The Scath Hiding Place

After I took Arella home after the prom, I went back to Masked HQ. Most everyone was asleep when I got back, so no one could see me click my heels as I walked down the halls. Of coarse, there was still one person awake. Shaun. He clicked on a small light at the end of the hall. "Did you have fun?" He asked.

"Cha, you wouldn't believe. I never thought dancing could be so fun." I replied.

"So, it was good to see your old friends again?" He asked.

"Yes."

"That's in direct violation of Masked code. You were told very early on that you would have to leave everything from your past behind." Shaun said.

"So sue me. I had to see her again." I replied, with a tone sharper than I had hoped for.

"You like her, don't you?" He said, with a sly smile on his face.

"Duh, she's one of my best friends."

"Sure." He said. "But I mean, you like her, like her. As more than a friend."

"Well, uh…."

"Don't hide it, Slade. You're horrible at trying to hide it." He then just walked off into the dark.

The next day was my day off. My day to rest. Wednesday. But I did have plans for that day. At 3:00 I took Shaun's bike (I still had his keys) and rode off to Arella's school. I was wearing a pull over black shirt and blue jeans over my warrior uniform. I saw Arella just as she was leaving. "Arella!" I called out.

She looked up. "Hi, Slade!"

"Who's that punk?" The guy standing next to her asked. He was a big guy with a lettermen's jacket that said, "Josh" on the back. Before Arella could answer, he shoved her to the ground. "Is he some old boyfriend?"

"Josh, he's just…." Arella tried but he just pushed her back down.

"What are you doing!" I growled as I rode up next to them.

He grabbed my collar and lifted me off my bike. "You trying to steal my girl?"

"Josh…" Arella said, but Josh just slapped her across the face.

"Shut up. You'll talk when I tell you to." He said.

This only made me angry. I grabbed his wrist and started to squeeze. First his bones popped, then they started to crunch. He first looked at me in surprise, and then he dropped me. I let go of his wrist and he pulled his arm back. "You have no right to do that to her." I said.

"What are you going to do about it, whip?" He asked, still trying to keep up the bad boy image.

"I just about broke your wrist. Do you want to see what else I can do?" I asked.

"You're going to wish you hadn't said that." He glared. "Behind the school, five minutes. If you're not chicken." He stalked off with about five other guys in lettermen's jackets.

Arella got to her feet and placed her hand on my shoulder. "Slade, don't do it." She pleaded.

"I'm not going to let him treat you like that. I'm putting an end to it." I said. "Don't worry, I would get beat and I'll try not to demolish him."

I walked to behind the school and found Josh along with what looked like half the football team. "Look who showed up." Josh joked. "He must be begging to get his butt kicked."

"You're the one who's getting their butt kicked." I said. I held up one hand and popped my knuckles.

"Oooooh, tough guy. Let's see how tough he is after this!" He ran at he and swung his fist at my face. I didn't budge. As his fist came close, I grabbed it and bent it backwards. His wrist snapped in my hand. I gave a powerful punch to his face and he fell back unconscious.

"Not so tough now, are you?" I said.

"Hey, no one does that to Josh! You're going to die!" One of the other guys's yelled and they all charged at me. As the first one came close, I grabbed on to his shoulders and jumped over the top of his head. As I sailed through the air, I kicked out with both legs and hit two guys in the face. They were out like a light.

I landed on my hands and kicked my legs back so as to hit the first guy in the back of the head. He fell too. This left three guys standing. I stood up, tilted my head to one side and popped it. "You have to do better than that. I haven't even broken a sweat." The last three guys decided that it would be better just to leave while they still could, a wise choice. They were gone in second flat.

I walked back and found Arella still standing by the bike. She was a little surprised that I wasn't injured in the least. "How are you unhurt?" She asked.

"It was too easy. Those guys didn't present a challenge in the least. I told you I had been expanding on my karate." I said. "Who was he anyway?"

"My jerk of a boyfriend." She replied. "I wanted to break up with him, but…"

"But you were afraid that he wouldn't go with it and that he would beat you." I finished for her. She nodded. "Don't worry, if he knows what's good for him, he'll leave you alone."

"Thanks." She said. "Hey, I'm going to the library now, what to come too?"

"Sure, are you just going there to study or what?" I asked.

"No. I heard of a club that holds its meeting in the library. I want to check it out for the school paper." She said.

"Okay." I said. We got onto the bike and drove off to the library. We got there and stepped inside. It was eerily quiet in there, but it could afford to be it's a library.

Standing at the far corner, away from everyone else, was a person in a black robe. Arella walked over to him, I followed. "You are Arella, right?" He asked.

"Yes." She said.

He nodded. He held his hand to the wall and the Mark of Scath suddenly appeared on the wall and a section fell away. "Follow me." He said. We followed him into a dark room with statues of skeletons in robes along the walls. And another door with the Mark of Scath engraved on it.

I knew exactly what this was. It was the Scath's secret hide away. The place that they have been hiding in for years. There was a cold feeling in that place, as if you could actually feel the evil radiating off the very walls around you. Needless to say, I didn't like this place.

The Scath in front of us opened the other door and revealed a winding staircase. "This staircase leads to the room. Follow me." He said.

He started to lead us down the stairs. On the way down, I tapped Arella on the shoulder and put my mouth next to her ear. "Arella," I whispered, "be careful. This place is dangerous."

"What do you mean?" She whispered back.

"This is the hiding place of the Scath, a very dangerous cult. We should probably leave now." I warned.

But we couldn't leave. Some unseen force was stopping us from turning around and walking out. We could only walk forward. We came to another door with the Mark of Scath on it. The person leading us pushed this door open and then we came to four archways. I looked at the symbols above them and saw that only one had the Mark of Scath on it. This was the arch we went through.

After going through this arch, we came to four others. Above these ones were four different symbols. The one on the far left had the symbol of a dragon. The second to the left had a raven. The one in the center right had an ugly human face, a giant. And the one to the far right had the symbol of a fox.

The person leading us walked down the tunnel with the raven symbol. The four symbols were of the cycle of the gem. He must have walked down this tunnel because the raven was the next gem to be born.

After walking not very far down this tunnel we found a circular room with statues of people in Scath robes all around, an opening in the ceiling, and a giant arm and hand in the center. Sitting and standing all around this stone arm were hundreds, maybe thousands, of people in black hooded robes. Scath. "Go. We must sit and wait with the others." The Scath leading us said. "It wouldn't be long before he speaks to us."

Who is 'he'? I thought. We sat and waited in the crowd. Almost right after we sat down, a pillar of light fell in from the ceiling and a Scath stepped up onto the palm of the hand. He raised his arms in the air and his hands suddenly erupted in fire. The entire number of people there all cheered and chanted "Hail Trigon" when he did. Oh, so that's who they're waiting for. The Fire Scath.

The Fire Scath rested his arms at his side and the flames went out. The crowd stopped chanting. He then raised one hand and shouted, "Fellow Scath! I know that most of you fear that the end of us is near! You are correct. The end is near at hand! Soon, Trigon will rise from the terrible prison that contains him and he shall rule this world! Many of you doubt this, but I say look at the past. For 3,000 years the Masked have fought us. For 3,000 years they have tried to conquer us. But in those 3,000 years they have not found our alter! We are still here! We will outlast them!"

The crowd cheered and hollered when he said that.

"And now the most important thing yet." The Fire Scath said. "It has come time for me to chose the next Bride of Trigon. I have excellent news. The next Bride of Trigon is here among us, in this very room!" He held out his hand and a red glowing bind grew out of his fingers and swung over the multitude.

The whip end started to descent toward us. It came in close and wrapped itself around Arella's waist. It started to lift her up; there was a look of terror on her face.

NO! I thought. "No!" I cried, I reached into my belt and pulled out a two-sided blade. The blade popped out and I slashed through the heat bind. Arella fell back to the ground harmlessly. This act attracted the attention of everyone in that room. All eyes were tuned on me. "If you want her, you'll have to go through me." I said. I grabbed the cuff of my shirt and ripped it off along with my jeans to reveal my Masked warrior uniform.

The room gasped when I did this. But the Fire Scath just laughed. "Who would've thought?" He said. "I expected I'd see you here eventually, but this is sooner than I expected. Have you taken me up on my offer?"

"Sorry, Scath. I would never be one of you." I replied.

"Very well." He said, and then he turned to the other Scath. "Ladies and gentle men, that girl is the Bride of Trigon. But she has a friend. May I present to you Masked Warrior Slade!"

All the Scath rose to their feet and started to attack! The first one tried to tackle me. I just grabbed their arms and threw them aside. Another one threw a ninja-throwing star at me. I pulled my steel rod out of my belt and knocked it away.

The entire room of Scath was now racing toward us. I grabbed Arella's hand and we ran for the door. "I think we've over stayed our welcome." I cried.

We raced out the room, up the stairs and back into the library with the Scath right on our tails. We jumped back on the dirt bike and left the Scath in the dust.