Chapter 8

The Cave

After leaving the forest, it only took Corey and Derek three more days to reach their final destination. They knew right off the bat that the cave they stood in front of was the location of the powerful ore that Arthur had hidden. The entire area gave off a strange aura.

"So…we finally made it." Corey said, looking over at Derek and grinning. "We can finally end this thing."

Derek laughed. "Not yet. We still have to get the ore and get back."

"Ha! That's the easy part!" Corey told him enthusiastically, "We made it this far. I have a good feeling about the rest."

"Well…I hope you're right."

The two slowly made their way towards the entrance of the cave. So far, everything seemed fine. The strange aura that they had felt outside seemed to diminish right as they entered.

"That's weird…" Corey commented as they continued their walk inward.

"Yeah…I didn't think that it would be that easy." agreed Derek, looking around the cave as they walked. He had used his flame to create another torch. The cave itself seemed ordinary enough. In fact, it didn't seem as though anything of power could possibly be in this place.

Finally, the two warriors found a large cavern, at least one hundred feet around and two hundred feet up, inside of the cave. They stopped to stare at it at the front. It was covered in a strange golden shine, with a large gold serpent near the back, and in front of it, a large red rock.

"The ore." Corey said aloud, grinning widely.

Derek nodded. "Right…let's go get it, Corey, but be careful. Arthur might have set a trap for—hey!! Corey!!"

Corey had already begun to run forward and towards the red ore, entering into the main part of the cave. He stopped and looked back at Derek.

"What're you waiting for, Derek? Let's go!" He called out. Derek grumbled at his friend's lack of attention, but went to proceed onward to where Corey was waiting. He only made it about four paces when he slammed into something.

"Oww! Shit!" Derek yelled, nearly losing his balance as he crashed into whatever it was he had hit. Blinking a few times, Derek noticed that there was nothing there at all.

"What's the hold up?" Corey called, still looking towards the entrance at his friend.

Derek, rubbing his now sore nose, glared over at Corey. "Obviously there's something that is preventing me from going, Corey!!" Derek yelled, not at all happy about running into an invisible wall, "I think it's a force field for demons."

Corey blinked and scratched the back of his head. "An anti-demon force field?" He gave Derek an impish grin. "Remind me to pick one of those up!" He said, laughing.

Derek held up a certain finger in Corey's direction and leaned against the wall of the cave. "Just hurry up and grab the damn thing."

"Fine, fine. Where's the love, bro?"

Corey turned around once again and walked over to the ore, but didn't touch it right away. There was something strangely ominous about this piece of material. It was as though something was telling him not to touch it.

"What's wrong, Corey?" He heard Derek calling to him. Corey turned back at him and smiled nervously,

"Nothing at all!" He then reached down and picked up the ore.

It was light…very light! Corey wondered silently how something so light could possibly be used for forging a sword, until the surge of spiritual energy soared through his hand and up his arm.

"W-woah!" Corey exclaimed, grinning. "This thing is strong!"

Derek rolled his eyes. "Well, no shit! That's why we came all this way to get it. Now come on, Corey. I gotta bad feeling about this place!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming." Corey said, tossing the ore up and down. Finally, their mission was complete. They had gotten the ore and could re-forge Corey's sword. Then, they'd be able to retake Spirit World, and after that…end this damn war.

I'm comin' for you, Darkine. Corey thought to himself as he walked.

His happiness was soon shattered as he heard a rumbling behind him.

"Corey!! Watch out!!" Derek yelled, but Corey was already two steps ahead of him. He jumped out of the way just as a large tail struck down onto the ground, a blow that could have possibly killed him.

"Shit!!" Corey swore, landing ten feet away. He looked at what attacked him and his eyes widened.

The golden serpent that had been behind the ore was staring at Corey with cold blue eyes. It had come alive in a matter of seconds. The clues quickly fell into place.

It was a trap!

The serpent began to move towards the entrance to block Corey's escape; it's speed incredible.

"Damn! No you don't!!" Corey shouted, running and trying to beat the creature to the entrance, but it was to quick. Reacting swiftly, Corey began to gather spiritual energy into his right index finger and held it out, cradling the ore in his left arm.

"Spirit Gun!!" He shouted, and blasted the creature right in the back of the head. The creature stopped, still at the entrance, but it merely looked back at Corey and hissed.

"Huh?!" Corey was dumbfounded. His Spirit Gun had had no effect whatsoever.

"Corey!" He heard Derek shout. "It's a Spirit Beast! It won't be affected by your Spirit Energy!"

"Double shit!!" Corey swore loudly. The beast shot towards Corey to strike him down, but the young man was at least fast enough to dodge a straight on attack. He jumped over the beast's skull and struck him quickly with a downward right punch, throwing the ore safely outside as he did. The beast seemed unaffected by the punch, and used its long tail to snap Corey, throwing him into the back wall.

"Corey!!" Derek yelled, after putting the ore into a safe spot behind him. Forgetting about the barrier, he went to run in and help his friend, only to get smacked down again by the invisible wall. "Dammit…wall,"

The serpent was moving in for the kill as Corey slowly recovered from the intensity of the hit, and only just managed to move out of the way as the serpent's large jaws bit into the wall where he had just been.

How the hell am I gonna do this?! Corey yelled in his mind. Punches don't do a damn thing; since I use spirit energy in them…my only chance is to escape!

Corey realized that he didn't have any more time to think, as the serpent turned back around and struck at him once more. Leaping into the air, Corey looked down at the beast and then an idea came to mind. He quickly thought it through, and realized it was idiotic, but there weren't any more options.

"Oh well!" He yelled as he landed. Just Corey had predicted, the serpent once again turned back around and struck towards the young warrior, and like last time Corey leaped above him. The difference this time was instead of going over it, he landed right on top of the beast's head.

"Corey, what the hell?!" Derek shouted, still unable to help.

Corey ignored his friend. Since the beast had no hair or anything like that, he had to straddle the creature to not fall off. The beast tried to buck him off, but Corey wasn't letting go.

Just gotta hold on… He thought to himself, gripping on for dear life.

Finally, after a few minutes of this, the beast began to slow down. Corey looked back and saw its tail moving up, and knew what to do. Just before it struck at him, he rolled off of the serpent's head, letting the beast nail itself right in the head.

"Gotcha!!" Corey yelled, grinning. The beast was stunned for a moment, but that's all Corey needed. Running quickly towards the entrance, he looked at Derek.

"Get the ore and start running! Now!!" Corey ordered, and Derek obeyed. Looking behind him, he saw the creature begin to recover sooner then he had thought. Thinking quickly, Corey charged another spirit bullet into his index finger and pointed it up at the ceiling.

"Spirit Gun!!" He yelled, and the shot blasted the ceiling of the cave, and soon began to crumble into a cave-in. Corey picked up speed and ran through the barrier, following after Derek by just as few paces. They both ran out of the cave and stopped to watch as the cave itself crumbled before their eyes.

With a final sigh, Corey looked over at Derek who was holding the ore in his left hand, smirking.

"Well…that was fun, eh?" Corey said sarcastically.

"Loads…" Derek remarked.

"Can we go home now?" Corey asked with a small smile.

"Yeah…let's head out of here."

And so, with their mission accomplished, the two warriors set off to complete the remainder of their journey back to the Rebel Base.