Okay, guys, due to a small problem with the doc manager, I'm dividing the next chapter into two parts. Don't worry, I'll publish the two of them simultaneously. Enjoy!
After getting out of the city, La Muerte galloped through the desert, and then through the forest area that led towards the Land of the Forgotten. The sun would rise soon, but when she got down to the dark realm she would no longer see it. It wasn't long before she arrived at the Cave of Souls. Or at least, to the area underneath it, after passing through the Guardian, who recognized her godly aura and automatically allowed her entrance without submitting her to the Trial. Taking the waterfalls in the Candlemaker's level was one way to travel from one realm to another, but the most secretive way to go was through the underground tunnels that directly led into the other realms. However, as Blanca was about to step into the cold, barren kingdom that was her husband's, La Muerte pulled the reins before they entered the Land of the Forgotten; she took her hands to her belly, she didn't forget there was a tiny life growing in there, depending on her for safety.
She couldn't risk the life of the baby just like that.
She recalled she had brought something. Before leaving Egypt, Lady Isis had granted her with a protection spell. Maybe now was a good time to use it. La Muerte searched in her saddlebag and took out a small amulet with the shape of a scarab; she touched her abdomen with it and uttered an incantation she had been taught to pronounce correctly by Horus. The amulet glowed a golden light and the energy went into her abdomen, which glowed of the same shade before subsiding. The spell would protect the little embryo from any physical harm that might come to it. La Muerte took a deep breath before gently kicking Blanca into motion again.
They walked into a section of the land filled with ruins. The gray fallen structures were cracked and half-covered in snow, belonging to long lost civilizations which no one remembered or even knew existed. La Muerte saw various groups of Forgotten souls as she advanced through the ruins, and her heart shrank in sadness at the sight. This was the first time she saw the non-aggressive inhabitants of the Land of the Forgotten. Their bones were black with green swirls similar to Xibalba's own, and their expressions were sad and regretful. Every now and then, one would let out a sigh, others would suddenly turn into ash and be blown away by the cold wind. They paid no heed of her presence, though a few did lift their heads at the sudden and unfamiliar golden, warm glow before lowering their gazes again in indifference.
La Muerte gasped when she realized some of these souls were children, old men, women, even infants! All had the same look of hopelessness as the rest. Her eyes swelled up with tears at the sight. So this was the fate of those poor souls who had no one to remember them; it meant that anyone in the Land of the Remembered could suffer this fate if their living relatives died and there was no one to remember them. There were so many people she cared about that could be sent down here before she knew it, and there was nothing she would be able to do to stop it. La Muerte couldn't bear the sight any longer and made Blanca go faster, the sooner she got back to Xibalba's castle, the sooner she could get this image out of her head.
Once she was out of the ruined section of the realm, and found the pathway that led back to Xibalba's castle, suddenly Blanca stopped, lifting her ears at a faint sound coming from the rocky edges above them.
"What's wrong, Blanca?" La Muerte patted her neck, but Blanca shook her head and snorted nervously. La Muerte felt a shiver run down her spine when she heard a familiar growling, trigging the memory of gnashing teeth, black blood and sharp claws. Her accelerated heartbeat seemingly attracted the monsters even more, they poked their heads from above them, licking their chops and grinning hungrily down at the goddess and the horse. La Muerte would have frozen in fear, but she couldn't risk herself like this.
"Blanca, run!"
Blanca galloped off the broken path just as the Forgotten Beasts pounced unto the spot they had been standing on, and darted after them in hot pursuit.
Xibalba awoke abruptly when he felt two new presences into his realm. Two auras merged into one, one as bright and powerful as the light of the sun, and the other a very faint aura that was yet to properly form, and which clung to the stronger aura, almost completely merging with it, it took sharp senses to tell one apart from the other.
This could only mean one thing…
La Muerte had returned. She was back. The love of his life was coming home… but soon his hope and joy evaporated when he felt distress, fear for the life of the tiny faint aura, and much more darker auras radiating anger and appetite.
No… No! Nononono!
Xibalba tried to dart out of bed, but his legs were tangled up in his blankets and he tripped face-first into the hard floor. Xibalba grit his teeth in pain, but nevertheless he quickly kicked the blankets off him and went back on his feet; his breathing started to feel heavy because of the sudden stress, he didn't have time to put on his armor or any sort of protection, he barely had time to grab his staff as he opened the windows of his balcony, stretching out his dark wings as he took off, ignoring the slight oppression in his chest at the sudden change of temperature as he flew towards the direction of the aura as fast as he could.
La Muerte clung close to Blanca, not daring to look back at the pursuing monsters. They seemed to remember her, they were taking a long effort to catch up to her. She had unclasped her cloak and let it fall in an attempt to slow the beasts down, but they shred it into pieces in a matter of seconds. La Muerte desperately led Blanca through the narrow paths of the realm, trying to catch a road that led to the castle. If she could cross the bridge they'd be safe. She had to get there, they had to get there… Blanca neighed in fright when one of the Forgotten Beasts jumped right in fornt of her, but thankfully La Muerte saw it coming and managed to lead her rightwards, towards a spike-like cliff. There was another spike about two meters away from it, thankfully it was too wide for the Forgotten Beasts to cross, but surely Blanca would be able to jump it with no problem at all.
"Come on, girl, you can do it!"
Blanca leaped off the ledge of the cliff, narrowly avoiding a swipe from one of the beast's claws, and safely jumped to the other side. The Forgotten beasts stopped in their tracks when they realized the gap was too wide for them, but a few dared their luck and attempted to follow the horse into the other side, falling into the inky black chasm with screams.
La Muerte internally sighed in relief as she looked back and saw none of the other beasts were foolish enough to try and follow through there, but suddenly a blue-shaded beast jumped in front of Blanca with bristled spines, letting out a shriek. La Muerte had no time to cling to her horse as Blanca reared in fright, and the goddess fell to the ground, landing on her back with a painful thud. La Muerte yelled in pain and clutched her abdomen, trying desperately to get back on her feet. She didn't feel any signs of miscarriage, but that could change in any minute, and she could tell something had gone lose inside her womb.
The rest of the pack had them surrounded in mere seconds, and despite Blanca's attempts to ward off any beast that came too close, she would soon be overwhelmed by the monsters, and the two… the three would be done for. As her consciousness started to fade and the Beasts started closing in, La Muerte instinctively wrapped her arms around her abdomen in a protective way.
Blanca realized her mistress had fainted out of right and the fall, and barely managed to stomp her hooves on a monster that nearly jumped right on top of her. She let out loud neighs, as if trying to call someone's attention, but the Forgotten Beasts who had a semblance of intelligence left in them snickered mockingly at her feeble attempts to protect the fallen goddess.
Unless…
Suddenly, a black figure clad in black landed right between the beasts and their prey, stretching out his wings menacingly. There was a dark aura swirling all around him, and his features had become darker. Draconic traits such as horns and scales had appeared on his face, his claws had lengthened and cut through the tips of his gloves, and his skull pupils had turned into slits. Xibalba roared at the Forgotten Beasts. "STAY AWAY FROM THEM! I WILL NOW ALLOW YOU TO LAY A FINGER ON MY WIFE AND CHILD!" his voice sounded like thunder and echoed through the realm. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT OR I SHALL TEAR YOU LIMB BY LIMB AND TURN YOU INTO ASHES!"
The Forgotten Beasts stepped back in fear at the sight of the God defending the goddess, but the thing that frightened them the most was his aura. It wasn't like those other times they had ran unto him, this time it burned with a great ire and passion, which brought them long-gone memories of a great beast that once flew above them, smoldering to ashes with its fiery breath. Shrieking in terror, the Forgotten Beasts ran away from the scene.
Xibalba's wilder side wanted to go after the beasts and make them pay for ever thinking of harming his wife, but Blanca's snorting caught his attention, and he remembered there were more important things he had to tend to. His aura settled down, his claws went back to normal size and the dragon features in him disappeared as he turned around to find his wife unconscious on the ground. "LA MUERTE!" In a second he was by her side, cradling her in his arms carefully and gently shaking her. "M-Mi amor, I'm here…!" His eyes were swelling up with tears, fearing the worst. He felt a twinge of relief when he felt a pulse in her, but he couldn't be certain for the baby. He had to get her out of here, he had to take her back to the castle.
But getting her on Blanca again would possibly make things worse. He had to make sure not to move her much, this discarded flight as well. He'd have to teleport themselves back; it was risky to teleport four people at once (the baby included), but he had enough magical energy to do it, and he could sense some sort of magical charm on the child. Xibalba motioned Blanca to come closer, and stood up, holding La Muerte in his arms and close to his chest. He concentrated a great quantity of energy on himself, La Muerte and the horse, and spread out his wings. Green flames enveloped them, and a few seconds later he had send Blanca to the stables (he would have to let Juarez know of the news later) and himself and his wife back to his chambers. Swiftly, he glided over to bed and gingerly placed La Muerte on top of it, pulling the duvet on top of her to keep her warm. With his arms free, Xibalba temporally set his staff aside and summoned his quill along with a piece of paper. He quickly wrote a note to Asclepius to come as soon as possible, and gave a short whistle. He had just finished the note with his signature as his raven flew inside, landing on the bedside table while giving a caw of inquiry. Xibalba folded the note and gave it to the raven. "Take it to Asclepius now!" With that, the bird was off.
Once they were alone, Xibalba lay down next to La Muerte and brushed some hairs away from her serene face, and stroked her cheek with his thumb. She had returned on her own accord… She was back home, back at his side where she belonged, where she should have remained from the beginning.
There was a knock on the door, and Asclepius entered. He had assumed Xibalba was having trouble breathing again, but instead found La Muerte on bed, unconscious, her hair a mess and her dress ripped. "What the-?!"
"Asclepius, she was attacked by Forgotten Beasts and fell from her horse on her way here!" Xibalba stood up and glanced back at Aslepius with a worried expression. "I don't know how she or the baby are! Please save their lives!"
"How did she-?!"
"I'll explain you later! Just help her!"
Asclepius had many questions, but nevertheless he went to the side of the bed, placing his medical suitcase on the bedside table. "Get out for a moment."
"You can't ask me that! She's my wife-!"
"And she's very delicate! I need to tend to her, but I won't do my job right if you're peeking in every ten seconds!"
"But-! She-! I-!" Finally, Xibalba groaned in defeat and snatched his staff as he stomped out of the room, and the door was closed behind him. But as second passed the anger subsided and gave in to worry and regret. Xibalba had to lean against the wall to keep himself from falling over, taking a hand to his face as he let out a deep sigh.
This was all his fault.
If he hadn't driven her away, none of this would have ever happened. Things would be so different if she hadn't left. He would have been by her side when they found about the baby, they would have worked on the nursery together, he would have been able to care properly for her and the baby, kiss her, embrace her… she wouldn't have had to risk her life and the baby's to return… How had she snuck away from King Sol and Itzlacol?
When Sol found out she was here, he'd probably come down and take La Muerte away, again deny him of the right he had as a father and husband. He couldn't let that happen, he wouldn't know what he'd do if La Muerte were gone again, this time not on her own accord.
He wouldn't allow it.
He couldn't.
There was only one way to keep other gods out of his realm, the Kings themselves included if it came to that. With a grim expression, Xibalba walked down the hall and towards a door that was secluded from the rest. It was made of obsidian, and there were green swirl carvings on them. They only responded to the Ruler of the Forgotten, and so when Xibalba uttered an old spell to make them open, they lazily slid aside, revealing an inky dark room with no kind of windows. When Xibalba stepped inside, torches of green fire lit out of nowhere, illuminating the room and revealing all sort of weapons and artifacts. They had been given to Akrinok to guard back when he was King, and the duty passed on to Xibalba.
The Forbidden Artifacts.
At the end of the room there was a large black book bound in leather, there was no sort of writing on the cover. The Book of Death, the antithesis of the Book of Life, said to contain the worst curses and dark magic ever created. Xibalba shivered at the sight of the book, recalling all those many years ago when his father taught-or rather forced him to learn-magic from this book. He had never liked to use it, but this time he had something to protect that was worth breaking a rule or two. When he was before the book, Xibalba opened it with a flick of his fingers and turned the pages until he found what he was looking for. It used lots of energy and would probably zap away all of his energy if he used it, but if it worked, no one would be able to come into the Land of the Forgotten unless he said otherwise.
Xibalba closed his eyes and concentrated his dark energy into his staff, a blackish purple aura forming around him as he uttered the spell. His grip on Ponzoña's staff form tightened and his wings spread out.
Hear my roar of ancient spelling
And my most desired truth
Souls won't enter or hear yelling
They won't know what's second youth!
With that, he stamped his staff on the ground, releasing a huge wave of green energy that exploded and spread out through the castle, around it and through the Land of the Forgotten. The torches in the room extinguished when the wave touched them, leaving the room inky dark once again except for the faint coming from the hallway.
Xibalba fell to his knees, panting heavily and leaning on his staff to keep from falling over. Cold sweat trickled down his face as he managed to get back on his feet and closed the book shut, hastily making his way out of the room and managing to close the doors behind him, sealing them shut. Xibalba had to take a breath to recover, his wings dropped and the feathers brushed against the floor.
"My Lord?" Emilio had a bad feeling when out of sudden he felt a dark energy in the air, and his suspicions were confirmed when he found his master outside the Forbidden Room, panting heavily. "W-What happened? D-Did you-?"
Xibalba only uttered one sentence as he walked away. "I won't lose her again." He left the baffled and confused lizard behind as he returned to the doors of his chambers to wait. He was still exhausted for casting the dark magic spell, but nevertheless he stayed outside, staring at the door, waiting to hear anything from the inside.
Finally, the doors opened.
Reacting instantly, Xibalba left his seat and rushed towards Asclepius, who had a serious expression. That wasn't a good signal. "How is she?! Is she hurt?! What happened?!" he yelled in desperation.
"La Muerte is okay, thankfully. She has a few scratches and bruises, but nothing grave."
"And my child?"
At the mention of the baby, Asclepius sighed and looked down grimly.
"What?" Xibalba felt his heart skip a beat. "Please tell me the baby is alright!"
"The fetus is okay, but…" Another sigh. "All the stress, rough movements and the fall from the horse caused part of the placenta to detach from the uterus wall. The fetus lost vital vitamins and minerals for its development. Thankfully, La Muerte apparently used some kind of magic on it to protect it. If she hadn't…" Asclepius shook his head. "… The little one would have had another luck."
Xibalba froze. Although he was partly relieved that his wife and while were okay, the idea that the baby could have died made him feel even more guilty. He was relieved La Muerte had used the spell Isis had given her, it had saved the child's life, but nevertheless he couldn't think on the possibility. Xibalba rubbed his temples in dread. "Dios mío… I can't believe this…" he looked down at the physician with a worried but serious expression. "Can the baby be saved?"
Asclepius nodded. "With necessary care and treatment, it has a change to survive."
"What can I do?"
"Right now, La Muerte needs to recover all the lost minerals for the baby. She will need lots of fruits and vegetables, and I will prescript her a special tea that will strengthen the fetus, but she needs lots of rest." Asclepius looked up at Xibalba grimly. "The most important thing, understand that she cannot get upset or be put under too much stress, the fetus wouldn't bear it."
Xibalba nodded solemnly. "I understand."
"I'll leave your servants the recipe for the tea. La Muerte should wake up soon; you may talk to her, but do not upset her, is that clear?"
"Crystal clear."
As Asclepius walked down the hall, Xibalba walked into his room and closed the doors behind him, heading over to bed. La Muerte was still unconscious, but Asclepius had put some alcohol and gauzes on her scratches, and anti-inflammatory ointment on her bruises. He noticed her hands had not left her abdomen; even unconscious, she did everything to protect her little one. Xibalba placed his staff aside and sat down in the edge of the bed, laying down on his side next to his wife and pulling her close, staring adoringly at her as he reached out to hold her hand.
"Please hang on, mi amor…" he whispered, stroking his cheek tenderly with his left hand. "I know you can do it, you are one of the strongest women I've ever met… Do it for our baby…" his right hand rested on her abdomen. It had already started to grow, even if faintly, she was nearing the third month, he had read that the baby practiced breathing at this stage, but she wouldn't hear until much later. Still, he directed his next words at his unborn baby. "There, there, it's okay, pequeño… You and your mami are going to be okay, I promise. I won't let anything happen to either of you."
He waited, holding his wife close and stroking her head with all the love in his heart, covering her with his wing to make her feel safe.
