As we approach the mountain, a faint, indescribable scent begins to permeate the air. It carries with it a distinct feeling of wrongness, a mark left behind by the corruption of nature. As we touch down I feel the very earth beneath me tremble as the darkness of the cave entrance begins to warp, twisting in unnatural ways. Various sounds of shock and horror ring out from our party as the being steps out into the light and we can see it in all its detail.

It has the body of an owl, with arms from a variety of creatures carelessly grafted on. Sacs of bulging flesh poke out of the thing’s body, and a rotting black liquid slowly leaks from every orifice. It slowly shambles up to us. It's stance is awkward and unsteady as it tries to balance itself on two legs of differing size.

The legs aren’t its only handicap, I realise, as I see the slash and puncture wounds riddling it’s grotesque body. Black gunk dribbles out of them.

With a screech, the abomination collapses in front of us. Ipzitch cautiously pokes it with a large stick.

“Is it alive?” I ask nervously, backing towards the others.

He throws the stick over his shoulder. “Seems dead, but we can never be sure.”

He unsheathes a blade and slices the carcass in two, with some difficulty. As he retracts the blade, black liquid oozes out creating a puddle around us of what I presume is blood.

Izpitch takes two steps back towards me, as he shakes his sword free of the gunk and turns to us.

“Dead,” he says.

He must have noticed the intensity in my expression as I stared at my reflection in the puddle of blood, because he reaches over and pats me on the back.

“Let's move out.”

---

We head into the gaping maw of the cave, weapons drawn and at the ready. We follow the twisting contours of the tunnels until we reach a fork in the path.

On the left, a dark hole awaits us. On the right, a dark hole awaits us.

Spoiled for choice, aren’t we?

“I do not like the smell of that tunnel,” Ethan says, staring intently down the left tunnel.

“Well too bad,” Ipzitch retorts. “Because my map says that’s the way forward.”

I laugh at Ethan who rolls his eyes at Ipzitch behind his back.

I continue after Ipzitch followed closely by Ethan and Tristan.

The others follow too but very cautiously and loosely behind.

I watch my step carefully placing my foot on the cold stone floor and follow Ipzitch down the rocky tunnel up ahead. We were descending into the heart of the mountain, evidenced by the rising heat and frequent tremors.

A feeling of dread creeps up my spine suddenly. I swerve around and sense movement. Linton and Ethan sense it too.

“Ipzitch, did you feel that?”

“We are being watched,” he agrees.

Suddenly I can feel my heart racing and my body begins to fade away. Panic surges threw me and I force my eyes open to find myself gone from the party's vision. I hear someone call out in the distance. I yell, but my voice sounds faint, and I can barely hear it. I collapse and my world goes dark.

I come back to find that I am no longer alone. I’m surrounded by Ipzitch and Tristan who look relieved.

“You alright there?” Ipzitch asks me, a concerned look plastered over his face.

“We were starting to wonder where you’d gone,” Tristan says with a hint of relief across his panicked face. He helps me to my feet while still holding me.

My face must look pale and sunken, because everyone now is staring at me as Tristan holds me upright so I don’t collapse again.

“I feel weak,” I say looking up at Ipzitch. “What happened?”

“Your orb. It must have glitched.” Ipzitch looks to be really worried. “I heard they could do this, but have never seen it before.”

“I’m.. getting… angry.” Fear grips me as a sensation I can’t control rises up.

“About what?” Tristan asks, I’ve never seen him so on edge and tense.

“I don’t know. I…. Th-Think….” I can’t describe the feeling and it passes.

“Nothing.”

“Well alright then.” Ipzitch turns to the tunnel ahead. “We’re close, so stay at the back.”

I must still be pale as ever because everyone is still looking at me and seems concerned that I won’t just pass out, especially Tristian who is still holding me steady. But eventually we follow on down the tunnel joining Ipzitch, who is not far off.

I stumble as an image of my mother seems to flash before my eyes. Her lips are curved into a sneer and she holds a bloodied knife. I’m shocked but anger overcomes me and I try to stab her.

“Don’t worry, this is an imprint of your most hated enemy. Don’t attack it!” Tristan says, holding me back.

I try to resist my anger, but it envelops me in a rage. I feel my orb pulse inside me, and with a surge of unnatural strength, I break free of Tristan’s grasp and make a desperate slash.

The image of my mother bursts into a cloud of red mist.

Gasping for breath, I hold back my rage.

“We must move on, we are so close!” Linton commands.

“Not so fast.” commands Ipzitch.

“Why not?”

“Because we’ve been beaten to it.”

---

“Well, well, well, fancy seeing you here, Ipzitch.”

“Likewise, Lord Toto.” He spits the last two words out as if they’re something vile.

“I’m flattered you know my name. Ahh, of course, Lucinda. Your father would be proud.”

He looks at Amelia, supported by Ethan and Linton.

“This must be the dying one!” He snickers, gesturing to Amelia’s limp body, pale and green and inching closer to death.

The two supporting her look angrily at him.

“What do you want? A fight?”

“Of course! I want revenge. But as you can see, I’ve bought myself an army.”

Behind him stands ranks of creatures of twisted flesh, obeying his every command.

“You and your petty masquerade ends here. Join me, and you and your squad survives.”

I look around. Everyone is bruised and battered but looks like everyone is itching for a fight. Even Amelia, now barely mobile and in no way, shape or form battle ready, looks eager to cave in Toto’s skull.

And I look back at Toto, the man who’s caused me so much pain.

“I refuse!”

My opening statement is punctuated with a swift swipe at his neck.

Lord Toto deftly parries, and with another hand, reaches for something in his pocket.

I don’t even bother focusing on what it is. I swipe it out of his hand and it falls to the cavern floor.

Big mistake.

A giant flash erupts across the caverns, blinding everyone except the enemy, who seem to be darkened goggles. Panicked, I reflexively turn invisible, but the effects are so bad I come out of my invisible state and fall over.

“And yet as petty as your father.” he says disappointed. “I hoped we could come to an agreement. Commander, kill them. Take the four prisoners alive. They can be of… use.”

“It would be my pleasure, my lord.”

In a flash, a giant fireball screeches its way towards us, lighting the sky bright orange. It explodes, knocking the others down a hole leaving me, Amelia, Linton and Ethan behind. The floor crashes away, leaving only the black abyss below. Ipzitch and the rest of the group fall.

“Tristian!” I cry out to the black abyss below.

“Don’t bother trying to find them. Old man Ipzitch and the triplets and your Tristain would not survive a fall of that height.”

“Now, now, now, I’ll take Amelia first, she's the weakest. Bring her into the room.”

“Don’t take her!” Linton says.

“Totally take me brother, I’m weak.” Ethan replies wittingly.

“You’ll be next then.”

He takes her inside and not long after, we hear her screams. Then silence. Linton looks horrified at the room. Ethan looks sick.

Then, we see him throw her out the window. Long, gouging cuts cover her body and her leg is broken from whipping. She doesn’t respond to our beckons and pleads.

“I did too much. I think she’s dead. Oops!” Toto says, in the same tone of voice one would use to say that they accidentally crushed a roach..

I panic and scramble to find a pulse.

He’s not right. But not wrong either. Her pulse is dying fast. Her eyes are closed, and her breathing’s growing shallow.

“She’s got 8 hours at the most.” Ethan judges.

But that’s 8 hours we don’t have. Even if Toto and his men had a heart attack and died on the spot, that leaves a legion of bloodthirsty abominations. I shudder to think what’ll happen if they escape from his control. No, I decide. We need him alive, preferably so I can kill him later.

I begin formulating a plan. It’s not a good one, by any means. It’d be quite hard to think up one worse. But it's the only one we have. I quickly whisper the half-cocked plan to my party. They nod, in tentative affirmation.

It's go time.

As one of Toto’s thugs walks out to drag me in, I lash out with my feet, swiping out his legs from under him. He falls awkwardly to the ground, and I let his momentum carry his neck onto my knife. He dies without a word.

Slowly, I creep inside, making care to make just the right amount of noise. Too much, and he won’t fall for it. Too little, he won’t hear me.

“Trying to kill me, huh? You sound like a three legged horse on crystal meth,” he casually remarks. “Do you expect me to not hear you?”

“No, Mr Toto.”

“I expect you to die.”

He realises, but it comes far too late. Ethan flies out of the shadows, needles laced with a paralytic toxin liberally applied. They jab into Toto’s neck, and he reaches for it. It’s in vain, as the effects begin to set in. He collapses to the floor with a choking scream.

I poke my head out of the door cautiously. The abominations still haven’t moved.

We move cautiously down the tunnel. There's no way to go but up, but the walls seem to be getting lighter and smoother. Eventually, rocky walls give way to lush vines and moss, and we find ourselves in an impossible place: an underground forest.

“Whoa… ” The word escapes our collective mouths as we stare, gaping at the canopy of green above us. Strange animals cry out in the sky and stranger critters prowl the forest floor. The walls of the cavern taper up to a point: a singular pinprick through which we can weave a strange sight; flames flicker through it.

Assuming caves don’t naturally combust, that means one thing, the abyss our friends fell down led here.

And that means dead or alive, we can find them here.

The realisation hits us all at once as we simultaneously call out.

Our yells seem to disturb something, though, as we hear the grass being pushed away by something huge. Something giant.

Out of the foliage erupts a huge abomination. It has shelled armour covering almost every inch of its body, and razor sharp pincers. It steadies itself on four horribly twisted legs, and screeches a challenge at us. This won’t be an easy fight. We ready our weapons anyway.

The thing charges, pincers raised and I hurl my knife into its eye socket. I don’t wait to find out if I hit and leap out of the way of its charge. I hear it scream in pain, but it’s not enough. I can’t keep up this pace, and while I have to slowly whittle it down, a lucky blow from it is all it takes to remove me from the fight.

In a stunning act of defiance toward god, I turn back to the thing and try to rush under it, invisible. No dice. It doesn’t look like it relies on light to see, and it raises its pincer to crush me. We quickly put Amelia into a large tree.