Chapter 51: Showdown in the Stronghold

I held my new shade robes thoughtfully. They felt like air in my hands, and looked slightly transparent. They felt like a good gust of wind would pick them up and scatter them into the atmosphere.

We were so close to arriving at the cradle of light I could almost taste it. I would feel so happy arriving at the final reward. We'd endured so much on this floor, from vampires to shades. There was also a little bit of nervousness in the mix-some people called the 'horsemen' seemed to be on the loose in the stronghold. I didn't know who or what the four horsemen were, but they didn't sound good.

We turned a corner, half-expecting some shades or a zombie to burst out the floor and slaughter us. What we saw instead was the entire attack team huddled up together, their ears poking out, as if they were trying to eavesdrop on something. Amy11 opened her mouth, but the attack team put their fingers to their lips. Haru motioned for us to join them. As I approached, I heard the slight buzz of chatter from behind the wall. There was a corner nearby leading into yet another opening.

"So, boss, how did your trip to here go?" the very familiar voice of the black fly sang. I heard several cackles.

"Not very well," the unpleasant, oily voice of Master Samuel replied conversationally. "I was attacked by several enraged shades. Those beasts couldn't be possessed! I had to distract them by using a small army of skeletons."

"Where's James?" another voice chipped in. I recognised the voice as the mysterious cloaked man.

"James has gone to the surface," Master Samuel replied curtly. "Somebody from the gang of good-doers was injured, and went back up. James has gone to…..greet that hapless person." Everyone in the clearing laughed. It sounded like Master Samuel had a lot of friends there.

Just then, Slinky sneezed.

I heard a gasp from the clearing. The black fly snickered.

"It looks like we have company," the black fly said, chuckling. I heard several knuckles crack.

"Very well," Master Samuel said, in a very unpleasant tone. What happened next nearly killed me.

There was a loud explosion, and the entire wall collapsed. I jumped out of the way to avoid being crushed by hundreds of skulls and galleons of blood. What I saw was Master Samuel, with the mysterious cloaked man and Mort at his sides, with the black fly hovering above him, and around thirty dark wizards and several dozen possessed ghosts, skeletons, and ankous behind him. Fear filled my lungs like a poisonous gas. Master Samuel looked as terrifying as ever, with his red robes and his evil aura.

I counted how many we had on our side. I came up with nine. It included me, Osrie1, Amy11, Sin, Aaron, Haru, Mark, Slinky and Aubury. How many did they have? I tried to count, but lost count.

Master Samuel gave me a vainglorious smile. He made a large movement with his hands, and the entire area of walls just collapsed. Skulls and droplets of blood flew everywhere, like some sort of sick, twisted storm. What remained looked like a massive arena. When the collapsing subsided, Master Samuel cackled. Tension hung in the air like a reluctant bat.

It all started with a bang. I meant that literally, a bang. Some dark wizard, in his youth, threw a blast of fire at us. It hit Haru. I made my own assumption as to what would happen next. I was right. I was pretty sure that dark wizard wasn't going to see the light of the sun again. I chuckled at my own sarcastic joke.

We charged forward, Haru in the lead, his blonde hair still singed. Master Samuel's smile drooped a little. He snarled, and jumped up in the air. Black light started coming from him. The entire floor dimmed a little.

"Fine," he growled under his breath. "You want a fight? I'LL GIVE YOU A FIGHT!" The dark wizards below him roared in agreement, and ran forward to greet us.

We all sunk waist-deep into our battle styles. Haru smashed his axe into several nearby enemies, while Aaron swung his massive blade around, beheading foes.

I looked up at Aaron. He was a very brave and powerful man. He was also a deep riddle, wrapped up in an enigma. He'd suffered many things in his life, I could see that raging in his eyes as he fought. He hated his enemies with a great vengeance. His light-brown hair waved around as his blade sunk deep into the flesh of wizards, down to his shoulders. I'd failed to notice that when I'd met him previously. His taut muscles rippled under his explorer's suit.

I was caught by surprise as a huge blow hit me in the back, winding me. Gasping for breath, I swung around to see my attacker. Mort stood there, blood dripping from his fangs, staring at me with some type of relish.

"I thought that would knock you out, so I could feed on you while you were unconscious," he noted. "I don't mind eating my prey alive, though." I cringed in disgust, and swung Silverlight into his chest. It clanked against his rock-hard body. He snarled, and swung his fist into me. I was smashed back into a skeleton, which was thrown into Mark (who had the black fly at his feet, moaning), smashing into shards at hitting his granite armour.

I didn't know how to fight Mort. He was immortal. Every blow I did with anything, from Silverlight to my Easter hammer, did barely anything to him. He'd blown off most of my hit points already. I was panicking. I didn't want to die. There was so much to live for, so much to experience.

At that moment, doubt licked at my brain.

I wondered whether it was worth fighting evil if I was afraid of death. At some point in my life, I was guaranteed to die. It isn't worth the risk.

Then, I thought of my friends. Suffering because I was too scared to go out there and face my fears. Suffering at the hands of people like Madrey1. Suffering because of me.

I sniffed miserably. Crushing feelings of doom and misery filled me. My lungs were waterlogged with them. I had a very bad feeling about this-I felt it would end in death. Fighting Mort was impossible at my side of it. I could see the bloodlust in his eyes. His fists and pure strength was his sword. He swung around, smashing me with his hands. I was knocked to the floor again and again. He smiled, slightly bored, beating me down again and again. I was quickly losing hit points….

I tried to remember how I beat him last time. I was eating a meat sandwich at the time. But meat can't be it. I tried to push my memory further backwards, but nothing came to mind.

Then it clicked. Vampires must have some sort of allergy to the extra flavoured vegetable that was in my sandwich! I think it started with the letter G. I dodged another blow from Mort, and ran towards Aubury, who was fighting back three dark wizards with magic spells.

"Oh no, you don't!" Mort snarled, and he sped after me. Aubury saw him coming a second before he smashed into him; and cast a blast of fire at Mort. Mort paused for a fraction of a second, a look of pain frozen on his unnaturally beautiful face. I remembered the name of the vegetable-garlic, from my vision when Mort joined Master Samuel's group of evil-doers. I didn't need Aubury's help for that. But now I knew another one of their weaknesses, which was fire.

Mort yelled with pain, and, with a stroke of his hand, the flames were gone. Mort stared, terrified, at Aubury's staff. Aubury gave Mort a wicked grin. With a flash and a hiss, Mort was gone.

I breathed a sigh of relief. Mort was gone. Relief flooded me, and that was all I could feel as it sunk in. I had information Mort didn't want me to have, and now I knew how to defeat him. I felt in my pocket, and felt three things-first, a bottle of health tonic. I drank it in one gulp. Second, I felt the curious half skull. Third, there was a shell there-the shell of peace that I'd gotten on the first floor. It was supposed to make any situation calm and peaceful. I looked around me at the torture and war. It wasn't worth it. People were dying, people were going to die; it was time for peace to take over.

I was going to open the shell up and let out one of three charges of peace, when Master Samuel saw me. He clicked as to what I was doing instantly. Roaring, he jumped forward, and knocked me to the floor.

I gasped, winded. Master Samuel glared at me.

"Don't you dare open that shell!" he growled. "Bind of pain!" I dodged the spiky rope, and ran forward. I hit him across the head with my Easter hammer. He was pushed back a few feet, startled.

"I hope that gave you concussion!" I spat. He smiled, and, without warning, black thunder shot from his hand, and hit me in the foot. A massive black hole was made in my leather boot, and my foot was in agony. I struck him with Silverlight, glad he still didn't have the energy matrix of Delrith running through his bloodstream.

Everyone had stopped to watch us. Dark wizards ran to his aid, but he put up his hand to stop them.

"Let me handle this," he ordered calmly. The dark wizards stepped back, staring at me angrily.

That was when the fight really begun-I danced around like I was on hot coals as he shot dark thunder at my feet. One of my boots was burnt to ashes. I tried my best to hit him with a weapon, but I failed.

I did everything I could-I trapped myself inside a solid egg with my cape, but it didn't take long for a flurry of attacks to crack it open. I tried the trick emote I got last year, but it didn't scare anyone.

That reminded me. Halloween was approaching-the year had flown. I knew this because Haldir6 had contacted Aubury. He seemed to be in the middle of a fight himself. It must have been the war that had that effect on me. I didn't know how long we'd been under here, trapped like mice, fighting for our lives. I was distracted as a water strike hit me in the gut.

Just as I awaited yet another blow, Haru jumped into Master Samuel, knocking the pair of them over. I watched curiously as they wrestled.

I was just going to open the shell, when a blood-curdling screech came from the wrestling pair. I nearly vomited at the sight that I saw-Master Samuel's hand was missing. Blood lay on pools around the area, and I saw a grinning Haru holding something, his hands covered with shining blood.

I'd had enough. I opened up the shell. A pure, undiluted light came from the shell, illuminating the whole area. A peaceful look spread across everyone's faces. It was weird; almost scary-it was as if I was hypnotizing every single person in this area.

"We have what we need," Master Samuel sung-it was strange, since his hand was missing, and I wondered how much pain the shell was restricting. "We'll leave you alone." He clicked his fingers on his surviving hand, and the whole dark wizard legion marched off, their faces still twisted with peace.

The happy look disappeared from everyone who remained. Confusion spread on their faces like water, but it was drained away by comprehension. They all cheered and whooped me and Haru.

Of course, I was happy, but still-the looks of forced peace would haunt me forever. Peace was a good thing, but in the wrong situation it was terrifying. I still didn't feel like this was over-there was something only up ahead bigger, stronger and scarier then anything else I've ever seen.