Pandemonia, the Sunken Citadel

The more of Pandemonia that Fluttershy saw, the more sick she felt. The streets were abandoned, occasionally decorated with splatters of blood or chunks of burnt corpses. Every street was defiled, every house was destroyed, and she wished she could be away from all of it. Her lungs began to contract slowly, forcing her to breath faster. After a few minutes, she began coughing violently.

“Stop!” Iron yelled, “We can’t keep going forward!” The three giants stopped, Spellbound cursed loudly, glaring daggers from his single eye. .

“What is it now? Do you have to go relieve yourself?!” Spellbound roared, with the tips of his black mane producing embers. Iron Cross dropped from Night Blade’s shoulders and marched toward Fluttershy. “If we don’t move then those husks will be upon us.”

“If we keep going then both of us will die!” Iron barked, “This entire place is plagued with miasma, if we follow you then we’ll both die!”

Fluttershy’s head began to feel light, so much that she found it nearly impossible to keep her eyes open. She felt a brief moment of weightlessness and then felt her head touch the frozen stone. Something hissed in the distance, and a few more unintelligible screams. Leather began to cover her face, closely followed by a gust of wind.

She began to breath again, feeling as the clouds in her head dissipated. Her view was now obstructed by the lenses of a mask. She turned to look at Iron to notice a large tube extending from her mouth to the small console on his waist. She turned to Spellbound, then to Sunlight and to Night Blade.

Iron grabbed her head “Can you hear me?” he barked, shaking her head like a maraca. “Can you understand me?” She pulled his arms away and steadied herself.

‘I’m fine.” she replied, working her way to remove the gas mask. A pair of leather hands stopped her. “What happened?”

“You began to faint due to miasma poisoning.” Iron said “The only thing keeping you awake for the moment is the mask. So if you want to stay alive then I suggest you don’t take it off.” He removed a strap that kept the box in place and motioned to her. She reluctantly tied it around, making sure that the nylon was tied firmly around her waist.

“But what about you?” she was surprised to hear her voice coming from a speaker, and even stranger was how close she heard her own voice. Her hands caressed a steel helmet placed over her head, with a tight nylon strap tied around her chin.

“Don’t worry about me, mages have a natural resistance to miasma. So long as we don’t spend too much time in here or go any further then I won’t die.” He turned to Spellbound. “We need to find another route, one that hopefully doesn’t involve walking into an irradiated zone.” The cyclops tossed him the map.

“I think I know what  is causing the miasma, and if you can barely handle this then I believe you should go through the alleyways.” Spellbound motioned to the buildings. “They may be confined spaces, but they will be free of the miasma of the pyres.”

“Why did you say you?” Fluttershy protested, keeping her eyes trained on the cyclops “Aren’t you coming with us?”

“Sadly we cannot. The streets are too narrow for us to traverse and our weight would bring down everything we stood upon. We will stay on the main streets and try to attract as much attention as we can.” he smiled at Fluttershy. “Do not worry, I will instruct Huginn and Muninn to watch over you. If you encounter trouble we will do our best to aid you, now go. We will regroup at the basillica!” he barked. Iron saluted and turned to Fluttershy.

“Ma’am, if you will…” he nudged his head toward the buildings and began walking. The buildings in this part of the city were made of white bricks, their paint now faded beyond compare. She could see the occasional corpse sprawled on the inside, other times they would be impaled on a post or nailed to a wall with a ballista bolt in their chest.

“What the hell happened here?” Iron cursed as they walked under a bridge, his rifle trained on a body that dangled from above. “It’s almost as if-” he was interrupted by a soft moan, coming from one of the bodies in front of them. “Please stay down…” he sighed. One of the corpses stood up slowly, letting its stick-thin arms support its weight as its charred skin flaked off.

Iron crouched, aimed and fired three rounds. Two bullets hit the husk, tearing through the flakes and turning it to ash. The corpse above them springed to life, dropping from its grave to fall on its head. Despite the sickening crack of its skull and spine, the corpse stood up and growled at Fluttershy. Her hands raced to the pistol tied around her waist, drawing it from its holster and aiming straight for its head.

The monster flailed its arms , slamming its hands on her face. She staggered back nursing the bruise with her left hand. She looked at the monster to see that it was now in front of her. It dashed forward, biting the air where its victim was a few seconds ago. She pulled the trigger on the pistol, feeling the pistol kick back in protest. The husk flew back, disintegrating before it could touch the ground.

She paused for a second, feeling her heart try to burst from her chest. She took a deep breath and turned to Iron. The soldier was surrounded by the monsters, using his rifle as a club to fight back against the ten husks that surrounded him. She aimed her pistol and fired three bolts. Two shots flew wildly, while the last one blasted ash from the head wound.

With her heart beating at her ribs she fired again. This time she took down two monsters, giving Iron Cross a chance to break from the ambush. He ducked over a few attacks, jamming his bayonet in response to the onslaught. Two more husks died, howling as they grasped their wounds. “Where the hell are they coming from?!” he roared, tearing apart the remaining zombies.

She shrugged, holstering her gun and walking over to him. She turned to see his left arm sporting a new bite mark. She gasped and approached the wound. “Are you alright?” He turned to her and chuckled. “Are you sure, that bite could be infected.” He raised an eyebrow and inspected the mark. She reached for her packet, but Iron stopped her.

“I think we should look for somewhere safe before we look to treat it.” he whispered, letting soft moans answer her question before she could even speak. They ran up a flight of stairs and entered a small plaza. Three armored husks greeted them, hefting axes at Iron as they shambled forward. Iron fired his rifle, his bullets tearing through the soft leather. The warrior staggered back, black ichor oozing out of the wounds in its chest.

One of the warriors charged past Iron, swinging its war axe at Fluttershy. She jumped back, feeling as the iron head cut through her left arm. She winced, feeling as blood poured from the wound, and reached for her pistol. She managed to fire three bullets at point blank, her shots tore through the thick iron breastplate and exploded inside, squirting ichor like a geyser.

The monster howled and swung its weapon, slashing her stomach, and cried in victory. She fired again, this time blasting its head apart with two shots. The corpse fumbled to the floor, like a marionette that has lost its strings, and dissolved into ash.

Iron ducked under a swipe, jamming his bayonet under the husk’s chin and pulling the trigger. Black ichor splattered across the grass and water, followed by the thud of another death. An axe buried itself in his right side, drawing blood as the warrior cackled. Iron turned and slammed the butt of his rifle on its head. He dislodged the axe from his side and swung at its head. Its head cracked like glass as the steel tore through both iron and bone. The monster lashed out, digging its nails on Iron’s left shoulder, in a last stand.

Fluttershy aimed her pistol and pulled the trigger. Three bullets rang out from her gun. One sped past into the masonry above while the others met their mark. Blood splashed across Iron, leaving a stump where the left arm once was. The monster turned to Fluttershy, causing her to fire three more shots. The head blew like an overcooked egg, splattering gore and bone fragments everywhere.

Fluttershy exhaled loudly, her breath warming her mouth, and turned to Iron. The wound on his side was still dripping with blood, but his face didn’t seem to register the severity. He turned to her. “Well, it seems Pandemonia still has surprises up her sleeves.” he joked. “We should try to get moving, hopefully we can find a place to rest for a while.”  She nodded, staring at the large stone building with a silver horseshoe relieved into the front of the building. She knew that this was the sign of the Church of Lord Areion.

They approached the dark oak doors and slowly opened them, hearing the protesting moans of the hinges as they obeyed. The inside of the chapel was unlit save for the frigid light emanating from above and from the sides. Rows of benches covered the stone floor, surrounding a large golden pulpit near a marble altar. Iron smiled before collapsing like a log on the floor.