CHAPTER 13 - BATTLE

"We don't have to do this," Zack tried to appeal to Enza, who had drawn his sword. "Think about it, you're in his domain! You're under his control! You can be more than what he's making you!" Enza stood up for a moment, as if he were pondering Zack's words. A smirk slowly crept across his face.

"I'm surprised, Lore. You've gotten some child to speak for you now!" He laughed at his own taunt. Lore's mask fully covered their face, but Zack could tell they were shaking beneath it. "I can't be more," Enza said to Zack. "I'm already at my best!" With a green shadow following him, Enza sped towards Zack. He had his sword raised above his head. Before Zack could react, Enza swung down with all his might. The sword was stopped. Trick had leapt in front of Zack to block the killing blow.

"Trick!" Zack was elated by the jester's interference.

"So you are capable of thinking for yourself?" Enza said mockingly. He backed off from them. Lore stepped next to their sibling.

"Zack, Maxine, go upstairs. Start making your way to Mozaro. We'll catch up."

"Are you nuts?" Maxine began to protest, but Lore just gave her a look. She seemed intimidated by the mask's lack of eyes for the first time. She simply nodded. "Come on, Zack." The duo started to flank around the room to get to the staircase behind Enza.

"It's three more floors to the top," Trick called to them. "Keep going up, and you'll find Mozaro."

"As well as some other surprises," Enza said maniacally. "You think he didn't know the four of you were coming?" An arrow lodged itself in Enza's sword arm, catching him by surprise. He chuckled as he ripped it out. "Your aim is off, Lore. Nervous?"

Zack and Maxine made their way up the metal staircase. Every step made a loud clanging noise that rang throughout the building. When they reached the landing they saw a garden in the center of the room. The luscious greenery against the black walls surprised Zack and Maxine.

"What is this?" Zack asked.

"A garden?" Maxine was equally confused.

"Invaders!" A gravelly voice said from within the plants. A massive goblin emerged from the vegetation. It was baring it's jagged teeth that were tinted brown from neglect. It's amber eyes glared at the two humans before it. Several smaller, but equally dangerous goblins appeared at its flank. The smaller goblins wielded spears and swords. Zack noticed that the larger goblin's right hand was missing. A metal club was grafted to the beast's arm where that appendage should have been. Zack nervously gripped his staff. He looked to Maxine. Her brow had furrowed. How wasn't she nervous about this? Zack was sure that his appeal for peace wouldn't work on these creatures, but he decided to try anyway.

"We just want to see the demon lord," Zack said. "He has my brother." The goblins laughed at him. "Please," Zack pleaded. "Please just let us go up to him?"

"You come to our home! You attack our home! You invade our home!" The large goblin growled at him. "You go nowhere!" He thrust his club hand forward and the smaller goblins rushed at Zack and Maxine.

"Can I have a boost please?" Maxine asked calmly. Zack looked at her. He realized he hadn't seen her fight yet. She was in a fighting stance. The goblins were fast approaching, so Zack didn't have time to ponder this lapse in judgement on his part. He cast his spell on her, and she was enveloped in the blue light. She took a deep breath and leapt toward the first goblin. She raised her knee up and caught the goblin in the chin. It's head flew back and its eyes rolled into its head. The force of the attack loosened the monster's grip on its spear. The weapon flew into the air. Before it touched the ground, Maxine was able to catch it. In the same motion she jammed it into the second goblin's abdomen. The goblin fell to it's back, motionless.

Maxine didn't have time to admire her handiwork. The third goblin swung its sword at her. She deftly avoided the wild sword stroke. She jumped in the air and delivered a straight kick to the monster's jaw. The kick caused the monster to see stars. It was dizzy, practically out on its feet. The fourth goblin lunged at Maxine. It managed to tackle her to the ground, but in a swift motion, she managed to flip the goblin off of her. She bent her knees and kipped up off the ground. She turned to the goblin she had flipped off of her. It ripped the spear from its fallen ally and pointed the tip at Maxine. A sick smile was etched on it's gnarled, green face. Maxine was unfazed. She bent her knees slightly as the monster lunged toward her, the spear's sharpened edge looming. At the last second, Maxine contorted her body to avoid the swing. She was all the way back, using her hands to support herself. The goblin's momentum took it right past Maxine and into the chest of the goblin that had been dazed by Maxine's kick.

She rose back to a vertical based and looked at the surprised goblin. It turned to her and received the full impact of Maxine's boot right to its nose. Zack could hear the crunching of the goblin's bones as it fell to the ground. Maxine took another deep breath and turned to Zack. She smiled brightly at him. She chuckled when she saw that his mouth was hanging open.

"You don't become a successful bandit like me without learning how to throw a punch or two!" She turned her attention to the large goblin. Its twisted smile had disappeared. It readied it's clubbed hand. "Okay, Zack. You need to get upstairs," she urged.

"What? By myself?" Zack asked incredulously.

"Yeah," she said calmly. "Remember, you were going to come here by yourself originally. Good thing you had some help, eh?" She winked at him. "Find your brother."

"Waste!" The large monster bellowed. "You don't have magic! You're just a human!" He pointed his metal hand at Maxine. The club was charred, scraped, and rusted from repeated use.

"We'll see big guy!" Maxine turned to Zack. "Go! I got this. I'll come and help you when I'm done." Zack nodded and left her side. He kept his eyes on the goblin as it advanced on Maxine. It didn't pay him any mind. Zack found this odd. Wouldn't it's goal be to stop anyone from advancing. Enza didn't seem interested in stopping them either. Zack pushed through the foliage in the room. He didn't know if there were other goblins hidden in the shrubberies and plants, but he didn't care. He would run past them. He cast his spell on himself, just in case. At the very least, it allowed him to push through the garden with greater speed and dexterity.

The plants scrapped his face, but he managed to get through. He was sweating, and his face was bleeding from the thorns. He wiped it all on his sleeve, prepared to make his way up the black grated staircase before him. He thought about what he might find on the next floor. It was the floor right before the top. The place where the Demon Lord would be. Zack gulped, and made his way up the stairs. He could hear the crashing of the goblin's metal hand against the floor behind him. He stopped, and thought about going back for Maxine. He should have never left her alone to fight that beast. He could at least have cast spells on her to strengthen her. She had insisted she could handle it. After what she did to the four smaller goblins, Zack hoped she was right.

He arrived on the landing and was shocked at what he saw. The room was a giant library. The walls were loaded with books up to the ceilings. Books of all shapes, sizes, and colors lined every shelf. Zack saw the stairs on the opposite side of the room. He thought of making a beeline to them, but curiosity overtook him. He looked at the books on the shelf. He pulled a navy blue book away from its brethren and looked at it. The blue binding was cloth, and there was a silver PKD emblazoned on the cover. Zack began thumbing through the crisp pages.

"That's a good one," a voice said from behind him. "It's about psychological deterioration, and experiencing reality through different lenses."

"I'll wait for the movie," Zack quipped back. "Where are you, Cody?" Cody walked out from behind one of the shelves. Zack ran to him, but stopped when he saw his twin's face. His eyes were shadowed with black smudge, and his eyeballs were fully black. "Are you alright?" Zack asked.

"Perfectly fine. Being taken in by the Demon Lord was the best thing that could have happened," Cody said, a sneer crossing his face. "Mozaro got me what I wanted. Knowledge. Books about anything and everything. Even my favorite works of fiction. He makes it all appear for me!"

"Cody, I thought you were dead," Zack said. "I came here to rescue you." This caused the other boy to laugh. His laugh was unnatural. It wasn't Cody's laugh. There was no joy behind it. It was almost robotic.

"You weren't concerned about my safety when you abandoned me in Denmall." He got close to Zack's face. Zack stared into the deep black pools that were Cody's eyes. He had to look away. "You're a coward," Cody accused.

"What did you want me to do? You were in a cage, under heavy guard. I had a javelin!" Zack was yelling now. "I've come for you now! We can get out of here. We can try to figure out how to get home!" Zack was pleading with his brother, who didn't seem interested in his proposal.

"That's why I have this," Cody said, motioning to his books. "I read as many as I can, looking for any sort of logical explanation to what happened to us. There's so many possible explanations, that I realized it doesn't matter. They all end up the same way. We have to accept it! We live here now."

"What? What about mom? What about our friends back home! You just want to stay here?"

"I'm somebody here!" Cody yelled. Zack took a step back. "My brain means something here. My intelligence has values. I've already used my book knowledge to improve things. The garden below us was my idea! Enza's battle tactics have improved. That's why I was moved up one floor below my lord."

"Do you hear yourself?" Zack asked, disgusted. "You would abandon your family to help a demon that's causing the world to suffer."

"Of course I'd abandon my family. My family holds my talents back. All it's ever used for is to get you out of trouble. I can be so much more without you. That's what I am." Cody smiled. "If you join us, you can be strong like me." He held his hand out, but Zack backed off.

"You're brainwashed. The only way to get you to see things right is to knock some sense into you." Zack raised his fists. He didn't want to fight Cody when he wasn't himself, but this was the only way. Cody was far smarter than he was. Zack wouldn't be able to outwit him. Cody looked disappointed.

"I was hoping you wouldn't resort to brutish tactics, but that is how you operate I suppose," Cody lamented. Zack cast his spell on himself. This brought a smile to Cody's face. "Use it as many times as you want. It won't matter." Zack lunged at his brother, his fist reared back. He aimed directly for Cody's chest. He didn't want to punch his brother in the face. Cody read the telegraphed move and caught Zack's fist. Zack was shocked. With a sinister smirk, Cody bent Zack's fist backwards. He felt his wrist snap. He screamed as Cody let go of him. Zack held his limp wrist in his good hand. He staggered backwards as the pain seared through him. He looked back up, and Cody was right in his face. He swung and caught Zack in the cheek with a nasty right hook. Zack was launched off his feet from the force of the blow. He landed hard on his back. He groaned as he reached for his cheek. His vision was blurred, and his face stung from the hit.

Cody stepped over Zack and grabbed his cloak to lift him up. He smirked and said, "You don't get to hold me back anymore, Zack." He casually tossed his brother into the bookshelf. The books and shelving collapsed as Zack crashed into them. He slumped to the ground as the books fell on top of him, partially burying him. Cody let out a laugh, as he prepared to do more damage to his downed twin.

Two floors below where Zack and Cody were fighting, Enza was panting. He'd been chasing the two jesters to no avail. They were both agile, and easily avoided his heavy swings. Enza was noticing fatigue starting to creep into their movements as well. Their reaction time to his attacks was diminishing by fractions of a second. They wouldn't be able to avoid him forever.

"Enza, you're under control! Stop this!" Trick tried to plead with Enza. He ignored their attempt to reach him.

"The only way I stop is if you stop me!" Enza ran forward. He held his sword tucked against his waist. He'd noticed that Trick had been slowing down faster than Lore. They would be his target. Enza kept the sword pointed toward Trick, but kept his hands back. He was going to make a thrusting attack. Trick anticipated this, and began to spin out of the way. Just as Enza wanted. Enza thrust his sword toward's Trick's stomach, and the jester avoided the blow. However, Enza noticed the weight shift on Trick's right foot, indicating they would dodge to the left. Enza swung the blade in that direction, and made contact. The tip of the sword sliced at Trick's stomach. It brought the jester to the ground in a heap.

"You guys are a lot slower in Mozaro's domain!" Enza exclaimed!

"Trick!" Lore cried out. They immediately went to their fallen sibling's side. They carefully removed Trick's headpiece. Their sweat drenched hair fell to the floor. Trick had already gone white. Their eyes were wide and darting all around the room. Lore kept their hand on the wound to stop the bleeding. They removed their own headpiece. "You're going to be okay!" They took Trick's hand and placed it over the gash in their stomach. Lore sensed something out of their periphery. Enza was rushing for a cowardly strike. Lore managed to ready their bow and turn towards Enza. He was right on top of the wide eyed jester. Lore pulled back their arrow and it was enveloped in a green light. With the power of wind the arrow hit Enza in his chest plate. The force knocked him back. He fell with a thud on the opposite side of the room. He sat up, woozy from the attack. He looked at his chest where the arrow had struck. A distinct crack was visible in his plate armor.

Lore angrily grabbed their sibling's javelin. Fury emanated from them as they made their way toward the downed Enza. He had dropped his sword as he flew through the air, and was defenseless. He was completely at Lore's mercy. Tears were in their eyes as they pointed the weapon at Enza's head.

"You were better brainwashed," Enza said. "That's the real you! The real Lore doesn't cry at what is necessary!"

Lore went to thrust the javelin into Enza's head, but something held them back. They couldn't move their arm. They looked at the javelin and noticed that it was surrounded in a familiar ethereal light. Lore turned to see that Trick was sitting up. Their hand was preventing as much blood loss as possible, while the other hand was pointed at Lore. They were struggling to speak. All Trick could do was shake their head. Lore fell to their knees. The javelin fell to the floor with a harmless clang.

"Pathetic," Enza taunted. Lore responded by unloading a palm strike to Enza's cheek. The blow knocked him out, and he laid unconscious on the floor.

"I am the real Lore," they said to the downed man. Lore looked to Trick who was smiling at them. They tearfully ran over to their sibling who had fallen back to the ground. "Trick?" Lore went to lift Trick's head, but they coughed, stopping Lore in their tracks.

"I'll be okay. That falcon went to get reinforcements. We need to stop the elevator." Trick grimaced as they spoke.

"How?" Lore asked. Trick just smiled

"You're a pretty good shot," they said weakly. Lore looked over to the elevator. The doors were shut tight. They looked back to Trick.

"I'd hate to ask, but I need your help."

"Anytime," Trick said with a bright smile. They struggled to face the elevator. Lore kept their hand behind Trick as support. Trick held their hand out and the ethereal light enveloped the elevator doors. They pulled apart at Trick's command. "Make it count," they grunted the words out. Lore took their bow and followed the thick black cables up the elevator shaft. They could see the top of the shaft where the system's pulley mechanism was. Lore pulled back on the bowstring, and the green light enveloped the arrow. They fired the arrow and it lodged in the mechanism.

"That should delay them," Lore said triumphantly. They turned to Trick who was slowly getting to their feet. "Woah! What are you doing? You shouldn't overexert!"

"Lore, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me all the time," Trick said.

"Yes I do! I'm the reason…" Lore began to argue.

"Then I forgive you," Trick said nonchalantly. "I know you've been blaming yourself for what's happened to me while we were brainwashed. It isn't your fault. You've always looked out for me. I'm glad Zack was able to keep you from leaving." Lore smiled.

"Maybe he was right. Maybe you two are the same." Lore laughed at this, which caused Trick to join in. The siblings shared an embrace. "Let's get upstairs and help them. We can destroy his domain!"

The twins went upstairs and saw Maxine by herself. She was sitting in the middle of the room. There was nothing around her. Trick and Lore were surprised. Where was Zack?

"Maxine?" Trick cautiously asked. She didn't seem to hear their call. Trick and Lore shared nervous looks. "What happened to Zack?" Trick tried again, but again Maxine did not respond.

"Do you remember who lived on this floor?" Lore whispered to their sibling.

"The goblin king," Trick said racking their memory for the answer. Lore's eyes went wide. The twins walked around Maxine. She was sitting cross legged and her eyes were closed. She seemed to be muttering something to herself.

"Maxine?" Lore asked with a little more force. This caused her to open her eyes. The force with which her eyes opened caused the jesters to take a step back.

"Hey you two! You made it." Her eyes went to Trick's wound. "Trick, you're hurt," her voice showed concern.

"A goblin king lived on this floor," Lore blurted out. Maxine looked angry again.

"I don't want to talk about it," she said through gritted teeth. She got to her feet and walked up to Trick with her hand out. "I can take care of that wound though." Trick instinctively backed away, their eyes fearful. Maxine sighed. "Fine, bleed out." her emotions were cycling rapidly.

"Where's Zack?" Lore tried to get her focused.

"Upstairs," she said, now with a bored tone to her voice.

"He can't face Mozaro alone!" Trick said worriedly. "Maxine, what happened?" Maxine looked disgusted.

"What's it to you?"

"Humor us!" Lore shouted

"Pound sand," she scoffed. "I'm getting out of here."

"Good luck! The elevator's broken." Maxine rolled her eyes and sat bag down on the floor, cross legged.

"We don't have time for this," Trick said. They made their way for the stairs, and Lore followed.

"Who are you two?" Maxine called from behind them. They turned to face her. She was standing up slowly. She looked around, confused.

"What? It's Trick and Lore," Trick said. They looked to Lore, who shrugged. "We need to get to Zack."

"Zack?" her brow furrowed. "Wait, I know you. You're the ones who attacked him!"

"What is she talking about? She just remembered us," Lore asked. Trick shook their head. "Maxine. We were brainwashed. You and Zack saved us, remember?"

"I've done it again," she lamented.

"Done what?" Lore asked. "Maxine, Zack's in danger. We need to go!"

"I destroyed it all," she covered her mouth with her hands as she stared around the room. "I used my magic again." She put her hand over her head as if she'd just come down with a bad migraine. Trick and Lore still stood confused. "It can destroy living organisms," she whispered to them. The jesters gulped. "I try to never use it. It messes with my memory and emotions."

"Well, we need to save Zack. He's upstairs." Lore reminded her of the pressing concern.

"I can't go up there. I shouldn't have come. I thought I'd be able to resist the temptation to use it."

"Then it's a last resort," Lore said. "We trust you to make the right decision." She seemed surprised at Lore's show of confidence.

"Why? I've shown nothing but contempt for the two of you," she said.

"You know who we are now. We want the same thing," Trick assured her. She nodded and joined them at the foot of the stairs.

"Let's finish this," she said. Trick and Lore nodded. The trio then made their way up the stairs.