by Brian Nyaude
26
“Ouch!” Ogana screamed out, dragging his whole body out of the water. “The water just suddenly got hot.”
Instantly, I jumped out too after feeling the surging heat waist down. Looking down, I noticed large vapors of steam erupting from the water. The ground was trembling slowly, moving up and down untimely. This had trouble written all over it.
“What’s happening Rid?” Kaya yelled with both hands clamped on the metal door. “The door just closed too.”
It looked like we had been set up. No doubt, by those two old couple who managed this inn. Dashe looked at me and shook his head. Yes, I had made a bad decision, but it was too late for regrets now. The water stirred as if disturbed by something within. I looked down and suddenly saw a large long grey tongue. It whipped out and moved wildly in every direction. To my amazement, it knocked Ogana easily on his face before continuing towards Dashe and Kaya.
“What is that thing?” Dashe screamed, blocking the tongue like object with both his swords.
“Trouble,” I replied quickly putting on my coat. “Stand back Kaya I’m going to blast this door open now.”
Kaya nodded and moved out of the way, giving me enough room to shoot my guns quickly. No, something was terribly wrong. My guns were not appearing in my hands as easily as they did before. I looked at my hands confusedly unsure of what was happening. I felt weak and sluggish like all my energy had left me.
“I feel so heavy and tired,” Ogana mumbled trying to get up on his feet.
Unfortunately, he was knocked back down again by the tongue like object. It was then I noticed it. We had all somehow lost our strength and power, like it had been sucked right out of us. I banged my body on the door and only felt pain in return. What was happening to us? Kaya fell to his knees next to me, completely drained out.
“Take this,” Dashe thrust his sword into its flesh. “How do you like that?”
Fool! His actions caused the tremors in the ground to worsen. A strange growling noise screeched out from beneath us. Ashamed to admit it, but we were in direr trouble. Rolling left, I moved out of the way just in time to see the tongue smash the ground I had been kneeling on. It had become faster and more aggressive all thanks to Dashe stabbing it. And another thing, that small lingering presence I felt before was now around us, growing immensely powerful and formidable with each passing second. There was definitely something gigantic beneath this so called inn and I think the tub had been its mouth.
What a disgusting thought! I couldn’t believe this whole time we had been bathing inside a monster’s mouth.
Somewhere outside, we heard the familiar howling sounds, jolting the whole city in bloodlust and madness. Beneath us, the ground trembled hard and began to morph right before our very eyes. It was too dark to make out what was happening; however, it wasn’t good. Even the air reeked of chaos and despair. It was obvious to everyone, a very dark power had descended upon the whole city, sending it into further pandemonium. Trembling slowly, I struggled to stay on my feet while hitting my body against the door. Despite my hard efforts, the door wasn’t budging an inch. I had never felt so weak, it felt like my body weighed a ton. How had this happened? Was it the water? Every single one of us who had entered this tub had been affected; leading me to believe the water had something to do with our strength being depleted.
“This is your fault Rid,” Dashe rattled at me, making feel even more guity. “If you had listened to me, we wouldn’t be in this mess.”
“Bite me,” I mumbled without looking at him. “You could have stayed outside if you wanted. I didn’t force you to come here okay?”
“Stop it guys,” Ogana intervened finally on his feet. He held his ale tightly and shifted his attention away from both of us. “We can’t afford to fight amongst ourselves; the worst is now upon us.”
I turned around to see where he was looking at, only to be clutched by fear. The building was coming to life, rising from the ground. It sprouted feet and a large growl erupted from it. Well, it was safe to say I had finally seen it all. Not in my entire lifetime had I thought I would see a walking monster inn. My jaw opened wide, but no words came out. How could anyone explain all of this? We were trapped on top of this creature with nowhere to escape except inside it.
“We need to get in now,” I yelled waving everyone towards me. “If we stay out here we won’t last till morning.”
My eyes wandered around, looking desperately for anything that could get the door open. To my disappointment, I found no such thing. We were all so exhausted beyond comfort, trapped next to a monster’s mouth. Focusing completely, I tried to draw out the power of the gauntlet and got nothing out of it. The monster’s tongue stopped swerving wildly and began searching around for anything to pull into the monster’s mouth.
“Don’t move,” I warned everyone, trying not antagonize this creature even further. “I don’t think it can see or sense us unless we move.”
“I’m scared Rid,” Kaya whispered, tugging my coat from behind me.
Looking back, I placed my hand on top of his head and whispered, “it will be alright, we will make it out somehow.”
No matter how dire this situation was, I wasn’t going to give up. We had not come all this way only to be eaten by this monster. Dashe looked at me and nodded, raising his two swords into the air. His eyes burned with the fierce passion of a warrior. If this was the end, he wanted us to go out fighting or so I thought. Before he could swing his blades, the door suddenly opened.
“What are you doing outside at this time?” the old lady asked us as she opened the door even wider. “You are all not supposed to be outside after nightfall strangers. Danyen can be a very dangerous place after dark.”
“You don’t say,” Dashe responded not completely rude.
I smiled at her happily glad to see her face. I brushed away all my suspicion about her, thinking about the safety of my companions first. It was way too dangerous to stay outside given our current conditions. She was right about one thing though, Danyen was truly a frightening place to be stuck in. Just what sort of monster was this inn? And was it connected to the other howling noises I was hearing elsewhere throughout the city?
Cautiously, Kaya and Dashe got inside the inn leaving Ogana and I outside. I growled loudly as I observed Ogana fall backwards towards the ground. He was wise and brave, but certainly a liability when drunk.
“Can someone help me up?” Ogana groaned before letting out a large burp.
“Maybe if you stop drinking, you wouldn’t be in that situation,” I thought out loud to myself.
Since Dashe and Kaya were already inside, it was up to me to help him, which at the moment was not an easy task. There was no way I could lift someone of his size. Even if I got to him, it was going to be tricky to get past the creature’s tongue.
“I can do this,” I slapped myself twice on the cheek. “Ogana is my friend and he needs my help right now. I will not leave him behind.”
Fully motivated, I sprang forward towards him, jumping over the creature’s tongue. Every fiber in my body screamed at me with pain and soreness. Dodging wildly, I grabbed Ogana and started pulling him out of harm’s way. Truly, he was much heavier than I had imagined. Without my full strength, there was no way I could carry him up toward the inn. So instead, I grabbed his foot rigid and pulled him as hard as I could. The tongue grabbed Ogana by the hand and started pulling him from the other side.
“Oh come on,” I shrieked in frustration.
A tug of war sort started, we were both pulling him in opposite direction. Due to my lack of energy, I was losing ground and Ogana at the same time. To make this situation worse, Ogana wasn’t fending off the creature’s tongue at all. He was completely drunk wasted like usual, almost half asleep.
“Ogana wake up,” I yelled to him.
This was not good. The tub was changing; several long sharp teeth sprang out from all of its side. The tongue began to pull more powerfully t
han before, almost overpowering us both. Just as I was about to lose my grip on him, Dashe appeared next to me, one sword raised up.
Dashe struck the creature’s tongue with his sword, cogently releasing its grasp away from him. We took advantage of this opening and dragged Ogana quickly into the inn before locking the door behind us. My body felt groggy and painful. I mean I had been through some intense training with Ebi, but never had I felt so depleted. Ogana was really starting to become a larger eyesore than Dashe. I seriously had to do something about his drinking because it was starting to get bothersome. Without warning, we were rattled off our feet onto the floor.
“What now,” Dashe unsheathed his second sword. “How much more of this do we have to endure?”
We all struggled back to my feet, assuming a circular defensive position from our unknown enemy. Looking in all direction, I sensed no one. It was then I noticed something strange on the walls. They were starting to look like the innards of a monster.
It sort of looked like we were in a stomach of a monster. That old lady had not rescued us, she had lured us further into their trap. How could I have been so stupid? Hated to admit it, but I wished I had listened to Dashe. Stopping by this inn had been the worst decision I had made as a leader.
“I think we were far off better outside than inside,” I laughed sarcastically.
“You know you have never said a joke since I started travelling with you,” Dashe cut me, “and now you decide to make one and at the inappropriate time. What an idiot!”
Okay, that was uncalled for. To be called an idiot by Dashe was truly humiliating. I mean he was like the king of all idiots, so imagine my surprise. Plus, it was not a joke, I was merely just pointing out the obvious facts. I shifted my weight left to right to keep myself balanced on the rocking floor. It smelled terrible inside and all of the floors I had seen before had all just vanished, meaning we couldn’t pinpoint our way back to the others. Speaking of which, I hoped Masonku and the others were doing fairly better than we were.
“Ouch,” Ogana woke up with a sudden jump, holding one of his legs in his hands.
I looked at Dashe just to make sure he had not done something stupid again like poking Ogana with his blade. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case for his sake. This was something else and I really wasn’t the least curious to find out what it was. Ogana had left his shoes next to the tub, he was the only one among us who had bare feet. I took a closer look at his foot and noticed red sores forming on all sides of it. The floor was secreting some sort of acidic substance, melting away all of our shoes. Just this once, I really wished I had listened to Dashe. Of course, I wouldn’t tell him that because of my pride. We heard an oozing noise followed by a formation of a toxic mist in the air. Could it get any worse?
“Run guys,” I yelled grabbing Kaya and putting him on my back.
We all blitzed forward trying to find an escape route. The toxic and foul mist was making it more and more difficult to breathe. I covered my nose and focused my eyes, trying to find a hidden passage. Oh yeah, I couldn’t see through flesh. How did I keep forgetting that? This whole inn was covered in flesh from top to bottom, playing further to our disadvantage.
“Keep going guys and don’t stop,” I coughed out my lungs unable to grasp my bearings.
“You can’t escape us,” a voice spooked me. “Eventually you will collapse and end up like the rest of them.”
That voice, I recognized it from earlier. It belonged to the old man, the caretaker of this inn. Shifting my gaze, I slowed down to get the direction of his voice. It felt like he was everywhere, hidden somewhere inside the walls. And what did he mean by the rest of them? Had he already got to Masonku and the others? No, I had faith in Masonku and the others, I believed in their strength and will. Obviously, the old man was trying to deceive us for some reason. I felt pain in my feet and realized my shoes almost melted off at the bottom. Putting that aside, I almost threw up from the smell and from looking the grotesque insides of the monster. Clearly, not the best places to be in if you have a weak stomach.
“Do you know where we are going?” Ogana asked in pain. “I don’t know how much longer I can continue to run for.”
“No I don’t,” I replied shaking my head. “It’s still better than standing back there and waiting for our demises.”
I felt sorry for Ogana, his feet were beginning to bleed slowly. Ogana was sweating at alarming rate than normal, meaning we had to hurry and find a way out soon.
“Just hold on Ogana,” I reassured him “We will make it out I promise.”
Even after saying that, I felt my hope slip away. Time was running out and we had not found an escape route yet. My vision was starting to get blurry as I was almost out of breath. At the very least, we had about a minute or so before we lost consciousness. In the corner of my eye, something caught my attention causing me to turn my head. Was this a miracle? There was a door untouched by the flesh and the fumes. This was probably our way out if I am not mistaken. We were a few yards away from it, not good. We were not going to make it at the rate we were going. Out of options, I summoned all the strength in my body and focused for a slight few seconds.
“Hey Dashe and Ogana, grab a hold of my hands,” I yelled back at them. “And do it quickly please, we don’t have a lot of time to spare.”
Ogana listened and did it; however, Dashe still hesitated thinking I was about to do something weird. He pretended not to hear me, running a few steps behind me.
“Now Dashe,” I yelled in his ear loudly.
“Alright already,” he replied instantly tossing his hand at me in such a disrespectful manner. With both of their hands tightly in my grasp, I jumped in the air to give myself a little thrust before soaring off. My feet landed right back down due to lack of energy on my part. I was attempting an impossible task, nevertheless I wasn’t going to give up.
“Stop them,” the old man’s voice hissed panic into me. “Don’t let him get to that door.”
After hearing him yell those words, I was now more motivated to get to it than before. Balls of flesh from the floor and walls shot out at us, catching us off guard. Thanks to Dashe’s expert swordsmanship, none of us were harmed. He really was reliable when he wanted to be. Assuming, he wasn’t off running his mouth, provoking people and creating new problems.
“Good job Rid?” Dashe commented being a sardonic bunion as usual. “What do you plan on doing now? There is no way you can fly us there given our current condition.”
Hated to admit it yet again, but Dashe was right. I really couldn’t believe it, I was actually agreeing with that rude idiot. Grasping both their hands tightly, I tried the second time, jumping harder into the air. I focused deeply and dug deep into myself, looking for any tiny bits of strength to aid me. To my surprise, my feet did not touch the ground, I was actually starting to hover up slowly. Just as I pulled everyone up, the floor beneath us collapse into a large pit. Deep inside it, there were slimy amounts of the acidic liquid, enough to fill a tub.
“I hope this nightmare ends soon,” Kaya said holding tightly on my back.
“That much we can both agree on,” Dashe replied him.
I began to fly slowly towards the door, a few feet off the ground. It was difficult carrying Kaya, Ogana, and Dashe at the same time.
“Hurry Rid,” Dashe pulled my hand, pointing at the left wall.
The walls of flesh were starting moved towards us, closing down the free space between us and them. Up above us, there was a large drip of that acidic liquid, falling constantly over our heads. Instantly, I sensed the danger and increased my flight speed. Could things get any worse? Yep, they could. A large wall of flesh began to build in front of us. There was no way stop at the speed I was going. We all hit the flesh wall hard with our heads and kept going. Yuck, there were pieces of stinky flesh stuck on my face, making my nose hurt. I ignored them and focused my energy on our destination. It was almost within reach, just a few more inch
es. Oh no, I couldn’t slow myself down due to the combined weight of everyone I was carrying. My forehead hit the doorknob, forcing the door open. We somehow made it inside, falling separately on the floor like ragdolls.
“Ow Ow,” I rubbed my head.
A tremendous jolt of pain vibrated throughout my head and then all over my body. For a whole second, I felt dizzy and disoriented. On the bright side, we had made it out of harm’s way for now. My body felt completely drained out, I could barely lift a finger. I saw the walls of flesh draw closer; however, they dared not to come in after us. Instead, they lingered outside, moving bit by bit like a slow twist. Ogana grunted and sat up with his back against the wall. His feet were badly burned, completely swollen and blistered red. Everyone looked okay aside from a few scrapes, bruises, and total loss of their physical energy. Certainly not the best conditions to be in when you are at your enemy’s doorsteps, if I may add. There was indeed something strange about this room. It looked like an ordinary room on the inside except for one small, but important detail. It was covered in a web of energy, connecting it to every part of the inn. A vast amount of rich energy was circulating in this room, being transferred elsewhere. Only I could see it. To everyone else, it was just another weird room without any fleshy part coming out of it.
“What is this room?” Ogana poked some of the walls. “Call me crazy, but I am willing to bet this is the center of the inn.”
Good guess, I was also thinking the same thing. Definitely not the exit we were looking for, but we could improvise. I followed the strings of energy and found the main stream of circulation. It was in the middle of the wall behind me slightly up and to the left. That being the case, I knew what I had to do to get us out of this situation. One of the gauntlet’s powers I had used in Jura was the ability to steal energy from others around me through touch. All I had to do now was touch the wall behind me and steal the energy into myself, easy enough to comprehend. However, there was one little tiny problem with my brilliant plan. I had no strength left to move anymore. In my weakened state, all I could do was move my head around. I had completely depleted all my remaining energy only to prolong the inevitable. So this was what it felt to be a reckless hero. Dashe suddenly stood back up, looking unfazed or hurt at all. He looked mysterious and unpredictable with his cloak on. I couldn’t tell what was going on in his stupid mind. He walked over towards the door, two swords drawn in both hands tightly.
In the moment, the toxic gas began to enter the room in small amounts. Being in our critical condition, we were helpless to defend ourselves or hold our breath to avoid the miasma. I had one chance for my plan to work and it involved Dashe. Yes Dashe, the rude man who swings his blades around like a brain dead maniac.
Swallowing every bit of my pride I yelled, “Dashe I need your help now. Please drag me close to the wall behind me.”
As predicted, my words fell on deaf ears. He knowingly pretended not to hear me and kept fending off the thin mist with his swords like a true idiot. Although, I was rather impressed by his high level endurance. Despite being completely drained powerless, Dashe stood and acted as if he was the only one not affected. Sad to say, all our hope depended on me being able to reason with this fool.
“Dashe you idiot, do what I say just this once please,” I screamed overtaken with sudden anger. Finally, I managed to get through his thick Iyenkan skull. Dashe stopped his wasteful effort to fend off the thin miasma and looked at me with his piercing black eyes. He was furious for some unknown reason. Oops, I had called him an idiot out of anger, although he deserved it. The veins in his neck were popping out of him like he was being suffocated.
“Why should I?” he rattled back at me. “What will you do that will change anything? Our only chance is to stand our ground and hold out rather than die without doing anything.”
As I expected, there was no reasoning with an idiot of his caliber. For the first time, I felt like I understood him completely. He was thick headed brute who found violence as his way to end his conflicts. Not the type of man to roll over and wait for miracles, before he met his end. Truly valiant pride; however this was not the time for such people.
“Dashe listen,” I whispered trying to conserve every precious breath of air. “I have a plan that is guaranteed to work. If you do what I say, I will get us out of here I promise.”
“Dashe stop being so arrogant and just do it already,” Kaya backed me up from the corner he was lying on.
Dashe didn’t reply at all. His posture had changed from offense to an emotionally still fixed position. My one guess was that he was battling with his conscience on what was the right thing to do in this situation. Shocker, I didn’t really picture him as a thinking man.
“Okay fine,” he mumbled beneath his breath, moving back towards me. “I’ll help but just this once Roguean.”
I smiled faintly, this was more than anyone could ask from him. Dashe stood over me, reaching down to grab my right hand strongly. I felt one of my wrist bones pop loudly from his rough grip.
“What do you want me to do?” he asked with a curious face. “I don’t have enough energy left to do something ridiculous, so whatever you have to say better be worth it.”
I felt stupid when I heard him say that. My mouth almost dropped to the ground literally. Was he dense and also deaf? Many times, I had yelled out to him to get me to wall behind me and yet it felt like I had been talking to a brick wall.
“Just drag me to the wall behind me,” I sighed and closed my eyes.
Without warning, he just tossed me with all his might into the wall behind me before falling to the ground. My back hit the wall and I yelped in pain. Note to self, punch Dashe in the mouth when this is over. The pain was intense and all I could do was bear it. Struggling hard, I managed to turn my face towards the wall and placed my left hand on it. I felt it all, the energy swelling all over the inn. Not just the inn, it was circulating all over the whole city like a giant web. Somehow, they were stealing life and physical energy from people all over the inn and transferring to the castle in the middle for some unknown purpose. How did I know this? Because I felt my energy, Ogana, Kaya, and Dashe’s inside the energy pool of the wall. Now it began to make sense, it explained why all the citizens in this city looked lifeless and blank minded. With each new insight I learned, I stole a portion of energy from the inn into myself like a sponge. A surge of power sprang into me, rekindling my strength and physical energy. Oh no, the mist was starting to thicken and suffocated all of us slowly.
“Are you done yet?” Dashe coughed struggling to get back up, his right arm covering his nose and mouth. “I’m not so sure I can still hold them down.”
His efforts were admirable, but usefulness against a foe with no physical shape. From the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of Kaya and Ogana who had fallen unconscious next to each other. They were still alive, only for another few minutes. I couldn’t help thinking it was my entire fault. If only I had listened to Dashe then none of this would have happened. Dashe coughed me back to reality as he fell unconscious too. The mist had already spread through the room, utterly making it hard to see anything around me. I wanted to absorb more energy; however time had run out. Quickly, I summoned my right flintlock into my arm and shot out through the wall to my right. The wall blew off completely, letting some of the toxic miasma into the air outside. I took a large breath of air and stood back up to my feet. I could clearly see the outside through the large hole in the wall. From somewhere, I heard a terrible growl that eroded my ears all of a sudden. Not just somewhere, it was coming from the inn itself. What was happening now? Was it more trouble? Just to be safe, I fired another round into the ceiling to make another opening for the toxic mist to get outside. The mist thinned out, spewing into the outside air slowly in two directions. My muscles ached and I felt a bit woozy. Definitely, that had been a close call for comfort although this was to be expected in Danyen. The others were still fast asleep and less likely to awa
ken anytime soon. Skipping over them, I walked towards one of the walls I had not destroyed and placed my hands on it. More and more power flowed through into me, far much more greater than before. I needed this extra energy if I was to revive my allies at the full peak of their strength which at the moment was not now.
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