Daniel Book Four- Zebrica

"We did it." Daniel said as they entered Zeekial's cave. Zeekial was currently upside down on a pole made of bamboo.

"I trust you did what I asked?" Zeekial asked, flipping off of the pole, and then kicked it so it leaned against the wall.

"Yeah. I stared into its eyes, and nothing happened, other than us kicking its butt." Daniel replied.

"Very good. That demon need  a good 'butt kicking'," the zebra said, nodding his head. "Now, if you will follow me, I have something for you."

The zebra walked towards a wall, and then went straight through it. Daniel shrugged and went in after him, and the others followed suit. On the other side of the hidden passageway was a very large room, and it was not lit up by anything,    *but they could see fine. Dead center of the room, was a pedestal with a glass dome on it. It stood at four feet tall, and the dome itself rose another foot, and was six inches in diameter. Standing by it, was Zeekial.

The room was cold, so cold in fact, that the quest could all see their breath mist out of their mouths. Something seemed almost, wrong, with the room, and as they drew closer to the pedestal, the each, one by one stopped moving, as if they had just failed the simple task, and simply gawked at the strange pedestal, all save for Daniel, who walked straight up to Zeekial. "Alright, i do not wish to linger in here, please get whatever you need with me done with, and I'll be on my way," Daniel said, shivering slightly.

"Very well. All you must do, is remove that glass dome, and put on the brace that it is covering." Zeekial said simply. He nodded towards the pedestal, and Daniel went up to it, and grabbed the small glass cover, and lifted it off. underneath, was a silver brace, with an icy blue gem in it. As Daniel went to grab it, he heard a whisper.

"Power, comes with a price, even to those who must take it..." As quickly as it had come, it was gone. Daniel swallowed, and grabbed the brace, and it grabbed him, instantly attaching itself onto his arm, as a horrid burning sensation came over him. He suddenly found that he couldn't breathe as Tenebrae came up. Tenebrae's lips were moving, but Daniel couldn't hear anything over his own heartbeat. His skin started to bubble as if it was a boiling liquid, and Daniel began ripping it off of himself, and underneath it was a slimy mess of hard scales.

Daniel realized that the burning had stopped where he had ripped off his skin, and began tugging and tearing off the rest of it piece by piece, it falling to the floor in a bloody mess, until finally, it was gone. His skin was off. Tenebrae's voice was now apparent, but Daniel still wasn't listening, for his skin, was growing back, slowly. It felt like needles being pushed into his body all over. Then, it stopped, and Daniel collapsed, brunt out from the pain.

*   *   *

Daniel returned to consciousness and sat up. Looking around, he saw Zeekial, Ditzy, Gilda, and CC. Getting up, he walked straight over to Zeekial, and grabbed him by the neck, and lifted him up, and stared into his eyes. The zebra did not struggle. "I am getting really tired of all of these painful experiences," He said darkly, and then dropped him.

"I am sorry that you must experience so much pain in such little time, but it is only to make you stronger," Zeekial rasped out, followed by a series of hacks and coughs. Suddenly a deep rumble came from somewhere nearby. Zeekial looked up, and his eyes glossed over for a few seconds. When he came to, he looked scared. "This is not good," he said fearfully. Another rumble, followed by several yells.

"What is it?" Daniel asked calmly. Zeekial looked into Daniel's eyes.

"An Army."