The cloud of darkness engulfed all of them as they couldn’t see where they were heading to. In a brief few seconds of complete murkiness they still felt the wind rush through them. As quickly as they entered, they bolted out of the smoke.
Though it was hardly noticeable as when they exited it was also completely pitch black. The only thing visible was the track as it was veering to the right. Glints of the silver rusted outlining of the trail was the indicator of where they were being led to.
“Have any idea where this thing is taking us?” Shug asked.
“I know it’s just a tunnel, no clue what’s inside though.” Li responded.
“Hopefully nothing takes us by surprise here.” Brentha commentated.
“If worse comes to worse we can always retreat.” Li suggested.
“That’s only if things get super bad.” Shug said. “I’ll take any chance I get to get that mushroom.”
“Just don’t kill yourself in the process.”
“I’ll try not to.”
“Well it’s not that simple, just whenever you feel like it’s too much for you just let me know and I’ll-” Li’s sentence was cut off short as after a sharp right turn the cave opened up but immediately led to another big giant train that they couldn’t slow down in time for.
The cart collided into it, launching everyone forward onto the last wagon. Shug and Brentha slammed into the ground first with Li falling high from the sky and almost flattening them. All of them grunt in pain as they slowly get to their feet.
“Is everyone ok?” Shug asked.
“Get out of my head!” A loud screeching female voice was overheard. It was followed by absolutely terrifying screams, like the only ones that get produced by someone in complete agony.
“Angie?” Li’s head perked up. “Angie!” He saw her at the beginning of the train.
She was spazzing out on top of the conductor cart, going completely haywire like she was having a seizure. She was still wailing in pain. The train cart was five wagons long, all of them looked like carts that were specifically designed to store stuff. Though strangely they're all empty.
“Angie!” Li shouted out as he started trotting towards her.
“Stay away!” She yelled out. It wasn’t her normal voice, it was a more masculine tone. She reached out her hand and waved it to the right.
Li’s body got plucked off the ground and flinged into the wall forcibly. He was slammed into it so hard that the tunnel started to shake and left a little crack.
“Li!” Brentha screamed out. She drew her rifle out and aimed it at Angeline.
With her arm still raised she made a motion of gripping something. Brentha gasped for air as she was brought to her knees. She was holding her throat as she tried desperately to breathe.
“Brentha-AGH!” Shug succumbed to the same fate as his voice squeaked off, also falling to the floor.
Angeline trotted forward as she cracked her neck. “Angie, you keep bringing more problems. If we’re going to make this work you’ve gotta cooperate.” She was talking to herself like she was in third person. “Need to hurry this up.”
The telepathic grip she had around Shug and Brentha’s neck clamped down harder so that it felt like it was going to snap their throats in pieces. Life was fading away from both of them as they couldn't get an ounce of air. Their faces getting paler by the second.
Just about where the constraint was going past the breaking point, it was suddenly let go. A whole new wave of life flooded into them as they could finally inhale.
“Stop it!” Angeline shrieked. She started banging her head down on the ground. “I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry, I’m so-” She kept repeating to herself over and over again.
Li struggled to lift his body off the ground but he was astonishingly on his two feet. “Angie.” He whimpered out. He got a stable footing, sticking his claws directly in the ground. On all fours tilting his head up to see her.
He gritted his teeth and lunged forward into a charge. Jumping up on the cart, lifting his razor sharp claws high in the sky, on the brink of slamming them down into her. Screaming as he did, he stopped.
It was like time froze, everything stood still as the sobs of Angeline echoed throughout the tunnel.
“I’m so sorry Li.” She wailed. “I-I couldn’t control myself. Please, help me.”
“Angie I-”
Angeline sliced into Li’s chest, leaving a huge gash on his stomach. Blood was seeping out and onto her.
Li fell over on his back as he yelped in pain. Angeline leaped up onto their feet again, claws out and ready to slice. She swiped at him, but thankfully he had the reaction time to strike back. Their claws clashed together like swords in a jousting match.
He got struck again, his body launching backwards towards Shug and Brentha. Landing right next to them still bleeding.
“Are you ok?” Shug asked.
“Kind of.” He answered with heavy breath.
Brentha took quick action by taking a shot towards Angeline. She was in the middle of reaching her hand out until the bullet whizzed into her shoulder.
She squealed out in pain as she hobbled back. Loading another bullet into the cartridge, Brentha fired another round instantaneously.
Before the bullet could collide with Angeline’s torso, a large figure came down from above and blocked the round with a metal sheet.
It was the same species as them. The mysterious figure lunged his arm back and propelled the sheet forward towards them.
Li got up and caught it before it could crash into them, Shug and Brentha were ducking behind him. His eyes darted to the strange character and his heart sank.
“Birk?” He said softly.
Birk didn’t say anything as he stood there staring them down like a predator to its prey. His right eye was completely gone and there was only a hollow black inside that was visible.
“That-that can’t be right.” He said under his breath. “It’s gotta be some trick, some sort of sorcery!”
“Prancer, Birk, Vivian!” Angeline voiced out. “Kill them.”
“Prancer?”
A big thump happened behind all of them as another looming figure popped out from above. It was Vivian, a different shade from the rest of them along with a giant hole in his stomach.
His piercing claws bursted out. Li, with the metal sheet in his hand, struck him right in the face. The hit launched him back off the cart.
Prancer dropped from the ceiling, careening down with her claws out already. Li noticed it out of the corner of his eye and shielded himself. It pierced through the sheet. The claws almost sliced him.
Li shrugged her off and threw the sheet directly in her face. The force made her fling back into Birk and Angeline. Both stumbling and pulling a lever inside the conductor compartment.
The brakes were released on the wheels and the train started accelerating. It buckled forward as the gears started churning and the screeching from the rails was earsplitting.
“Kill them now goddammit!” Angeline barked orders at them. “And for the love of god do it quickly.” She grabbed the attachment pulling the carts together with the main conductor and yanked them apart, leaving the three servants behind as she trailed ahead.
“She’s getting away!” Shug tried to go forward after her.
“Wait!” Li warned, putting his paw in front of him, blocking his path.
Prancer charged at them, claws drawn with the full intent to kill. Brentha shot a round into her chest. But the bullet didn’t slow her down at all. In fact, she wasn’t even fazed, rushing towards them like it didn’t just go through her body. It’s as if she didn’t feel anything at all.
Li latched onto her chest as she tried barreling through them, slicing up the sides of his torso manically.
“Prancer please!” Li pleaded with her. “Snap out of it!”
She was like a rabid animal, basically barking as she tried to cut him to ribbons. The slashes were getting deeper and deeper.
“She’s not listening Li!” Shug intervened. “Just kill her already.”
Li looked up into her eyes. The hazel eyes she had slowly faded away and turned into a deep dark black void that was null of anything. An empty husk of the vibrant person that was there before.
His mind flooded with memories of them as cubs, playing in the village, sitting on the edge of a cliff overlooking the glaring crystals, and sleeping together in their cot. He couldn’t stop playing those on loop. He ignored the damage he was taking and was lost in thought as he stood there nodding off.
“Li!” Brentha cried out.
Huge loud thumping sprinting footsteps charged toward them. Vivian was up and at them, the metal sheet still in his hands. He threw it back, hurling it hard.
Shug and Brentha ducked and the sheet went careening past them and zooming towards Li.
“Watch out!” Shug and Brentha warned.
For a brief second Li snapped out of it, turned his head but it was too late. The sheet slammed into his face and he fell to the ground as the wind was knocked out of him. The sheet bounced off the floor and at Shug’s feet.
Vivian jumped up in the air and prepared to strike down on top of them. Shug grabbed the sheet and used it to cover him and Brentha. The claws stopped halfway through before it could pierce all the way.
The weight of the impact brought both of them down to the ground, laying there as the claws were grazing their bodies. Vivian tried jamming through them but they were stuck tight, though he could slightly screech through very slowly.
“Li!” Shug grunted out trying to hold the behemoth off. “Help us!”
Li’s vision was all blurry as he laid helplessly on the ground. Prancer straddled him, claws out and the rabid mannerisms still remained. The claws levied up, looming as time slowed down.
Life flashed before his eyes, memories overflowing as they swept by spontaneously. The slowed down claw about to thrust down and end him. His vision started to blacken, slowly tunneling in on Prancer's face.
As if he blinked, his vision spurned to life. Unbeknownst to him his claw directly staked the throat of Prancer. She squealed in a horrific pig-like screech as she got up and fumbled around holding her neck. She was seeping blood everywhere. Within seconds she fell down right next to Li as the life was sucked out of her body, her face facing towards him. His whole body started to convulse as he almost vomited.
“Holy fuck, Prancer I’m so sorry.” He got up and held her lifeless body in his hands. “I didn’t mean to, I’m so sorry-”
“Li!” Shug called out again.
“Help please!” Brentha also cried out for help.
His body turned to Vivian crunching them down, his claws almost piercing into Shug’s skin. With one last look at Prancer’s corpse, he closed her eyes and put her down gently.
Out of nowhere, Birk clung onto Li’s back, slicing into him deeply. He jerked him off of him and stabbed him directly in the stomach. Then plunging directly into his throat. The same squeal occurred and Birk went stumbling backwards and then on his back as he bled out from the wound.
The claws were now grinding their way deeper and deeper through the sheet. The blade started to dig into Shug’s left hip. He started screaming in pain as it kept digging itself deeper.
Hearing the screaming, Li sprinted over and swiped harder than he ever did before at Vivian. The cut entirely decapitated him, his body standing up as his head went flying into the air and landed back down. His body just crumpled to the ground generating a huge thud and shaking the cart a little.
“Are you ok Shug?” Brentha shoved the sheet off of them to check up on him.
“I should be fine.” He responded. “It didn’t go that deep.” He tried getting up and he could, although it did sting a little. “I can still move around.”
Li fell down on his knees, multiple wounds on his body still bleeding and stinging. Sharp razor claw marks were very obvious with the red outline of his exposed flesh. Especially on the side of his ribcage.
“Holy shit man are you ok?” Shug said.
“Not at all.” Li was bluntly honest. “Not in the slightest.”
“Doesn’t look good at all either.”
He didn’t lift his head up to look at them. Just sat there as he soaked in all of the pain. “She got away.”
“I know but we’ll go after her.”
“How are we gonna catch up to her?” Brentha asked. “That train sped off and this thing doesn’t have its own engine. Li’s also in no condition for us to ride him.”
“I can do it.” Li spoke up.
“What? No you’ll die.”
“I don’t care. After that fucking bitch conjured up some apparitions of my friends to kill me. Despicable little runt won’t get away with it.”
“Apparitions?” Shug looked confused.
“Obviously right? I mean I saw all of them die before my eyes, their bodies literally evaporated there’s no way they can be real. It’s just common sense. Get on my back, we’ve got a wizard to kill.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course I am, get on my back now!”
They were both confused but they didn’t have much time to blabber on. Both of them hopped on his back and he began to gallop down the track. He was going way faster than before when they first met him.
Shug looked behind and still saw the corpses there. Looking concerned as he was giving them one last look.
Those were not apparitions.
181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqAfuakSIE6
Agonizing grunts of pain echoed throughout the whole forest. Yunga’s and Zunci’s eyes were still burning up from the strange powder. Though the suffering started to die down, it was still stinging like a bee.
Their vision started sparking back to life, but through the tiniest of slits. Their eyes were instinctively squinty. It was like the feeling of something that constantly stuck in their eyelashes and they couldn’t scrape it out. Remnants of the powder stuck to them like glue.
“Stupid little runt.” Yunga cursed out. “I’m gonna fucking kill her.” She was seething on the ground, her words spitted out as her mouth was filled with saliva.
Zunci felt the ground around her and got to her feet. The pain was bearable to stand but it was still agonizingly annoying. She stumbled a little bit, trying to get her groundings straight.
“I got up!” She exclaimed with joy. “Yunga!”
“Yeah?” She responded back.
“Where are you?”
“Right here! Follow my voice!”
Zunci was as blind as a bat, wandering with her hands out taking little steps forward. Yunga was on all fours and turned her head to where she heard her voice last. She reached her hand out to touch the dirt, coursing through the rough pebbles. Zunci’s boot stomped on her hand. She pulled it back and yelped in pain.
“I’m sorry, sorry!” Zunci apologized profusely. “At least I found you.”
“It’s ok. Can you try to pull me up?” Yunga asked.
They both reached out their hands and sloppily connected them together. With a huge grunt, Yunga got back up on her feet, wobbling as she did.
“Alright, we’re up.” She said cheerfully. “When does this stuff wear off?”
“I don’t know, I hope it’s soon. Can’t stand this shit anymore.”
“God I’m gonna track that bitch down like prey. No matter how far she runs I will catch her.”
“She couldn’t have gone far. I remember I did shoot her.”
“Nice shit Zunci.”
“Thank you.”
Their vision was actually returning into a blurry haze that was quickly fading away. They could finally see in front of them even if it is just the slightest bit of sight.
As quickly as their sight vanished, it came back in almost an instant. It surprised the both of them, it was like they were hit with a flashbang they were disoriented. The sun glaring down discombobulated them for a little bit as their eyes adjusted to the bright light after being in darkness for so long.
“Oh my god finally!” Yunga said in relief. “Jesus christ that took forever.”
“It’s nice to actually see.” Zunci added on. “Whatever she threw was strong as fuck, how the hell did she even get that stuff anyways? I never saw her pick anything up.”
“Had to have it in her shirt or pocket or whatever.”
“Most likely. Wait, look!”
Zunci pointed at a trail of crimson red blood, little splatters and dots littered the vibrant grass. It led down a path into the bushes and weaves that crowded at the trunk of the oak trees.
“We’ve got you now bitch.” Yunga trudged forward without hesitation into the shrubbery with Zunci hastily following her.
She stomped over dead plants and leaves, weaving through the trees as they crossed her path, She trailed the blood as it appeared to be more wet than dry as it came across earlier.
“Piper! I know you can fucking hear me you cunt. You can’t run away, come here and face us you coward!” Yunga trotted vigorously as she shouted out threats.
“I don’t think yelling out will draw her nearer.” Zunci butted in.
“She’s close, I can just sense it. She can’t get away, not here, not now, not ever.”
In an array of trees there was something that stood out. A gray dot that was lingering in the distance. It was the slight silhouette of a human girl.
“Piper.” Yunga mumbled under her breath. “Get over here!” She zoomed towards her.
“Yunga wait!” Zunci sprinted forward.
She hastily dashed, avoiding multiple trees along the way. Piper just stood there as she flew towards her.
Yunga caught onto a tree and spun herself around, placing her feet on the bark. She bent her knees and got ready to spring off into her.
Piper veered her head towards her, her face changing into pure shock and horror. She fell down to the ground as she stammered. Her feet sprung into action as she started running away. Yunga gritted her teeth, smiling as her feet pushed off the oak.
She zipped directly into Piper. At full force of high speeds they were about to collide, and as soon as they made contact, she completely phased through her. Careening into the ground, her face drugged into the terrain making a little trail caved in dirt.
“What the fuck?” She said as she quickly lifted her head to look at Piper. Her whole body had this mirage effect to it, like it was all made of a puff of smoke. Half of her body was fading away, the exact part where she went through. “Dammit, more of her dirty tricks.” She got back up on her feet and looked around.
“Hahaha, you absolute moron.” Piper was heard mocking in the distance.
“Where are you!?” She was looking around frantically.
“For someone with such power you’re so…Foolish.”
“Over there!” Zunci shouted out from a distance, she finally caught up. She was pointing behind Yunga.
She turned around and saw Piper far off in the distance. Standing there with her arms behind her back.
“I thought you already caught her?” Zunci asked.
“I did, she’s playing mind tricks.” She responded.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s clones of herself, like apparitions-”
Piper appeared right behind Zunci, holding up a knife.
“Watch out behind you!” She shouted out.
Zunci turned around quickly and shot her gun. The bullet whizzed right through her stomach, leaving a perfectly circular hole. The rest of the body slowly dissipated away.
Yunga felt a sense that someone was behind her. She swiped her sword around her body, slicing right through another apparition of Piper. Her body dissolved away.
Maniacal laughter could be heard directly to the right of her. “Man it’s so easy to get to you.” Piper scorned. “You’re such a bunch of hyperactive freaks, can’t imagine your whole group being any better.”
Yunga bit her lip. She eyed Piper down, she was walking around in between trees, disappearing as she passed them. She was popping up all around the place, as if she was just teleporting.
“How did you buffoons even make it here and find a Vill stone? It baffles me really. Listen, I’ll make a deal with you.” She passed by another tree and instead of disappearing, she multiplied. Another one of her split off and walked in the other direction.
This quickly became a pattern. Everyrtime she passed by a tree, another one of her spawned off and walked the opposite direction, this repeated until there were at least a hundred of them, filling the forest.
“What the hell?” Zunci was directly in the middle of the sea of clones and apparitions, basically drowning out in the wild. Her vision was clouded and she was completely stuck in place, it’s like she was blind all over again.
“If you hand me the Vill stone.” Piper’s voice was being projected through every single copy of her. A huge choir of her speech repeated what she was saying, making it as loud as an overhead speaker in a stadium. “I’ll leave you all alone and even give you the knife, easy peasy and you’ll save your friend while you’re at it. So, what do you say? Will you save your friend, or send them to the afterlife, knowing that they’ll be disappointed that you didn’t save them?”
Yunga holstered her sword. She stood there, looking down at the ground. She took a deep breath. “I’m gonna save him.”
“Good, that’s the only smart thing you’ve done all day-”
“But not on your terms!”
Yunga flew off the ground and zigzagged through the whole area, wiping out a huge wave of clones with every single glide. She was zooming around so fast she was creating little dust devils everywhere she blasted off. Drifting through the whole place taking out every apparition until there was only one left. A lone one standing directly where she was originally.
Zunci coughed up a bunch of dust. “Oh my god, that was amazing.” Yunga stopped right beside her.
“So, we’re going to be like that.” Piper said. “Should’ve taken the deal, less work for the both of us.”
“You must think I’m crazy for even trusting a nasty witch like you again.” Yunga rebutted.
“Stupid, stupid, stupid.”
Zunci raised her rifle up to shoot at her. Yunga placed her hand on the barrel and lowered it back down.
“What’re you doing?” She asked her.
“We want her alive, remember? We need that knife. Only shoot to kill if necessary.”
“Alright captain.”
Yunga looked back up and was immediately shocked. Behind Piper was upon hundreds of hundreds and hundreds of clones.
“If you thought that was a lot of me, you have no idea what I could do.” She raised her fingers and snapped them. The huge swarm of them assaulted forward, like an army charging into battle. With all of their voices united they give a huge war cry. “With all that speed, I wonder if you’ll be able to keep up."181Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFm2J5ao5V9
