The Black Angel
Chapter 5: Underground
Previous ChapterNext ChapterI agreed with Adrian, and we went to sleep. I was still surprised about him. The portal, the suit, the worlds… It was a little too much to take in. The next morning I woke up to a familiar smell. Meat… Fresh cooked meat on the table, Adrian in the kitchen. “Morning,” He greeted me with.
“Same,” I replied, still drowsy.
“Go ahead, William left it for us,” He exclaimed.
“Nice of him,” I replied, and got at the beef. “Speaking of, where is he?” I wondered.
“In his forge. He’s a blacksmith you know,” He informed me.
“When will we leave?” I asked.
“Tired of this place already? “
“No, just wondering.”
“Good, cause today I’ll show you around. There are a few great places. Not all of them will be nice, though,” He replied.
“I’m good, we can go now,” I assured him.
“Well then, let’s get it over with,” He said as we walked out the door. I, a usual, put the facemask on.
“Where first?” I wondered.
“I know a place in the forest with a great view. I want you to see it,” He replied.
“Sounds good,” I noted. After 15 minutes he stopped.
“Strange, last time this bush wasn’t here. Could you handle it?” He asked. I whacked the bush away with the wrist swords. “Nice job,” We walked down the tranquil forest. The sound of birds chirping and the branches cracking under our feet were the only thing we heard for a while, until the sound of rushing water drew closer and closer. “Almost there…” He noted. Soon we got to a waterfall. When I was about to stop, thinking we arrived, he began climbing the stones behind it. “Come on!”
“Ooookay…” I replied in surprise, and followed him through the wet stones, nearly slipping off. After we got past the waterfall we started making our way upwards to the top. Eventually I ran out of stones to grab or step onto, so I climbed on the vines hanging instead, soon coming to our stop.
*Sigh* “Here we are,” He exclaimed and sat down on a mossy boulder. “Come on, the view is great,” He continued, holding out a hang. I grabbed it and sat down next to him.
“You were right, it really is nice,” I assured him. We stayed there for a while enjoying the view, then he stood up and walked to the edge.
“Omnis?”
“Hmm?”
“Can you swim?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Come here for a sec,” I stood up and stood next to him. “See you at the bottom!” He said, and jumped.
This guy is crazy… I’m surprised he didn’t die before we met… *Sigh* Well, nothing to lose. Not my life anyway… I thought to myself, and threw myself after him. “You’re out of your mind, aren’t you?” I asked after returning to the surface.
“What? Be honest, you enjoyed that too…”
“Well…”
“Told ya,” He replied with a grin.
“Why did the come to this world again?” I asked.
“Fine, we’ll get to the point then. Geez, I just wanted to show you how to have a good time,”
“I-”
“I don’t care. Shut up and come. No, go wherever you want. The portal will be open anyway. You know your way out of the store too.”
“But-”
“No buts, get out, go, goodbye,” I rolled my eyes in disbelief, then reached after him while getting out of the water. “Omnis, don’t make me say it again,”
“The hell is your problem?” I asked.
“What’s my problem? I’m trying to entertain you. I’m trying to make sure you have fun, that you’re happy. I’m trying to show you the place I spent most my life in, and yet all you keep doing is ask about when we leave or why are we here. THATS my problem…”
“Well, maybe if SOMEBODY would have answered me the first time, I wouldn’t be asking it repeatedly, right?” I replied. His reaction told me he wasn’t prepared for that response, and had no arguments.
He reached behind his head and began scratching it. “Shit…”
“Now, what do we do next?” I asked a little upset at his little tantrum.
“Uuuh… Do you like crystals?”
“Not much,” I replied, arms crossed.
“Too bad, we will need some. Unfortunately, the caverns are not safe, and harmful creatures reside within,” He exclaimed. I grabbed the AK.
“What? You have suit for inventory, I have a whole dimension,” I replied, explaining where the AK came from. “The only thing I always keep on me is the night-stick and the blades,” I continued.
“Don’t you have something less loud? A pistol?”
“I do, but it has smaller range, capacity, and firepower…” I replied while switching to my sidearm.
“Then I want you to cover my back. I know the way, and we need some more at the town. We will be there for an hour or so. Are you in?”
“Sure thing,” I replied, and we made our way to the caverns.
“Here we are. Hope you have a flashlight,” He exclaimed, as we both prepared our sidearms.
“How come you bring that loud ass thing while I must use the silencer?” I asked.
“If you want to, you can shoot instead of me too,” He replied.
“You won,” I assured him while we walked down the dark hallways. It was an eerie place, the only thing living I saw was a bat or two swooping by above.
“Okay, here it is. Keep an eye out, and don’t let the green guys come close,” He exclaimed, and produced a pickaxe from the inventory. As he began lashing out at the vein of faint blue crystals, the sound echoed far into the darkness, attracting unwanted attention.
*Grunt* *Moan* *Gruunt* *Grunt*
“Adrian?”
“What?”
“Was that you?”
“Was what?”
“Grunting, moaning…”
He took some time to reply. “Keep your eyes peeled, and finger on the trigger,” He only replied.
Thanks for nothing… I tightened my grip on the sidearm, and looked around with the mounted flashlight.
Itrix threw in.
“The only living people down here are the two of us,” He replied.
“What do you mean? He’s right he-” I was cut short by the man throwing himself at me. “Get…” *Grunt* “The fuck…” *Splash* “Off!” I said while decapitating him.
“You okay?” Adrian asked from the end of the end of the tunnel behind me.
“Relatively,” I replied, raising my guard once more. “Adrian?”
“Yeah?”
“If neither one of us can die, why am I watching our back again?”
“IF those guys catch us off guard, we would be in for a bad time,” He replied. “Take my word on that,”
“You know what? Fuck it, I’ll go loud and proud…” I replied and readied the AK.
“Your call, but the vein ran out, and we need more,” He informed me.
“Which means we’ll have to find more, right?” I asked.
“Yep,” He replied, so we ventured further into the depths, when I heard a loud clicking sound.
“What was th-” *Boom* *Bang* *Crash* *Boom* *Cough* “Who the fuck keeps setting up traps?!” I asked, only then realizing our only way out was blocked.
“Fuck, I knew I should’ve brought explosives… We have to find another way…”
“You do, I’m out of here…” I replied, and walked through the boulder, only to go back to him a minute later. “You didn’t think I would, did you?” I asked with a grin.
“You had me there for a second,” He assured me.
“Right, now let’s get out of here. This place freaks me out,”
“Let me try something…” He said, and ran into the same boulder I walked through, but bounced back. I was barely able to hold back a chuckle. “Hey, it was worth a try, okay?”
“I haven’t said a thing,” I reminded him, and set off to find a way out. After a while we saw light at the end of one of the tunnels.
“Our way out?” Adrian wondered.
“Hope so,” I noted. Unfortunately, it was just a torch, one of many left behind in an abandoned mineshaft. We did manage to run into some left behind tracks, and a chest, in which was a few torches, and a steel pickaxe, which Adrian insisted I keep. I on the other hand, had no intention to do so, but did, just to save the time arguing.
“Well, this place is a waste,” He said, just nodded. “I can’t recall leaving this here,” He exclaimed, him being the only one to know the caverns even being there.
“Well, that’s not the point, let’s just get out,” I reminded him. We wandered for a while, when he stopped. “What?”
“Shhhhh!”
“What?” I asked again, whispering.
“More of them!” He replied.
“So what?” I asked.
“They can come from just a single to an entire army!”
“I saw bring it…” I replied, changing the magazine.
“I admire your bravery, Omnis, I really do, but you have to think sometimes instead of brute forcing your way through,”
“What’s the point if both options get you through?” I wondered.
“The means justify the ends, you know…”
“Doesn’t that just support my question?”
“Never mind…” He muttered, and readied his pistol.
“Ready?” I asked, and took aim at the first man shambling toward us.
“Let’s do this, before I regret it…” He muttered, and fired a shot, which echoed far and back in the narrow tunnels of the cave. Seconds passed as the first shot took the man down, when skeletons, large spiders, and green guys started coming at us, the skeletons firing bows at us. I soon learned why he told me to keep the green guys away, when I shot one causing it to explode, which blew up other green guys who were caught in radius.
“Why do they keep coming?!” I asked after 15 minutes.
“We can’t hold, there’s just too much!” He replied, and we slowly backed away from them, still firing away. We continued slowly backing, until Adrian nearly fell off the edge.
“Shit… What now?” I asked.
“I’m out of ammo, we have to jump!” He replied.
“We don’t even know what’s down there!” I warned him.
“What do we have to lose?” He asked. While I thought about it, he grabbed my hand, and dragged me with him down into the pit of darkness. The wind whistled into our ear as we fell, when he continued to talk. “Get ready! This will hit hard!” He noted, and soon we landed. I, out of luck and reflexes, with a proper position… While Adrian landed face first. We both compensated the fall for a few seconds, waiting for the momentum and pressure to pass on.
*Grunt* *Moan* “OOOooooommm….”
“At least you’re alive…” I noted. He just gave me a thumbs up, and soon peeled his face off the surface of the cold, mossy stone bricks beneath us.
“Wait, bricks? Omnis, we may have found something we can either ignore, or use,”
“What now?”
“If I’m right, we found a stronghold... “
“Which to us means…?” I asked.
“We can either enter it, slaughter the monsters within, enter the portal in the center to another world, and kill the powerful dragon which resides,”
“What if we kill it?” I wondered.
“I knew you would ask that... “ He replied. “Don’t know why…” He muttered, louder than should’ve.
“Ahem…”
“Right. The dragon caused much suffering to many of the towns on the surface. Hell, legends say the one who says it will receive immense power. If you ask me, that power could be useful to you,” He continued.
“How do you know?” I asked.
“Omnis, come on… I know more than I should… I’m not blind, nor deaf, I know you have control over life and death… Imagine that control extended and reinforced,” He replied.
“Greater power, greater responsibility. As long as I’m not sure I could handle it, I have no intention to grow my power,” I explained.
“Your choice. If you won’t kill it, then I can. If I strike the killing blow, my reward is said to be great knowledge… The legend says you receive what you desire to, should you slay the dragon, it is,” He replied.
“If you want to, we can go,” I assured him.
“Would you go through all that shit?” He asked.
“For you I would,’ I replied.
“Glad to hear. Now, let’s crack this open…” He exclaimed, and began striking the bricks beneath us, which soon collapsed beneath us.
“What on earth did they use as mortar to keep them together that strong?” I wondered.
“This world has interesting physics… Don’t question in,” He informed me.
I quickly reloaded and turned on the flashlight again. “Lead the way, and get it over with. This place is getting to me,” I said, that place smelled like death… Or something that had been rotting longer than it should’ve been able to… After lighting up the whole place with torches he brought, and emptying a dozen of magazines… We finally found the portal.
“Ha, I guess we’re at luck today. Wanna go first?”
“No, thanks,” I replied.
“Your loss,” He noted, and dove head first into it.
How often does he do this stuff? Does Moonlight even know about all this? *Sigh* Here goes… I threw myself into the portal, and found myself on top of a high pillar, made of something black or dark purple. I looked around, and saw Adrian at the bottom. “Up here!” I yelled, attracting his attention. The Phone he gave me earlier began buzzing in my pocket. I looked at it, and pressed the Answer. Then a voice, his one, began to talk through it.
“How did you even get up there?”
“The portal screwed me over,” I replied.
“Not really, it’s actually great. Can you see the other pillars? They should have purple crystals on top of them,”
“A few in the distance, why?”
“Try to shoot them, they heal the dragon, and that’s something we don’t want,” He explained.
“I’ll give it a shot…” I assured him. After missing a few shots, I hit as many as I could, blowing up 5 in total.
“Nice job, not on the joke though. Keep an eye out for the dragon, it will try to sweep you off of there, so if it comes, shoot until it gets too close. When it does, just duck,”
“Got it,” I replied. I put the phone away, and readied my grip, turned the flashlight off, and kept my guard up, until I saw a pair of bright purple eyes in the distance, piercing through the dark mist filling the place. I opened fire right away, and managed to hit enough bullets to make it stop meters away from my pillar, changed direction, and took off to the distance to create more space for it’s next charge. It turned around once more, and headed straight for Adrian. We both began shooting at it again, but when it got close to him it began breathing fire, it’s color matching that of it’s eyes. I grew worried of him, even though he was temporarily immortal…
The beast flew into the darkness again, and began charging at him once more, but the adrenaline in my system decided to intervene. I jumped off the pillar, right at the dragon, sinking a sword right into it’s neck, providing grip for me to hang onto. “Take it down!” He yelled.
“What o-” *Grunt* “What of your knowledge?!” I asked.
“I know enough already!” He replied.
“Your call!” I yelled through the wind and distance, slowly losing grip. I put the AK away, and slashed at the dragon with the other sword.
“Enough!” The dragon yelled, catching me by surprise. We both plummeted to the ground, the dragon taking most of the impact. When we stopped, it laid motionless on the ground on it’s chest.
“You can talk?!” I asked.
“Yes… Indeed…” It replied.
“This isn’t like what I was told…” I muttered.
“What had you expected to find, traveller?” *Grunt* “A foul, blood thirsting beast, I presume…” *Moan* “Like those before you had…”
“Well… I was told you brought suffering to many innocents… I was promised great reward f-”
“For my head, yes, I know… “ *Sigh* “Have had time to think, traveller?” My latest acquaintance inquired.
“About what?”
“Have you found a reason to take the life of mine? A reason they might desire my demise?”
“N-”
“I thought so…” He began taking heavier breaths. “Well then… You and your friend defeated me in fair battle… I, to make up for your troubles, shall reward you with the last of my power…”
“But it’s not right…” I reminded him.
“That changes no facts, traveller… I know what you both desire, and shall grant it anyway…” He replied. His seemingly still calm tone, and kindness, regardless of our recent acts… He nearly brought me to tears, truth be told. “Ah, tell me, traveller… What is it, that still brings you great sorrow?”
“I’m sorry… I didn’t know…” I explained, dropping to my knees. “What’s your name?” I asked.
“Kelonth… Why?”
“I wanted to know whose life I took for no reason,” I replied.
“I see your soul is pure, traveller… Your intentions were anything, but evil… You only sought to do well…” He explained, but I couldn’t bring myself to believe, not anymore.
“No… You shouldn’t have to die… You must not!” I replied, and tried using my power to keep him alive, but failed, as a dragon’s soul is different from that of a pony or human… Dragons are much larger, and greater creatures, who require much more energy… Energy, which I had not enough to succeed…
“Waste no power, traveller… Everything must come to an end, including me…” He tried to calm me. At this point I began straight out crying, both for him, out of regret, and because the most important law I was taught at home was simple, hurt no innocent… “Shed no tears, traveller… I will become one with the universe… I will be part of the fertile soil beneath your feet, providing your food… I will be one with the waters, rains, and great oceans…”
“I really didn’t mean for it to happen like this…” I muttered, lying face first against him.
“That I believe… Now, traveller, I must bid farewell… The void awaits…” He replied. “Fear not, I will pass forgiving you…” He continued with his last breath, and he was no more.
I mastered all my strength, and got up, making my way toward Adrian. “Ah, Omnis, finally you’re-”
I gave him no time to finish. I shoved him against one of the pillars, and held him there by pushing my lower arm against his chin, choking him. “You piece of shit… Because of you, I killed an innocent!” I yelled at him.
“What… Are you… Talking… About…”
“You know everything! You know what I’m talking about!” I replied.
“I can… Explain…” He spat out.
“You have one minute. If you fail I’ll absorb your soul, and sentence you to eternal suffering…” I warned him, then let him go.
*Cough* “He had to die… With him alive, we would’ve been stuck here forever…”
“You knew we couldn’t leave. Then why did you convince me to come with you to begin with?!”
“You will need all the power you can get in the future… I must make sure you won’t fail against Etarr…” He spat out.
“How do you know his name?! How, why do you know all this?!” I asked furiously.
“I can’t tell you… I really can’t…”
“Adrian… Tell me everything, or else we’re done… I will never interact with you ever again,” I threatened him.
“It’s… Complicated…” He replied.
“Goodbye,” I threw back, and turned my back to him. Steps away from him he replied.
“BECAUSE I LOVE YOU, DAMN IT!” He yelled, slamming a hand into the bright, yellow stone surface under us.
“You… You do what?!” I asked, unsure how to respond.
[End of Chapter 5]
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