Little Devils

Mel slammed his fist against the white shielding that kept him from his niece, sending shockwaves through the air that forced him back.

“Yalda, wait!”

But she had already vanished into a place beyond his knowledge.

The lightshow faded, and the room returned back to its quiet form. No little angel in sight, and no means to reach her.

“Cursed thing…” Mel examined the pillar stones again, but he couldn’t deduce their mechanics.

“What just happened to her?” Indena asked.

“I don’t know. But it’s possible she just found a way out of here. Although, I can’t say for sure if it was good.”

Anxiety spiked to a climax, as they all worried for her safety.

The group started to debate if waiting for her would have been the wisest move, as scanning the pillars was proving worthless. Maybe she’d managed to reach the surface alone? Or perhaps she was trapped in the walls? They settled on giving her some time to return.

In the brief hour they waited, a fog set in. Green, with blackened smoke; A combination of brimstone and ash. Emily found it hard to breathe the toxic mix of air, but her lungs had been conditioned by years of cigarettes not to give up on breathing just yet.

The stardust lights Yalda had set around the maze were beginning to fade in brightness, perhaps this is why the shadows of smog were claiming the wind.

“Damn, not this darkness crap again,” Indena frustratedly remarked, setting fires in her palms for a modicum of brightness. “How are we supposed to deal with this?”

Mel brought forth his broadsword, the only source of stardust light they had.

Noises in the dark rummaged their eardrums. Quiet scampering across walls, possibly the assumed rats they’d talked of earlier.

“Ahhh…” someone groaned in the fog, but it wasn’t any of the three party members awake, nor Marek, who was still asleep. “Ahhh…Help…”

It was a male voice, so clearly not Yalda either. Who could this person have been?

Leaving the room, they marched down the hallway to investigate.

There was a man in a green uniform, curled up in a corner, lamenting his life up to now. He was wounded, scratches all over his skin, especially his torso, like he’d lost a fight with a very ferocious little beast.

In a fetal position, this fellow cowered, grasping deeply to his own legs and keeping his head covered as he rocked around.

“They can’t get me here…they can’t get me here…they can’t get me here.” He continued delusionally repeating those words.

Mel sat the slumbering Marek down and placed a hand on the man’s shoulder, startling him, but also causing him to exit his terrified trance.

Bag ridden red eyes turned to Mel, tears formed at the lids.

“Easy, man.” Mel proclaimed. “What happened here?”

The man’s breathing raced, until he slung his hands to Mel’s shoulders, grasping them tight.

“Devils…monsters! We have to get out of here!”

He would have rushed out of there on his own, had Mel not held him steady.

There was a proudly displayed patch on the man's shoulder, indicative of one who was serving in the armed forces as a private first class.

“Private, sound off!” Mel called out with authority.

“Pri…Private First Class, Neal Gram. I was sss…sent to report any unusual…aa…activity to the general. Who am I…reporting too?”

“Acting commander Mel Asamo. I’ve taken control of the operation.” He showed him a green crystal card.

“Oh thank God!” Private Gram fervently praised. “The others…they kept saying everything…it…everything was okay…but they didn’t…didn’t see it…”

The light in Private Gram’s eyes returned, but at a slight cost of his strength. The callousness of slumber tickled at his consciousness.

“See what? Stay with me.” Mel gave the man a gentle shake. “What didn’t the others see?”

“Those devils…leaping and scratching, jumping on people and…and…tearing into their chests.”

At last, an explanation had been given for his torso wounds, but to what end did this satisfy the devils he spoke of?

The Private Gram continued, saying “If you didn’t fight, it was easy. They’d lull you to sleep, as their fingers dipped into your heart. Some people let them…others…oh god…”

Private Gram’s gaze drifted away to Emily, who wore a visibly serious look.

For a time, he just gazed at her, breathing like he’d run a mile.

“Man, stay with me. Keep talking.” Mel ordered.

“It didn’t matter if you let them or not, they’d drag you away to the castle. Kicking and screaming. If you had fight in you, then the bigger ones…they’d hurt you so you couldn’t escape…”

Skitter skitter…

A noise came from above, just behind the walls.

“Oh God!” The Private screamed. “They’re back! God save us!”

Private Gram’s hands dove to his holster, but Mel stopped him before a weapon of destruction was drawn. Who knows the terror a scared man with a gun could cause?

Mel took the pistol, handing it to Emily.

“NO! I need that! It’ll protect me!” Private Gram attempted a futile rush to grab the weapon, but Mel held him back.

“Son, don’t lose yourself. We’ll get you out of this.”

Skitter Skitter…

“NO! It’s too late! They’re here! AHHHH!”

Private Gram frantically fought the grasp of Mel, pulling and tugging until he was forced to let go.

“I have to get out of here!” He charged into the fog. “Wake up…wake me up! I can’t…No more nightmares…never…ending!” His voice trailed off along with his sanity.

Indena was moved to give chase, but Mel stopped her, sensing danger beyond the fog.

“AHHH! GAH!”

Thud!

“HELP ME! SOMEOBAOAAAAAA!...”

Everything went quiet…

Skitter skitter…

Alarm washed over the bunch, causing weapons to rise up. Mel his broadsword, Emily her gun, and Indena her fire.

“What the hell was that?” Indena remarked.

Mel quickly collected Marek from the wall. The fog made it hard to see, but his combat vision pierced just enough clouds to show only but a few meters.

Everything was deathly silent, but something was just outside their sight.

What abomination would soon rear its ugly head to them?

…

A motion broke the still fog at Mel’s three o'clock!

Something lept at Emily, Mel sliced his broadsword across the air, cutting it in half!

“GRAAA!”

POOF!

It was reduced to ash, just like any other demon.

As if called to action by their fallen comrade, Little creatures, shrouded in shadow and fog, scattered across the floor by the dozens.

Emily raised up the gun she’d taken up from the private, quickly flipping the safety and shooting hot lead into the tiny devils.

BANG!

PING!

Was it a miss? A hit? Did it matter in a flood of devils?

“Fall back!” Mel ordered. “Indena, give us a wall!”

“On it!”

FWOOSH!

Flame erupted from the ground, covering up a good portion of the hallway. The light hardly lit anything up in the demon fog, but the devils let out screechy cries of pain.

“REEEEE!”

The choir of horror rattled Emily and Indena, but Mel shouted commands for the two of them, keeping them focused on escape.

Little bodies of flame jostled out from beyond the wall, still eagerly scampering forward toward their prey.

“Run and shoot!” Mel ordered.

Emily laid down suppressive fire, Indena sent fire bolts toward them. All the ruckus managed to buy them some time to get away.

They found themselves back in the pillar room, where Yalda had escaped this nightmare. Could they do the same?

“Everyone, get between the pillars.” Mel adjusted Marek on his shoulder as they all huddled up in the very center of the room.

“I don’t like this, Old man!” Indena shouted, keeping her flaming hands extended past the pillars.

“Get in here!” He pulled her close to him.

He recalled his niece's words, the ones about lining something up. He took a position similar to what she had, then looked for some patterns, lines…anything that would bear the same fruits and light.

Finally he saw what she had. Corner details matching those of the pillars. What a clever mechanism based on line of sight.

As he saw it, similar lights appeared around him, but the ones for him were not blue, but red, bathing the room in a bloody glow.

“That’s not a good look,” Indena commented.

Skitter skitter.

Skitter skitter!

Those devils became more visible then before in the red light and minor glimpses. Devious sharp claws and teeth, bulging eyes, stocky looking arms and legs, but long torsos.

A red wall of energy spawned up just in time to keep the devils from entering the center along with the group.

Bubbles, large enough to swallow the petrified group up, appeared under their feet.

They found themselves in the protective barriers of these soapy bubbles, then lifted up as if they were weightless.

No water had rained up this time, but rather, the wall appeared to melt like hot metal. From the core of the melting, everything seemed to vanish and lead into a stone tunnel. A hint of surface light reached their eyes.

Was this freedom from the chaos? They surely hoped so.