Chapter 21: What Lies in the Great Falls

Chapter 21: What Lies in the Great Falls

Back at the top of the Great Falls.

“How do we even go about finding them?” Joe wonders. “They just disappeared. They could be anywhere.”

Suddenly, a double humanoid outline of magical energy appears out of thin air, and within a few seconds, Zeth and Sasha warp into that outline at the top of the Great Falls in the same positions they were in when they originally vanished. Emily and Joe smile with a mix of excitement and relief.

They run up to Zeth and Sasha as they shout in unison, “Zeth! Sasha! You’re back!”

Zeth squints a bit and rubs his head, seemingly in a bit of a daze. “Ugh, my head hurts.”

“What happened?” Emily asks.

Zeth pounds his fist into the ground, grinding his teeth in frustration before responding, “We were teleported to some abandoned town and ran into some evil guy named Crimson, who wanted to consume my soul and mind.”

“What the hell?” Joe mutters, trying to process the information.

“It’s true!” Sasha shouts. “This guy was a monster! We were powerless to stop him! The only reason we are still alive is because Crimson needed Zeth alive to consume him!”

“And I’m still not sure how we escaped,” Zeth adds. “We just teleported back here randomly. What I do know is that I need to become a lot stronger to defeat him. What happened while we were gone?”

“Joe and I each took down one of Drought’s minions,” Emily replies. “However, we still have not found Kurt.”

“I’m sure that Kurt is fine,” Zeth responds. “Before we do anything else, let’s give ourselves a quick recap of our situation.”

Sasha starts them off. “Upon finding out there are monsters poisoning the water of the river that runs through Flagron, we went off without telling anyone else to try and stop this plot.”

Emily rubs the back of her head. “Telling some of the stronger magic users who come to this town would have been a big help. Why didn’t we do that?”

Joe shakes his head in disagreement. “What would we tell them? ‘Literal monsters are poisoning the water! Come help us!’ Yeah, like they’d believe there are literal monsters out there.”

“Enough!” Zeth interjects. “Don’t get sidetracked. It’s too late to reconsider what’s already happened. Anyway, next, we all found ourselves in our own battles away from each other.”

Emily nods. “Joe and I won our battles.”

Joe adds, “While the result of Kurt’s battle is still unknown, I will bet that he won.”

Sasha pulls at a few strands of her hair. “And Zeth and I were not able to defeat our opponent and ended up escaping, possibly by dumb luck.”

“What’s with that guy anyway?” Joe asks. “Was he a part of Drought’s group? I can’t see how Drought just so happened to teleport you to some guy who was looking for you. And that consumption crap still doesn’t make any sense.”

Zeth holds his left hand up to his chin. “If I get the chance, I will be sure to ask Drought for answers on that. Something seemed off about Crimson though, and I’m not just talking about his weird fixation on consumption. He seemed like a… loner.”

Sasha nods. “Yeah, it was like he was all in it for himself.”

Emily sighs. “That will just have to remain a mystery.”

Joe continues the recap. “Next, Emily and I met back up after our battles and while discussing how to find you guys, you just instantly reappeared back to where you first vanished.”

Sasha concludes the recap. “And that brings us to where we are now.”

Zeth takes a deep breath. “All that is left to do is defeat Drought and find Kurt. Come on. Let’s get going.”

Before they can go anywhere, they spot Kurt entering the cave through the smaller waterfall.

“Kurt!!” Joe shouts, trying to get his attention. However, there is no response from Kurt.

Joe raises an eyebrow, completely perplexed. “Damn, why didn’t he respond?”

“I guess we better go in after him,” Zeth says.

Emily adds, “Drought went in there too. If we can defeat him, the cursed water will come to an end.”

“Good, let’s kill two birds with one stone,” Zeth replies.

They climb down from the top of the waterfall, and then start walking through it, closing in on the cave entrance. As they walk into the water, it stings them like every bit of it is attacking their skin.

“This stuff really stings,” Sasha moans.

Wincing in pain, Zeth replies, “I know but we have no choice.”

The heroes step out of the water at the cave entrance. They stare into the cave’s deep, dark opening, unease gripping at them all.

Zeth gulps, continuing to stare into the darkness with nerves on edge. “We don’t know what we’ll find in this cave. Does anyone have any doubts about this? I get the feeling that once we enter, we will be fully committed. There won’t be any turning back from whatever fate has in store for us.”

Emily lets out a nervous groan. “Since the demons liked this cave, you don’t think that we will find ourselves entering Hell, do you?”

Joe chuckles, albeit nervously. “Imagine if we become the ones who have to take on the Dark Goddess.”

“I can’t imagine that there is a cave that just leads straight to Hell,” Zeth says. “But I could see us being enlisted to help fight demons of Hell or something. I’d rather leave that to the forces of Heaven because they’re professionals while we’re a bunch of amateurs just trying to get me home.”

He takes a deep breath before continuing. “Are we all ready? Remember, once we go in there, we’re committed. Whatever we find out, there will be no unlearning it.”

Sasha’s hands tremble. Nevertheless, she stares into the darkness with determination. “I am. I’m not letting you go in alone and I want to save Kurt if he is in trouble.”

Joe fights off his nerves enough to nod. “Same. I can’t stay out here knowing you and Kurt could be in trouble.”

“I’m ready too,” Emily states. “Though taking on the forces of Hell would require a large arsenal of weapons and some big-ass guns. Regardless, I’m in!”

Zeth takes the first step forward. “Alright… It’s time. Let’s go in.”

With their hesitation gone, the heroes enter the cave. After just a minute of walking, they find themselves in a large cave room. They see ancient-looking architecture scattered throughout, most of it in disarray. At the other end of the room, they see Drought and Kurt, and behind them, some kind of altar. Drought turns around to face them, having taken notice of them. “Ah, if it isn’t my new human friends. Welcome!”

Emily calls out to Kurt. “Kurt, what are you doing with that demon!?”

Staring them down with an intimidating glare, Drought responds. “My personal imp demon has combined himself with your friend, and with that, he will destroy you.”

Zeth, Sasha, Joe, and Emily all open their eyes wide in shock.

“You what!?” Joe shouts.

Emily clenches her fist. “Release our friend and fight us fairly, you cowards!!”

Drought rolls his eyes in annoyance. “I’m a demon and serve the Dark Goddess. I couldn’t care less what you think of me or my methods. ‘Kurmp’ here will destroy you.”

Zeth rubs his left arm with his right hand as he steps forward. “I’m tired of this. I will—"

Sasha interrupts him. “No, let me do this. I need to show that I can fight! I will save Kurt!”

She turns her head to look at Zeth, trying to gain his approval.

Zeth stares at her for a moment with surprise, but soon smiles as he says, “…Go knock ‘em dead.”

He gives her a thumbs up. Sasha smiles and then approaches Kurmp with confidence.

“I can do this.”

With Kurt being controlled by an imp demon, Sasha steps up to the plate to save him!

Chapter 21 END

To Be Continued in Chapter 22: Sasha vs Kurmp