B A S I N

Chapter 9 - The Throne

Elzabeth opens the door, showing an empty throne room. He enters, and the doors lock behind him. A mass of grey hands covered in black slime erupt from ceiling. A woman exits from the central hole, and is placed onto the floor by the hands. She stands on the elevated platform where the throne would sit.

Ephala : You understand what you are doing, yes?

Elzabeth : Getting rid of the curse.

Ephala : Dense child. The curse is just the maw of the dragon. A means to feed off of the life of those around it. I'll entertain you for now. I want to see how much you can give to him, how much your blood and flesh can fill his stomach.

Elzabeth unsheathes Repentance, and Ephala takes his sword from him using her magic. The sword floats away from him, and she take hold of it. She holds the blade and snaps it with her bare hands.

Ephala : A Human without tools is weak. Show me your true strength. Show me what you're truly capable of.

Ephala walks off of the platform, and touches Elzabeth's armor. It immediately gets torn from him, and he grabs her hand and punches her in the stomach. He looks at her, seeing she doesn't even flinch.

Ephala : You're quite pretty. My statues chose a good one. Aegis and her sisters must be so proud of you to make it this far as well.

Elzabeth : They were part of your plan?

Ephala : Of course they would be! I need a new king. Someone strong enough to satiate his hunger. If not he might move from this pit and eat the whole world. You have a child now, don't you? Your legacy wont be lost... well only for a while until he awakens.

Ephala grabs Elzabeth arm.

Ephala : This pitiful display you're showing. Stop holding back, and strike me with your true strength.

Elzabeth looks around. There's no way out, except the hole she came from and the door past the elevated platform. He has no way of getting back up through the Basin.

Ephala : There's no escape. He'll eat you, then he'll wake up and swallow us all.

An arrow flies into Ephala's side. She takes it out and looks around.

Ephala : Who else came here with you? Answer me-

An arrow flies into the back of her head, and she drops to the floor. Elzabeth stomps onto the side of her head, crushing her skull. Blood pools under her, and the grey hands grab her corpse and swallow her. Vetri comes out from behind the rubble, but Elzabeth notices he's missing an arm.

Vetri : Glad you're still kicking.

Elzabeth : Your arm...

Vetri : A demon crushed it, it got infected and I had to amputate it.

Elzabeth : How did you shoot the bow?

Vetri : Practising using one of my feet to hold the bow. It took a bit of time, but I got the hang of it.

Elzabeth : You set your wounds?

Vetri : No. And yeah, I know. I don't have much time anymore. You dont have your weapon or supplies either. She really screwed us, huh?

Elzabeth : Yeah... we can't follow her, and I feel like it might be death, but so does ahead past that door.

Vetri : There's no point in backing down now, right? Let's go. Together, yeah?