Umbra《Book 2》

Chapter XI

Willow

The storm raged outside of the cave. Willow watched the wind whip the trees around and the rain changed to hail and then back to rain numerous times next to Kryoz. Kryoz looked exhausted but he remained awake.

Willow and Kryoz sat comfortably against the wall of the cave, talking quietly. Grizzy was laying on the floor with his arm under his head like a pillow so he could rest. Sparrow was pacing around anxiously like being in a confined area bothered her. Anthony joined Nogla at the entrance of the cave as they watched the storm. "This storm has us pinned down. We can't look for the others until it's safe to go out." Anthony sighed.

Nogla nodded, "That's what bothers me the most. We don't know what dangers the others are in."

"I'm sure they can handle themselves especially if they're together. I'm more worried that Neo may be involved." Anthony glanced at Nogla.

Nogla took a deep breath, "Neo is most definitely involved and will do anything to get his hands on us. It doesn't reassure me that we don't know where the others are or Smii7y."

"Neo is still haunting him huh?" Anthony asked.

"Neo has been using Smii7y for who knows how long. That's how he found the plane. We may be in trouble if Neo gets control again." Nogla murmured. Willow heard them but Kryoz looked too tired to even acknowledge their conversation. Willow was kinda glad. She thought of Kryoz as an older brother but he was always terrifying when he was mad and Neo made him the angriest.

"I wanna do more than just wait for this storm to pass then. We could be stuck here for hours while the others could be in danger." Anthony said. Willow watched as baseball-sized hailstones hit the ground. She was worried for Smii7y and the others. Neo was ruthless and would do anything to gain control.

"There was another pathway further down the cave. Should we check it out?" Nogla asked.

"How about no? I don't wanna get lost in those caves like you did." Grizzy stated as he opened one eye to look at them.

"We won't. We saw that light down that way." Nogla recalled.

"It was unnatural light so that's why we didn't go that way right?" Willow asked. She remembered the fork in the path and their conversation on which way to go before they found Kryoz, Grizzy, and Sparrow.

Nogla nodded, "Maybe it might give us a hint as to why we are here."

"Worth a shot." Anthony said. Nogla started to head back down the cave and everyone started to follow. Anthony lit a flame so they wouldn't be in the dark. It was a while of being in the darkness and silence. Willow was glad they kept quiet. She didn't want another encounter with the flying spiders. She hated spiders. Especially dog-sized ones.

They made it to the cross-section where they were before. They went to the right where the orange light was coming from. Willow's heart sank when he heard voices.

"Anthony. Cut the lights." Nogla whispered. Anthony closed his hand and the flame went out. Willow could see in the glowing light so she treaded lightly behind Kryoz.

Nogla followed the sound of the voices and stayed close to the wall to help them stay hidden. The tunnel rounded to the left where most of the light was coming from. Nogla signaled for the others to stay by the wall and wait for further instruction. Willow thought it was dumb for her to learn hand signals since she normally never went on missions but she was now glad she knew.

"This is getting ridiculous! None of my monsters have even gotten one of them yet! I knew this was a stupid idea!" Someone shouted. Willow didn't recognize the voice.

"Just relax, Shade. I have one of them right where I want him. He will help me get rid of them for good. Just keep wearing them out." The other voice responded. Willow's heart skipped a beat when she recognized his voice. Of course, Neo was trying to get into Smii7y's head if he wasn't already. Willow glanced at Kryoz who looked like he was about to storm in there and make the hurricane outside look like a sunshower.

"One abilitor is going to take down 12 overabilitors? Are you even listening to yourself?" The voice named Shade asked.

"You saw him take down numerous of your pets and stop me. It's also the aspect that the 12 won't attack him, meaning I can get rid of them for you." Neo said, "I already took control of him like 2 hours ago." Willow's brows furrowed. Did he have Smii7y? It sounded like he controlled Smii7y without touching him or did he find Smii7y and the others?

Shade chuckled, "Oh Neo. I'm just waiting for this plan to backfire on you once you realize that two overabilitors is a chore. We are dealing with thirteen that work well together and rely on one another. How in the hell did I let you talk me into this?"

"You don't understand, Shade. You'll see when I have full control." Neo said. Willow could sense Kryoz's anger building up next to her so she was glad when Nogla signaled for them to fall back.

She turned since she was the one at the end and nearly collided with someone's chest. "Hello. Miss me?" Nycta asked with a sadistic grin. Willow found her face repulsive with the new lightning-shaped scar and her white eye.

"I think you're going to be missing a lot more when I zap the ever-living shit outta you!" Kryoz snapped.

Her eye narrowed on Kryoz,"I have a few things for you, Sparky."

A pair of green glowing eyes appeared out of the darkness. "You found half my abilitors, Nycta. Well done." Neo grinned. He had a pale man next to him with black hair and black eyes. Willow guessed that it was Shade.

"Bring it dickheads!" Grizzy snapped.

"Let's bring them together. I want this to be interesting." Shade smirked. The shadows around him started to move and then animated themselves until they became physical creatures. Large spiders with wings, odd wendigo creatures, and a hornworm with no eyes. It was he who made the shadow monsters.

"You've got to be kidding me..." Anthony said.

"Stick together! Don't let Neo touch you!" Nogla ordered.

The monsters multiplied and started to attack. Anthony shot a blast of fire at a flying spider and Kryoz made a wendigo scream with his lightning. The monsters kept multiplying and attacking. They pushed them back into a large cavern. Lava spilled into a pit of boiling rock where the orange light was glowing from.

"Nogla. We don't have many physical abilities and most of us are running low on steam." Grizzy said as he grabbed a worm by the tail and threw it into the lava stream. It squealed but vanished in the lava. Nogla looked around for an idea. Grizzy, Kryoz, and Anthony couldn't fight forever and his or Willow's abilities weren't much help against the monsters. The cave went up high about 30 feet but the only exit was blocked by several monsters. Willow tried to stay out of the way but she wasn't much help.

Word Count: 1215