Fan Fiction ❯ The Four Lords ❯ Journey to the Central Realm ( Chapter 50 )

[ Y - Young Adult: Not suitable for readers under 16 ]

"Yes, everything is already downstairs. I've got food packed for us, we'll have to eat along the way there." Alex informed her. He then laid some clothes next to her on the bed. "Here, go ahead and get dressed. I want to avoid anyone seeing us when we leave so better hurry up."
Brittany nodded and reluctantly got up and looked at the clothes Alex had laid out for her. He had laid out her battle clothes and a cloak similar to his. Everything he had laid out, even her under garments were black. Brittany looked up at Alex as she began to undress. Alex knew what she was thinking and explained. "The darkness will help to cover our departure. I'm not sure if Zanatos will have anyone watching the castle so I'd rather take a few extra precautions to ensure that we aren't seen just in case. It will help if we wear dark colors and not bring any unnecessary attention to ourselves."
"So I had to have a black bra and panties too!" Brittany exclaimed as she put them on and began to dress.
"No, those were more for my benefit." Alex joked. As soon as Brittany finished putting on her top Alex wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed the back of her neck. "Meet me downstairs okay."
"I'll be right down." Brittany promised. Alex nodded and turned to leave when Brittany called back. "Alex, I wanted to thank you again."
"For what?"
"This necklace." Brittany said, fingering the locket and looking back at Alex.
"Don't thank me, I wanted you to have it. No matter what happens we will always be together. There's no one else that I would rather share eternity for than you."
Brittany smiled softly at the comment pleased by Alex's words. She then saw Alex turn to leave. Brittany quickly grabbed her cloak and ran after him. "Hey wait up I'm ready!"
Once downstairs Kiba, Aurora, and Shadow surrounded them. All of them made sure that Alex and Brittany had everything that they would need. They wished Alex and Brittany the best of luck, and told them to contact them if they needed help. After everyone had said their goodbyes Alex and Brittany departed from the castle. Both the figures moved silently through the darkness of the woods. Brittany grasped Alex's hand as he led her through the winding paths that darkness made it nearly impossible to see. Alex easily took both of them through the darkness, his blue eyes shining beneath the folds of his cloak. They traveled for quite a while, finally resting when the sun broke through the forest. Brittany rested on a rock allowing the cool forest air to cool her off. She took off her cloak and eagerly accepted the food and water that Alex handed her. While Brittany ate she watched Alex walk around the area which they were at. He would stop for moments at a time and gaze off into the horizon. After a few minutes Alex returned and sat next to Brittany. Brittany looked at the food before her and gently pushed it towards Alex. "Aren't you going to eat anything?"
Alex shook his head and replied. "No, I'm fine. Remember my body is different from yours. I don't get tired or get hungry as quickly as you do. That's part of the reason why I wanted us to leave so early. That way you could rest when you needed to. Now you eat what you want and rest a little more before we have to leave."
Brittany thought about what he said before speaking. "So I'm only slowing you down, huh."
"Technically yes, but that's not a bad thing. In a worse case scenario we'll end up spending the night out here, but even then it'll be okay." Alex noticed the disappointment on Brittany's face and quickly added. "Hey now, that's no big deal. We've got plenty of time. Don't think that you're a burden or anything to that sort okay."
"If you say so." Brittany replied in a voice that showed she didn't believe him. Alex leaned his back against the rock and closed his eyes. Alex positioned himself to where it beckoned for Brittany to rest against him. A few seconds later she couldn't resist as she rested her head against his chest and curled up close to him. What seemed like just a few seconds later Brittany found herself being gently nudged awake by Alex.
"Hey there sleepy head we've got to get going." Alex told her. Brittany yawned slightly and nodded as she got up and started trying to pack everything back up. Once she was done she was surprised to see Alex take both their bags and throw them over his shoulder. When he saw Brittany's expression he explained. "I let you rest a little longer than I should have. So I'll carry your bags so we can make better time."
Once again they started out, but this time the terrain was more mountainous. Brittany was soon glad that Alex had offered to carry her bag. It was extremely slow going as they had to feel their way for footholds to continue. Alex however, was able to easily make his way up and several times got ahead of Brittany and had to wait for her to catch up. Brittany didn't want to ask Alex for another break, but her legs were killing her after all the walking they had done. She could tell by how low the sun was that they had been traveling well over six hours since their break. Brittany looked up to see Alex way ahead of her again. "Alex wait up!"
Alex stopped and turned around to patiently wait for her. Despite the fact that he had been routinely stopped to wait for her he never once said anything or seemed irritated about it. Brittany had almost closed the gap between them when she felt the ground beneath her feet suddenly give way. Brittany didn't realize what was happening until she felt herself falling through the air. She was just barely able to grab onto a jagged edge on the wall and halt her fall. Brittany looked up to see Alex's worried face looking down at her through the hole she had fallen through. Brittany was about to call up to him, but Alex held a finger of his lips and shook his head to silence her. He pointed towards the ground at the bottom of the cavern that Brittany had fallen into. At first Brittany didn't understand what he meant, but when her eyes became adjusted to the dim light she could make out the forms of several small creatures nestled together on the floor below.
Brittany tried to pull herself up onto the ledge, but when she tried to move the ledge started to give way, sending several small rocks onto the floor below. Brittany saw Alex cringe as the creature's began to stir at the noise. Brittany looked down and was startled to see several orange glowing eyes start to peer out through the darkness. Brittany couldn't make out what the creatures looked like, but she could tell by Alex's expression that she probably didn't want to. A cold chill swept over Brittany's body as she felt the ledge she was hanging off of start to give way.
Oh crap, not this. Please no! Brittany thought. Suddenly the ledge broke free from the wall and Brittany screamed as she started to plummet towards the glowing eyes. Brittany saw Alex throw himself down the hole and dig his claws into the side of the wall to stop his fall. He then positioned himself and launched himself off of the wall aiming straight for Brittany. Moment before Brittany would've hit the floor she was caught up by Alex's strong arms and pulled her quickly to the other side of the cavern. Brittany heard the angry growls of the creatures as they scattered about dodging the falling debris of the ledge. Alex pulled Brittany close to him, literally lifting her off of the ground as he ran through a dark tunnel. All of a sudden Alex slid to a halt and quickly ducked into a side cavern. Alex set Brittany down and quickly began to look her over.
"Are you okay?" Alex whispered as he gently felt her legs to make sure nothing was broken.
"Yeah I guess, just a little shook up." Brittany replied weakly. "What were those things?"
"Those were moksha's. They burrow inside the ground forming enormous cave systems with intricate tunnels. Unless you know what you're doing you could get lost in here for day. You had the bad luck of falling through one of the weak spots. Moksha's are extremely sensitive to sound and if you had fallen any further you would've winded up as their snack. They would've ripped the flesh from your bones in seconds." Alex morbidly informed her.
"Great...thanks for saving me again." Brittany said still shaken by what had happened. Alex turned and looked at her with a smirk.
"Hey you're my mate. Saving your life is part of the job description. Besides, you didn't really think I'd pass up saving a damsel in distress did you?"
"Hey I'm not defenseless. I can still blast those creatures if they get too close."
"No don't use magic unless you absolutely have to." Alex warned. "Let me take care of them if we run into them. If you use magic the mages will know and then we'll be in even more trouble."
"If you say so. Still they shouldn't be able to detect small spells right?"
"Yeah small spells are okay, but don't use any offensive magic. Those spells, even the weak ones, would alert the mages."
"In that case let me give us a little light. Lumious." Brittany said. A small glowing orb of light appeared in front of her hand illuminating the room with light.
"No turn that light out!" Alex quickly ordered. Brittany quickly did what he said even though she didn't know why he was so nervous. The answer came to her when she heard the sounds of soft breathing coming towards the cavern they were in. "Brittany, get behind me."
"Alex I didn't know I'm sorry." Brittany said. Even then she did as Alex said and moved behind him. In the dim light she saw the orange eyes appear at the mouth of the cavern. There were more of this time, at least twenty or thirty of the small fury creatures.
Alex spared a glance at Brittany and smiled weakly. "Don't worry you didn't know. Moksha's are attracted to the light. This is just going to delay us a bit. Stay back and don't make any loud noises okay."
Brittany nodded as Alex undid his cloak and wrapped it around her. Brittany saw that his eyes were once again glowing in the dark. With his soft white hair and glowing blue eyes he gave the impression of having an ethereal appearance. Without another word Alex launched himself at the moksha's who had now drawn closer to them. Brittany couldn't make out all that happened due to the intense darkness. She could however make out the sounds of the battle as Alex slashed and tore at the moksha's. She wasn't sure who was winning. She heard the screeches of several moksha's and she thought Alex had one, but a few moments later more orange eyes appeared at the mouth of the cave and soon joined into the fight. Brittany then heard Alex yell softly before cursing and striking at more moksha's. Brittany could tell by their glowing eyes that the moksha's were surrounding Alex and backing him into a corner.
This isn't good. Alex has power and speed, but they outnumber him. No matter how many he kills more just come and take their place. I've got to do something. Brittany thought. "Alex get ready to run."
"What!" Alex yelled as he slashed at a moksha sending its body crashing against the cavern wall.
"Just get ready." Brittany instructed. She held out her hand again and cast her spell. "Lumious."
The light emitting from her hands revealed the moksha's allowing Brittany to get her first good look at the creatures. They were short in stature but had slim bodies and long slim limbs. Their heads were pointed at the top and covered in small horns. Their hands contained several sharp talons, as well did their feet. As soon as they saw the light from Brittany's spell they stopped battling Alex and focused their attention on her.
"Brittany what the hell are you doing?" Alex yelled as the moksha's started to swarm towards her.
"I'm saving your butt! Now get me out of here!" Brittany yelled. She then pointed upwards towards the roof of the cavern. "If there's a weak spot at one point there must be another close by." Alex instantly realized what she was doing and in one quick movement he easily jumped over the moksha's and grabbed Brittany. Alex didn't hesitate as he jumped towards the cavern wall. He dug his heel into the wall and used that to push himself off towards the roof of the cavern.
"Hold on to me. This is where things get tricky." Alex warned her. Brittany didn't need to be told twice as she clung onto Alex for dear life. Alex held onto her with one hand as he channeled some of his demonic energy into his right hand.
If I mess up we're fucked. I've got to hit it just right otherwise the debris will knock us back down into the swarm of moksha's. Alex thought. "Hold on." Alex twisted his body so that his right side would hit the roof first. He held his right hand out above him, and the moment his palm connected with the cool hard roof of the cave he released his demonic energy in a pulse wave. The energy, combined with the force of his blow blew the rocks upward allowing Alex and Brittany to fly through the hole and land on solid ground. The moment Alex's feet hit the ground he quickly sat Brittany down and kneeled before her.
"Get on!" Alex instructed. "Who know's what all I just attracted with that little trick."
"Right, let's go." Brittany said as she climbed onto Alex's back. Alex didn't waste a second and instantly launched himself forwards away from the moksha cave.


Authors Note: Alrighty then, not too much of a note really. Just wanted to remind you that these next few updates are just filler ones. The interesting stuff happens tomorrow. Kudo's thanks for the reviews!

Soulless Wanderer