10

Ritual in the South

"I knew we must have passed down through the mountain and beneath the earth of Kingsport itself, and I shivered that a town should be so aged and maggoty with subterraneous evil." – H. P. Lovecraft, "The Festival"

A ways southeast of Arkham, Takeru and Iori found themselves at the foot of a high clifftop jutting out over the sea. There was no path leading to the top, and the way was choked with high grass, weeds, and trees. They could see that it was crowned with a Dark Tower. To one side of this sea cliff was a small town built on hilly land, its streets narrow and shadowy like those of Arkham. The tops of several additional Dark Towers could be seen above the town's roofs.

"We're in the right place," Takeru observed, his face stony.

Iori glanced at him, his own expression studiedly inscrutable. Takeru had been subdued lately, not as cheerful as typical, but that was only to be expected. Iori was looking for anger, the prequel to the rage he had seen during the creation of Chimairamon and the battles with BlackWarGreymon. There was no sign of it yet.

But although Iori couldn't detect it, it was there. Takeru's dream on the second night had been different from the first night's visions. Both had been threats against someone he cared about. The second dream had been about his partner. Angemon had been in pain. Something terrible was happening, but he wasn't allowed the relief of deletion. There had been someone standing nearby. This second being Takeru could not imagine clearly, not that he had tried very hard, being so focused on his agonized partner. He only sensed that this second person was both dark and… what? Suffering too, Takeru sometimes thought, but could not be sure.

"What should we do, dagyaa?" Armadimon asked.

"Should we split up?" Patamon wondered.

"I think it would be better to stay together," Iori said. Takeru, looking at his partner, nodded his agreement.

"We'll destroy the one on the cliff first," he said.

"Looks like there are no guards here, either," Pegasmon observed as he and Digmon brought the cliff's Dark Tower down.

"Be careful, anyway," Takeru said. Raising his voice, he called out to Iori and Digmon below. "Let's drop down to the town. I can see four other Dark Towers from here."

Pegasmon dived and Digmon jumped from the side of the cliff, his wings slowing his descent. Once they got closer to the town they could see that it was apparently in much the same condition as Arkham: recently inhabited but mysteriously abandoned. Where could everyone have gone? Takeru wondered. The image of the previous night's dream came to him.

"Gold Rush!"

"Silver Blaze!"

Within minutes the town was clear of Dark Towers.

"Are there any more?" Iori wondered. He pulled out his D-Terminal. The device had a function which tracked distortion in the Digital World. A single Dark Tower did not cause a great enough distortion for the D-Terminal to pick it up, but it could reveal the location of a group of them. And according to the D-Terminal, there was still a group here.

"That's odd," said Takeru, who was looking at the same thing. Iori thought for a second.

"Could they be underground?"

"That's probably it, but how do we find them?" Takeru said. After a moment's silence he thought of a possible solution. "Do you think one of these hills is hollow? Maybe there's an entrance somewhere."

"I could dig into it, dagyaa," Digmon suggested.

"No," Iori said. "We don't want to cause a cave-in."

They would have to scour the town in order to find it, but weren't in any particular hurry (though everyone had a vague wish to get done with the task at hand in case the others should need them).

They decided to try first the largest of the hills, which stood at the center of the town. It was crowned with a small graveyard, and they were lucky enough to find the entrance they were looking for. One of the graves yawned open. Graves in general were something of an odd thing to have in the Digital World, where nothing except fish left a body behind after death. This one, however, actually served a purpose. There were stairs leading down into the earth, the walls of the stairway dimly lit at intervals by electrical torches with no visible power source.

"It doesn't look like a very nice place," Armadimon said.

"I wish our evolved forms could fit down there," said Patamon.

"Dagyaa."

"We don't have a choice," Takeru said, grimacing.

They began the descent. The stairs were wide enough for a human and partner to walk side by side. Takeru and Patamon were in front, Iori and Armadimon in back. The stairs did not descend straightly; there were many twists and turns. They continued walking for what seemed like an eternity, the earthen walls eventually giving way to solid rock.

At last, however, the stairs came to an end. A tunnel stretched before them, eventually ending in an archway leading to a larger room. As the group approached, they began to hear voices. Apparently a number of beings were gathered in the room, which must be of decent size to contain them all. Takeru motioned the others to be quiet, and they stealthily approached, looking into the room.

The chamber was huge, with a domed ceiling. A number of Witchmon stood around a large fire, chanting in a language the eavesdroppers didn't recognize. Among them the Chosen could see the black-clad leader they had encountered in Arkham. Five Dark Towers stood in a pentagon formation around the fire. As the Witchmon in red continued their ritual, the one in black looked up and gave her usual cackle.

"I know you're there," she said. "Here are the Dark Towers you've come to destroy."

The four invaders stepped out into the room, the humans holding their D-3s.

"Digimental Up!"

"Patamon, Armor Evolve!…Soaring Hope, Pegasmon!"

"Armadimon, Armor Evolve!...Steel Knowledge, Digmon!"

Even as the Digimon began to glow with the light of evolution, however, the five Dark Towers began to give out a cold blue light of their own, and the fire sunk low. A symbol traced itself in the air in blue flame, something like a five-pointed star with an eye in the center. As the symbol faded, a form materialized in the center of the room, hovering just above the dying flames. The features were indistinct, but they could tell that it had bat-like wings, and two horns like those of a ram.

"I will be your opponent," it said. Takeru and Pegasmon gaped in horrified amazement. They recognized that rasping voice. Devimon had once killed Takeru's partner, but the owner of this voice had, in a way, killed human and Digimon both.

"Takeru-san?" Iori looked at his friend, wondering why he didn't act.

Eventually Takeru found his voice, speaking not to Iori but to the thing over the fire.

"Who are you?" The creature nodded before replying.

"I am Mephismon, formed from the surviving data of Apocalymon. I have forgotten much, but I remember you, the Chosen Children. I sense that I have been called out of the dark to destroy you. This I will do."

"Apo…calymon?" Iori had heard the name before, and could hardly believe what he was hearing. Takeru had recovered somewhat by now, and was resolved. Whether or not it was truly the ghost of Apocalymon didn't matter. What they had to do was unchanged. The situation looked grim, but they were used to that by now.