Champions of Light: Gaëtano's Sword [Book One]

Chapter Sixteen

A Nightmare to Remember

A far-off cry echoed against the narrow walls of the cavern room as Richard followed closely to Skylar. He was walking with his head forward, focusing on Skylar's figure so his eyes wouldn't look at the pattern of deep holes that lined the walls or the strange creatures that crept around his peripherals.

"It's good that we stuck together, because it doesn't seem like the others are faring very well alone." He spoke only to calm himself, but when she turned to face him, he jumped back in horror.

Where her face should have been, there was a sickening pattern of deep holes with maggots and spiders crawling within them. He pulled back his hand with a mixture of disgust and horror, and immediately, she disappeared. He didn't give himself the pleasure of feeling lucky that she was gone. He pressed on, focusing on moving ahead, while becoming increasingly aware that the walls moved with flies and beetles that were buzzing and crawling through more filthy holes that were bored into the stone. He also felt a sensation that something was directly behind him, but he did not give it the benefit of him facing it.

In his peripherals, the creatures closed in, but he only focused ahead, determined to block everything else out. Suddenly, a grey hand with long, lanky fingers touched his shoulder, and he turned with his sword out, facing his foe. The creature had lanky limbs with a thin layer of grey skin stretched over long bones. It hunched over, clicking the pointed limbs on the ground, its numerous tentacles twisting and writhing behind it. But what troubled him most was its head. It was like an asteroid, composed of porous, bumpy rock, a texture he was already uncomfortable looking at. Even worse, though, was there were maggots and worms squirming, writhing, and crawling into the repulsive holes that covered the surface.

Disgusted, he turned away to run, but was faced by another, its sickening holes inches from his face, the bugs crawling towards his skin. He backed up, watching both of his opponents, with the holes boring into his mind's eye. His back hit the wall, and he realized his hands had landed in the holes, his fingers dancing into the pits, with the insects and larvae crawling towards him to infect him. With no other option, Richard held his hands up to stop his adversaries, and suddenly, his hand was being eaten away. Maggots, blowflies, beetles, were all crawling up his arms, burrowing into his skin, creating the pattern of holes. He watched in horror as they spread up his arms and shrieked as he felt them burrowing into his skull.

Gregory held onto Skylar with all his might. He had already lost two of his friends, he wouldn't risk losing her too. He wished he could tell her how much she meant to him, but the pounding in his ears and the crying yells of his friends made this seem an inopportune moment. Anyway, she was completely out of his league.

"If only you had tasted my gumbo, maybe I'd have a chance." He hadn't meant to speak, and his heart jumped in his throat at the sound of his own voice. She turned and smiled, "why wait?"

Suddenly, there was a table in front of them with a bowl and a pot of boiling soup. She sat down at the table, looking at him with her green eyes. He was baffled but went to the pot with curiosity. It smelled like his gumbo and looked like his gumbo, but how did it get there? He looked back to Skylar, who smiled, as if this were a perfectly normal event, and motioned for him to serve it. Confused, but determined to prove his worth, he picked up the bowl and ladled a serving of the gumbo. On the surface of the soup, three human eyeballs turned to gaze at him. He dropped the bowl and investigated the pot with horror. A toe floated next to a tooth, and a piece of tongue bubbled up next to a nose. This was horrible! There was no way she'd accept him now, not after a mishap like this.

Skylar started laughing and he turned back to her. She had become horrible, wrinkled, and full of sores and warts, her hair thin and wild. "Did you really think that you could impress me? Have you looked at yourself? You are an ugly, worthless slab of meat, and I wouldn't serve my dog that shit." She cackled ravenously at his horrified face, tears welling up in his eyes. He was about to accept defeat when he heard a familiar voice calling out for help.

Skylar had been utterly confused when she saw Richard recoil in horror when she looked at him. He had disappeared instantaneously, and therefore, she held onto Gregory's hand tighter. Her heart thumped in her head, whether by fear of expectation, or from the warmth of his big hand, she couldn't tell. But when he spoke, she accidentally let go of his hand, spooked by his sudden voice.

Then, from behind, there came a whirring and grinding of gears. She turned slowly and was faced by a mechanical monstrosity. Its furnace maw opened and burned hotter, threatening to devour her. She turned on her heels and fled, calling for help. The clank of the behemoth behind her was closing in, and as she turned to gauge its distance, she suddenly ran straight into a massive form.

Having been thrown on her bottom by the force of the impact, a familiar voice said her name. It was Gregory who offered his hand to help her up. She took it and embraced him for a moment, then turned to face the beast with newfound determination.

Kim paced forward. The people whom she had been holding onto had somehow disappeared, and she was left in an ever-narrowing corridor alone. She dragged her left hand along the wall, watching the floor, willing it to stay the same width. The wall on her right was creeping ever closer, and she didn't want to know how far it would close in. She closed her eyes and powered through the fear. The stone against her hand began dripping with moisture, then suddenly, she ran into an invisible wall.

Panicking, she touched the glass wall and moved her hands out, till she felt the other sides of the glass box she was now suddenly trapped in. Hyperventilating, she pounded her fists on the glass as water rose from the bottom. The box became tighter, and the water drifted higher. She shouted and yelled for help, pounding louder on the glass, but she knew her voice would be muffled. The box became too small for her even to stand up in, and the water was at her chest.

A strange sense of calm enveloped her, and behind it, a fierce determination. She leapt into a wolf, shattering the glass box, and leaving the water to splash at her feet. She quickly found the source of the hallucinogenic odor and bounded over to it.

Chris paused. He was somehow in a museum and a display was directly in front of him. There were mannequins arranged around a piano with yellow ribbons blocking them off. He was chilled, but there was something about the mannequin at the piano that made him come closer. He knew this person. It was Sean! Sean in the form of a mannequin, only, it was made of wax.

Slowly, the wax began to melt, and suddenly, Sean's eyes locked onto his. Chris scampered away, knocking the encroaching wax statues behind him, and stumbling back to his feet. He was faced with his friends, frozen in position, encased in wax, moving only their eyes to watch him, coming closer only when he wasn't looking. He went for his sword's hilt, only to be grabbed by Kim's wax double. He hesitated and was suddenly swarmed.

Sean wept silently over Alice's body. "Please," he said, "please don't be real. Please wake up." The tears rushed down his face. "You're the only one I can't live without. Please. Alice. Wake up." He didn't register a sniffle that sounded behind him. "I'm sorry, Alice. I wish I had told you before." He didn't hear the soft footsteps behind him.

"I wish I had told you how much I care about you. I wish I had told you, that I have cherished every moment with you. I wish I had told you..." he choked on his tears. A gentle hand touched his shoulders, and he barely registered it, but turned in reflex. He barely understood what he saw. There, in front of him was Alice. She was alive! She was alive and she was smiling!

"Sean, I love you too," she said simply.

Slowly, the fumes dissipated, and their hallucinations dissolved. Those who survived were left shaken and weak at the foot of the Wrangler's lifeless form.