Chapter 13: A Nightmare Approaches
"Fireclaw, wake up!" Chomper said while shaking Fireclaw furiously.
"Ugh, I'm up! What happened?" Fireclaw asked.
Fireclaw's eyes widened when he saw the control room. It was a mess, monitors had been smashed, equipment lay strewn around the room, Fireclaw's sword lay embedded in a wall next to the door, and there was no sign of Allo or the other Dinosaucers.
"What the hell happened here?" Fireclaw asked.
"Genghis Rex happened. The door came flying when I just had it closed, and..." Chomper trailed off towards the end of his sentence. Fireclaw could see the despair in his eyes.
"Oh no, don't tell me..." Fireclaw replied.
"It would seem that whatever that was took your friends. They're in for a ride, I'll put it that way." Falchion said.
"What makes you say that?" Fireclaw asked.
"Genghis Rex is now the embodiment of the stone's true power. His soul has been replaced, hopefully temporarily by a darker entity." Falchion explained.
"Great... So you're basically telling me that we have to fight whatever that is." Fireclaw replied.
A loud crash caught everyone's attention from down the hall. Fireclaw pulled his sword out of the wall before leaving to investigate. The halls of Lavadome were equally as bad as the control room. Lights were broken and left hanging from the ceiling. Some areas had no power at all, and required a flashlight to navigate them.
"Okay listen, this may sound really stupid, but hear me out. We have to split up and try to find any remaining Dinosaucers, or possibly secret scouts! I honestly hope they didn't decide to pop in just as that happened." Fireclaw informed.
"Alright, Falchion and I will the larger area back that way." Aeris said referring to the Hangar.
"Chomper and I will try and check around the control room and living quarters." Redclaw said.
"Redclaw, if you're going to do that take this." Fireclaw said as he handed him an override card for the locks.
"I'm not sure if you'll need this, but who knows. Lavadome usually goes into a lockdown state when the power's out. The locks have their own supply, though, and require a manual override." Fireclaw added.
Everyone departed for their designated areas. Fireclaw turned and clicked on his flashlight that was clipped to a vest pocket. He weaved in and out of fallen debris and parts of the ceiling that had fallen during the attack. Fireclaw didn't realize Genghis Rex had become so powerful. Fireclaw could hear someone breathing deeply, as if terrified. Fireclaw unsheathed his sword slowly so it wouldn't be loud and turned his flashlight off. He put his back to the corner of the wall and held his sword with a firm grip.
"Who's there?" Fireclaw called out.
"F-F-Fireclaw? Is that you?" Someone replied back.
"Quackpot, you alright? What the hell did Rex do?" Fireclaw replied. He sheathed his sword and turned his light back on. He was almost appalled at Quackpot's appearance.
"I know, I look rough. Genghis Rex went berserk and threw me against a few walls... and maybe dragged me across a few rough ceilings and metal floors..." Quakpot replied.
"Holy shit he has gotten stronger. He's got Allo and probably the rest of the Dinosaucers as well. He took out the control room door and demolished Lavadome, as you can probably see." Fireclaw replied.
"Listen, I heard Rex say something about the moon just before he literally exploded. He sounded almost like there were a bunch of voices talking through him at once. Something about a blood moon or something." Quakpot said.
"A blood moon? I know they call it a blood moon if the sun reflects on it and turns it red, but what... oh... oh shit... Quakpot, are you talking about an eclipse? A long time ago I heard, well you don't know them but someone talking about a red eclipse or something. A meteor shower that comes early. The Longnecks migrate around that time, but it's not supposed to be happening now! Did he say when or something?" Fireclaw exclaimed ecstatically.
"I'm not sure. He just rambled on and on, then Tar pit shook like crazy. The doors on his control room hit the opposite wall with such force that they stuck in and won't even budge." Quakpot replied.
Fireclaw walked a little past Quackpot and stopped. He unsheathed his sword and watched something move across the wall towards them.
"This can't be good."
"Fireclaw what is it?"
The shadow stepped out of the wall and charged towards Fireclaw. Fireclaw blocked a swing it took at him and countered with a low spinning strike. The shadow jumped back and kicked the sword into the ceiling, then followed with a spinning heel kick. Fireclaw flipped backwards and landed in a crouched position. He lept up from the floor and tried to tackle the form but the form dissipated as he made contact with it. Quakpot grabbed his sword from the ceiling and tossed it to him.
"What was that?" Fireclaw shouted.
"That must have been a Wraith. Rex mentioned something about the unleashing of the wraith. Then something about the calling of corruption to cleanse the world, then something about the fires of darkn-"
"Flames of wrath." Fireclaw cut in.
"Yes. The flames of wrath, how'd you know?" Quackpot replied.
"Trust me, someone I know will be very interested to hear what you have to say." Fireclaw said.
Fireclaw and Quackpot ran back through the hallways and back to the control room. Fireclaw took out his communicator and switched to Lavadome's emergency intercom frequency. He hoped that the backup generators also allowed the intercoms power. Fireclaw heard a feedback from the intercom system indicating that it did in fact have life left in it.
"Attention, this is Fireclaw. If your search turns nothing up, meet back in the control room. Aeris and Falchion, I have something you'll want to hear." Fireclaw announced.
Within minutes everyone was back in the control per Fireclaw's request. There, a visibly bruised and battered Quackpot stood. He was somewhat intimidated by the group coming through the door all at once, especially after all he'd been through.
"What was it Fireclaw? What did you want to tell us?" Redclaw asked.
"Its not me that has something to say. Quackpot overheard Rex talking to himself before some explosion happened and wrecked everything." Fireclaw replied.
"Its true, Genghis Rex has gone insane!" Quackpot said between sobs. Fireclaw couldn't blame him for losing his composure now.
"Look, basically what he said was something calling the fires to cleanse the world of corruption or some shit. And something about a wraith." Fireclaw finished.
"The wraith... The wraith is another name for the shadow of whatever the power has consumed. It's what gives the stone's power the ability to maintain a form as well as travel. It's also extremely powerful, and never a good thing to confront. Not on a physical level at least." Falchion explained.
"A physical level?" Chomper asked.
"It's a spirit. A very evil spirit." Aeris replied.
Something in the hangar fell and rumbled the floor underneath the group. Fireclaw drew his sword and stood next to the door of the control room in an ambush stance. He motioned for Chomper or Redclaw to stand next to him with a gun to watch if something came through.
"Okay, I'm going to go see what that was, stay behind me." Fireclaw whispered.
"Alright, Redclaw grab that shotgun." Chomper said pointing to a shotgun laying on the table. It was the one Chomper carried in before the attack.
Fireclaw and Chomper snuck around the corner quietly. Redclaw stayed behind to keep the peace in case something else was around the control room. Fireclaw and Chomper crept quietly down the hallway, trying as hard as possible not to make any noise. Whatever was making the banging noise wasn't happy, and probably not small either.
"Fire, look!" Chomper pointed to a sillouete of something in the distance. It was hard to make out what it was in the dark, but Fireclaw didn't want to draw attention with a flashlight in case it was hostile and didn't know they were there.
Chomper went down on one knee and aimed the shotgun. It wasn't a good idea for Fireclaw to walk in front of Chomper while he was aiming a shotgun down the hallway. Suddenly Fireclaw turned and ran back. He signaled for Chomper to move closer and prepare to take a shot. Fireclaw dove over Chomper's head as he knelt and Chomper fired. The percussion from the shotgun blast kicked Fireclaw's temples as Chomper unleased a flurry of 12 gauge buckshot down the small hallway. The shadow darted to the left quickly in the direction of the hangar elevator, then disappeared around the corner. Chomper began to move in, Fireclaw following closely behind. Fireclaw tried to channel his energy to the blade to prepare a slice backed with hallowed power. Hallowed power wasn't as easy as dark power to conjure together.
Fireclaw held the now glowing blade up as a torch. He also stayed ready for an attack in case they were ambushed or something decided to surprise them. Chomper put his back to the wall and cocked a shell into the chamber. He nodded at Fireclaw, who returned the gesture. Chomper spun the corner and fired. He hit nothing. There was nothing to hit but the elevator doors, which were now riddled with small pellet holes.
"What the? Where did he go?" Chomper asked frantically.
"I- I- what? That- that thing wasn't natural! It was covered on blood! It was easily as tall as Allo! It was drenched in blood! How did the muzzle flash not even show any of the blood on him? Why is there no blood?" Fireclaw rambled on incoherently at what he had just seen. Whatever it was, he was visibly shaken by it.
"Fire, calm down. You're not the one to freak out, so I'm sure whatever you saw wasn't great. Let's get back to the control room and try to make sense of this." Chomper suggested.
"We're leaving. No way we're staying here with that... thing... running around. Listen, there's a secret exit through one of the labs. It's an emergency exit in case something happened that we needed a quick escape. We'll use that to get out. We're not going back through the hangar. I want nothing to do with that thing!" Fireclaw exclaimed.
"Alright, alright. We're leaving. Let's get everyone together and-"
"Fireclaw, Chomper get in here! We got the surveillence working and you're going to love this!" Redclaw called from the control room.
"Oh shit... That could be what I was talking about." Fireclaw said under his breath.
Fireclaw and Chomper ran to the control room and were greeted by the only monitor that wasn't broken. It had a live feed of the hangar up. Exactly as Fireclaw described, something was bleeding from everywhere and was standing in the light of one of the emergency lights. It was dripping blood on the floor, but the blood was disappearing as it pooled.
"That's what was standing in front of us!" Fireclaw shouted.
"This is one of the demons we tried to contain when we sealed the stone's power." Falchion replied.
"That's it, we're leaving. There's no way we can take him here. He'd kill us all before we'd even have an advantage here." Fireclaw said in a very serious tone.
Falchion and Aeris looked at each other and nodded.
"Ok, so there's a secret enterance in the lab we can take. We'll use that to-"
"Fireclaw, we can take this from here. Everyone, form a circle and join claws." Aeris interrupted.
Fireclaw fell silent and complied. Everyone stood in a connected circle in the middle of the control room. Falchion and Aeris began to circle them with their arms raised. They began to speak in a strange and unfamiliar tongue, just as they had with Chomper's purification. Soon, Fireclaw's vision began to fade to white. It was a very bright white, almost as if he'd been blinded by a light bulb, yet it didn't hurt his eyes. It was almost soothing for them.
When his vision returned to normal, he saw that they had returned to the Great Valley. Something seemed very wrong though. The sun was just going down, it had to have been late afternoon. Normally there would be signs of activity, but the Valley was deserted.
"What's going on? Where is everyone?" Strut asked.
"I don't know. Rather interesting that they'd return to their nests this early." Ozzy replied.
"I don't think they did it by choice. Do you feel that? Something feels... Off." Fireclaw replied.
"You're right to listen to your feelings, Fireclaw. Something is happening close to here. It's definetely an evil presense." Falchion replied.
Everyone followed Fireclaw as he lead them to the Longneck's nest. There they found Grandma Longneck and Littlefoot huddled together. Grandpa Longneck was nowhere to be seen.
"Where's Grandpa Longneck?" Chomper asked.
Littlefoot looked up. A single tear rolled down his face. Fireclaw knew what happened.
"Eldin's awakening again, isn't he?" Fireclaw asked.
Aeris gave him a curious look.
"How did you know that he embodied the spirit of Eldin?" Aeris asked.
"I'm not sure. I've actually encountered him, not in a bad way, but it was when we fought Redclaw before he turned. He was a giant beast that looked exactly as Brontothunder would, of course you dont' know him. He's basically a Longneck that walks exactly as I do. He was powerful, I'll give him that. I just somehow though knew the name. I'm not sure how." Fireclaw explained.
"Very interesting. Eldin was the other demon we'd bound to the stone. There were two demons we'd managed to seal away. One we tried to seal continued to elude us. He was the more powerful of the two demons we'd sealed. His name was Valmonway. Valmonway could only be summoned during a ritual that if completed successfully, would bring about the flames of wrath. This is what Pterano talked about. We didn't want to tell you because we were testing you. We would have told you eventually, don't get us wrong, but you've caught on well." Falchion explained.
"So you mean this whole time, you lead us on? We did everything ourselves and you did the bare minimum you could? What is wrong with you?" Chomper angrily interjected.
"We're divine beings in your world. We're not even supposed to have contact with you. We're choosing to help you through our own will, which is something we wouldn't even do for Littlefoot to the extent we are with you." Aeris replied.
"So then who are the other two demons you sealed away?" Redclaw asked.
"Eldin was one. Grandpa Longneck isn't Eldin himself, just the embodiment of him. It's what gives him the brutality and strength he possesses when you fought along side him Fireclaw. The other's name was Astrix. He was an extremely powerful and malevolent being. He had the ability to control the darkness itself. He was powerful enough to banish souls to any realm he pleased. Of course, I don't want to get into the faith aspect of this, so I'll keep it simple." Falchion explained.
"So Astrix and Eldin are going to try to summon Valmonway and ultimately purge the world in flames, huh?" Fireclaw asked.
"That's their plan. That's the reason they both walk your world now. They have Valmonway's soul as well. It's the one that has possesses Genghis Rex. When you released the power from Ozzy by defeating the shade, you ultimately broke a seal that withheld Valmonway's spirit. You were supposed to win that fight. By defeating the shade, you unleashed the soul of the dark lord himself." Falchion explained.
"So wherever you come from has a Dark lord and a Light lord, right? Am I getting this?" Chomper asked.
"We have the Dark lord, and the Overseer of Light. Together, they create a balance that's even visible in your world. You know them as Good and Evil, and from what we'd observed from those strange smooth skinned creatures Heaven and Hell." Aeris said.
"You mean humans? Yeah, they have an interesting belief in that." Fireclaw remarked. Chomper gave him a disapproving look.
Fireclaw looked over to Littlefoot and Grandma Longneck. They both remained silent, but he could tell they were listening.
"Littlefoot, which way did Grandpa Longneck go?" Fireclaw asked.
"He went towards the northern pass, where the farwalkers come in." Littlefoot replied.
"I know you're afraid Littlefoot, but I'm going doing this for Grandpa Longneck. I'm doing this for everyone. I know I've been a bastard in the past, but I still have some light left in my soul. I'll fix this, I promise." Fireclaw told him.
Littlefoot looked him in the eye and smiled. Fireclaw smiled back, then stood up.
"Fireclaw listen, if I'm correct, they're going to try the binding ritual. As close as Chomper and you are, Chomper can't do this. We're going to have to battle this one out as the ones who walk in the light. During this ritual, there are three that represent each side of the balance. It starts with the swordbearers, who carry the banes of light and dark. There is also the Right and Left wing soldiers. Those soldiers serve as guardians to the bearers. We're going to have to fight them as a three-warrior army, and they will do the same. In order for the binding ritual to complete, both swords must cross in the midst of the full moon. When the light meets the blades, Valmonway's power will awaken. You must not lose that sword when you fight them!" Falchion told Fireclaw.
"Alright. I'm not sure how we're going to find Allo, but we're going to have to do our best for now until we can-"
"Fireclaw you realize that the balance exists as well with Dinosaucer and Tyranno, right? I hope you realize that if Valmonway has Rex, he'll have Allo as well. Light and dark, good and evil, see where I'm going? Chances are he'll have two soldiers himself, and it's going to be them." Pterano interrupted.
"Pterano I really hope you're wrong, but I'm not doubting you either. If he needs champions to walk the Earth as well, believe it or not I'd do the same thing." Fireclaw said.
"We musn't wait. The moon will soon be rising. They've already called upon it, I can feel it. We must hurry!" Aeris said.
Chomper grabbed Fireclaw's claw firmly.
"Good luck, Fire. Burn them all!" Chomper told him.
"With pleasure." Fireclaw replied devilishly.