Halloween Special 2

This takes place during last year's Halloween Special, which can be found here: https://www.honeyfeed.fm/chapters/54765

Donn knew he wasn’t the best at directions; he had been that way since he was a small boy, but he was positive he was never so bad as to lose track of two others he was walking with. Yet, he found himself standing alone in a dark cave; his temporary companions—Gwyn and Cecelia—had all but vanished. Normally, he might say they left him behind, but he knew better. He was the one who was lost.

He quickly checked his arm and found his Needaimus, Starry Night, or Star for short, still bonded.

Something is wrong, the Needaimus said in his head.

“You’re telling me, did we take a wrong turn?”

I don’t even know how to explain it; it is like we left the map altogether. I can’t find our location, let alone give you directions.

Donn made a soft hum as he rubbed his chin. He looked forward and backward, but only a long, dark tunnel awaited on either side.

“I suppose either way is fine. Shall we keep walking?”

I don’t detect any traps or any other signs of life as well….

“Ominous, but let’s keep going.”

The bulky blue prince took a half step forward, lightly pressing the ground with each motion before putting his full weight forward. He had fallen into enough pitfalls in the past and found them rather unfun to deal with in this sort of situation.

Do you think the others will be okay? Star asked.

“With how this whole night has gone, there is little reason to speculate. We will find out when we need to, I think.”

Fair enough.

Donn continued down the long hallway—making careful steps while his Needaimus reported anything and everything, whether of interest or not.

Odd rock formations in the wall were quickly scanned and cataloged, a regular check for others was reported every ten minutes, and scans for traps were done every few steps, among many other things. Donn listened carefully for any piece of information that he might direct Star to expand on, but nothing jumped out. He instead continued his cautious steps.

Over time, he realized they were descending; the slope was gentle, and without visible signs, it took until Donn noticed a temperature change. He wasn’t sure at first, but Star was able to confirm.

Do you think we should continue this way? The Needaimus asked.

“It would be better to go up than down, but,” the blue prince turned to look back. A wall had appeared behind him, sealing off the way back up.

I didn’t detect any movement! Let me run a scan to see what I can find.

Donn pressed a palm to the cold, rocky barrier.

“Don’t bother; this seems to be something your scanners won’t pick up.”

It doesn’t hurt to try!

Donn chuckled and shook his head. He looked down into the cavern that seemed to go on forever.

“Say, Star, did you ever hear the story of the guy in the cave?”

I am familiar with it and don’t see the point of bringing it up now.

“I was wondering, like in that story, if there is some welcomer at the bottom of this cave that we might be able to meet.”

I would very much like to not meet that….

Donn chuckled, then took a deep breath. “Is this any way to treat guests!” he shouted. The echo bounced to the end and then returned to them.

Seems like there is a wall. Star said.

“Seems so.”

Donn’s eyes gave in to a blink, and the cavern changed in the seconds in between. When he opened his eyes, they were greeted by a wooden door with a light shining from the other side.

My sensors did not detect what happened, but the visible change was confirmed. Don’t reach for the handle!

Donn wasn’t sure Needaimus could feel fear, but the tones in their voices could represent it well enough. Such a voice wasn’t enough to stop him, however. He cautiously turned the knob and pushed the door open.

The room before them was small but cozy. A table with a hooded figure sat in the center, and a lit fireplace crackled from behind. The walls were covered with paintings of various Aqueenian characters from Resh’s history—a shamed military leader, a failed revolutionary, and the infamous wicked king of the Aqueenians were the first to jump out to the blue prince. Upon closer inspection, he saw they were all less-than-desirable figures. Donn was happy to see his later father wasn’t up there. The prince sauntered forward and pulled back the chair, which sat opposite the cloaked figure.

The person before him said nothing but shuffled a deck of cards as Donn entered a comfortable position.

No read on the person before us. They don’t seem to have a Needaimus with them. Star warned. Donn said nothing in reply, but he was feeling pressure from the figure that suggested danger even without a power.

After the flicking and sliding sounds of cards ended, the figure quietly dealt a hand to Donn and itself. The prince’s two yellow eyes suddenly appeared under the hood, like the stranger had just opened them.

“Have you ever played a game with your life on the line?” the figure asked in a raspy voice. It picked up the cards and began to sort the hand. Donn looked at the facedown ones on the table. The backs were a solid blood red.

“On several occasions, but never with one like yourself,” he answered while picking the hand up. The cards were surprisingly slippery, and he saw no signs of wear.

The faces of the cards seemed standard enough, and Donn quickly sorted by suits in order of largest to smallest. “What’s the game?”

The hooded figure made a raspy laugh. “You seem awfully quick to play.”

“Not really much point in delaying; I figure we are going this way, might as well get the ball rolling…”

That will be the death of you someday…. Star added.

The hooded figure laughed some more before it managed to explain.

“The game is a simple one. We each play a card and the higher one wins. The card here,” it tapped on a face-up card to the side, “is the trump, so if the card played is trump, it takes priority. The loser gets the trump, and a new one is flipped up. We play until the deck is empty or we are out of moves.”

“Seems simple enough; what is the point of all this?” Donn asked as he laid a card facedown.

The figure laughed, “You might want to play slower than that. I had a strong desire to grab the one they call Nonpareil, but I snatched you instead. Seems he was protected.”

“I apologize for getting in the way,” Donn said as he tapped next to his facedown card. The hooded figure slid a card out, and they flipped them face up. The trump was diamonds, and Donn went right for the Ace. He took it, and the figure chuckled as it picked up the trump and flipped to the next.

“An aggressive one, but I advise you to look at the cards more closely; it won’t be fun if you aren’t attentive.”

Donn said nothing but eyed the won cards sitting in front of him. The Ace he played in the right light and at the right angle had Odell’s face on it. His yellow eyes grew wider, and he quickly checked his hand. Half the cards showed images of familiar faces, people from the Halloween party who had participated in the search. The other half showed pictures of monsters and beasts.

“What is this?” Donn asked; he had to wait for his host to stop laughing before continuing.

“It is simple, really: the cards you take with your loved ones will free them; the cards you don’t take will keep them sealed. Likewise, the cards you take with beasts you will have to fight. But don’t give me that like I am nothing if not fair. For every beast you defeat, you can trade it for another life. Ah, but if you lose this game or are felled by a beast, I will, of course, take your life for my own. You would make a lovely Ace of Spades…. Yes, I like that.”

I detect no Needaimus abilities; this must be magic. Star added. Donn shook his head and looked down at the other card on the table; it reflected a Fionmuala, the great sky beast on par with a Japhinth in the water or an Unkillable on land.

Donn sighed and laid his cards down.

“You are a terrible host, you know that?”

“I’ve been told that before. Now, shall we play? You won’t get everyone back otherwise. Oh, and if you don’t win before the night ends, I’ll keep whoever remains.” The figure added a snicker to the end of the sentence.

Donn picked up the card with Odell and let the hooded figure look at the face.

“If I have rescued Odell, I want to free him now.”

“It doesn’t work like that; he can’t join in this game if that is what you think.”

Donn set the card back on the table and tapped on the wood.

“Very well, then, why don’t I offer you a different game.”

The figure cackled. “Too scared to play mine!”

“I’m not stupid enough to keep this going. This setup is designed to make me lose at least one person, and then you would probably offer another game to make up for that with its own conditions, and so on…. No, I think I am familiar enough with stories to know what you are—I thought you were merely a character from a book—and I am not enough of a trickster to play along as the protagonist did.” Donn flexed his arms as he stood up. “I’m more of a fighter, so how about we just do that. Your entire corpus of beasts for all your captives, Gamespinner.”

The yellow eyes in the hood grew wide, and then the figure reared its head back and laughed.

“How amusing,” it said through cackles, “you seem confident in such a setup. Normally, I would keep to the rules, but I’m just helping out today, and this seems far more interesting than the plan! Very well. You will fight the 26 monsters I have in this deck. May Al Omo have mercy on you.”

The room began to stretch, and the scenery morphed as Donn and the Gamespinner moved further apart. The hood went in the air as the cards fluttered like moths off the table and around the Gamespinner’s hand. The face of the creature was ugly. Resembling an arachnid, about twenty more eyes opened across its face, and jaws split in four and began to drool. Six legs kept it upright, and two twisted arms collected the cards into a new deck. Only the Ace containing Odell fluttered around Donn.

The Gamespinner snickered. “Since I am a fair host, I let the players keep the cards they already won. You are allowed to borrow his ability during the match. The first minute is free, but every second used after drains a day from his life. I think you can imagine what happens.”

“Yes, let’s see your monsters then.”

“And you will be fighting—”

“Them all at once. I figured as much; you must do your best to give them a fair fight, after all.”

The Gamespinner hissed. “A confident one, are we?”

Donn hardly had time to reply as the wave of beasts burst forth from around the Gamespinner. The gross form of the master disappeared within the dust of a stampede as beasts of all shapes and sizes stormed to the prince.

“Well, Star, looks like we have a fight on our hands,” Donn said as he clenched his Needaimus bonded fist.

Please don’t remind me.

Donn hammered a fist on the head of a large feline-esk beast, which disappeared in a puff of black smoke as he leaped back to avoid the next attack. Three more of the smaller beasts were felled with nothing but his fists, but Donn knew the next wave would not be as easy to defeat. He smiled while taking a few slow steps back. The initial horde of monsters had stopped upon his easy defeat of four of them and watched the prince with care. This gave him a moment to see what exactly he was up against.

Some of the beasts were simply deadly animals native to his world, others monsters from legends he heard while growing up as a kid. All had glazed purple eyes, suggesting they were either controlled or puppets of smoke, as the first couple suggested. Either way, he knew he had to defeat them. In the back, near the Gamespinner, only one beast stood by. A Fionmuala which sat with its large wings folded to its side. It looked to be engaged in conversation with the Gamespinner. Donn figured it was a clever distraction to make him take his eyes off his opponents.

He took a deep breath and pulled some marbles from a back pocket. His ability granted by Star allowed him to control the direction of objects—essentially allowing him to always hit the target, but he liked to use the ability as a distraction as well. Throwing the marbles in the air, they began to swirl around him like orbiting planets. The objects served well as a distraction for creatures of lower intellect, and he easily smashed the heads in of multiple beasts before the rest pounced on him.

The Gamespinner must have watched horrified, at least Donn imagined he did, as the blue prince fended off blow after blow from all sides, slowly taking out each of the beasts—launching spinning marbles at eyes or feet to gain the upper hand—until he was the only monster left standing. If the freakish arachnid face could make an expression of shock, Donn was sure the one it made as he strode over was of it.

He pointed a blue finger at the giant flying beast.

“The last one, yes?”

“This was not what I was promised. This game is a bit boring,” the mastermind muttered before vanishing into the shadows. A whisper carried in the air after, “But don’t you worry, we’ll play again some other time.” The Fionmula spread its wings and flapped a strong wind at Donn.

“Guess I have to defeat you, huh?” the prince said. The beast made no indication it could hear him and took to the air. The sky had previously been nothing but shadow, but as soon as the giant winged creature entered it, it opened into a vast starry sky.

Donn crouched low and watched as the beast circled in the air above. With a strong push, boosted by his Needaimus ability, he soared into the sky and grabbed the beast by its wing. It roared and spun, throwing Donn higher up in the sky. After several flips, the blue prince arranged his body for a downward punch and aimed at the opponent. The Fionmula responded by flying up— giant, sharp beak aimed at Donn. He punched the point, and though some cracks formed on the hard beak, the point pierced his hand and sprayed blood up his arm. Before he could be thrust away, Donn grabbed the beast’s mouth and held firm as it violently tried to shake him away.

“Sorry, Odell,” Donn said. “I’ll have to borrow that power to end this quickly.”

Instantly, his body grew thousands of times heavier than he could imagine. Though he didn’t feel the effect much on himself, the beast suddenly arced to the ground. Donn gripped the beak tighter and twisted the head with all his might so the top of the skull would hit first. The creature exploded into a cloud of dust as Donn fell flat on his face. He coughed and waved his hand, and when the smoke cleared, he was back in the castle corridor where he had disappeared.

Through some coughs, Donn spoke: “Star, status?”

We are back where we left off; scans show the Nonpareil and Hobusian woman are fighting against… something below. Should we go and help?

Donn pulled some cloth from his pocket and began to wrap his bloody hand.

“They should be okay; let’s find where the Gamespinner went.”

Status shows no signs of that creature. I fear we might have lost it.

Donn sighed and sat down, just then noticing his heavy breath. He took a few moments to steady it, pondering how much training he would need before overcoming this weakness. After calming down, he stood up. Star confirmed his companion’s victory.

“I expect we will see that Gamespinner again! I suspect it’s too much of a sore loser to leave us alone!” Donn bellowed.

Why did you say that loudly?

“In case it was still listening, I wouldn’t want it to think I was going to forget that easily.”

Sometimes, you just ask for trouble.

“Very true! Now, should we catch up with the others?”

Very well, I will put a marker for you to follow. That way, you don’t get lost.

“Thank you very much!”

Donn eventually caught up with the others after losing his way despite the marker being in his field of vision.