The Curse of Hidden Hollow

The Final Trial

A loud grinding sound began to overtake the entire room. He whipped around to see the door starting to open, as that all too familiar smell of rot set in. The fear began to rise in him, but he fought it. The door finally swung fully open, and Ash stepped to the center of the room, colt raised. His breathing was shaky, as he waited. Then it happened, a loud roar pierced through the air, as he saw the fiery eyes coming closer to the room. The Wendigo slowly entered the room, and it roared again. Ash wanted to run, to get away, but he knew he had to fight it. He raised the colt, Wendigo's head in its sights, and he fired. One, two, three rounds straight into its skull. The beast stumbled but remained undeterred. In fact, the bullets just seemed to make it angrier. It squinted its fiery eyes at Ash, and then it charged. Ash's mind raced as he decided what to do. He ducked to the side, and the beast lashed out at him, clawing through his shirt, narrowly missing him. He rolled and turned back to face the beast. He raised the gun and fired the rest of the bullets into the beast's back. Once again, it did nothing. Ash muttered a curse and ran to the corner of the room to reload. In his scramble, he dropped the bullets. "Shoot shoot shoot!!" Ash began to scream as the beast got closer to him. He managed to load one bullet and shot it straight in between the beast's forehead. It screeched out in agony and clutched its head in its decaying hands. Ash took that moment to dive forward onto his stomach right in front of it. He reached back and pulled the knife out of his boot. He grabbed hold of the beast's leg, shivering slightly at the texture, and drove the knife deep into its calf. It roared in pain and rage, as it reached down and picked Ash up. "NO!" Ash screamed, reaching for the knife that was still in the beast's leg. The beast, with its inhuman strength, chucked Ash at the wall. He hit hard, getting the wind knocked out of him. He wheezed in pain, scrambling to his feet. His vision was a little blurry, and he started stumbling about. He had no ammo, no knife. The knife! He had to get that knife! He stood for a second, catching his breath. He was watching the beast, and the beast was watching him. It was waiting for him to make a move. Dangit this thing was smart. Ash started to slowly make his way across the room, the beast's eyes following his every move. He made a run for the ammo box that fell out of his pocket, and that's when the beast made its move as well. It ran towards Ash, and he smiled slightly. "Gotcha!" He jumped onto his back, letting the beast blow by. As it did, he reached over and grabbed the knife out of its calf, causing it to whip around, howling in pain. Ash rolled over his shoulder, getting to his feet. The beast charged him again, and Ash dodged to the side, but this time, he chased after the beast. It took some time to turn around, so Ash used that to his advantage. He mustered up his courage, ran up the stairs to the pedestal, and jumped with all of his might, latching on to the creature's back. His body was overtaken by something like it wasn't his own. Something had overcome him at that moment. He had become possessed by a new force. Ash had reached his Power Within. He jammed the knife into the side of the beast's neck, took it out, and jammed it back in, over and over and over again. He was blinded by his rage. Eventually, the beast toppled over, weakened. Ash could almost hear Ahtunowhiho's voice echoing in his mind, "I have faith in you, have faith in yourself." He stood over the beast and looked into its fiery eyes. "I used to be afraid of you. Now.." He looked at the blade in his hand. "Now, I can't seem to remember why." He drove the knife directly into the beast's heart. It roared, screeched, and wailed as Ash turned the blade around, carving out its heart. When Ash got it out, the beast still writhed in pain. In one final attempt to get even with Ash, the beast lashed out once again, this time connecting directly to Ash's gut. He began to bleed heavily from the midsection and immediately felt himself begin to get weak. "You son of a..." He pulled up his slashed shirt. There were three bloody gashes across his stomach. He coughed up blood, but he didn't care anymore. He wanted the thing dead. Ash looked on, almost feeling sorry for the thing. Almost. He brought the heart, still beating, over to the fire. He pushed the heart into the fire, and it began to melt around the knife. Ash felt his breathing getting heavier. After the heart had completely melted into the flames, the screeching from the creature began to get quieter and quieter, until it had completely ceased. Ash turned around to see that the beast had turned to dust, now that its heart was gone. Ash heard a door open further into the chamber that the beast had come out of. He started towards it, limping due to blood loss. He was feeling really woozy, and he stumbled a bit. He made it to the door and pushed it open. It was a small stone room, with a necklace on a stone table. Ash closed the door behind him and collapsed against the wall. "It's finally over.." He closed his eyes, feeling very tired. He heard Ahtunowhiho's voice. "You can't fall asleep Ash. My healing power isn't enough to heal such a wound. You have to stay awake, if you sleep, you will die."