The wail of a hurricane’s song bounced between stone walls. When the soundwaves rushed over them, they all sat in place. Grapes took a deep breath and looked out towards his Hell, a peaceful glaze resting over his eyes. With utter tranquillity and power, he sighed, “I’m prepared to die tonight, are you?
The Phaze stuttered in its movements before looking back up towards the group, hatred burning behind its hollow eyes. It let out a shrill screech into the air before charging towards the cave’s entrance. In a swift motion, Grapes drove his pickaxe into the skull of the Phaze; it was not enough to kill it, but the strike did alter its movements just enough to make it slam against the stone wall instead.
The force of the impact shattered the wall, splinters and cracks forming both up and down until eventually, it reached the group’s feet. The Phaze seemed to smile before floating upwards, a contrast to the pact that was falling at a rapid speed.
“Grapes!” Grey shouted, frantically scanning skin colours until he found the uniquely bright purple, “Get your ass over here!” Getting closer to one another, they locked hands and gave each other an affirming nod. With smiles on their faces, they fell into a tunnel that led into another cave.
Kazuko lowered his heart rate, finding his sister below him tumbling mid-air. She steadied her movements, reaching towards her back. She pulled out a makeshift pickaxe and rope then threw it towards the wall with all the force she could give. Just barely catching the end, she latched onto the rope and looked above her.
“Zuko!” Her shrill cry echoed throughout the cave, seeing her brother falling at a rapid pace. She extended her hand as far as she could manage and gripped onto his arm, sending a pained look throughout his face. Her smile was wiped when she felt them drop just a tiny bit, then a bit more.
Dakota shot her eyes back up to the pickaxe to see it slowly coming out of the stone. “It’ll be fine,” was the last thing she heard before they began to fall again, this time into another offshoot of the cave.
Cobalt curled into a ball and emerged as an eagle, a desperate look lining his changed eyes. He dove down towards Charlotte and grabbed her sleeves. For as strong as he was, he couldn’t fly with a human in his grip. They were still falling, now just at a slower pace. He desperately flapped his wings, echoing a pained call from the hook of his beak.
Charlotte whimpered and began to fall at the same pace as before. Darting her eyes up to Cobalt, she saw his pale human form limp and falling. She grabbed his body and slid over to a stone wall. Seeing that they would hit a stone floor, she pushed her legs against the wall and jumped, hoping that just possibly they would fall somewhere less deadly. She felt her back burn before she tumbled, landing on her knees in a new cave.
Tallis sighed, “I was just getting to the good part, too.” It closed and put the book in its bag, then crossed its legs and went rigid. A shiny grey coating covered its body, almost as if it was in a shell. It landed in a tunnel that Charlotte had gone through, its metal coating cracking and shattering as it hit the new cave.
Grey scanned the new walls then sat down on the stone floor picking imaginary flowers, “Not gonna lie, bro, this kinda sucks.”
Grapes was pacing between walls, his face in his palm, “Grey, I love you and all, but can you shut the hell up?”
Grey contemplated for a second, mashing up his imaginary flowers, before smiling and saying, “Nope!” in the sweetest voice he could manage.
Grapes sighed and walked away from Grey, looking for any possible exit. “I’m finding a new cave, screw you.”
Grey spat out his imaginary herbal tea and stumbled over his words. Flabbergasted, he cried, “But you said you loved me you traitor!” He wiped a faux tear from his eye and placed the back of his hand to his forehead, “Whatever will I do without the wondrous Salvipala?”
An echo sounded throughout every nearby cave system, “Grey shut up!”
Dakota hurled herself towards the walls, causing small cracks to form throughout the stone. Kazuko sighed before calmly saying, “Kota, that’s not going to work.”
She stopped in her movements, spewing a variety of curses under her breath. Cutting herself off she flung around to face Kazuko, “I know it’s not, you idiot! But what else am I supposed to do?”
Kazuko had his arms crossed and an unimpressed look, “We were born from a literal god and you are the lord of destruction and chaos.”
Dakota sucked in her own face and placed her hand against the wall, an embarrassed laugh echoing from her chest, “Oh… right…” With a simple hand gesture, the wall shattered and fell into rubble. “Well… Let’s go then?”
Charlotte picked herself up and rushed over to Cobalt’s limp body, falling to her knees by his side. She checked his pulse; he was just barely alive. She called for Tallis again and again before it came rushing over.
“Tallis! What the hell happened to him?” Charlotte cried, frantically trying to tend to his injuries.
Tallis rolled its eyes back and replaced them with scanners. It scanned his physical and spiritual bodies before swapping its eyes out for the normal ones. In a calm manner, it said “He is in a purgatory-like state; he is not dead, but he’s not exactly alive either. He’s living through the worst nightmare you can imagine.”
Charlotte wanted to grab his hand, to be able to comfort him, but the close screech of the Phaze prevented her from doing so. Instead, she jumped to her feet and stood beside Tallis, brandishing her axe and putting the head to the floor. As the Phaze crashed through a hole in the wall and locked eyes onto the pair, Tallis drew its sword and Charlotte took a deep breath, “This is gonna suck. Get ready.” They charged.
