by Angel Medina
Meanwhile Dayvon and Luis find themselves exploring the basement they begin in a storage room where normal gardening equipment could be found except for what looked like to be a voodoo doll. Dayvon grabs it a few cultists come in and Dayvon pinched the doll with the needle and all of a sudden all the cultists die instantly. Dayvon is shocked and Luis says “Wow that actually worked never knew this voodoo stuff could actually kill you, I never believed in this shit.” Dayvon replies “Well you better start believing because this world is not ours and like the Elder God said this world can and will break nature's laws. Lucky for us I got the voodoo doll and not the other way around.” They head outside and find themselves in a hedge maze where they try to find their way out but keep on running into dead ends. Along the way zombies would pop out and attack along with the Cabal Butchers. While the zombies were easy to take out but the butchers prove to be more of a challenge in fact the poison spit of one of the butchers hit Luis poisoning him, Luis begins to vomit violently and has pains in his stomach. Dayvon says “Damn Luis aren’t you the one to get poisoned every time.” Luis replies “Well instead of talking about it how about finding a cure, look a botany book see if you see a plant that can help.” Dayvon takes a look at the book and finds the herb known as the “Devil Plant” while the name may sound ominous but its effect is actually very useful. It’s eaten and the antitoxins kill any toxic substance inside the humans body, all Dayvon had to do was to find a Devil Plant. Dayvon also read that the natural habitat for a Devil Plant was near a pool of green water, according to the map the pool of green water was at the end of the maze. Luis still had the energy to keep moving along with Dayvon, so the two kept on looking for a way out of the maze. Eventually the duo finds a way out of the maze but before Dayvon could pluck a Devil Plant the duo was attacked by gargoyles. Dayvon uses his voodoo doll to kill off the gargoyles but began to notice the effectiveness of the doll was starting to wear off. There was still one gargoyle left unaccounted for, with all of his strength Luis takes out the last gargoyle with his Tommy gun. Dayvon is able to feed Luis the Devil Plant and in seconds Luis begins to feel much better. After that the duo keep moving towards a small cabin to see if anything useful can be found.
The heroes split up to find the three keys needed to open the back exit door. Mariano found an old friend his bartender that had been killed by the Cabal but was able to give Mariano a hotel key. Caleb continues to show his anti-hero actions towards Maria, they clear an entertainment room until they are ambushed by a ghost of the grim reaper but have trouble tracking it. Dayvon and Luis get lost in a maze where Luis is once again poisoned but with Dayvon’s quick thinking Luis is able to get healed before the poison got deeper into his system. The journey continues for our heroes inside the Overlooked Hotel.
Maria and Caleb met what was a ghost with a scythe who resembled the grim reaper. However the “ghost” would cloak himself as he moved and only revealed himself when he was in close proximity to our heroes ready to strike. Our heroes shot at random but none of their landed on this ghost, until the ghost got close to Maria and was ready to strike with his scythe. Caleb notices the ghost showing himself and when he sees the ghost he shoots it with his twin shotguns, the ghost shrunk and disappeared into thin air. Caleb says to Maria “I’m not afraid of ghosts, are you?” Maria replies “What kind of question is that? Of course I’m scared; I see ghosts' everyday of my dead family members.” Caleb says “These ghosts are simply dead souls of the Cabal trying to “reclaim” me” Maria replies “You sound so sure about this, like you enjoy it.” Caleb responds “It’s not that I like it I just want my revenge and the souls I took away are simply trying to get revenge on me that’s all there is to it buttercup.” Maria stops asking questions then they enter the kitchen where they see Cabal Butchers and moving hands or Hell Hands which are simply hands of the dead that Darkgaryl resurrected from dead body parts but couldn’t quite resurrect the entire body the hand though was deadly enough on it’s own even with out a body. After the duo takes out the Butchers a couple of the Hell Hands come jumping towards them, Caleb catches his the hand going towards him and throws it into a meat grinder then grinds it. While the other hand begins to choke Maria but Maria is able to grab the hand throw it down and shoot it. Maria says in a panicked tone “What the hell now we got hands that move by themselves, oh God have mercy on me!” Caleb replies “Oh get a grip sweetheart, if you’re scared now you are better off dead because it’s only going to get worse or in my case more fun. You see Darkgaryl is a formidable opponent but no match for me. Let's get moving shall we?” Maria and Caleb continue through the kitchen till they get to the downstairs dining room where they meet a couple of “ghosts” (We shall call them Cabal Phantoms from here on out) that they have trouble seeing only recognizing them by their screams. However our heroes started learn the attack pattern of the ghosts and when they got close simply dodgeand shoot. That’s exactly what Caleb and Maria do to take out the ghosts and after they take out the ghost they enter a storage room where food is kept. Maria finds the fire key and says “Got the key! Now let's go back to the back exit.” Caleb says “Oh man I was starting to have fun with these guys!” Maria ignores Caleb’s comment and keeps silent.
After witnessing the death of his former bartender Mariano vowed to avenge the death of his friend. Angel and Mariano go back out to the hallway until they get to the end of the hallway where a picture of President Ulysses Grant can be seen. They check some more bedrooms where they find many of Cabal rituals being done including lit candles and even dead animals. They also encountered the same ghosts that Maria and Caleb had bumped into; one of the Cabal Phantoms nearly takes Mariano’s head off before Mariano was able to duck down just in time. The phantoms chase the duo out in the hallway while cloaked; our heroes use the key to open the library where they decide to hide. The problem was that the duo was trying to find an enemy that could not be seen even with their own eyes. Angel finds a pair of goggles that give him an x-ray view of his surroundings but more importantly he is able to see the phantoms in plain sight. Angel says “Don’t panic Mariano; you see these ghosts aren’t as good as they think when it comes to hiding who they are.” Angel shoots his flare gun to the phantoms causing one of them to disappear and gives off the location of the second one which Mariano uses the life leech to send the lost soul back to hell. The library that they entered was big in size but the thing that throws Angel off even more is why there is even a library in the first place inside a hotel. Angel and Mariano investigate the library further while killing off several frantics and cultists. Then throw in some ogres in there and the library became a battle zone, eventually our heroes win the battle. They notice an overturned bookcase look behind it and notice a hole big enough to fit in a human, it was a secret passage. Angel and Mariano go inside the secret passage which is actually rather long and ominous looking. At the end of the secret passage a disturbing discovery is made, a ritual room full of dog, cat and horse heads, lit candles and plenty of cultists in the middle of a ritual. Angel says “You guys aren’t very good in keeping yourselves unnoticed, let me put you out of your misery!” After killing off the cultists performing the ritual Mariano says “Damn so this is what my father used to do when he was with the Cabal, these guys are nothing but a huge group of Satan worshippers look at these poor animals, still can’t believe my father was involved in this.” Angel tells Mariano “At least you were strong enough to deny your father’s invitation to the cult, at least you are better than your father and your kids will be even better when we take out the Cabal cult!” After the short conversation the duo finds the wind key, Angel says “This may seem like hell right now but I got a feeling that it’s only going to get worse when we go back even further back in time.” Angel and Mariano head back to the back exit to meet the others or at least that was the plan.
Meanwhile Dayvon and Luis head to a cabin after getting out of the hedge maze. They kill off the cultists guarding the cabin and then they go inside the
cabin. When Luis and Dayvon go inside the cabin they find out it’s much more than a cabin it’s actually a lumber mill. They arrive at warehouse where the wood is being stored and the duo asks amongst themselves why would there be a lumber mill next to a hotel. Before they could diverge towards answering the question some ogres along with some butchers come in to ruin the duo’s train of thought. Dayvon finds another voodoo doll but this one was in the form of an ogre, he sticks the needle inside the doll which kills all of the ogres leaving just the butchers to be dealt with. Luis cleans house with the enemy with his Tommy gun. Luis and Dayvon progress to the next room which is a big wood chipper, the duo tries to shimmy along the wall in order to avoid falling inside the chipper. However Luis loses his balance and falls inside, meanwhile a cultist who was watching activates the wood chipping machine. The machine starts chipping away at the wood that was inside Luis tries to get back up but doesn’t reach the top of the platform. Dayvon once again with his quick thinking finds a fire extinguisher and throws it inside the machine. After the machine eats up the fire extinguisher the machine begins to malfunction. Then the machine stops working altogether, the cultist in frustration tries to restart the machine but no such luck the machine was out of order. Dayvon finds a switch which brings down an emergency ladder that Luis uses to get back up. Dayvon tells Luis “That’s two you owe me!” Luis replies “Yeah I know don’t worry I got you later.” The two of them then enter the wood processing room where the wood was brought in and where wood was also cut to make furniture. That’s when Luis and Dayvon realize that the hotel was simply a front for a Cabal HQ where they would do their rituals and use the lumber mill to finance their operations. Luis also finds a Cabal handbook lying around which is full of useless information about being a Cabal member but there was one important thing in the handbook. The handbook indicated that the Cabal has been in existence since the 12th century around the same time period that the anti-matter ball was located at least according to the Elder God. Luis also sees that their main goal is for world domination the same goal the gloobas have. Could it be that this evil force was able to convince the two evil groups to work in unison or was it simply a coincidence? Dayvon finds the water key at the back of the room but before they could get out they were ambushed by a group of gargoyles. Dayvon tries to use the voodoo doll but it gets knocked out of his hand and he gets clawed by the attacking gargoyle but only slightly. Luis tells Dayvon that they should just run for it, so the two of them run out of the wood processing room back to the wood chipper room. Then the duo makes a leap of faith to the other side knowing that they were still be chased by the gargoyles. Eventually when they get out of the lumber mill they are able to lose the creatures in the hedge maze, the two of them catch their breath once they see that the coast is clear. Once they finished catching their breath they went back to the back exit to open the door.
Each of our heroes faced different challenges to get their respective keys and at the same time either learn the truth of the Cabal or just get freaked the heck out by the Cabal’s rituals. This world had one common theme for all of our heroes it was mostly populated by the undead, lost souls or people who have lost faith in humanity and have sold their souls to Darkgaryl. Now our heroes needed to go back in time even further to find the anti-matter ball and prevent the Cabal from even existing like it was written in actual history.
Dayvon pages Angel first for an update and Angel says “I’m good bro besides finding out these guys have no heart and are Satan worshippers I’m okay. Oh I got the wind key so I’m heading back to the back exit.” Dayvon replies “Cool I’m on my way there as well.” Dayvon then pages Maria although the signal sounds more static he is still able to comprehend Maria’s words. Maria replies to Dayvon’s page “Hey it sounds like static… but if you can hear me… I got the fire key and I’m… on my way to the…” Dayvon replies “I got you I’ll meet you at the back exit.” Maria replies “Okay.” All of our heroes head to the back exit of the hotel, each of them anxious awaiting their next destination hoping to find the anti-matter ball. All of our heroes make it to the back exit of the hotel; each uses their key to open the three locks on the door. Then the door opens and the Elder God awaits them inside before they could go inside the warp. Angel says “Honorable Elder God what do you wish to tell us?” The Elder God responds “I just want to give you some more info about your mission going back to the 12th century.” Angel says “Carry on Elder God, what we need to know?” Elder God responds “The anti-matter ball is in the possession of Darkgaryl but he is back in the 12th century and so is the exit warp to take you back into the current time. In essence you are in another level of this virtual world and you have to go even deeper into the virtual world. I know this is probably confusing you but the evil is trying to change the past without anybody noticing since it’s been able to cause any destruction in your current time period. This could all be a diversion to lock you guys away while Earth is being taken over but without the anti-matter ball your efforts will be wasted.” Angel says “You’re right Elder God I am confused but with your guidance and as long as we work together we can defeat this evil.” Dayvon says “I just want to go back to our time to go kick some alien butt!” Maria responds “I know so do I, what I’m seeing here is freaking me out.” Caleb says “Interesting in other words the Cabal has been dead already for hundreds of years and we were worshipping to a dead leader what a waste.” Mariano replies “So all these rituals are for nothing innocent people are getting killed for someone that’s non-existent.” The Elder God replies “True but with enough faith and enough evil deeds Darkgaryl could be resurrected or at least that what these lost souls here believe. Even worse the gloobas may be trying to bring back the evil leader to be earth’s new ruler therefore plunging the world into another period of darkness like I was telling you guys in the beginning.” Angel says “Thanks Elder God, looks like there’s only one thing to do, let's jump inside the time warp and try to write history the way it was meant to be written.” All of our heroes including Caleb and Mariano jump into the time warp.
Once again our heroes are lectured by the Elder God and learn that Darkgaryl had been dead for many centuries. That the Cabal members were worshipping a dead leader perhaps they knew and were trying to bring him back. Why was Angel able to hear Darkgaryl’s voice if he was “dead” it was perhaps his spirit trying to haunt Angel or he wasn’t actually dead. Our heroes prepare to go deeper into time and into an even deeper level of a virtual world that had to be created to reenact the world piece by piece even the smaller details. Meanwhile back on earth in today’s time Hollywood greatest stars are being killed off one by one and the “President” who was controlled by the gloobas in the virtual world has declared a nuclear war against North Korea and Iran. A war so devastating if our heroes aren’t quick enough in reversing the actions, there may not be an Earth to return to.
Chapter 20
Castle Of The Doomed
After being lectured by the Elder God about what is going on, our heroes head inside the time warp. They ride the warp while looking at events that had taken place before rewinding such as the war of 1812, the signing of the declaration of independence, the construction of the Sistine chapel and other events. Once the warp ends and opens up our heroes find them selves outside a castle well defended by ogres and the undead. Question was what else would our heroes find as if they haven’t gone through enough already?
The heroes get out of the warp and they check their surroundings which they some time to observe. They are surrounded by a forest and a castle is in front of them. Angel says “Let's head inside some how this castle is going to lead us what we want to find.” When our heroes head towards the castle they are attacked by a large group of gargoyles, our heroes simply run for the entrance realizing it’s not worth staying out trying to fight off the creatures as there were too many of them. Everyone finally gets inside the castle and they close the door to the castle. Everyone catches their breath however Caleb runs
away from everyone else and decides to go inside alone. Maria says “Caleb what the hell, we’re supposed to be together!” Angel tells Maria “Leave him he’s doesn’t have the same intentions as us anyway. It’s better without him if you want my honest opinion.” Maria says “That’s what I’m afraid of, he maybe putting an act on us.” Luis responds “If so we’ll catch him, just gotta watch our backs.” Maria replies “He was freaking me out anyway, well lets see what this castle has in store for us.” Everyone sticks together while they start to go deeper inside the castle.