"So how far down does this place go, exactly?" Coco asked from the back of the group quietly. Jake looked around the stone pillar slowly, watching the sentinel disappear into another room silently.
"Pretty damn far." He whispered back, motioning them across the hallway.
"It's not called the underworld for nothing, Coco." Jarge said softly, looking back down at his map. Jake rushed across the hall into the room with the others, taking a deep breath. They'd been going down for what seemed like days now, and it never seemed to stop.
"How much farther do we have to go, Jarge?" Jake asked quietly.
"Not much farther, if this map is right." Jarge replied, looking out of the room and ducking back in suddenly.
"It's like they know we're here." Coco whispered almost inaudibly as she cast a chameleon spell over the three of them silently.
The sentinel stopped at the doorway of their room and looked in attentively. She was five feet tall, with sheet white skin, and light silver armor and a curved blade held at her side. She examined the room silently, her deep blue eyes scanning every inch. She sniffed the air around her slowly, and took a few steps into the room, standing right next to Jarge, but unable to see him. A muffled boom sounded far beneath their feet, and she shot out of the room, leaving a cloud of dust spinning behind her.
"What was that?" Coco asked softly.
"I have no idea, but it just saved our asses." Jake said, sighing.
"I've never seen so many of these silver bastards before. It's like they're hiding something down here." Jarge said, examining the map closer.
"How old is that map?" Coco asked as they slipped down the hall silently.
"Only a few years. They can't have done much down here since the last expedition." Jarge said as Jake quietly opened a stone door. Another muffled explosion was heard beneath them, shaking the catacombs around them. Jarge heard a faint wailing all around him.
"Did you guys hear that?" He asked as they ran down the stairwell.
"The boom or the voices?" Coco asked.
"The voices, I guess. Whatever it is, it's waking up the ghosts." Jarge said softly as they reached the bottom of the stairwell.
"They've never noticed us before, so why all the fuss now?" Coco asked. Another explosion shook the catacombs, shaking dust from the walls, and an eerie howl echoed through the halls around them. Coco felt her fur rise on it's end, and Jake and Jarge felt their blood run cold.
"What. The Fuck. Was that." Coco asked, shivering involuntarily.
"I don't know." Jarge said softly.
"Haw far is the vault?" Jake asked softly, looking around the corner.
"Only a few more floors, and we're rich." Jarge said as Jake waved them around the corner, down the widening halls.
"Well we better hurry, this place is giving me chills." Coco said.
"It's the underworld, Coco, it does that." Jake said, peering around the next corner slyly.
"Clear, move up." Jake said, rushing down the hallway.
"Wait for us!" Jarge whispered harshly. They caught up just as another thunderous explosion shook the halls around them, sending cracks through the marble floor.
As they ran down the stairwells, the explosions got more and more powerful, and after each explosion, a blood curdling scream echoed through the air around them, making cold sweat run down their bodies. They continued, undeterred, and reached the vast cavern that housed the vault to see it surrounded by sentinels with their backs turned towards the trio, each of them holding their blades ready.
"Who is that in front of them?" Coco whispered softly.
"I thought they were myth." Jake said softly, looking closer.
Standing in front of the sentinels, clad in black and red, were the twin nosferatu, the king and queen of the underworld, and two of the four mythic first vampires. Another explosion shook the underworld around them, making rocks fall fom the ceiling far above them. The vampires didn't move, but the stones seemed to explode above them before they got within twenty feet of them. The vault shuddered as another explosion shook the cavern.
"Whatever it is, it's inside the vault." Jarge said softly, his voice almost drowned out by the crashing rocks. An earpiercing wail echoed out of the vault's depths as it lurched in the earth, and it chilled the air in it's wake, as if it sucked the heat out of the air.
"What is that?" Coco whispered.
"My king." One of the sentinels asked, standing next to the vampire king.
"Hold your ground, sentinel." The king replied softly.
"We have visitors." The sentinel said, nodding back to the trio.
"You mean to tell me they knew we were here the whole time!?" Coco whispered, ducking back behind the wall.
"I know, Samuel. Ready your blade. If she kills them, maybe the rest of them will learn their lesson." The Vampire King said, his voice echoing back to where the trio was trying to hide. Another explosion shook the cavern, knocking the trio off their feet and into clear view of the sentinels. They looked up to see one of the sentinels standing over them, holding her hand down to them.
"So you knew we were down here?" Coco asked as she helped them up.
"Yes. And now you need to ready yourselves for the fight of your lives." The sentinel said, turning back towards the vault and drawing her blade.
"Sentinels." A voice ecoed through the cavern.
"Keep your distance, if she touches you, your soul is forfeit. Use your magic, your bows, keep her contained, but stay away from her. Let us fight her." The voice said softly.
"Who her? What are we fighting down here?" Jarge asked, casting orbs of bright blue plasma in his palms.
"The third nosferatu." The sentinel said. The trio felt their blood run cold, Coco's fur stood on end, and the orbs in Jarge's hands flickered out with a pathetic sputter. They heard liquid spatter on the ground, followed by hurried footsteps that picked up in pace. They turned to see Jake running as fast as his legs would carry him, leaving a trail of urine on the floor behind him.
"He's got the right idea." The Vampire King said, not taking his eyes off the vault.
"You probably won't survive this." The Vampire Queen said softly as an other explosion shook the cavern violently, sending cracks through the floor around them.
"So should we run? Or what?" Coco asked.
"It's probably a good idea." The Vampire King said. Another, stronger explosion shook the cavern, and Jarge saw the vault door, a massive contraption fifty feet thick, composed of precious alloys and intricate mechanics, lurch outwards. It fired gears and cogs into the sentinels standing near it, knocking one of them over.
"T-that door is fifty feet thick." Jarge said, beginning to back up.
"It means if we can't stop her, she will consume every soul she can find, until someone kills her again." The Vampire King said. The vault door lurched again, sending a shotgun blast of intricate machinery into the sentinels near the door.
Crystal spires lurched out of the floor in front of the sentinels and the Vampire royalty, blocking the flying debris. A seven foot tall crystalline giant walked out of one of the spires as the rest of them collapsed.
"Sven." The Vampire King said, not taking his eyes off the door.
"Franky." The Crystal giant said, drawing a massive claymore of pitch black obsidian out of the ground.
"You two. You might as well get ready to fight." Sven said, as another explosion fired bits of the door out into their ranks.
"She's getting out, and when she does, all hell's gonna break loose. All we can do is slow her down until the back-up gets here." Sven said.
"How far away are they?" The Vampire Queen asked as the door jerked outwards again, an explosion shaking the cavern and knocking Jarge and Coco off their feet.
"I have no idea. I can't track that one." Sven said, as crystal armor materialised out of his skin.
"So what's the plan?" Sven asked.
"We hold her at bay, if not outright kill her. Again." Franky said.
"Ready, Sam?" Franky asked.
"Bring it." Sam replied.
The vault door exploded outwards in a shower of sparks and metal chunks the size of horses. The pieces were sent hurtling away from the vault at such speeds that they embedded themselves in the walls and ceiling of the city-sized cavern the vault was held in. Jarge lept to the side just as what used to be a link of chain as thick as his leg flew by him and smashed into pieces against the wall.
Coco covered her ears as the clattering slowly subsided, and all noise seemed to cease save for their breathing. A dense cloud of dust was pouring from the ceiling above the vault, as the force that had dislodged the door had reduced much of the stone near it to sand.
Standing in the dust cloud was a five foot tall black furred wolf wilderfolk, her fur matted with blood pouring out of her forehead. She had a black steel muzzle covering her mouth, and both of her arms were locked behind her back in a darksteel vice, covering her arms from her elbows down to her hands. She had a silver collar on with a brightly glowing red jewel in it. She had a vice on her legs similar to the one binding her arms, but one of her legs had been torn free of it.
Her fur from head to toe was matted with blood, and she had pieces of shattered metal piercing her body everywhere. She was shaking with fury, her eyes glowing with hatred. She had chains as thick as her legs attached to her vices, and two different chains just as thick attached to her muzzle and her collar. But they had been snapped, and now hung off of her bindings like a macabre gown. A deep, thunderous growl shook the cavern as blood dripped off her muzzle.
"She is pissed." Franky said, casting an arch of lightning between his hands. The Vampires, Jarge and Coco, and the entire force of sentinels then made one drastic mistake.
They blinked.
As their eyes opened she was on top of one of the sentinels, crushing her neck underneath her heel and spinning one of the chains around her towards Franky. Franky ducked and shot forwards. She was moving too fast for Coco's eyes to track her for more than a instant at a time. It seemed she dissapeared between the sentinels and reappeared behind them, slashing the chains atached to her around like whips, smashing them into walls and each other. She lept across the cavern in one smooth movement, and landed behind Sven.
Sven barely twitched his shoulders, and a spear of crystal slammed into her spine, sending her into the air. He raised his leg as a pillar of earth slammed into her, knocking her into the air further. Sam appeared above her and slammed her palm into her chest, sending out a massive explosion of air that fired her down towards Franky, who held his hand above him, palm wide open, and fired a brilliant beam of lightning upwards. The Third Nosferatu hardly twitched her leg, but one of the massive chains she was trailing snapped out of the air like a whip and hurtled down to intercept the beam of lightning, absorbing the damage and exploding. She spun and brought her heel down towards Franky as Sven moved his foot, sliding him out from underneath her.
Her ankle hit the ground and shattered the vice that encased it. She wrapped her leg around one of the chains and spun, firing it like a spear into Sven's chest, shattering his crystal body. Sam landed behind her and opened her mouth, emitting a sound that hurtled the Third Nosferatu into a wall. She hit the wall and slid down, struggling against the sound. She braced herself against the wall and kicked off, the force of the kick shaking the cavern. She was across the sixty foot gap in les than a second, and slammed into Sam, knocking her backwards, and across the cavern.
A bolt of lightning missed the Third Nosferatu by a hair as she leaned back. She lept back as another bolt slammed in to where she had been standing. A pillar of earth lurched out of the ground behind her, catching her in the side of the head and shattering her muzzle. She landed on her knees and screamed. The echoing wail knocked the sentinels out cold, and made Jarge's heart stop in his chest. But it drove Coco mad.
Coco charged at one of the sentinels in a blind rage, tackling her to the ground and slashing at her with her claws as viciously as she could as her vision went black.
Franky fired bolt after bolt at her, but the Third Nosferatu was moving impossibly fast. She had been dead a day ago. How was she this fast now? She flew towards him, jaws open and ready for the kill, but a pillar of earth slammed into the side of her head, knocking her off course. Franky ducked as she sailed over him and landed back on her feet. He fired a bolt of lightning at her as she spun and kicked a chain at him.
Someone tackled him over as the chain slammed into them, sending them into a wall. The bolt of lightning missed as she leaned back unnaturally, standing upright again and charging him. Franky lept back and spread his hands wide as a torrent of energy arcs slammed into her, smashing her into the ground. The earth became like liquid around her as she sank into it, roaring in pain. She jerked back upwards, breaking the stone that was crawling up her body.
She kicked the ground and shot out of it, sailing over Franky's head. He turned and fired a beam of energy behind him where she should land. But she was nowhere to be seen. The battlefield grew deathly quiet as the sentinels finished off the berserk wilderfolk. Franky looked up to see her hurtling down towards him at the speed of sound. A pillar of earth shot up from beneath him, but her kick shattered it like glass, and smashed Franky into the ground, bouncing him off the stone floor as it shattered. She spun and kicked him into a wall.
Franky slid down the wall next to Sam, who was bleeding profusely from her gut.
"Shit she's fast." Franky said, trying to stand and realising his legs were broken.
"Damn." He said, casting a healing spell that snapped his bones back into place. Sven walked out of the wall next to him, and flexed as his armor materialised again.
"You two are cute." The Third Nosferatu said, giggling madly, flipping the blood soaked hair out of her face.
"You're not getting out of here Matilda." Sam said, standing up again as she pulled a chain link out of her stomach.
"And you think you can stop me? You can't even beat me one on one. And I literally have both hands tied behind my back. And I'm not using any magic." Matilda said, grinning at them.
"You couldn't even if you tried." Sven said, pulling another sword out of the ground.
"Oh is that so?" Matilda said, grinning maniacally.
"So how does this work? Absorption? Redirection?" She asked.
"Guess." Franky said, casting another arc of lightning between his hands.
"I'm going to say..." She stopped and cocked her head to one side, looking at them closely.
"Absorption." She said, grinning. The crystal on her collar lit up with a brilliant red glow as a bolt of lightning fired out of the vault and smashed her against a wall, leaving her smouldering and coughing as she struggled to her feet again.
She looked up just in time to see Sven's sword slam into her chest, barely scratching her skin, but sending her hurtling into a wall. She kicked off the wall, shaking the whole cavern again and spun through the air towards Sven. A bolt of lightning smashed into her, blasting off the vice that held her arms behind her back and slamming her into a wall. As she stood up, a thunderous assault of punches slammed into her, each hit moving at the speed of sound, and only increasing in speed, smashing her through the cavern wall.
One of the chains wrapped around her neck, and she was hurtled back into the cavern. She reached out and grabbed the chain, yanking it out of Sam's grasp, and used it like four-ton whip to smash Sven into pieces again. She spun it around her to block a bolt of lightning that snapped it in two. She used one whip to impale Franky, staking him to a wall.
A horrible, screeching sound that made her vision spin and her ears bleed forced her to her knees. She fell on her hands and knees and vomited as the sound echoed inside her skull. She felt the ground underneath her shake as the screech continued. She poured all of her power into the red crystal that was stabbed into her neck, and another bolt of power fired out of the vault, smashing her against a wall, and stopping the sound. She got back up to her feet unsteadily and through her spinning vision, saw Sam take a deep breath. She poured all of her strength into throwing a small rock. It spiraled through the sound as it came towards her, and the small rock went right through Sam's voicebox, killing the sound.
Sam hit the ground choking as Matilda threw up again, falling on her hands and knees. A pillar of earth smashed her into a wall, and the wall closed in around her. She saw Sven walking out of another wall towards her as the stone began to close in around her. She flexed all of her muscles and the wall shattered. She hit the floor and fired across the room, slamming into Sven's chest in less than a second. She carried him across the cavern and into the vault, shattering him against it's metal sides.
She panted as she stood up again, and felt the ground shaking underneath her. She looked around for it's source, but couldn't see anything. She looked over at the cavern's entrance, and a wave of air brought a familiar scent, and an ancient, nearly foreign feeling of terror to her darkened heart.
"Shit." She muttered, looking around for an exit.
"Shit, Shit Shit, shit shit shit!" She cursed, looking around in panic. She needed her power. She hit her knees and grabbed ahold of the collar that was locked around her neck. She began pulling on it as the crystal flashed, and blades sprouted out of it's edges, digging into her neck. She screamed, gurgling out blood as the collar dug ever deeper, but she could feel the metal give way against her bones. She looked at the cavern's entrance to see a golden blur firing across the ground towards her at the speed of sound. She screamed and pulled one last time as the collar cut into her voicebox, and then shattered.
In an instant, her power came rushing back, and she fired through the ceiling in a pillar of black energy, smashing through four thousand feet of stone and dirt, firing out of the tip of a mountain like a arrow loosed from a bow.
"My God, Sam." Franky coughed, pulling the chain out of his chest. Sven crawled back together by the vault as Sam struggled back to her feet.
"I was too late." Xaath said, looking up at the still-crumbling ceiling.
"Well, she didn't kill any of us, at least, not permanently." Sven said as a Sentinel limped over with vials of blood for Sam and Franky.
"She did manage to destroy a prison that took sixty years to build, much less design. And destroyed fifty-six sentinel constructs." Franky said, taking a drink from the vial as his wounds healed, and bits of stone and darksteel fell out of his closing wounds.
"What should I tell Marwallah?" Xaath
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