Ch22: Zoltun Kuelle's Archives
After our group exited the aqueducts, I explained to them via telepathy what exactly I saw during those five seconds. The only one who didn't have any idea of what I was talking about was that of Zoltun Kuelle, since he hadn't learned anything about my past beforehand. "So what you're saying is that you saw that you and Janet's bodies were in a deep sleep back home, the time was the exact same that the lightning struck, and your house now looks completely trashed?" Leah asked. "I will admit, that this is actually not the first I had heard of something like this happening," Shen said, his words actually confusing me.
"You mean something like this has happened before?" I asked him. "Oh yes! I believe it was a woman named Amelia from upwards of fifty years ago. She was a kind soul, not too bright about how to get around, though. I took her as my apprentice before she died of old age, but during that time, she told me many stories of how she was transported here from a different world because of a clash of thunder that struck her flying machine," Shen said... At least now I knew what actually happened to the missing flyer Amelia Earhart.
"Do you know who that was?" Serena asked. "Yep... if she was in a flying machine, then the only logical statement would be that it was the famous pilot Amelia Earhart, who vanished from my world on her expedition to fly all around the world in one round trip," I frowned. "Well, that does sound troubling... and she never got to see her family ever again..." Leah sighed. "Well, at least she got to experience a brand new world and have many adventures with this old fool," Shen smiled. "I don't know if that would be a pleasurable time or a death sentence," I giggled.
After Leah and Shen went back to town via the warp device and me and Serena got the two different blood samples from the Cave of the Betrayer and the Vault of the Assassin, we then proceeded to the northeastern tip of the Desolate Sands and entered the Archives of Zoltun Kuelle, the pillars of sand and the amazing architecture being presented in amazing fashion. "I created all of this to create the Black Soulstone... it was a complicated creation. I sacrificed much to create it," Zoltun Kuelle explained as we went forward some more and we were met with another warp pad and Leah appearing out of it alongside my mom and a newly equipped Lilith, who looked to be quite timid about the whole thing.
"H-Hello there... h-how are you doing?" Lilith asked, her voice sounding even more shy than Emperor Hakan's. "I'm doing great Lilith... how are you doing though? I haven't seen you since we were sister Succubi," Serena asked her with a small smile. "I don't know who you are... but you say you know me from before?" Lilith asked. "My name is Serena... you don't remember anything from before because your father, Mephisto, stole all of your demon essences from your body while you were in Pandemonium." "My own father did that to me?... Is that why I can't remember anything at all?" Lilith asked with a frown. "Yeah..." Serena frowned.
"I hate to break up the happy moment, but we have to go and find Kuelle's body before Belial catches onto our plan," mom frowned at us. "Oh! Of course," Leah gasped as she walked us forward and we were met with two branching paths. One led to the east and one to the west. "You will need to take this blood to an ancient apparatus at the end of the different areas and put it in the center. Once you do so, return here and we'll all go into the Shadow Realm together," I explained as I handed mom and Lilith a blood sample with a smile.
With that out of the way, our groups went to the different areas with me and Serena going east with Kuelle's head. "Come now, you must be impressed by all this. Where have you been that could compare to this?" Kuelle asked with a smile. "I guess you haven't seen the towering heights of the Empire State Building, the ancient Egyptian Pyramids, or the majestic Taj Mahal, have you?" I asked with a sly smirk. "Um... I guess those are from your world?" Serena asked. "Yep. And all of them are much more interesting in design than this place and any place we will see in the future," I smirked. "Oh... well then..." Kuelle frowned. "It still looks pretty and cool though, don't get me wrong on that. It's just that I am more used to the stuff in my world," I admitted truthfully.
"Good to know that this place is still good in your eyes," Kuelle frowned, though I could tell he wasn't happy with my response. "If you want my honest opinion, ZK, this is the best place that I've seen in this world so far, so I'll give you credit for that at least," I smiled. "Um... did you just give him a nickname?" Serena asked as we found the apparatus for activating the Shadow World. "Hmm... it sounds a little better and easier to say than Zoltun Kuelle... I will admit that..." the sorcerer said with a smile as I placed the blood sample in the center of the contraption and was warped back to the start immediately. And I found that we had been beaten to the point by mom and Lilith. "So who's up for a trip to the Shadow Realm?" I smirked.
The Shadow Realm was definitely a very horrifying place to be in for us, since the entirety of the place was lit up in sepia tone and the monsters in the form of the Shadow Vermin were very scary to deal with. They looked like more disfigured forms of Kingdom Hearts' main enemies in the Heartless, which made them especially spooky. "Well, this place will be in my nightmares for awhile," mom frowned as we continued forward and we finally found Zoltun Kuelle's body.
And upon touching it, two different Skeletal Guardians appeared, both of them being obliterated with a simple Disintegrate spell from my fingers and from Lillith rushing forward and actually ramming the other off the edge with her horns. She may have looked small, but she packed as much strength as a Barbarian class mixed with a Savage Beast's speed. "Way to go, Lilith!" I smirked as I picked up the body of Kuelle and we walked out of the exit from the Shadow Realm. "I got the body, now do your magic, Leah," I smiled as I placed it on the sand pedestal and waited for Lilith to finish using her powers. It took her no less than 20 seconds to fully revive Kuelle.
Kuelle gasped for breath the moment he was resurrected, his head having been melded on by magic in the process. "Hah... hah... I breath again... I live again!" Zoltun Kuelle exclaimed after panting a bit. "You're welcome. Now about the Black Soulstone..." Leah frowned. "Of course. A bargain is a bargain, my fair maiden. For restoring my life, not only will I give you the stone, but I shall aid you in destroying the last of the Lords of Hell in the process," Kuelle smirked, making me a tad suspicious. "Is he truthful Serena?" I asked Serena telepathically. "Believe it or not, he is telling the truth!" she said telepathically.
Kuelle then activated the portal and we all entered it, all of us entering the chamber that held the Black Soulstone and seeing that Kuelle was already working to make it perfected. "At long last... I can complete the Black Soulstone and save humanity forever!" Zoltun Kuelle smiled as he used his wizardry to meld the Black Soulstone into what the game depicted it as. But then we saw five distinct traces of red light appear out of nowhere and go right into the stone itself. "W-What is this?! ARGH!" Kuelle exclaimed as his magic failed on him and he got backfired into the ground.
"Kuelle! Are you okay?" I asked with a worried face. "I don't know why, but the Stone has absorbed the souls of the five dead Lords of Hell out of nowhere... I have a feeling that someone is either trying to help us, or trying to foil us," he groaned as he picked himself up and he simply fell down again. "Rgh... that blast took out my kneecap... of all the things to make me crippled, it had to be my life's work," he groaned. "Calm down, whiner. I'll help you out," Leah frowned as she went up to him and placed her hands around his knee that he held onto, his right one.
It was then that Leah focused her powers of Diablo into the knee, the result being his entire knee and his whole right leg being made of Hell-forged steel. "Did you just... what kind of... was that..." Kuelle was about to ask before Adria arrived via teleportation and looked at Kuelle with a frown. "Hmph. I see you haven't killed him yet. Should I do the duty then?" Adria asked. "No, you shouldn't," Serena frowned at her. "He's joining our team as a Mystic. Aren't you, Kuelle?" mom smirked at him. "Peh. If you don't mind my being around, I might as well join your cause," Kuelle frowned, Adria's eyes going into a scowl at this offer.
"Why are you so intent on helping out people that you know nothing about? That kind of logic is going to get you killed one day," Adria frowned at us. "Hmph," I simply scoffed at her as I took the stone from its resting place and found that, unlike most people, it had no ill effects from me touching it at all. "Huh... it's surprisingly lighter than I thought it would be," I admitted. I could tell by Adria's wide eyes that she was gobsmacked. "H-How are you unable to be possessed from touching the stone directly?... How much power does a single zombie have?" Adria gawked. "Well, you said it yourself. I'm a zombie. I don't think that a demon lord would want to possess a body that is rotted out and has body parts falling off of it nonstop," I smiled at her. "She makes a valid argument..." Lilith smiled.
"Okay then. Now that we have the stone, we should go on an assault to the Palace. That is where we will find Belial, the Lord of Lies... but in the meantime, we'll need some people to help evacuate the town. Who's up for protecting the citizens of Caldeum?" I smiled. "I think that me and Lilith can handle that much, as well as Megan," mom smirked. "Okay then. Now that we have the plan down pat, it's time to put the words into action!" I smiled as I warped all of us back with the Town Portal. Soon we would be facing off against the elusive Belial, the most challenging fight we've had thus far.