Sam was completely shrouded in darkness. She couldn’t see her hand in front of her face, let alone anything around that could do her harm. Her heart pounded in her chest, each beat in her eardrums sounded like the slam of a bass drum. She took a deep breath in and tried to calm her nerves and clear her mind.
Sam felt her way to her back pocket and pulled out her phone. She clicked it on, but nothing happened. Her finger held down the power button, but it remained black. She had charged it before her flight. There was no way it could have died that fast.
Sam slipped it back into her pocket and tried to feel her way back up the stairs. She turned around and felt behind her. It was a flat wall, no steps anywhere. Sam started to panic a little. This was okay; she had been in worse situations before. She took another deep breath and then, instantly, the room lit up. Two fires had been lit on the far end of the room, two on either side of and arched entryway. They sat in large bowls with no one around to light them. The entryway itself looked odd from this distance, but Sam couldn’t quite make it out.
Sam looked around where she had entered the Crypts through the cellar, but there were no stairs. Not only that, but there were no windows or doors, only the passage at the far end of the room. Old cobblestone trapped her in a box with only one way out.
Sam pulled her axe up and started for the passageway. As she neared the flames, Sam noticed what the archway was made out of. Human skulls were stacked upwards and arched inward to one keystone skull that glared down upon all that entered. The keystone skull’s jaw was still attached and propped
open. The skull mimicked an unnatural laugh directed at all those who passed beneath it.
The Axe Wielder looked deep into the passage. It was dark, with no other source of light. She would need something to light her way if she was going to make it out of the Crypts alive.
Sam looked to her left. Unlit torches lined the wall next to the fiery bowls. Sam quickly grabbed one and lit it. She moved back to the entryway and paused. It was just her now. There would be no help from the Raven. Lord Blud or the Ginger would not be around to save her if she couldn’t keep it together.
Sam swallowed the hard lump in her throat and pushed her way through the entry. On the other side, she looked back into the chamber she had just been in. She figured something would have happened, something spectacular, but maybe she was just used to the strange phenomenon happening all around her.
The Female Warrior turned back to the passage. It was wide enough for two men to stand side by side, just enough room for her to swing her axe if she needed to. Of course, she would be severely disadvantaged. She held a torch in one hand, and her axe in her right. Her power output would be crippled swinging with only one hand. Sam shook her head. These thoughts need to leave her. She had to press onward, there was no way back.
Sam continued into the dark passage. She looked about the walls. Small niches were cut out of the stone and skeletons were placed inside. Their clothes had rotted away long ago, only the weapons, shields, and jewelry remained. Above each niche was a language Sam could recognize as an old form of Latin. Again she thought of Eddie. He could easily read these off to her, but he wasn’t here with her now. All Sam could do was push onward along the narrow passageway.
The torchlight lit the tunnels ahead of Sam. She passed numerous skeletons, all adorned with a different style of weapons, or jewels, all from different time periods. There was no way these could have naturally been all collected and place here throughout history. The languages above each niche started to change. Some were Spanish, others French, some even with hieroglyphics. Some skeletons had water dripping from an unknown source; others held the burnt remains of humans long ago. Some skulls were smashed in, while others were missing entirely. Sam stopped at a skeleton that was frothing from the mouth.
She leaned in to inspect the froth when a gust of wind blew through the passage, and the fire on her torch spasmed. The Warrior in the passage turned at the sound of distant laughter. It sounded like bone chattering upon itself. She raised her axe up and quickly pushed onward. Whatever that was, it wasn’t something she wanted to be stuck with.
Sam ran through the halls, skeletons on both sides. The names on the walls started to appear in English. Flintlock guns were lying next to fleshless bodies, the wood rotted away from the metal structure. Dog tags replaced jewelry and metal guns replaced swords and axes. Sam paced herself. It was obvious to her now; these were warriors, soldiers, and fighters throughout the ages.
Chattering of hollowed out bones filled the passageway behind her. Sam glanced back as far as her torch would allow her. There stood a lone skeleton. Its empty sockets glared back at her with emotionless zeal, while its jaw hung loosely, swaying back and forth as it took a step towards Sam. The lifeless skeleton raised its arm, bringing a sickle with it. The bone-white warrior charged Sam with a head first run, no fear for its life.
Sam swung her axe down with one hand. It crashed on the skeleton’s skull, shattering the brittle bones all the way down to the floor. Sam’s axe clanked against the stone floor. Her eyebrows shot up. She didn’t think it would be that easy to take out the skeleton.
Green sparks bounced around the skeleton and shot upwards onto a skeleton in a nearby alcove. The skeleton within shot up instantly, twisting its body sideways and throwing its muscle-void legs over the side. The skeleton raised an ancient flintlock pistol at Sam.
There was nowhere to go in the narrow passage. She could try to dive away and dodge the bullet, but that was a slim chance. Beyond the torchlight, Sam could see even more skeletons moving in on her position. Green sparks lit up in each of their empty eye sockets, filling the void with an unearthly glow.
The skeleton pulled the trigger. The gun burst open in the skeleton’s boney hand, dispersing shrapnel of bone, metal, and wood throughout the small passage. Sam covered her head, bits of debris lodged into her arm, striking blood from her skin.
The Axe Wielder looked from under her arm. The skeleton with the pistol had been eviscerated by its own weapon, but more the fleshless mass surged forward, teeth chattering within their hollow skulls.
Sam swung her axe at the first wave in a wide arc. The bones bounced about the passage as the skeletons blew apart from the attack. Torchlight bounced around the walls as the woman fought off her attackers. The flames were taking their toll on the torch. It was beginning to sputter and the flame struggled to stay alight. Sam knew she didn’t have much time before her light source was exhausted. She couldn’t make her way back to the entrance. There were too many skeletons in-between her and the life-giving flames.
With one more swing, Sam turned and fled down the passage. More and more skeletons rose as she passed by. The passageway finally broke into a larger chamber. Sam sighed with relief. There must be some sort of doorway, or someone waiting for her there. This was an unknown world to her. There was also the thought that there was nothing waiting for her. This could be one big trap set up by her enemies.
She entered into the large chamber and gasped. It was a circular room, and all that lined the walls were more skeletons. She turned at the sound of bones in the passage behind her. There had to be some way out of here. Sam ran further into the room. In the middle was a step up onto a platform that held a large stone sarcophagus with a small plaque set into the side. It was more formal than the carvings set above the alcoves that held the skeletons.
The rest of the room just held more niches of skeletons, nothing the hero could see to escape with.
She stepped up to the sarcophagus and held her torch up to the plaque. She stepped back in panic. Her name was imprinted on the metal plaque. Sam franticly scanned the room. She needed to get out or she would end up like one of these undead constructs. She would be trapped forever in this terrible nightmare.
The mass of skeletons pushed their way into the room, moving headlong for Sam. They rushed her down with numbers too large for Sam to count them out. There was no point if they hacked her to pieces and placed her inside her newfound tomb.
Sam stepped back, placing the sarcophagus behind her for protection. She wouldn’t go down without a fight. She twirled around quickly, using her force to her advantage. She hacked through several skeletons at once, turning the bones into shrapnel.
Green sparks shot up and out into new piles of bones. The bones rose from the ground in a new mass of mismatched, tangled pearly whites. They mocked human life as the mutated skeletons shambled forward for their prey. Green energy sparked through the crowd of undead.
Sam slammed her axe down on her recovery swing, taking out an assailant that tried to impale her with a short sword. A pike from somewhere deep in the horde struck her in the thigh. Sam twisted on reflex, pulling back before the pike could impale her thigh completely. She started to leak blood from the wound, but it was bearable.
This was too much for Sam. All these skeletons just kept coming for her. She looked around the mass of bone for any kind of escape, but there was none to be found.
A blast from a machinegun deafened Sam. Bullets tore through the mob, several exploded on the stone sarcophagus next to Sam. The skeletons in the walls around the room woke from their slumber soon after and they soon joined their undead comrades on their quest for blood.
Sam turned and climbed on the sarcophagus. It was her only escape from the horde in front of her. The skeletons kept striking out with their weapons of choice, some mutant masses held several weapons at once. Projectiles soared through the air at Sam. She dodged several and swatted one away with her axe.
The sound of stone collapsing rocked the sarcophagus beneath Sam. She struggled to keep balance as the ground creaked again. She fell to her knees in front of a skeleton with a hammer raised above its head. Sam dropped her torch. It lit up the skeleton’s face with a horrid ghastly expression. The hollowed out eyes lit with eerie green lights had only one objective, to kill.
Sam tried to bring up her axe to block the blow to her head, but a final crack let loose into the chamber and the floor began to fall beneath the mass of skeletons. The hammer fell from the imitation of life, spiraling into the darkness below the crumbling floor. All around the heroine, the floor fell apart. Skeletons sank into the ground in-mass. The sarcophagus tilted to the right and Sam’s torch fell into the dark below. She was forced to grab the side of the stone coffin. Her axe tumbled from her hand, sharing the fate of her torch. With one last lurch, the sarcophagus pulled to the right and felt gravity’s unconditional touch. Sam held her breath, she didn’t dare scream as she plummeted into the dark. Her last moments wouldn’t be of fear. She wouldn’t give in.
The torch was on its last leg. A simple light remained emanating from the tool. Cold air swirled around the rubble and slapped Sam hard, chills crept down her arms.
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Sam stirred from the wreckage. She was unharmed by the fall, but she could feel the cuts in her skin burn like a wildfire. The faint light of the torch drew her in like so many bugs before.
She stood and looked at her surroundings. From what she could see, this was one massive chamber. Her footsteps echoed into infinity, her breath was heard in the far corners of the room, but she could not see more than ten feet away.
After retrieving the torch, her first thought was self-defense. She searched the rubble for several minutes. Sam had found her axe with the answer to one of her questions. The skeletons were lifeless now. They lay in the pile of debris, at home in the timeless stone rubble strewn about this over-sized hall.
The Torchbearer held the remaining light over her head. She could make out thick, oversized pillars stretching high up and vanishing into the darkness above. The pillars were spaced evenly and looked like they had been carved recently, no wear and tear to speak of. The marble floor reflected the lame light from the dwindling torch, magnifying the distance Sam could see in all directions.
Sam looked about the grand hall with awe. She hadn’t seen anything this massive in all her life. This was no normal work of man. It had to be made by something unnatural. There were no markings of any kind to be seen. She tended to her wounds quickly enough, tearing away at her pants to make bandages. Sam looked about the directionless hall. She just picked a direction and went with it.
Her steps were magnified with each boot stamping upon the ground, calling out in the vast expanse to the unknown beings, beings natural to this place and none other. The beings reacted to the intrusion and followed the sound of the footsteps. Their sightless eyes were drawn to the sound of Sam. They, the beings forever cold in this place of seclusion, felt the simmer of heat produced by the pumping heart of the woman walking in their midst.
Sam had begun to notice these beings too. She could make faint traces of bodies at the edge of her torchlight. They held back, not wanting to be touched by the brightness of her torch, each being would withdraw before Sam could harbor a better look at their faces.
Thoughts of murder began to creep into Sam’s mind, enhanced by the whispers of the beings. She could then remember all the faces of those she had killed in the past. All of the lives she had ended early and taken for granted while she still walked the Earth, flashed in front of her. It was her biggest crime, and it had gone unpunished.
Sam gripped her axe tighter, and the thoughts began to diminish. The talisman started up its hum again, and Sam returned to normal. The talisman given to her by Mr. Bartlett all those years ago had shielded her from this kind of magic twice now. She had to help him any way she could, so Sam pushed on with even more determination. This had to be a test of some kind, a test she had to pass to get the answers she searched for this whole time. Somewhere at the end of this hall would be what she was looking for.
She kept moving onward. More of the secretive beings at the edge of the light gathered around the woman who moved freely into their territory. They crept in closer now, the torchlight was quickly diminishing. Sam made sure her axe was ready, just in case they tried to move in for the kill, but it seemed as long as her torch stayed lit, she was safe from their assault.
Finally, there was something. Something was in front of her now. She couldn’t quite tell what it was. A chair of some sort. As Sam moved closer to the stagnant object, the details of it became clearer.
A large white marble throne sat in the middle of the hall, between two massive pillars. The back of the throne faced her. A fountain of red liquid spewed from the back, trickling down the marble and pooling at the bottom of the throne, creating a moat of crimson.
Sam could see someone, or something, sitting in the throne, but there was no way to know what for sure.
The throne soon started to spin around to face Sam. The sound of stone grinding on stone made Sam’s mouth cringe, her teeth began grinding on each other. She tilted her head to the side and shut her eyes. The sound reminded her of school days, when her friends would scratch their nails on the chalkboards in class.
The sound soon ended. Sam opened her eyes. The creatures at the edge of the light had moved in closer now. Their whispers became louder the closer they came to Sam. Sam could see some detail about their hideously deformed bodies. Skin was loosely draped around the mass of muscles mushed together to form a harsh mimicry of the human form. Strips of skin were sewn together with a crudeness of a child’s skill. Different skin tones mapped together and worn like a cloak were enough to make Sam wish she hadn’t entered this place, whatever it was. She cursed the Raven for showing her the Crypts.
“Do not fret over what is done, but look to what has yet to happen.” A deep, emotionless voice echoed all around the never-ending hall of darkness. The creatures backed away some distance.
Sam looked at the throne. It had turned around one-hundred and eighty degrees and now faced Sam head on. The inhabitants were now visible. Two beings sat on the throne, more exactly, one sat on the throne while the other sat atop the lap of the first being.
They were clearly a man and a woman, or at least that’s what Sam had to assume. The being on top of the lap was strangely beautiful. Perfectly snow white skin, no freckles or blemishes of any kind, was wrapped around the chest with a black, leather corset. Full, perky breasts were forced upward, pressing against each other. The woman’s posture was straight as humanly possible, even more so, as it was some twisted perversion of the perfect human form, too perfect to be accepted, but there was no doubting that this was one beautiful woman.
Her white hair was held back with a string of black rings. Her bangs were clipped close to her hairline, cut in a straight line until it reached the sides of her face. Her bangs then dropped suddenly, straightened downwards. Her eyes were completely black, like voids into the abyss that sucked all light from existence. The oddest thing about this beauty was the small set of wings sprouting from her back. They were black as the Raven’s birds that flew about.
Her legs pressed together and draped off the man’s legs sideways, her arm around his neck in a loving embrace. Sam could not see any underwear visible and assumed she was naked from the waist down, her white legs an empty canvass of soft skin.
Empty thoughts of lovemaking wadded into Sam’s mind. The woman crawled from her throne and pulled Sam down to the marble floor. The winged woman straddled Sam and pulled the battered tank top from Sam’s body. The mysterious woman rubbed down Sam’s body as she did so, stopping to give her chest extra attention. An elongated black tongue stretched out of the snow-white woman’s mouth. The woman leaned in and licked Sam’s chest, running her tongue up to her chin. Sam let out a small pleasurable sigh. The small black wings fluttered a little as the woman leaned back and smiled at Sam.
The talisman started to hum again, and Sam shook her head violently. When she came to, she was still standing, wielding her axe, and the woman was still atop her throne, staring off into the abyss. The being must have invaded Sam’s mind. She gripped the talisman in her hand, holding it closer to her chest as the axe dangled below. She couldn’t let these things take her sanity.
Sam turned her attention to the man. She had enough of the fallen beauty.
The man was less tempting than his counterpart. Black robes covered his head to his feet, only broken at the face by a mask. The mask sparkled in the light of the torch, its glossy exterior the only act of vain the man had adorned. Two horns shot from the top of the mask, curving upwards slightly. His eyes and lips were emotionless, resting in place for thousands of years it seemed. The pair stared off into the darkness, paying neither Sam nor the creatures in the darkness any attention at all.
“What are you here for, mortal?” The deep voice sounded out again. “I have answers to all.”
Sam gazed upon the black mask, her quest for knowledge beat out the constant urge to run off into the dark and take her chances with the skinless creatures.
“Do not fear me, I will not cause you any harm. Ask what it is you have traveled here to ask.”
The two beings sat still, waiting for Sam to bring forth her questions. She swallowed, her mouth was dry and her voice struggled to break free. Her torch was on its last stretch now. Soon there would be darkness all around. She thought of the dark. How it used to scare her, until that one night she was saved, be it by fate or stupid luck, by Mr. Bartlett and his friends. It was her turn now to save him, she had to.
“I want to know the whereabouts of Mr. Bartlett. What’s he planning, if he is even alive?” Sam stepped forward. This had to be the place the spirit in Haiti had told her of. A flicker of hope shot through her body.
“To answer one of your questions, the one you call Mr. Bartlett is alive.” The deep voice boomed, shortly after followed by whispers that repeated the man’s statements.
Sam smiled a little, bringing a faint trace of happiness to this otherwise gloomy realm.
“As of now, he is currently in the land you call Germany.” The boom and whispers brought a strange happiness to Sam.
She couldn’t believe that he was in the same place she was headed to. There was no way this was coincidence though. A doubt struck her mind that this was all part of some game. Someone had been toying with her, but who, who had reasons to do so?
“And to your third question, he plans on destroying your planet. Destroying everything this world has to offer, so that he might free himself form the shackles this world has forged around him. To be more precise, to break the shackles that are around the one within him.” The whispers echoed off the pillars.
“Destroy the world? How do you know this?” Sam couldn’t believe that Mr. Bartlett would do such a thing.
“I know many things. I have brought knowledge to man for all their lifetime. I am attached to every man, woman, and child. I have been there with your first steps and I remain until your last breaths. There are many names for me, many cultures view me in different respects, but I am one with all humans on this world, which is why I help you now. If this world is destroyed, then I too am destroyed, along with all the lives of those on this planet.” The black glossy eyes kept staring off into the distance.
Sam receded into her own thoughts. There was no reason for this being to lie to her. He gave her the answers she sought, but now she had no clue of what to think about Mr. Bartlett. She had to save the man she knew. The man trapped inside by the creature. She needed to get out of here and get going before he disappeared somewhere else. She was close now, close to saving him like he had saved her.
Sam’s torch started to sputter and dance around. It was on its last stretch now. Sam didn’t notice the skin-wearing creatures had moved closer to her now. Lipless mouths adorned with random teeth jutting out of their flesh salivated for the taste of human flesh.
“I have told you what you wish to know, but now you are at the mercy of those who have fallen without the gift of a body. They search for bodies they like, and take what they must to slate their never ending thirst for a body of their own.” The booming voice was not as calming to Sam now.
“I said I would not harm you, but these lost souls have their own agenda.” The emotionless couple sat rigid as always. Their throne started to spin back around. The sound of stone grinding filled the air.
The torch sputtered one last time. Sweat beaded down Sam’s head. She had to do something fast. The skinless creatures surrounded her again. These weren’t mindless skeletons easily fought off. The creatures whispered to each other about what parts they would take. Who would take her skin and parade it about like a fashion show.
The torchlight went dark, not sentient to what it had done. Darkness flooded in faster than Sam could comprehend. Scuttling of nails and feet across the marble floor headed towards Sam. She raised her axe up, but there was nothing she could do but swing wildly in the darkness.
Sam looked down at her chest. She felt a burning sensation on her skin. She swung down thinking that one of the creatures had stabbed at her. The axe swung through the air without meeting opposition, but the burn was still there.
Suddenly a bright light shot from Sam’s chest. She covered her eyes, the last image burned into her retinas, the image of an endless mass of hideous creatures, wearing the skin of the innocent about them surging forward to collect her as a trophy.
Sam glanced down at her chest once she blinked her vision clear. A light as bright as the sun shone out of her skin in the imprint of a child’s hand, banishing the creatures back into the darkness. Some of the beings melted from the bright light. Pure joy shot through Sam. It was Starr. Starr had placed her hand on Sam’s chest after Horus had been dealt with. Sam would hug the girl until she was squeezed into a pulp, if Sam ever saw her again.
One of the pillars near Sam let out a deafening crack. The rest of the creatures had fled as soon as the light shot from Sam’s chest. They ran like cowardly foes. The marble throne had vanished. The two beings were nowhere to be seen.
The pillar cracked again, a massive chunk of stone plummeted to the ground below, shaking the cavern about like a child’s rattle. Sam dodged a few smaller chunks of stone as they fell about her. Mist started to spray about the dirt incrusted hero, followed by larger splashes of water.
Sam looked upward as a surge of water crashing down several feet away from her. She turned to run in any direction, her light just illuminating an endless cavern of massive pillars and darkness. She held her axe tightly, not wanting to lose something she was so attached to.
The water soon overtook Sam and sent her swirling in a tumble through the clear liquid. She shut her eyes as she smashed into the side of a pillar. She let a mass of bubbles escape from her as she screamed in pain.
She couldn’t die now. Sam kicked and kicked, trying to push herself to the top of the gushing water. She fought off the urge to take a breath. Pressure built up in her head, she thought it was going to burst open; all she could do was kick harder. Her head broke free of the water’s surface. Breath filled her lungs as she wiped her eyes clear of water. She looked around at her surroundings.
Stars filled the sky above her. Small walls were erected on either side of her, holding the water in place. Buildings overlooked the waterway, looming over the canal like an overprotective parent.
“Sam! Is that you?”
A familiar voice called out to Sam, pulling her attention to a small bridge nearby.
Sam smiled, “No way.”