Fan Fiction ❯ The Path to Adventure ❯ Unforseen Darkness ( Chapter 10 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Sorry it took me so long to update! School has been sapping my energy and creativity lately but here’s da next chapter! Enjoi.


Chapter 10: Unforseen Darkness


Shuijin rubbed his sore head as he painfully opened his eyes. Everything was blurry and he was utterly dazed. Slowly his surroundings came into view. He was in sitting position on the marble tiled ground. All around him was an eerie mist that seemed to give anything and everything an evil appearance. Soon after he was awake he gazed upwards. Complete darkness loomed above him. “That’s right,” he mumbled as he recalled the recent events. He, along with Katsumoto, had fallen into the Shadow Abyss. Except now he was alone.

Alone. Where was Kat? Hadn’t he fallen here too? Shuijin surveyed the room again. It wasn’t very big, maybe the size of a large hotel room. The walls were dark gray and seamed to be made of a crude cement. The area where a ceiling would have been was complete blackness. He must have fallen extremely far because when he peered up through the darkness he could not find even the slightest glimmer of light.

But if he did fall that whole way, wouldn’t he have been hurt more, or even killed? That was an extremely long way, even for him, to land safely. He quickly dismissed his wondering thoughts and focused on standing up.

He placed his hands on either side of his body and pushed himself upwards. When he had reached his feet he concluded that miraculously he had no major injuries. His head throbbed slightly along with his side, but nothing of major concern ailed him.

“Keh,” he concluded, “must be all that milk I drank. It’s finally come back to help me.” He quickly ended his joking when he noticed a small marble door to his left. He walked over to it. Upon studying, it appeared to be a normal door, as far as a marble door gets. Upon further inspection he noticed small, scribbled markings.

~The Keeper spies all~

He gulped a whoosh of air and thought of what the Dread Lord had told him.

--“And, tell the keeper I’m sorry for taking so long to finish my mission.”

“This keeper seems to be well known by creatures of evil,” Shuijin grimly thought. He proceeded to open the door. Swiftly he turned the metallic handle. The marble door opened smoothly with no noises. Shuijin stepped into the doorway and looked around. Before him stood a long stretch of hallway.

“Why do I always find extensive halls?” Shuijin muttered to himself before he started trudging along. “Hmm, I guess it’s the first time I’ve been alone and able to think in awhile. There are a few matters that I should look in to.”

He subconsciously placed his left hand into the pocket of his dark blue jeans. He felt something round. Upon pulling the object out he remembered its finding. When he followed his visions in Sparkville, he found a room filled with treasures. He wasn’t interested in the other riches though. He wanted the small gem that was engraved into the center of the table, which held the treasure. With his combat knife he pried out the gem. And he’s kept it with him ever since.

He held the aqua glowing sphere and gazed deeply into it. Just like the first time he viewed it, his island was visible. This time it was different though. A violent storm was striking, full force, at the tiny land mass. No. It wasn’t a normal storm. It was the storm of darkness.

The events in the gem continued. He watched, horrified, as heartless began forming on the island’s coast. They eventually consumed everyone. Now an enormous heartless was formed. It plunged its wispy arms into the island’s center. Then, unexpectedly, it took the island’s heart. Then it was over. Shuijin watched as the scene cleared. It was different now. No more land, just warm waters. His island had been taken by the mists.

Then the sphere began to flash a brilliant light. It blinked frantically for several more moments before changing its gaze. Now it depicted Katsumoto... “Kat!” Shuijin called, but knew no one would hear him. He saw his friend alright...in fiery chains. Kat choked out in agony. Flaming chains bound Kat at his ankles and wrists. Another burning shackle was around his neck.

Then, just as suddenly as the scene came into view, in dissipated. Shuijin was relieved that the disturbing vision had gone, but also worried for his friend’s safety. Kat was surely somewhere down here. Shuijin broke into a jog. The hallway whizzed my him as he continued to run. He was quickly picking up speed.

“This hallway must be over a mile long,” Shuijin thought as he continued to gain momentum. What was up with him? He had run long distances before, but never this fast. Everything was a useless blur on either side of the hallway as he flew by. He must have ran at least two miles by now.

Now that he thought about it, he had never gone this fast. How could he achieve this now? What was different? Then he knew. It was the gem. He came to an abrupt halt. Once again he withdrew the sphere from his left pocket. He held it up closer to his face. The scene was still calm as teal-blue waves splashed upon each other.

Then he saw it. From under the waters, a silver plaque arose. The waters parted as it arose into the, now still, air. He strained to see what was written on it. Etched into it was a familiar phrase.

~Destiny is the key to Fate~

Then the message faded, along with his thoughts as he saw another marble door. He approached the door and opened it swiftly. On the other side was more hallway, but this time it wasn’t a straight stretch of hall. It was winding and there were many corners and smaller halls off chuting from the main hallway.

“Great,” he thought unemotionally, “a maze.” He walked forward until he came to a stop just before the crossroads where he would have to choose his path. He stood and looked to his right and left. There was a hall on either side of him and one before him.

“Hmmm,” he thought as he caught the scent of sulfur. Upon further investigation, he confirmed that the smell was strongest to his left. He turned to his left and sped off down the hall. “If he’s anywhere, from what I saw, it’ll be where fire is the strongest,” Shuijin concluded as the torturesome confinement of his friend forced its way into his mind.

He resumed his fast pace and began gaining momentum again. This time he reached his top speed much quicker than before. He followed his smell sense as he turned from one dark corridor to another. This went on for almost an hour.

Shuijin came to a stand still. His senses heightened as he quickly caught his breath. His hearing had improved the most. How did he improve his senses? How was it possible that he could he control them all of the sudden? He thought this was due to the mystical orb he possessed. But what if it wasn’t? Maybe now he could control his actions completely. Maybe not.

“It’s so quiet,” he began while listening to his ever-beating heart. Then he heard it. He strained to hear better. The soft thud noise of something approaching was evident now as the rhythmic sound drew nearer by each passing moment.

Shuijin’s breath caught in his throat. He would have suffocated if he didn’t force the air downward. Quickly, he searched for another hall he could run to and take cover in. He found his spot. It was about ten feet ahead of him. Up ahead the path split to the left, right, and also continued onward. The footsteps were coming from the right of the cross sectioned hall.

He made a break for it. If he was fast enough, then maybe, just maybe, he could pass the cross section unnoticed. He could then keep on running forward. When he was mere inches of the cross area he accelerated from medium speed to his current maximum. The maneuver produced a blurred image as he whizzed by.

On the other side of the hall he clung tightly to the wall. The padded footsteps were only feet away from the cross section. Shuijin held his breath unknowingly. What he saw walk across the hallway put fear into his heart. It was a heartless. An incredibly powerful looking one.

The heartless was around six feet tall. It had broad shoulders and walked with confidence. It wore a red cape that ran from its shoulders to the marble-tiled ground. Upon its shoulders was a head, but it was different because it was half flesh, half skeletal. It, like the air itself, smelt of sulfurous gas. The flesh upon its face was partly melted away and produced an awful stench. The creature’s body was also skeletal and, surprisingly, it wore elaborate bone armor. Hanging from a leather sheath at its left side was an impressive looking skeletal bone sword.

As the creature walked by, it was followed by small skeletal heartless. They were the same type of heartless that he had encountered when fighting the Dread Lord. There were about six or seven of them and they stayed at the larger creature’s heels.

Shuijin then realized he was still holding his breath, even though the beast had passed by now. He released his stored up air with a quiet sigh of relief. That had been a close one. Fighting that thing would have proven difficult. But thankfully, he didn’t have to fight that thing, not yet at least.

He remembered where he was supposed to be going and continued forward down the long corridor. The smell of fire continued to increase in strength and he didn’t know how much more his nose could take. Shuijin concentrated deeply for a brief moment on his smelling. Almost instantly, the smell of sulfur subsided and he could once again breath without choking. He had just lowered his smelling sense.

“These new tricks could prove useful later,” he thought while getting into sprinting position. In an instant he was gone. A blurred after image was left in his wake. This hall continued going straight for nearly two miles Shuijin concluded. “Doesn’t bother me, I feel as if I could run forever.”

When he finally reached the hall’s end, a large crimson red door greated him. Its doorknobappeared to be metallic, brass perhaps. Shuijin extended his right hand to the doorknob. When his hand made contact he immediately let go and jerked his hand toward his side. The handle was extremely hot. He let out a mild curse as he surveyed his slightly scorched hand.

Swiftly he took his gray hooded sweatshirt off. He wrapped part of it around his right hand while holding the rest in his left. Once again he tried the doorknob. He grabbed and turned it quickly. The door opened and creaked for a brief moment as he finished putting his sweatshirt back on.

He was astonished at what was beyond the fire colored door. An immense cavern spanned before him. The ceiling was around two hundred feet tall. Shuijin saw that there was a huge semicircle of land that the door was located on. Where the semicircle ended, it appeared to be a sheer drop-off downward, into a flaming pit.

The door was located in the middle of the straight edge of the semicircle. Directly ahead of him, on the curving part of the half circle, was a colossal gate. The gate was easily fifty feet tall and at least two hundred feet in length. On the other side of the gate was a path-like strip of land that traveled from the gate’s huge path, downward, into the depths of the Shadow Abyss.

On the other side of the gate was also a heartless. A one hundred foot tall one at that! The being was a gargantuan horned demon. It had tough, red skin and possessed golden yellow spikes running down its spine. A large tail struck the ground creating a mild earthquake. It had two huge arms which also had two large hands. Sharp claws shot out from its hands.

The creature’s face was downright evil. Large bloodshot, golden eyes glared nowhere in particular as Shuijin looked at the demon’s twisted grin and jagged yellow teeth. He gulped as he noticed a large stone tower directly next to the gate.

The tower was as tall as the horned demon. Twisted stairs ran upward, around the tower’s circular base. A metal railing was attached to the outside of the winding stairs. The tower’s top had a square base and came to a pointed top. Large windows allowed Shuijin to peer inside.

Shuijin fixed his gaze onto a large window at the tower’s top. At first he couldn’t see anything, but soon he could make out the form of a black robed man. Or at least he thought it was a man. “What would a human be doing in a place like this?” Shuijin questioned quietly to himself.

Then he felt a sensation. In his pocket the gem was pulsating and gave off a significant amount of heat. He withdrew the orb and gazed into its swirling center. It showed the tower that he was just looking at. Then the orb gazed inside the tower. The same man that Shuijin had seen through the window was standing in the tower’s center on top of a glowing pentagram.

Then he saw his friend. Katsumoto was chained to the wall in front of the robed figure. The same fiery chains Shuijin had seen earlier were still on Kat. Shuijin cursed again when the image faded from the glass sphere. Then he cursed again for his language recently. He looked at the horned creature. It hadn’t noticed him yet.

He had to get to the tower and free Kat before...he thought grimly about what would happen if he didn’t make it in time. Shuijin thought about how he would make the journey to the tower. Then he had an idea. He shut his eyes and relaxed. When his breathing and heart rate were under control, he began concentrating. He knew his speed had to be near maximum to reach the tower unnoticed.

Shuijin lowered all of his senses momentarily. He needed the extra energy spent on his speed. When he was positive all his reserved energy had been transferred to his speed, he exited his meditative state. He gave a quick glare to the red demon and bolted.

The distance he had to run was nearly three hundred feet. Within two seconds he had reached his previous max speed, the same speed which created decoy after images. In four seconds he had doubled that speed and his after images even burst alight with the immense energy they possessed. He reached the tower in six seconds. One second later would have been too late.

The horned demon shrieked wildly and turned toward the stone tower. It hadn’t seen him. Shuijin stopped at the base of the tower and altered himself again. He put his speed back to normal and increased his awareness and strength. If he had to fight anything, then he would be prepared. Withdrawing his sheathed sword, he began traversing up the twisted steps.

The Gate Keeper smiled wickedly. He raised his arms and uttered a few ancient words while standing on the eerily glowing pentagram. Instantaneously the tower stairs turned blackish as heartless began emerging from the darkness. The heartless were identical clones of the large horned demon.

The first one Shuijin encountered was only six stairs from the ground. Shuijin raised his sword just as the demon struck at his face with its sharp claws. A loud clink broke the air as the claw met sword. Shuijin pushed with power and forced the creature through the air and onto its back. He leapt into the air while raising his sword and brought it down. It was lunged right through the demon’s stomach. It disappeared with a foggy black cloud.

Shuijin forced his way through numerous demons until his was halfway up the winding stairs. When he reached the halfway point he was met by a dozen of the demonic heartless. Five heartless were to his back while the other seven were at his front.

Two creatures from his front leapt toward him. They were a foot and a half apart from each other when they reached Shuijin. Time slowed to almost a standstill just as a demon from his back rushed him and two more from the front ensued.

Shuijin held his sword with the tip facing the ground in his right hand. He leapt into a back flip. As he began to roll backwards he swung his blade up, right into the horned demon to his right. Then, as his sword blade cut upwards, through the in-air heartless, he dragged the blade sharply to the left, slicing the second leaping heartless in two.

At this point of his flip he was upside down, with his head facing the stairs he once stood on. As he began to finish the flip and land back in his original position he gripped his sword with his fist, with the blade pointing toward the ground. As he landed gracefully he plunged the weapon backward, directly through the chest of the approaching demon.

Now there were still two heartless to his front that were only a foot away from him. As time slowed even more, he concentrated on raising his battle prowess. Just as both oncoming creatures struck, Shuijin leapt valiantly into the lightly singed air.

He soared over the heartless as the wind blew into his sweatshirt and jeans. His necklace slipped out from its tucked position inside his shirt and wove around in the burnt air. It was a pendant of a black obsidian key that had been found around his neck when he first appeared on the pier of the island.

He landed steadily on the ground and held his weapon high into the air to test his new prowess.

“Titan’s Revenge!” Shuijin called out as his precious sword turned a blinding yellow-white and began releasing bolts of electrical energy into all of Shuijin’s enemies. He had never used this attack before and yet it seemed he was destined to obtain it. The whole area, inside the cavern, became dark as the only source of light rapidly destroyed the scores of demon heartless on the stairwell.

Every horned heartless on the stairs had been electrocuted into destruction. The cavern returned to its lighted position as light from the flaming pits below reached its way throughout the humongous cavern. The attack had done the trick, but it also attracted the attention of a noteworthy opponent.

The colossal horned demon wailed and shrieked as it found Shuijin at last. It lashed its left arm out at Shuijin. The enormous hand came crashing down just a little away from Shuijin. It struck the stairs behind him. The winding stairs behind Shuijin were completely destroyed as they all fell some fifty feet to meet the hard rock ground. The demon howled with rage. It struck again and this time actually was on course to hit Shuijin.

Just before the monstrous arm hit its target, he ducked and it swung just over his head swiping nothing but air. The demon wailed angrily and tried again. This time Shuijin had a plan as he ran up the stairs of the tower. When the demon swung again Shuijin stood still, right in the path of the clawed hand.

When the tough skinned hand was within ten feet from Shuijin he pulled his weapon back and charged it up with the raging spirits of the heartless that he had just destroyed. “DEMON’S BANE!!!” Shuijin yelled and brought his sword down upon the unprotected arm. The sword hit with the full force of Shuijin’s anger mingled with the rage of two hundred heartless demons.

The hand was completely severed off and hit the stairs with a soft thud before rolling down the stairs and off the edge where the bottom half of the staircase once stood. The demon howled and moaned with agonizing pain. Demonic blood shot everywhere and burned anything it touched. Shuijin’s jeans and sweatshirt were badly burned from the blood and were heavily stained.

Shuijin put forth all of his energy into speed. He reached the tower’s top in barely four seconds. He slashed down the wooden door with his sword and stepped through the doorway. Sure enough, Kat was there, just like in the sphere’s vision. He was bounded to the far wall with flaming shackles and chains. The Gate Keeper was also there, still standing with arms raised on the pentagram. Katsumoto choked out as he saw Shuijin and forced out a warning.

“Run...he...can’t be...killed...” Kat said just as the Gate Keeper came back to reality with a wicked smile.

Kat started again, “he...is im...im..mor...tal.”

Just as this was spoken the Keeper summoned a wicked flame sword. And just before Shuijin spoke, the sinister Gate Keeper plunged his fiery blade through the chained Katsumoto’s chest.


~_*~_*~_*~_*~_*~_*~_*~Chapter End ~_*~_*~_*~_*~_*~_*~_*~

Muwahahahaha! Srry this chapter took me so long to post! I appreciate the reviews I’ve gotten, but im a little disappointed that I don’t have more. Please REVIEW. It makes me feel really good when I get a good review and then I feel like writing more often. Anyways enough of my review problems!! I hope you liked this chapter!! ^_^ Enjoi!