Chapter Two: Torn Asunder
The run up the stairs was more so tumbling and scampering than proper running. Tumbling that ended with all three women slamming into the ground with a cloud of dirt. The group panted and turned to the collapsed entrance behind them, now finally able to get a breather.
"...Did…did that white thing get out too?" Seiren asked.
"Dunno…dunno and don't really care at the moment…" Kaz admitted honestly, running a hand through her hair. Kaz took a look around where they were, thick forests greeted them at every turn of the head. It wasn't until Kaz looked upward and promptly fell on her rear did the other two turn back to her. Haruhi raised a brow before she and Seiren looked up as well. Clear as day, in the sky, were was looked like a set of rings. Rings one would see on Saturn…not on Earth.
"Oh fuck…" Haruhi muttered.
"This isn't Earth…" Seiren started to panic. "This isn't a dream and it isn't Earth."
"Okay…okay okay okay…" Kaz ran both her hands through her hair once more, trying to gather her bearings on what was happening. She took a deep breath and carefully stood up. "...We should find a road or something…we find a road, we find a town. We find a town, we find people." Kaz reasoned. Seiren and Haruhi looked at each other for a moment before standing up themselves, Seiren dusting herself off and Haruhi nodding.
"You have a point…we'll get nowhere panicking…" Haruhi reasoned. Kaz nodded and the group decided to head in the opposite direction of the labyrinth. The walk was long and tense, the looming rings of the unknown planet being a constant reminder to the group despite the otherwise normal-sounding animals the group was hearing. Thankfully, it only took a few minutes for the group to find what looked like an old path. A few more minutes though, their hopes sank as they stumbled across what looked more like an abandoned village than a town. Kaz gripped her hair once more and sighed through her nose. Seiren stepped further into the town and looked around.
"Maybe…Maybe there's still something here?" She asked hopefully.
"Like what exactly?" Haruhi asked, curious.
"Well, there could be like…a library or something? Something that can tell us where we are."
"...Yeah…yeah that's a good start off…" Kaz let go of her hair and the group looked for the most intact building they could find. It was a two-storied home that looked partially burned, but it was intact. The group ventured inside and wordlessly started to look around. Haruhi dug through piles of books with a language she couldn't understand; Seiren shifted through cabinets; Kaz shoved bits of fallen home to the side. She had to adjust the duel disk on her arm a few times as she was looking through, but eventually, she did fully look at the device, realizing there was a deck in the holder. Kaz hesitantly reached out and pulled the deck out of its slot and sifted through it. The deck was no doubt hers, curiosity struck her and Kaz looked underneath the duel disk, seeing a familiar scuff mark. The deck and the device were hers. Gears were turning in her head when something caught her attention. The sound of wood faintly shifting and giving way to weight. Too much weight. Kaz turned her head to a darker part of the house and stared for a moment. Haruhi seemed to notice and looked up from one book in particular.
"...Kaz?" Haruhi asked, only for Kaz to hold a finger up in her direction. Haruhi and Seiren looked over, quiet and tense. Kaz stared at the dark for a second before squinting, trying to get a better look at what she thought she was seeing. A mass of something. Something big. Something that growled and hissed.
"Get out…" Kaz said softly. The group carefully shifted, but whatever was in there seemed to get bigger. Seeming to get closer. Out of panic and fear, the group ran, a deafening roar erupting from behind as they quickly ran out of the home, a massive gust of wind slamming into them and bringing the three women to the ground. The wind continued to pick up as the mass landed a few feet from them, debris moving and smacking into them. The beast had brown fur and two heads resting on his shoulders, three if you counted the serpentine tail. Massive white wings kept the creature aloft before it landed, almost making the ground shake under its weight. The three women stared in disbelief as the creature, as the very much living Duel Monster, reared its head back and roared once more.
"Chimera…" Seiren whimpered in terror. Kaz moved to sit up, but her hand knocked into something. She looked over and quickly picked up the rusted spear that was blown toward her and stood in front of the group.
"BACK OFF! BACK BACK!" She barked at the creature, jabbing the spear at the creature, who took only a few steps back, giving the other two women time to stand up. Kaz panicked, trying to think of a way out before looking down at her deck once more. In her thoughts, she didn't notice the Chimera grab the spear in one set of jaws and basically lift her up. Caught off guard and holding the weapon like a lifeline, she looked at the other two.
"SUMMON SOMETHING!" That was all she could say before she was tossed aside, spear ripped out of her grip. Kaz barely had time to recover as the beast's teeth clamped down hard into Kaz's shoulder and a second set into her adjacent side. Seiren panicked and looked down at her deck, at first unsure and confused, but she pulled out the deck and felt a bit of hope seeing as it was her own deck. Skimming through it, she plucked out a monster and activated her duel disk. She put the deck back in its holder and placed the monster on the field. In a flash of light, a tall young man appeared with a massive sword set on his shoulders. Just in time as a pain-filled scream ripped through Kaz as both heads tugged in opposite directions, intending to rip the woman in half.
"S-Silent Swordsman, attack Chimera! Save Kaz!" Seiren commanded the warrior, who wasted no time in rushing the creature. The snake tail seemed to take notice and one set of jaws released Kaz to roar threateningly. It was all for nothing though as the swordsman slammed hard into the creature, forcing the second set of jaws to let go, releasing Kaz from its grip. Chimera continued to roar, bite, and fight back as hard as it could against the swordsman, but eventually, with a final shove, the swordsman pulled off a maneuver that brought the blade across the chest and no doubt through the heart of the beast. Instead of it vanishing like what the women were used to, the beast splattered blood across one building and slumped to the ground, twitching and groaning in pain before the warrior pierced through its spine, ending its misery. There was a tense silence once more before Kaz tried to sit up once more, only to collapse with a whine of pain.
"Kaz!" Haruhi and Seiren ran over to the other woman as the warrior also joined them. Haruhi carefully rolled Kaz onto her back, trying to get a better idea of the damage. In a rushed panic, Haruhi pulled off her hoodie and pressed it into the shoulder wound, which appeared to be the worst. Kaz let out another whine of pain, clawing at the ground beneath her.
"What do we do?!" Seiren cried in fear.
"I…I don't know…I don't know…" Haruhi panicked. Out of the corner of her eye, Seiren noticed her Swordsman look off and start to frantically wave his arms, seeming to try and speak, only for silence to come from his throat. Seiren looked between the warrior and Kaz before swiftly standing up and calling out in the direction her monster was waving from.
"HELP! WE NEED HELP!"
…
Xander might as well have been dead to the world whenever he slept, especially after completing a solo mission and pulling off a supply run while his teammates stayed at the camp. Something he was stubbornly regretting. Regardless, he came back to consciousness slowly but oh so wanted to go back to sleep. It wasn't until the feel of little paws climbed up his arm and onto his chest. Knowing full well what it was didn't bother him and he tried to let sleep overcome him once more. What did eventually rouse him from sleep was feeling tiny claws dig into his shirt and pull, as the tiny thing was being picked up.
"Titan, stop…let him sleep." A familiar voice rang in his ears and Xander dared to open one eye, half glaring at the blue-skinned man who was prying each claw off Xander's shirt. The other man, Rain, seemed to have noticed Xander's awakening and paused in his movements, looking like a child with his hand caught in the cookie jar.
"...Good afternoon." Rain greeted. Xander merely groaned back and pulled his arms free from the comforters and pulled the Baby Tiragon from Rain's grasp.
"You know he hates your guts…why try to pick him up?" Xander asked.
"I was hoping to let you sleep a bit longer." Rain responded.
"You said afternoon…what time is it?" Xander yawned, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"...well, I know you hate sleeping in-"
"It's noon isn't it?"
"No…It's eleven." There was a small pause. "..eleven thirty."
"Why do you do this?" Xander groaned, sitting up, the little dragon happily sleeping in his arms.
"You had a long day yesterday and pretty much collapsed in your room. You needed the sleep." Rain reasoned. Xander wanted to be mad, but his rested body argued back, now far less sore than yesterday. Xander sighed and stretched his neck.
"Thanks…you making lunch?" Xander asked, crossing his legs on the bed as Rain took a seat.
"I thought it would be better to just grab sandwiches from the town you went to yesterday. Save those supplies you grabbed us for the road after this last assignment."
"Makes sense to me. I'll be out in a second, gonna put my armor on." Rain nodded and left Xander's 'room' through the heavy curtains. Xander kicked the blankets off him and carefully set the dragon in his arms on his mountain of pillows before going over to his tossed aside Dark Magician armor. He hated the thing, he really did, but it kept him safe for the most part. Xander mainly tossed the helmet out through the curtains and grabbed his staff. The magician then slipped out of the curtains and stretched, the crisp afternoon air a refreshing greeting to him as he looked over at Rain and their other companion, Sterling. Both of which deck out in their standard armor; Rain in Magician of Black Chaos and Sterling in Sorcerer of Dark Magic. The group was powerful for sure, individual or group. Xander picked up his helmet and walked over to the two, Rain handing him a cloth-wrapped bundle.
"It's just a Ham sandwich, didn't think you'd mind." Rain commented as Xander sat down and took the offered food.
"You know I'm not super picky," Xander commented.
"You're picky about your booze." Sterling joked lightly.
"Oh hush you," Xander mumbled. The trio ate in comfortable silence, though Xander seemed to eat a bit more quickly than the other two. When he did finish, he went to pick up his staff once more and felt something against his knuckle. Raising a brow, he went down and pressed an ear to the dirt.
"You good man?" Sterling asked, finishing off his own sandwich as Xander focused.
"...There's some rumbling in the ground," Xander commented.
"Hmm…our quarry is rather large, maybe it's that?" Rain reasoned.
"Isn't the town it's nestled in like…a few minutes from here?" Sterling asked.
"...you don't think it's hunting again? I thought we asked to make sure this area was clear?" Rain asked, Xander standing up and grabbing his helmet.
"Yeah, well, maybe some wise guy thought he could take it on by himself, who knows." Rain also finished up and grabbed his own gear, Sterling rushing over and grabbing his. Xander stabbed his staff into the ground and started walking around the group's carriage, drawing a circle in the dirt in the process. When the circle was completed, Xander pulled out the staff and muttered an incantation, the carriage and horses now blending more so into the background.
"I wish you could do that with us…" Sterling commented, standing next to Xander.
"That's where I come in." Rain commented, reaching down and picking up a handful of dirt. One by one, he muttered a different incantation and flicked a bit of dirt onto Xander, Sterling, and himself. The soles of each man's foot suddenly glowed a hot pink. As Rain took a step to the side, not a sound could be heard.
"Alright, let's do this." Xander sighed and started walking off, Sterling and Rain following close behind him. The walk took a few minutes passed in silence, something a bit typical of the group. As they got closer, they heard a roar of something bestial. The men looked at each other before going into more of a run. The closer they got, the more they could hear the sounds of growls and pain-filled cries. When the men finally entered the ruins of the town, all fell silent.
"Should we split up?" Sterling asked. Rain was about to respond when he looked over Xander's shoulder and pointed.
"There! I think-"
"HELP! WE NEED HELP!"