| USELESS CRAP: REBORN!!!! | home |
 |
| Chapter Twenty-Nine: The last illusion |
(Narrated by Specter)
We zipped through the skies, yelling for Kiki, but we found nothing. We had no idea where to look, or who to accuse! Finally, after Phoenix asked us to explain the entire scenario, He had an idea. He pointed out that Andrea, who was riding with us was partially Cleric, and Clerics have the ability of Clairvoyance. He told Andrea to try really hard to use her "Third Eye" To find Kiki for us. She confessed that she had never used this ability before, and she was kind of nervous. Lych sad something rather intelligent, as always to try and make her feel better. I think, personally, that it only confused her, but what do I know.
Andrea sighed and closed her eyes. She muttered a few words and her forehead began to glow a brilliant white. We all watched her anxiously. She slowly began to open her eyes, her pupils were almost totally white. She looked very distressed. We continued to watch. Even Phoenix was staring at her. Hovering over the water, he flapped his wings ever so slowly, waiting impatiently to hear her response. Her mouth began to slowly open. Faint words came from her mouth.
"....Eki...."
"....Abassi..."
"Andrea, Where in Eki Abassi is she?" Asked Phoenix.
"We need an approximate Location Andrea, you can do it!" Said Lych.
"C'mon..." I said softly.
"...Fuz..zy...."
"What's Fuzzy?" I questioned.
"...Vi....sion..." She responded.
"Calm down, just take it very slowly." I instructed.
"....I....See....Everything...is..the same..." She said very softly.
"The same?" Asked Lych.
"Winds....blowing....fragments...of....matter" She said monotonously.
"Keep going Andrea!" I said.
"Sand...?" Andrea asked no one.
"The desert?" Asked Phoenix.
"Yes....the Monogua Desert...she is somewhere.... within..." She said, closing her eyes again.
"Thanks Andrea. Phoenix, you heard her!! TO THE MONOGUA DESERT!" I shouted.
Phoenix nodded. The glow from Andrea subsided as Phoenix rocketed toward the desert. She complained of having a massive headache and fell asleep. Lych patted her on the head, and she snoozed away. By the time we reached the desert it was night time. This made things much harder, because even thought Phoenix was shining brighter then ever, it was still very dark. And Sadly, I was the only one who could see in the dark. My eyes scanned all over the terrain, bu we didn't see anything.
It was nearly an hour before there were any updates. I thought I saw something, so we landed. There was a sandstorm, so it was very hard to see. But Andrea told us she was getting a very strong vibe from the area that we were in. Lych tried to use some geomatric magic to alter the terrain, but he was he had never really tried to get stronger at being a Geomancer, He had always put his efforts into Red Magic. Just then he had a good idea. There was a red magic that dispelled any current illusions.
"Ready...Dispell-Area Effect!" He shouted out, closing his eyes.
He stretched his arms out and a shockwave of energy flew out from a circle around his body. As the energy started to fly out away from him, the sandstorm disappeared slowly. The terrain smoothed out and it became very calm, very tranquil. We looked around. It was much easier to see now. We still really didn't see anything, but we kept looking. Lych was useless, he couldn't see too feet infront of his face, but I could see perfectly.
"What do you see, Specter?" Asked my brother.
"Nothing yet..." I answered.
"Wait....We're...Close...I ...see her..." Said Andrea.
"Where?" Lych and I asked simultaneously.
"...Down..."
"...? What...?" I asked nervously.
"She's...down..." Andrea Answered.
"Uh...I think this is your field, Lych." I said.
"Grr, I wish I would have studied Geometric Magic more. I swear, when we return home I'm gonna hit the books and study." He said.
As he then closed his eyes, he placed his hand on the sand.
"Earthly Servent...Please, show me the way..." He chanted.
"Unveil your secret, release the girl to me..." He continued.
"Now...Mother Terra, open your womb and allow me access to the girl..." Said Lych.
"Your...Wish...is...Granted..." Said a disembodied female voice.
"!?"
"Thank You..." He said, standing up.
We all took a step back and the sand began to part. Like water, it split apart, as if hands were seperating it. After a few minutes, a hole was revealed in the ground! It wouldn't be big enough for Phoenix to go with us, so he told us to take one of his pinions just incase Kiki had died of dehydration, starvation or for whatever reason. We nodded, as I plucked a feather from his wing. I put it away and the three of us hopped down into the underground cave.
The cave was quite dark, but Andrea kept casting a Flash magic so that we could see. It was also very moist. There was a small stream flowing straight through the cave, and the roof trickled down with a little drip, drip, drip of water. I looked up to see the formation of many long, pointed crests of rock and limestome. Small little insects crawled around on the ground, and a few flew over our heads. It seemed huge, but Andrea knew exactly where to go.
"Follow me...I know where she is..." She instructed.
Lych snickered, "Heh, mad that you aren't giving the orders, bro?"
"Hmph. Hold your tongue, lest I rip it from your mouth and shove it--"
"Stop fighting! We need to find Kiki!" Andrea yelled.
"Bossy, aren't you?" I snapped.
"Bite me." She shot back.
"Trust me, If I did, You'd CRY." I answered.
"Blah Blah Blah, Lets get going." She said, walking down one of the tunnels.
"Ugh...I hate small places..." Whined Lych.
We crawled through the cave for quite some time. As we went through, we saw strange pictures on the wall, depicting a strange cloackd figure, and dead people. We also saw pictures depicting huge creatures...It was pretty freaky indeed. Who ever was behind this, was definitely sick mentally. Suddenly, Andrea stopped dead in her tracks. Her head was glowing again. Lych and I looked at her, attentively. She began to tell us the kind of things she saw.
"Evil...."
"Evil?" Asked Lych.
"She's...in danger...she's using her mind...to call for help...She's been calling to Damian...but now she's shooting it to anyone willing to hear her..." She responded.
"So she isn't dead..." I commented.
"No, she isn't...but she will be if we don't hurry...That creature...it's...huge..." Andrea said, shivering.
"Don't worry. We can beat them!" I said.
"Lych, you know all black magic, not just Shadow attacks, right?" Asked Lych.
"Yeah. But I haven't learned 'it' yet." I said.
"What's 'it'?" Asked Andrea.
"The most powerful black magic. I'm not quite strong enough to learn it, but if I knew it I'd be nearly unstoppable." I answered.
"Well, we better hope that we can win..." Lych Answered.
"Four on two, the odds are in our favor." Said Andrea.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"A huge creature, called a Hell Spawn, and a woman I've never seen before." She answered.
"How close?" Asked Lych.
"Very."
"Let's go then." I commanded, running ahead.
The two followed me through the tunnel until we came into one very large room, filled with Cages. We staired in awe as we looked around the room. The room had one narrow path toward a circular platform, but the rest of the room was floating in a green, acidic looking chemical. It was bubbling. Ahead, at the end of the room, was a Red Mage, sitting on a throne. Standing next to her was quite possibly the most horrifying creature I had ever seen.
Its body was enormous, covered in muscles. It was a devil red, with three huge claws on each hand. It had two, long curved horns coming out of it's head, no mouth and two sinister looking, glowing red eyes. It's body was the color of blood and looked like it was covered in thick armor. The sight of it simply made me wanna break down and cry because it was so horrifying. With every movement it made, it left a trail of magma. Turning my gaze away, I found that the nearest cage harbored Kiki!
"Kiki!" I shouted.
"SPECTER! GET ME OUT OF HERE!" She screamed out.
"Don't worry, We'll save you." I said.
"Impressive Job finding her." Said the mage.
"Who are you?" Asked Lych.
She stepped into the light.
"TATI!?" Screamed Kiki.
"Yes." Said Tati.
"But why?!" Asked Kiki.
"I hate my life...its filled with pain and suffering...I have seen the future...through a precognition ability I have, which Lych will eventually learn. I saw that if I tinkered around with the way things should have been, I could undo existence." She explained.
"WHAT?!" I demanded.
"By Removing Kiki, Damian's inner Darkness manifested itself into Wrayth. By the two of them fusing into one, they have become the ultimate, most powerful lifeform. On par with the gods themselves." She continued.
"And, because Damian is so gullable, without Kiki around, Wrayth can give him false hope until he has completely destroyed this world, which he CAN." She said.
"So, I saw this. I saw that all I had to do was bring her here and make it look like she died. The entire plan worked perfectly. My slave here helped me with the 'tragic death' while I prepared her a cage."
"You're twisted..." Commented Lych.
"Am I? I choose the word Brilliant. My plan is working perfectly." She said.
"YOU WANT TO DESTORY EXISTENCE!" Lych yelled.
"SO!? YOU THINK I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT EXISTENCE!? THE REST OF THIS WORLD IS DOOMED ANYWAY BECAUSE OF THOSE THREE IDIOTS MESSING THINGS UP! WE SHOULD BE SO LUCKY THAT THE ALMIGHTY FIRE GOD HAS SMITED THE ENTIRE PLANET IN A RAGE BY NOW!" She screamed back.
"All I am doing...is speeding up the process." She said Calmly.
"You know we're going to defeat you, and when we do we'll find Wrayth and Kiki will tear them apart, making your plan useless." I said.
"Oh please. You cannot defeat me, and even if you could, you'll never get passed my Hell Spawn." She said.
"Know what? To make this fair..." She snapped her finger and Kiki appeared next to us.
"Finally...that was horrible..." Said a shakeing Kiki.
"Four on One. I bet you still can't beat him." Challenged Tati.
"We Accept!" I growled.
"Kiki, use Holy Magic. Use Pearl, I know you know it." Instructed Lych.
"Mmhmm..." She said.
The Creature faded, and then in a burst of fire, appeared before us. He glared at us, his left eye flashed alittle. Andrea screamed as a huge Scythe appeared infront of her and struck her down instantly. Our jaws dropped as this happened.We all turned back to him as he laughed manically. Kiki began to cast her Pearl attack. A group of white spheres surrounded him and began to blast him with holy energy. This caused him to cry out horribly, but I still don't think it hurt him all that badly. He then held up his claws and a huge pillar of flames engulfed Lych, making him fall to his knees. Kiki cast another Pearl on him, causing him to squint.
Lych used an illusionary spell to create himself an Invisible Sword, he then conjured several creatures to assist us. Lych ran up to the Hell Spawn and began to slash him with the invisible sword he had created. It really didn't do too much damage, but it was better then nothing. The skeleton army that he had conjured started to throw daggers at the Hell Spawn, but it did nearly nothing. He screeched out, and with a huge wailing scream, all the skeletons shattered. Kiki continued to cast Pearl on the creature. Although this was the strongest attack we had, this barely did anything to him.
It was my turn now. Kiki and Lych kept him busy, by using different attacks as I conjured my strongest attack, Oblivion. Four Purple balls of energy ejected themselves from my body. They began to spin around my body, shooting tiny lasers at him. Each one missed, as usual. Kiki continued to use Pearl on him, and Lych continued to slash away with his invisible sword. The four spheres merged into two and then shot larger lasers at him. Still no effect. Finally, it formed one huge sphere. Kiki and Lych jumped behind me as enormous cannon of energy shot forward and completely obliterated the Hell Spawn. It screamed out as it began to disintergrate under the strength of my attack. Kiki leveled up and learned the Energy Blades spell.
"NO...IM...POSSIBLE..." He screamed out.
"See you in hell, you disgusting creature." I said, spitting at him.
As he turned to dust, I turned away and walked to Andrea, placing the Phoenix pinion on her. She was almost instantly revived. She coughed a bit, and I helped her up. We all turned to Tati. She was shocked. She couldn't believe that such a thing could happen. Kiki pushed us aside and stepped forward. She was never like this before, she was...enraged.
"You kept me in a cage, and tried to use my friends to help you destroy the world...This cannot be forgiven..." She muttered.
"And You think You will take revenge for what I have done?" Tati asked arrogantly.
"I will kill you..." Kiki yelled out.
"HAH! Foolish girl! You couldn't touch me if you tried!!!" Laughed Tati.
"Grrr!!"
"You will never leave this place...and then...The world will be destroyed, along with all of your Stupid, Pathetic, Weak, Moronic Friends..." Taunted Tati.
"How...Dare...You..." Whispered Kiki.
"How Dare I...? Hehehe...Whats the matter? Am I upsetting you? Silly little girl..."
"GHAHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kiki screamed out in a pure rage.
"Whats happening...?!" Cried Andrea.
"I think shes experiencing... A Rage..." Lych said quietly.
"A What...?"
"When someone becomes so incredibly angered that they can no longer hold back their adrenaline, they experience...a Rage... They double in power, and become nearly invincible..." I informed her.
It was true, Kiki had experienced a Rage. A rush of power flowed through her blood stream with such amazing strength that she became twice as powerful then she ever had been before. She screamed out loudly. So loudly infact, that it was nearly ear shattering, and caused Tati to fall to her knees. Kiki's body began to glow, as if she was enhancing, except it was a dark glow...I didn't know what it ment, so I called it "Negative Enhancing". As the dark glow faded, Kiki's body became engulfed in Fire. Her entire body was ignited and set aflame. Her eyes began to glow; her pupils were now Fire Balls. She had become what was now known as "Flame Kiki".
"Now...I...Will Make...You...SUFFER!" Kiki said in a diabolical voice.
"Uh...B-b-...but.... impossible..." Stuttered a fearful Tati.
"Go Kiki..." Lych Began.
"Banish her to the depths of the Netherworld..." I finished.
"VOLCAN CANNON!" Kiki screamed out, Holding out her hand.
Her hand began to glow a bright Orange as huge balls of flame burst from her finger tips and exploded into Tati, sending her flying into the wall. She was stunned, but Kiki continued to fire at her, continuously shooting blasts of magma into Tati. With each blast, Tati screamed out Horribly, unable to attack. Kiki decided to, instead of pummeling her, cast spells on her self that would raise her power. So, as Tati tried to regain her senses, Kiki began to cast Strength of One, Ghost Armor, Armor, Haste, and etc spells on herself. Tati was burned so badly that she her clothing was charred, but she slowly managed to stand. She slowly tried to cast a spell on Kiki, but it was a huge mistake. She couldn't even begin to utter the name to the spell before Kiki used her next attack.
"MAGMA BLADE!" Screamed out Flame Kiki.
The girl, once so innocent and gentle looking, now a flaming demon held out her hand. Muttering an incantation, a huge sword, made entirely of Fire appeared in her hand. No, not like Damian's flaming Ashbane, this sword was actually made of fire. The Hilt, the Blade, all made of pure, flowing magma. Kiki, now perfectly capable of wielding even the mightiest of swords. She dashed towards Tati and with perfect dexterity, began to rip the the girl to ribbons with speed and power that not even a lifetime Swordsman could pull off. Tati cried out in pain.
"I...am...not....so...easily...Defeated..." snickered Tati.
"Face it Tati...Kiki is far too powerful for you..." I said.
"Hehehe...You have yet to see...my true power..."
Tati's body exploded, and from her flesh, a demon arose. Gigantic, and black as the night itself. It had three huge, gleeming yellow eyes, four pairs of demonic bat wings, huge claws on each of its hands, on each of its four arms, two long powerful legs, and a long whip like tail, ending in a dagger-tipped blade. She towered over Kiki, standing at atleast 20 feet tall. But Kiki was not afraid. Tati swung all four of her arms at the girl of Fire, but each arm was blocked by Kiki's sword. Causing the Demon to scream in pain.
"Grrrrrragh...Give up....I, Aetescere, am...immortal..." Hissed the enormous creature.
"Aetescere...?" I asked.
"It's Elvish...It means...Eternal Evil." Answered Lych.
"Yes." Said Aetescere.
"I will...destroy you...witness...my true power..." Muttered Kiki.
"IMPLOSION!" She shouted.
Kiki stabbed her sword into the soil, and a trail of fire made its way towards Aetescere. All of our eyes followed the trail. Kiki's eyes were closed, and she was muttering encantations. Suddenly, the train area began to shake violently and the ground itself exploded and split apart so far that we could see down into the underworld, A Magma River stared us back in the face. From the chasm, three huge balls of magma emerged. Each one was twice the size of Kiki, if not larger. All of our eyes widened as we watched. She stood up, and opened her eyes.
"Good...Bye...Aetescere." Kiki said.
Kiki thrust her palm foward and the fire balls flew straight towards Aetescere. The first one smashed her right in the chest, seering a perfect hole through her. Black, oily blood began to pour out of Aetescere's chest. She screamed out so horribly that even the bravest of men would have wimpered. I clenched my eyes tightly as I saw this. As I opened my eyes, the Second fire ball smashed right through her stomach. Aetescere fell to her knees, as a waterfall of black ooze cascaded from her body. Then it was time for the final Fire ball. We all knew what area it was going to hit. I couldn't look, I turned my head away. I heard a horrid screaming, and then a terrible sizzling sound.
As I turned back, I saw a huge, melted pile of black goo. Kiki's body turned back to normal, and she stared down at the creature that she had killed. She leveled up again, and learned Venom. She calmly stared down at the ooze, as if she knew what would happen next. Lych slowly approached her, and put his hand on her shoulder. She ignored him, but he didn't care. She had just been to hell and back, and had defeated Satan itself. And all she did was stare down, into that pile of blood.
"I have Under Estimated you, I never knew you were so incredibly powerful." Said Lych.
"..."
"Hehe, Yeah! Everyone loves some good fire works, eh Kiki?" I chuckled, nervously.
"..."
She didn't answer. She just continued to gaze into the blood. Finally, she was rewarded for her patience. The air around the dead creature began to fizzle, and distort. A ghostly apparation of Tati appeared before us. The once great red mage, known throughout all of the land, know stared at us. Dead. We looked at her. She sighed, and began to speak to us. Her voice was incredibly low, and ghastly, but we could faintly hear her.
"Thank you...for...releasing me..." She said.
"I let my inner darkness get the best of me, and thusly turning into...that... I am so sorry..." She said, sighing.
"And now, now that I am finally free to rest, I offer you a gift...Kiki."
"...?"
Infront of Kiki, a floating Rod appeared. But this was no ordinary rod, it was incredible looking. The shaft itself, was made of what Tati explained as "Enchanted Elven Oak." She claimed that The staff could not be broken, it could not burn, even a dragon could not break it. The bottom half of the staff was a dark scarlet, and the top half was a lighter red. But what caught my eye most, was that both ends of this Staff ended in twin Scythe-Blades of different colors. The top side was different shades of Orange, and the center was a circle of Red. Tati told us that this side was Fire Elemental. The bottom half was icey blue, with a blue circle in the middle. The bottom half represented Water. Together, this Rod was called 'The Bond of Sea and Fire.' Kiki was able to attack twice in one turn with this blade, slashing the enemy with both sides of the Rod before she was finished. It also did not have any effect on elemental status.
"Use this rod well, Kiki. Goodbye." Tati said, fading.
"...Pretty..." Kiki said in a very low tone.
"Wow...That is one NICE Rod..." I commented.
"We need to find the others...and help Damian..." She said.
"Yes, we do." Lych said.
"How does it feel to be the hero for once, Kiki?" I asked.
"Um...Yay?" Was all she could reply.
"Don't worry, You'll be fine." Lych said.
"You did good, kid." I complimented.
"That implosion attack was sooo awesome!" Andrea said excitedly.
"Thanks...thanks all of you for helping me..." She said softly.
"You're welcome, now lets get the hell out of here." I said.
We left the cave then, and returned to Phoenix. He complained that we were gone for hours, and that he had feared the worst, but he was happy to see us all accounted for. We told him the entire story. The battle with the Hell Spawn, Flame Kiki's rage against Tati, and the incredible defeat of Aetescere. We showed him the Bond of Sea and Fire, and it impressed him greatly. He said he had never seen such an incredible rod. He said that the others were more then Likely in Mara Lessile, but after what happened, we decided to go to the city of Hamuds Katar and get some rest at the local inn... Kiki didn't speak the rest of the night. She just stayed in her room and kept to herself. She was extremely depressed, after all that had happened. We just had to hope we wouldn't be too late.
...Too be Continued...