Chapter 58:
Enter the Lotus
"Vince has been sitting there for over a week, now," Stephanie exclaimed. "He hasn't come out or spoken a word since."
Stephanie Chen and Amy Lune stood at the opening of Vince's "room", which was actually a rather small, undecorated cave chamber. Vince sat huddled in the corner, staring at the floor and holding something in his hands.
"Ever since..." Amy said softly. "Ever since that time..." The little girl looked up at Stephanie. "Do you know what happened?"
"Weren't you there?" Stephanie replied in question.
"I don't remember anymore," Amy shook her head. "I remember it being warm. Then, I remember falling. Then, I remember waking up in my room."
Stephanie sighed. "I wasn't there, but I remember when Vince brought you back."
***
Stephanie had been wandering the cave for hours, now, pacing back and forth across the entire length of the subterranean complex. Where was Vince? He had gone off at Mindy's behest--she wasn't sure exactly what, she had been too busy flipping pages in the magical tomes she had managed to salvage from the Community Center--but what was taking him so long?
Suddenly, she heard the rustling of plants.
It was sheer luck that she was in that chamber when he came in. Otherwise, she might have missed him completely.
Vince entered the caves with a look of exhaustion. He held in his arms a sleeping Amy Lune, which he soon held out to Stephanie. Quickly, she took up his burden, and not a moment too soon, for right then, Vince collapsed against the wall.
"Vince--"
"I let them die."
"What do you mean?"
"The other children. Three of them. They fell into the lava. I let them die. No, even worse. I killed them. If I hadn't been there, they wouldn't have fallen."
"Vince, you were trying to save them. It was an accident. If anything, the demons killed them. At least you saved Amy. If it weren't for you, the demons would have gotten her, too."
"Stephanie, you don't understand."
"What don't I understand?"
"You weren't there... You weren't there when SHE died."
With that, Vince climbed to his feet and walked down the cavern tunnel.
"Vince!"
"Leave me alone."
In shock, Stephanie could only stand there, watching as Vince disappeared into the darkness.
"Vince... I was there when Tina died," Stephanie whispered as her legs began to give. She put a hand against the wall to support her weight. "So what if I didn't see her fall? I was crying, too."
***
Vincent Zeng sat in the corner of his little cave chamber, holding Mindy's bloodstained flare gun. The last time he saw her was over a week ago, on the day she had found the underground berry chamber (which Stephanie had converted into a rapid-growth farm by some magic she had discovered). It was clear from the evidence that Mindy had left. At about the time Mindy disappeared, so did their one hovercraft. Strangely enough, on that day, the hovercraft was there in the morning, but gone by the evening. If Mindy had taken the hovercraft, she'd have to have taken it in broad daylight. Yet, no one had seen Mindy leave, nor did anyone see the hovercraft take off.
However, there was one mystery that they did solve. When Mindy left, she apparently took with her an empty food box and a couple vinefuls of berries. Stephanie became furious after finding out who the food thief was. Thankfully, she was able to calm herself once she realized that Vince missed Miss Mindy.
And miss her he did. He had been sitting here for a week, now, holding her flare gun in his hands as thoughts of the past, present, and future ran through his head. If Stephanie hadn't shown up every now and then to give him something to eat, he might have starved.
Why did she leave? Was there something she wanted that she couldn't find here? Didn't she understand that she had friends here?
"I'm going to find her," he finally thought.
Then, Vince decided to do something he hadn't done in a long time. He stood up. He didn't know why he hadn't decided sooner, but that didn't matter. He was going to go find Mindy, and he wasn't going to let anyone stop him, not even the Demon Army.
As he walked down the cavern's main tunnel, the faces from the many children turned to look at him.
"Vince is awake!" they shouted. "Vince the demon killer is awake!"
Aside from noting the fact that he hadn't really been asleep, Vince ignored them. This place didn't matter anymore. Ever since the Demon Mage's death, there had been no demon attacks. Ever since they had discovered the berries, there had been no need for any more food raids. Vince was done here. Paetre could take care of itself.
Just a few steps from the exit, Vince was stopped by a familiar voice.
"Vince, where are you going?" Stephanie said.
"I'm gonna go find Mindy," Vince answered.
"I'm coming with you," Stephanie said.
"Are you sure you want to come?" Vince asked. "It could be dangerous out there. For all we know, there could be demons everywhere. It's safe here. There's food here. All your friends are here. Are you sure you don't want to stay here? "
"All of my friends are here," Stephanie repeated. "But one of them wants to leave."
"It wouldn't be the first time," Vince said.
"Up until now, I've been with you through everything, and I intend to stay with you through everything," Stephanie replied. "Do you know why I'm not worried about the horrors of the outside world? It's because you're by my side, and as long as we're together, everything will be okay."
Vince paused. It had been a long time since anyone had said something so kind to him. He took a step toward Stephanie and hugged her.
"Thank you, Steph," Vince said.
"Always," Steph replied.
They stood there for a while, absorbing that last eternity in silence.
It would be a while before Stephanie would break the silence, by saying, "Are you sure you don't want to say goodbye to the others before we leave?"
***
In the middle of the grasslands, a swarm of small, slender demons overran a line of soldiers.
"Blue Team, fall back!" roared a man wearing a decorated silver chest-plate. "Melee Team, cover the Blue team!"
The kneeling line of soldiers, who wore blue chest-plates and wielded assault rifles, scrambled to their feet amidst the ensuing chaos and ran for their lives toward a row of armored trucks. At the same time, a line of soldiers in black chest-plates drew swords and ran across the blue line, hacking and slashing at the miniscule demons as they passed.
"Mardonius, wait," the silver-clad soldier shouted.
A man with decorated black armor stopped and turned to face him. "Yes, Commander?"
"I need to you try out our new weapon," the Commander replied.
"The Lightning Gun?" Mardonius replied with a slight smirk.
"Yes," the Commander answered simply.
"Understood, Commander," Mardonius acknowledged as he ran back toward the caravan.
Back on the battlefield, some larger demons, these about four feet tall and crimson colored, joined the battle. Corpses, human and demon alike, littered the grass field. The Melee Team had been forced to cluster into a series of circles, each about five or six soldiers with their backs facing inward as they cut through anything and everything that came their way. Unfortunately, there were so many demons that no matter how many they cut down, dozens of them still slipped past them and made their way to the caravan. The Blue Team--or at least its survivors--joined up with the Red Team and stood in front of the armored trucks as they fired frantically upon the incoming swarm. The soldiers literally had their backs to the wall, and as the adage says, that only made them more dangerous.
Mardonius, however, didn't particularly care about what was happening on the battlefield. It wasn't that he was heartless. He was a soldier, and he had orders to carry out. There was naught he could do but trust his comrades to fend for themselves.
A grotesque demon stumbled into Mardonius' path. No, it wasn't a demon. It was a Red Team man being held from behind by one of the larger demons.
"Help me!" the soldier gasped.
The red-clad man had already lost his right arm, and his guns were nowhere to be seen. A miniature demon was on his head, clawing at his face while two more started climbing up his legs.
"Forgive me," Mardonius said.
With a single, swift motion, he drew his saber and sliced right through them. Both the man and the demon behind him were cleanly cut in half at the waist. Then, sheathing his blade, Mardonius caught the falling minidemon and crushed it between sheath and hilt. Finally, as he continued his sprint for the weapon, he trampled over the last two minidemons.
Quickly, Mardonius leapt into the back of a truck. Sitting in a chair behind some machinery, he pressed a few buttons. The roof of the truck opened up and the walls folded out, revealing a small platform, on which the weapon sat. Then, Mardonius pressed a few more buttons. Jagged bolts of electricity poured from the nozzle of the weapon, frying the demons directly in front of them. Slowly, Mardonius turned the machine, moving the spray of lightning across the field of demons. Cheers sounded across the plains as demon after charred demon fell.
With a slow hum, the Lightning Gun came to a stop. The battle was done. All the demons had been fried.
Or at least that's what they had thought.
"Another one!" screamed one of the black-armored Melee soldiers.
It was true. It was almost as though it had come out of nowhere, but a single winged megademon was charging across the field.
"It's no good!" Mardonius shouted back. "The Lightning Gun's recharging from that last burst!"
"Melee Team, scramble!" the Commander ordered. "Red and Blue Teams, open fire!"
The black-armored soldiers hastily scattered to allow their red- and blue-clad comrades an open shot. The soldiers fired salvo after salvo of bullets, but the megademon appeared unfazed. Although the bullets were piercing his wings and lodging themselves in his hide, the demon didn't slow down as he sprinted toward the caravan.
"Damn you, recharge!" Mardonius cursed at Lightning Gun, a look of rage filling his eyes. Unfortunately, the meter read that it was still only halfway charged.
A Blue Team soldier fired rocket, which hit the megademon directly. However, despite the flashiness of the explosion, the projectile did nothing. The megademon was still running full speed.
Suddenly, what appeared to be a yellow school bus hit the megademon in the side. The impact knocked the demon back several feet as screeching brakes brought the bus to a halt. The door of the bus opened and out came two people. One was a tall, dark-skinned man, and the other was a young, black-haired woman with a Priestess' staff. As the megademon climbed to its feet, the woman waved her staff, and the sky opened. A bolt of lightning struck the megademon. The demonic beast stood for a few seconds as steam rose from his charred skin. Then, with a roar of defeat, it fell to the floor.
For a while, no one did anything as both the Red and Blue Teams simply stood there. Perhaps it was the disbelief that some random strangers had just saved their lives. Perhaps it was the relief that they had just barely escaped death. Most likely, they were confused by what had just happened. The young man and woman started approaching them, however, and soon, the soldiers began putting down their weapons. Mardonius leapt from the back of the truck and marched up to the strangers.
"I must thank you, kind persons," Mardonius said with an air of formality. "If it were not for your intervention, who knows what might have happened?"
"We just saw some people attacked by Demons," the man replied, "and we thought it would be best if we helped."
"By the way, I'm Stephanie," the girl introduced herself. "And my friend here is Vincent."
"Pleasure to meet you," Mardonius said as he shook their hands. "Vincent. Priestess Stephanie."
"Not really," Stephanie uttered below her breath.
"I am Mardonius," he introduced himself, "and this is Lotus. We--"
He never had a chance to finish his sentence. There was a sudden rumbling, and then strange things started bursting up through the ground. One of the Blue Team members screamed as one of the things shot up from beneath him, tearing off his left side.
One of those things stayed in the air long enough for Vince to see what it was. It was a scrawny, bony demon with pod-like hands topped with sharp blades. Vince recognized them from his last battle deep below Paetre, only this time, in the sunlight, he could clearly see that they were light blue.
"A second wave?" Mardonius asked in shock. "They've never sent a second wave before!"
Wasting no more time with words, Stephanie twirled her staff and plunged the blade end into the ground. A web of angelhair soaked with Holy energy spread across the ground, forming a circle around them about 30 feet wide. A few of the tunneling demons tried to surface from beneath them, only to find themselves incinerated by the Holy-enchanted angelhair. One of the tunnelers tried to jump on Vince, but he simply sidestepped the little monster, and as it landed on the angelhair web, it screamed its inhuman scream as the Holy energy burned up its limbs.
Elsewhere on the battlefield, the other soldiers scrambled for their lives. Some of them ran for the Holy web that was protecting Stephanie, Vince, and Mardonius, while others climbed on top of trucks in attempts to put distance between themselves and their attackers. However, at that moment, the skies darkened as winged demons joined the battle. One unfortunate Red Team member screamed as a winged demon picked him off from atop a truck and began tearing into his armor and flesh with its jaws.
Quickly, Mardonius grabbed a sword from a fallen Melee Team soldier. "Vince, catch!" he shouted as he tossed it.
"Thanks," Vince replied as he caught the blade, twirled around, cutting down a swooping demon in mid-flight. The no-longer-flying demon landed on the web and began screaming as the Holy Energy burned its body.
Stephanie fired a few Holy shots at the fliers, then waved her staff and plunged it into the ground once more. The air just above the angelhair web began glowing a brilliant white before it cast off a beam of Holy energy straight up into the sky. The many demons who circled above them started falling to the floor, and those who landed on the web sizzled violently as the Holy energy devoured them.
At that moment, Vince noticed what appeared to be four dragons carrying a giant sand-colored wurm. They flew by, just overhead, and dropped the wurm off a short distance away. The great beast seemed familiar, but Vince couldn't quite remember where he had seen it before.
Then, the wurm gave off a shrill cry, and Vince knew.
"Look out!" he roared.
Vince, Stephanie, Mardonius, and the other Lotus soldiers scrambled for their lives as the wurm sent a fireball flying into the angelhair web, obliterating it utterly. The resulting explosion of Holy energy and Hellfire sent everybody flying. With everyone in the vicinity of the blast momentarily stunned, the demons advanced upon them.
But Vince wouldn't be a sitting duck. As soon as the first demon reached him, Vince's skin turned into magma, and as the Dark Fiend of the Inferno, he caught the tunneler's blade in his hand and ripped the demon's arm out of its socket. Quickly climbing back to his feet, he sprinted to Stephanie and kicked aside another tunneler that was about to stab her. Then, he picked Steph up and shook her briefly.
"Come on, Steph, wake up," Vince yelled at her.
"Hmm?" Stephanie answered as she blinked a few times.
She then grabbed her staff and used it to hold herself steady as her balance slowly came back.
"You protect these guys here," Vince said. "I'll take down that cannon wurm thingy."
"Huh?" Stephanie asked as she watched Vince sprint into the distance. "Vince! What happened?"
It was then that she noticed the danger around her and forced herself back onto her feet to fight. Mardonius, too, had regained his senses and joined her as he cut up attacking demons with his saber.
In the meantime, sword in hand, the Inferno Fiend ran full speed at the giant wurm. The creature was enormous--maybe about 20 feet wide and several hundreds of feet long--and its body was made from many circular segments. It spat another fireball at Vince, but the Inferno Fiend simply raised his hands and deflected the projectile with a shield of flame. As he neared the great beast, he gave a mighty warcry and set his sword ablaze. With a roar, he leapt atop the wurm and plunged the flaming blade into what appeared to be the creature's forehead, between its two eyes. However, just then, Vince found he could no longer keep his balance--the wurm was moving. The beast gave a shrill cry of pain and quickly brought its head into the air. Vince felt himself go airborne. The next thing he knew, he was falling into the wurm's mouth.
It was moist and surprisingly cool in the belly of the flame-cannon beast, but mostly, it was dark. Vince couldn't see a thing. He lit one of his hands for use as a torch, but there wasn't much to see. The inside of the wurm was like a long, long tunnel, except that it occasionally moved and was made of stomach lining instead of rock.
"Good Heavens," Vince cursed. "This is the last thing I needed--to get swallowed by a big wurm."
He punched at the wurm's stomach wall with his flaming fist, but other than the light going out, nothing happened.
"Great," Vince muttered. "It has a tough stomach, too. I guess it eats tough guys like me all the time."
He quickly gave the stomach wall another quick one-two. This time, the beast roared in pain and its stomach rumbled, causing Vince to fall down, but nothing else happened. He certainly wasn't able to puncture the wurm's stomach.
"This is getting annoying," Vince cursed again.
Although he couldn't see it, Vince felt his armor fusing with his hide and his muscles inflate.
***
The giant wurm gave a cry of pain, then tossed Vince into the air and swallowed him.
"Vince!" Stephanie screamed.
"Focus on the attacking demons!" Mardonius shouted at her. "I'm sure your friend Vince is fine!"
"Look out!" cried another soldier.
The wurm spat another fireball at them, only this one flew right over their heads and landed between two trucks, knocking them both on their sides and setting them aflame. However, the soldiers had little time to reflect on their loss as the demons continued their relentless assault.
Stephanie heard the wurm gave another cry of pain, this time louder and longer. The other demons must have heard something in this cry, too, as they suddenly began a retreat. Steph turned to the wurm and saw it squirming, convulsions running down its sides. Something burst through the wurm's side. It was a hand, a large, clawed hand covered in green scales. The hand tore across the wurm's hide, expanding the hole until a beast stepped out. It was a muscular beast, perhaps eight or nine feet in height, green and reptilian. Its two arms and legs were disproportionately thick and ended in long, sharp claws. Its large jaws were filled with razor sharp teeth and sported a pair of long fangs. The beast was already chewing on a piece of meat, which Stephanie assumed it had taken off the wurm itself, as the massive wurm that once contained it roared in pain, dripping blood and stomach fluids.
"It can't be," Stephanie whispered to herself. "Is that... is that Vince?"
The green creature then leapt over the wurm, digging its claws into the gargantuan as it passed, carving a line along the wurm's back. Then, with a roar of rage, the green beast it dug its hands into the wurm's side and--to Stephanie's amazement, considering the size of the thing--ripped the wurm's head off. Roaring at its victory, the green beast held the wurm's head over its own and took another bite out of it before tossing it aside.
That was when Stephanie noticed the Lotus soldiers moving. Their guns were pointed at the green beast.
Stephanie cursed. "Wait! He's not our enemy!"
Quickly, Stephanie sprinted past the soldiers until she was between them and the beast.
"Wait!" she shouted again. "He's not our enemy! That's Vince in there." She turned her head toward the beast. "Vince, that is you, right? 'Cause I'll be pretty pissed if you aren't."
"Stephanie," the beast spoke in a low, guttural voice.
Then, the creature collapsed, and its muscle-bound limbs contracted until the creature was just plain Vince in his human body.
"I don't care who that was," said a soldier in decorated red armor, his guns drawn and pointed at Stephanie, "but if that thing is a demon, then we can't trust it. And if you're going to defend him, then maybe we can't trust you, either."
"Look, Vince is not a demon," Stephanie argued. "He's a... Look, so maybe Vince has dark powers, but he's on our side."
"I'm not changing my mind," the red soldier replied. "Demon or just demonic, I don't feel safe with him around, and I'm not the only one." He gestured toward the red- and blue-armored soldiers around him, all of which had their guns pointed at Stephanie as well.
"Look, if there was a way I could make you trust me," Stephanie sighed.
She closed her eyes and chanted a prayer. Then, her body began glowing with a pale aura. Ethereal angel wings sprouted from her back.
"I swear on my life that you can trust Vince and me," Stephanie said. "As a Priestess of Alliatus--"
"I thought you said you weren't a Priestess," interrupted a man in decorated blue armor.
"Roy! Zul!" Mardonius shouted to the two decorated soldiers. "Honestly, now, stop it. If those guys were really demonic agents, would they really help us fight against the Demon Army? If Stephanie was really a Demon Mage, would she really be using Holy magic?"
"But, Mardonius!" the blue-armored man protested.
"Look, I don't know them any better than you do," Mardonius said, "but after fighting along side of them today, I'm willing to swear on MY life that we can trust them."
For a few moments, the soldiers hesitated, unsure of what they should do. Finally, the soldier with the decorated red armor turned to the others.
"At ease!" he commanded.
And the rest of their soldiers lowered their weapons.
"Forgive us for distrusting you," Mardonius said as he broke the line of soldiers and approached Stephanie. "No hard feelings, I hope."
"It's all right," Stephanie answered as she withdrew her wings. "It wouldn't be the first time. In fact, most of them time, we end up getting attacked."
"Then, it was good that we were able to work things out," Mardonius said. He looked toward Vince prone body. "Your friend looks a little... overworked. Perhaps our medics should take a look at him?"
***
A few hours later, when everyone was sufficiently rested up, they started the caravan moving again. Unfortunately, with a loss of several of Lotus' trucks, they decided to requisition Vince and Stephanie's school bus for temporary use as a troop transport. Not that Vince or Stephanie minded, anyway. They all had the same goals and were more or less headed the same way (which, as far as Vince knew, was "somewhere else").
So Vince and Stephanie were invited to ride in the commanders' truck where they met the leaders of Lotus. There was the tactician Commander Channis, the hotheaded Red Team leader Roy, the quiet Blue Team leader Zul, and the chivalrous Melee Team leader Mardonius. Apparently, Lotus was once part of the Lambda Mercenary Camp, but after the whole Gehenna fiasco, Lambda was disbanded. The soldiers, however, simply go their separate ways. They had fought together so long. They were brothers in arms. So they formed a resistance group and ever since then, they had been patrolling the countryside and fighting off demons.
After all the introductions, Vince decided to ask what Lotus' current plans are. After all, since he's tagging along with them, he should have the right to know what he's getting into.
"So, guys, I was just wondering," Vince started. "What are you guys planning right now?"
"We're tracking Efreet," Channis replied.
"Efreet," Vince repeated to himself. "The Demon Mage I fought mentioned his name. The general of the Demon Army, was it?"
"That's right," Channis answered. "We're planning a decapitation attack. If we take out Efreet in one swift attack, we just might be able to cripple the Demon Army and turn the tides of war."
"Sounds like a plan," Vince said. "Count me in." Realizing that although he knew what he was doing but not where he was going, he added, "Hey, do you know where Efreet is?"
"Yeah," Channis answered.
The next statement would fill Vince's heart with utter dread.
"He's building his fortress in the town of Trioustan."