?" Charles asked.
"Find a demon that'll talk."
"Won't the demon kill us?"
"Not if we overpower him and threaten him."
"Uh…all I can do is see visions. And you're just a whitelighter. You can't fight."
"I don't have to," Robert said. "You have to."
"With what exactly?"
"This," Robert said, taking out a vial. Inside was a pink potion.
"What is it?" Charles asked.
"It's an exploding potion," Robert said. "The name says it all. When it hit's a demon, it explodes. It's enough to kill any lower level demon. If we see an upper level demon, we orb out right away."
"Um…okay," Charles said. He was still very unsure of this plan, and instantly regretting about doing this. "Where do we look?"
"Shush," Robert said softly. "We have to be quiet and keep moving. Whitelighters give off a lot of good magic and that can attract certain types of demons that feed off of good magic."
"Just great," Charles said. "Great." They walked around for a few minutes before finally seeing two demons walking their way.
"Get back," Robert hissed, pulling Charles behind a pillar of rock. The demons were talking and walking slowly towards them. When passing them, Robert grabbed Charles' potion and threw it at one of the demons, causing him to blow up. "Throw an energy ball and we'll throw another potion." The other demon held his hands up.
"What do you want?" he asked, rudely.
"We want to know where the warlock Nexell is," Charles said.
"You want to know about a filthy warlock?" the demon asked. "Why waste your time on such a pathetic being?"
"He has something we want," Robert said. The demon inhaled through his nose.
"Why would a whitelighter be down in the Underworld?" the demon asked. "I can smell the filth of you."
"Tell us what we want to know, and we won't kill you."
"Nexell keeps to himself in his own little lair."
"Where is it?" Charles asked.
"Follow me," the demon said, giving a sinister smile and shimmering. Robert grabbed Charles and orbed to follow. The three of them reappeared in a lair where they saw a demon talking to two other warlocks.
"What's the meaning of this?" the demon asked, looking at the demon that led them there.
"They wanted to see that dumb warlock," the demon said. He looked at Nexell. "You pathetic things should be wiped clean from the face of the Underworld."
"How dare you speak that way to me," Nexell said, forming an energy ball.
"What the?" the demon asked. "Where did you get that power you little thief." The demon may have added in a swear word or two. "This is why I hate your kind. Sneaking around and stealing powers from demons that are stronger than you."
"Hello," Robert said. "We are here you know."
"Ah," Nexell said. "I'll have pleasure killing you two."
"You're not killing anyone," the demon said, throwing an energy ball. Nexell held up his hand and the energy ball bounced off his hand and hit its thrower. The demon yelled as he went up in flames. The other demon shimmered away.
"He was annoying," Nexell said. "Where were we? Oh yeah, I was about to kill you." As he said that, another demon shimmered in, followed by Sabrina.
"What are you doing here?" Charles and Sabrina asked each other in unison.
"I'm going to report what you've been doing," the demon that had led Sabrina to Nexell said. "The punishment is death for what you've been doing."
"Try it," Nexell said. "Not even the Guild could take me on." The demon shimmered away.
"I told you to stay out of this," Sabrina said to Charles and Robert.
"I wasn't gonna let you do this alone," Charles said.
"Sorry to break this up," Nexell said. "But I want to kill you and take your powers. I like that new one you displayed."
"Too bad, it's mine," she said. Nexell formed a low-level energy ball and threw it. Sabrina held up her and to make the force field, but it didn't form and the energy ball hit her, causing her to hit the wall. Robert and Charles were behind a pillar for safety.
"What do we do?" Charles asked.
"I'm taking you out of here," Robert said.
"What about Sabrina?" Robert didn't answer, he just grabbed Charles and orbed.
"Too easy," Nexell said, chuckling and walking over to Sabrina's unconscious body.