My calling

Author: Cornell Valentine Gainsborugh

"Speech"

'Thoughts'

MAKAI! Seperates Paragraphs

Chapter 8: Exploration

Nelius awoke with the rising sun, ready to get his exploration underway. From what he remembered of his mission today, he was to go diving through one of three underwater entranceways which would lead him to beneath the city. From there, he would open the only above ground entrance so Brad's forces would be able to extract the special energy source that was located down there.

'Good thing I can swim.' He thought as he did a few morning stretches, loosening up his tired muscles, including his wings. 'From when I get into the underground area, finding the above ground entrance should be easy.' With his muscles warmed up, he headed out to get a quick beite to eat, as well as suit up for this mission.

MAKAI!

Back in Nelius' home Netherworld, the search for him had hit a big stall. With no leads, the searches felt more like a wild goose chase with each passing day.Needless to say, Sirea was becoming furious, going off into tirades that obliterated several parts of the castle.

"M-mistress Sirea?" A lone thief was the only one brave enough to address her.

"What is it?" She snapped back.

"I.. I found some information on his last seen whereabouts." This new development brought Sirea's temper to a quick stop. "About a day ago, someone from the town of Midnight stated that someone who looked like Nelius entered the RosenQueen Branch. After that, he left the town, heading eastward."

"Good. For once, one of my vassals are actually competent." She turned her head toward a scout who had found a corner to stand in. "Vicks. Send a message to the units I have stationed there." The scout, not wanting to make his Overlord angry, was up and out of the room in the blink of an eye. "As for the rest of you-" She turned back to her other vassals.. "- Don't just stand there! Spread out and continue searching!" In less that two seconds the castle was devoid of any vassals that didn't have a designated job. With them gone, Sirea rose from her throne and stood out on her balcony, which overlooked a great deal of this Netherworld.

"He is a crafty one, isn't he?" Sirea turned around to see a young man with light hair. "He seems to know all of your vices."

"Who do you think you are?" Her temper flared up at seeing this man act so calm. "What business do you have here?"

"Simple. At this rate you're going, you will never, ever be able to find him."

"How do you know that?!" She began to approach him. "Are you withholding information?"

"Why, not at all." He just grinned. "If I was, wouldn't I be shredded to bits just now?"

"Spare me the theatrics; tell me what you know." Her hand went toward an Infernal Blade she kept.

"Oh, just this." He stepped back, allowing his body to fade into the shadow of one of the pillars. "Your search is in vain. By the time you've gotten this message, it'll be far too late for you to do anything."

She withdrew the blade and sliced at him, but she'd been too slow. He simply faded away, the phantom that he was.

MAKAI!

His stomach content, Nelius noticed that he didn't have much that would be appropriate for a swimming mission.

'No problem, I'll just do what I've always done: wing it.'

As he headed over to get his gauntlet (he removed it before he headed to sleep, keeping his A. Knuckle glove on his right hand), he noted that he'd left the window open. It wasn't a very large gap, but someone could've opened it up and easily gotten in.

'No wonder it was so chilly. Better go close that.' As he did so, he heard a knock at his door. "It's open." In walked a Nekomata carrying some kind of box.

"This just came in for you. Speaking of which, does anyone know you're here?" She questioned.

"As far as I know, I'm the only one who knows I'm here. Either way, I'll take that." Taking the box from her and giving a thanks, she left as he opened it up, revealing a white sphere. "What in the... is this someone's idea of a prank?" Enclosed with it was some type of note.

MAKAI!

Nelius,

I hope these days have found you well, for all is not so well here. Sirea has just gained wind of your disappearance, and has been ripping your home Netherworld apart in a bid to find you. Though I cannot comprehend as to why she is after you, I fear that she may be planning to do something rather horrifying.

Enclosed in this package is one of two special artifacts. Although I regret not being able to be here in person to explain its ability, I do have confidence that you will figure out this item's significance.

Uncle D

MAKAI!

"Uncle... D?" Things just kept getting weirder and weirder. Regardless, he had a mission to complete. Nelius pocketed the sphere and stepped out of his room, heading downstairs and outside, where a ship that would function as transport would send him to his location.

"Well, you getting in or what?" The driver of the ship, oddly a Wood Golem, called to him.

"Whoa, never knew Wood Golems could drive." He was quite surprised.

"Don't ask, just get in." With Nelius boarding, the ship was already on its way toward the drop off point.

"Ah, good, you're here." A Ghost greeted Nelius. "I'm here to give you a last minute briefing on what you're supposed to be doing."

"Uh, I already have knowledge on what I need to do." Nelius quickly snapped. "I dive in through the underwater entrance, and from there I head for the above ground door and open it up from there. What more do I need to know?"

"First off, the entrance we're using happens to be the furthest from the city, mostly because it's the only one that doesn't have a powerful underwater current flowing through it. Second off, the underground city may be filled with monsters, so Brad has provided you with this." He handed three items over to the yound demon. "It's a custom made lightweight Majin Armor with a rebreather. Since the underwater passage is quite long, you'll be needing this. Oh, and this watch has a map-creation device, so you can chart the underground area."

"All right." By the time he got it fitted, the ship had stopped at the drop off point, which was on the far east side. "So, this is where I go diving."

"Essentially. I'll not waste anymore time, get going." With that, Nelius climbed onto the roof, then jumped into the water, his rebreather affixing itself onto his mouth.

For a good five minutes, he swam, taking in note of the passage he was swimming through. From what he could ascertain, the land around it had either been eroded away, or had been disrupted by some kind of force, probably fighting. Another fifteen minutes later, he finally broke the surface of the water, looking at the underground city with some help from the demonic sphere he got back on his home Netherworld. There were a few old, ruined buildings down here with nary a creature in sight.

'Bet anything they're in hiding.' He cautiously walked through the ruins, keeping his eyes open for any sights of monsters. Checking the map on his watch, a hologram appeared, showing the relatively small area he'd mapped out. With only the entrance he'd used and the few structures on his map, he had a lot of walking to do. "This is not my day."

Jump ahead two hours later, and he had fleshed out a good amount of the map, finding the other two underwater passages, but still missing the only above ground one.

"There's only one way it could lead upward." Catching on, he started to search around a few of the buildings for any secret buttons, beleiving that many of the taller ones would lead upward. Jump ahead another hour and thirty minutes, and he'd exhausted each one in the area, finding absolutely nothing. "Damn it. Where is that path?" His outburst didn't uncover the path but instead awoke a Great Wyrm, a cousin to the Dragon, who was quite annoyed to be awoken from his nap. Getting up, it scanned the area, seeing the one who woke him up. With a loud, mighty roar, it launched a powerful blast of energy from its mouth, the Astral Burst.

"What was that?" Turning around upon hearing the roar, he had about a second before the blast would incinerate him. Next thing he knew, he was a good twenty meters away from the impact without a single scratch on him. "Did I just..." He didn't have much time to dwell on the situation, mostly because the Wyrm was coming straight for him. With another roar, it launched a gigantic column of flame that rose from the ground, right from beneath Nelius' feet. Bracing himself, it came as quite the surprise when he noticed that he felt the impact from the blast, but was unaffected by the flames. "Wha... how in the world?" Despite this, the Wyrm decided that if its flames wouldn't work, then its fists would, and began running toward Nelius, ready to deliver a punishing blow. Finally uncovered from the flames, Nelius saw the Wyrm charging straight for him, and had in idea in mind. Mere seconds before it could deliver the blow, he flipped backwards, launching himself into the air, then quickly charged up energy in his hands before firing it as a punishing beam of explosive energy-- the Lion's Roar.

When the dust settled, the Wyrm had breathed its last.

'Must've been a child to go down so easy. Hope there aren't too many more around here.' He thought as he continued his exploration. Walking along, he felt something metallic beneath his shoe. Looking down, there was a set of mine cart tracks-- from the previous Overlord's reign, no doubt. Question is, would they lead him back to the surface or further down? "Only one way to find out, then." Choosing to head to his right, Nelius followed the tracks.

MAKAI!

Back in the City Hall, Brad was starting to grow impatient.

"It's been three hours, and still no word from him." Despite his current workload, which had been focusing on the energy shortage that had been in effect for the past few months, his mind was still fixated on Nelius' mission. "What the hell could be taking him so long?"

"Well, those ruins must be as big as the city is." A Mothman who was working with the Ovelord commented. "I'll bet that he's either lost or dead, eaten by one of the monsters underground."

"I thought you were supposed to be the optomistic one?"

"Hey, I tell it like it is. No sense in keeping hopes too high."

MAKAI!

"Holy crap." Nelius' eyes grew extremely wide at the sight.

The set of tracks had lead him down to a cavern completely overrun with large, rose-colored crystals. 'This must be the energy source Brad was mentioning.' Placing his hand over one of the crystals, he felt enormous amounts of power pulsating from them. Pocketing two of them, he turned around and began following the tracks back the same way he came.

Come an hour later, the tracks began leading upward toward the surface. "Finally. I can get out of here." Seeing a large set of double doors where the tracks ended, he noticed an odd insignia on it; it appeared to be some kind of blue six-pointed star, though the downward spike was significantly longer than the others. Raising his arm, he began to push on the right door. Push finally came to shove, as the old door slowly began opening. Imagine the surprise on Nelius' face when he realized where he ended up.

"Good to see you, Nelius." Brad was standing right there. "Surprised?"

"You didn't tell me the last route was through here!"

"But, I did say it was above ground, correct? Either way, you've helped to bring an end to the energy shortage we've been facing for several months. Now, thanks to you, we can begin mining the Makai Rose Crystals that grow beneath this city."

"You mean these?" Nelius pulled out the two he grabbed while underground.

"Exactly those. But first, come with me." Turning around, Brad began heading for the his Keep again.

Once there, the upright jaguar motioned for the demon to follow him to his personal office, where he took a paper document that had been on his desk, and showed it to Nelius.

"I just need for you to place a fingerprint on this document." He explained. Nelius did so, and an image of the six-pointed star appeared for a moment before dispersing. "With this, you are officially considered a citizen of this Netherworld. You're free to come and go as you wish."

"All right." A new step toward Nelius' final goal has just been taken. As he headed back toward his room, his mind was abuzz with this new development. 'Now that I'm considered a citzen of this Netherworld, at least I won't have to worry about being randomly jumped for being an offworlder. This will make training much easier, at least until I can become strong enough to give my old boss a good straightening out.'

Arriving at his provided room, he wasted no time in closing the door before removing the armor and flopping down on his bed. Even if it was broad daylight outside, he figured that he could use a quick..

He laughted silently to himself as he slowly drifted off to sleep, the next word echoing through his mind.

'Catnap.'

MAKAI!

Whew. Between trying to locate work and such other stuff, I never thought I'd have so much time to work on this.

I know I should also focus some attenion onto my MML fic, but lack of interest combined with laziness in general have pushed it toward the back of my thoughts. I will eventually finish it up, though.

The little 'Reviewer's Extra from last chapter (good name for the Elbacky) will officially be over by the time I post Chapter 9. If you've got any good ideas, feel completely free to send them in. Those who do submit ideas will be given proper credit.

Until next chapter,

Cornell Valentine Gainsborough