DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN NOR CLAIM OWNERSHIP OVER THE I AM NUMBER FOUR SERIES, THE LORIEN LEGACIES SERIES OR ANY WORKS MADE BY PITTACUS LORE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PLEASE SUPPORT THIS RELEASE.
Nonchalantly44- Yes I definitely plan on doing so. I just recently moved into a new place and I am hoping that my new location will help inspire me to write more.
Pewz- I am glad that you are enjoying this so far and I hope that you continue to tune in for any new chapters that I release.
Guest- I am glad that you are happy with my story and I hope that you continue to check for updates.
A.N. I know that I had said that I was wanting to start updating more and perhaps once I start to get a better rhythm going I will be able to do so. With moving into a new place, both my laptop and desktop computer broke as well as being sick for almost a month I just never had or gave myself much time to sit down and write. So apologies for that, and I hope that those of you that are still tuning in continue to be patient with me and continue to enjoy this story.
Chapter 15-
There's only an hour left of daylight when we start to make our way to the cave, which doesn't leave us much time. Even with my Lumen, I can't imagine finding the cave without the sun to help us along.
Along the way, we skirt a riverbed while passing various landmarks noted for their physical descriptions, all of which I recognize from Avice's map. We left the map with Henri just in case things go wrong. Knowing that we will end up passing each of them in turn I mentally list off what we will end up passing. Turtle Rock. Fisherman's Pole. Circle Plateau. King's Throne. Lover's Kiss. Lookout Point.
Even though we are moving at an extremely fast pace for a normal person, it is more of a jog for someone like Avice and me. I am able to keep my eye on our surroundings as we are nearly flying by most of the landmarks.
Our original heading led us straight to our first landmark the Turtle Rock, and its once we are about to reach it my eyes are caught onto our second landmark.
"Over there is our second landmark," I say, gesturing towards the fallen tree that hangs over the cliff side at a forty-five degree angle, and thus looks like a fishing pole patiently waiting for a bite, it is as I do so that I recall that I am invisible and I lower my hand back down to my side.
Avice doesn't verbally respond but she does end up turning towards the fallen tree. Our pace stayed at an earnest jog, if anyone were able to see us move it would be like a car traveling down a busy street.
After passing King's Throne, which is a tall slender rock that looks like a high-back chair, I immediately spot two tall trees leaning against one another at slight angles, their branches appearing like arms wrapped around each other in an embrace. I smile a longful smile, and I can't help my thoughts as they wander to Sarah. I can't stop the rage that sweeps over me as the image of her corpse in my arms flashes in my mind.
"Only one more to go," Avice says, pulling me back into the clutches of reality as she squeezes my hand. For without her in that moment I may have lost myself to that simmering heat.
We reach Lookout Point a minute later. All told, the jog has taken fifteen minutes, and the shadows are begging to creep in and stretch as the light of dusk begins to lower further and further towards its horizon.
We both slow down and stare across the small valley at the cave's almost indiscernible entrance. It's far larger than I'd imagined, probably twenty feet wide and tall, but also much better hidden. There's something covering it, a net or a tarp maybe, making it blend in with its surroundings; you'd have to know it's there to be able to see it.
"Its location is perfect, I don't think I would have been able to find it without you here," I whisper.
"Yeah."
As mysterious as the cave is, one thing I know for sure is that there'll be no shortage of things—weapons, beasts or traps—that could kill us. Although I'd like to see them try.
"Whose idea was this, anyway?" Avice asks.
I snort. "Mine, of course, we have to get my Chest somehow."
"Just don't be stupid and rush into a fight before we are both ready yet alright?" She asks.
"Look at the ground in front of the entrance," I say, pointing to a smattering of dark objects by the cave's entrance.
"Those are the dead animals I told you guys about," Avice says.
My mind races, not liking the idea of so many dead creatures. "All right," I say, sitting up. "There's no time like the present."
XXXXXXXX
We get close to the cave's entrance, hoping that if they had upgraded their security systems since Avice had escaped. That they are not able to see us even while invisible.
It's all about the task at hand now, and with that in mind I am no longer as anxious as I was in the car ride here. The cave is covered with a large camouflage tarp. We navigate through the graveyard of dead animals, being careful not to step on any, which is hard to do without the luxury of seeing your feet. There are no Mogs outside, and I hurry forward and flick the tarp aside a little too forcefully. Avice and I stumble in (mostly due to my poor footwork) and four guards jump up from their seats and raise cylindrical cannons that I can only guess as being stronger than the previous guns I've seen them use before. We stand as still as statues for a brief moment, and then quietly sneak past, hoping they'll attribute the tarp's sudden disturbance to the outside wind. There's a cool breeze coming from a ventilation system and the air is oddly fresh, which I hadn't expected considering it's laced with poisonous gas. The gray walls are polished smooth like flint; electrical conduit connects dim lights evenly spaced twenty feet apart. We pass several more scouts and slither by undetected. The anxiety of the ticking clock racks us both with stress. We jog, we sprint, we tiptoe, we walk. And when the tunnel narrows and declines steadily, we sidestep down it. The cool air grows hot and stifling, and a crimson glow at the end of the tunnel comes into view. We shuffle towards it until finally reaching the cave's beating heart. The cavernous hall is far larger than I'd imagined based on Avice's description. A long, continuous ledge runs along the circular walls and spirals all the way, from top to bottom, giving the overall appearance of a beehive; and the place is every bit as busy as one, too—there are hundreds of Mogs in sight, crossing the precarious stone arched bridges, entering and exiting tunnels. The deep floor and the vast ceiling are separated by a half-mile, and Avice and I are situated very close to the middle. Two massive pillars sprout up from the floor and reach all the way to the ceiling, keeping the whole thing from caving in. The number of passageways around us is endless.
"Dear Lorien," I whisper in awe, taking it all in. "It'd take months to explore this entire thing."
My eyes are drawn to the lake of glowing green liquid down below. Even from so far away, the heat off of it makes it hard to breathe. But despite the near roasting temperatures, twenty to thirty Mogs work around it, retrieving carts full of the bubbling stuff and quickly taking it away. Past the green lake, my eyes focus on something else.
"I think we can pretty much guess what we'll find down that tunnel with the giant bars," I whisper.
It's three times the height and width of the passageway that carried us here, and a checkered pattern of heavy iron bars covers it, keeping caged whatever beasts are inside. We can hear them howl from below, deep and almost sorrowful. One thing is immediately clear: their numbers are far from few.
"We better hurry, I don't want to spend any more time in here than necessary," Avice says in a whisper. "I think we can put a big X through all those dark narrow tunnels that look obstructed."
"I agree. We should start with the one directly across from us," I say, looking at what appears to be the central room's main artery, wider and better lit than the others, the one with the greatest number of Mogs coming and going. The bridge over to it is just a long arch of solid rock that, at most, is two feet wide. "Think we can make it across that archway?"
"We're about to find out," Avice replies.
"Lead or follow?" I ask.
"Let me lead."
Since we have to keep our hands locked, for the first forty feet or so we shuffle along sideways. It takes forever, and if we're to get to the other side and back again, there's no way we can do it at this pace.
"Just don't look down," I say to Avice.
"Don't be cliché," she responds. "Besides you know that I can fly, so you are the one that better not look down.
I chuckle softly as we move ahead slowly, and I wish I could see my feet for just this obstacle. I'm so focused on not falling that I don't feel Avice stop ahead of me, which causes me to stumble into her, nearly knocking us both off the bridge.
"What are you doing?" I ask, my heart thudding in my chest. I look up and see why she's stopped. Racing towards us is a Mogadorian soldier. He comes charging across in a jog, and he's already so close there's hardly time to react.
"There's nowhere to go," Avice says.
The soldier continues forward, cradling a wrapped bundle in his arms, and when he's close enough I feel Avice crouch. A second later, the Mog's feet are swept out from under him, completely catching the soldier off guard. He falls over the side of the bridge and catches himself with one hand as the bundle he was carrying drops away. The Mog cries out in pain as my invisible foot crushes his fingers, and he lets go and drops through the air, splattering far below with a sickly thud.
Avice races us forward before any further calamities arise. Every single Mog in the area has stopped in midstride, staring at one another with confused expressions. I wonder if they believe what just happened was an accident, or if they're now on alert.
Avice squeezes my hand in relief when we've made it across, and she lurches ahead. The next corridor is wide and busy, and it doesn't take long for Avice and me to realize we're heading in the wrong direction; the rooms we pass are exclusively private, and the entire wing seems to be where the Mogs live: caves with beds, a large open cafeteria with hundreds of tables, a shooting range. We rush down a nearby corridor, but the result is the same. And then we try a third.
We follow the winding tunnel deeper into the mountain. Several tributaries lead away from the main drag, and Avice and I randomly turn down them based on nothing more than gut feeling. Aside from the main hall we entered, the rest of the mountain is nothing more than an interconnected network of damp stone corridors, off of which various rooms house research centers with examination tables, computers and shiny, sharp instruments. We pass several scientific laboratories and though we are curious about what may be inside Avice and I are more concerned with trying to find our chests and maybe Sam's dad. We've probably run a mile, maybe two, and with each new corridor that turns up nothing, stress floods my veins.
When we take the next turn and rush up a steady incline, we come to a room full of prison cells. Avice and I stop in midstride. Twenty to thirty Mogadorians guard more than forty cells, all lined up in a row, with heavy steel doors. In front of each door, there's a bubbling blue force field pulsing with electricity.
"Look at all those cells," I say.
"We will have to be careful when looking for Sam's dad here. We don't want to alert the guards and even if we do find him here we will have to leave him to finish trying to find where they are keeping your's and maybe even my chest," Avice says in a whisper so as to not alert the guards present.
"Wait for a second," I say, the solution flashing into my head from out of nowhere. It's so obvious.
"What?" Avice asks.
"I know where the Chest is," I say.
"Seriously?"
"So stupid of me," I whisper. "Avice, if you could pick just one place in this entire hellhole where you'd absolutely refuse to go, where would that place be?"
"In the pit with the howling beasts," she answers without a second's hesitation before a flash of realization seems to occur within her. "Wait that's where they are hiding them."
"Exactly," I say. "Come on, let's finish looking for Sam's dad here before we head back to the pit."
But before we've started our search, a door clangs open. The nearest cell door stands wide-open. Two guards enter. They speak angrily for ten seconds in their native tongue, and when they exit they're clutching the arms of a pale, emaciated man in his late twenties. He's weak to the point of having trouble walking the guards uncaring of the man's wellbeing shove him forward. One of them unlocks a second door, and all three disappear through it.
"Come on," I whisper to Avice.
I wish that we could have helped that man but if we did then our cover would have been blown and then we would have to fight through an entire Mogadorian base to escape, and while I know I am capable of fighting a great deal of Mogs before I will tire. I don't think I'd be able to keep that up for very long on their home turf with who knows how many beasts they have here.
Pulling Avice along we manage to slowly start checking each of the cells while still trying to keep some distance between us and the Mogs that are stationed to watch over the prisoners. It doesn't take very long before I start to notice a pattern, almost three-quarters of all the prisoners are young men and women, and there is only a small handful of older individuals and most of them are roughly in their Fifties. Unfortunately, all of the cells that we are able to look into don't contain Sam's father, in fact, besides a rather tall and buff black-haired teen doing pushups there isn't anyone worthy of noting. I start to pull Avice away and begin our trek back towards the pit that contains the beasts when I feel some resistance from her. Quickly looking around to make sure that there aren't any Mogs close enough to hear me whisper I call out Avice to ask what the hold up is but before I get the opportunity to do so I hear her murmur something under her breath. I can't quite make out what she says besides the word 'scars'.
"Scars? What do you mean, why did we stop moving? We still need to go check the pits for the chests," I whisper to her.
"Look into that cell over there with the guy doing pushups, see anything off about him?" Avice says in a low tone that I doubt I would have been able to understand without my superhuman hearing.
I am about to respond to the fact that he is the only prisoner that we have seen so far doing anything even remotely physical, but I recall Avice's whispered word about 'scars' and begin to scan over the black-haired individual's body looking for any discerning marks or scars. It doesn't take me very long before I notice a patch of scars on his right ankle that match the pair of scars that both Avice and I share.
"Is that..." I begin to say before Avice cuts me off.
"Yeah, another Garde," She says pausing for a second being continuing. "The Mogs seem to be far enough away that we may be able to speak with him without being noticed. He may even know where they are keeping the chests and perhaps even how to lower this forcefield so we can get him out."
"Let's be quick then and hope that he is smart enough to not blow our cover," I say as we begin to slowly edge closer to his cell.
It doesn't take but a couple of seconds to reach his cell's blue barrier and now that we are closer I am able to begin to realize how big he is. While I am tall and I would even say larger than a lot of people with how active I am he is easily a couple of inches taller than me and much broader.
"Hey you with the black hair, do your best to not react. I am Number Four and with me is Number Six, we are currently invisible on the other side of the barrier. What number are you and do you know how to lower this barrier?" I say in the quietest whisper I can manage.
I see him freeze briefly when I first start speaking before continuing his pushups, he manages ten more before stopping and getting to his feet. He looks right in our direction before he walks to one of the walls of his cell, he takes a deep breath before going into a handstand with his back against the wall before starting a set of pushups from his new position.
"Ah, so the cavalry has arrived. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever get out of here, it's nice to meet you Four and Six. I am Number Nine although you may call me Lyonell, my Cepan and I were big on using our Loric names when in private.
"It's nice to meet you Lyonell, I am Six although I go by Avice my Loric name. I haven't gotten Four's yet but he goes by John currently," Avice calls out to the newly named Lyonell. "Currently we are using my legacy to go invisible and we came in here to find one of John's friends' father whom we believe was abducted by Mogadorians although we have yet to come across him. As well as hopefully finding John's chest and maybe even my own."
"Ah so you lot lost your chests as well, I am pretty sure that if they have it here then they would all be kept together. Unfortunately for us, I have not been outside this cell much recently so I don't personally know the layout of wherever we are," Lyonell says as he continues with his standing pushups with little effort.
"As sad and frustrating as it is losing my chest, Avice is certain that this is where they would bring it. We have an idea that they would store the chests down in the pits with the beasts and we were about to head that way when we came across you. Do you know how this forcefield works, or if there is any way to disrupt it long enough to get you out?" I say, keeping my voice low but also rushed seeing one of the Mogs start edging his way in our direction.
"Besides trying to bust through it and maybe succeeding, I would likely be out of commission for a while in the attempt. You... hold that thought one of my esteemed watchers are coming, I am not going anywhere so long as this forcefield is up. Do what you can to lower it, as soon as I see it drop I will bust out of here and create some havoc. So get your stuff, break the shields, and then rendezvous here," Lyonell starts before quickly relaying a game plan once he notices the Mogs progress towards his cell. I am guessing he senses the Mogadorians presence through a legacy of some kind.
"We'll be back as soon as we can," I call out to him as I begin to pull Avice away from Lyonell's cell as well as the approaching Mog. As soon as we are far enough away from any Mogadorians and are beginning our trek towards the pits I call out to Avice.
"So what do you think? How easy will it be to bring down that blue barrier?"
"I am uncertain, when we were captives here there weren't any blue shields that I noticed anywhere and I don't recall Katarina ever mentioning the Mogadorians using that type of technology. So I am guessing it is either a newer invention or they didn't believe it necessary to have it installed over prisoner cells, that likely changed due to my escape. So I'd say our best bet is to try and find our chests and then we can move on to find a way to take down the shields," Avice says.
We begin heading back up the corridor that'll empty out at the cave's center. It doesn't take very long before we reach the central hive, thankfully without any Mog incidents along the way. As we enter the hive I begin scanning the mammoth room for the quickest route down. There are Mogs everywhere, but I've become so used to passing by them that they no longer bother me. And besides, something tells me I'm about to find far scarier things than scouts and soldiers.
We sprint around the spiral ledge and see a long ladder leading down. Knowing how difficult it will be to try and climb down and hold each other's hands the whole time I don't even bother attempting it, turning towards where Avice is, and although I can't see her I know roughly where her face is.
"Well we aren't climbing down that, so our only option is to jump down," I say to her.
"Jump? I could fly down myself, but I don't think I can handle that kind of a fall," Avice responds with a hint of incredulity.
"Well I mean I could always catch you when we land," I offer to her.
"How the hell are you going to catch me if I'm holding your hand the whole time?"
"Do you have to hold my hand? Or can you just hold onto a part of me?" I ask.
"I have never tried but it should work I think..." Avice says with some hesitance.
"Well, no time like the present I guess."
With just a thought I lift Avice into the air using my Telekinesis, when I do so she lets off a soft noise like a gasp at the sudden lack of purchase. I turn her around midair so that I can hold her hand while also holding her in a partial bridal carry with the hand I am holding now crossed over her stomach. Once I am sure about my grip I take a deep breath and leap from the ledge a hundred and fifty feet above the cave's bottom. My feet hit the unyielding stone, and the force knocks me backwards; but I keep a firm grip on Avice, who lands on top of me.
"Never again are we doing that," she says, standing.
The ground floor is so hot it's nearly impossible to breathe, but we sprint around the green lake towards the massive gatekeeping the beasts locked away. When we reach it, a cool wind gusts through the bars, and I realize that the regular blasts of fresh air prevent any of the gas from entering this tunnel. We stop before a tunnel letting a group of ten or so Mogs exit ahead of us.
We enter a dark tunnel. The walls look mucus-covered, and barred chambers line each side of the shaft. Down the middle of the ceiling ten huge industrial fans blow, all pointed towards the entry we just came through, keeping the air cool and moist. Some of the locked chambers are small, though others are large, and bursting out of them all are feral and ferocious sounds. In the cage on our left are twenty to thirty krauls jumping over one another while letting loose shrill yips. Imprisoned on our right is a pack of demonic-looking dogs the size of wolves, with yellow eyes and no hair. Beside them stands a creature that looks like a troll, complete with a wart-covered nose. In a larger cell across the way, a massive piken paces back and forth, sniffing the air.
"We might as well not even bother with these smaller rooms," I say. "If my Chest is here, it'll be in the biggest room at the end of this tunnel. I don't even want to guess what kind of beast needs a door that large to fit through."
"I have heard of there being other beasts under the control of the Mogadorians but Katarina and I personally have never seen them so this is all new to me as well."
"Well let's press on, we won't know what we are up against if we just stand around," I say, pulling Avice forward while quickly taking in the different horrors corralled here: gargoyle-like winged creatures, monsters with six arms and red skin, several more pikens standing twenty feet tall, a wide reptilian mutant with trident-shaped horns, a monster with skin so transparent that its internal organs are on display.
"Whoa," I say, stopping at a group of rounded tanks and vessels, most of which are silver, though two are copper-colored and lined with heat gauges. Some kind of boiler room, I guess.
"So that's what's keeping this place going," Avice says.
"This has to be it. What do you want to bet taking all of this down might just take down the energy field?" I reply. The tallest silo goes to the ceiling, and every tank is connected with heavy pipes, spouts, and aluminum ducts. Beside the silo, a control panel is affixed to the wall with a heap of electrical wires pouring out.
"It's very likely. We can press on and if we don't find anything further ahead then we can hit it on our way out."
Together we run the rest of the way to the tunnel's end. There's a massive door, forty to fifty feet tall and wide, made entirely of steel. To its right is a small wooden door. It's unlocked, and instantly I see why.
"Holy God," Avice whispers, taking in the beast's enormity.
I'm momentarily stunned myself, and all I can do is stare at it: a hulking mass slumped in the room's far corner. Its eyes are closed and it breathes rhythmically. The beast must be fifty feet tall when standing, and from what I can tell its dark body is shaped like a man's, but with much longer arms.
"Look," Avice calls out to me nudging my shoulder in the direction she wants me to be looking.
There, in the center of the room, at eye level atop a thick stone pedestal, is my Chest. And right beside it sits a second one, almost identical in appearance the only discernable difference being the Loric number for Nine being imprinted on its side. Both rest there for the taking. Except for the iron bars around them, which are housed beneath a humming and crackling electrical force field surrounded by a moat of the steaming green liquid. And the slumbering giant.
"Well looks like they moved your chest somewhere else after all this time. At the very least we still have Lyonell's and my Chest to still rely on," I say in an attempt to comfort Avice.
"Yeah... silver lining I guess," she says with an obvious undercurrent of disappointment.
"I don't see any kind of control panels or switches down here to turn that field off around the Chests," I say in a low tone, not really afraid to wake the beast but still wary of potentially being overheard.
"I am pretty sure that this field is either the same as the energy fields around the cells or are at the very least powered by the same source. So unless you have any other bright ideas we might need to backtrack and take out that control panel," Avice says.
"Yeah let's do it."
We quickly turn around and make our way back to the silo with all those tanks and the control panel. It doesn't take us long at all to reach it and start looking it over, but that's when I notice our first problem.
"Ah, Avice do you know how to read any of this?" I say indicating the control panel that is flashing with words in Mogadorian all over it with buttons I have no clue as to their uses.
"No I don't, and they didn't make it easy for us by just having a big red button that says off."
"We will just have to destroy it then," I say with confidence.
"I can't whip up a storm in here to destroy this, besides even if we do take this thing down we won't want to be near this thing. I don't suppose you have any other abilities you forgot to mention that will help us here?" Avice asks.
"I mean we could try our telekinesis to break up some of this and hope that it explodes on its own, otherwise my Lumen hasn't reached a point were I can conjure fire. That was supposed to be our next step in my training," I respond.
"Wait you said that your Lumen makes you immune to heat and fire right?"
"Well to a point, I can still get hot but not overwhelming so. I can also hold things that are on fire and it's nothing more than a tingle," I say not understanding where she is going with this.
"Well, what about things that aren't fire but are still very hot. Let's say would you be capable of holding lava or something similar?"
"Well in theory yeah I should, but where are we going to find anything like that?"
"Come on," Avice says as she tugs me back towards the Chests.
This time as we are reaching the door to take us into the room with the Chests I notice that there is something different in the room like something had disappeared. Avice pulls me the rest of the way into the room when I realize what it was that was missing.
"Avi..." I start to call out to her as I hear a large intake of air above me before a giant fist smacks on the floor just a mere foot away from Avice and myself.
The floor shakes from the mighty blow from this gray-skinned giant. As I begin to get my bearings again from the near-death experience, I begin to take stock into our current situation starting with looking up into the fifty-foot tall beast's eyes which are blank and white, narrowing in our direction. I stare into the massive white eyes of the beast that's right in front of us. The dark skin on its face is dry and cracked like the stone jutting above its head. With its long arms, it has the look of an alien gorilla.
Even though I can tell that it is unable to see us it must have either heard or smelt us as we traveled in and out of the room one too many times. And as small a blessing as it is with it not being able to see us, I know we need to move before its next blow comes flying.
"Move!" I shout and moving as fast as I can I pull Avice in the opposite direction of the giant.
Heading towards the pedestal in the center of the room that holds the Chests. I try and give us some cover so we can think of a game plan, but that idea is lost when with one of its massively long arms it sweeps its hand in our direction knocking both Avice and me off our feet and sending us tumbling towards the center of the room.
Even though it's a glancing blow, it sends me rolling across the room. I can tell that the grip I had on Avice was lost shortly after getting hit, and that point is further made clear by the whine of a hundred sirens echoing off the walls of the cave.
When I look around to find Avice I see both the beast lumbering towards her and that she is unmoving mere inches away from the moat with the green steaming liquid. Not knowing the extent of her injuries I quickly scramble to my feet and rush to intercept the creature before it reaches her.
Activating Aevitas I leave nothing to chance, everything slows to a crawl and I am in front of Avice before its next step is made. With Aevitas still active, I use my Telekinesis to full effect, I mentally slam a blowing into the back of its knee before sending another blunt blow into the underside of its chin. Then I push off the ground and fly fist extended towards the giant, deactivating Aevitas as I do so.
Watching my attacks play out in real-time, as I hurtle towards the beast's stomach. I see it buckle to its knees just as the blow to its chin slightly lifts it off its feet. Then not even a second later my fist connects with the creature's newly positioned chest, and my fist sinks in to my elbow.
The squeal it lets off is so piercing that I stumble backward one hand going to my ear while the other hand tries to escape the chest cavity it found itself in. I'm so disoriented by my use of Aevitas along with the scream the beast let off that I barely even put up much of a fight when it reaches down and picks me up with one of its massive hands wrapping its fingers around me. It squeezes me hard as I push back against its fingers as much as I can.
I feel it suddenly stagger backwards, surprised the giant's hold on me slackens. Seeing the opportunity I manage to push against it and free my shoulders, arms, and hands. I turn on the lights of my palms and shine my Lumen directly into its eyes. It's instantly blinded and losing its bearings, begins to fall to the ground. Using my telekinesis in conjunction with my physical strength I am able to get the rest of my body out of its grip before leaping away.
Landing comfortably wasn't included in my escape plan and with not knowing how far off the ground I was when I escaped, it didn't come as much of a surprise when the wind got knocked out of me when I landed on my back a second later.
Gasping for air I manage to slowly pick myself off the ground and get to my feet. The giant is laying on its back roughly fifteen feet away from me and I can tell that I am merely a handful of feet away from the moat and where I last saw Avice. Noticing her absence I quickly begin searching the room for any signs of where she could be. It's just a second later that I see her materialize right beside the giant's head before her red crackling hands grasp onto the beast's head. Then similar to what happened to the piken back in Paradise woods, I see the giant's skeleton flash in and out of sight as the beast begins to writhe in pain and involuntary spasms.
Feeling vindictive or maybe just trying to make sure that it is dead. Avice stays like that for another ten seconds before letting the red lightning disappear from her hands before sagging to the ground.
Quickly I maneuver myself by her side, with my hand resting on her shoulder to keep her steady in case of her passing out from exhaustion or a possible concussion from that first tumble.
"Hey, are you alright? Any injuries or is it just fatigue?" I say.
"I must have hit my head in that first tumble, so I think it is just a minor concussion. I only blacked out for a couple of seconds. I saw you in its hands and it took most of my energy to concentrate enough to push it telekinetically. I figured we would need to finish it off so I pushed myself to get to its head. Thankfully that seems to have worked," Avice says in a slow, and groggy manner at first before she gets some energy as the words tumble out of her.
"Stay here I'm going to go and destroy the control panel and those pipes. Hopefully, it brings down the forcefield around the Chests and distracts the Mogs long enough that we can get my Chest as well as Lyonell's before meeting back up with him. You stay here and relax for a bit, we will still need to fight our way out," I say as I stand up before turning towards the green liquid.
In the recent chaos, I had almost forgotten that Avice had an idea about using lava to destroy the machine and pipes powering the cave. Not seeing any lava nearby I assume she was thinking that the bubbling steaming pool of green liquid might be similar enough to it. Trusting her instinct I slowly approach the moat of bubbling green liquid. I take a deep breath and carefully dip a finger in it. It's scalding hot but merely tickles my skin like fire. It's like green lava.
Visions of Henri running the Loric crystal over me as I lie on the coffee table, my hands in open flames, run through my mind, and I dunk my hand into the moat and pick up a dripping scoop of the green lava. I close my eyes and concentrate, and when I open them the liquid is hovering over my hand in a perfect flaming ball.
Laughing I turn to face Avice. I find her smiling at me with a hint of pain in her eyes. The humor of the situation quickly leaves me at seeing her in pain, I sprint to the wooden door still levitating the ball of green lava beside me. I fling the door open only to find a cluster of heavily armed Mogs running our way; but when they catch sight of the fiery green ball coming their way, they try to turn around. As the ball is about to splash on the chest of the first Mog, I use my mind to spread it out like a fiery blanket. Several Mogs are hit, and after a moment of burning torture, they turn to ash.
I turn my attention back to the moat as I form another ball of green lava and begin to throw ball after ball of green lava at more Mogs, knocking them down. A couple seconds later there is a lull in the advancement of Mog forces, so I quickly use my telekinesis to pick up four more balls of lava and begin stalking forwards towards the silos and the control panel.
The number of Mogs running down the dark tunnel is staggering; and with the flashing lights and piercing sirens, it's a sensory overload. Acting quickly I send two balls of roiling steam and heat forwards before spreading them apart even further than before so that its like a rain of lava onto the Mogadorians. Most live through the rain but its main goal was to keep them occupied
To my left are the silver gas tanks and silos with their heavy pipes, spouts, and aluminum ducts. Next to the tallest of the silos, I eye the control panel with electrical wires pouring out. I can hear the screams and roars of the beasts in the barred chambers farther down the hall and wonder how hungry they are.
I toss a flaming ball at the control panel and it disintegrates in a storm of sparks. The bars of the chambers lining the walls begin to rise, and that's when I toss the other green ball at the base of the gas tanks and silos.
I sprint back into the giant's chamber. As the explosion erupts, I allow the advancing wave of flames to sweep over me. A tingle across my back informs me that parts of my shirt have caught fire, but I ignore that as my ears are flooded with the crackle and hum of fire.
Turning back to check the damage I am able to note dozens of krauls burst from their open chamber and attack a series of unsuspecting Mogs from behind; several pikens stomp into the tunnel with roars and swinging arms; the reptilian mutant with horns charges towards the back of the tunnel, plowing over Mogs and krauls under the legs of the pikens; the gargoyle-like winged creatures buzz at the ceiling, swooping down to take a bite out of anything they can; and the monster with transparent skin sinks its rows of teeth into the calf of a piken. That all happens in a matter of seconds, then they're overtaken by a sea of fire.
I quickly turn back around and advance towards the pedestal that now lacks the blue forcefield, without any fanfare I rip the Chests from their iron-barred prison. They reach me just as I make it to Avice.
"Are you ready to go or do you still need a minute?" I ask of her quietly in a gentle tone.
"I'll be fine, I'm not a little girl that needs to be coddled," she says with a trace of humor in her tone and a smirk upon her lips as she stands.
"Well just stay behind me and we will quickly make our way back to Lyonell."
We reach the long corridor where I unleashed the creatures upon the Mogs to find it littered with ash piles and black monster bones.
We race through the fire's destruction; the stench of death is choking. The charred ladder at the end of the tunnel appears stable, and with only one free hand apiece, we climb with difficulty. Our feet hit the burned and blackened spiral ledge, and we sprint around and around until we reach the cave's center.
The inferno I unleashed did far more damage than I thought it would, and we see piles upon piles of ash; but we also see hundreds of Mogs crawling out of different corridors and tunnels on their hands and knees, burned or still on fire, barking in pain, unable to pick up their guns, unable to do anything as we jump over them. There are other soldiers racing above us on ledges, some with weapons in their arms, others with the wounded.
We reach the cells in relatively short order, sprinting the whole way. I have to throw a couple of Mogs out of our way but most of them are too busy tending to their own wounds to care much about us.
We come to a stop to see the cells have their steel doors stuck a foot above the floor and the bubbling blue force fields have disappeared. But it's the scene of Lyonell holding two Mogadorians by their necks in the air, them trying to kick and struggle against him proves futile as mere seconds later he flexes and snaps their necks turning them into a pile of ash at his feet. Clapping the dust off his hands he turns to face us, a devilish smirk on his face as he does so.
"The force field is gone, and I am free to finally stretch my legs and kill me some Mogadorians!" he growls. "I owe you one Johnny!" He walks over to Avice before reaching a hand out for the Chest that Avice is holding. "If you don't mind I'd love to have that back."
"Oh yeah sure, you got anything in there that might help us get out of here?" Avice asks as she hands it over.
Lyonell places his hand on the Chest's lock and it instantly shakes and snaps open. A yellow glow lights up his face when he opens the lid.
"Hell, yeah I do. I just got to find it first" He laughs, placing a hand inside. Lyonell pulls out a tiny red rock and shows it to me. "You have one of these?"
Taking a look at the rock, I don't recognize it from anything I know to have in my chest. Before saying as such to him.
Lyonell places the rock between his knuckles and aims his fist at the nearest wall. A white cone of light appears, and instantly we can see through the wall and into an empty jail cell. He spins around scanning the walls, finding nothing of value he grunts before going back to his chest rummaging around again.
Before he manages to find anything more interesting in his chest to show off, the large metal door at the end of the hallway opens wide to show more than a dozen armed Mogs on the other side.
Before I have a chance to react, I see Lyonell running along the cracked ceiling at super speed. The Mogs don't notice him until he's dropped behind them, and by then it's too late.
He's a tornado, ripping through them with a ferocity I didn't know Loric possessed; Avice and I are left awestruck at the display.
When he's finished tearing Mogadorians in half, Lyonell runs back along the left wall of the corridor before circling to the ceiling and then to the right wall, a cloud of ash trailing him.
"Antigravity," Avice says.
Lyonell skids to a stop in front of his Chest and kicks it shut. "I can also hear pretty well. For miles."
"We can either take some time for me to find one of my items which may help us or we can try and get out of here using what we got. Whatcha thinking Four?" Lyonell asks.
"Let's go, it's too dangerous to stay here any longer than we have already. Also, you guys can call me Loic, Henri and I don't use our Loric names all that often but with us meeting up finally I think it's time," I say, scooping up my Chest. Lyonell easily places his on his huge shoulder and grabs a gun from the floor.
"Nice to meet you Loic, it is always good to stay connected to Lorien and I think us using our real names is the best way to do just that," Lyonell says.
"While you two muscle heads do that, I am going to try and secure our exit and make sure the others are ready to go," Avice says before turning invisible. "Also, John... I mean Loic, it's nice to finally make your acquaintance," Avice says just before I hear her footsteps begin to run towards the exit.
Before we have a chance to follow after her another dozen Mogs emerge from a hidden tunnel entrance just fifteen feet away from us.
Lyonell doesn't hesitate when they appear. I see a few of the Mogs burst into ash, but then a swarm of drooling krauls comes jumping and snapping over the pile of Mogadorians.
Focusing my thoughts on a boulder, I whip it at the krauls, smashing all but a few. Lyonell catches a kraul by its back legs and slams the beast against the wall. He crushes another two, and when he's done he turns to me, laughing. I'm about to ask him what's so funny when he launches a boulder right at me. I barely jump out of the way, and a moment later my back is covered with black ash.
"They're everywhere!" He laughs.
Getting up and wiping away some ash covering me I barely get the chance to look over my shoulder when out of seemingly nowhere an enormous piken hand snatches up Lyonell as well as myself.
Distracted and a little fatigued it takes me longer than I would have liked to begin to struggle and push against the piken unfortunately with the way Lyonell and I are being held the only thing I can do is prevent myself from getting crushed. I begin to feel the pressure ease up before we are suddenly thrown down the opposite tunnel. I hit the wall and land on one Chest and the other lands on top of me. The wind is knocked out of me; and when I look up, I see Lyonell spitting blood out. He's grinning.
"Are you crazy?" I ask. "You're enjoying this?"
"I've been locked up for over a year. This is the best day of my life!"
Two pikens duck into the tunnel. Lyonell wipes the blood from his chin and opens his Chest. He pulls out a short silver pipe, and it expands violently at both ends until it's over six feet long and glowing red. He runs toward the pikens with the pipe over his head. I stand to join him but feel a jolt of pain in my ribs. I allow Lyonell to handle the two pikens and it's only a couple of seconds before he has killed both pikens. His strength and skill are incredible, and mixing in his Legacies of what seems to be Super Strength, Super Speed, and Anti-Gravity he is a verifiable wrecking ball amongst these beats.
I'm brought out of my observation when I see Lyonell running back towards me along the ceiling, he twirls the pipe at his side, and when he's twenty feet away he yells for me to move. The glowing red pipe sails over my head like a javelin, impaling a piken in the stomach.
"Don't mention it," Lyonell says before I can utter a word.
More pikens squeeze into the far end of the tunnel, and when I turn around to run, a flock of transparent birds with razor-sharp teeth is flying towards us. Lyonell grabs a strand of green stones from his Chest and flings it towards the flock. It hovers in the air and, like a black hole, sucks the birds into it. He closes his eyes and the stones zip towards the pikens, spinning and unleashing the flock of birds into their faces. Lyonell points at me and yells, "Boulder them!"
I follow his lead, rocketing boulder after boulder at the mayhem. The pikens and the birds collapse under our barrage.
Several more pikens push their way into the tunnel, roaring. I grab Lyonell's arm to keep him from charging.
"They're just going to keep coming," I say. "We have to catch up with Avice and get out of here."
He nods and we run. At the next opening we veer left, unsure if we're making progress or getting even more lost. More and more enemies appear behind us with every new turn. Lyonell trashes every tunnel we pass through, bringing down ceilings and collapsing walls with telekinesis and perfectly thrown boulders.
We come to a long, low-arching bridge of solid rock, similar to the one Avice and I shuffled along earlier, and below is a steaming pool of green lava. Charging across the other side of the narrow bridge is a thick line of Mogs, and behind us several pikens are racing down the tunnel, straight towards us.
"Where do we go?" I shout as we step onto the bridge.
Lyonell says, "We go under."
Lyonell grabs my hand as we reach the peak of the bridge, and my world literally flips upside down until we're running along the underside of the arch. Without warning Lyonell lets go of me, but my shoes still firmly grip the belly of the bridge somehow. I reach over my head and scoop up a pile of the green lava, and by the time we're standing on the other side of the room, I have a perfect green ball of fire in my hand. I wing it at the Mogs on the bridge and visualize it spreading over them. I can hear the sizzling of their flesh when we duck into another cave.
I'm judging the grade of the drop as we reach a steep decline when I'm hit with a blast from behind. I topple forward and fall at an amazing speed, and when the ground finally levels out.
The blast hit me square in the back, and my muscles are stuck in an uncontrollable spasm. The only thing I can do is stare at the slivers of moonlight that appear and disappear at the end of the tunnel. The tarp. It's flapping in the forest wind. I'm back to where I started.
I hear the sound of rocks crumbling behind me. I'm in more pain than I thought imaginable, and all I can think about is leaving the mountain.
"Straight ahead. It's the exit. The others are out there waiting for us. Hopefully," I manage.
The four Mogs who guarded the entrance are gone, and Lyonell jumps out through the tarp and into the forest. I follow. The stench from the dead animal carcasses hits us fast, and we both gag as Lyonell jogs into a line of trees and begins to dig around in his Chest.
But it's then as I think we are out of the woods I hear footsteps coming from the entrance of the cave just behind me. Quickly I get Lyonell's attention and we both turn to face the approaching enemies. It's just as I am about to uproot a tree and throw it at the approaching Mog's when the tarp gives way for a single individual.
There stands a younger man, he is shorter and stockier: not necessarily chubby, but definitely built like a barrel. His hair is brown and short, a military buzz-cut style. Tucked under one arm is a chest styled just like my own, with the Loric number for Five written upon it.
My attention is drawn away from him to notice a menacing storm brewing over the mountain. The sky suddenly rages with lightning and booming thunder. The clouds shift and stretch in a way I've never seen before, though, and the sky feels suddenly evil. This isn't Avice. She's not brewing this.
I glance back towards the guy standing at the entrance and I see him staring at the ship, his skin ghost white. Immediately he begins to frantically look around almost like a scared animal might when being pursued by a predator. He catches my eyes just as a funnel cloud forms and a perfectly spherical spaceship, milky white like a pearl, sweeps down through the tornado's eye.
Seeing the ship head our way the young man sprints to our location before diving to the ground at our feet with his hands over his head and his Chest on the ground next to him I see him begin to shake as the ship lands right in front of the mountain's entrance, sending tremors through the ground. A door appears from out of nowhere on the ship's side, simply melting away. A figure stands in the door's archway.
Lyonell gasps. "Setrákus Ra. He's here. This is it. For every day they tried to torture me and my Cêpan, I'm going to stab him with this." The red pipe glows in Lyonell's hand. Its ends expand with rotating blades. "I'm going to kill him. And you're going to help me."
Setrákus Ra walks towards the cave's entrance but stops before going in, one massive silhouette, stark and spectral. Through the raging wind and torrential rain, he turns, lifting his gaze in our general direction. Even from as far away as I am, the faint glow of the three pendants is unmistakable around his thick neck.
Setrákus Ra has disappeared into the cave and the same bubbling blue force field that covered the prison cell doors appears over the entrance, blocking any access to either him or the cave.
