Chapter 3: Descent
“Ahhhhhhhhh!”
Falling to their descent, the scenery sped past them in a blur as they screamed their lungs out at their impending doom. The image of their heads splattering on the ground, turning into brainpaste as soon as they crash, burned itself into their minds, sending their emotions into a deluge of fear and panic. But being powerless in mid-air, the group had no choice but to brace for the ensuing gore.
*Thud
Luckily, a black snakelike creature around a thousand feet that could somehow fly without wings, a netherserpent king, passed by, catching them on its back. Its body was like a snake’s, soft and tight, yet extremely durable. But it was different in that its body was sticky, instead of smooth.
The netherserpent king wiggled its body momentarily when the group crashed into it, but the grouped held on. It knew they were still on it, but since they were too small, and it was not hungry enough to bother trying to eat such small preys, it left them alone as it continued to make its way through the dark abyss.
“You guys ok?”
Shouted Solomon as he kept his body close to the netherserpent king, not letting go.
“Yeah! And Sarah’s with me! What about Grumpy?”
“I don’t know! But he’s probably ok, I-“
*”AIEEEEEEEEEE!!!”
Suddenly, an ear-piercing scream echoed, resounding throughout the dark abyss. The dark abyss was too dark to see, and not even the scenery could be made out by the human eye. But at that moment, the eyes of the netherserpent king flashed a green light, illuminating its surroundings. And the three saw it, long gray hair, pale white skin, and an ethereal body that’s half faded with its surroundings… banshees. Fraids of them, numbering in the hundreds, no, thousands, tens of thousands. Far too numerous to count. And all of them were, at this moment, flying towards the netherserpent king. As if too shocked, the three only looked on blankly at that horrifying scenery.
*ROAR
*AIEEEEEEEE!!!
The netherserpent king roared and the banshees screamed. Then suddenly a large, glowing green bump appeared at the end of the netherserpent’s tail. That large lump then quickly travelled from the end of its tail to its mouth.
“Woah!”
As that lump moved, it caught the trio off guard, almost pushing them off of it. But somehow they managed to hold on.
That green lump continued to travel until it finally reached the serpent’s head. At that, green light filled the serpent’s mouth, concentrations of energy clearly visible as that gathering of green light illuminated the fraids of banshees.
Then as it moved its head from the left to the right, the netherserpent king let loose that concentration of energy, releasing an emerald beam, obliterating countless banshees in its path.
“Holy shit…”
Watching that scenery, Solomon couldn’t help but let out cuss, dumbfounded at the netherserpent king’s tyrannical prowess.
But the show was only just beginning. The banshees, seeing that concentration of energy, quickly split their groups, avoiding the beam’s trajectory. Countless fraids have died, but they did not falter. Contrary, the banshees raged even wilder as they let out another ear-piercing shriek.
*AIEEEEEEEEE!
Faded violet energy began to ripple in the atmosphere, and suddenly, countless ethereal arrows with a hue of faded violet appeared out of nowhere, shooting themselves into the netherserpent king as it flew from every banshee’s direction.
*AIEEEEEEEEE!
*ROAR!!
The netherserpent king stood vertical in the air, and the trio grabbed tightly at its body, doing their best to keep on holding despite the pull of gravity.
Then as the banshees screamed, the netherserpent king met them with its own roar as it conjured a gigantic, green, spherical barrier around its whole body.
*Crackle
Tens of thousands of ethereal arrow fired on towards the netherserpent king at a rate of fire like that of a machine gun. But as soon as the arrows touched that green barrier, as if they weren’t even there, they only crackled away, fading from existence.
The netherserpent king continued to hold that position, keeping its green barrier activated while that large, glowing, green lump appeared at the end of its tail again. As it travelled from the end of its tail to its mouth, that lump would pass by like a wave of water, rocking the trio like a wave on a beach would. And each time, they would strengthen their grip on the netherserpent king’s body, desperately trying not to let go.
*Crackle
Once, twice, thrice… that glowing, green lump continued to bring energy to the serpent’s mouth while the serpent stood there, floating in the air, absorbing the endless barrage of ethereal arrows with its barrier.
Time passed, one minute, two minutes… then three. And finally, that concentration of green energy reached its peak. As if a green sun had just been born, a great green orb of light overflowed from the serpent’s mouth, completely illuminating the nearby area. That light was so great it turned the nearby surroundings completely green. The banshees visibly flinched, but the serpent was not about to show mercy.
*ROAR!!!
The serpent bellowed out a roar, and with it, it let loose that concentration of energy. Immediately, countless rays of light shot from the netherserpent’s mouth. Each beam having extreme precision, made it doubtful whether each beam was actually sentient or not, as the beams would dodge, bend, and curve away from anything except its target. And as each beam would pierce through a banshee, the banshee would immediately turn green as they faded from existence. One beam for each banshee, those rays of green light were truly like grim reapers, nonchalantly harvesting the banshees to fill its quota.
*Hoooooooowl!
The banshees’ howl resounded throughout the dark abyss. Unlike that ear-piercing scream the fraids were screaming a while ago, this howl sounded reminiscent of despair. Sorrowful to the point of being heartbroken at its mellow sound.
The onslaught of the banshees continued. That green orb of light overflowing from the netherserpent king’s mouth, having not dwindled in size one bit, continued shoot out rays of green light from the netherserpent’s mouth. But as the onslaught continued, the howling of the banshees gradually turned into a siren. And suddenly, several violet magic formations appeared in thin air, and as it merged into one giant violet magic formation, a giant banshee appeared from it. Standing at a similar size as that of the netherserpent king with pale white skin, dark violet hair, violet lips, violet eyes, violet dress, and a violet crown with violet gems embedded onto it, it was the banshee queen!
*Hooooooooowl!
Howling, the banshee queen’s voice was dark, sorrowful, and yet at the same time, beautiful. Even little Solomon couldn’t help but feel his heartstrings tugged at that pitiful voice that evoked sympathy. That voice reached out to the depths of the banshees’ souls, pulling out their energy from the void.
Violet electricity crackled from within the banshees as a violet aura exuded from their bodies, and energy filled them. Their strength renewed and doubled, the banshees restarted their attack as they summoned countless ethereal arrows towards the netherserpent king. Their numbers may have dwindled, but they still easily numbered tens of thousands. There were just truly far too many of them.
*AIEEEEEEEEE!
The one to let out that scream was the banshee queen. And at it, dark violet barriers covered the banshees, protecting them from the tyranny of those green beams. The green beams were fast and accurate, but it lacked the power to penetrate a defensive spell on the level of the banshee queen’s.
*Hoooooooooowl…
Having covered the defenses, the banshee queen began to howl a song. And almost as if dancing, the banshee queen moved her body and her hands, sculpting a violet sphere of concentrated power with the violet energy emanating from her fingertips. Her hands and fingers meticulously moved around that sphere as that sphere spun in mid-air with strands of violet light wrapping around it, carefully fashioning it to perfection.
Then when it was completed, her right hand slid across the surface of that violet sphere, moving towards the sphere’s upper right, while her left hand pushed it from below with its back, guiding it as she swayed her body in a curve. That sphere followed her graceful movements, spinning in mid-air along with the sway of her body. Swaying to the left, she swayed until her body bent into an arc behind her, then coming back, she swayed to the right, and as she completed a full 360 degree, she released the violet sphere, sending it flying towards the netherserpent king.
That violet sphere did not even touch the green barrier as space and time suddenly broke right in front of the green barrier, spitting that violet sphere right at the netherserpent’s face from inside.
*BOOM!
That violet sphere smashed through the netherserpent’s face like a steel ball, disfiguring it, and leaving the serpent’s face covered in green blood, dissipating as it touched the green barrier on the other side.
*ROAR!
Angered, the netherserpent bellowed out a roar. But the banshee queen ignored it as it summoned ten violet spheres that looked the one from before, only smaller. This time the violet spheres instantly formed from thin air, and without carefully sculpting it like she did a while ago, she swayed again. From the right to the left, then curving her back behind her in an arc, she comes back from the right. Unlike before, the spheres weren’t in direct contact with her body, and they were only floating beside her as she swayed, following what seems to be a set pattern for her attack. But all the same, the spheres went flying towards the netherserpent king as she reached a 360.
In response, the netherserpent king quickly mustered up its energy. And the glowing, green lump moved from the end of its tail again until its head. Green light filling its mouth, it spit that energy almost immediately.
But this time it wasn’t a beam that it spit, but a sticky ball of what looked like thick, corrosive saliva mixed with that green light. That green, sticky ball flew towards the ten violet spheres, meeting it in mid-air. And then expanding itself, it turned into a huge membrane of green, gooey, energy, absorbing the spheres as it recompressed itself back into a ball, effectively neutering the attack.
*Ha ha ha…
A heavy voice that sounded like it was laughing resounded throughout the abyss where green and violet flashed like fireworks.
*AIEEEEEEEE!
Angered, the queen banshee screamed an ear-piercing scream as several more spheres appeared out of thin air, floating in front of the banshee queen. At the same time, the netherserpent king’s body began to bulge abnormally, pushing the group off of it, as it let out an earth-shaking roar.
*ROAR!
“Ahhhhhh!”
Having been pushed, the three fell again. Down to that dark abyss, with the ensuing battle between the banshee queen and the netherserpent king as their background.
Then from out of nowhere, countless smaller versions of the netherserpent king, normal netherserpents, started poofing into the fray. And immediately, they rushed towards the still relentlessly attacking banshees, biting at their ethereal bodies.
As they bit down on the banshees, their mouths would flash a light of green, and the banshees would fade out of existence. But unlike the netherserpent king, the banshees’ ethereal arrows could wreck the normal netherserpents.
One of the netherserpents for one, had its body torn to shreds as a banshee summoned its ethereal arrows against it. Each faded violet arrow would strike against its flesh, cutting a portion of its body. A single arrow wasn’t fatal, no. But the banshees could cast the arrows at a rate of a thousand per minute. That would mean that every second they could dish out around sixteen arrows per second. One arrow may not be fatal, but what about sixteen? It was in this way that the netherserpents were torn to shreds by the might of the banshees’ terrifying rate of fire.
However, the battle wasn’t that simple as the netherserpents, while only able to bite one at a time, had a fatal bite. One bite was all they needed to take out a banshee. Moreover, their strength actually lied on their mobility.
As netherserpents, they had the ability to wrap their body in a green aura that greatly increased their speed and agility. They were also capable of teleporting, although requiring some time to cast it. Regardless, with those two together, hitting them with an arrow became ten times more difficult than hitting a fly. A testament to the prowess of the banshee’s accuracy. A level that mortals could simply not dream of achieving.
Like this, the war of between the banshees and the netherserpents led by their queen and king respectively, raged on in the dark abyss.
And in the middle of that cluster of flashing green and faded violet, in that cloud of tens of thousands of banshees and tens of thousands of netherserpents, the three children fell.
Farah, falling, she looked for her sister.
“Sarah!”
She yelled, desperately looking to be with her sister in these last moments.
A netherserpent suddenly poofed from thin air, breaking Farah’s fall as it passed by, causing her to tumble on its back, before falling again.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
“Sister!”
As she tumbled, she saw her sister falling above her, calling her. Putting herself on a belly position, she pushed her arms forward and straightened her legs, allowing herself to be pushed up by the air to meet with her sister as they fell.
“Sarah!”
“Farah!”
“Haha, I missed you. I thought we’d never meet again.” Said Farah teary eyed.
“Don’t be silly, we’re twins. We’ll be together forever.” Replied Sarah as she wiped her twin’s tears.
“Forever?”
“Yeah…”
“Even when you get married?”
“Yep…”
“Together…
“Forever…”
“In death…”
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“And in life…”
“Haha, sounds like a proposal.”
“Haha…”
In mid-air, the sisters hugged each other, embracing the most precious person to them tightly as they fell down to their descent.
"Are you nervous?"
"Quite..."
"Think mom's gonna miss us?"
"She will... She'll miss Grumpy too..."
"Sis, you know... to be honest just thinking of what's gonna happen when we reach the bottom is..."
Said Farah, her hands shaking.
"Come on, sis. I'm here with you." Consoled Sarah, as she took held hers sister's shaking hands
"It's good that we're at least together..."
"Yeah... at least we're together."
"In life..."
"And in death... huh?"
In mid-air the sisters consoled each other as they fell to their deaths, then realizing something, Sarah asked,
“By the way… what happened to Solomon?”
Asked Sarah. Then at that moment,
“You guuuuuuys! Ow! Oof! *Tud”
Solomon’s voice suddenly reached their ears from above. Looking up, they saw him tumbling and bouncing on the passing netherserpents on his way.
“Haha, speak of the devil.” Chuckled Sarah.
The twins propped themselves up to be lifted by the air, meeting Solomon as they fell. Taking Solomon’s hands, the three held each other’s hands as they fell through the cloud of continuing onslaught between the banshees and the netherserpents.
“Y-You guys, you know…” Fidgeting, Solomon stammered that out.
“What?” Asked Farah.
Gulping, Solomon continued.
“I’m sorry!“
Exclaimed Solomon as he bowed his head as deep as he could while the three held hands, still falling.
“Stop it.” Rebuked Sarah.
“Eh?”
“You think this is something you can say sorry for?” Harshly reprimanded Sarah.
“Eh? Ah… I-I…”
Seeing Solomon’s reaction, Sarah chuckled as her cold gaze went warm.
“Haha… I’m joking, silly.”
“Eh? B-But if I hadn’t…”
“If you hadn’t what?” Asked Farah, smiling.
“If you hadn’t invited us out to play in the forest because we would end up going inside a cottage, enter the portal inside it, find ourselves in a different world, and then have the door we came in from shut itself as soon as we entered it, then we wouldn’t be dying now?” Continued Sarah.
At that, Solomon stared wide-eyed at Sarah.
“Silly, there’s no way, you could’ve known, is there?” Said Farah as she continued for her sister.
“Eh? Ah… yes… but… aren’t you guys mad?”
"Rather than mad... I'd say that there are things I regret."
Answered Sarah as she closed her eyes. Continuing, she said,
"Thing I wish to experience, things I wish to do, food I wish to eat... but."
She breathed out a sigh.
"But it can't be helped, right?"
"Eh? But"
"There're no buts, Solomon." Answered Farah for her sister.
"When the time's come, the time's come." Sarah continued.
"That's right... Since it's come, even if we scream"
"Even if we curse..."
"Nothing's going to change..."
"So we might as well take it while smiling, right?"
Said Sarah as she smiled.
“Besides, no one could’ve predicted the door shutting itself anyway.” Farah shook her head.
“So, don’t blame yourself, alright?”
“If you have regrets while dying, you’ll end up a ghost like those violet things flying around, you know?”
“Y-You... guys… *Sniff.”
Seeing Solomon get all teary eyed, the twins sighed.
“*Sigh… That’s just pathetic, Solomon.” Said Farah.
“A man shouldn’t be such a pansy, you know?” Continued her sister.
“Ha… ha… *Sniff, you guys are… so nice *Sniff.”
Seeing Solomon gradually tear up, the twins looked at each other and shrugged, wryly smiling. Then Solomon suddenly looked straight at them, his eyes shooting out a piercing gaze and said.
“*Sniff… I’ve decided! From now on… I’m going to take care of you two!”
“Eh?” The twins’ eyes opened wide.
“I won’t let anyone harm you two! I’ll buy you two everything you want! And I’ll make sure you two live comfortably forever!”
The twins looked at each other, then to Solomon, and Sarah opened her mouth,
“You mean… marriage?”
“Eh? Uh… m-marriage?”
Seeing the blank look on Solomon, the twins burst out laughing.
“Ahaha… silly, if you say you’re taking care of us forever, then that means marrying us.”
“Eh? B-But… there’s two of you… I mean… monogamy…”
The twins looked at each other and giggled.
“That’s what you’re worried about!?”
Exclaimed the twins in unison as they looked at each other and laughed again.
“You didn’t even ask if we would say yes!” Said Sarah as she pinched Solomon.
“And you actually have the gall to ask both of us! This playboy! And you’re only ten!” Said Farah as she pinched Solomon’s other cheek.
“Oww… ow!”
Since the twins had to let go of one hand to pinch Solomon while they fell, the pressure behind those pinches were truly nothing to be scoffed out. But as Solomon’s cheeks were hurting, flushed red, the twins suddenly kissed Solomon at both cheeks.
“Eh?... EH!?”
While Solomon was still shocked, the twins continued talking.
“But sure… we’ll marry you.”
“EH!?”
“like this, me and Sarah can be together too.”
“I-Is it ok to make a promise like that! We just met!”
The twins pinched Solomon again.
“Now you’re asking!?”
“After we said yes too!”
Seeing Solomon’s shocked look, Sarah laughed.
“Rather than something like that, you should worry about how much time we have left!"
At that moment, the banshee queen, enwrapped in violet aura, summoned her staff. Fitting for her size, that staff was almost as tall as her with an equally large violet gem.
As the banshee queen grasped it with her right hand, the whole staff burst into violet light, leaving particles behind as it changed shape into a giant, violet lance.
Then she lifted that giant lance and, slightly pushing it into the air, she changed her grip into one fit for a throwing stance. Then the banshee queen spun counterclockwise. As she did, the violet aura wrapping her became violent, violet electricity crackling. Then that violet aura began to fill the lance in her right, charging it until the whole lance glowed violet with violet electricity crackling from it. As the queen was about to reach 360 degrees from her spin, she let loose that violet charged lance, letting it fly towards the netherserpent king as it left clouds of violet energy in its flight.
At the same time, the netherserpent king that had now become abnormally large, looking more like a cobra with its upper body so big, turned green. Every part of its body turning pure emerald. Then suddenly all of that green light gathered in its mouth, and like a deflated balloon, its entire upper body suddenly grew smaller as it spit out a giant sword filled with green aura towards the banshee queen. That sword crackled with green energy as it flew towards the banshee queen.
Like two comets, the green sword and the violet lance flew towards each other, overflowing with power. Leaving in their trails, clouds of green and violet energy respectively.
Seeing that, the banshees and the netherserpents immediately ran away. The banshees dispersed, while the netherserpents poofed away, leaving only clouds of black.
The three children looked up, and knowing that the end has come, they embraced each other tightly.
“Look, it’s coming.” Said Farah.
“So this is as far as we go…” Mumbled Solomon.
“Twelve years… huh?”
“Ten years for me.”
“Sigh… what a short marriage.”
“Eh? A-Ah…. Yeah.” Stammered Solomon, blushing.
Seeing the two acting like they’re about to die, Sarah giggled.
“Tee hee… why are you guys acting like you’re about to die?”
“Eh?”
“Come on, you two… why don’t you make a wish?”
“Wish?”
“It’s said that there is power in the will of man… So perhaps… perhaps just maybe…”
“Silly, that’s impossible.”
“But still… I want to survive with you two. So…”
At that they all nodded.
“Yeah…”
At that moment, the two comets met. The violet lance, the green sword, meeting in mid-air, those two great forces crackled like electricity, and then…
A beautiful sphere of violet and green expanded from where the two weapons met. As it expanded, it began to look like a spherical aurora as varying shades of green and violet mingled, mixing with each other. That sphere grew and grew, taking in all of the surrounding area into it, melting everything into it.
Then as that sphere approached the three.
“The will of man has power, huh?”
Thought the three.
“Then…”
Their prayers echoed.
“Please! Protect these two!”
Their wishes in sync, white light emanated from their bodies as it absorbed the darkness around them, feeding off of it to protect them. And then that thick darkness that was almost like water, suddenly willingly submitted itself to that light, feeding it more power.
Right now, within the hearts of these three, resonated three things.
Faith, hope, and love.
Faith in each other, hope that they will survive together, and love for each other.
The love they had for each other was nothing like that between a man and a woman. But it was warm and caring. An honest and pure desire to see each other safe, and to be by each other’s side.
These three things that would normally not be found within this world were like a ray of light in a world that has not seen light in eons. Small as it may be, a ray of light in such a world would be no different from the sun. And that “sun” resonated with the forces of this world, attracting them to the three children.
Perhaps one day, little Solomon would ruminate on this moment and realize to himself the truth behind magic. That magic begins from the will. The will of man that leads him to hate, to love, to create, or to destroy… This is the secret behind magic, the truth that exists in all of existence and nonexistence, surpassing all laws and dimensions.
As that light wrapped around Solomon and the sisters, it cradled them, gently as if it was holding a baby. The light kept them warm, and it gently brought them down as they fell. And when that sphere of violet and green touched the light, it faded, the three children safe and sound. The light continued to wrap around the three, as they gently fell down the abyss.
But as it fell, the netherserpent king and the banshee queen had their gazes set on it. Being residents of this world, they knew all too well what that light meant. And immediately, without hesitating, the two raced for that ball of light.
The banshee queen propped herself up as a violet magic formation appeared behind her, and as if there was something physical there, she kicked herself off that magic formation, propelling her faster than the eye can see as she turned into a streak of violet light.
At the exact same moment, the netherserpent king used the last of its strength to activate its race’s innate ability. Its body turned emerald, and immediately it turned into a streak of green light as it flashed towards the three children.
But because the banshee queen had started below the netherserpent king right from the start, closer to the children, she would still reach them faster by a microsecond. The netherserpent realizing this, forced out a great green beam out of its mouth, shooting it towards that ball of light.
*ROAR!
Roaring, it seemed to say, “If I can’t have it, then no one can!”
Panic could be visibly seen from the banshee queen’s expression as that beam of light went past her. Whether that ball of light could actually protect from a direct hit, no one knew. But suddenly, a great, white, illusionary divine dragon that was several magnitudes bigger than both the netherserpent king and the banshee queen combined, appeared.
That panic on the banshee’s face immediately turned to fear as her face paled. The netherserpent king immediately tried to run as it turned away, but it was too late. Light overflowed from the illusionary dragon’s mouth as it breathed out a beam of white energy towards the two monsters. As the surrounding area was covered in white, that beam rose to the heavens of this world, extending far above that gray sky for all to see.
As it rose to the heavens, a tower of light. The countless creatures in this realm, both those that belong in it and those that do not, looked on, gazing at the glory of that light.