"Silver Blitz hmm?" The Fox asked.
"Ya she's my friend," Discord responded.
The Fox looked over the edge into the abyss. "And you're sure she isn't lost to the pitch void?"
Discord shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know much of anything to be honest."
"Well, that's okay most who come here don't."
They continued down the dark invisible path sending further and further into the darkness. Eventually, they came to a large platform. The two walked out into the middle of the platform where the fox curled and sat down. Discord walked up behind it and sat down next to it.
"What is this?" Discord asked.
"This is where you'll find where your friend."
The sound of the water hitting the drain became rhythmic and soothing to the cat's ears. The water was soon fired with black oozing blood that nearly clogged the drain. The cat ran his paws through his fur and let all of the black stains pour out from it. He stared down at the river of black.
Capper turned at the sound of the bathroom door. Arch walked out completely naked. Capper was taken back as he had never seen the cat without his armor. His fur had patterns of blue and gray wave-like stripes. Many patches of missing fur revealed many scares. The cat was marked by the past.
Capper looked up from Arch's body. " so what's the plan now, "General"?"
"Well step one is pretty simple, don't die."
"How original," Capper said, rolling his eyes.
"Step two is what I've been working on." Arch walked over and pulled out a thin black square. The square had a screen on it that lit up. "We need to get you and the sword back in one piece."
Capper blinked as he pondered on Arch's words. "Back where?"
"Home, our home."
"Where is your home?" Capper asked as he stood up.
Arch tapped on the tablet a few times before he turned it around. The screen showed a picture of barren wasteland. No trees or life were anywhere to be found in the photo.
"That's your home?" Capper chuckled as he moved closer to the tablet. "No offense, but that place looks pretty horrible. I've lived in nicer places when I was living on the streets."
Shira stood up and walked over to grab the tablet. "It may not look like much, but it's still the only place we can go that we'll be safe at."
Capper took a deep breath. Information went in and B.S slowly came out. He grunted as he cleared his throat.
"Ok listen, here's my issue with this. I've been pretty cooperative with this run of the mill cowboy action movie shit, but I'm not going to travel with you to some foreign desert unless you explain to me what all of this is about." The room went silent as Capper switched from Shira and Arch's glare.
"The fallen," Arch began. "Are ancient entities that used to roam the lands feeding off of everything and anything that lived. They would drown entire civilizations in blood, overnight. For generations, they did this until a specific creature was born. This warrior could roam the living realm while still being half in their realm. Most importantly he could hurt them with his light. He used his light to make an army that fought against the fallen until they pushed them back into their home, The Nether." Arch pulled up a picture of an army of various cats fighting armies of the creatures.
"Once defeated the armies took an oath to protect the living realm from other invaders of the Nether. We became the Guardians." Arch pulled out his sword and laid it on the bed.
"Our weapons conceal our light and help us kill these beasts, for they have returned to try and reclaim their feeding grounds."
"Wh.. well...umm." Capper was speechless. "How do I fit in with any of this?"
"You're a Guardian Capper," Shira said. "Just as your father was."
"Ya, I got the message about that one. But like why, why do I have to be involved or even care. It sounds like you're talking about an all-out war with some demon thingy." Capper started to pace. "Listen, surely you realize that I'm way out of my depth on this one. I mean if there are so many Guardians then why would you want me?"
Arch walked over and sat Capler down. "Listen bud, these things are heartless killing machines. They will slaughter everything in their path if we don't stop them."
"What are they exactly?" Capper asked as he stared into Arch's eyes.
"Shader, the demon of the underworld," Arch pulled up a picture of a bull-like creature that held a lantern and was surrounded by black fog. "once made an army that would plunge the world into darkness. This army was eventually defeated and left to rot." Arch brought up another picture of the Fallen destroying a village and countless creatures being eaten. "Well, they would go on to rise once more against the living realm and try to take over it, only to be stopped by the guardians."
"So how could I possibly help? I mean did you go through all of this trouble just to recruit one more soldier?" Capper took out his stone sword wrapped in cloth.
"No of course not. I came here because that sword is important and because it's important, it makes you very important."
"Important how?"
"Your father," Shira answered.
"What?" Capper asked, looking over to her.
"My brother was the keeper of a very important chest that held many secrets of the guardians. This chest was never to be opened until these creatures showed up." Arch pulled up a picture of a golden chest that had a carving of a lion on it and many other markings. "This chest holds the secrets of the Fallen, however, it can only be opened by his sword."
Capper pulled back the cloth and touched the stone sword. "So this is the key to that chest?" Arch shook his head. Capper put the rest together himself. The sword needed to be "active" to unlock the chest. "What exactly do what that's in this thing." Capper looked down at the picture of the chest.
"Well, these creatures weren't supposed to be able to return from their banishment. The fact that they have returned could mean that something horrible is in the making. The chest holds the answer to those questions"
The conversation was cut short, as they had to keep moving. Arch gave them 4 minutes to get ready and leave the room. Arch stayed behind as Shira and Capper ventured out. Capper, while he had been given answers, still had so many questions.
Discord's chest was pounding as his heart tried to rip through his chest. The Fox was on about the path being the safest way through but what he didn't tell him was that he was still going to have to encounter the Demons of the night. After he made his way through the pitch void Discord and the fox had come across an open field of dead trees and black geysers. The Fox told him that he would have to cross it and thought they would encounter many enemies.
Discord was now running for his life as a large six-legged creature was literally on his trail. The fox was a little bit in front of Discord as he led the way through the minefield. They would hear the creature howling behind them as it rushed past the geysers. The fox stopped as it came to a split in the road.
"We go left," The Fox yelled as it continued to run.
The fox told Discord that all they had to do was make it to the door at the end. Once they did that then they would have to survive certain death. The path tapered off in many directions but Discord kept his eyes on the fox. He still didn't know 100% if he could trust him but in the moment he had no other choice but to follow him. If he followed the fox then the demon behind them would surely catch up and if he did follow the fox it could have still been a trick. Either way, he was going to die so he took the option that had at least a glimpse of hope in it.
The fox ran until it came to a cliff. Discord stopped and looked over the edge only to see large platforms floating in the distance. At the bottom laid large red glowing spikes that shot lightning out of them. The platforms seem to have various biomes ranging from forest to deserts to mountain tops. On a normal occasion, it would have been a glorious sight but the stench of death and the sky of blood made the situation dire.
"Duck!" The Fox yelled.
Discord threw himself to the ground and covered his head. The Fox shot out a black mist from his paw. The six-legged creature turned the corner only to be met with the black mist. The creature was sent back several feet before the mist exploded in its face.
"Come on now," the fox said as it went over the edge.
Discord crawled to the edge to see the Fox climbing down the cliff. " I'm dead I'm dead I am so dead. I never thought that this is how I would die."
Discord went over the edge and started climbing down. His arms began to shake as they struggled to hold up his weight. In the living realm, he was a chaos God but they're in the realm of the Dead it was nothing more but a lost soul. The Fox eased its way down with little effort but Discord was a much different story.
"Hey mate, you got a shadow," the Fox yelled as he pointed up.
Discord looked up to see the six-legged creature crawling down after him followed by more.
"Dead dead dead dead died died died." Discord closed his eyes before making the conscious decision to let go. "Deeeeeaaaaaadddd." His voice echoed as he fell. The ground met him followed by the pain of his organs crashing against each other.
"Damn mate, hell of a play." The Fox picked Discord up and stood him up straight. "Now let's get moving."
The two continued to run not even looking back at the demons that trailed behind them. In the distance, Discord could see the Golden Light in front of them. The black door made from bones from the ones before could be seen in the distance. Discord laughed out loud and threw his fists in the air. The fox chuckled at his excitement.
They made it to the door without a moment to spare. The creatures were inches from them as Discord slammed the door behind him. Both of them leaned up against the door and breathed heavily.
"Hell ya, my mate, that's what I'm talking about." The Fox got up and shook itself. "Now then let's get a move on shall we."
"Hold on," Discord said as he fell back on the ground. "Give me a moment to stand."
The Fox shook its head as he sat down next to Discord. "Well, you basically did it you know."
"What?" Discord looked up at the Fox. They were in a small red plane room with two doors opposite each other.
"You see that?" The Fox pointed to the door in front of them. "That's where you need to go to find your friend."
"Really?" Discord jumped up.
"Ya, it's pretty much it."
Discord walked forward as he staggered around. "What's in there?"
"I don't know," The fox said as he walked up next to Discord. "I've never been there. I just wait out here for the travelers until they come back. This is as far as I go."
Discord walked forward and put his claw on the doorknob. "You sure I'll find her?"
The Fox nodded. "You'll find everything you've come all this way for."