Chapter 36 - The End Of The Road
As we walked through the blistering heat of the new day, the aura is finally taking its toll on my soul. It feels like I’ve been beaten down to a bloody pulp, the pulp is frozen in ice trays and then used as ice cubes in someone’s drinks. I look up into the sky, I only see the black curtain-like clouds, the further inland we go, the more it appears that the clouds are slowly rotating; as if the clouds were a massive storm and we’re nearing its eye.
“It looks like you didn’t get any sleep as well.” The kids smartass retort pushes me slightly closer to the edge.
“I slept like the dead last night, just the closer we get to where the cultist’s base of operations. the stronger the aura gets. It’s now finally taking its toll on my soul.” My nerves are just raw, I’m close to the edge and just the slightest thing could set me off.
“You have no idea how true that statement is.” The kid murmurs underneath his breath, I just ignore it and keep on walking.
I can feel Friend’s presence seeping through the crack on his little white box. I doubt his cage can hold him much longer. If another demon attacks and goes for his cell, unaware of what it houses; then that attack could break his bindings and set him free. Or could end up killing Friend instead, I hope the latter would be the situation should another demon attack occur.
My steps become faulty as the aura’s brutal punishment continues to sap my strength from my body. I look behind me to see S.K still as the aura has no effect on her what so ever, Isaac on the other hand is having trouble keeping up with his as he’s now beginning to be affected. He nearly stumbled over but he doesn’t lose his hoofing, my tail wraps around his barrel and tows him behind us.
“H-Hey! W-What do you think you’re doing?!” He doesn’t fight back at all, knowing it would be futile.
“Looks like the aura is now beginning to affect you too, Isaac; or at the very least Cunning and Pride. What affects them affects you, it’s a two-way street since you three made a contract. You’re their host now and they protect your soul as you protect theirs, or you just watch each others back. The more you feed them, the stronger they’ll become and the stronger you need to become so you can still be the dominant one. I’m giving you the chances that I never had, I won’t always be around to insure that you’ll always be the dominant one; as soon as you and I part ways you’ll be in danger. We need to hurry up and get this over with before we become too weak to do anything.” The kid stays silent and folds his fore hooves together and pouts as I carry him.
We continued walking through the jungle. The deeper we went, the less I see of normal trees and the more I see of the balefire trees. Eventually only flaming trees can be seen. I can feel the kid fighting to stay conscious while I carried him with my tail, I guess the aura is just too much for his small body. After a click of hiking through the jungle, the kid finally gives up his fight and passess out; his body goes limp and dangles and flails about as tail carries him.
“Aww, poor little guy is all tuckered out. Kinda cute if you ask me.” S.K. gives me a wink. which gets the Horror side of me thinking.
“Yeah, I’ve been struggling hard myself not to pass out. You’re the lucky one that since you seem not to be affected by this aura. So S.K., let me ask you a question, and feel free to not answer it. But what is your take on cross species relationships?” S.K.’s face brightens up as she hides her snickering with her wing.
“As you said when we first meet, I was either sent here or left here to die. But because of My Little Horror, I’ve managed to live to fight another day. And what’s with this sudden interest in me? And I’m surprised you haven't tried to jump me yet with how frisky you are in the mornings.” She lets out a hearty laugh and pushes me with her wing, causing me to nearly trip.
“Well, long story short, the Horror you knew is now me and I it. The best way I can describe it is we merged into one being. So whatever feelings it had for you are now my own, and he had some pretty strong ones.” She sheepishly grins as she sticks her tongue out at me.
“So, what’re saying is that you have a pack-like mentality with me now?”
“Yeah, you can say that. If anything would threaten to hurt you, I wouldn’t be able to control myself as I ripped them to pieces.” S.K. gives me another nudge with her wing, causing me to stumble slightly.
“My Little Horror, The Guardian, kinda has a nice ring to it. And I’m willingly to try anything once, but before we do anything; I need to take a bath, and maybe you too.” She does have a solid point there, I do smell of man and its been awhile since I did have a good shower.
“Okay, I didn’t want to do anything that you weren't okay with, I would feel horrible if I hurt someone who was close to me.”
We continue on with our small talk, going through just random chitchat. Just another click into the Balefire Jungle and we near the eye of the storm, the kid is still passed out and dangles around in my tail’s grasp as I walked. I can feel pure, unadulterated madness seeping out of the cracked box. To be honest, I kinda missed Friend’s mad presence.
- - -
“Do you feel it, Isaac?” Cunning says as excitement fills his voice.
“Feel what?”
“Madness, he’s close, I can feel it in my soul.” A sinister grin plastered itself onto his face.
“How can you be certain of it?”
“Trust me, I know when the Demon of Madness is near. He’s a tricky little bastard, but he’ll be mine soon enough.”
“Whatever you say, Cunning. As long as you keep up to your end of the deal, then I don’t care what you do.”
“Isaac, give me control! We need to be awake for when he comes!” The kid seems a little unease at the idea of not being the dominate one.
“And how do I know you won’t try to attack S.K. or Demon?” Isaac’s words seem to offend Cunning, he almost has a pained expression on his face.
“Do you take me as a fool? If we even try to kill the tailed one, we’ll be dead in a heartbeat. Let me in control so your body can start to adjust to my powers. That way they won’t fail on you when you do call upon me.” The kid simply nods at Cunning’s request.
- - -
Isaac starts to stir from his slumber, I turn my head to greet him with a smile after his little nap, only to see his eyes bloodshot. My tail constricts around his body on its own accord, causing him to gasp for air.
“What did I tell you about letting Isaac be the one in control?” His eyes lock onto mine as he tries to desperately to fight my tails’ grasp.
“H-Hear me out, Tailed One! Before you acted too hastily and end the little one’s life!” My tail stops strangling Isaac, but doesn’t let him go.
“Choose your words wisely.”
“T-The kid’s soul isn’t strong enough to resists this aura, mine is t-though! I asked his permission before taking c-control. He gave it to me w-willingly!” He starts to cough violently as he fights for air.
“Very well, I’ll be keeping a very close eye on you.” My tail loosen its grip and continues to carry the kid.
“You do not need to carry us, this aura is effecting me greatly but we can still trot just fine.” My tail drops him to the ground, he lands on his hooves and keeps pace with us.
“So, Tailed One, can you feel it?” That same grin slowly creeps its way back onto his muzzle.
“The aura?”
“No, that presence... I can feel a powerful demon nearby.”
“There’s something amiss here, but other than that, no.”
“I see... So Tailed One, forgive my curiosity, but what kind of demon are you? I’ve never knew of one with such a unique tail as yours.” My tail wags happily as he talks about it.
“If you wish to find out for yourself, I need to find someone or something to unseal my powers, would you or Isaac know of such a spell?”
“You must have a very powerful soul for resisting this ever growing aura for this long. We don’t know of an unsealing spell, yet. But there’s a Book of Old that might just have what you seek. You’ll have to promise us that you’ll let us keep the book after we unseal your powers.”
“You’re an observant one, I doubt I can keep on going like this though; I need my powers soon or my soul will be crushed by this agonizing aura. You’ll have my word that you can keep this Book of Old after my powers are unsealed. I’d have no use for it.”
We continue on traveling through the jungle, nearing the eye of the storm. Both Isaac and S.K. stay silent as we walked, my tail stays close to the kid, keeping a very close eye on him; my tail makes stabbing gestures at the back of Isaac’s head, he doesn’t notice a thing while S.K. and I just snicker. Death hangs in the air. With each breath I take, an awful taste pollutes my mouth. Here we stand just a few feet from this unholy barrier that protects the eye of whatever is creating such a crippling aura. Cunning steps forward and his horn starts to charge.
“I’ll be able to open a portal through this protective barrier, but just long enough for us to get in. Ready yourselves as soon as we step through into the unknown. We’ll be trapped inside.”
His horn charges through the first two layers with ease, the third crawls along and then the fourth layer nearly comes to a stop halfway. Cunning is struggling to even hold the power he built up, let alone to keep on channeling it. Sweat breaks out across his brow as the black engulfs his horn, I drop to all fours and S.K. climbs on top. The barrier slowly opens up as Cunning lets loose of his spell, my tail picks him up and I charge through the portal that barely opens up and quickly closes as I make it through by the scales on my back.
I come to a screeching halt at what lays beyond the demonic wall, bodies of zebras and the unknown litter the grounds. Spirits and Demons fly around the sphere that houses the intense aura, in the middle of the sphere lies a lake of blood with even more bodies floating in it. There’s a small island with one zebra standing on it. He has a book with dark energy pouring from it in torrents. S.K.’s jaw nearly falls off and hits my back as she’s struck speechless at the sight of the morbid scenery that’s lays ahead of us.
My tail lets go of Cunning and he falls down on his hunches and takes it all in, I can feel S.K.’s body shaking in terror as she tightens her grip around my neck, nearly choking me. My soul digs a hole in the floor of the Darkness and buries its head in it. I only wish I could do the same.
“Who dares enter my SANCTUM?!” The zebra on the island yells out, his voice causing the spirits and demons to shriek with pain.
We’re all terrified by the morbidity of this so called ‘sanctum’. My joints feel as if they’re welded together. My tail falls to the ground with a dull thud, my heart pounds furiously in my chest as my vision becomes blurry. The stench of blood and decaying flesh hits us like a kick to the teeth. S.K. starts to dry-heave, her talons digging into my chest, the pain snaps me out of the petrified trance and my tail pushes S.K.’s head to the side before she vomits on my back.
S.K. continues to vomit her guts out, my tail slowly strokes her as she does, trying to be comforting. Her talons draw blood as the dig deeper into my chest, I grin and bare down on my teeth as my blood coats her talons; puncturing just deep enough to cause blood to run freely. Fade starts to stir in my mind, her desire to devour the one who sealed her away is intense. My breath hangs in the air as my body becomes chilled, the air around us turns cold and heavy with each passing second.
“That’s him, 27. I can feel it. I want him to suffer by my hands, show him the pain and misery he caused me.” For once, her words aren't just cold and lustful, but fueled with rage.
“Don’t worry Fade, one of us is going to die today, and it’s going to be him. Nothing would please me more than to see his body floating in the crimson lake.” I think to myself, Fade starts to hum joyfully with my thoughts.
“You’ve come all this way and only barely stepped a single hoof through the front door just to be stopped by my majestic sanctum?! You’re pathetic!” Cunning finally collects himself and stands tall and answers the zebra,
“I am the Demon of Cunning, we came here to seek an audience with you!” I can feel Fade itching to get out and tear this zebra apart.
“A Demon of Cunning? How did such a weak and low-level demon make his way to my sanctum? And who’s this? A demon that I don’t recognize? Tailed demon, what hell have you crawled out from just to see me?!” My tail doesn’t wag happily this time as someone mentions it, but merely whips at the ground, kicking up dirt.
“I’ve come seeking knowledge, the Tailed One hasn’t said a word on what he wants.” S.K. finishes up with her purge and gets off my back.
“Is it power you seek? Or is it a new master you seek? I can grant you both, so much power you wouldn’t even know what to do with yourself.” His offer of power is intriguing. It definitely piqued my interests.
“I came here to claim your soul as my own.” Is the only thing I say before I charge in.
The zebra gives out a demonic laugh before he starts his chanting, corpses around us start to rise, spirits fill them, each one letting out a dreadful moan fueled by unholy energy. Their bodies only being held together by the spirit’s powers, muscle tissue fell freely off the bodies as they lunged at us.
S.K. swipes one of them with her talons, tearing through it like a hot knife through butter. Isaac levitates a few of them in the air and rips them from limb to limb, without even breaking a sweat. I blow past a few of them, my tail obliterating them as its blade like spines makes quick work of them.
“S.K. these guys are cake, should be no problem for you! Cunning, support S.K. if she needs it, hang back and hit them with your weaker spells, save your strength for later on. I got the zebra.” I yell back at the both of them.
“Do you know who I am?! I am Demon of Agony! I shall show you a whole new level of pain that you can’t even fathom!” After he shouts out, he continues his chanting, his necromancer words fill the air and raise more dead.
“Yeah? Demon of Agony? I’m what lurks in the back of your mind, I’m your worst nightmare!” His chants become more complex and a vortex starts to churn in the lake of blood.
As I take one step on the lake’s surface, I become snared as blood like claws wrap around my limbs and tail. More and more come rising out of the lake and plant themselves on my body, trying to drag me down under. My tail turns and whips around chaotically, breaking the claw’s grasps on me, buying me enough time to run further into the lake.
A balefire limb comes jolting out of the vortex and as more claws impair my movements, this time focusing on my tail. I struggle to free myself from their bloody grip, only to fail as I begin to rise into the air. My limbs are completely covered in blood, constricting my movements as I try to thrash around to break free. My desperate attempts only fail as the balefire behemoth pulls itself out of the vortex.
I’m helpless as I simply watch this monstrosity being born in front of my eyes. My restraints tighten with each failed attempt I try to make to break them. Small balls of blood float up around me and start to morph into daggers. Fade pours on the power, causing the remainder of my scales on my back to rise and start to vent the frozen black ooze; the scales on my tail are only able to open slightly, but enough to vent out the smog.
The daggers rocket towards me, but they freeze into blood icicles and fall back down into the lake. The bindings around my limbs begin to crystallize as my body vents off more of the thick black smoke. The balefire behemoth lets loose a powerful roar and grabs me before I’m freed from the bloody tentacles, I cry out in pain as its flames lick my body.
“FADE! I need more power!” I think to myself, I can feel Fade now lending more of her power to me, numbing the pain of the flames.
My scales pump out even more of the frozen smog. the behemoth’s flames became snuffed out as the smog covers it. His hand slowly starts to freeze as I force it open. An ebony black sphere materializes around the behemoth and I, I jerk my head back to see Cunning with malevolent smile on his face and his horn so black it's consuming the light around it.
“Cunning! What are you doing?!” I yell out as the sphere starts to enclose more around us.
“Killing two demons with one stone!” The sphere consumes the behemoth and I, the last thing I see his that smog look on the kids face. God I hated that look.
The behemoth roars one last time before he crumbles into flaming gravel. My soul feels like it’s being forced through a meat grinder. I can’t feel my mortal body as it’s ripped away from me.
- - -
“2-27?” My soul lies on the floor of the Darkness, slowly disappearing as the Abyss beckons for me one last time.
“Y-You were right, F-Fade, I do trust too easily...” I give a faint smile as Fade places my head on her lap.
“D-Don’t say such foolish things 27, y-you’re going to be alright...” I look up to see the flood of tears she’s holding back.
“F-Fade, I’m s-sorry... I’ve failed, Cunning got a c-cheap shot off on me, and now the Abyss is calling for me... W-Worst of all, I’ve f-failed you, Fade...” More of my soul dissolves into the Darkness as the Abyss claims it as its own.
“2-27, p-please don’t go! You’ve still have w-work to do! Y-You’ve made a promise to me!” The dam of tears breaks, releasing the torrent it was holding back.
“I’m s-sorry Fade... I lo-,” The last thing I feel is a frozen tear melting on my cheek as the Abyss takes me.
“2...7....”
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