Chapter 15
The blackened push of the miasma continued to press against the Hydra's barrier trying to consume the snake. The two lummoxes stared dead at one another as the heads of the Hydra swayed. The Chimera's cobra was now straightened and towering above the lion's head to stare at the snakes before them.
It was the Hydra that stuck first. The middle head opened its jaws wide spat out a heap of sharpened, smoking needles that seemed to be made of crystallized acid. They spewed and all hit in an array upon the Chimera's chest. They hissed and sizzled against the pelt, but they soon began to seep into the red fur as blackened tar within drew the needles in. The Chimera took in a deep breath through its stretched nostrils making its white whiskers flex then hocked up as if about ready to spit. The Chimera opened its jaws as if about to roar, but strongly coughed out the shards of needles right back at the Hydra. The needles sprayed to hit all three, but they all just shattered the moment they hit the scaly skin.
The Chimera backed a few paces then gave out a spiny shattering bellow before lurching forward and almost shifting into the wind from its monstrous speed leaving the Hydra's heads searching the land for the beast in confusion. The island was now flattened and with no landscape so it made it easy to see where it would be, but it was nowhere to be found; only a few blurs of red showing that it was still around.
Pryna flapped her wings tirelessly as she held on to the nerk with Wolowix on his back. She, too, could not find the Chimera with her sharpened sight. Even his energy was gone.
Wolowix took two fistfuls of darkened fur and muttered, "Wh… what the hell? His… his aura… it's gone. Just… just gone. How's that possible?"
There was a clap of energy and a collision of air that drew everyone's focus back to the Hydra. Suddenly, the Chimera's form reappeared in a burst of speed and slid to a stop within the sticky substance that covered the land. It looked up with blazing blue eyes and walked over slowly towards the Hydra. The middle head moved, but the other two heads seemed frozen. The Chimera opened its mouth and chuffed as it walked to be squared right in front of the snakes. The cobra tail of the Chimera slithered in mid air to the side and blew its pink tongue to dart into the air as it stared at the confused Hydra.
The two heads on either side of the middle head began to loll back as four claw marks began to show from the inside out right underneath their jaw line. The claw marks grew darker and longer until it spanned the two snake's necks. With a sickening sloshed noise, the two heads fell to the side and hit the darkened honey substance and it covered them up quickly and took it into its own.
Onar opened his toothy jaws and screamed 'NO' in Fang Language, down at the Chimera, which resembled a yelping snarl. Pryna's syrinx let out a horrid screech that wove together with Onar's animalistic scream. Wolowix stared down in horror as the Hydra's wounds began to bubble and pop. He swallowed and shook his head, "Oh Balls…"
The middle head of the Hydra lolled its head back and opened its jaws just slightly and laughed, "Ssstupid FOOL. I am a HYDRA! You cut off my head..." The bubbling flesh erupted and three heads ripped out from either side collectively sprouting six more heads as the middle head let his pale blue tongue dart out and spoke again, "… three more will take itsss placcce."
The Chimera chuffed and let out a deep growl and showed its massive fangs as the twisted and glided within the air. Wolowix sat up straight with his eyes wide. There was something building within the Chimera… something untamed… and it made every hair on the innovagygr's body stand straight up. He tilted his head back and yelled, "PRYNA! MOVE BEHIND HIM! NOW! NOOOWW!"
The Garuda hesitated as if deep in thought, but soon, the bird lurched forward and moved to where they were behind the Chimera. The cobra tail took a snap at them, but was nowhere near hitting them. Onar bent his neck to the side to look at Wolowix with his dark eye, "What is happening?"
Wolowix stared down at the red lion with four thick horns and swallowed, "My grandpop told of an energy as dark as the night sky… an energy that could create AND destroy… an energy that could not be handled by any wizard, witch, or magi… only by a demon. This dark matter… this apocalyptic energy… he called it the 'Big Bang'."
Onar looked back towards the Chimera and could see purple wave of energy ribbons beginning to surge all over its body till they all climbed up the two set of horns. The red body was now blaringly red and was blurring in a glowing energy. The cobra blacked out then was surging red just like the rest of the body. Onar's fur stood on end and he used his telepathy to speak, "Is that what is all over the island?"
Wolowix stared in horror at the scene unfolding, "No… that's the demon's essence… this… this is the Big Bang."
The Chimera was now a charged cloud still in a vague shape of its original form then moved with unbelievable speed and shoved itself down the middle snake's throat. The cerulean blue, orange headed Hydra morphed into a black mass in its same shape and purple energy ribbons began to flow and glide from it. It was surging to the center where all the heads began to branch out. There, a deep hole lined with purple electricity manifested and suddenly… the whole blackened Hydra sucked into itself with Dennikim's scream of terror blaring from it. When it was all the way sucked in… a tiny black marble with small bolts of purple shooting from it floated where the hole was.
In a mad explosion centered at the marble, a wave of an unseen force shot out and nearly blew the Roc away, but her quick flutter of her two sets of wings allowed her to ride the wave. To the Garuda's relief, the icky blackness smoked off the land and left nothing but an island of just white sand. She swooped down and put the boys down before flaming and shifting back to her angelic form.
Wolowix hopped down and knelt to touch the sand as Onar shook off like a dog and sniffed the air, "Sheldor…" The nerk took off running towards where the marble erupted and slid to a stop. Just a few feet from the arc lay the naked body of Sheldor. The scar on his back, from where his heart was ripped out, was black and still had the purple current just flowing over the scar.
Pryna and Wolowix jogged over and stared down at the lifeless body. Pryna gasped, Wolowix just watched, and Onar jumped back and snarled as his body just angled up till he was back on his feet and slowly, Chrsnyght started to appear, but she disappeared as quickly as Sheldor was once again covered in black.
He soldier turned towards the arc and it air-tunneled for a few moments before it changed into the image of the witch's castle. The blackened Sheldor made no noise or hesitated as his toes lifted and hovered mere inches off the ground then ghosted into the portal.
Wolowix shook his head, "What the hell are we doing, guys? Sheldor… ain't Sheldor any more… There is no guarantee we can get him back to normal. He'll just become another creature that needs to be destroyed, except… he's gonna get US first. I loved my wife and I want to get revenge, but… my wife would've hit me with a shoe if she knew that I had teamed up with a mindless, heartless demon that could possibly kill me before I even GET my revenge. The only reason I haven't turned back, yet… I don't want him to be alone."
Pryna and Onar looked at the man with understanding eyes, "He is STILL our friend… we have to try... and if we fail… we need to at least save Penenlope. Alex… she would've wanted me to save the damsel in distress."
Pryna looked over at Onar with teary eyes, "I have not known the witch hunter for a long amount of time, but… a Garuda is loyal to the end. I will help you save him and the woman you speak of… but my brother comes first."
The three stood before the arc as Wolowix nodded, "Book, girl, and Sheldor… in that order…" He snapped and the white sand shot him up and he straddled the nerk. He extended his hand down to the angelic woman and she took it and flung herself behind him as Onar growled and spoke to them with his mind, "Let's get this nightmare over with." With that, the three slipped into the arc and everything behind them shattered like dropped porcelain.
Onar hopped out of the small puddle portal and as his feet touched the hardwood floor, the portal snapped and shattered into air. They looked up to see Sheldor back in his Bazinga form as his small snake tail moved wildly on its own. The creature looked over its shoulder with bleeding red eyes dripping down it cheek and suddenly there was a huge push and pull of gravity that nearly crushed the nerk down to his belly. It was brief but terrifyingly strong.
Wolowix shook his head, "Oh CRAP… a Nulla Fugea spell…"
Pryna shook her head, "A WHAT?"
Wolowix sighed, "It's an imprisoning spell… nothing in and nothing out. Whatever happens… we're all stuck here until the one who casts it is either dead or the magic is nullified. Another fun power of demon magic."
The three looked up and saw Demon Sheldor standing in place with one of its bloody eyes looking back at them and it made the three nervous, "What… what is he doing? Is… is he waiting for us?"
The sound of the demon's voice made the three jump a little, "This is where we all part ways, you pathetic mortals…" Onar snarled as the demon's cloven hooves clicked upon the wooden floor of a stylishly decorated hallway and stopped a few feet in front of them. He was tall, but still had to look up into the nerk's eyes as he smiled a shark-tooth grin, "… if we happen upon one another throughout this little journey… it will be safe to say that I will slaughter the lot of you. From here on in… we are enemies. Your friend is NO MORE! He is MINE! Now… GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!"
Wolowix and Pryna both made a shocked face, but Onar snarled and moved his nose down to where his myopic eyes could take it the demon and he spoke with his telepathy, "You listen to me you goat footed bastard… We WILL find Sheldor's heart and SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR THROAT IF WE HAVE TO! He is our friend and we are coming back for him. No amount of petty threats from a snake-tailed PUSSY is going to make us back down! Now… YOU get out of MY sight!" Onar let out a barking snarl that made everyone of his sharpened teeth show. The demon moved back a little with an angered look on its face. It gave a chuckle then turned and blared down the hall with unbelievable speed.
When the demon left, Onar snorted and his ears fell to the side. Pryna hopped off and walked to his side and placed a small hand on his long arm, "That was very brave… stupid… but brave. You showed much courage and respect for your friend… if he was in there… I'm sure he was bursting with pride."
Onar tilted his head down so a single dark eye looked at her from the side. She smiled very sensually and ran her finger over the sensitive pits that held his whiskers, "Take heart, Onar… take heart at the fact that we are more than half way through our journey and that Sheldor is in the same castle as his heart. We can save him… we can save everyone." She stood on her tippy toes and kissed him just below his whiskers and close to his mouth then smiled.
Wolowix slid down to the other side and looked behind them with a stern look as Onar and Pryna shared a moment. There was a power… a very strong and familiar power that made his fist clench tightly as he mumbled under his breath, "Lordornia."
He took off in a sprint towards the power. He didn't notice the painting's heads turning to watch him run as he blindly followed the pulsing power. He finally got to a hallway that led down to a honey red oak door. He narrowed his eyes and slowly made his way down the corridor. There was no handle, no crease in the door, only an old man with a beard and mustache and wearing a dark, tanned hat. Wolowix shook his head at the bizarreness of the situation. He looked down at the closed eyes of the old man's face and eyeballed the ring hanging from his mouth. He reached over and took the ring and banged it on the door three times.
"What in the natural phenomena of the universe do you think you're doing, little GIRL! I am the tree of life not some damn pearly gate you can just knock on so remove your masturbatory grip, letcher! State your business and fly off you pixie poking Pegasus dung!"
Wolowix stared open mouth at the blabbering doorknocker, "Wh… what did… what did you just call me? I'll turn you into a one legged rocking chair you crazy old bastard!" He leaned in with his hand glowing blue and the old man laughed.
"Take it easy, Honey bunny. We don't want you smearing your mascara. Now, why don't you turn around and fly off on your broom because you can keep knocking, troll knuckles, but I won't be letting you in… and no amount of blue goo glowie sticks is gonna change my mind. NOW… scram!"
Wolowix popped his knuckles at the crazy man's insults and was about to hit him with a spell just as Onar and Pryna showed up behind him. The knocker groaned, "Oh sweet universe… you actually have FRIENDS? Wow… I don't know whether to be shocked or feel sorry for them. Look, I don't care how many of you there are… nobody is gettin' in!"
Onar spoke to the two with his mind, "Wolowix, allow me."
Wolowix stepped to the side and moved to stand beside Pryna as the nerkanine stepped forward and growled. The doorknocker rolled his wooden eyes, "Look, Fido…" As the old man spoke, Onar took in a deep deep inhale then screamed a blaring noise right into the face of the arrogant old man. Wolowix and Pryna ducked their heads and covered their ears at the tremendously irate noise. The pure power of the siren blew against the door like a hurricane wind. Onar held this noise until the knocker could no longer take it. He pressed inside himself and a long slit formed upon the door. Onar shut his jaws and tried to catch his raspy breath. The door clicked and opened up.
Wolowix and Pryna moved to either side of the nerk and all stare at the beautiful pond surrounding the grass path leading to a glorious sycamore tree. Wolowix grinned, "Ok… so… you gonna tell us where that came from?"
Onar was patting like a dog, but his telepathy allowed cut through, "Always been able to do that… but I have an attack of dyspnea after using it. So, I try to avoid it. Not being able to breathe is a deal breaker."
The two stopped talking as Pryna stepped forward and readied her bansuri. They stepped forward into the room and looked shocked. They were about to ask what was happening when they saw a black woman approaching with a rattle in her hand. They readied themselves on either side of the Garuda.
The black woman stopped and shook her rattle just a little. The door behind them slammed shut, loudly, and disappeared leaving them in a doorless room. There was a wall that circled around the path and the pond. There was no ceiling, just a long tube of a tower leading straight up. The moonlight reflected off the pond's surface from above. The walls were being engulfed by morning glory and moss and it smelled like a damp mold. There was no way out… they had no idea how to get out of this room, but as Wolowix felt the power that had led him to the door in the first place… he wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.
Penelope paced back and forth in front of Rakooth. Each time she passed by him, his mist would be a different object. Penelope didn't seem to notice, but the book was doing it to amuse himself. He wanted to talk to the frantic girl, but… he had a weird problem with talking to girls. He could talk to the witch, no problem, mostly due to the fact that he was scared of her, but he found that even though she was a fearsome witch… there are times where he got to see her human side. He liked those times. Those times where she treated him NOT like a book of knowledge, but a friend… someone to lean on. Those moments didn't happen a lot, but when they did… it was glorious.
The blonde was a bit different. She was beautiful, strong willed, and overzealous. She didn't have magic, but she was still scary. Right now, she seemed enthralled in her own thoughts. She bit at her nails as her brows touched on her forehead. She was pacing frantically for the fact that she couldn't get out of the room AND she just found out that the man who gave her his heart was, in fact, alive. She passed by the book one more time and stopped as she stared down. Rakooth was a floating seahorse with his head tilted. She spun quickly and it shocked him out of his mist form into just a transparent cloud.
Penelope raised a brow and slowly approached, "Rakooth… wasn't it?"
The mist formed into words as YES appeared in transparent letters. Penelope nodded and took in a breath, "I heard Ames say that you were the book of knowledge. That means you know everything… if that's the case then you can tell me… is Sheldor alive? And if so... how? I watched him fall and… and…"
Rakooth formed words in mid air, YES, SHELDOR IS ALIVE. HIS GRANDMOTHER WAS ONE OF THE STRONGEST WITCHES ALIVE AND SHE PLACED A VERY POWERFUL SPELL ON HIS HEART. THE PROSTASIA SPELL IS A PROTECTION SPELL. IT NOT ONLY ENSURES THAT HE WILL NEVER BE ALONE, BUT THAT HE CANNOT BE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF MAGICALLY OR DEMONICALLY. THAT SPELL WAS CASTED UPON HIS HEART… WHICH NOW RESIDES IN YOUR CHEST.
She reached up and let her fingers trace over the gnarly scar. She looked up at the cloud and shook her head, "That doesn't explain the whole ALIVE thing."
The cloud formed letters again, FOR SOMEONE WHO DID IT ON A DAILY BASIS; YOU SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN I. WHAT I CAN TELL YOU IS THAT SHELDOR COMES FROM A VERY LONG LINE OF POWERFUL WITCHES AND WORLOCKS SO THE AMOUNT OF MAGIC IN HIS VEINS COULD BRING A WHOLE VILLAGE OF DEAD PEOPLE TO LIFE. ONLY THING IS, WITHOUT HIS HEART TO FILTER OUT ANY OF THE BAD MAGIC, HE COULD VERY WELL PERISH OR SUCCUMB TO THE DEMON'S MAGIC.
Penelope shook her head as a dreadful thought ran around her head, "What… what are you talking about? Demon?"
Rakooth's cloud shifted into different colors as he realized that he wasn't supposed to tell her about the whole Sheldor/demon/her having his heart thing. He hated seeing the look of panic and terror on her face and gave in, GALEHUS WAS A WORMHOLE CREATED BY VAXT, THE DEMON OF TIME, FOR HIS DAUGHTER, CHRSNYGHT. YOU KNOW THAT ALREADY, BUT WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW IS THAT LADY FOWLER PLACED A STRANGE TYPE OF NULLA FUGEA SPELL UPON THE DIMINSION TO WHERE IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR CHRSNYGHT TO LEAVE, UNLESS SHE COULD MASK HER PRESENCE. SHELDOR ALLOWED CHRSNYGHT TO 'PIGGY BACK' ON HIM BUT, HER DEMONIC MAGIC 'INFECTED' HIM.
Penelope took a few steps back completely flabbergasted, "Wh… I…"
Before she could say another word there was a beastly crash against the door than made Penelope spin and grab at her Blossoms and cursed as she realized she was wearing a dress without them. Rakooth slammed shut and Penelope muttered, "Coward."
The next slam against the door broke whatever spell was around it and the last one had the door shattering into pieces and the pieces smoking into black fog and disappearing. Lady Fowler's green fire erupted and she was in front of Rakooth. Penelope's stern eyes narrowed as a cat like creature with ram horns, a snake tail, and goat legs stomped forward. The creature's eyes were blood red and seemed to pour down its cheek, but nowhere else. It smiled a jaggedly morbid smile as a grotesquely long and sticky tongue slithered out the side of his mouth and hang there as it swayed like seaweed underwater.
The aura… the aura was so powerful… so deadly… but… so familiar. Penelope swallowed and looked over at Lady Fowler. Her stance was confident but it was hard to truly tell with the mask… the MASK! Penelope back pedaled to the side as the mask seemed to come alive. It was like a starfish on fast forward. It gripped around the woman's head and two huge ears popped up. The bone mask shifted into a reflective silver texture that entirely covered the witch's body. Penelope gasped at how powerful her aura was, now.
The cat creature's tongue slid back into its mouth as it stood up tall and straight to give out a laugh, "How cute… you think hiding behind a dead demon's remains is going to save you." Another laugh erupted from the creature's belly and stopped just as quick. It let out a terrifying snarl and blurred out of sight. Penelope looked over the silver coated witch and she blurred out, too, but reappeared closer to the door the creature had busted in from. The cat demon crashed into the podium where Rakooth was sitting on and it sent the book flying to the side. As the cat creature snarled and shredded the last little bit of the podium into puffs of smoke while stomping towards the direction the witch was in, Penelope ran over to the fallen book. She wrapped it in her arms and turned to back to the standoff of ultimate power.
The cat creature let out a laughing bellow mixed with a roar of some kind and widened its stance, "Run, Run, Run as fast as you can… I'm going to kill you eventually, but I do so appreciate you making it fun for me, at least."
Penelope stared at the silver coated witch and swallowed as the cat creature bolted towards her again. The witch held her arm out and opened her hand wide towards Penelope and suddenly, Penelope was right in front of the witch… used as a shield. The blonde gripped the book tightly in her arms as the demon's charge froze on the spot, its arm still in the shape of a thorny sword. The witch had Penelope's left shoulder in a death grip as she mumbled an incantation. Penelope felt a deep burning in her chest that caused her to be engulfed in a very vivid blue light that originated from her scarred chest then it dimmed down. Penelope looked down to watch her own shadow swim across and dive into the cat creature's shadow. Immediately, the same blue light abruptly cannon fired from its back, left shoulder. The shadow slithered back to Penelope's feet and she looked up at the cat creature with wide eyes. She had no idea what just happened, but something about the creature just changed… its power was building stronger. The witch's voice rang out clear from the silver suit, "You will stand down or I'll kill her!"
The demon gave another laugh with its tongue draping out of its mouth. Penelope closed her eyes tight and wondered what the hell the witch was playing at. The silver coated witch spoke with an amused tone, "Oh… I see… you don't understand what I just did, do you? Well… allow me to demonstrate."
With confusion on the demon's AND Penelope's face… the witch lifted her left, silver coated hand and it morphed into a razor sharp, four edged spear head. She stretched out the morphed object and placed it upon Penelope's left cheek and jerked it, back hard and fast. It cut Penelope's cheek deeply and caused her to flinch her entire body to the side as she screamed in pain. Within seconds, the cat creature did the same but with an ethereal roar.
Penelope looked up in shock at the creature cupping its left cheek and snarling towards the witch. There was bright red leaking from the wound and she lifted her hand up to touch the warmed, thick blood pouring out of her cheek. She let out a huff of air just as the witch's voice spoke again, "You understand, now? I have placed a very interesting spell on you and your woman… the Srce Na Srcu spell. Anything that happens to her… happens to you. An Udio spell that I've perfected over the years… You and she share a heart… now… you will share your fates! You understand, now?"
Penelope's mind was racing as her cheek throbbed, madly. Share… share a heart? What the hell is she…
Before she had time to even finish her thought, the demon scorched forward in blinding speed and leapt up high in the air, ready to strike down. The witch's grip made Penelope squeal from pain just as the demon did, but something sparked out of its body, sending the cat demon backwards. Penelope watched a female creature with horse legs slam one hoof into the witch's chest as the other pushed Penelope off into a roll against the floor. She tumbled and rolled while still holding the book tight then finally came to a stop. She stared up to see a long tail with fur running down it and slipping at the tip of the female creature that snapped out of the cat demon. Penelope saw a smoke float out of the book and she back up. The letters were cluttered but soon they formed four words, CHRSNYGHT, DEMON OF CHAOS