Mystic Quest

Chapter 31

Soon after rushing down the stairs, the four and the wolf slowed down. This was a good moment to regain back some stamina, and it would not do good to arrive at their final battle out of breath. The thought of finally meeting the demon king was equal part thrilling and terrifying. They could finally do something major about the demons that plagued their world, yet they knew they might never come back.

The sounds of the fight their friends fought for them stopped reaching them as they continued their descend. They paused for some seconds, looking backward and mentally praying for their safety. They really hoped at least Aurora and Myrdryn would leave this place, and didn't dare hope the same for them.

Eventually, they reached the end of the stairs. A very small corridor existed between them and an opening, and they once more paused to take a breath. A low growl filtered to them, warning them that the demon king knew they were close. They stiffened, exchanging glances. Then, after nodding, they finally finished the few steps to meeting the king.

Their breathes hitched as the first view presented to them was another huge cavern. This time however, while it did extend a good deal to the left, right and forward; it went upward just as much, and downward even more. What really almost seemed majestic though resided in how numerous stone bridges existed up and down. In reality, they offered the only ground to walk in.

The group stepped onto the bridge born from the opening, walking slowly forward as their gazes flickered everywhere. They stopped in the middle as they took into the enormous pool forming the floor. The water was pitch back, however.

Lyria shuddered a bit. “That's like Myrdryn said. This water act as a portal. It comes from the demon world.”

“So do I.” A husky voice replied, booming into the cavern and forcing out startled sound from the group.

Everything trembled as a sudden whirlpool formed. Yuna and Solarys stepped forward as if ready to try attacking now, but Emerys and Lyria grabbed their arm, shaking their head. They could feel the tremendous power, and knew how foolish it would be to attempt anything.

And so, they could only watch as a head with two giant horns emerged from the whirlpool, soon followed by two wings beating to force a body up. A gasp escaped everyone, even Lyria, at spotting how close to a dragon the demon king looked.

His whole body was silver, and so were the eyes glaring up at them. He stood on his legs, a large tail sweeping left and right on the slowly vanishing whirlpool and his wings beating lazily. It felt almost ironic how the wings were all feathers, like the ones of angels. His head was not elongated like a dragon though, or at least not as much, only his mouth and nose being a small muzzle. It looked almost human, bare from the two horns existing instead of ears.

Suddenly, the king roared. It created a strong wind into the cavern, and forced his foes to cover their ears. Noriran howled in warning, and the four barely had the time to register the sight of the demon having jumped before Solarys cried out to watch out. Wasting no time, they all ran before having to jump to a new bridge as the demon landed on it, forcing it to crash down as the king stayed where he was by flapping his wings.

His eyes locked onto the group, narrowing. It was enough to freeze them for a split second, and then they managed to jump away as a tail came crashing down to explode part of the bridge they had been on.

“Take that!” Emerys exclaimed angrily, electricity surging through his body.

A blade of thunder suddenly fell down, piercing the tail and sending lightning all through the demon body. It howled in pain, then send his tail flying as if trying to hit the magician. However, three arrows suddenly pierced one arm, making the demon's tail going into the other direction as the king whirled around toward the archer.

The demon king became enraged. His fist flew to hit, and the young people had to jump away to avoid this. However, they soon noticed they had all jumped onto different bridges. The demon snarled before his lips formed a smirk. It become obvious he had meant to separate them, then. He roared once more as his clawed hand flew to Yuna, aiming to pierce. The swordsman jumped to the side, rolling and then immediately slashing to the side.

It cut through the palm that had been coming toward him, but it was not enough to stop it. A pained yell left the black haired man as he felt the hit, flying to the side to collide painfully with the bridge again, rolling and finally staying on his stomach as he waited for the pain to stop. His sword has stayed clutched in his hand however, and he mentally encouraged his body to recuperate faster as he feared when the demon would attack once more.

His friends, however, had no plan to let that happen. Arrows and ball of ice came to hit at the demon's back, while the white wolf and his mistress rushed to heal the swordsman. By the time the demon had shifted his attention from Solarys and Emerys back to Yuna, Lyria was already kneeling down and healing her friend. The demon flew toward them, but Noriran would not accept that.

The wolf ran without fear straight to the demon, fire enveloping his body. The demon's fist became wrapped into darkness, and with matching howls, the demon swung his fist as Noriran jumped. The darkness and fire collide, creating shock waves. The two greeted their teeth, then Noriran was sent flying. Solarys once more send arrows, Emerys helping with spears of earth and slashes of wind; damaging the demon king as it had come to a full stop.

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Noriran, for his part, was caught by none other than Lyria. She had finished healing Yuna, who stood with his sword raised toward the demon. The angel had her wings out, flying to put down her wolf beside Yuna, and then her whip appeared once more. The three charged at the demon with war cries.

The demon looked at them, but at the corner of his eyes he could see the archer and the magician on the same bridge, ready to attack him again. He growled in anger, and then he shot up. The group cursed and tried to follow, but by the time the ones that could attack from afar had the demon targeted again, the counter-attack came. He flapped his wings violently, darkness turned into a tornado aimed at them.

Emerys forced Solarys behind him, gathering all the magic he could to send in front of him to act as shield. For her part, Lyria stood in front of Yuna, whipping the ground to summon a shield for them, Noriran standing beside her to help. Both shields withstood the attack at first. Up until they didn't, and suddenly they all felt their feet leaving ground, darkness slashing at them.

A flash of light came from Lyria as her wings shone. She stopped her fall, and then called out to Fenisan. The phoenix of light appeared once more, this time summoned by her, and sang as he spread his wings. Balls of light formed around Lyria's friends and her wolf, stopping their own fall and taking them to stand on a bridge together. Lyria joined them with Fenisan, and everyone exchanged searching looks as they all wanted to see for themselves they were all fine.

A roar made them look up, and they gasped as they saw the demon king flying down at them. Suddenly, Fenisan let out an angry cry, and flew up. His wings pressed to his body, his body becoming white fire. The demon seemed to attempt to avoid Fenisan, slowing down by opening his wings and aiming to go to the side.

Too late, as the phoenix hit his stomach. Fenisan vanished in an explosion of the white fire, and the demon yelled in pain. Unable to stay up, he crashed down, destroying bridges in the process. The group managed to get to safety as the demon passed them. He continued crashing down, until his body hit the pool in a huge splash of water.

They watched as his body sunk down, disappearing from sight. Silence fell then, and they had to wonder. Was this the end? Had they won?

The reply came when a tempest of fiery darkness shot upward from the pool. The group raised their arms in protection as the darkness even went right to ceiling. A loud roar followed, and maybe they were not so surprised to see the demon king flying up. He went straight to face them once more, yet the darkness all around him going from the waters to the ceiling made him all the more ominous.

The demon roared once more, and the pillar of darkness exploded. The shock wave threw the group to the ground. They all hissed in pain, still possessing the slashes from last time they were hit by darkness, and now sporting more of them. They couldn't get up at first, breathing heavily through the pain and getting tired as well as suffering from the blood loss.

Seeing this, Noriran had the strength to stand up. His legs shook, barely keeping him up. But he had no wish to see his mistress die, to see her friends follow. The demon snorted at the wolf, raising his fist to hit them all. Yet, Noriran managed to move once more. He rushed straight at the demon, then leapt up. He avoided the fist, using it as a spring to jump once more. His fangs bite into the demon's neck, and it was the sole reason the fist changed course slightly, enough to allow the four to have the time to roll away.

The demon angrily howled, shaking his body to attempt to dislodge Noriran. Lyria watch her previous partner, then each of her friends. She closed her eyes as she focused on healing, feeling her magic leaving her body to do so. Yet, when she opened her eyes, she spotted right away she had barely healed everyone. They could stand up, but she had been too hurt herself, and so her healing powers could not work as well as they should.

Yuna sagged as he raised his sword, and he felt Solarys resting a tiny bit against him. Emerys wavered on his feet, his brow furrowed as he felt how sluggish his magic had become. They could still fight, they knew it, but for how long?

Their eyes trailed down, to the pool, staring into the dark water as once more the prophecy came into mind. They all lifted their eyes to rest them onto each other, closing them once briefly before they shared looks of sorrow.

Then, they gazed up at the still struggling demon, Noriran almost desperately hanging on. A new fire crossed the group then, one of determination. They had nothing to loose anymore. They knew themselves to not leave this place.

So why not attempt once last blow? Why not attempt to drag the demon with them?

They looked at each other once more, and smiles crossed their face. Solarys and Yuna held hands one last time, and then they all yelled in renewed vigour. The demon glanced down as the wolf kept jumping away from his hands attempting to pry him off, and then the king froze as he saw how Lyria flew up toward him, holding Solarys and Yuna's hands as Emerys used a tornado to fly up beside her and even speed her up.

The demon raised his arm as a shield, turning to attempt hitting them with his tail. Emerys jumped away from his tornado, letting his body fall as he send it to hit the demon's tail. Lyria yelled then, and threw both her friends toward the demon. Just then, her wings vanished in a flash, her strength having decreased too much. But as she fell, her whip wrapped around the demon's leg. Her other hand managed to catch Emerys.

Yuna and Solarys gave their own yell as they reached the demon. The archer, having her bow back on her back, had only an arrow in each hand. She planted them into the demon's chest, piercing deeply from the speed. The swordsman hit just a bit above, his sword going through the demon neck.

And then, Emerys and Lyria fused their magic once more, like they did back when they had no idea Lyria was an angel, when she did it herself. Golden light wrapped around them both, all of Emerys' magic and Lyria's own suddenly shooting up the whip and coursing through the demon's body. Yuna, Solarys and Noriran were touched a bit too, but they hanged on, unwilling to give up until the very end.

The demon roared. His wings gave out, unable to keep him up. His body went down, also making Emerys and Lyria go down. Bridges were destroyed as the demon's body hit them, forcing the wolf and the two human away from the demon's body and they fell down faster to join their friends.

A first splash came as the group hit the water. They could only watch as the demon came next, feeling their chest hurt as they held their breath until they could not anymore. Tears fell from Solarys' eyes, hidden by the dark waters, as she simply hoped it would be enough.

Darkness came onto their sight as Myrdryn's words played one last time into their head.

It does mean the waters will get corrupted if... if non-demons die inside.

And then their eyes closed finally…

To be continued...