The Curse of Vecna: Rise of Kas

The Wizard & The Bard - Part 2

A shriek from the beast by the gate forced everyone's attention away from Max and Eleven. As if in slow motion, Will had begun to fall from the sky. Without another thought, Eddie shot into the sky and rocketed toward the falling body. He caught Will just before he fell back through the portal, but the massive creature wasn't letting them get away easily. It swung its tail in an attempt to swat Eddie and his passenger out of the sky.

Will's lifeless body began to slip through Eddie's hands as they dodged out of the way of the pincers. Eddie gritted his teeth, tightening his grip, but his distraction cost him. The tail hit them full force and sent them tumbling through the gate, back to the upside down. They both hit the ground hard and rolled a few feet before Eddie jumped to his feet and ran to Will.

"Will, I don't know if you can hear me but I really need you to wake up, buddy. You have to fight back. Fight your way back to the surface. You have to wake up." Eddie was shaking Will, trying to get some sign of life from him. The boy didn't respond to anything Eddie was doing and time was running out. Eddie could hear the thessalhydra roaring on the other side of the gate.

He ran to the edge, hoping it hadn't moved, but he couldn't see it anymore. The ground beneath Eddie's feet began to shudder, not as violently as it had before but enough to be noticeable. Images of what other beasts could be coming ran through Eddie's head in quick succession. If Will wasn't waking up, he would have to leave. He had to try to kill this beast before it hurt the people he cared about.

There was a constant glow coming from behind Eddie, drawing his attention. He turned around to see Will floating again, but this time his eyes were open and they were glowing purple. Eddie stumbled back a few steps before Will spoke.

"I'm here, Eddie." He floated back down, settling on his feet. "We have to go back. We have to fight the thessalhydra."

"Y-your eyes." Will nodded, stepping closer to his companion. But before Will could say anything, the realization hit Eddie. "The Wizard."

"Let's finish this." Eddie nodded to Will and they both walked back to the gate, jumping through and landing feet first on the other side. The beast had been approaching their friends but turned towards the gate when it sensed the new presence.

Eddie drew his sword and shield and unfurled his wings, his eyes glowing a brighter red than they ever had. Will, whose eyes still glowed a shocking purple, rose from the ground lifting his arms as his palms faced the sky. The group's eyes stared in shock at the two, everyone frozen in place.

"On your word, Will." Eddie hissed out. The beast approached, shaking the ground. Eddie planted his feet and bared in fangs in preparation for the battle about to begin. Will stopped rising and two purple flames swirled to life in his palms.

"NOW!" Will's arms shot forward, sending the flames at the creature.

They landed, tearing through the flesh of its side and drawing a roar. Eddie shot through the air, tearing through the eyes of one head. He knew removing the head would just bring new ones, but he could blind the beast to give Will a better chance at killing it.

Will sent another burst of flames to the creature, this time blowing off one of the pincers on its tail. Eddie dodged around the heads flailing to get ahold of him through the assault he and Will were throwing its way. The vampire managed to take out the eyes of two more heads before the tail came around and slammed into him, sending him flying through the building. Will's head snapped in Eddie's direction for just a moment, giving the creature a chance to advance on him.

The wizard turned quickly and launched another fireball just in time to hit the creature in the leg, hindering its movement. Eddie climbed out of the rubble and flew into the air directly at another head, destroying its eyes as well. Four sets of eyes down, four more to go. Will managed to disable another leg just as Eddie was maneuvering towards another head, causing the creature to falter and fall to one side. The movement was enough to knock one of the heads still capable of sight closer to Eddie and Will watched as the massive jaws came down on his ally.

"NO! EDDIE!" Will's scream brought the attention of the other heads that immediately tried to lash out at Will. He moved closer, launching purple fireball after purple fireball at the creature. They each hit their marks, disabling the last two legs and ripping the beast's tail from its body. Will raised his hand, a wordless scream leaving his lips from the effort, as he froze the hydra heads and forced the mouth holding Eddie to open. With his other hand, he raised Eddie's body from the mouth and moved him to the ground.

As soon as his body touched down, the vampire gasped and jumped to his feet, the wounds from the creature's teeth healing. Will's attention went back to the beast and he began to close the fist that held the body frozen in place. There was a loud cracking and the creature seemed to collapse in on itself. Will was screaming again from the effort and the glow from his eyes had grown to shine from his entire body. Eddie had to shield his eyes. In an explosion of viscera, the creature was no more.

Will landed easily back on the ground near Eddie and the two assessed each other before another rumble hit the ground around them. They turned to the gate and watched as a new wave of creatures came pouring out of the opening. Demogorgans and demo-dogs were approaching, intent on tearing apart every person they came across. The two made eye contact and nodded knowing they needed to handle this for their friends' sake.

Eddie tightened his grip on his weapon and shield while Will rose again, flames appearing in his hands. They would be the only line of defense for their friends and they were not going to let anything get past them. Will threw fireballs at the creatures while Eddie flew through the crowd, cutting down anything not destroyed by the fireballs. The wave was obliterated in a matter of seconds.

"Will! Eddie!" The group was running to them now, but they stopped a few feet short of Will. Eddie knew how alarming he looked, but also knew what it felt like to be looked at like a freak. He put a hand on Will's shoulder.

"Hey, buddy. I think you need to take it down a bit. The group isn't good with stuff like this." Will nodded stiffly before closing his eyes and balling up his fists. He seemed to shake as the glow dimmed and finally went away. When he opened his eyes back up, they were back to their normal brown. "There you go. Wish I could do that."

"Will!" Joyce finally ran to her son, wrapping him in her arms. "I thought I was gonna lose you for good this time! What happened? Why were you glowing? Is it really you?"

"Mom, I need you to calm down a bit." Will put a hand on his mother's shoulder. "It's hard to explain what happened. I guess the short version would be that I was lied to, conned into helping bring that thing here. In the midst of all that, I had a bit of a spiritual journey I guess. This entity, the Mindflayer or whatever you want to call it, it's been a part of me for years. Even when we thought he was gone, he wasn't. He was just dormant. But what I realized as I was trapped in my head was that it was nothing more than energy. An energy that isn't inherently good or bad until it's formed into something. I took hold of it, made it my own."

"I'm not going to pretend I understand where the superpowers came from, but I'm glad you're back." Hopper patted Will on the back.

The group was pulled back to reality when they heard Eleven scream. Everyone ran to her in time to see Max rising into the air, just as she had the night Vecna attacked her. Panic was rushing through the group, unsure of what to do this time. Eddie was the first to notice the missing member of their group.

"Guys, where's Kali?"