9 Crystal Transcendence (1/2)

Chapter 9: Crystal Transcendence

In the deep underground passageways, a view of the blood red crystal was seen. It slowly floated in a circular motion, glowing faintly. Lesser fiends were roaming not too far from it, however it began to illuminate. The beasts fled to the shadows of the chamber, fearful of the stone's shift in brightness. The stone shined radiantly, before dimming back to a faint glow. Without delay, the monsters kept to a distance. However, there was now two forms laying on the ground. Panning up closer, one was revealed to be Zyron, the canine leashed from before, with his staff not too far off. The other though, was a pink haired girl, wearing a rather odd, checkered attire. She appeared human, and was laying at a distance from Zyron's position, her back facing him.

Zyron sat up, holding his head. ”Man, what the hell happened?... ” He groaned, before opening his blue eyes. He realized that he was still within the deep roads, which made him cringe fearfully. ”Fuck me.....”

His ears suddenly perked up, as he shakily peered over to the girl, who was slowly shifting to sit up. She held her hand to her face, sliding it up into her pink bangs. ”My bloody head...” Her eyes hazily peered around the chamber, her back still to Zyron. ”Why can't I remember?... Load of rubbish, this is... Where am I?”

Zyron's ears went back, as he stared at this girl. He seemed on edge. ”(Crap... What am I supposed to do now?!)”

The pink hair of the girl shifted, as her body began turning to face him. ”Domino?...” She halted, her eyes meeting Zyron's.”What the bloody hell is going on!?... You're not my brother. What... What are you?!”She gawked, uneasily noticing her attire as well. ”Wait? Why am I wearing my avatar's clothes!? Am I in the 'game'?! WHAT'S going on!?” Her tone was near panic.

”G-Game? What the fuck are you talking about!?” Zyron growled, with uncertainty.

”Don't play daft with me, you mangy twit!” The girl shouted back at him. She seemed under a lot of stress. ”There is no way something like you can exist! Not in the real world!”

”You're the one being stupid!” Zyron retorted, flaring his fangs, as he got to his feet. ”I have no idea, what the hell you're on about, but this place is definitely REAL. Not to mention, I shouldn't even be talking to you! I bet you're just playing dumb, so you can put a fucking collar around my neck!!”

The girl stood to her feet, getting into his personal space. ”Keep yakking arsehole! You're the nutter here, not me!” She snapped back, her finger pointing at him. However, something strange happened. Her hand, and arm, morphed into a metallic scythe blade. The edge of the knife was so close to Zyron, it nearly grazed his neck.

He stood there, completely terrified, his body trembling. ”E-Easy there...” He slowly lifted his hands in defense.

The girl seemed shaken, ”There's no way this is reality... It's... it's just not possible... Bloody hell...” She stumbled backward, falling to her knees. She stared to her arm, but the form remained.

Zyron was still unnerved, eyeing his staff, that laid at his feet. Though, the sound of paw steps began to draw closer, with an eerie ambiance of lesser fiends.The girl was too focused on her arm, to realize Zyron quickly grab his staff. ”Dammit...” He growled, fear not receding. His eyes trembling, as he stared passed the female.

The girl peered behind her, uneasily, at what seemed to be a manticore, and several spirits surrounding them, as the monsters slinked out of the darkness. The sounds of the ghastly lesser fiends was bone rattling, but the largest fiend peered down to them, with it's scorpion tail in the air. ”Talis buccellas sapidum, paratus ad devorandum.” The beast licked it's lips.

As her eye's widened, the girl quickly scrambled to her feet, as she jolted backwards. From above, the scorpion tail crashed into the ground, with a strong impact. While the girl scrambled, she bumped right into Zyron. Both stumbled slightly, fearfully gazing to the fiends closing in.

”Watch it!” Zyron snapped at her. ”You're going to get both of our ass's killed!”

This made the girl take a step away from him, uneasily keeping her eyes on the manticore. ”I'm bloody sorry, alright!?” She was fairly tense, sweat rolling down her cheek. ”It can't be too much different... could it?...” She murmured, softly.

Zyron gawked at her, swatting away one of the spirits that was circling him. He was shuttering from fear. ”Don't be stupid, you wanna live, don't you?! We NEED to run!” He looked off, to where he assumed the exit was located. ”(Who am I kidding?! I should just drop this bitch, and bail!)” His knees were trembling.

The pink haired girl held her bladed arm to the side, sharpening her gaze to the manticore. ”I can't be sure if this is reality, or not... Ether way this situation ain't very jammy. Even so, if it's any bit like the game... then... It should be the same.” She retorted, arching her body forward, as she began rushing at the manticore, with blade at ready.

Zyron looked horrified, ”What the FUCK are you doing!? Are you crazy!?”He stumbled back to his rear, as more spirits spiraled around him.

Her arm blade slashed like a scythe, ripping fur from the fiend's neck; as the beast pulled back. It barely missed, only damaging the coat of the monster. With a low growl, the manticore raised it's tail, swinging it down hard once more. The girl evaded, stumbling briefly, before it came again. This time falling to her hands and knees, the scythe arm shifted back to normal.

She panted, with the manticore fiend hanging overhead. This time rearing it's front paws into the air. The girl gritted her teeth, seeing the feet come crashing towards her. From her back and arms, blades formed like defensive spikes.

These metallic edges dug into the manticore's paws, forcing it to cry out in pain. ”Heus!” The beast pulled back, roughly, as it crashed back to the ground. Blood was escaping it's toes, as it limped back slightly, with a snarl.

Zyron was flabbergasted, still quivering in fear. Metallic boots echoed from the opposite end of the chamber, which caused the lesser fiends to look over to the sound, nervously. A shadowed figure came from the dark passage, with green eyes peering to the fiends. The monsters quickly retreated back to the shadows. This got Zyron and the girl's attention, forcing them to look to the approaching form.

From the darkness, Nye appeared. She still had infliction from her previous encounter with Kloud. Those cold eyes loomed over to the floating crystal, then over to the duo. ”You shouldn't be here.” She said.

Zyron shrieked uneasily, making a mad dash in the opposite direction. His staff quickly vanished, taking form back on his chest as the skull pauldron. The female stumbled up to her feet, looking to him in worry. ”Wait!” She called, her blades retracting into her body. It looked as if she had no wounds caused from the blades either.

Nye drew closer to the slightly taller girl, looking to the stone once again. ”Why would a Morphious be lurking down here, with a Leashed?” Her tone was rather skeptical, with her eyes returning to the girl.

The female turned to her, ”I-I don't know what you mean... and who was that dog guy?...” However, she noticed Nye's goggles. ”Blimey! Is that a NAT?” She was astounded.

”... I have no idea what you are talking about.” Nye looked rather irritated.

She seemed disappointed at Nye's comment. ”You don't know...” She looked off, mumbling to herself. ”If this isn't the game, just where the bleeding hell am I? It's not making any sense...” Her eyes peered back to Nye, timidly. ”They remind me so muchof this one boy's NAT. Just let me take a quick gander, okay mate?” She began reaching for them.

Nye quickly grabbed her wrist, before the girl could touch them. ”Who are you?” Nye asked, in a threatening tone.

A faded vision came to Nye's mind; yet another flashback. There was a crowd of people around them, with so much noise flowing in. The very same girl quickly grabbed to Nye's past life's arm. She seemed to be angry, saying something. The words weren't clear however.

Quickly letting go of the girl's wrist, Nye returned to reality. The female was staring to Nye, baffled after witnessing the forced shared memory. ”You... It can't be... There's no way you're Spooky...”

”...You're from a different time... Aren't you?” Nye was looking over the strange girl, unsure what to do. ”How else could I have seen you in my past life's memories.” Her eyes shift over to the floating gem. ”The blood red Crystal of the deep roads... Dangerous, just as Finch said.”

”Oy! What's going on!? How is that even possible!?” She snapped at Nye.

The Queen peered over to her. ”I don't have all the answers you seek. However, it seems you're trapped here now. You want to survive in this world, you're going to want allies.”

The girl grew quiet. ”...You're a lot different then him...”

”I suppose so, I don't really know much about who I used to be.” Nye seemed intrigued.

”You and me both, mate.” She looked off.

”Nyghtmare Ghestro, or Nye for short.” Nye introduced herself.

The blue eyes of the girl glanced over, ”Solitaire Eclair. Pretty jammy that you showed up, when you did.” She tried to smile. ”Geehee.”

”The fiends shouldn't bother you, as long as you're not a threat to me.” Nye stated, making her way for another passageway.

Solitaire quickly followed after her. ”Just a sec there, mate! Fiends? The monsters?”

Nye peered over, ”Aye, they obey their queen.”

”Queen?! Are you one of those Fiends then?” Solitaire was gobsmacked.

”Not exactly. I'm what you would call an Amygdala.” Nye glanced over.

”Never heard of that before... Then so, what was that dog boy? A Leashed? That was what you called him, right?” Solitaire inquired.

”Aye.” Nye replied, with a brief glance.

”So what other species are there? I should get the name's straight, so I don't sound like a blooming fool.” Solitaire went on.

”Everything will soon fall into place, follow me.” Nye stated, leading the way, with Solitaire following after her.

Arriving back into the Wynorex location, Nye continued forward, followed by Solitaire. The morphious seemed rather intrigued by the sights of this location, as she stared in awe.

”Nye! Where were you!?” Miles called from above, jumping down to their level. He stopped a bit, staring with an unsure expression to Solitaire. The little Phoenix peered out from his hood, that he had over his head. ”Uh...”

Nye walked beside Miles, patting his shoulder. ”I was out. Mind showing Solitaire around, Miles? I need to speak with Finch.”

”I-I guess... Are you okay? You're bleeding.” Miles glanced to Nye.

”I'll be fine.” Nye released his shoulder, before heading to Finch's chambers. ”Play nice now.” She called, stepping through the doorway.

Miles sighed, pocketing his hands. He motioned Solitaire, to follow him. ”Well, come on I guess.” He said, ans he began walking passed the hanging skull decorations nearby.

Solitaire peered over to him, before following. She was gawking at the architecture, as they walked off. Nikolai was looming around the location, but turned to watch Miles leading Solitaire around.

”Oh, more forces? How delightful.” The reaper giggled, in excitement.

Solitaire peered to Miles, as the small phoenix crept to his shoulder, when he removed his hood. She stared to it slightly. ”What's that?”

Miles turned, stopping mid step, on the stair case. ”Ember? Well, she's a baby phoenix. Don't look at me like that. It's not like I'm going to eat her.”

Solitaire placed a hand to her hip. ”I wasn't suggesting anything, you daft feline.”

”Could of fooled me.” Miles looked to her lazily, before leading her further in.

Nye on the other hand, went into Finch's chambers. He was reading through some old books, but the movement caught his eye. ”Oh, greetings my Queen...” He then noticed her infliction, setting his book down to the table. Finch approached Nye, looking to it. ”Dear me, what happened here? Don't tell me that the Dream Weaver is near.”

”This was not caused by him.” Nye shook her head, taking a seat in the strange curtain styled chair. She placed up her boot, looking to Finch.

Finch walked over to her left side, taking a seat to a nearby stool. He took out his gear, preparing to mend the wound. ”Who would dare strike thee?”

Nye closed her eyes, as Finch began sewing it up. ”One of the Rhyme. A Templar no less.” She muttered. ”It's not that deep of a wound.”

”No, no, no. Tsk tsk tsk. That just won't do.” Finch seemed displeased, even though he carried his usual calm demeanor.