Finding What's Important
Chapter 5: Sinister Plans of the Wicked
As we stepped inside the Ant Tunnel, surprisingly, we saw there were many, many more people than we had expected. Looking around warily, just incase the monsters were going to ambush us, we spreaded out into two groups, Seiji with me, and Oreos with Tori. Seiji and I headed down more, while Oreos and Tori covered the top, annihilating every monster near them, and sometimes picking up what was left of them, and the money they dropped.
Seiji often times "healed" the undead mushrooms to death (which I always thought was odd), while I stood on a safe platform, firing precise arrows at horned and zombie mushrooms alike. A zombie mushroom looked prepared to jump at me, but suddenly stopped, and turned around, hopping away as fast as it could. This confused me, but soon I figured it out.
It's because of my… "necromantic" aura, isn't it…? But I didn't pay much heed to it, and continued to launch arrows at passing mushrooms.
Die, mushrooms, die, I thought bluntly, watching two of my Double Shot arrows embed itself into a horned mushroom's head. I began to observe Seiji kill the mushrooms with his Magic Claw attack. He flashed with blue for just a moment while he lashed at mushrooms with his red whip, causing two almost identical blue claw marks to slice through the enemy with ease.
All of a sudden, there was a loud popping noise, beginning to echo about the cavern. There were several more popping noises, and everyone froze, just to listen to the sounds. And then…
An explosion, from the far end of the tunnel.
A huge reddish-white cloud erupted from the end of the tunnel, and the people inside there started screaming, some in pain as they were caught in the death cloud, and some in fear and panic of the sudden detonation. I began yelling out too.
"Seiji! Tori!" I shouted out, not really bothering to yell for Oreos. I promptly noticed the explosion coming at me fast, but my legs didn't move. They weren't responding to the frantic demands of my brain. There was no way I could get out of this now. I felt a hand latch onto mine, and noticed it was Seiji. He turned to me, and shouted out his words over the screaming.
"Listen, Sora! We've got to stop this thing, so concentrate your energy into making a shield! A shield that will protect everyone else from that blast!"
I nodded to him numbly, but determinedly. I turned back to the growing result of a detonation, and began to focus hard.
I bring together the powers of necromancy to raise up a shield of darkness, calling upon the strength of the wise undead to reinforce it!
I ran the thought over and over again in my head, and felt a large sensation of power grow within me, rising and rising, almost spilling over the top.
The large wings of a demon rose from my back once more, lifting high into the air as if also making a shield. Out from the corner of my scarlet-tinted eyes, beautiful, majestic angel's wings burst from Seiji's back, small drops of crimson blood sliding off the glossy, silky feathers, dripping soundlessly onto the floor.
I felt a sudden burst of energy flare up all around me, creating a huge, black-tinted force shield. Seiji's bright, pure, white shield also flared up, covering up as much space as did mine. Together, our shields protected the rest of the cavern from top to bottom, side to side. Gritting my teeth and closing my eyes, I waited for the impact.
"So… she's the one." a voice rasped from the seclusions of a shadowed corner in a dimly light room. Another individual in the room nervously nodded, eyes darting about the room timidly.
"Hmm… having her there and the illumancer just isn't going to work." the voice mused, turning two thoughts over and over in his head.
Capture them both, or kill them?
Finally, he came up with the first unanimous decision.
"I want you and your assassins to acquire the necromancer, and send the illumancer a letter. I want to see how far he'll go to save the girl," the voice derided.
"Y-yes, sir Demtatrin, I'll see to it immediately sir, good day sir!" the second person mumbled hurriedly. He whipped open the door and ran out, shutting the door behind him tightly.
Whew, I'm glad I'm out of there, thought the man walking down the hallway.
That, and I'm happy I made it out without my intestines being ripped out, he thought with a shudder.
To obtain the necromancer girl, he either had to get a team of assassins to take her away, or get his best assassin to do the job. But he had been notified of what the girl did to the last assassin he sent to capture her, and it wasn't pretty, from what he had recalled.
I guess I'll just have to get the team to get her. And with that thought, the man turned to a set of ominous, black double doors and forged past, as if an evil entity bent on kidnapping a necromantic girl was forcing him to do so.
I felt a powerful, powerful force slam into me, and I grunted in pain, straining my leg muscles just to keep standing. The blast wrestled with Seiji and me for a moment, a mighty energy explosion almost matching the power of our shields we were trying to withhold.
Many, many pairs of eyes were watching us, watching us the whole time in intense awe, though I paid no attention to them, focusing entirely on the explosion trying to dominate us with its sheer force.
I will not… I will not let this… I can't let this happen! I will fight. And I will fight hard, to save myself… and others. Others who don't deserve to die.
I strained, and I could see the pain in Seiji's eyes as well. I pushed back with all my might, and saw Seiji doing the same, also pushing back with all of the strength he had left. I realized, feeling cold all over, that we would not be able to hold this back for much longer. Slowly, I raised my hand into the air.
"Sora! Sora, w-what are you d-doing?!" Seiji muttered through his gritted teeth.
"I'm doing what I have to do," I mumbled, closing my eyes again, and slowly, slowly chanted a spell. Growing louder and louder, with each passing word I repeated again and again.
Dark purple runes formed and swirled about me, brightening up with every word, and glowing more brilliantly with every syllable in my chant. My eyes became tinged with a more purple color, overriding the once red hue.
"Dark Inhale," I breathed calmly. What looked like a shadowed portal opened up before me, controlled by raising my hand. I inhaled deeply, and the portal began to literally suck up the blast, which was now disappearing little by little into the portal. I suddenly felt a searing pain in my controlling arm, as if a line of fire was tracing across it. I gritted my teeth hard, trying to douse the pain, but I knew that if I let my concentration stray, the people left in this tunnel would not survive. More and more strands of fire ran across my arm, as if drawing a pattern, all the while I was trying to hold it in.
Look, Sora, the blast is almost gone. Keep holding it for longer, and everything will be okay. Don't let go of your concentration…
It was true; there were very little remains of the once-powerful explosion. And soon, the blast was gone. Completely, without a single trace left of it. I drew in a sharp gasp, and let my shield down. Tired from exhausting too much power, I collapsed on the cold, hard floor of the Ant Tunnel.
"Is she still alive?" I heard quiet murmurs all around me, but didn't bother to open up my eyes.
"I've never seen such power before," a voice mused. There were quiet sighs of agreement.
"But she did save us all from certain death." Another voice spoke. More agreements.
I wonder who's talking about me… I suppose they could be the spectators of the "Ant Tunnel Incident", I thought sarcastically.
Feigning just-waking-up, my eyes fluttered open lazily. Before me was Seiji, but also many others, standing around me, watching me intently.
"Wow, so she isn't dead." I heard a voice say excitedly.
"Of course I'm not dead. If I wasn't, I wouldn't be awake right now." I said skeptically. I heard a squeaking sound.
"Eeep! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" I snorted with breif laughter.
"There isn't anything to be sorry about." I said coolly. Groggily, I hopped out of the soft, white bed of the sauna slowly. I turned to Seiji briefly.
"Umm… Seiji? Where's my bow?" I asked, eyes scanning the sauna for any signs of it. Seiji let out a soft 'oh', and said,
"I've got it in my pack, but… it's really scratched up. Like… really, really scratched up," he mumbled.
"I see… gimme the bow anyways. I want to see if I can fix it." I said. Seiji opened up his pack, and pulled out the unruly bow. Seiji was right; it was badly disfigured, with scratches and scorch marks all over it.
"Crap," I muttered. It looked like I would need a new bow.
But then, something in my head clicked.
What about my arm…? The pain of it… I wonder if anything appeared on it.
I took a peek at my right arm, and gasped.
Glowing with a deep ominous blood red, on my arm, was an insignia. In the insignia, there was a detailed image of a scythe, trailing along the length of my arm. I fingered the scar gently, and was surprised to realize that it felt as if it were carved into my skin. People were peeking over other people's shoulders to see what was happening.
This can't be… the… the Shadow Crest mark? I thought, confused.
Well… from here, there's only one way to find out. I forged past everyone with haste, drawing along a crowd with me, following me like I was the leader of them all.
Stepping outside, trying to be secluded from the others, I began to mutter an incantation.
If I do this correctly, I'll be able to bring forth the Shadow Crest whenever I want to.
The scar on my arm began to burn with intensity, lighting up everything around me with a bright red light. Crimson runes began to dance about my arm, soon sinking into the image of the scythe. I felt a power grow within me, and I reached out for it. I closed my eyes. And, slowly but surely, I felt a nimble weight in my right hand. I opened up my eyes, and in my hand, was the Shadow Crest scythe.
Now, if you recognize it, it was the same scythe that appeared before me when that bitchy NX girl made fun of me. Ah, memories from not too long ago. Although, then, it was summoned because I was extremely angry. Now that I had finished the incantation, I could bring it forth just by thinking about it, and letting it disappear just by willing it to. Also, the appearance of the Shadow Crest also came with cool red-tinged eyes.
I blinked, and swung the scythe, just to test the heaviness of it. It was rather light, in contrast to its large size.
I guess I'll go test it out, then, I thought, smiling to myself mysteriously.
"She has the scythe already… she isn't as foolish as I thought." Demtatrin Rizhet mused to himself, dark eyes blazing with strong intensity.
It doesn't matter though, he thought darkly to himself, eyes briefly shining with a shadowy glint.
She'll be mine, soon enough. And the illumancer will watch me kill her. Demtratin's eyes flashed once more, before he retreated to the numb comforts of darkness.
AHAHAHA this chapter is finished, people. Although it was shorter than the rest, I used my spare time to type this up, which I didn't have much of, and so… yeah. I sincerely thank those people who read this and review; it really lets me know that you like it and will take some of your time to leave a review :D
By the way, one-sama, if you're reading this, don't kill me for not loving Oreos oO