45 The Four Horsemen of Apocalypse (2/2)

”You're that fiend who nearly killed Jackyn.” Ashewyn stated, coldly.

”I think you have the wrong idea.” Shane replied, half smirking.

Miles caught noticed of Hige and Hitomi laying on the ground not far behind Shane. ”Hey Red... Look behind him.” Miles pointed out, uneasily.

Hige was clearly struggling to survive at this point and the condition of Hitomi was unknown.The corpses of Dharma and her companion were no longer tangible and had vanished before they arrived. Shane was clearly the lead suspect, with no way to explain himself here. Ashewyn briefly glanced to them, before his gaze returned to Shane.

”Really, you got the wrong guy.” Shane kept calm, his expression not shifting. He didn't look the slightest bit worried despite his circumstances.

Miles gripped the hilt of his blade, his fingers quivering. The anticipation was getting to him, as well as Ashewyn who could no longer stand idly by. With that, the red haired Amygdala rushed in, forming flames in his palms as he blasted fire towards Shane. The fiend's waveblade was curved, swinging the magical blast back at Ashewyn. In response, Ashewyn was thrusted backwards, before Miles leapt over him to slash his sword at Shane. The attack was counted, kicking Miles away as a second blast of fire came flying Shane's way. Again he parried the attack, sending it back to the castor. This time however, Ashewyn gently moved his head to the side, as the blast rushed passed him, crashing into the walls over the already damaged cave. In the process, Ashewyn's hair-tie was severed, releasing his long hair from what was once a ponytail. His long red hair draped down his back, almost like a cape.

At this point Shane parted his attention from the battle, taking a moment to look at his friend laying on the ground behind him. He could tell Hige was dwindling, he seemed unsure what to do.

”Hi...to...mi...” Hige said, his eyes on Shane. It was as if he was telling him something.

Shane turns his attention to the girl, with Ashewyn and Miles preparing to rush him for another attack. His priority suddenly changed, phasing from the attack range to Hitomi's side. He scooped the unconscious girl up into his arms, before quickly mounting his skeletal equine. A somber look was now on his face and he refused to look back at Hige, and he quickly fled into a dark vortex. It immediately closed as Ashewyn reached it.

”Dammit!” Ashewyn swore, clearly frustrated that he escaped once again. His back was turned to Miles, who turned his attention to Hige.

Miles knelt down, looking to the Hare. ”Ashe.” Miles called, in a more serious tone.

The red head half turned, his long hair hanging in his face as he looked to the feline. ”...” He begrudgingly decided to approach their side, peering down to Miles and the wounded hare.

”I met this guy sometime back, but I remember seeing him at Skyworld. He knocked me out when I was trying to help the girl that that guy just took off with...” Miles mentioned, his tone somewhat bitter.

”I'm... sorry about that...” Hige winced, his hand covering the open wound on his side. ”I thought... you did that to her... but... it was Aoba.... I had no choice...but... to run.” Hige tried to explain, barely seeing them through the single eye weakly focused on their way. Blood was coated over his other still, seemingly almost completely dried up by now.

Miles expression appeared to change, almost as if he pitied the hare laying before him. ”I guess I can't really blame you for that...” Miles paused, looking to Hige with an understanding gaze. ”You were trying to protect the one you loved, right?... I probably would have done the same if I was in your shoes.” Miles glanced to where Shane vanished off to. ”I wish there was something we could do to help get her back from that guy... He's clearly bad news.”

”...” Hige was unsure what to say, staring to the feline.

”Hey, is he gonna be alright?” Miles turned to Ashewyn, his eyes glancing back to Hige. ”That's an awful lot of blood.”

Ashewyn paused, before closing his eyes, and shaking his head. ”No. The visions of rain are too dense. He's not going to make it.”

Miles glanced back to Hige, seeming kinda sad, watching as the hare weakly looked to where Shane had fled, closing his eyes with a soft smile. ”(Take care of her, Shane.)” Hige thought as his breathing suddenly stopped.

The rain in Ashewyn's vision suddenly vanished, causing him to look to Hige's body. ”He's gone.”

”...” Miles glances to Hige, it was a shame they couldn't save him and it made Miles feel sad.

”We should go. We're bound to get noticed by the Cultist Queen soon enough with how many have already escaped. It's best if we proceed to the rendezvous point so we can regroup with the others. There's a lot more forces here than we were expecting.” Ashewyn stated coldly, walking off from the corpse. It was clear he was pretty mad about this, but they had a job to do.

Miles had nothing to say, and decided Ashewyn was right, and hurried after him.

Panning to a lower tunnel of the underground deep roads, Jackyn was clearing out monster after monster as he fought through hordes of lesser-fiend swarms. He was being overrun by them, but he savagely took out one after another, leaving the dying beasts to bite the dust. He was getting assistance from his Blood-bone magic soldiers, helping him with ranged archery strikes, as well as closer range swords and axes. Finally he managed to lay them all to rest, standing there in the center of hundreds of fiends corpses trailing off into particles. He panted heavily, taking a moment to close his eyes.

”It seems the man with the spider tattoo never ceased running, leaving the deceased as nothing. He may have gained allies, but most continue to chastise his ways. You are still a plague, a demon in disguise. You're meant to walk alone, yet you flock with others who begrudgingly allow you to linger. Why is that?” Slowly spoke a familiar voice from the darkness, in a cryptic tone Jackyn was all too familiar with.

His attention from the corpses shifted, those piercing blue eyes focusing to the ledge of the tunnels above. A mounted figure trotted closer to the edge, peering down from behind a bird-like mask, it was none other than Finch.

Jackyn tightly gripped to his dagger, so badly yearning to kill this man before him. ”I'm going to make you suffer for everything you put Nye and us through. Mark my words, you WILL die here.”

”Hmhmhm.” Finch chuckled behind his mask. ”Patience now, Dreamweaver. Don't you think it would be wise to properly introduce myself first? You already know me as 'the plague doctor' or Finch Nostra. Perhaps 'traitor' is a more appealing term to a savage such as yourself. You see,I am one of the four riders, under the true Queen of fiends. A doctor I may be, but I am also a general in her army. You may formally address me as 'Pestilence', of the Four Horsemen.” Finch introduced himself, leaving his hand rested upon his lantern, with that mask upon his face looking right at Jackyn. ”I was never allied with your 'friends', if you can even call them that. Unfortunately for you, fortune smiles upon me this day. You shall be the one dying, not I.”

Suddenly, the wings of Finch's distorted Pegasus began to strike the air, descending down to the lower level of the cavern. The winged equine hovered there briefly, it's glowing yellow eyes locked onto Jackyn. Without warning the equine released toxins into the air, from it's fanged mouth. Jackyn quickly shielded his face with his own shoulder, as he attempted to not breath in the hazardous air. He wasn't sure if Finch as smiling or displeased behind that mask, but the plague doctor lifted up his lantern, releasing magic will-o-wisp flames upon him like a barrage of raining fireballs.

Jackyn dove backward, urgently evading the incoming blasts, as the toxic air began to erupt from it's contact with the flames. He was sweating at this point, it was going to be impossible to get close to Finch. Nye was on his mind, and he wasn't going to give up. His eyes panned behind him as he faced the winged rider, noticing the puddles of blood left behind after the fiends had turned into ash. The blood on the ground began rushing his way, collecting behind him. He moved fast, manipulating a portion of the blood into a blast that was directed at Finch, blinding him momentarily. With that opening, Jackyn quickly summoned several of the Blood-bone archers to have some way to attack Finch from his position.

Arrows began to fly at the airborne rider like a barrage of bleeding needles. The equine became restless, causing it to weave around in the air, as it's bug-like eyes scrambled to keep Jackyn in their sights as it circled around. Finch kept position on his stallion, as he continued to cast more fiery wisps at the Angel of Death. Fire balls rained down upon him, with a few scorching passed Jackyn's side. Jackyn roughly ran to the back of his hand where flames singed his coat, to stop the fire from spreading. By now, the two of them had widely distanced themselves, giving Jackyn the opportunity to dash Finch's way at top speed.

As he ran, his hands casted another blood spell, that spiraled up his wrists, but as he drew close he aimed the spell at the ground, blasting himself up into the air. For a moment, time slowed down and their eyes met, seconds before Jackyn dove at the plague doctor with daggers withdrawn from his inner-coat pockets. With great effort, Jackyn managed to forcefully dismount Finch from his Pegasus, causing both of them to crash to the ground below. Now unhorsed, Jackyn and Finch began to urgently wrestle each other in the dirt, fighting to keep the other from pinning them back into the dry soil. They continued shuffling as Finch managed to break Jackyn's hold and force the raven haired man into a defensive position, as his mask was knocked off of his face.

Finch seemed extremely irritated, as he roughly shoved Jackyn back into the gravel, so he could reach for a syringe in his inside the bill of his mask. ”I've had just about enough of you. This dose of nightshade will not be as gentle as the one you dealt with before, while saving Nyghtmare. Prepare to meet your end!” Finch was losing his patience, his tone more manic than before behind those pursed lips.

He prepared to inject the toxic into his opponent, however Jackyn managed to roll to the side; dragging Finch off him as he grabbed to the white haired boy's wrist that held the needle. He quickly twisted it around, as he plunged his dagger through the opposite end of Finch's elbow. Finch screamed out loudly in agony, as his forearm was extracted from his body. The raven haired male stood up to toss the severed arm to the side. His dark hair was soaked from sweat of their struggle with his damp fringe hanging over his eyes with a deep source of rage dwelling within.

The syringe laid on the soil below, to only be crunched in by the bottom of Jackyn's boot. ”You're nothing, but a coward.” He stated with a dark tone, that was as cold as ice.

”Once again, I sense your desire to end my life... I know that I've enticed such strife to fester inside over this course of time. So what shall you do now that you have this moment? Does my life end?” Finch remarked, his tone tormenting. ”Perhaps it is you who is the coward.”

Jackyn gripped angrily to his dagger, slowly looming closer to the forming pool of blood, where Finch laid. Hooves hit the ground right behind Jackyn as Finch's equine reared up to bite in Jackyn's shoulder with it oozing sharp fangs. Jackyn was knocked off his feet, holding to the burning infliction caused by the angry stallion protecting it's rider.

Finch grinned eerily as he rose to his feet, to peer down at the Dream Weaver. Despite his severed arm, he had this look like he knew something Jackyn did not.”Perhaps I should have stated, that like me, my equine is also 'Pestilence'. For instance, that bite just delivered a vastly potent dose of his venom into your blood stream. You're going to die here. There's no escaping that.” He stated, with a soft chuckle as his lips formed into a bird-like smile.

Jackyn's veins began to turn black around the infliction point of the bite. His eye startedto twitch as he sat there on his knees. The surrounding blood-bones all started to burst into splatters of blood around him, but Finch hadn't noticed the red ooze trickling in closer around Jackyn like rushing rivers of inchor. From the crimson puddle, a direwolf made of blood suddenly emerged from the growing lake of blood. Finch quickly noticed the beast form, as it's exposed bone tail whirled in the air. Before Finch could act, the blood beast leapt at his mutant Pegasus, tearing it open with savage fangs. He looked terrified as his eyes shot back to the Angel of Death who was rising back to his feet with shadows formed over his cold blue eyes.

”Then there was one.” Jackyn smiled eerily, as Finch's mount was being ripped apart behind them.

Finch proceeded to run, as the Angel of Death lunged after him with intense desire to destroy the Plague doctor. Finch was quickly tackled face forward to the ground as Jackyn gripped to his mop of hair forcing Finch's head far enough backwards that he could see Jackyn's sinister expression forming on his face. Terror was visible in Finch's eyes, but quickly become more intense as a dagger started violently sawing into his neck.

Finch began choking up his own blood as he fiercely grabbed to Jackyn's wrist with urgency and desperation to break free. Jackyn did not dare cease now, he more violently dug his blade into Finch's throat, pulling apart the flesh even harder as the neck snapped. The body fell limp, as the Angel of Death pulled the severed head part from Finch's shoulders, letting the remaining skin holding it together stretch and tear, as he held the terror stricken corpse's head into the air with cold blooded triumph.

Jackyn panted heavily, through his blood stained face. Immediately he dropped the head to the ground, to flinch in pain at his infected shoulder. Collapsing to his knees, Jackyn held to his arm, his hand gripping the air in front of the wound channeling the blood inside to spit out a flood of it to his feet. Amongst the evacuated blood, was a segment of steaming greenish purple venom burning into the ground where it landed. He took a deep breath, letting the wound on his shoulder slowly regenerate into a fresh scar, and the vein returning to a more natural color.

Elsewhere in the vast tunnels of the deep roads, Nye was making her way back to where she suspected Solitaire and Minerva to be. However, the stress from what she had witnessed was still weighing heavy on her mind. She seemed to have gotten herself lost and felt like she was walking in circles.

”Did I take a wrong turn or something? Perhaps drawing up the map from memory wasn't the wisest strategy. I hope the others are fairing better than I.” She muttered to herself, seeming somewhat anxious.

She trudged further along, completely alone without even lesser-fiends lingering around. It felt unsettling, all alone in that dark tunnel. In the past it wouldn't have even crossed her mind, but after becoming so accustomed to her friends, being alone felt rather unnerving. She continued on the path, feeling as if something was wrong. She had fought off monsters on her way here, but now just nothing. She felt safer before, but now, it was as if some unseen force was stalking her, and watching her every move. As she progressed further along, she finally noticed something. Laying on the ground in the upcoming tunnel chamber was Nikolai, surrounded by a dense fog. Her heart sank.

Nye immediately rushed over to Nikolai, her eyes dancing around the cavern to see if she could spot any sign of Jackyn or even Zyron. Nothing. Her eyes turned back to Nikolai with deep worry. ”Nikolai?” She softly called his name, as she scooped up her small reaper companion into her arms.

His skull shifted suddenly, as his glowing red eye squinted open. ”Mistress...?”

”What happened? Where's Jackyn and Zyron?” She inquired, holding back her clearly worried tone.

”Jackyn took off on his own... I remained with Zyron, but he could not understand my words of warning... We were attacked.... I have no idea where either of them are now.” Nikolai shamefully admitted.

Nye seemed hesitant, but she eventually shifted back to her feet. Nikolai still rested weakly in her arms. ”What about you? Are you alright, my friend?” She asked him, her tone soft.

”Don't worry, miss Nye. I'll be fine. Just tired.” Nikolai continued to lay in her arms. ”Shouldn't we look for the others now?” He asked in an exhausted tone.

It was clear he needed to rest further. Nye let her eyes look passed the vast fog hoping for some sign of where to go from there. ”Aye.” She quietly replied.

Nye continued to carry her friend, venturing through the mist in the direction she hoped would lead her to her beloved as well as her other companions. Her mind was thinking too heavily, losing some of her friends was a struggle to endure. She had to calm herself down, and not worry so heavily. Jackyn. He was her light in this darkness. Nye had to find him, she kept telling herself that.

”(Jackyn. Where are you? Please be safe.)” She continued to think, trying so hard to clear her mind so she could focus on the mission. She just had to.

She kept feeling like there was eyes watching her, or even following her as she tried to figure out where to go. Then the silence of her surroundings picked up a faint clicking of hooves, trotting closer and closer. Nye halted suddenly, as she noticed a silhouette of a rider upon a twisted black mare.

”Ehehehe.....” Echoed the deranged laughter of the rider. ”We found youuuuu.... We're so.... hungry..... Eheheheheheheheee...” She giggled, as the sound of her lips smacking together followed her breathy pause.

The fog around began to intensify, shifting into a deep red miasma, flooded with eyes staring intensely at Nye and her companion. The rider stood up on her mare, almost with frog-like posture. A wide crescent moon smile then became visible from behind the clouds of fog. This figure quickly leapt off her mount, scaling up the cavern wall like a spider, vanishing into the cloud of miasma.

Nye stood there, her eyes trying to locate this shadowy figure. ”Nikolai....” She called softly, with her gaze shifting around urgently. ”Niko. You need to wake up.” She said firmly.

Several monstrous jaws formed from the miasma near the ceiling, expanding in Nye's direction to snap at her with gigantic fangs from their eyeless faces. She managed to leap out of the way, but fell lto the ground. Unable to wake up Nikolai, she watched as the monstrous forms continued to loom within the red mist.

”Please Niko...” She pleaded, before deciding she had no choice but to handle this on her own. Leaving Nikolai resting on the ground, she positioned herself over him to form her wraith-edge. ”Show yourself!” Nye demanded, as she shouted into the engulfing miasma.

”Ehehehehe!!” Giggled the rider, while massive thorned tendrils slithered amongst the ever watchful eyes, like snakes coiling around their prey. ”We've been watching you... eheheh... Do you know why?” The voice teased, in her chilling tone. ”Our name is... Sclera... But the master wants you to know... Do you? Ehehehehe!!!!” The voice of Sclera continued to cackle, echoing around from seemingly no source location.

”You're not making any sense.” Nye stated, keeping her grip firmly on her blade.

”Sclera... Sherry.... Famine... that's who we are... Doesn't it understand!? Sclera is... Sclera ... We... We are one of the four riders. Famine. The source of endless hunger... A constant need to feed on the flesh of the living... that is us. We are that. Sclera. Us. That is us. Does it not understand us!?” Sclera screamed, before deliriously going into a sadistic laughing state. ”EHEHEHEHEHEHEHEHE!!!!”

Nye quickly thought back to Jackyn when she found him with his leg removed. It wasn't cut by a blade, the wound was too careless. ”It was you then. You're the one tore off Jack's leg. You devoured it!” Nye snapped.

”Eheheheheheehehe!!! We did. It was so tasty!” Sclera giggled, wildly, as she dove from the ceiling down at Nye like a starving cannibal ravenous for food.

She swung her long claws at Nye like daggers, clashing with the defensive position of Nye's wraith-edge. Sclera rushed Nye, slashing her bone-like tail her way with intense energy. Nye was thrusted backwards, crashing harshly into the cavern wall. Nye felt pain rush up her spine, only moments before she felt one of Sclera's black tentacles extend from her back to ensnare around Nye's neck to lift her into the air. Nye gripped her hands to it, releasing her sword to the ground below it vanished into smoke. She felt like she couldn't breath, opening her eyes to the blurry view of the oculus fiend grinning ear to ear like a deranged psychopath.