Chapter 57:
The Enraged
Stephanie Chen opened her eyes.
"Where am I?" she asked herself.
The last thing she remembered was fighting an Alliatus Priestess, and her whole body was covered with bruises and burns. What had the Priestess done? She was so fast. Stephanie vaguely remembered being battered around before it had even registered that the Priestess had began. When did she lose consciousness? What about Vince? Vince was... he had been fighting a man with a silver mask.
"Vince!" Stephanie cried, springing up from her bed. "Where's Vince?"
However, the moment she tried to support her own body weight, she felt an ache in her back and collapsed back onto her bed.
"Stephanie, you're awake!"
It was Alice. They were in the cave, in what had become Stephanie's room. It was the medium smallish chamber closest to what had become the kitchen. Alice was sitting on a chair, which was actually a rock with somewhat of a flat top. Stephanie's bed was actually a thick blanket rolled out across the stone floor.
"Stephanie, don't try to move," Alice told her, walking up to the bed. "You took a really bad beating. You should rest."
"I'll be fine," Stephanie groaned. "Bring me my staff. I'll be fine after I heal myself."
"All right," Alice replied.
Stephanie thought she saw Alice roll her eyes, but in her condition, she could never be too sure what she saw. Alice grabbed her staff from the corner of the room and handed it to Stephanie. Focusing, Stephanie tried to cast the healing spell on herself. The staff gave a white glow, but nothing happened. Groaning in frustration, Stephanie dropped the staff onto the floor beside her.
"Yep, like I thought," Alice said. "The healing spell only heals flesh wounds. It doesn't do anything about exhaustion or recover lost Lifeforce."
"How do you know that?" Stephanie asked.
"Just based on what I saw when you were healing Robert and yourself those other times," Alice answered. "I'm not as stupid as I look, you know."
Stephanie stifled a chuckle. Yes, Alice was smarter than most people gave her credit for, but she was still as stupid as she looked.
Suddenly, Stephanie remembered something.
"Oh, where's Vince?" she asked.
"Oh, Vince?" Alice replied. "Yeah, after Robert brought you in safely, Vince collapsed the cave entrance, but he also ended up burying himself while he was at it."
"Wait, what--"
"Don't worry, he's fine," Alice reassured her. "After the demons stopped attacking, we dug him out. It took a few hours, though."
"Oh, thank Heaven," Stephanie gave a sigh of relief. "Wait, what about the entrance? How do we get out of the cave now?"
"Don't worry about that, either," Alice said. "We did some scouting. In the back of the cave, there's a second entrance that's hidden in the bushes. It should be a lot safer than the first entrance."
"Oh, okay," Stephanie said.
"Anyways, Vince and Robert are getting some rest now," Alice said. "You should try to rest, too."
After a brief pause, Stephanie nodded and said, "All right."
Slowly, Alice turned and began walking from the room.
"Alice?"
"Hm?"
"Thanks."
"No problem."
And with that, Stephanie closed her eyes and soon found sleep.
***
Over the next week, things were peaceful in Paetre Cave. After two days, Vince and Robert recovered, and Stephanie recovered after the third. There hadn't been a single demon attack since. The children made themselves merry as Alice and Amy led them in various games. Vince and Robert explored the terrain and the beach, searching for other caves or plants they could grow and eat. Mindy, on the other hand, explored the caves, groping through the darkness (with one of Stephanie's glowing rocks) searching for new tunnels and chambers.
Unlike the others, however, Stephanie was under a lot of stress. When she finally was able to take inventory on the food supplies, they ended up with a lot less than she had originally anticipated. Worse yet was that food supplies kept dropping dramatically every day. Sometimes, Stephanie suspected theft, but there was simply no way anyone could sneak into the cave, break the lock on the box, and get some food, and still be able to perfectly replace the box and leave no sign at all. Eventually, she just gave up and implored Vince to go exploring for more foodstuffs.
***
As careful as she could, Mindy climbed down a narrow tunnel. It was shaped like a nearly perfect circle and was about 3 feet in diameter. It was so dark that Mindy couldn't see for more than a few feet, even with the glowing stone she had taken from Stephanie. The dampness of the tunnel was such that Mindy could smell it. It was like the smell of fresh rain--new and interesting, yet slightly odd. Nothing could possibly live down here, so the few drops of condensation on the walls were still mineral rich.
However, the most dramatic feature about the tunnel was its steepness. The tunnel was essentially a 70-degree drop. In order to descend it, Mindy basically had to lean back and grab whatever handhold she could find with her free right hand, and her feet were constantly searching for footholds as she made her way down step by step.
Suddenly, her foot gave way. Giving a short scream, Mindy slid down the slope like a toddler sliding down the playground slide for the first time. She dropped thirty, forty, maybe fifty feet before she finally hit the bottom.
Mindy groaned as she climbed to her feet and dusted her self off. A sharp pain bit into her right arm. She had scraped her elbow as she had slid down, and it was now dripping blood. Mindy looked around at her surroundings. She had dropped her glow stone on the way down, making it impossibly dark to see. Gazing down, she noticed a glowing spot by her feet, but it was partially obstructed. Squatting down, she attempted to dislodge her stone. But what was it buried beneath? Now, Mindy sat down completely as she examined the floor.
That was when she realized it. After a fall as high as hers, she should have more injuries. Something must have broken her fall. Come to think of it, she did land on something soft. She felt at the floor around her. It felt like a series of ropes, except smooth, soft, and cool. Standing back up, Mindy pulled a small pistol-like object from her left pocket and fired it straight into the air. A flare shot out of the object and stuck onto the stone ceiling only ten feet above the floor, bathing the entire chamber in a luminous red light.
Vines!
There were vines growing down here. Mindy looked at her surroundings. The chamber wasn't tall, but it was wide, maybe a hundred, two hundred feet at its narrowest. Most of the floor, walls, and pillars scattered across the room were covered in a thick lattice of vines. Kneeling down to examine them more closely, Mindy was overjoyed to discover that these vines grew berries. She picked one off the vine and stared at it for a moment. It was slightly smaller than a grape, but had about the same texture and stiffness. Slowly, she put it into her mouth and bit.
It was sweet.
The berry also had a seed in the center, but Mindy would rather have a sweet berry with a seed than no berries at all. After spitting out the seed, Mindy ate a few more. Then, she decided she had to go back up to tell the others about her amazing find. Pulling her glow stone free, she quickly began climbing.
It was an excruciatingly long climb. The tunnel was long and had few footholds, forcing Mindy to improvise at times. Finally, after what seemed like forever (but was probably only 15 minutes), Mindy made her way to familiar territory and ran screaming back to the living chambers.
"Hey, everybody!" she cried. "I found food! Berries growing deep underground!"
As she ran by a small group of kids, they murmured as they listened to her claims.
"Hey, Vince!" Mindy cried as she burst into the cave kitchen. "I found food!"
"Huh? Really?" Vince answered.
He and Stephanie were sitting at the makeshift table. Vince had a look of confusion on his face. Stephanie had a look of annoyance. It appeared as though she had interrupted something, but Mindy didn't care one bit.
"I was exploring the tunnels, and I found these berries deep underground," Mindy said. "They taste really good, and there are tons of them. Come on, I'll show you!"
Impatiently, she headed back toward the cavern hallways.
"Now wait just a moment," Vince said. "Berries underground? How is that possible? There's no sunlight down here. Plants can't grow without sunlight."
"Not necessarily," Stephanie corrected him. "At the bottom of the ocean, where there's no sunlight whatsoever, scientists have discovered plants that live off chemosynthesis, using the chemicals produced by the steam vents to generate food and energy. I wouldn't be surprised if the berries Mindy is talking about are chemosynthetic."
"Hmm," Vince pondered. "So you think Mindy's berries are worth taking a look?"
"Most definitely," replied Stephanie, looking back toward one of the now empty food boxes.
"Come on!" Mindy screamed impatiently.
Hastily, Vince and Stephanie followed Mindy back down the cave. Several of the children had gathered in the hall after hearing the news, and they, too, followed Mindy. However, as soon as she reached the steep tunnel, many of the children stopped following out of fear of falling. All that was left of their little caravan was Mindy, who led the way; Vince, who burned handrails into the wall as he descended; Stephanie, who embedded glow stones into the walls as she followed; Amy; and two little boys and a little girl.
"Incredible!" Stephanie exclaimed when she reached the vine chamber, which was still glowing red from Mindy's flare.
"Wow!" Vince echoed Stephanie's sentiments in his own words.
Slowly, Vince knelt down to look at the vines, at the berries.
"Mindy, you said these tasted good?" Vince asked.
"They're really sweet," Mindy said as she popped another berry into her mouth.
Vince decided to try one as well, and he saw the others around him doing the same.
"Oh," Vince said as he pulled the seed out of his mouth. "Seeds."
"Yes," Stephanie answered.
Vince could tell by the sound of her voice and by the look on her face that wheels were turning in her mind.
"Vince," she said slowly. "We could grow these things. Like farmers. Then, we'd never have to worry about food. And we could trade the extras for supplies or something like that."
Hastily, Stephanie scrambled back to the entrance.
"Where are you going?" Vince asked as he followed.
"Just let me go see if I can find an accelerated growth spell," Stephanie answered.
He followed all the way up to Stephanie's room. Quickly, Stephanie pulled a book out of a box, sat on the floor, and started reading. Vince glanced over her shoulder to see what it was, but it was so full of arcane descriptions and strange diagrams that Vince soon gave up. He sat there, waiting for a few minutes as Stephanie frantically turned pages, concentrating on the material.
"Vince!"
Mindy came running into Stephanie's room, screaming at the top of her lungs. This time, however, it wasn't excitement in her voice, but fear.
"What?" Vince leapt up. "What happened?"
"It was horrible," Mindy answered. "The demons. They dug a hole into the vine room and kidnapped the others. I only escaped because I had this."
She showed Vince her flare gun, which was now covered in blood.
Immediately, Vince sprinted back down the hallway. Mindy chased behind him.
"Vince!" she called out.
"I'm going to go rescue them," he shouted back.
They made their way back down to the vine room at full speed, even though it meant that they would stumble a little in the steep tunnel.
When, they finally arrived, Vince saw a gaping hole in the middle of the chamber, roughly the size of a manhole. All the vines within 3 feet or so of the hole were thoroughly charred. The hole itself lead into a narrow vertical tunnel that went on further than Vince could see. Vince went back to the entrance and pulled off one of Stephanie's glow stones. Then, he walked back to the hole and plunged the glow stone into the bare ground until it was half buried in the rocks.
"Mindy, how many more flares do you have in that gun?" Vince asked.
"One," she replied.
"All right," Vince said. "I'm going down there to rescue the children. As soon as I'm out of sight, I want you to shoot the glow stone with your flare. This should cause the hole to cave in and seal itself up. Then, I want you to run back to Stephanie and tell her what happened."
"All right," Mindy said with a nod.
Vince nodded back, and then began his climb down the hole, pushing on opposite sides of the tunnel with his arms and legs to keep himself gripped against the stone walls.
"Good luck," Mindy cried down to him.
"Thanks," Vince replied as he made his way down the vertical tunnel.
As he climbed further and further down the tunnel, the light left the cave. Soon, he could see no more. Summoning forth his inner flame, he transformed into the Dark Fiend of the Inferno and lighted his hand to serve as a torch. After climbing for a while longer, there was a loud explosion. A few small rocks and some dust tumbled down.
Eventually, the narrow passageway started to widen until it was a good twenty feet in diameter. At this point, rather than trying to vice himself against opposite ends of the tunnel, Vince settled for bashing out the walls and making his own handholds and footholds. After a bit more climbing, Vince began to notice a faint red glow from below him. As he proceeded downward, this red glow grew stronger and stronger until the whole tunnel was glowing bright red.
Suddenly, something burst forth from the stone wall he was hugging. Whatever it was pushed him all the way to the other side of the column, smashing him against the wall. As Vince quickly grabbed hold of the wall behind him, it leapt away and crashed through another section of the column wall.
Vince heard a rumbling behind him. Quickly, he leapt aside, and another one of those things broke out from the wall from where Vince had been.
It was clearly a demon. Under the red glow, the creature appeared almost black. It was about the same size as Vince, except much skinnier and bonier. However, its back was covered in thick plates and its hands had been replaced with pods, which were roughly the size of bowling balls. Atop these pod-like hands were wide, sharp blades, about a foot in length.
Vince grabbed onto one of the holes the first creature had made while the second creature caught onto the wall with its blade hands. The Inferno Fiend watched intently as the creature climbed up the column wall, then turned its body so that its malicious glowing eyes faced Vince. Then, the first creature emerged from its hole, just above Vince. Before he could do anything about it, it stabbed its blade into his left hand, piercing through metal and flesh, pinning him to the stone cliff. While the first held him in place, the second creature promptly leapt at him. Quickly, the Inferno Fiend kicked his legs up and over the first creature, narrowly avoiding the second, which broke through the column wall and disappeared. His momentum still carrying him upward, Vince voiced his fury and pulled his hand free in a shower of blood, stone, and flame. As Vince flipped over the creature, he grabbed it, and soon, they were both free falling down the vertical tunnel. Enchanting his boots with flame, Vince kicked into the wall, forming himself a foothold. Hanging on the wall with his right foot, Vince allowed his downward momentum to turn him upside-down. Then, bending backwards, he used this momentum to slam the creature against the column wall in a strange, sideways suplex. The creature's belly burst open from the impact, leaking blood and entrails. Vince quickly let the disgusting thing drop down the shaft.
Unfortunately, before he could begin to celebrate his victory, another creature burst forth from the column wall above him. Then, two more emerged from below him. Vince swore as the creatures slowly advanced on him. Suddenly, Vince kicked off the wall, sending him flying across the vertical tunnel. The creature that had been above him leapt after him. Quickly, Vince kicked off the wall and angled his rebound such as to aim for the mid-air creature, which held out its blades in anticipation. As they met in the center of the column, Vince grabbed the creature's arms and pulled them to each side, exposing the creature's head and torso. Then, he gave the beast a mighty head butt. Their momentum knocked them into the wall again. Quickly, Vince caught onto the wall with his free hand and his two legs, then began climbing up, dragging the creature up the column. As the creature's back scraped against the rough stone, it left a trail of blood and broken scales somewhere about thirty feet in length. Finally, Vince tossed the creature away from the wall, then speared it with a beam of flame, tearing it into burning pieces.
The final two creatures quickly began scaling the column wall, preparing to assault the Inferno Fiend. However, Vince simply let go of the wall and dropped down toward them. The two creatures moved apart in order to avoid the falling Fiend, but Vince was too quick for them. As he passed, he grabbed each one by the leg, pulling them both into free-fall. As they fell, Vince summoned forth a mighty blaze and set the two creatures on fire. They creatures squealed in pain as they shriveled up into twisted pieces of charcoal.
It was then that Vince noticed the redness coming up to meet him. A tangle of lines and curves came into view. There was a network of some rope-like substance, reaching from one end of the column to the other, blocking the way. Unable to stop, Vince and the two demon corpses collided with the tangle. It caught him and wouldn't let him through, despite how fast he had previously been falling. Vince quickly found himself part of the tangle of lines and curves.
They were vines!
They were quite similar to the berry-growing vines that Mindy had found. Yet, they were different in a way that Vince couldn't quite put his finger on. He was aware that these vines grew no berries and were a little thicker and stronger, but there was something else he felt in these vines that disturbed him.
"Will you come into my parlor?" came a voice.
Suddenly, the vines moved, wrapping themselves around Vince's arms and legs, keeping him immobile.
"Who's there?" Vince cried out. "Show yourself."
"Why, it's me. Don't you remember?"
The vines in front of Vince spread apart. At the bottom of the gap, the vines packed themselves tightly together until they formed a nice, solid platform. It was a walkway, and a man in crimson robes was slowly walking into view.
"Darchon!" Vince cried out.
"That's right," the Demon Mage replied with a nod.
"What are you doing here?" Vince asked. "Why did you kidnap the children?"
"These children have been a thorn in my side for far too long," the Demon Mage answered. "I've already taken all the cities in this region--Pedos, Seymir, Palamis--I've even taken Turin recently. Those cities were well defended by the Alliatus, and I managed to crush them with my division. And yet, of all people, who's managed to withstand me? A bunch of forsaken kids and a couple of undisciplined youngsters! Those kids should have been mine long ago. They should have either drunken blood with us or slept in it long ago. Lord Efreet would not have it any other way."
"Efreet?"
"The demon general," the Demon Mage responded. "In his name, I will claim these children. It will be my victory. The last of this region will have fallen to the Demon Army."
"Why are you so obsessed with these kids?" Vince asked. "They're just children. They can't do anything to you."
The Demon Mage laughed. "Lord Efreet's war strategy can be simplified in four simple words: Join us or die."
"We will never join you," Vince said in a biting tone.
"The children, maybe not," the Demon Mage replied. "You, on the other hand..."
Darchon waved his hand, and another section of the vines opened up.
"You don't have much of a choice."
Vince looked through the gap and he saw the four children--the two boys, Amy Lune, and the other girl--wrapped in vines, squirming for their freedom. Their mouths were covered so that their screams became muffled unintelligent moans. Vince could see the fear in their faces.
"You are the Dark Fiend of Fire," the Demon Mage said. "The only way to free yourself is to set these vines aflame. But if you do that, the whole network breaks down, and you send these children falling to their doom."
The vines below them moved apart until they formed a mesh, just enough so that Vince could see below him. He now saw the source of the red glow. Less than fifty feet below them was a pool of magma.
"So you see, there's no way you can fight me," the Demon Mage explained.
"What if I choose to die?" Vince asked defiantly.
"Oh, no, that's not what I meant," the Demon Mage continued. "You don't even have that choice. You see, I intend to make you my personal servant."
Slowly, Darchon drew a knife from his robes. It was about nine inches long and was covered with fancy carvings and decorations. It looked strangely familiar, but Vince couldn't remember for the life of him where he had seen it before, or if he had even seen it at all. Suddenly, the Demon Mage plunged it into Vince's chest. Feeling the immediate impact, Vince coughed blood. Stranger still, the knife slowly sank into his chest until he could no longer feel the distinction between metal and flesh.
Yet, knife or no knife, the pain was excruciating. Vince felt his armor become soft and flexible. Before long, it splintered into several smaller pieces and melded with his hide, becoming reptilian scales. Vince felt his limbs and his torso aching as they inflated, becoming larger and more muscular until he was bigger than the biggest of body builders. His hands and feet had become proportionately larger than the rest of his body, merging with his boots and gloves to form razor sharp claws. Vince felt his jaw grow until his mouth was twice the size it should have been. His teeth grew five times their original length and became razor sharp. His canines grew exceptionally long, becoming fangs. Vince opened his mouth to scream, but what he heard was no longer his own voice.
"Arise, Enkidu," the Demon Mage spoke, as though in a trance. "Accept my offering as your new body. Know that I am your master and you are my servant."
Vince felt his mouth move, and out came a guttural voice, saying, "I am no one's servant!"
Vince felt his body catch on fire, and before he knew it, the entire web of vines had started burning as well.
"What?" Darchon cried out in shock. "Why? But the children!"
Roaring with primal fury, Vince tore his arms free and swung at him, but the Demon Mage was too nimble. Darchon leapt from the now burning platform of vines and landed on a small overhang of stone, just above the network of vines. Vince then tore his legs and torso free and began leaping from vine cluster to vine cluster. The burning vines crumbled beneath his feet, but, despite his mass, Vince was able to move swiftly and avoid falling. Above him, the Demon Mage gathered Hellfire energy into a massive orb before him. Then, the orb began firing spears of Hellfire toward what had been the Inferno Fiend. Fortunately, Vince had no trouble whatsoever dodging these projectiles. Finally, the orb dissipated, but before it did, it fired off five spears at once, which flew in a cross formation. Quickly, Vince leapt right into the center of the formation, catching the middle spear as he passed safely through the four outer spears.
Finally, he was within range of the Demon Mage. As he landed on the small rock, he slashed at him, but again, Darchon leapt away. This time, however, Vince kicked off the rock and rapidly closed the distance between him and the Demon Mage. Catching him in midair, Vince impaled the Hellfire spear through Darchon's chest. Blood flowed from the Demon Mage's mouth and down his neck. Their momentum carried them to the tunnel wall, and the other end of the spear buried itself into the wall.
"The children..." the Demon Mage gasped as his eyes rolled into the back of his head.
"What?" Vince thought, but the words didn't come to his lips.
He did manage, however, to turn his head, just in time to see the vines finally break apart altogether. He saw the children falling. All four of them were falling, screaming as they went. One of the boys was even on fire.
Tina was among them.
"No!" Vince screamed as he kicked off the wall to reach them, leaving the Demon Mage pinned to the tunnel wall.
To his horror, he saw the two boys land in the magma--instantly incinerated. The girl, too, went under and was vaporized. Amy was less than a second away from her own death. Vince reached out to her, grabbed her by the leg, and pulled her up. Catching her, Vince wrapped his arms around Amy Lune to protect her.
They went under, and Vince lost consciousness.
***
Some time later, Vince woke up again. He was still holding on to Amy rather tightly, as though he couldn't bear to let her go. They floated in a bubble, in a small pocket that Vince had created deep within the magma. They had been down here for some time now, but he didn't know how long. Apparently, they had landed in an underground river of magma, and it had carried them quite a bit.
Vince looked down at Amy. She was still unconscious. Her clothes were slightly burnt and there was a bit of ash on her face, but otherwise, she appeared to be all right.
Then, Vince noticed his arm. It was no longer the inflated, muscular arm of the monster from before. He felt his teeth with his tongue. They were no longer sharpened fangs, but normal human teeth. Whatever transformation spell the Demon Mage had put on him, it had probably worn off by now.
He looked back at Amy. She was still asleep, but there were tears coming from between her eyelids. Was she crying in her sleep? Was that even possible?
Either way, Vince decided it was time to return to the surface. He willed the magma around him to flow. The bubble began moving upward, faster and faster. They reached the ceiling of the magma river, but their momentum let them tear right through the stone.
And then, there was sunlight.