Wind dashed towards the light, eager to reach it. Despite his newfound confidence, the darkness still unnerved him, and he quickened his pace slightly at this thought. Wind's hoof suddenly banged against a hard, metal object as he ran. He stumbled for a moment, nearly losing his balance, and slowed to a stop. Turning to look at the ground, his eyes widened.
Kiesh's lantern was laying on the cavern floor, its light extinguished.
His lantern...? Wind thought. Then...where is the light coming from...? Turning his attention back to the light at the end of the tunnel, Wind continued to approach the dim illumination at an even faster pace.
However, just as he had sped up, Wind was forced to slow down. Before him, the cavern ended and seemed to open up into a large room. The source of the light was somewhere inside of the room. Wind gritted his teeth.
Something's happened to Kiesh. Be ready for anything, okay?
Got it.
Wind took a deep breath. Here we go... The farmpony strode through the room's entrance...only to find himself face-to-face with a dirty white pillar.
Ah...hm. The pillar had an odd, lumpy shape, and it stretched up towards the room's ceiling, out of Wind's sight. The farmpony tentatively poked it with a hoof, finding it to be rigidly hard, as though pulled taut. Despite this hardness, the pillar had a sticky consistency which prevented Wind from pulling away his hoof easily. Frowning, he gave his foreleg a sharp tug. Again, the pillar refused to yield. Huffing, Wind braced his back hooves against the ground and prepared to throw the entire weight of his body -
"GET DOWN!!"
Something large and heavy suddenly barreled into Wind's side, sending him crashing into the ground. A wind whipped its way just over Wind's head, followed by a loud crash behind the farmpony. Wind faintly registered a low hissing noise as he sprang to his hooves and whirled around to face his attacker. However, as he laid his eyes upon the sight before him, a wave of shock rooted him in place.
Oh, man. What happened to that guy?
Standing before him was Kiesh, bloody and battle-torn. What few scraps were left of the traveler's cloak hung from his heck and back in ripped shreds. Small cuts were present all along the length of his body, with a particularly ugly scratch parting his shoulder blades. The pony's once mysterious face was now fully visible in the room's light, his hood long since gone. A messy, dark brown mane rested atop a pair of piercing yellow eyes. A frighteningly large trail of blood was running out from under his mane and down his light brown cheek. Without his cloak, Kiesh had far less of an authoritative presence, and his abnormally small body frame was painstakingly conspicuous. Wind thought little of this as he rushed to the traveler's side.
"K-Kiesh, you're hurt! What's going on?!"
"There's no time to explain right now!" Kiesh replied. "Follow me! We've got to get somewhere safe!"
Wind nodded, hardening his face. Kiesh turned and dashed along the room's wall with the farmpony in close pursuit. As Wind ran, he found that he was forced to dodge his way around whitish pillars much like the first one he had encountered. Another crash sounded behind Wind, and he felt a spray of pebbles shower his back and head. Undaunted, Wind lowered his head and charged ahead even faster. Kiesh slid to a halt behind a large rock at the edge of the underground oom, and Wind followed suit just a moment later. A frustrated shriek echoed throughout the yawning cavern. Whatever was on the other side of the rock, it wasn't happy.
"Alright, what's the situation?" whispered Wind, dimly registering a chorus of low hisses echoing throughout the room.
Kiesh cracked his neck and stretched his legs and back. "That spider from up above wasn't alone. This place must be some sort of nest - there were spiders all over the tunnel. None quite as big as the first one, but still large. They were all waiting for us...hiding in the shadows..." Kiesh trailed off, spitting on the ground. "And I couldn't fend them off."
Wind tilted his head. "Uh...really?"
KREEEEEEE!! A massive boulder flew overhead and smashed against the wall behind the pair of ponies, sending a flood of stones raining down onto the floor.
"That's what I said!" Kiesh growled, ignoring the falling rocks. "Now, just listen - if the mask is anywhere down here, then it's somewhere in this room. Unfortunately, those creatures aren't going to just let us look around their home. We have to fight them off."
Wind nodded firmly, pushing his fears to the back of his mind. "Got it. I'll help you."
Kiesh frowned. "No, you should wait here. You're not strong enough to beat any one of them, and you'll just get in my way if you try. For that matter, you don't have any weapons."
Wind gritted his teeth. "I can't just let you take them all on alo - "
Ksssss!
A sharp hissing sounded from behind Wind. Startled, he whipped around to see a red-eyed spider, easily as big himself, glaring at him and Kiesh.
Kshing! Kiesh drew his sword and ran to stand protectively in front of Wind. "We're out of time!" The traveler dashed forwards and swiftly impaled the arachnid through its center. The dull multitude of hisses grew to a catastrophic howl of shrieks as the spiders beyond Wind's line of sight took notice of Kiesh. The traveler let out a battle cry and charged forth into the fray of battle. Wind tried to call out to him one last time, but the words died on his throat as Kiesh disappeared as he ran in front of the boulder that Wind was hiding behind.
...not even Kiesh can last long with wounds like that.
Grr...I know. But how can I help him? I need something to fight with now, but there's no time!
Wind looked around frantically, hoping for some sort of miracle. Seeing nothing but dirty floor and white columns - which he now realized were web strands - he threw his saddlebags onto the ground, flung them open, and began to search them for something, anything that he could use. After just a few seconds of sifting through the contents, he came across a familiar wooden box.
Wind froze for a moment...and then, very slowly, opened the box and brought out the rabbit mask. Wind stood up and turned rigidly to stare at the edge of the rock.
...Wind? I don't think that's a good idea. Remember what happened last time?
Wind walked to the edge of his hiding place and took a deep breath. Yeah...but it's the only chance we've got. Besides, last time, I wasn't prepared at all. Maybe I'll do better now that I know what's coming.
...yeah. Maybe.
Wind brought the mask until it was hovering mere inches from his face. He felt as though it was pulling against his hooves towards him like a magnet.
Try and give me some direction, okay?
Definitely.
Good...
Wind sighed. "Here goes nothing..." He brought the mask up to his head and rested it atop his face.
For just one second, the world seemed to hold its breath.
Wind suddenly felt the mask press itself up against his face of its own accord. Startled, his hooves dropped to the ground. The mask shifted about for a moment, giving Wind the unpleasant sensation that there was something wrapping around his head. Then, after just a moment, the feeling was gone. The mask now fit snugly atop Wind's face, restricting neither his breathing nor his vision. Wind tightened up his muscles to brace himself against what he knew would come next.
Wind's pupils dilated.
RUN, RUN, RUN...RU...NNN...
An almost uncontrollable urge to dash off at breakneck speeds shot into every corner of Wind's being like an icy cold shock of water. Barely keeping control over his body, he stumbled around in a circle, his legs constantly twitching and jerking about.
Wind?
RU...NNNG...
Come on, Wind - you've got to get control of it! We don't have much time!
Wind heard the Hero's voice somewhere inside of him, muffled and distant. As he wrestled with himself, thinking of the Hero suddenly made him think of Kiesh - Kiesh, standing before him, covered in blood. Kiesh, wounded and in trouble. That thought gave him a new surge of power, and he willed his spirit to rise up against the mask's with everything that he could muster.
HNNG...GRAAA!!
Wind felt the foreign urges to run recede to the back of his mind. He felt the mask's spirit yield before his own. His legs stopped twitching, his vision refocused, and with that, he knew that he had won.
Wind? Hey, are you alright?
Practically p-painless...bleh...but there's not time. I'll be fine for now, but we've got to hurry. Shaking his head to rid it of the cobwebs clouding it, Wind looked around him. He jolted, seeing Kiesh surrounded by a dense circle of arachnids, fighting them off. None of them were as large as the one that the pair of ponies had first encountered, but Kiesh was still clearly in trouble. Several new cuts were dotted across his body, and all of them were leaking frightening amounts of blood.
Not thinking, Wind began to run towards Kiesh, calling out his name.
"KI - "
Wind suddenly felt a sharp tug in his gut as the world blurred around him. His legs grew uncomfortably warm as the faint image of Kiesh and the spiders rocketed by him. The far wall of the room, once far away, was flying towards Wind at an unprecedented speed.
C-crap! Too fast, way too fast - !
Wind breathed an inward sigh of relief as he managed to stop his legs from moving. Unfortunately, the law of inertia refused to cooperate with Wind, and his body continued to fly forwards. His unmoving legs were swept backwards, and Wind soon realized that he had only managed to worsen his situation by causing him to roll head over hooves towards the wall as opposed to running towards it. He reached the wall with a mighty crash, and a dull whining began to drone in Wind's ears.
After a moment, Wind groaned and sat up, rubbing his head. Blinking his eyes open, he saw that he was sitting in a huge, mixed pile of rubble and crushed spiders. Looking out into the room, he saw that everyone before him - Kiesh and the spiders - were staring at him, dumbfounded. A fairly large line in the spider's ranks had been incapacitated and, Wind, realized, now lay under his hooves.
Wind's ears fell flat against his head. "Oh, boy..."
KREEEEEEE!!
As one, the sea of spiders began scuttling towards Wind, who stood up hastily.
Wait, don't run yet! You've got to try and run slowly!
I can't just let them catch up to me!
I know, but you can't go full speed like you just did! Remember, you're a lot faster now - you need to get a sense for how fast and then control your limit.
...you're right. Now, here we go.
Wind tried to set off along the wall at a brisk trot and managed to kick up a small dust cloud. Again, found himself moving far faster than he anticipated. However, despite his speed, he was relatively much slower than the last time. He looked over his shoulder and saw the group of monsters hissing angrily as they tried in vain to match Wind's impossible speed.
At this rate... Wind thought. I can easily stay out of their reach and still manage to run in and get a few hits on them.
Wind glanced back at Kiesh, who was trying to limp his way to the cave's wall. Wind narrowed his eyes. But first...
Wind made a sharp u-turn and increased his speed, ignoring the feeling of several spiders bouncing their way off of his lowered head. He began to slow down his pace as he approached Kiesh, but still managed to overshoot the traveler, falling on his face a foor away. Rising unsteadily to hooves, he took a single step towards Kiesh and managed to lift the wounded pony up and onto his back. Facing the room's wall, Wind once again tried to set off at a trot and found himself dashing. Skidding to a halt, Wind gently lowered Kiesh's body onto the dusty ground.
"I'm leaving you here, okay? Don't worry - I'll take care of everything."
Kiesh coughed and drew in a rattling breath. "You...how did you...?"
"I'm a lot stronger than I look," replied Wind. He soon frowned. "For that matter, I'm a lot stronger than both of us probably thought...but it doesn't matter. You just need to wait here, okay? I'll come back for you, I promise!" With this, Wind prepared to run off into battle. However, Kiesh grabbed his back leg, halting him. Wind looked curiously down at the fallen traveler. Kiesh was holding up one of his enchanted bands. He silently placed it around the farmpony's foreleg. A sword appeared along the length of Wind's foreleg - three feet of solid, double-bladed steel attached to the band at its base. Wind looked down into Kiesh's eyes.
Kiesh coughed dryly before looking up at Wind. "Despite your speed...it's still too dangerous to go alone...take this."
Steeling his gaze, Wind nodded firmly and swiftly charged off into battle.
The following minutes passed by Wind in a blur. He hacked and slashed his way through seemingly endless hordes of spiders, his many years of wielding farm tools evident in the practiced way he utilized Kiesh's sword. His body practically moved on its own, his mind yielding control to instincts that even Wind had been unaware of. As the farmpony grew more and more skilled with his borrowed weapon, he suffered only minor cuts and bruises as the fairly one-sided battle wore on.
A particularly big spider lunged towards Wind's back, trying to catch him off guard. Wind narrowed his eyes and sidestepped almost instantaneously, leaving the monster to crash down headfirst on his left. With a quick downwards thrust, Wind ended the spider's life. Three more spiders shrieked and frantically scuttled forwards, eager to exact what they saw as an opportunity. Blinking calmly, Wind yanked out his sword and, running parallel to the spiders, swung it in a wide, horizontal arc. He slid to a halt a few feet away from his combatants, who lifelessly fell to the ground like their comrade before them. However, just as he had finished with that group, several more spiders leaped down on him from somewhere high above, eliciting a growl from Wind's throat.
Darn it...there's no end to them! Wind jumped, using his newly powered-up leg muscles to rocket past the creatures, all of whom were sliced neatly in half by the time Wind passed their altitude. He placed a back leg and a foreleg onto the side of a nearby web, which stuck to his limbs with enough force to keep him in the air. He allowed his sword to hang down by his side while he took a moment to catch his breath.
We just have to keep going, Wind. They can't have endless forces - at some point, they'll either run out or run away.
Wind sighed. Yes, I suppose that's true. But regardless of the outcome, and until there is an outcome, I've just got to keep on fighting. Wind grunted, pushing off from the web a split second before he used his sword to sever it from his body. He stretched his legs out below his falling body and bent them slightly, bracing the rest of his body for the impact that was sure to follow. His legs hit the ground with a deafening crash, sending harsh trembles throughout his body. He stumbled for a brief moment, giving silent thanks to his enhanced legs, and looked back at the enemy. He had managed to fall at such an angle that the spiders, now charging towards him, were several yards away. He whirled around to square off with them, growling fiercly.
"Keep it coming!" Wind shouted. "You'll never beat me!"
Wind raised his sword, ready to fight. However, as the spiders advanced, he realized that they were slowing their pace. The group continued to slow until it came to a complete halt just a few feet away from the farmpony. Although confused, Wind failed to lower his guard, gritting his teeth.
For a moment the only sound that Wind heard was the blood pounding in his ears.
Then, as if obeying some unspoken command, the group dispersed, each arachnid scuttling off in a separate direction from its brethren. Breathing quickly, Wind remained tense and still as several spiders, no longer taking any interest in him, moved right by him in their dash to the farthest reaches of the cave. His attention drawn to the edges, Wind noticed for the first time the room's source of light - several oversized torches, placed in iron holders at regular intervals along the walls. Disregarding the torches for the time being, he looked back at the spiders, most of which had reached the ceiling. They scuttled their way to the center of the ceiling, the farthest place in the room from the torchlight and directly above Wind. Every last spider disappeared into the darkness above him, leaving him to wait in an uncomfortable, foreboding silence.
Wind gulped. I don't like this at all...
Don't worry. Just remember that you're stronger than them - they can't hurt you.
Wind uncertainly nodded, taking a small hoofstep towards the spot under the absolute center of the ball of darkness above him.
His ear twitched.
Wind's body blurred as he jumped back at an extreme speed, just missing an object that had dropped down in front of him. It was a huge strand of clear, gelatinous saliva. Several more long, sticky ropes of the stuff dribbled their way down as a deep growling reverberated throughout the cavern. Wind could feel his eardrums pounding away inside of his skull as the noise physically shook Wind's body. Even after the noise stopped, Wind's body continued to shake from the terror that it had induced within him.
Oh, no...
Wind fearfully looked up at the ceiling's dark spot from which the saliva was falling and just barely managed to make out a huge, moving object hiding in the shadows. After a moment of tense silence, a slit appeared in the darkness. That slit quickly expanded into a huge ball of light set into a massive...something. Legs as wide as young trees twitched, disturbing small pockets of air. A solid steel casing grated at a painfully high screech across the ceiling above it. Ancient patterns had been carved into the metal, patterns that were somehow disturbing to rest one's eyes upon. A fuzzy, striped abdomen swung back and forth, the effects of gravity on it just barely noticable in the way that it hung down slightly. Finally, the creature's only eye was set into its armor, casting a glow across the area around it. The massive, gelatinous blob easily had the diameter of Wind's height, and its blackish pupil held a gravitational quality to it, drawing in Wind's eyes to stare only at its one. The monster dwarved every last one of its siblings, its total length, height, and girth over double that of the arachnid Wind had met in the clearing. Drool fell from somewhere beneath the thing's iron frame, creating unnatural slurping noises as it oozed its way out of the thing's mouth, sloshing between its fangs.
All of Wind's confidence left him. Falling to his knees under the monster's horrible glare, he could do nothing but look dully up at the thing, at once taking in and rejecting what he was seeing.
...it's over...we can't do anything against a thing like that...