Chapter 17

Wolowix ran to the water up to his boots and he yelled, "I can't tell if there are two auras or just one big one, but I recognize it… it's… IT'S SHELDOR!" He paused in horror and looked back at the nerk, who immediately understood his panic. Sheldor couldn't swim… Onar took off running and leapt into the water as Wolowix muttered an incantation under his breath. Pryna let out a high pitched squeal like a bird's chirp and pointed out where the splash occurred, "LOOK!"

The water had a deep glow underneath and the water began to swell up. Onar doggy paddled in place as he watched a pulsing bubble of energy rise up. The glow reflected off the eyes of the three as it rose and drifted towards the embankment.

Althea gripped her asson as the sphere sparked and crackled as it hit the surface of the grassy path. The aura was so strong that Althea couldn't tell if Sheldor was still a demon or not. She swallowed as she heard the rush of water cascading to the ground as the nerk pushed out of the water. She noticed the three keeping a safe distance, but still standing close by. She calmed her heart with deep breaths. The blue energy bubble began to phase into mitosis then swirled into nothingness to reveal a human Sheldor holding Penelope in bridal fashion. Althea gasped at the limp body of the blonde in his arms and looked at the man's face. It was twisted in anger as his eyes glued to the sycamore tree.

Onar and Wolowix rushed to the shirtless man's side. Pryna cringed at the misshapen scar on his back as she approached, but stopped on a dime as she felt an intense power almost seeping out from it. A blackened mist seemed to be smoking out of the center of the scar, but a little blue web of energy seemed to be keeping it from erupted out of the small wound. She narrowed her eyes and kept her distance.

Sheldor could feel it… he could feel the hatred and animosity trying to wrap him in the darkness of power just looking at the tree before him. Yet… there was another force at play. He looked down at the woman in his arms and all the demons in the world couldn't touch him. She loved him… he heard her before some unknown force zapped them here. She… she LOVED him. He couldn't quite grasp the concept of someone saying that to him. He stared down at her scarred chest and he felt a pressure he had never felt before. If he WERE to take back his heart… what would happen to her? The thought of her lying dead in his arms made him highly nauseated. He… he loved her… he loved her, too.

Wolowix and Onar found their way to his front and stared in horror at the blonde in his arms. Onar spoke, "Is… is she…"

Sheldor shook his head, "No… just unconscious. Where are we?"

Wolowix moved in and helped Sheldor as he attempted to place her on the ground. Before either of the men could answer him, Althea spoke over them, "You are in the center chamber of the Fowler's Castle. I answered yours… now you answer mine… how did you break into my Nulla Fugea spell?"

Sheldor made sure that Penelope was safely on the ground as he approached the black woman, "I have no idea… it seems that Penelope and I share a very uncommon bond."

Althea did not move as she watched the witch hunter, "You can feel it… can't you? You can feel the demons inside of you trying to claw their way out. It's too late to save yourself! You allowed the darkness to plague and infest your every vein and organ within you… even if you WERE to take back your heart… it would be in vain."

Sheldor took another menacing step towards the Haitian. She was right. Every step he took away from Penelope was another step towards the demon that he didn't wish to become, "Who are you?"

Althea raised her asson, "The question is… Sheldor of Galstire… who are YOU?"

He stopped and stared at her with wide, blue eyes. She shook the rattle and frowned, "Your grandmother would've whooped your hide had she known you given your soul to the demons, but she would've been proud to know that you had given your heart to the woman who loves you… and to the woman YOU love."

Onar and Wolowix looked shocked as they looked from Althea, to Sheldor, and then to Penelope.

Pryna stepped forward with feathers tussled and her bansuri close to her lips, "What will happen to him if his heart isn't returned?"

Sheldor gave a sideways glance towards Pryna then looked at Althea. The answer she gave was simple and finite, "He will be devoured."

Sheldor frowned deeply and moved forward. He was tired of listening to the useless chit chat of information he already knew. He finally had a chance to strike a blow to Lady Fowler and her power… Lordornia. Althea was powerless as Sheldor moved right around her and squared up to the base of the sycamore tree. His eyes hazed over in darkness as he suppressed the demonic growl in his throat, "It's been a very long time Ms. Lordornia Lidia Fowler since I shot you in the heart… Lordornia Lidia Fowler."

Wolowix had secured Penelope on the back of Onar and both moved to Sheldor's side. Pryna stood to the immediate left of Althea and felt the pressure of the witch's power build up as she manifested herself against the golden pulse of the arrow, "Why look at you… the great Sheldor all grown up… and handsome to boot! No wonder my daughter hasn't killed you yet."

Sheldor was in no mood for her banter, "You… you have caused FAR too much pain upon this world! You and your daughter must be punished for your horrid actions and I have come to unleash that punishment. The wrath of those you have murdered… the torment of those who were left alive to remember those unspeakable moments… each of those… has found their way… inside my empty… bottomless HEART!" With his last word, the blue webbing that held back the blackened miasma conceded and Sheldor was engulfed with power.

The Bazinga mode of Sheldor ripped and roared back. His jagged toothed smile was long and crooked as his lizard long tongue draped out of the side of his mouth. Lordornia gave a smile and kept her form within the tree bark.

Althea shook her head and shook her rattle. Though the spirits wouldn't fight, they would still protect if called upon. She had a very VERY bad feeling down her spine, but it wasn't a worry for the demon OR the witch… it was for everyone else. Though she served the witches with no question, the Loa did NOT. They knew… every last one of them could FEEL the bad that was about to happen… and as if on cue… a loud pop rang out and a massive beast fell to the water. Althea could feel the enormous power radiating from the random-patched dragon. Its wings resembled that of scaled batwings and were nearly wrapped around the cave twice. The beast folded its wings back and fell forward and used the bend of the wing like front paws.

There was a flash of green close to the top of the monster's head and the flash appeared in between Bazinga Sheldor and the sycamore tree. Lady Fowler erupted from the flames with half her face crumbling off. Her eyes were amused as she stared at the demon then at Penelope upon the nerk's back, "I finally have you EXACTLY where I want you…" She held up Rakooth with his spine down and the cover began to burn orange as it floated and opened in mid air. The burnt edged paper flipped until it reached a certain page then burned a very familiar blue.

Bazinga Sheldor's back almost rocketed forward as the blue flames shot out from where his scar would be under the black shell. It made the demon scream an animalistic groan as one of his cloven hoofed feet lurched forward and slammed into the grass for support. As this happened, Penelope floated off the back of Onar as her scarred chest burned blue as well. The shock of the pain woke her up and she screamed and tried to cover her chest with her hands. The power was too strong and it forced her hands away.

Lady Fowler eyes smiled as Penelope floated down in front of her. Lady Fowler looked back at her mother then turned back to the two now engulfed in their own flames. She brought up her metallic arm (that was showing signs of the Pembe curse) and snapped her fingers and the flames disappeared, "It seems that my Udio curse is still in effect… good." She grabbed Penelope by the throat and lifted her off the ground. The sound of the blonde's tender flesh crackled in her metallic grip. The demon made a choking noise and grabbed at his throat. Lady Fowler moved to be right in front of her mother and released the blonde and smiled, "Penelope… remove the arrow."

Penelope rubbed at her throat and looked at the golden shaft lodged deep in the wood with a sense of terror. Althea stepped forward, unthinkingly, and yelped, "THAT WOULD KILL HER!"

Onar leapt forward, his jaws wide open and aimed at Lady Fowler's back while Pryna flapped her wings hard and dove for the book. Onar hit a static web but it didn't stop him from taking in a deep breath and using his sonic scream. It made Penelope grab her ears and run off to the side, but Lordornia shifted an arm and grabbed the girl's arm to stop her from running.

Lady Fowler crossed her arms in front of her as the sonic blast tore at her clothing. Her eyes burned red and she flung her arms wide open and the nerk shot up and slammed into Pryna in mid flight. Before she had time to recover, a lash of water whipped out from around the gargantuan dragon beast and wrapped around the witch's throat. Wolowix's eyes burned as he slowly gripped his hand making the water obey his fury. Pryna and Onar recovered and the moment the nerk's feet hit the ground… he was charging forward… teeth bared.

Althea made her way through the chaos of conflict to the demon trying to force his weakened form off the floor. She could feel all the Loa spirits warning her to not to get so close, but she HAD to act quickly or Penelope would be killed by the magnitude of Bifrons's power.

The demon, whose sigil they had summoned upon the arrow to trap the witch in the tree, was not the most powerful but his curses were devastating. Althea knew of the Savagala curse from dealing with the Ghede Loa. The demons of this world were mere whispers in the ears of the spirits, but that didn't mean that they were ignorant to their existence. Bifron's curse could be simply described as the 'Instant Death' curse. Once initiated, there were only two creatures on the plains of life that could remove it safely… and that was either the man who placed the curse or the demon upon whom created the curse. Everyone else… they would be undead in manner of milliseconds.

She moved to the demon's side and spoke with no fear in her voice, "I know you're still in there, Sheldor… grandson of Melinda… your woman NEEDS you… or she will surely die."

The demon's claws raked into the stone wall as he pushed himself off and looked the Haitian in the eyes with his dripping, crimson red stare. He laughed with his jagged shark-teeth wide open. He pushed himself completely off the wall and squared up to the woman. He easily loomed over her with his tall form and snarled, "That woman's life is of NO CONCERN of mine. The boy has given in… I am the only one who remains."

Althea, unfazed by the demon's efforts to intimidate her, scowled, "Very well… then who is it that I am addressing now?"

The beast smiled horridly as his voice seemed to crack and gurgle through Sheldor's own vocal chords, "I am Khimero, the demon of Death and Disorder. I am doubt… consequence… tragedy… failure… inevitability… I. AM. THE. END."

She shook her head and spoke with her eyes narrowed, "If that woman over there dies… YOU go with her. You really will be 'The End'."

The demon snarls and looks over at the tree's grip on the blonde's arm and looks down at his own. He could feel the pressure on his arm as the Haitian speaks again, "You are connected by a powerful spell that not even GOD himself could remove. The only way to save yourself is to kill the witch that placed the spell upon the two of you."

Bazinga Sheldor backed off and looked over at the blonde woman. He snarled as he felt the human inside of him struggling to move him forward. This… this human… he was becoming harder and harder to control all because of this blonde. He would find a way to kill this woman… but first… he needed to kill the witch. His eyes fell to the woman with the lower part of her face missing and grinned. With a slight twitch of his snake tail, the demon was gone in a blur. Althea closed her eyes tight as she cursed herself for being a part of this ridiculous plan.

The multi-fleshed patched dragon finally moved. It had stayed perfectly still as if waiting for something to happen. Its eyeless head tilted down and could sense the blackened pressure of the demon's movement. With one lunge of its batwing front leg it moved to loom over the sycamore tree and waited.

Pryna, in her full Roc form, stabbed madly at the static shield surrounding her brother's cursed form. Her eagle calls seeming to not reach to him. She saw the dragon creature rise up on its back legs and sweep its massive wings around the entire cave leaving everything to go black.

Only the golden shaft of the arrow and the steady glow of Rakooth up above gave off light. Bazinga Sheldor ended his shadow jump right in front of the two witches and Penelope. He could feel something building and he looked at the half faced witch. Her eyes smiled and she spoke, "So… you can feel it. I have been planning this for YEARS. I gathered every last piece year after year. In order to enter into the Cave of Magic… one must bring the heart of a simple man… the skin of every essence… and the knowledge of the land. Faisal is covered in the flesh of every kind of creature of the land. Rakooth is the book of knowledge… and that leaves the heart! YOUR heart." A tiny blue energy pulsed from Penelope's chest and she lets out a scream. Lady Fowler smile and snapped her fingers and Rakooth burst into flames high above them all. His flames ignited the dragon and everyone was surrounded by a dome of fire.

Lady Fowler turned her head and her eyes blazed yellow, "Remove the arrow."

Penelope's eyes glowed yellow as the tree removed its grip. She mindlessly reached up and grabbed the golden rod. The screams of her friends went unheard as her fingers grasped around it. The sudden grip of the demon's hand upon hers snapped her out of her trance. Where their skin met… there was a pulse of blue. She looked up and was jolted into shock as she was met with the blue eyes she knew so well. He was so sad… for what, she wasn't quite sure, but she had a good notion it was about getting her into this mess. His voice was a mixture between his and some kind of big cat, "Let go… Let go of the arrow, Penelope. NOW!" She jumped but her grip didn't falter. She wanted to ask him so many things… wanted to just take him and run away from all this… tears fell as she stared at the desperation in his eyes. She whispered that she loved him and he shut his eyes tightly as he pleaded, "Please… Please just let go."

She slowly removed her hand and stepped to the side, not once taking her eyes off of his. She watched his pupils expand and engulf the entirety of his eyes and then go back to the crimson red, dripping eyes as he snarled and was forced to rip the arrow away. The moment the arrow left the bark, the tree morphed and climbed to encircle the flaming dome in a reflective red bubble and standing where the tree once stood was the Blood Witch herself… her smile turned into a cackle as she raised her hands and the red bubble burst and bled to the side revealing that they were no long in the castle…

Lady Fowler wrapped her arm around Penelope's neck and pressed her to her crumbling body and moved to her mother's side. Everyone else looked around at the red clay path and looked up at the sparkling black walls of a very large canyon. Lordornia looked at her daughter and smiled as they stood in the mouth of a cave resembling that of a distorted dragon's mouth. She flung her arm and Bazinga Sheldor went flying backwards and slammed into the canyon wall opposite of the mouth.

Wolowix spun around and stared at the gaping hole the demon was shoved into then looked back at the cave. His eyes picked up Rakooth falling and landing in front of the witches with a thump and closed tight. Wolowix placed his eyes back on Lordornia and popped his hand clinching his fists too tight. Before he could move, a treacherous sound rumbled towards them. Wolowix looked to his left and saw an armor plated fin slice against the red clay and dip back down into the ground, "Oh FRAKK!"

Lordornia laughed as she stepped toward the darkened mouth of the cave, "If the Sandwyrms don't kill you… I'll be waiting for you and your revenge deep within the cave… Goooood Luuuck." She stepped inside as Lady Fowler looked down at the rotted book. With a wave of her hand, Rakooth was ripped and formed back into his angelic form. He looked over himself and realized he was wearing the same thing he had on when he was changed then he looked over at the witch in confusion. She spoke quickly before turning and following her mother with Penelope still firmly gripped in the crook of her elbow, "Your services are no longer required."

Pryna swooped in and gave her brother a very big hug. He took in his sister with a relieved sigh as Bazinga Sheldor ripped from the wall and stood in the mouth of the cavern. His eyes were burning and his body expanded and grew until it was a roaring monster of his full Chimera form. Without a hesitation, the horned lion beast charged in with his cobra tail flailing behind it.

Althea groaned and shook her asson and a barrier surrounded the five remaining people. The Sandwyrms banged and scrapped against the bubble as Althea stood between the four. She swallowed and knew that something was about to happen and not a person on the plains of the living or dead could stop it. She looked at each of them and spoke, "I know you have no reason to trust me, but… I am speaking to you NOT as a witch's slave… but as a creature of magic like you all. Lady Fowler and her mother will call upon the legions of hell itself and they will try to destroy everything. There is no stopping the witches from doing this… they have Sheldor's heart and it will sate the Dragon of Life's hunger. The seal WILL be broken, but we must ready the world for the war."

Pryna pushed away from her brother's embrace but kept a hand on his shoulder as she peel off and looked towards the Haitian, "What are you saying? You're telling us that there is nothing to be done to save the world from the witch's wrath?"

Althea shook her head, "We can't defeat them, now… They have the upper hand… what I am saying to you is that we must be prepared for the battle at hand. Instead of charging into the cave… we need to 'round up the troops'. If what the spirits are telling me is true, there will be a moment of weakness coming soon. Onar… go to your pack and plead your case… enlist the wendigos and garms as well… The Garuda siblings… go to your Jhunda and inform them that even those of the sky will be slaughtered… enlist the help of any and all of your winged brethren. Innovagygr… any humanoids with any kind of magic ability… you and I will enlist their help. HURRY… Everyone… We don't have much time. I can estimate that we have 2 hours till they summon their armies… meet back at the castle. The location is upon Zarnek Mountain in the lowlands only a short distance from Penelope's village of Omashire! GO! We'll meet up there!"

The moment Althea let down the bubble, the two Garuda soared into the sky, Wolowix made the ground shoot Onar to the top of the canyon, and Althea grabs Wolowix's arm and they disappear just as 6, saw-bladed mouth, Sandwyrms dove from the ground and each missed and disappeared into the red clay.