Chapter 16: The Tunnels of Sin
Firedude: Alright I'll squeeze one more chapter out before vacation. No guarantee you'll like how it ends though.
FireemblemPRO: I'm glad all your questions were answered. And as for the Elilyn… I'll think about it over vacation.
Mystic Omega: You're shocked? Hooray! My mission is complete!
CHIEF91592 (): Thanks Chief maybe I will.
Disclaimer: I do not own fire emblem or any of its characters. I only own Chikage, Alderoffe, Shadow, Quill, Onimaru, Inomaru, Yuan, Vren, Marco, Dopple Ganger, Girfu, Ziroka, Alicia, Marie, Kain, and Lean. Kota, Gustaph, Mystic, Tyrana, Zega Verdan, Nord and Tryst belong to friends and fans.
Firedude: Ready? Set? On with the show!
They had only two weeks left to make it to Ostia. The group was quiet for the most part on their trip. They were about a three days trip from the tournament, but were in a hurry because of the multiple dangers that there now were. They did their best to avoid towns so not to draw publicity. They decided to take an alternate route through a nearby mountain pass. It would add an extra day onto their trip, but they had to do it. For a portion of the pass they had to go through the mountain. It was then Mystic confronted Mark about something on his mind.
"Hey Mark, I've been meaning to ask you something."
"Yes Mystic?"
"Well it's just-." Just then the walls of the cavern began to shake and the soldiers panicked. Hector then shouted and made the situation worse. "Cave in!" Everyone ran full speed to the end of the cave. Just when a majority of people had made it out Rocks fell and covered the exit. This left Mark, Lyn, Tyrana, Wil, Zega, Mystic, Fiora, Kota, Shadow, Florina, Nino, Vren, and Yuan trapped inside. They quickly tried to run back the other way when more rocks fell near the other end.
It then became completely dark. They all packed together near the center trying to figure out what was going on. They all sat down and tried to start a fire, but to no avail. Florina and Nino sat close together out of fear of what was in the dark. Tyrana hung her head. "Great we're all going to suffocate!" Fiora stood up and tried to calm everyone down. "Calm down everyone I'm sure that-." Fiora then whipped around and slapped Mystic. "Stop touching me!" Mystic tried to block the barrage of punches while trying to get out a reply. "How do you know it was me?"
"Because you're the only one who would try to take advantage of a girl in the dark!" Mystic thought for a second. "Good point." Yuan tapped his torch staff on the ground and created light. "…If you're all quite done… I would like to leave now…" Tyrana stood up and yelled in frustration. "Just how are we going to do that?" Kota shot multiple ki blasts into the rocks blocking the exit, but failed. "I'm not even making a dent and I don't have enough energy to keep this up." Yuan looked over towards him. "…Are you done…?" Kota nodded and walked back into the circle.
Vren looked over at Shadow. "Can't you just teleport us outside the cave using shadows?" Shadow gave him a stern look. "First of all I can't transport this many people. Second there are no shadows outside to transport into. Its still morning so by the time darkness comes we will probably have suffocated." Vren sighed. "Sorry I'm so ignorant Dracula." Shadow gave him a glare and continued thinking. Yuan tapped his torch staff on the floor to get everyone's attention.
"If you don't mind I have a solution to all this." Tyrana practically shouted. "What is it then?" Yuan pointed his staff towards a third cave passage. Tyrana laughed nervously and apologized. They all peered inside the cave and saw nothing but darkness. Mark began to limp down the path. "Mark, where are you going?" Mark turned back towards Lyn and called back. "Unless you have another idea I see no choice!" They all looked at each other and followed.
They eventually made it to another room, but this one was man made and had seven tunnels. They found multiple skeletons spread across the floor missing limbs. They all were battle ready, but obviously lost. They looked around the room and saw a man sitting under a wine rack. He had a bottle of wine in his hand and at least twenty empty bottles scattered around him. He had shoulder length green hair and Sacaen clothes. He had a black cloak draped over his shoulders and he kept repeating and repeating something. Mark approached him first. "Are you alright sir?" The man didn't even look up at him. "No…" Mark sat down next to him just as the torch staff went out. Yuan tapped it on the wall and tried to turn it back on, but to no avail.
Mark tapped the man on the shoulder. "Is there something wrong sir?" The man turned and looked Mark straight in the eyes. He grabbed his collar and pulled him up close so he could whisper in Mark's ear. When Mark got close he realized that the man was actually in his twenties and not that old at all. The man then whispered. "Yes… I won't die..." Mark was shocked by what he had heard and stumbled back. The man laughed and then stood up. "My name is Tryst, let me tell my story."
Hector and the others were working furiously to get boulders out of the way, however there were way too many and everyone was getting tired. Eliwood punched the rocks. "Why won't it open?" Gustaph walked up to the cave and took a good look. "Could the legend be true…?" They all turned towards Gustaph. "What do you mean?" questioned Hector.
"Long ago there was a master and apprentice druid who resided here. The master Nord was an alchemist who sought immortality and just used the student to create the potion. But before he could drink it the student killed him and drank the potion. It was then he realized just how much blood him and his master had spilled creating the potion. He fell into deep depression and tried to kill himself. However he wouldn't die, so he spent years in the cavern studying alchemy. Many greedy people came and tried to take the potion for themselves, but anyone who did was killed by the student."
The whole entire army had their jaws dropped after he had finished. Hector then yelled in his face. "Why didn't you say anything about that before?" Gustaph smiled. "You never asked." Hector grunted in frustration. Gustaph patted him on the shoulder and continued. "It's just a legend I'm sure it's not true."
Tryst had just finished telling the same exact story that Gustaph was telling getting the same reaction from the group. Mark recovered from the shock first and spoke. "…Is that true?" Tryst took a swig of wine. "Well most of it. I am the student, but the people who came in search of the potion killed themselves from insanity." They all looked at each other. "Insanity?" questioned Lyn. Tryst pointed to the seven tunnels.
"Behold my master Nord's last invention. The tunnels of sin. Each tunnel has a different sin and at the end of the tunnels is the potion. The warriors all died of insanity from the sins."
"Why didn't they all just do down the same path?" questioned Yuan. Tryst took another swig of wine and continued. "There are runes at the end of each tunnel they all must be touched at once to get in the chamber." Yuan thought it over and spoke again. "Is there an exit in the chamber?"
"Of course, why?"
"The other two exits have been blocked off." replied Yuan. Tryst rubbed his head and got up. "I guess it's time to leave then" they all walked towards the tunnels except for Zega. They all turned back towards him. "Are you coming Zega?" asked Mark. Zega gripped the handle of the Mui Tai and whipped it out. In the blink of an eye he had his blade up against Tryst's throat.
"You were the one who did it!" They had all drawn their in case Zega tried to kill him. "What are you talking about?" questioned Kota. Zega's hand shook a little. "The people him and Nord kidnapped for experiments… some of them were my parents!" He took a swing at Tryst who took the swing to the face. He stood back up and the wound healed instantly. "Strike me as much as you want if it will make you feel better. I'm not proud of what I did…" Zega took more violent strikes at Tryst.
Each time he healed automatically. Zega then became tired and couldn't attack anymore. "Are you done?" questioned Tryst. Zega tried to attack again, but fell to the ground. "…Y-You took everything from me. My family… my home… my place of nobility… everything!" He struggled to stand back up. "…But I suppose I must let my grudge go until we make it out…"
They all sheathed their weapons and walked to the entrance of the caves. Mark looked up at the tunnels and questioned Tryst. "So how do we know which is in which tunnel?" Tryst stood in front of the group. "We don't. We split up into groups go through the cave and touch the runes at the ends of the cave." Tryst turned to all of them before they left. "The sin may not affect you but be careful regardless." They all then broke up into groups and then left through their tunnel.
In the first tunnel Yuan and Zega walked through the tunnel. Yuan walked at a faster pace than Zega though for an unknown reason. Yuan turned and called back to Zega. "Why are you moving so slow Zega?" Zega tried to quicken his pace. "I think we are in the tunnel of sloth…" He then yawned and fell over onto the ground. "I feel so lazy… I don't think I can go on…" Yuan went back and picked him up onto his back. "Why aren't you being affected by the tunnel…?"
"My training as a priest allows me to resist sins." Zega remained silent for a few minutes. "So… you're a priest?" Yuan nodded and kept walking. "How do you forgive someone for killing your family…?" He remained silent for a few seconds. "Figure it out…" Zega grunted in frustration. "SKREEEEEE!" Yuan was so surprised by the screech that he threw Zega off his shoulders. "What the hell was that?" Giant spiders then began running at them from the opposite end of the tunnel. They quickly got out their weapons regardless of Zega's laziness. Zega and Yuan were practically surrounded. Zega had trouble holding his sword. "This is juuuuust great!"
Yuan took out the staff of life and drained energy out of multiple spiders, while Zega lugged the Mui Tai around trying to slice the spiders in half. They ambushed Zega from behind and landed on his back pinning him on the ground. Yuan whipped out a shine tome and blasted the spiders off his back. Zega got up and gripped Mui Tai tightly. You're all going down pests!"
He raised the sword in the air and a black mist floated from it and began to take the form of a black dragon. Zega fell to his knees and yawned. "Mui Tai will handle it from here…" He then fell to the ground and fell asleep. Mui Tai then let out a mighty roar and began to barbeque all the spiders.
In the second tunnel Florina and Nino walked side by side at a quick pace. "So what sin do you think it is in this one?" Asked Florina. "I'm not sure…" Nino then thought of something. "I think this is the pride tunnel…"
"What makes you say that?"
"I just feel proud of myself all of a sudden… I'm so much better than you!" Florina all of a sudden took on the same attitude as Nino. "I'm a thousand times better than you!" Nino then replied proudly. "At least I'm not afraid of everything!" Florina replied in the same way. "Well I can kick your ass in any competition!"
"Oh yeah well I bet I can touch the rune first!" They both sped down the tunnel trying to get to the rune first. Moments later they came running back screaming. Close behind them on their heels was a horde of giant spiders. Suddenly they stopped drew their weapons and whipped around. Florina spoke in a fierce voice. "I bet I can kill more than you!" Nino made a small laugh. "You can't hit the broad side of a barn!"
Nino froze a bunch of them with the Fimblevetr tome while Florina shattered them to pieces with her iron lance. Nino casted Elfire and burned another swarm of them to a crisp. In a fury, Florina sliced another dozen in half. The spiders, realizing how they were getting slaughtered, dug holes in the ground and escaped. Nino laughed triumphantly. "I told you I could kill more!" She turned around to see Florina was already running towards the rune. Nino cried out in frustration and chased after her.
In tunnel three Tyrana and Wil walked through the cave arguing over Zantetzugen. "Why can't I use Zantetzugen Tyrana?" Tyrana was getting frustrated with him. "Because it's the tunnel of greed and besides it's mine!" Wil grumbled under his breath and continued walking. Suddenly Giant spiders began to pour into the tunnel. Tyrana immediately began to kill any spider that came too close to her. "A little help would be appreciated Wil!"
"I refuse to move…" Tyrana cursed under her breath. "Fine I'll give you Zantetzugen if you help me!" Wil laughed a little and notched an arrow. "Now we're talking!" Wil rapidly shot arrows decimating the spider army. Tyrana raised Zantetzugen into the air and shouted. "Zantetzugen!" The sword emitted a light blue aura and she was gone instantly. She moved at hyper speeds killing large groups of spiders. Like in the pride cave the spiders frantically retreated.
Wil and Tyrana were on the ground panting after their exhausting battle. Wil staggered to his feet trying to say something. "I-I want Zantetzugen n-!" Wil was cut off Tyrana giving him a quick kiss on the lips. Tyrana giggled and whispered in his ear. "Thanks Wil…" She left him standing there speechless as she walked away. Phew! Thank god I got that out of my system!
In the fourth tunnel Kota and Shadow were fighting the urge to kick the crap out of each other. Kota was trying to stop himself from whipping out his nunchaku. Why did I have to go with Shadow in the wrath tunnel! It's not any different I always want to kick his ass, but now I can't fight it. They both stopped and raised their fists and punched at each other. They stopped an inch away from each other's faces when they heard a high pitched screech. Giant spiders all poured into the cave. They looked at each other and smiled. Shadow laughed to himself. "I'll deal with you later…" they whipped around and began beating the hell out of the spiders.
Kota covered his fists in ki energy and shouted. "Mantis leap!" He jumped into a crowd of spiders and slammed his fist into the ground causing a ki explosion. Shadow pulled out his knife and multiplied butchering multiple spiders. Kota smacked around the nearby spiders with his spiked gauntlets. Shadow and Kota butchered every spider in the cave. By the end of the battle they were covered in spider blood, but it didn't satisfy their anger. They turned to each other to fight, but were out of energy. So they decided to just crawl to the rune.
In the fifth tunnel Mystic was about to die of annoyance. Fiora wouldn't shut up. "How I can't cast spells without a tome? I want to cast spells! How come you can drink alcohol? I want to drink alcohol! How come-?" Mystic couldn't take it any more. "Look Fiora I know it's not your fault, but please try to fight the envy!" Fiora stared at him horrifyingly. Mystic waved a hand in front of her face to try to break her out of her trance. "S-S-S-S-Spiders!" she screamed and ran down the tunnel screaming. Mystic stood there stupefied. What's her problem? He turned around to see an army of spiders behind him. He freaked out and fired a gigantic Silva spell turning all of them to silver.
Fiora came back to find Mystic curled up on the ground. "Mystic are you okay? I only have one thing to say to you." Mystic stood up and glared at her. "Oh really? What?"
"How come you get to freak out and kill all the spiders? I wanted to kill all of them!" Mystic not being able to take it anymore sprinted towards the rune, with an envious Fiora right on his heels.
In the sixth tunnel Tryst and Vren were dragging themselves across the ground. "I'm so hungry I could eat a cow!" moaned Vren. "Why did we have to get the gluttony tunnel?" Tryst ignored Vren and continued dragging himself. "I'm so hungry I could eat a horse."
"I'm so hungry I could eat a dragon!"
"I'm so hungry I could eat a year's worth of food!"
"I'm so hungry…!" Tryst looked over at Vren. "I…I… could eat you!" Tryst bit Vren's shoulder just to be punched in the face. They began to wrestle each other trying to bite the other one. Just then a horde of spiders emerged from the ground. They starred at the spiders. Vren began speaking. "I'm so hungry…" Then Tryst finished. "…I could eat a group of huge spiders!" They leaped onto the horde of spiders.
Warning this next scene was censored due to vicious eating of huge spiders. I know you probably wanted to see it, but really do you want to see a couple of crazed lunatics eat spiders? ...Come to think of it that would be pretty cool! Awww crap! It's over!
Vren and Tryst sat on a pile of huge dead spiders with massive stomach aches. "I guess I should've of eaten that last one." said Tryst. "I've got to get out of here!" cried Vren running to the rune with Tryst.
In the last tunnel Lyn and Mark walked through the cave with nothing eventful happening. Lyn finally broke the silence after a few minutes. "So what sin do you think is our tunnel is?" Mark shrugged and kept limping through the cave. "I don't know. I'm prepared for any thing thrown at me." Suddenly Lyn stopped in her tracks. Mark turned around to see what had stopped her. His eyes shot open wide. Lyn was walking towards her with a mischievous grin. She whispered in Mark's ear in a seductive voice. "Why are you in such a hurry Mark? Won't you come rest with me for a while?" She began to pull Mark towards the wall of the tunnel. What the hell is she doing? ... Wait a minute! Oh my god! I'm in the lust tunnel with Lyn! Mark tried to pull free of her grip on him, but to no avail. "Lyn we're in the lust tunnel! Please control yourself!"
"Only if you promise to relax with me for a bit." Mark blushed furiously. "Something tells me you don't have relaxing on your mind…" Just then Mark heard a rumbling a hundred spiders. "Uhh…Lyn…"
"Yes Mark?"
"Could you let go of my arm so I can fight the horde of spiders about to eat us!"
"Maybe in a little…" Mark was thinking frantically of a way to get out of this, when he came up with an idea. "Hey Lyn the spiders don't want us to…er… relax." Lyn instantly let go of Mark and pulled out both kattis. "I'll slaughter you all!" Lyn began to dissect all of spider at a horrifying rate. By the time Lyn was done she was covered in spider blood and was in a frenzy. She calmed down and turned around to find Mark ran ahead to the rune. "Wait come back!"
Some how all of them had touched the runes and made it into the safety of the cavern. In the center of the room on a pedestal was the immortality potion. The sins no longer had an affect on them in the room. They were all pretty much unconscious on the floor by the time they got there. Mark yelled at Tryst in frustration. "You never mentioned giant spiders would be in the caves!" Tryst Scratched the side of his face and laughed. "Sorry I guess I forgot." They all sighed at the late mention of this. Mark walked up to the pedestal and saw behind it was another tunnel. He sighed and turned back to the rest of the group. "I don't think any of us have the energy to travel any more so we will set up camp here. Everyone made a sigh of relief and made their tents right away.
Everyone was pretty much in bed right away except for Mark and Tryst who sat up in their tent drinking whiskey. Tryst had drunk about twice as much as Mark and wouldn't stop drinking. Mark looked at all the empty bottles and looked back at Tryst. "You sure are a heavy drinker aren't you?" Tryst remained silent form a while. "No matter how much I drink I can't drown my sorrows…" He took another swig of whiskey and went silent again. Mark was quiet for a few minutes. There are a few things you're not telling us about you… what else about you are you not telling us?" He remained silent for a second. "Well I'm really seventy…"
"That's not surprising since you're immortal, but that's not all is it?" Tryst sighed and his eyes filled with despair as he sighed. He put his hands over his eyes and finished his bottle of whiskey. Mark put his hand on his shoulder. "I was right wasn't I? You don't have to tell me."
"No I should get it off my chest." He leaned back trying to think of the words he was going to say. "Well I…" suddenly there was a knock on the outside of the tent. Lyn came in and sat down with them. "Umm…hi." She looked over at Tryst. "Could you excuse us Tryst? I want to speak with Mark in private." He nodded and left the tent. She turned back to Mark and avoided eye contact. "Listen Mark… I'm sorry about what happened in the tunnel… I saw what was happening, but I couldn't control myself." Mark smiled and handed her some whiskey. "It's okay Lyn." Lyn looked him in the eyes and smiled she sipped the whiskey and left. She went to the edge of the camp and started to think a little.
She saw a shadow approach her she whipped around and drew both swords. To her surprise it was Tryst. "I'm sorry Tryst you stuck up on me."
"No it's ok I'm sorry. Lyn if it's alright with you I would like to tell you something." The two of them sat down as Tryst spoke. "My story was kind of in complete. Before I sealed myself inside of this mountain studying alchemy I returned to Sacae to visit my tribe. To ask for forgiveness for my sins as it was traditional, but when I returned my tribe had been decimated. Lyn sympathized for him. "I'm sorry. My tribe was destroyed too." Tryst laughed and shook his head. "Lyn that's just the thing. I'm from the Lorca tribe!" Lyn was absolutely shocked to hear this, but before she had time to say anything Mystic shouted. "The potion is gone!"
Firedude: Well that should keep you busy until I get back. Please read and review.