Chapter 9

"I see light up ahead!" Rayman said. He could remember coming through here. He couldn't remember much, but he could remember Tempistus in spider form chasing behind him and he could remember going this way.

The light came from a square of light in the back wall of the tunnel. It didn't turn left or right, it was a dead end.

---

The spider was coming after him and his mom. He looked around for an escape and found a path going into the wall above their heads, leading to another tunnel. A climbable surface led to the opening, but he had to jump to get to it.

---

The memory was fuzzy, but accurate. Rayman looked up and saw that there was, in fact, a climbable surface that led to an opening to another tunnel.

"Come on." He jumped and grabbed onto the rocks that stuck out of the wall. He climbed up and into the second tunnel. He stayed behind to make sure D and Neshae got through, then continued.

This tunnel was tall enough for them to run through, which was a good thing, because Tempistus climbed up even faster, being a spider.

"Go! Go! Go! Go! Go!" D pushed Rayman along to make him go faster.

"I see light again." Rayman said. "I hope it's natural this time."

"It is!" D said. "I smell water."

When the tunnel ended, they found themselves outside. They were in a swamp terrain with patches of land sticking up out of the water. Up above them was a blue, cloudy sky. But behind them, instead of a mountain, was a four walled fortress.

"Wasn't that a mountain before?" Neshae asked.

"We're still in the mountain." Rayman said. "I remember this place. He made the inside of the mountain look like his own little world, his house being the fortress within."

The spider followed outside with them.

"In other words, keep going." D pushed them both.

And the chase went on. The limbless people jumped across the water from one piece of land to another. Their only source of navigation was Rayman's slowly returning memory.

When they got across the swamp, they found a river cutting across their path. Next to the river was a hollowed out tree stump.

"This is where I turned around to fight Tempistus." Rayman said. There was a painful memory of his mother stepping between him and Tempistus and getting caught. Then he saw her being devoured by the creature he had turned into. The shock had caused him to fall into the tree stump and discover a tunnel that went under the river. "There's a tunnel in that tree stump. If we go through it--"

He was cut off by a hand suddenly slamming into his back and pinning him to the ground. Two more hands shot out and pinned D and Neshae before they could react.

Rayman looked over his shoulder and saw Tempistus in the form of some other strange creature with the three arms that held them pinned to the ground.

"You won't escape me this time." Tempistus said.

The sorcerer jerked suddenly as if an invisible force had slammed into him. And something had. As it passed him it began to take a white, almost misty form. It ran into Tempistus again, wiggling around in his insides until he let go of the three. Then it approached Rayman and Neshae.

Rayman almost thought he heard the voice of a woman singing a long forgotten lullaby. A piece of the ghost, almost like an arm, reached out and touched Rayman's cheek. A second arm reached out and touched Neshae on the cheek. It was at that moment that Rayman knew who it was.

"Mom?" his eyes began to water.

"Run." the singing voice said. Then the ghost vanished, leaving behind Tempistus.

"Come on!" Neshae said as he climbed into the stump. D pulled Rayman, who was still in shock, away and into the stump. Then he woke up from his trance and followed the others.

Fortunately, Tempistus did not go inside the tunnel with them. Unfortunately, he was able to change into something with wings so they had to hurry to beat him to the other side. They climbed out of a hole on the other side of the river just as Tempistus was landing.

"This way." Rayman said, running in the direction they had been running in before. "There's gonna be a river of lava next with a bridge going across."

Sure enough, after running for a while, they came across a river of lava. The sandy shore closest to it had turned to glass from the heat and shattered in some places. To their right was a volcano that fed the lava river. Across the river, the blue sky turned into a rocky ceiling and then a mountain wall. There was a set of double doors on this wall and just to the right of it, the switch that opened them.

There was only one problem. The bridge had crumbled and fallen in the middle. A little bit of it remained on the side they were on, but had completely fallen on the other side.

"I'll fly you across." Neshae said. "I can only carry one at a time, so who goes first?"

"Fly D across first." Rayman said.

Neshae took hold of D by the waist once again and took off across the lava river. "See ya in a minute." he said.

As Rayman waited for his brother's return, he noticed Tempistus a lot closer than he expected. A lot closer. There wasn't enough time to wait for Neshae. He had to go now.

Rayman ran up the bridge. It was his only chance. He jumped off the edge and spun his hair like a helicopter so he could go farther.

He looked back and saw Tempistus' hand shoot at him. It was just like his dream back at the witch's house: a hand shooting at him from across a river of lava.

He thought he was caught when Neshae flew into him, holding on. The hand flew past harmlessly.

"Thanks." Rayman said.

"That's what I'm here for." Neshae said.

They landed on the ground and all three of them ran for the switch. Most of it had been broken off. There was only a little stub of a lever left.

"I'm going to pull the lever. You guys hold the door when it opens." Rayman told D and Neshae. When they left, he pulled on the lever with all his strength. It had rusted solid.

Slowly, the stub of the lever began to move. It was difficult to hang onto because of its size, but he managed to hang onto it. In the corner of his eye, he saw Tempistus had changed into the flying creature once again, flown over the lava, and was now coming for him. He waited.

When Tempistus was close enough, Rayman let go of the lever and dove to the side. Tempistus flew where Rayman had been and knocked the lever all the way over. The doors flew open and D and Neshae held them in place.

Tempistus flew up to prepare for another attack. Rayman got up and ran for the door.

"Let go of the door!" he yelled when he was halfway there. Tempistus flew at him again, determined not to let his prey escape.

D and Neshae let go of the door and they and Rayman ran through the opening as the doors closed behind them. Tempistus did not get through. He would open the door in a minute, but at least they had a minute to catch their breaths.

As his dream had predicted, the minute Rayman set foot outside the mountain, he went into a trance. Every memory he had before waking up under the palm tree returned to him.

He was a little kid again. His dad was teaching him and Neshae how to play catch in the back yard. Rayman had surprisingly good aim for a kid his age. His dad thought he would for sure follow in his footsteps and become a great hero.

He was a little older now. Their parents had invited friends over and the friends' kids came also. They were older than Rayman and Neshae and wouldn't let them play with them. Neshae took their dad's sword and showed the older kids he was one of the few who could use it. He broke something and they all got in trouble.

He was twelve now. A red haired limbless girl sat on a bench next to him. They talked for a while and then she kissed him. His first kiss. These and many other memories flooded by in seconds.

He relived his thirteenth birthday. Then a few months later, everything went wrong.

The sun rose like blood red fire. A dark villain sent his minions to destroy Rayman's planet. He remembered the stories his father had told him of defeating that same villain and saving the world and knew that revenge was what the villain wanted.

His family ran for the escape pod. His father had suspected this day might come. A few of their friends had taken his advice and prepared as well, for Rayman saw more escape pods flying off into space.

The bad guy's minions were close behind. Rayman's dad turned around to fight and buy his family more time. Rayman would not leave his father's side.

As an act of desperation, Rayman's dad took off his bandanna and handed it to Rayman.

"This bandanna is very important to me." he said. "Your mother gave it to me when we first met to protect me when I saved the world. I need you to keep an eye on it for me. Can you do that?"

Feeling more helpless than he ever had before, Rayman reluctantly nodded. His mother and Neshae pulled him away to the escape pod while his father stayed and fought.

Once in space, some of the minions managed to follow them out. They fired at the pod and hit once. His mother was able to regain control and call for help on the radio. She began to land on an unknown planet.

The pod was hit again and this time, their mother was not able to keep control. They crashed right outside Tempistus' lair and were knocked out.

When Rayman woke from his trance, his heart pounded with a rage he had never known before. For the bad guy who had destroyed his planet, killing his father, and caused his mother to be killed as well, was Mister Dark.

As Tempistus reopened the door, Rayman was ready to get this fight done and over with. Dark and Rayman's father, Baeein, had fought and Baeein had won. Dark had originally wanted to get revenge on just Baeein, but then learned about the prophesy.

One who is not earthen bound, the prophesy had said. Only limbless people were not completely bound to the earth by gravity. Other creatures had to use magic or muscles to fly. But there was another force that allowed limbless people to walk around with their pieces merely floating. They were not earthen bound.

Dark wanted to make sure they would not get in his way, but in the end, sealed his own fate with the prophesy, by killing the hero at dawn. And now Rayman was pissed.

Rayman wound up his fist and shot it at Tempistus. The fist hit his head and surprised him. Rayman took another shot, planting this one into the shape shifter's stomach. He wound up his fist for another blow.

When the fist was shot, Tempistus grabbed it in midair. Rayman felt a shock go through him and as Tempistus threw his hand against the mountain wall, he found he could not detach his hand and was thrown with it.

---

Now it was D's turn to take a shot. She sent her soul arm at Tempistus, but he put up a shield like before.

As he approached D, she decided to try Rayman's attack and wound up her fist. She shot it at Tempistus and he caught it just like he had caught Rayman's.

It was then that D noticed that Tempistus used the same hand to do everything. And in that moment, she found out why.

Tempistus held out his other arm for D to see. There was no hand, just a stub on the arm, caked with scabs.

"You see what you did when you closed that portal on me?" I'm going to show you the same pain." He said.

"Wait a minute." D said. "You're a shape shifter. Couldn't you have just grown a new hand?"

"Only in my fortress. Outside my realm I am forced to keep my original form. But even if I could, that still wouldn't erase the pain I went through when it was sliced off. Your turn"

Tempistus squeezed D's captured hand and both hands were submerged in golden light. Then there was incredible pain as he was magically slicing through D's hand.

---

Rayman's head cleared from flying into the wall just in time to see Neshae jump onto Tempistus' back and bite his neck. D seemed to be missing a hand and was crying out in pain.

Out of the shock from getting bitten, Tempistus let go of D's hand. It returned to her, red and dripping. Tempistus threw Neshae over his shoulder and Rayman wound up his fist. Tempistus had his back to him. He had the advantage.

In the same instant that the fist was launched and D was distracted by her inured hand, Tempistus dove for her and picked her up. Before she could do anything, he took the Snake Cross Amulet from her and tossed her away. The fist flew by harmlessly.

Tempistus saw it and turned around. Seeing that Rayman was back on his feet, he activated the amulet. It glowed more brightly than ever and he vanished.

"Teleportation!" Neshae exclaimed. "This guy can teleport now! How are we going to beat him now?"