Zenix and Garroth moved quickly through the small hallway, noticing that the sculk had spread further ahead into the tunnel. The two guards noticed that some Sculk Skeletons were coming their way, and quickly readied their shields and swords. "The Sculk has already started to infest and gain a grasp on some of these monsters... that certainly explains why no monsters have attacked the village directly, they were all being assimilated!" Garroth exclaimed, parrying one of the arrows back towards one of the skeletons.

Zenix gritted his teeth as he ran forward and swung his blade at the creatures, knocking them back and even reducing them to a pile of sculk veins and bones. "Well, they can still die like everything else we've slain, so that's just-" The sculk shifted beneath the feet of the guards, causing it to spread a little further towards the cave that leads to Phoenix Drop. Zenix sighs and feels rather stupid, but what's done has been done. "-Perfect... damn it, I forgot this stuff spreads faster when things die around it! Careful where you swing your blade, Garroth!" Zenix cautioned, jumping into the sculk-infested mineshaft.

Garroth sighed and followed his apprentice, keeping his sword and shield brandished as he ventured into the mineshaft. "Let's hope the shapeshifter and miss Emmalyn are having better luck than we are." Garroth stated, carefully stepping across the sculk covered floor.

The pair were not having the best time. Emmalyn was clutching onto Frank tightly, all while he swung his hunting knife at the approaching monsters. Much to his disappointment, they weren't backing off, it just made them angry.

Frank pocketed his knife and activated the watch, turning the dial to select an alien. "So, this isn't going well, but I do have an idea that'll get us out of this!" He turned the dial to an icon of a hunched over figure with large hands. He looked over his shoulder and up at Emmalyn. "Hey, do you trust me?" Frank asked.

Emmalyn looked at the small crowd of approaching monsters, and quickly shook her head. "If it means we can get out of here, then yes! Whatever you're about to do, do it now!" Emmalyn exclaimed.

With that said, Frank popped the core up and pushed it back into place. In a sudden flash of purple light, Frank had been transformed into Swampfire, much to his confusion. "What the!? Okay, it's not the form I wanted, but I guess Swampfire works too," The plant alien cupped his hands together and slowly pulled them apart, creating a large fireball. "Let's get fired up!" Swampfire quipped, throwing the ball of fire at the horde of sculkified monsters.

In an explosion of fire and heat, the monsters were set ablaze. The sculkified Enderman screeched out in an aggressive manner, teleporting around in a frantic and random manner, all while the sculkified creeper exploded, flinging the other monsters across the cavern. The sculkified zombie and skeleton were practically blown to bits, and the Enderman was at best, stunned by the explosion.

Without a moment to lose, Swampfire held onto Emmalyn as he ran past the sculkified Enderman. It screeched out in anger and pain, and teleported in a puff of dark teal particles. Swampfire fired a stream of fire in front of himself, revealing a surprising sight, one that was completely infested and overrun by sculk, and the monsters that resided inside it were all completely sculkified.

It looked like an entire city, abandoned and completely laced with various patches of sculk. The entire underground city was huge, it looked ancient, like it had been here for hundreds, thousands, maybe even millions of years, only to be forgotten, hidden and buried away by the passage of time.

Swampfire carefully ignited two fireballs in his hands, only to be surprised by the numerous monsters within the large ancient city. Tons of the monsters were covered from head to toe in sculk, a couple of them in particular looked like actual people wielding weapons, but turned into mindless husks. Judging by how thin and ragged they looked, they've been down here a long while... almost too long. "Oh that's not good, this just isn't right. It's like a horror movie down here," the monsters began to approach, all while Swampfire pulled Emmalyn off of his back. He looked around for some kind of opening, but he couldn't find one. He looked down at Emmalyn, who was trying to stay away from the monsters as best as she could. "Well miss, for what little time we spent together, I sure as hell enjoyed your company. I'll keep them off you for as long as I can, but if you see an opening, go for it! I'll hold them off." Swampfire stated in a serious tone.

Swampfire stepped forward and held out his hands, torrents of fire were unleashed from his palms, aimed at the sculkified monsters. They reeled from the vicious and unrelenting fire attacks, but that didn't stop them from trying to get closer. More sculkified skeletons began firing arrows at the pair, and out of instinct, Swampfire stopped with the fire attacks and slammed his fist into the ground, tearing through the sculk as tons of vines and roots sprouted from the ground, binding around the arrows and snapping them into pieces. More sensors began to go off, triggering some of the sculkified monsters nearby, numerous unholy shrieking sounds echoed out and bounced around the cold, dark and abandoned slate walls of the ruins of an ancient city. Swampfire rose more vines and roots out of the ground and began to bind them together into a barrier, hoping to keep the monsters at bay. Emmalyn backed up, only for the sculkified enderman to teleport in, screeching in a fit of rage as it tried to claw at her.

Emmalyn shrieked and immediately backed away, causing Swampfire to turn around and shoot a fireball at the tall teleporting creature. The attack connected, but it didn't seem to do as much damage as it did a moment ago, though it did get the creature's attention. The sculkified enderman and Swampfire clashed, grasping at each other's hands as they struggled to physically overpower each other.

The sculkified enderman screeched in the alien's face, much to Swampfire's irritation. "Sheesh, didn't your mother tell you it wasn't polite to scream at people for no reason!" Swampfire let one of his hands go and jammed it into the mouth of the creature, causing the creature to let out a gurgled choking sound. "Here's mud in your mouth, jackass!" Swampfire remarked, firing large globs of mud into the enderman's open maw.

The creature reeled in disgust as it coughed and choked on the mud, but it was soon getting beat back by Swampfire, who took the opportunity to get a few proper hits in. Swampfire wailed on the sculkified enderman, all while the other sculkified monsters tried to rip through the barrier. The transformed hero shot a fireball at the barrier, setting it ablaze as he kicked the enderman back, continuing the assault on the monsters.

Emmalyn could see a couple of monsters approaching, but she did see an opening. Without thinking, Emmalyn ran towards Swampfire and pulled him along. "Come on, this way! There's an opening!" Emmalyn yelled.

He turned around towards Emmalyn, but soon noticed the opening himself. It was still infested with sculk, but it wasn't crawling with monsters, and the amount of monsters starting to encroach on their location from where they came from wasn't any better. Before Swampfire could consider pulling himself away from Emmalyn, the device began to beep and flash red, and in a flash of red light, Frank was returned to normal.

Frank clenched his teeth and sighed. "Just so you know, I think I'm starting to hate this thing," Frank looked to the horde of monsters approaching them. He knew he couldn't fight like this, not against such a sizeable horde coming his way, but he didn't have much of a choice. He took his hunting knife out and handed it to Emmalyn. "Here, something to protect yourself. Follow me, and don't lag behind!" Frank told her.

Frank quickly ran towards the opening, and Emmalyn followed behind him. The two ran into one of the buildings comprised of blackened stone and infested with sculk, their footsteps were being picked up by the various sensors scattered around the place. The monsters seemed to pick up on the activated sensors, and stopped moving for a moment. The pair were out of their line of sight, but eventually, the monsters backed off, retreating back into the cover of dark.

They recognized where the pair had gone, they weren't their problem, now. However, two more sets of footsteps were detected back the way they came. Heavily armored footsteps.

Frank and Emmalyn ran through the long hallway, fear and adrenaline coursed through their veins as their footsteps echoed off the walls, their hearts pounding in their chests as they hoped to escape and evade the sculkified monsters. The pair eventually stopped to take a breath, they couldn't see anything within the dark and abandoned walls of the ancient city structure, but they knew they were still together.

Frank felt around on his arm for the watch, and eventually managed to find it. He tried to activate it, but it let out a low droning sound, still beaming with that red color. "Stupid time-out... we might have to wait a few minutes, then I'll just turn back into Swampfire, light the way and we'll be back to the surface in-" The sound of mild sobbing caused Frank's words to be caught in his throat. Frank turned around to where Emmalyn would be standing, only to vaguely see a small orange light emanating from her pockets. Emmalyn was sitting against the wall, her head buried in her knees as she sobbed, gingerly chewing on one of those cave fruits they found earlier, its tender flesh glowing with a small but vibrant orange light. "I-In... no time... oh man." Frank muttered, carefully stepping towards the librarian.

Frank leaned against the wall and slowly slumped down to the ground, his eyes were fixated on Emmalyn, her muffled sobbing interrupted by her chewing on the tender flesh of the fruit. "Hey, are you alright? I get this hasn't gone like you had hoped, and I don't know what you expected going into this, but I know we'll be alright. We just need to wait, that's all, once the watch recharges, I'll-" the sound of a swift and powerful smack echoed out, causing one of the sensors to go off. Frank flinched, the left side of his face stung as Emmalyn lowered her right hand. "Ow! Okay, what did I do to warrant that response!?" Frank remarked, rubbing his face tenderly.

Emmalyn's face could barely be seen by the illuminated light coming off the fruit she was eating. She looked pissed, her eyes were full of tears and her cheeks were stained with them, her hair looked matted and messy, and she had a serious scowl on her face. "You're not an idiot, so why haven't you noticed the situation we're in!? We are stuck down here, miles below the surface! There are tons of those warped monsters down here, and all we have to defend ourselves with are some old wooden tools, a puny little blade, and that stupid watch!" More of the sensors started to activate by the sudden volume of Emmalyn's voice. "We don't have torches to light the way, we barely have any semblance of food, why did I think coming down here was a good idea!? I'm going to die down here... I'm going to die, knowing that I have no legacy to leave behind!" She cried out. Her voice was loud, it broke a few times as she vented her frustration, her concerns... her fears.

Emmalyn buried her face back into her knees and continued to sob. Frank could feel the stinging sensation in his face fade, but he didn't harbor any ill will towards the woman. He knew that she was justified in feeling this way, trapped underground with no way out, surrounded by monsters that became warped and more dangerous thanks to an unknown species of possible fungal, vegetal or parasitic life. Regardless, whatever this sculk stuff was, it clearly has no business being here. He wasn't going to let this stuff spread, and he certainly wasn't going to let Emmalyn die down here.

Frank looked around and began walking in one direction, feeling around for a wall. The underground was already so dark, and yet it got worse within the ancient city structure the pair found themselves in. The entire place felt cold, reeked of rot, dust, decay and death, but Frank wasn't going to be intimidated by the history of this place. "Hey Em, I'm going to feel around for a way out. You stay there, okay? Just scream, and I'll be right there to help." Frank called out.

More of the sensors went off as Frank's voice echoed out and bounced off the walls. He continued to wander through the dark, with the only sense of direction he had being the glowing spots within the bits of sculk that had infested the place. He felt like something was watching him, but he couldn't see a thing within the dark. He just needed to make sure nothing got the jump on him, otherwise, he was going to be in massive trouble.

Emmalyn sighed and stayed huddled up against the wall, keeping herself covered up with Frank's jacket. She didn't think anything like this would be happening. The dangers of monsters being infested by the sculk, the abnormality of the sculk itself, an entire ancient city left abandoned and overrun by a foreign entity, and above all else, stuck with some stranger with power beyond anyone's imagination.

Emmalyn held onto Frank's jacket tightly, trying to keep herself from freaking out and screaming out of sheer terror. She hadn't even processed that she was now alone, while Frank looked for a way out for the both of them. Her confidence was dwindling, but she couldn't help but feel like she's just being useless. Frank was trying his best to get them out, and was willing to help her with her request, and he's been rather patient with her, but here she is, wearing his jacket, holding his knife, while he wandered around in an ancient city, fumbling around in the dark.

Emmalyn looked at the knife in her hands, seeing her reflection amidst the fruit's unusual glow. Emmalyn closed her eyes and sighed, she knew she needed to do something. She needed to help however she could. Emmalyn got up and went in the opposite direction that Frank went, keeping her hands on the wall as she moves into the darkness.

Zenix and Garroth wandered down into the darker depths of the caverns, noticing just how much more sculk has made itself known. As the two guards moved forward, Zenix took off his helmet, letting some water flood out of the top before he put it back on. "Fantastic, first we fall into some dingy underground pond, and now we're about to be neck deep in sculk... you sure they went this way, Garroth? This seems like a death trap at the bottom of a large hole." Zenix remarked.

Garroth placed down a couple torches and looked back to his apprentice. "I'm sure. We've seen the other paths, it's all just dead ends back up top, so they must've found their way down here. I noticed that a couple of those Glow Berries on the vines, they were harvested. They likely lost a bit of energy, and needed to recuperate. I also noticed miss Emmalyn's chestplate falling to pieces amidst the blades of grass, completely soaked. They came down here," Garroth pointed forward to the ever growing presence of the sculk coming from the caverns ahead. "And judging by the trajectory of these tunnels, I fear they might end up in the ancient city... as if the sculk and its newly acquired hosts weren't bad enough. If those two activate the shriekers, we'll have to answer to that goliath of a beast." Garroth cautiously stated.

Zenix's eyes widened, he shuddered at the thought of fighting that monster. "No thanks, I'm not fighting a warden again! Let's just find them, and get out of here. We can see if a magicks user can get rid of this stuff." Zenix remarked.

The two guards continued to place torches around the caverns, and soon noticed a large hole amidst the ground, as well as the remains of a sculkified zombie and skeleton. "Hoo boy... the sculk's gotten ahold of the creepers, too. We might be in some serious trouble. Zenix, I sincerely hope this will encourage you to improve your archery skills." Garroth remarked.

Zenix rolled his eyes, but then he saw it, the shifting sign of teal lights in the dark cover of shadows. Some sculkified monsters came out into the torch light, to which the guards readied their weapons. "Ohh, I hate these things more than I already did!" Zenix griped.

"Stay focused, Zenix, and don't drop your guard!" Garroth ordered firmly.

The two guards charged at the monsters. A few skeletons fired some arrows, but Garroth blocked a few of them with his shield. Zenix ran forward and rammed his blade into the skeletons, knocking the bows out of their hands as the guard's apprentice turned the sculkified skeletons into a pile of bones. A few sculkified zombies and husks came shambling towards them, but they were able to handle themselves fairly well.

Garroth bashed one of the zombies with his shield, then stabbed it in the head with his blade, causing it to drop dead. Zenix lined up another zombie and a husk, then plunged his blade through both of the creatures, tossing their lifeless carcasses aside. More sculkified creatures came out of the dark, all while Garroth and Zenix placed torches to keep the area illuminated.

The two guards split up, with Garroth going left, and Zenix going right. Before Garroth could think of a plan, three sculk spiders began to surround him on all sides, but Garroth was a guard, through and through, was ready to defend himself, the innocent and his home.

One of the spiders lunged forward, and ended up impaled on his blade. Another spider tried to lunge at him from behind, only to then smack its head against his shield. The spider was stunned before getting dogpiled by the dead sculk spider's body, which was now no longer stuck to the guard's blade. Garroth looked to the last spider, which tried to back away, but Garroth charged forward, jumped into the air, and buried the length of his blade into the sculk spider's degraded skull, killing it instantly.

Zenix was getting surrounded by a few husks, creepers and that enraged sculkified enderman, but he was already prepared to kill, if it meant never having to deal with the sculk ever again. Zenix readied his sword and decapitated one of the husks, but soon heard the hissing sound of the creeper's inevitable detonation. Zenix acted quickly, sheathing his sword, falling forward, but catching himself with his hands, and pushed himself into the air towards the sculkified creeper. Zenix dropkicked said creeper towards the rest of its kind, watching as not only did the creature blow itself up, it caused the others of its kind to detonate in tandem, leaving a sizeable hole in the ground, revealing tons of stone and dirt that's been untainted by sculk.

Zenix quickly pulled his sword out, only to find himself on the defensive. The sculkified enderman screeched out in a rage, knocking Zenix into a wall. One of the husks tried to go in for the kill, but the sculkified enderman was pissed off, and in a frenzied state, likely due to putting up with the likes of Swampfire. The husk was torn in half and tossed aside, all while it tried to claw at Zenix, but the apprentice dodged and ducked away from the raging creature as best he could. Zenix rolled out of the way and tried to run to Garroth, only for the creature to teleport in front of it and swat Zenix away, knocking his sword out of his hands and sending it flying into the dark.

Zenix's eyes widened, and soon found himself struggling to keep the sculkified enderman from tearing him into pieces. Zenix could feel the sculk beneath him trying to grow onto him as he struggled, the deaths he and Garroth committed on these sculkified monsters were making the spread worse, and now it's trying to take him over. Zenix clenched his teeth and yelled out loudly, breaking the sculkified enderman's hand and delivered a right hook to the monster's eye. The creature was now beyond its frenzy, it was going feral, holding its face and screeching in pain as it teleported around at random.

Zenix's eyes glowed red as he ran into the dark to grab his sword, unaware that the sculkified enderman was finally at its limits. The glowing hole in its stomach began to swirl with some kind of strange ethereal energy, all while what vaguely looks like souls begins to swirl, and howl out in a restless manner. The sculkified enderman emitted a loud, echoing and paralyzing shriek, it echoed around and bounced around the walls of the underground, causing the shriekers at the ancient city to resonate with its enraged and feral screeching.

Garroth was stunned by the creature's unholy shriek. It was unlike anything he had heard before, but it filled him with a sense of dread, all the same. Garroth felt himself be tackled to the ground, coming back to his senses as he was faced with one of the sculkified husks. The torn up and unrecognizable rags that sagged on its old and clearly rotting body was enough to make people with strong stomachs feel nauseous and queasy. Garroth tried to fight off the husk, but his mind was still haunted by the sculkified enderman's screeching, it was like his body was truly paralyzed, stuck in place as the husk tries to tear him apart.

The sculkified enderman immediately blitzed towards Zenix, eager to tear the apprentice into numerous unrecognizable pieces. The creature screeched, shrieked and made itself so much more intimidating and monstrous, to the point where the beast had gotten on all fours, and lunged at Zenix like a predator pouncing on its prey, opening its large maw wide.

Unfortunately, the enderman did not realize that the roles of predator and prey, were circumvented and switched around.

Finding out too late, the enderman's body went limp. Its long and monstrous body succumbed to gravity's pull as it slumped to the cold, sculk-ridden floor. A blade stuck out of the back of the sculkified enderman's head, with Zenix's blade being forced through its mouth. Zenix's helmet was gone, revealing himself, with a wicked grin and his red eyes fading back to their usual black. Zenix removed the sword and decapitated the enderman, and rushed over to help Garroth with the husk.

Garroth finally managed to fight through the paralysis that kept him stuck and kicked the husk away from him, only for the husk to be split in half by Zenix's blade. Zenix held out a hand, and Garroth took it, being pulled back to his feet. "I'm impressed, Zenix, but don't assume the job is done yet. We won the battle, but the war is not over. The sculk has to be stopped," Zenix nodded his head and looked over to the ancient city. Garroth placed a few torches, causing a couple of the sensors to activate. "Come... we have to find those two before the Warden reawakens." Garroth stated.

Zenix didn't say a word, he just followed his mentor into the dark of the ancient city, sword gripped tight in his hands and dusting off the sculk that tried to cling to his body.

Emmalyn felt around the walls for a few long minutes before finding herself in a room. She carefully stepped inside, knowing she still couldn't see a whole lot. The light of the fruit didn't last forever, but it lasted long enough to find this room.

Emmalyn felt around the room carefully, noticing that the room was carpeted, had old bookshelves, as well as a desk. She felt along the desk and finally felt metal and glass that's been stained with dust. She wiped the dust on Frank's jacket as she carefully fumbled with the thing she couldn't see, eventually finding a small little knob. She twisted the knob, and the thing she was handling soon began to glow with an ethereal blue light, revealing itself to be some kind of old lantern.

Emmalyn was a bit startled by the blue light that emitted from the lantern, almost believing she saw something looking back at her from within, but she had to admit, for such an old source of light, it was lucky for her that it still worked. The light also seemed... beautiful. "Interesting... if I can figure out what was used as a light source for this, it could come in handy for keeping the town lit up, and to ward off the monsters.. hm, what kind of room is this?" Emmalyn held the lantern up, noticing that the room looked like a makeshift lab. Tons of old and unreadable papers and books were strung about, including a few noticeable piles of some kind of red dust. There was also a lot of sculk covered around the place, and what looked like animal bones, bird bones, specifically. "Oh my... I knew these people were geniuses! Let's see what they had in storage." Emmalyn remarked, walking over to a chest in the corner.

Emmalyn opened the chest, only to be disappointed when it's revealed to be full of sculk. A few inactive sensors, some kind of strange maw-like appendage, but aside from the sculk, there wasn't anything of worth inside. Emmalyn closed the chest and turned around, only to notice a book and quill sitting on a shelf. it was covered in a fair bit of dust and looked old, but aside from that, it was still in pretty good condition. She carefully reached up and snagged it off the shelf, and decided to open it up.

Much to her dismay, most of the pages were torn out, all except three. Much to her curiosity, she gave the remaining pages a read.

Skriptor's log

Entry #016

...It's done.

After thirty years, the construction of our underground civilization is completed. The lord of Phoenix Drop, while he might just be the most stubborn mule I've ever encountered, still has our thanks for letting us settle down here beneath his village. The undignified pillaging and ravaging of our former village was nothing but an unprovoked means of keeping us quiet, but that short-sighted dolt picked the wrong time to start a war with the Fletchgrimms of Caartos VIII.

We still don't know how things work on this planet, but the lord of Phoenix Drop gave us a chance to start anew and protect our culture. I, Skriptor, the lord of Caartos' Underground Settlement, will not take this attack and subjugation of my people lightly. we worked hard to blend in with these homosapiens, and they have the nerve to subjugate their will on my people, make them their slaves, to call us glorified deliverers!? Those monsters in human skin, the ones that bend to the will of shadows, they have another thing coming. I assure you.

As we speak, we're working on a way back to our planet. Thanks to some of these "magicks" users that answered our outcry for peace and cooperation, we were able to utilize the mystic arts to construct a portal. Once we've found a way to power it, we'll be able to return home, and show that bloody bastard truly what for.

Till then, the lord of Phoenix Drop has our gratitude, and our aide, should he ever need it.

Emmalyn was confused, as well as intrigued. She's educated on a large chunk of historical scriptures, but she's never heard of any of this in any of the historical records she's read. This book contained a side to history that has been unrecorded for many years.

Emmalyn's smile was wide, but she eventually calmed herself down and sat down on the chest full of sculk. 'This is incredible, but at the same time, when did all of this take place? What are the Fletchgrimms? What's Caartos VIII? Was the previous lord of the village aware of what was going on? Where are these "Fletchgrimm" now? How does this weird foreign stuff in the caverns tie back to this?' Emmalyn thought.

Emmalyn turned the page, noticing that there was a sudden leap in time since the last entry.

Skriptor's log

Entry #030

It's been fifteen years. I... must confess my sins, before we leave...

The portal is complete, and... we hope the lord of Phoenix Drop will understand why we've done what we did.

To anyone who finds this, be it the next lord, or some poor foolhardy adventurer that was both brave and stupid enough to venture down to our settlement... what used to be our settlement... if no one is around, if all that remains is ruin, please know that we had to do what we did. It was our only chance to power the portal and go home, and I had to do what was best for my people.

One of the magicks users that worked with us, he told of us of a drastic imbalance in the natural order. Time has come to a stand still, nature is reacting like the end of the world has come. We knew the risks of what we had done, but looking back on it now, we shouldn't've done what we did, but it's too late to turn back now. We can't undo what we've done.

We led him down to the portal, we didn't know how he'd react, but he reacted like the rest of his friends and allies did when they found the truth. The portal they constructed could work, but it draws on the innate power that magicks users have in their bodies, minds and souls... we did something terrible, so terrible, that the lord of Phoenix Drop would have us all beheaded if he knew what we've done.

We had him chained up with the rest of the magicks users, but not without him fighting back. We managed to overpower him, utilizing secrets they shared with us that could cancel out magic. Wyvern Logs, for example. The portal drew in all sources of magic within the village's vicinity, and by doing so, we were able to open the portal.

We sacrificed the lives of every magicks user within Phoenix Drop... we opened a portal back to our planet...

the bloodshed... the screams of those we damned with their unwilling sacrifice...

We hope they will forgive us, when our time of judgement comes.

I can only hope that Irene spares our offspring of the punishment meant for the rest of us... after all, we did this for them.

Emmalyn was horrified, she wasn't expecting this to turn into some kind of horror story. "Well, that's certainly grim. Dear Irene, what went on down here?" Emmalyn wondered.

Against her better judgement, morbid curiosity demanded she turned the page, and read the last entry.

This is it, then... we're not worthy of going home.

Death will not be swift, it will toy with us, and dismantle us like the worthless tools we are.

From here on out, the Fletchgrimm are going to go extinct, and the lord of Phoenix Drop has kept us, and IT... sealed beneath the surface... I can't even admit that he's wrong to do so... we've killed people that he liked, considered friends... I deserve this. I failed my people, and doomed the people of Phoenix Drop.

The portal didn't lead back to our home planet, it lead to a whole other world, one that is less forgiving of our transgressions. This vile substance, this parasitic fungal atrocity to life, or was we've come to call it, the Sculk, it thrives off of the deaths of other lifeforms. It only begins its spread, when death occurs.

We... w-we... we killed over seventy-eight different magicks users. Some of those magicks users were Anodites! We've damned this world to a foreign threat, in hopes of returning to our home... now, we'll never return to Caartos VIII. We're not worthy to return to our planet, and we especially can't risk giving up our home to this malignant pile of mutated moss.

Right now, it's feeding off of my own life force. It clung to my leg, and now, it's consuming me.

We've tried to burn it, to drown it, but all it does is spread, claim our people and the few humans who believed what we've done was a worthy risk... we shouldn't've trusted the Catalyst, we should've gotten rid of it while we had the chance...

Death is our only release, and the Sculk won't let us go...

It won't let you go . . .

Emmalyn, now thoroughly creeped out, tears out the pages and tosses what remains of the book's leather cover into the sculk-filled chest. She pockets the papers and keeps the lantern close to her, all while pulling the hunting knife out and keeping it brandished. "Okay, I've seen and had enough of this place, and it all needs to stay the hell out of Phoenix Drop. I need to find Frank and get the hell out of here before this Sculk stuff takes us." Emmalyn remarked.

Emmalyn quickly moved down the hallway back in the direction she came from, her talking and footsteps had been picked up by a nearby sensor. Soon enough, the sensor was then picked up by a shrieker, emitting a hauntingly terrifying shrieking sound.

Frank was still feeling around in the dark, he's been doing this for a few minutes now. He's turned a couple of corners, but regardless if he changed his sense of direction or kept to a straight line, he didn't know where he was.

Eventually, Frank noticed a large hole in one of the walls, as well as some glowing red lights. They weren't glowing bright, but it did help to figure out where he was, even if he could barely see anything amidst the red glow.

Frank carefully moved closer to the red glow, noticing that one of the glowing sources was some kind of red torch. Frank hasn't seen a torch that looked like this before, but he decided to pick it up and shine some light around the room. The room looked like it was untouched, draped in a layer of dust, like no one's been in this room for centuries.

Frank looked down and noticed some kind of red dust on the ground. He brought the torch down and tried to get a better look, only for the red dust to suddenly start glowing. Frank watched as the line glowed and stopped at a hole in the floor, one that concealed a chest within a secret compartment. Frank pulled the chest out of the hole and opened it up, noticing that there was tons of bird bones inside, even some kind of human head sized bird skull.

Frank shuddered, closing the chest and putting it back in the hole he found it in. Frank sighed and sat on the floor, rubbing his face. He felt like he had a headache, but that likely could've been because of the lack of sleep he's gotten, and the severe lack of food in his stomach. "I haven't found a single thing... at least Emmalyn's safe, and the monsters haven't come after us... damn it, Frank, what kind of shit have you gotten yourself into?" Frank remarked, rubbing the sides of his head.

Frank closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He slowly exhaled and tried to keep himself calm and composed. 'Okay, Frank, let's just relax and think... you're deep underground in an ancient city, there's some kind of hostile substance that's taking over monsters, and will likely take you and Emmalyn over if you both don't get out of here, and you don't have a plan... yep, blindly fighting our way out, it is,' Frank looked down at the watch, noticing its red glow. Frank got back up and was about to leave the room, until the sound of running could be heard coming his way. 'Oh come on, something actually followed us?! Okay okay, I can handle this... I don't have my knife, my watch isn't recharged yet, but I'm not going to go down without a fight. Like Ishiyama said to Kenko in Sumo Slammers Federation II, "If this forsaken place wants me, it can have my soul when it earns it". Come and get some, you freaky moss monsters!' Frank thought.

Frank took a deep breath and ran back into the hallway, ready to take on whatever managed to find him. Frank saw a blinding blue light, which blinded him for a moment, then the footsteps came to a stop. Frank shielded his eyes, only to be very surprised when Emmalyn stood in front of him. "Em! I was just heading back to you, it's so dark in here, to say the least..." Frank noticed the papers sticking out of her pocket, and the strange lantern in her hands. "Wait, where'd you get the funky lantern from, and what's with the papers? I thought you were staying in that spot, being mad at me." Frank questioned.

Emmalyn moved closer and handed him the knife. "I was looking around for artifacts, remnants of the civilization that used to live in these ancient cities... it- it's a bit more grim and grisly than I thought it'd be, but that's history, for ya..." Frank nodded his head, though he didn't take the knife back. Emmalyn sighed and held onto Frank's arm. "I... look, I'm sorry for slapping you, I didn't-"

A sensor was activated. Emmalyn covered her mouth as the sensor was picked up by a nearby shrieker. The ground began to shake, like something was ripping through the tectonic plates. Frank hoisted Emmalyn up and held her bridal style, and looked at her. "Don't worry, I got a plan, and it involves a lot of running!" Frank exclaimed, breaking out into a sprint down the hallway.

The pair were moving like greased lightning, all while the muffled roars and breaking stone and sediment could be heard behind them.

Emmalyn kept a tight grip on the lantern, lighting the way as Frank ran with her in his arms. The sound of something tearing through stone and brick could be heard behind the pair, but Frank kept running, he didn't want to risk letting this unknown threat get ahold of them. "Not gonna lie, now would be a good time for this watch to be done with recharging, because I'm not sure what the hell is underneath us, but I sure as hell need to dial in a hero!" Frank exclaimed in a panic.

More sensors and shriekers activate and echo out across the way. Up ahead, The pair see Garroth and Zenix running towards them, weapons drawn. "Mister Decade, Miss Emmalyn! Good thing we found you!" Garroth called out.

Frank stopped in front of the two guards and pointed in the direction they came from. "Less talky, more running! Something huge is underneath us, and it is pissed off! Bail!" Frank exclaimed.

The two guards were confused, but the sounds of shriekers echoing all around the ruins of the ancient city could only mean one thing, and it wasn't good. "We all can't leave, lest we risk bringing the Warden to the surface! It'll destroy Phoenix Drop if we do!" Garroth stated.

Zenix nodded his head. "It's true, fighting a Warden is suicide, especially for someone of your caliber, something in which you lack. Someone's gonna have to stay down here and fend off the Warden, or all we've worked for will be for naught!" Zenix

The bellowing roar of the beast echoed out, and Frank knew what he had to do. It was risky, but he needed to do this. Frank handed Emmalyn to Zenix, leaving the apprentice confused. "You three, leave! I'll take care of... whatever the hell this "Warden" is. If anyone's gonna rock this jailhouse, it's gonna be me!" Frank stated.

The two guards were stunned, and Emmalyn was worried. "No, don't be stupid! Let Garroth and Zenix handle this, they seem to know what they're doing! Don't do something stupid like fighting some weird monster! That thing is made of sculk, you won't stand a chance!" Emmalyn pleaded.

Frank was confused. "What the hell is Sculk?!" Frank questioned.

Garroth pointed to the numerous bits of the foreign substance that's been spreading around. "This is the Sculk. It's some kind of indigenous and rare lifeform, not many know where it came from, but legends say it's some form of ancient fungal parasite from another realm, one that is powered by the souls of the deceased," Frank was very surprised, as well as chilled by the description of such a lifeform. "The more things die around it, the further it spreads. Phoenix Drop dealt with this blight long ago, took many a number of good people... judging by those husks we fought to get here, we know now what became of them, but none of the infested monsters we fought could ever compare to the Warden." Garroth somberly explained.

Zenix nodded his head. "The Warden is a hulking mass of Sculk. Not only is it strong and durable, but it's also got one hell of a ranged attack. If you really intend to fight that thing, and it is pretty stupid to fight it alone, mind you," Zenix pulled a farming hoe off his back and tossed it to the stranger, much to Frank's confusion. "You're gonna need this, trust me. Out of everything we've tried to remove Sculk, that's the most effective tool to removing this stuff. Take out the sensors and the shriekers, but above all else, take out the Warden. If you make it out alive and uninfected, come find us, we'll have something for you." Zenix cautioned.

Frank nodded his head, though he was hesitant to trust that a farming hoe would be his most proficient weapon. Emmalyn ran over to Frank, briefly hugged him, and put his hunting knife back in his hands. "Don't you dare die down here, I-I still want to know how that watch functions!" Emmalyn yelled.

The bellowing roar got louder, prompting Garroth and Zenix to escort Emmalyn out of the caverns, leaving Frank to stand alone against the monster. Frank started to see bits and pieces of rubble and debris fly out of the darkness, and then a large figure would stand in front of him. In front of Frank was an eleven foot tall lumbering beast; Tall, dark teal, had a texture made up entirely of sculk and bones, and looked just as unsettling as that enderman creature he'd seen, but somehow far worse.

It physically looked like a bipedal cow-like creature, but it didn't seem to have any eyes. It had this large empty abyss-like mouth, sensor-like antlers on the sides of its head, large girthy hands that could crush someone into paste with little to no effort, and its chest looked to be completely open and exposed, revealing soul-shaped things swirling around inside some kind of core.

The sound of a heartbeat could be heard from the creature's open chest, it was deeply unsettling. Frank could feel his own heart beating like crazy, but he needed to stay calm and focus.

He needed a plan to stop the Warden, or he, and the rest of Phoenix Drop were going to die by the veins of the Sculk.

To Be Continued...

Author's Note

Part Three! The final part is getting close. Didn't intend for there to be a part four in the words, was mainly supposed to be three parts, oh well, whatcha gon' do.

I'll keep this short, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, the final part will be up soon. Stay tuned!