Yunga gets up from the ground, her ears ringing from the explosion. She landed in the midst of some bushes and tall grass. She grabbed her back and lifted her body up a bit, stretching out her back, letting it crack. She rolled on her stomach and used her arms to get up from the ground.
The rubble and pieces of stone left from the stone pillars and cave entrance surround her as she looks around her. She can see the dust and ash from where the rats were charging. The cave entrance is completely gone but something is left there. It looks like a perfectly cut hole in the ground that connects to a spiral staircase going directly down. She walked over to the peculiar sight and looked down. With the sun shining down on top of it, she could see how far it really went down. She estimated it to be about five stories deep.
Yunga hears some groans from the rest of the crew and Shanta talking. She rushes over there to check up on them. Zunci is on the ground, her face buried in the dirt, not moving.
“Zunci?” Yunga kneels down and pokes at her hip. “You ok?” Zunci lifted her face up from the ground, dirt smeared on her face.
“I think so.” Zunci said. “Nothing hurts right now.” Yunga helped her off the ground, and got to her feet.
“Is everyone else ok?” Yunga asked the others.
“Yeah, I think we’re all good.” Shanta said.
“Wait, where’s Shug?” Brentha asked in concern, jumping to her feet and looking around.
“He probably got thrown around like we did.” Shanta responded.
“Well where the fuck did he land?”
“Don’t know.”
“Don’t worry I’m over here!” Shug came limping out of a bush, and fell into the ground. Brentha came running over to his side.
“Is your leg ok?” Brentha asked.
“Yeah, I just need to get used to walking on it.” Shug said, getting himself off the ground. “It only stings a little bit. I should be fine.”
“Good.”
Brentha smiled at Shug, and he gave a weak one back.
“Shanta.” Yunga said. “When the fuck could you do that?”
“I don’t even know myself.” Shanta said. “I shouldn’t even be able to do that in the first place. But, something about that water. It enhanced my magic in ways that I didn’t know was possible.”
“I thought it was just water meant for trapping ships in the water.”
“That’s what I thought too, but after touching it, I got this weird feeling in my chest.”
“Well, I’m not complaining. Really saved our ass back there.”
“Those rats aren’t going to be the only problem we’ll face. If I’m correct, we have a much bigger threat. I’m talking about Drinter sized threats.”
“Do you know somebody who might be here? Like another mage?”
“It has to be a grand wizard. Nothing else I can think of.”
Yunga looked back at the destroyed cave entrance, and the hole in the ground. “We still gotta push forward.” She helped everyone else up off the ground and they walked over to the big hole in the ground.
“I knew something was up when I looked in here.” Shug said. “I even threw a little pebble down and could barely hear it.”
“How far does this fucking thing go down?” Hillanter said, peeking over the edge “You can barely see the bottom of it.”
“There’s only one way to find out.” Yunga said. “We have to take the descent down.” Yunga started taking the spiral staircase down, her steps echoing down the hole.
“May not like the walk back up, but I’ll just suck it up.” Zunci said, following Yunga down. The rest of the crew follow, with no retaliation whatsoever.
217Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡy775olZLQr
It was a full ten minute walk down to the bottom, a quiet one at that. No one spoke a word to each other. As they near the bottom of the staircase, they can see the bottom much more clearly. There was a metal door being lit by candlelight, with the rest of the bottom being barren, with dust and cobwebs stuffing the place. As the crew got closer to the bottom, a loud noise of machinery kept getting louder and louder.
When they reached the bottom, the noise got to deafening levels, that they needed to yell at each other, to at least hear each other talking.
“What the fuck is going on in there?” Hillanter said, covering his ears. “It’s like I entered a fucking factory.”
“Maybe it is.” Yunga said. “It sounds like it at least.”
“Let’s try and open the door.” Zunci said, walking over to the metal door. She grabbed the handle and pulled, but the door wouldn’t budge. Either it was stuck, or just too heavy to move. “It’s not moving!” She grunted.
“Let me help.” Brentha came over and also pulled on the handle, the door squeaked a little bit but only moved an inch.
“All right! Everyone on the door, let’s pull it open!” Yunga commanded, with everyone rushing over to pull on the heavy metal door. They all got a good grip on it and started pulling with all their might. The door slowly creaked open, and when it got to a certain point, it was like the door dropped all of its weight and they flung the door open like it was nothing but air.
Everyone was flung to the ground, taken aback by the door, all landing on the floor right beside each other. On the other side facing them, was a huge line of machinery, being operated by none other than those damned rats.
“Are you fucking kidding me!?” Shug said. “I can’t deal with these motherfuckers.”:
“Looks like we’re going to be fighting again.” Yunga said. Though the crew was relatively loud, the rats working the machinery didn’t hear them at all. They were all too focused on the machine, it was like the crew did not not exist to them at all.
“Do they not notice us?” Brentha asked.
“I think so.” Yunga said.
“It looks like their mindless slaves being controlled like a puppet.” Shanta said. “Look at their eyes. They look soulless.”
“You think someone might be controlling them?” Yunga asked.
“It wouldn’t be the first time.” Shanta said. “Mind controlling a mass of people is one of the classic wizard things to do. It’s basically slavery, but you don’t even know it.”
“Piece of shit.”
“Tell me about it.”
“So, are they not going to attack us?” Shug asked.
“Unless the person controlling them does, they won’t move a single muscle towards us.” Shanta said.
“So it’s safe to move through here?”
“I think so. We should be good. If he knew we were here, he would’ve already sent them after us.” Shanta takes a careful step out into the line of machinery and the rats still don’t notice them. She gets her body through into the line and not a single eye from any of the rats focuses or even gives a glance at her. Yunga follows through behind Shanta, yet none of the rats notice. The crew follows another one by one, tiptoeing through the line of roaring machinery.
All of the crew notice something very odd about the machines. They are all producing the weird yellow water that got them stuck here in the first place. Steam blasting out an exhaust and a little vent in the machine that spews out the water. Though the crew can’t figure out what the machines even produce besides the yellow water.
The line spread down a long stone hall, with a good sized room to fit at least one hundred machines. The place wasn’t really cramped, even though the machines were right next to each other, they left a perfect little alley where the crew can get by. The smell was the nice cherry smell that had welcomed them when they came to the island.
The crew gets less nervous and stops tiptoeing through the hall, walking nonchalantly. Shug walks past one of the rats working on the machine and waves his hand in front of its face. No reaction whatsoever, not even a twitch from the eye.
“Wish I could just kill these bastards right now.” Shug said to himself. “Will serve them right.” They kept pushing forward down the long hall until they reached a door at the end of it.
The door looked like the one they opened to get here in the first place.
“Is that the same type of door that we opened at the other end?” Hillanter asked.
“Looks like it.” Yunga said.
“Let me see if it’s as heavy as the other one.” Hillanter grabbed the handle and yanked the door open like it was nothing, almost tearing out the door itself. “Looks like it wasn't,” Hillanter quipped. The room that it led to was almost pitch black, with dimly lit torches lighting up the way.
Hillnter popped his head in the room, looking around, only seeing the torches.
“Does it look safe?” Zunci asked.
“I think so.” Hillanter responded. “Though I'm not seeing anything else but dimly lit torches.”
“Let me take a look.” Brentha shoved Hillanter aside. “How could you not see that Hillanter?”
“See what?” Hillanter said.
“The guy sleeping on a throne.”
“What?” Hillanter poked his head in again, but he still sees nothing but the dimly lit torches. “There’s nothing in there! Just pitch black!”
“Are you blind!?”
“No!”
“Oh wait!” Brentha took a second to think. “I forgot your kind can’t see in the dark well. My bad.”
“You can see in the dark?” Shug said.
“Yeah.” Brentha said. “It’s just like a skill you get when you’re a Purk.”
“That’s cool-” Shug gets cut off by Yunga.
“That doesn’t matter. You said there was a man in there sleeping?”
“Bright as day. Well not really.” Brentha said.
“Then we need to get in there. He might be the one that’s in control of all of these rights.”
“We need to get in there and end this!” Shanta pushed past everyone and walked inside the room. Everyone else followed through.
“Brentha! Where’s he at?” Shanta asked in a whisper.
“He’s still right in the throne right there.” Brnehta pointed ahead in the darkness, angling her finger a little bit upwards.
“Anyone still have a rifle?”
“I do!” Shug said, handing Brentha the rifle. “Take the shot Brentha.”
“O-ok.” Brentha said in a shaky voice. “Why me?”
“Because you’re the only one that can see him clearly. We need to get a clear headshot for this whole thing to be over.”
Brentha took the rifle in her hands and pointed it at the guy’s head, who was sleeping silently and peacefully. Her arms were shaking as she held up the rifle, making the rifle shake around. Shug came behind Brentha and held her arms in place.
“Is he right there?” Shug said as he guided her hands to point the rifle.
“Y-yeah.” She nervously said.
“Then pull the trigger. You got this.”
Brentha hovered her index finger over the trigger of the gun, her breath was getting heavy. She never had taken a life before, and she was not ready now. She doesn’t think she’ll be ready ever. Now the crew needed her. So, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes as she let her body take control and press down on the hard, cold, steel trigger of the gun.
A round fired off, smoke coming out of the barrel, the kickback of the gun knocking Brentha back onto Shug as they fell to the ground. The bullet whizzed the guy directly in the forehead and the bullet just went right through him.
“Did it hit him!?” Yunga asked.
“No.” Brentha said.
“DId you miss it?”
“No.”
“Then what the fu-” The room lights up as a fireball gets formed in mid air and comes striking down on them like a meteor.
“GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WAY!!!” Hillanter yelled out. The fireball shoots at them like a bullet, creating an explosion, blasting the crew around, except for Yunga. Yunga used her power and slammed into a wall, looking back at the blaze of fire that almost engulfed them. Everyone else is fine, only left with scratches and bruises, they are all scattered around the room.
“All of you need to leave now!” A loud voice came from behind Yunga. She quickly turns around and sees an old withered man with a long white beard wearing a robe behind her. A little flash goes off as a blast is created from his hands, blasting Yunga in the face and across the room, slamming into a wall.
“Yunga!” Zunci cried out.
“You all think you can walk into my territory and kill me that easily!” The old man said. “It’s not gonna be that way. You’d think I’d let my guard down that easily.” Hillanter got up from the ground alongside Shanta. Hillanter pulled out his axe, and Shanta stood right behind him, using him as a human shield.
Zunci crawled over to Yunga, who was beaten up from the blast, her hair looking like it was struck by lightning and her clothes all ragged. Shug helped Brentha get up, some of her clothes being burnt up by the explosion, exposing her breasts a little.
“Uh Brentha?” Shug said to get her attention.
“Yeah?” Brentha said.
Shug looked away and pointed at the torn clothing, blushing a little. “You’re exposed.”
Brenhta looked down at her breasts and shrieked, covering it with her hand. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry!”
“Stop flirting with one another and fight!” Hillanter shouted from across the room.
“Yunga!” Zunci said to her, shaking her. “Are you ok?”
“I think so, my head just hurts.” Yunga faintly responded.
“Don’t worry. We’ll finish this guy and get you to safety.”
“All of you are fools for even coming here!” The old man said. “Every single last one of you.”
“Who the hell are you anyways!” Hillanter said.
“I’m the best grand wizard in this whole coastline! That’s who I am.” The old man started laughing maniacally.
“Look! All we want is to leave this island!”
“Then what the fuck are you doing here!?”
“Because the yellow water you’re producing from this island is preventing us!”
“Oh yeah, that.”
“We just want you to stop the production of this factory for like a few minutes, then we’ll get out of your hair.” Shanta said. The old man looked into Shanta’s eyes.
“Well well, what do we have here? Another mage.” The old man said. “I’m sorry but that’s not going to happen. As a fellow magic user, you should know the reason why we are even doing this in the first place.”
“To trap ships on this island?”
“No, have you not even sensed it yet?”
“I can’t due to the spellfield you have around this island.”
“Oh shit.” The old man slapped his head. “Guess I was right putting one around this island.”
“What are you even doing on this island that requires you to control all of these rats and produce whatever they do from these machines?”
The old man looked at her in disbelief. “Still can’t believe you're a mage. You should know the answer since you were the first outsider to do it since I got here.”
Shanta thought about it for a moment, taking into account the things she’s done and felt since she got here. Then it clicked together. The yellow water that the machines produced and the fact that they made her magic stronger, it all made sense to her. Though she couldn’t be sure, since it was only a guess, she couldn’t think of anything else. “Are you trying to become even more powerful from that water?”
“Sort of.” The old man said. “You’re very close.”
“Why does any of this matter!” Hillanter said angrily. “If you’re not willing to stop production, then we’ll just have to kill you!”
“You can try.” The old man said cockingly. “I’m not sure any run of the mill sword will do such a thing. Even if your friends all work together it still wouldn’t be enough. I’m a god compared to all of you.”
“Hillanter.” Shanta whispered.
“What now?” Hillanter said.
“Keep him busy.”
“Doing what?”
“Fighting him.”
“What have you got planned?”
“Don’t worry and just do it!”
“Ok.” Hillanter stanced up with the axe in his hand, covering his face with it. “Come on now old man! Me and you!”
“Looks like you have chosen death.” The old man said.
“Better be quick with it, Shanta.” Hillanter said from under his breath. Hillanter charged after the old man with Shanta standing there, gripping something behind her back.
The old man stood there as Hillanter charged at him with all of his might, holding the axe in the air. Gripping it tightly as he swings it down full force, slamming it to where the old man was. The axe bounced off the ground as it hit the hard concrete floor, with the afterimage of the old man still lingering.
“Are you like the male version of Yunga!” Hillanter said. The old man was behind him and Hillanter sensed it as he swung behind him, with the old man disappearing as well, appearing just behind him. Hillanter swung and swung and the man kept disappearing after every attack.
“This is very fun to see you try so desperately.” The old man said in waves as he kept avoiding the attacks. “Now playtime is over!” The old man snapped his fingers and Hillanter was flown up into the air and came falling down into the ground.
“You can have this back as well.” The old man was keeping the axe Hillanter was holding up in the air, levitating it with magic. Hillanter got up from the ground and the axe came flying towards him.
Yunga came in out of nowhere and tackled Hillanter out of the way and onto the ground with her power. Zunci shot at the old man and the bullet went right through him like last time.
“Come on, it didn't work the last time, why are you trying it again!?” The old man teleported right up in front of Zunci’s face, forming a sword out of thin air. The sword was sparkling transparent blue. The sword gets stopped by Shug, holding onto the back of the old man, trying to hit him with the but of the gun.
“Get the fuck off me you animal!” The old man uses a blast around his body to launch Shug off his back, with the rifle flying over to Brentha. Zunci tries to lunge and stab the old man in his legs, hitting his leg, but it’s completely useless as the old man turned himself into stone.
“Huh!?” Zunci said in confusion as the stone replacement of the old man crumbles to the ground and falls apart, dissipating like ash. “What the fuck just happened? DId I kill him?”
Everyone in the crew gets a break as the old man is nowhere to be seen.
“Where the fuck did he go?” Yunga asked angrily.
“Hellooooooo!” The old man said, the voice coming above the crew. He’s clinged on to the ceiling like a bat and drops down onto the floor, creating a blast of fire, hitting everyone in the crew.
They all took a huge blow and now are aching from the blow.
“That should put you guys down and make it easy.” The old man said. “I’m surprised by all of you I really am. It’s unfortunate for all of you to die like this. Don’t worry. I’ll remember you all for the valiant effort you all put in-”
“Stop right there!” Shanta said, unaffected by the blast.
“Heh, out of everyone here I knew you’d still be the only one standing.” The old man said.
“If you move another step, I’ll put you down where you stand.”
“With what? You can’t use magic.”
“The same way you are.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“I wondered how you could use magic like you did so easily under your own spellfield. Then, I figured out why. You’re using that yellow water aren’t you.” The old man didn’t respond. “I’ll take that silence as a no.”
“So what if I did? That doesn’t change anything.”
“Oh, it does.” Shanta gripped a potion bottle, filled to the brim with the yellow water, with her finger dipped into it. Her body starts to glow purple and a huge wind force like a hurricane starts being generated by her, forcing everyone against the wall.
“Woah!” Shug said. “What the fuck is she doing!?”
“Is that the game you want to play huh?” The old man said. “Fine then, prepare to get crushed.” The old man does the same as Shanta, almost crushing the rest of the crew. “We can go all out if you want! Make it fun, why don’t we!?”
They go and clash at each other, with huge blows coming from both sides in the middle of the room, with more wind force being generated along with blinding flashes of blue light.
“Holy shit!” Zunci yelled out. “If they keep going like this, they might just take the whole building down!”
“I don’t even know if Shanta will be able to keep up!” Yunga shouted.
“You got this Shanta!” Shug yelled out.
The blows kept coming and they both kept fighting, with the crew being barely able to see what was happening between them, all they knew was that Shanta was still fighting on.
“You’re pretty good.” The old man said. “Never expected you to keep up with me! There’s just one problem.”
“What?” Shanta said angrily.
“The only thing holding you together is that bottle! It would be a shame if I just-” The old man takes a huge swing at Shanta’s back, exactly where the bottle is, shattering the glass and making Shanta immediately lose her magic powers and return to her normal form.
“No!” Shanta cried out. The old man blasts her out of the sky, crashing into the floor, breaking the concrete apart and letting out a huge puff of smoke. The old man begins to laugh maniacally, barely being able to hold himself together.
“Oh my god, I can’t believe you go down like that!” The old man laughed. “Only at the crack of a little bottle, your whole plan falls apart!”
Shanta groaned as she lifted herself up off of the ground, and looked at all of the crew’s despaired filled faces as reality slowly set into every single one of them. She feels a sense of shame, and looks down at the ground in defeat.
“None of you are gonna resist huh?” The old man said. “How I pity all of you.” The man raised his hand up. “To be clear with all of you, I could’ve done this from the start, I thought I’d just give you all a chance.”
A blue circle started to form all around the room. It was all over, this is where they all died. The blue circle started to glow exponentially until it was very hard to see the ground at all. Then, out of nowhere, like it was a miracle created by God sent down straight from the heavens
Brentha had shot the rifle Shug tossed directly at the left hip of the old man, though it seemed like it was a last desperate attempt to win the fight. It was actually a planned and strategic shot. The bullet hit his side hip and the sound of glass shattering ringed out the room and the blue circle dissipated and the old man fell to the ground. The yellow water splattered onto the ground, along with shards of broken glass which looked like a vile. Brenhta shot the wizard’s only magic source.
“NO! IT CAN’T BE!” The old man started screaming and flailing along the ground in pain. Holding his head and rolling on the ground like a fire drill.
“Brentha! That was an amazing shot!” Shug said in excitement. “Now let’s kill him!” Shug stood up from the ground, along with Hillanter, who had the same idea as Shug. Hillanter grabbed his axe on the ground and charged over at the screaming old man on the ground, riving in pain.
Hillanter reached his axe high in the sky and was about to swing down on the old man, when he abruptly stopped. The old man was still screaming but he was now turning into ash onto the ground, disappearing before everyone’s eyes.
“What the fuck.” Hillanter said. “He just turned to fucking ash!”
“Are you sure it’s not another trick or something?” Shug said.
“No.” Shanta said. “He has to be dead. That yellow water was the only thing giving him life. He’s without a doubt dead.”
“Then it’s over?” Shug said.
“Yes.”
“Let’s go!” Shug starts to cheer and runs over to Brentha, and gives her a tight hug. “You fucking did it! You saved us!”
“Thanks.” Brentha said. “Though Shug, can you let go. Your hand is touching my breasts.”
Shug stops and looks down and is embarrassed, and he starts blushing. “Sorry.”
“Yunga! We did it! We won!” Zunci said.
“We won, yeah.” Yunga said. “I don’t want to ruin the mood but what about the rats working the machines?”
“Who cares about them?” Hillanter said. “We can take them on any day.”
“Yeah, we beat a wizard! We can take anything on!” Shug exclaimed.
“Don’t get too excited now.” Shanta butted in. “We only won by the skin of our teeth.”
“We still won! That’s what matters.”
“Now we just gotta pray that the rats leave. And also when we get back, make sure that Brentha get’s new clothes.”
“Yeah, we should.” Brentha said shyly.
217Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ7EM6WePCT
The crew collected themselves together and got the courage to leave the room, on the way out, Shanta took the robe of the old man for herself, replacing it with her own robe.
They all slowly opened the door to the machinery line to find that the machines are no longer running, and the rats have completely disappeared, left without a trace. They all take a deep sigh of relief as they continue on their merry way.
They reach the staircase that they took to get down here, and they take the long trek back up the spiral staircase, this time taking them half an hour due to the exhaustion from the fight they were in earlier.
Reaching the top they trek down into the jungle, following the empty stream path as the yellow water ceased to exist.
They all reached the boat and begrudgingly climbed back on board. All of the yellow water surrounding the water was gone and they were able to raise the anchor and the sails. The steering wheel was no longer locked and was functioning.
They set sail and left the island behind, all beaten and bruised. Brentha went into the living quarters to get a pair of new clothes, with Zunci going down to help her out. Shanta was taking a rest in the living quarters alongside Shug.
Yunga sat on the top deck of the ship where Hillanter was steering the ship while Yunga just looked out.
“Pretty crazy day huh?” Hillanter said. “First breaking out of prison, then defeating a grand wizard. Almost doesn’t feel real.”
“You can say that again.” Yunga said.
“Where are we gonna go next?”
“How about we just rest, we really need it.”
“Just wanna dock in the middle of the ocean and take a nap?”
‘Might as well. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Judging by everything that happened today, almost everything.”
“Right, but I have a splitting headache. I’ll go take a rest, see ya!”
Yunga steps down from the deck and into the living quarters Hillanter looks out at the sundown sky, with the clouds being lit up by the sun with a nice orange color. He sailed for a little bit more then chose to stop, lowered the anchor and sails, and made his way into the living quarters where everyone else was sleeping peacefully. He took his cot and pulled the soft blanket over him and closed his eyes. Thinking about his past life and how he got here, slowly drifting off to sleep217Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXeskRCi5Go
