Chapter 10: The Dead City

"Crawled out of one hole, and into another."

Jake basically said what everyone else was currently thinking. Finn had to agree to some extent. Although, he much preferred walking along a dark sewer tunnel instead of being locked up in a prison cell. However, taking the risk of going through Oldtown after Huntress' warning made him question whether it really was the best choice or not. But she never seemed afraid of coming down here, only a bit indifferent. And as Finn walked beside her, she still showed no fear in her eyes, glowing as green as the orb that floated just above her head like a beacon.

It was evident at times that she knew little about the place they were currently in. In certain intersections, she would stop and think for a brief moment, indecisively pointing her finger one way only to then point it another. She also never spoke; the only sounds were the echoes of Ice King's and Jake's voices as they shared some witty remarks with each other to pass the time.

Huntress was, in a sense, still a complete mystery to Finn. Sure, they have been through several instances together, but never actually bonded through anything. Except maybe…their kiss. But he shrugged off the thought. From everything he could gather of her, she was just a lone survivor out in the wilds, never paying any mind to the needs of others. But that only brought up more questions. Why would she risk herself to save him from the clutches of the Wizard Police? What would she gain from it? Would she really have done it out of the kindness of her own heart? Finn highly doubted that was the case.

Still, there was no harm in actually asking. Especially since Jake and Ice King were too busy to care either way.

"Huntress?" Finn said to get the girls attention. She turned her eyes to him momentarily before turning them forward again.

"What is it?" she asked in response.

"Listen, why did you save us back there?

"A better question: why were you in prison to begin with?"

Finn guessed it was only fair to tell her. "Let's just say we got into a disagreement with the Grand Master Wizard. I had some business to take care of here in Wizard City and he didn't take to kindly to it."

"What kind of business?"

"You would call me crazy if I told you."

Huntress turned and her eyes met his. "Try me."

It was hard to tell how much more distance there was to walk but Finn figured he would tell her the story anyway. But no matter how much he said, Huntress' expression remained blank. There was no way of knowing what exactly she thought of it. And by the end, there was nothing but silence between the two for a short while. Even Jake and Ice King stopped their own conversation, so it was only the echoing of their footsteps.

"So…" Huntress began, "this 'Order of the Crow' had map leading to somewhere in the Desert of Doom, and now you plan to follow it. But for whatever reason, Grand Master Wizard doesn't want you to. And all of this happened…because you had a dream."

"Yeah, that's basically the gist of it," Finn replied.

"And what about the Order?"

"All dead, I think. Grand Master Wizard killed them by locking them away in their headquarters."

"And you got that mark on your hand from that weird wizard in the forest?"

Finn raised his hand and looked at the crow marking on the palm. "But I still don't know what it means. All I know is that when I placed my hand on the door leading to the Order's remains, it whispered 'Shadowed One'. What do you think that means?"

"Your guess is as good as mine," she responded. "I've never heard of anything like it before."

There was another brief moment of silence before Finn spoke again. "So, you mind telling me why you risked yourself saving us from jail now?"

Huntress slightly opened her mouth to speak, but no words came. There was some stuttering, but before she could say anything, Jake spoke from behind. "Hey, what's that?"

He was referring to another manhole cover in the center of another intersection, leading even further down. Finn knelt to remove it, and Jake helped as well. If the tunnel they were currently in was dark, this was a whole new level. There was nothing that could be inside, only the top bars of the ladder that allowed them descend. Not even the glowing orb above Huntress could provide the proper lighting needed to see what awaited below. All they could do was start climbing and hope what awaited below was more solid ground.

As the only one with a source of light, Huntress went down first despite Finn offering to go himself. He went in second, then Jake, and then Ice King simply floated down rather than using the ladder. A splash of water could be heard as Huntress managed to reach the bottom, and the light made the terrain that much easier to make out.

Unlike the area above, which was a simple sewer, they now found themselves in some sort of rocky tunnel. The entire thing seemed like it had been dug in a hurry, with all of the walls appearing misshapen and the wooden beams that kept the roof from collapsing seeming like they were about to collapse themselves. Everyone was afraid that if they even so much as touched anything other than the ground, they would be buried alive underneath hundreds of pounds of rocks and boulders. It also did not help that Huntress' light only illuminated so much, so it was impossible to tell what awaited further in.

Jake seemed the most nervous of all. "Maybe this was a bad idea," he said. "Would there be any way for us to shut down the barrier surrounding Wizard City instead of having to come down here?"

"The barrier was activated by the Grand Master Wizard himself," Huntress replied. "Unless you have as much knowledge of magic as the ruler of all wizards, this is the only way we're ever getting out. Otherwise, it's back to jail for all of us."

Jake groaned but never spoke another word.

Luckily, the tunnel never had any branching paths, so it was just a matter of walking forward with no chance of actually getting lost. That being said, the tunnel still sent a feeling of uneasiness through everyone. Maybe it was the lighting of the beacon, the lack of any wind, or the fact that it was cramped, but it felt like they were inevitably walking straight to danger. As if the tunnel itself was actually the maw of some beast and they were being swallowed alive. Needless to say, the sooner they got out, the better. But it provided little comfort when the tunnel formed a sharp turn, making it feel like they were making little progress every time they went in the same direction they came from.

Fortunately, the unpleasant experience seemed to finally be nearing its end. The tunnel ended with a wooden plank covering the exit. It was very clear that it had been built decades prior given how rotten certain sections of the wood looked, and some pieces were just missing altogether. There was still not enough to light to tell what was on the other side, but there was no doubt it was a way out of the cramped space judging by the lack of any rocky walls and the slight breeze coming through the cracks in the wood. All it took was a single punch from Jake's large hand to break it down.

Unlike the dirt floor of the tunnel, the group's footsteps now slightly echoed against stone. The ground was decorated with tiles, which seemed to be a mixture of light red and blue if one focused their vision enough. Some chunks of the ground were gone, causing Finn, Jake, and Huntress to sometimes lose their balance or nearly fall when tripped. And while they did not have to worry about suffocating in a tunnel any longer, the lack of light was still a problem. There was no way of seeing anything four feet in front of them.

"Yo Huntress, can't that light shine any brighter?" Finn asked.

"There's only so much the color green can illuminate," she replied.

Finn, Jake, and Ice King stopped when they noticed Huntress had stopped walking beside them. When they turned to see what was keeping her, they saw her trying to pull something out of her pocket; something big from how much she seemed to be struggling.

"What are you doing?" Jake was the first to ask.

"I have an idea," she replied. With a sigh, she managed to pull out what appeared to be one of the yellow gems that the wizard police grunts always had over their eyes.

"Where'd you get that?" Ice King asked.

"I borrowed it. If this works, we might have some actual light in here. It's gonna get dark for a moment…"

And indeed it did. When Huntress turned off her green beacon, everyone felt as if they had gone completely blind. Luckily enough, it only lasted a few seconds before the gem began to radiate in Huntress' hand.

Having the light come back in such a dark place, even if it was gone only for a brief moment, was like seeing the sun rising in the morning. For a moment, it seemed as though the faint yellow light was actually worse than before, but that was only the case until Huntress threw the gem upwards into the air. After getting the starting push it needed, the gem flew up on its own, now appearing like a single star in the night sky. But after it reached the highest level it could, everyone saw they were still far from laying eyes on the actual sky.

The gem lit up like a flare, giving light to everything around them. It was like seeing the fires of Beautopia being lit all over again. It was actually rather similar considering that, like Beautopia, all that stood around them was nothing but the remains of a once great city; where all buildings were now crumbling and abandoned due to the passage of time.

Every window was broken, every wall made using the front door unnecessary, and anything that might have led the group to believe that this place was once lived in was gone. When looking up, all that could be seen aside from the bright yellow light coming from the floating gem was the roof of the enormous cavern that housed the city. And it took no time at all for them to realize that they were in Oldtown, now nothing but a dead city.

"Whoa…so this is Oldtown, huh?" Jake wondered.

"What's left of it," Huntress replied. "After all of the stories I've heard wizards tell each other about this place, I'm surprised the buildings are still standing. Well most of them, anyway."

Ice King scoffed while crossing his arms. "It's a dump."

"Dump or not, it's our only way out," Finn said. He turned to face Huntress. "Do you know how we get out of here?"

There was a brief moment of silence as the wizard gathered her thoughts. "I only know anything about this place from what I've been told and what I've read, but if any of it is to be believed, this place was once home to an old mine. It was picked clean of all gold deposits, and they were able to dig all the way through the canyon. Hopefully, that means there's another way out aside from the way we came. We find the mine, and we might be able to make it out of the wizard police's jurisdiction."

Finn nodded then turned to Ice King. "What about you, Ice King? You were the one who suggested we come down here. Anything useful that you can tell us?"

"I've never been down here myself, but one time when I was spying on a meeting of a club I wanted to join, I overheard that one of the requisites for joining was spending an entire night in here. After spying for days, not even half of the newcomers made it back. But during those days of spying, I realized how boring those guys were, so I never actually tried it."

"So we're basically going in blind," Jake said.

"Yep," Finn replied. "But come on, man. We've been through worse before."

"I wouldn't speak so soon…" Huntress mumbled.

With everyone eager to get back to the surface as soon as possible, they wasted no more time talking and began their trek across Oldtown.

The architecture for each building appeared similar to the ones in Wizard City, minus the fact that almost all of them were made of cobblestone rather than cement. It mattered little at this point, however, with how decrepit all of them were now. They could serve as temporary shelters, but no one would ever risk spending more than a few hours inside of them for fear of them collapsing. If there were any sort of way for wind to blow inside the caverns, there was no doubt in anyone minds that the city would be nothing more than a pile of rubble before long. But most of all, everyone just hoped it was completely empty.

But the question remained; how did Oldtown even reach this state? Since it was all underneath a cavern, Finn found it unlikely that it was destroyed during the great explosion of the mushroom bombs hundreds of years ago. Even more of a mystery was how Wizard City managed to escape caving in on itself above the shallow surface of the cavern's roof. Some sort of ward? It would not be surprising seeing as how the city has stood for so long without a single crack underneath its surface. Especially with how much dangerous magic is used on a daily basis.

Finn stopped himself from wondering about so many possibilities. Once he and his friends were out, none of it would matter. If anything, what awaited them after escaping is what should be his top priority.

Although, there was really not much to consider since most of the facts to go on were very vague. If the place he saw in his dream was the place where he needed to go, then it was doubtful that the Desert of Doom would be his last destination. And it was this fact that made him wonder if Jake and Ice King should really be a part of it. Maybe he should just tackle the rest of the journey on his own once they were out of Oldtown. But this would have to be a topic of discussion for later.

The human came to a stop as a noise reached his ear. It was a bit difficult to pin-point its exact location, but he knew for a fact it came from inside one of the buildings to his left; the sound of something metal-like a can-hitting the floor. Finn would have brushed it off as nothing, except that the sound happened twice in a row.

Everyone else in the group seemed to have not heard the noise because they continued walking ahead. The human was about to join them, but then there was another sound coming from the same building. Only this time, it was a voice.

"Help…me…"

It was the voice of a child, though it was hard to tell if it was a girl or a boy. Either way, the weakness of it made it obvious that whoever was calling for help was not doing very well. Wanting to investigate, Finn decided that he would catch up with the rest of the group later. He knew they would never leave without him.

Based on the overall layout of the two-story building, it was once some sort of shop. As Finn entered through what was once a glass door, now shattered along with all the windows, all that was left was empty rows of wooden shelves scattered about in the darkness. The glass from the windows was scattered across the floor, making Finn wince every time he accidentally stepped on a piece. But from just the entryway, there was no way of seeing where the call for help came from. There was not enough light to see further inside.

"Hello?" Finn asked in a whisper, hoping for some sort of answer. That answer came in the form of another call.

"Help…meeeee…"

This time, Finn could more or less pin-point the direction of the voice from somewhere further in the back. He took it slow so that his eyes had time to adjust to the darkness. The light of the beacon that lit up the outside was not enough to shine the entire store. And it only got harder to see the further in he went, and with every step the human took, the wooden floor creaked, and the silent whimper of a crying child hit his ears. He wished he had his sword with him right now, but all he could settle for was a lengthy steel pipe he found lying on the floor. If anything tried jumping out at him from the shadows, he would at least have something to give him the upper hand.

After reaching the end of the store, Finn immediately took a right. It was hard to tell on account of the darkness, but he could swear the outline of a little girl kneeling on the ground was only a few feet in front of him.

From what little illumination there was, he could make out the light pinkish color of her dress, along with the blue bow tied to her black hair to form a ponytail. Long tattered white socks covered her legs, but she was wearing no shoes. Since she had her back turned to him, Finn could not tell what exactly she was holding in her hands.

"Little girl?" he asked, taking a few steps forward. "Are you okay?"

As if things were not confusing enough, Finn noticed as he reached out to her with his left arm that the crow marking on the back of his hand was now slightly glowing purple, and it only got brighter the closer he moved to her. It got to the point where the light emanating from it was enough to light up the room a few feet around him.

"What the…"

Before the human could finish his thought, several dust pellets fell on his shoulder from above, and then more fell right in front of his face and hit the ground in front of him. When he looked up, he only had a few seconds to make out the strange creature hanging from the ceiling.

Based on what the purple light of the marking allowed Finn to see, its black skin was bulbous and moist. Its hands and feet all had sharp claws, which allowed it to remain on the ceiling like a spider, and move around like one too despite only having four limbs. There were no eyes present on what was left of its face; only a mouth filled with sharp teeth glistening with the saliva left behind by its long tongue. And when it realized it had been spotted, it hissed at Finn before jumping down and landing right on top of him.

Before the creature was able to bite down on him, Finn used the pipe he had grabbed from the ground and held it up horizontally, making its teeth lodge themselves on the metal instead. Several streams of its saliva landed on his cheek as it furiously tried to sink its teeth into his flesh. And while he managed to avoid being eaten, the pipe did not stop it from clawing away at his torso.

Using whatever strength the human had left, he pushed the creature away and managed to hit it across the head with the pipe before it had a chance to come down on him again. As it screeched and regained its balance from the hit, Finn stood from the ground and regained his own composure. But the moment of regaining his bearings was cut short when he felt the sharp pain of a blade piercing his skin on his right thigh.

He took a knee as he held on to the handle of the knife lodged into his skin. And standing next to him was the very same girl who was kneeling before him earlier, still crying. However, the tears that ran down her cheek were as black as ink, and there were no eyes that Finn could see. Only two black voids staring back at him, as if someone had forcibly cut them out. Now able to see her clothing from much closer, the fabric was mostly tattered and ripped apart. But whether it was done by hand or by blade, Finn could not tell.

"Help…me…" said the girl.

Finn had no time to analyze the situation before the other creature was once again attempting to attack him. Luckily, he was able to get out of the way just in time to avoid being bitten, but the knife still stuck in his thigh made it difficult to maneuver.

"Sorry…" said a strange male voice.

With more ground between him and the creature, Finn was able to see that the creature did have eyes after all, and another mouth. In fact, it had another face altogether on the side of its head.

"I can't control it," the face said in a pained voice. "Please…kill me…"

Finn was on the edge of vomiting right then and there, but the creature charged forward before he had a chance to do so. He swung the pipe and hit it right across its head, making it fly across the room and knock over some of the empty shelves. The human used the opportunity to run out of the store before it could get back up, but it was not long before he could hear it recover and immediately start running towards him.

Just as the main doorway was within reach, the creature launched itself forward and tackled him to the ground outside. If the angle had been just a bit different, the knife stuck on his thigh would have been driven even deeper. And while that was fortunately not the case, a large wave of pain was still ever present all across his body. A pain that made fending off the creature nearly impossible and allowed it to once again pin him to the ground in an attempt to sink its teeth into his flesh. But like before, the pipe kept it at bay.

"I don't want to do this," said the face on the side of the creature's head. "Its actions are not my own. Please forgive me…"

The pipe could only hold out so much longer, and Finn could already notice it beginning to break under the constant biting it was receiving. However, in a stroke of good luck, the creature fell to the ground beside him as an arrow pierced its side. And the shooter was none other than Huntress Wizard, with Jake and Ice King at her side.

Ice King flew by and picked the human off the ground, carrying him a safe distance away so that Jake could use his giant fist to smash the creature against the ground, forming a large crater where the force of the hit was strongest. And from the impact, gushes of black ink-like blood splattered across the street, making the dog groan in disgust as he shook away the mess from his now small again paw.

"Finn!" the dog shouted as Ice King placed him back on the ground.

The human winced as his legs failed and he fell down. His wincing turned into screams of pain, however, when Huntress walked up to him and pulled the knife out without warning. Fortunately, the pain only lasted less than a few seconds before she began to use a healing spell on the wound, making close completely and prevent any further loss of blood. It did not stop the pain on his chest from being clawed away by the creature, but at least he would not be dying from bleeding out any time soon.

Sighing in relief, Finn pushed himself up to his knees. "Thanks, Huntress."

Unexpectedly, the only response he got from her was a punch right across the face. "What were you thinking, you idiot?!" she shouted as he tried to get back up from the ground. "Why would you separate yourself from the group like that? You nearly got killed!"

"Yo, let's just take this easy…" Ice King said. "Boyfriend and girlfriend should not-"

Ice King yelped as Huntress levitated an arrow just inches away from his eye.

"You better stop that sentence right there," she said. "We're in a dangerous place right now, and having someone stray from the group without letting the rest know will just make things worse."

"I'm sorry," Finn said as Jake helped him off the ground. "I didn't mean to worry you guys, it's just…there's was something in there…"

"We already killed it, though," Jake replied. "That's what's important."

"No, not that. It's-"

Before the human could finish his thought, the group turned their attention coming from inside the store he had entered before. And lurking from the shadows came the very same girl who had stabbed him in the first place.

"Woah! What is wrong with her?!" Ice King exclaimed.

The girl pointed her had in their direction, looking directly at them with the black voids where her eyes once were.

"Help…me…" she said weakly. "Mommy…Daddy…"

"Uh, Finn, what's going on?" Jake asked while taking several steps back.

Finn had no time to reply as a soul piercing screech escaped the girl's mouth, so loud that it echoed across the entire city and forced the group to cover their ears. It lasted roughly over ten seconds before coming to a stop, leaving everything in complete silence once again. For a while longer, at least.

From every direction, and from inside every single building, hundreds of the same creatures that attacked Finn began to pour out to heed the girl's call. They crawled on the walls on all fours like hordes of bugs and made their way down the walls until reaching the streets. No matter which direction they looked, all routes seemed to have been blocked off by them. Every street and every alley that could have served as an escape route.

The group found themselves with their backs against each other, surrounded on all sides by the bloodthirsty monsters. All of them were twisted in their own sick way, but one thing that they all had in common was the voices of the people they once were, pleading to be put out of their misery. Men and women alike.

"Help us…"

"Please, just end it all…"

"It hurts…"

The voices could be heard in the hundreds. But one thing was for sure: none of them would be kind enough to let the group escape.

"Uh, guys?" Ice King said in a whimper. "What do we do?"

There was no time for anyone to answer. Not before the entire bloodthirsty horde dashed forward all at once.

Note: Inspired and brought to you by one of the first games I ever played as a child: Silent Hill. (I turned out fine.)

-Fiery Crusader: They certainly do.

Next Chapter: Hired Help