|| THE PATH OF THE INFERNO: SAMUEL ||
As Sam waded through the shrubbery alone, various thoughts ran through his mind. The first one was about his speech to the Empyreans which he made in the heat of the moment. Now that he was all by himself, he finally realized how ridiculous his plan was – not to mention dangerous.
“Why am I doing this to myself?” Sam mumbled, instinctively scratching his forehead. Strangely enough, he could feel his heart pounding against his chest along with a cold, prickling sensation running down his spine.
Is it fear he currently experiencing or…is it just his anxiousness taking over? He wondered silently. Sam proceeded to take a few deep breaths to center his thought but even then, he was still unable to contain his uneasiness.
“Damn it, pull yourself together!” Sam cursed himself, slapping both of his cheeks. Shortly after, he brought out The Spool and held it in front of him. Immediately, the cylindrical device in his hand began to float into the air, radiating a comforting white glow.
“Okay? Now what?” uttered Sam.
The rose-red thread slowly unraveled itself from the spool, as if responding to the man’s question. It shot into the darkness, coiling around the pine trees to form a trail. “Impressive,” Sam blurted out before fastening his sheathed sword. He took out his Faceless mask and wore it, but unfortunately, the night vision was out of order. “Guess I have to depend on the moonlight then. That’s just great,” Sam exhaled as he put his mask away.
“Right, here goes nothing.” The vermillion-eyed man followed the newly formed path with the hope that his journey into the deeper part of the forest would go smoothly. After what he assumed to be a five-minute walk, he felt his chest slowly tighten. He initially thought it might have been his imagination running rampant due to the darkness and isolation but, the more time passed, the more convinced that someone or something was watching him.
Could it be the Night Terror? No, this feels…different, Sam murmured.
Suddenly, a gentle breeze began to blow through the forest, filling the forest with the rustling of pine leaves and the musty smell of green moss. At first, Sam was expecting Rupert to pop out from behind one of the trees with a mischievous grin across his face. But much to his dismay, he soon found out that there was no one else in the area except him and him alone.
Funny, the man thought. He never expected to miss the siblings’ bickering and shouting behind him. He wondered if his friends managed to leave the Coniferous Forest; if so, they would surely be in a lot of trouble, especially Theo and Aria.
However, the peaceful moment was disturbed by a familiar whispering. “The Lullaby of the Moon,” Sam spouted. Raising his head skyward, he noticed movement within the shadows – multiple humanoid figures leaping between the branches. For a brief moment, Sam swore he saw several pairs of bright yellow eyes peering at him from the darkness.
Are they ghosts? Or, are they…alive? Sam gripped his katana and the voices stopped. He was anticipating the dwellers between the trees to spring out and attack him at any moment.
He waited.
And waited.
But no one came down.
Then, he saw something in the corner of his eyes – a silver gleam beckoning at him from a distance. Fortunately for him, the shine was on the red thread path; so, it did not take long for him to make a decision.
As he got closer, he finally discovered the source of the mysterious light. A lone metallic obelisk that was nearly his own height; its reddish-brown body caused it to blend in perfectly with the surrounding pine trees. The gleam he saw earlier came from the structure’s crest which was the only part that was not eaten by rust.
“Now, this is new,” said Sam before his curiosity urged him to inspect the peculiar structure. Initially, the man did not find anything suspicious about the building until he saw several wavy-shaped symbols etched on its surface. He also noticed a sentence beneath the strange letters written in Discordania Scripts:
The Sun Never Fades
The Moon Never Sleeps
and The Stars Never Waver
Sam then went to another side of the obelisk and there was also another set of sentences carved into the structure:
Here Lies the Last Remain of the Lone Tower
A Warning to Those Who Tread the Path of Decadence.
“Huh,” Sam huffed, “Someone sure wanted to sound as ominous as possible.” Shortly after, the man strolled to the next side and noticed some crude drawings of a tree, a river, and a flame. That…is quite an odd combination, thought Sam before he caught a glimpse of another picture on the fourth and last side of the obelisk.
“What in the world…?” Sam’s eyes narrowed at the image of a person whose head was covered with a veil. One of their arms stretched out; on the palm of their hands were four different shapes which Sam found to be somewhat familiar.
“Four shapes. A diamond, a rectangle, an oval, and an octagon. Wait, could those be the Royal Jewels?” the man murmured, “And that figure…that is definitely the Veiled Lady. So, she is connected to the Jewels, but how?”
Sam fidgeted as soon as he saw the shadows shift beneath his feet, followed by a crackling noise coming from above him. Slowly lifting his head upward, Sam saw a large silhouette clinging to a tree trunk.
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“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” the man remarked as soon as a single round bluish eye stared at him intently. He quickly spun around and bolted off, treading along the crimson-red path.
It did not take long for him to hear an ear-splitting hissing accompanied by the sounds of the pine branches breaking apart. “Of course, it decided to appear when I’m alone,” Sam ranted furiously. Then, he felt the ground quiver beneath his feet as something came crashing down to the ground behind him. Despite trying to resist himself, he could not help but glance over his shoulder to confirm his suspicion.
And his hunches were correct.
A leech-like creature; its body was as big as a log and it was covered with coal-black scales. It raised its head, and a big eyeball popped out of its sucker – fixated on its next prey.
Sam grimaced. He had anticipated the Subsumer’s appearance, but not in its Roaming Form. Now, he was forced to hasten his pace to avoid the creature from capturing him. All of a sudden, his eyes and nose itched as the air was filled with the stench of rotten fish. The man immediately dived down, shortly before feeling a cool breeze graze against the back of his neck.
Scrambling over the ground, Sam took a hurried look toward the sky and saw glistening strands of clear mucus-like substance over him, each adhering to several pine trees. He then heard the Subsumer shrieking and realized it missed its target.
Gotta move! You gotta move, goddamit! Sam kept on repeating those words in his mind. The man desperately wanted to draw his blade but the fluid spat by the Subsumer was highly flammable and he could not risk using his power – not until he found some kind of a clearing or a forest glade.
As the man straightened himself up, he caught sight of a blue building at the end of the red thread. “The Cerulean Mausoleum,” breathed Sam, and he sprinted toward it without delay.
SQUELCH!
SQUELCH!
Sam frowned after hearing squishing noises storming toward him. The next thing he knew, he felt something heavy and sharp hit him in the back, causing him to fall face-first into the solid ground. “Urgh,” the man groaned as he felt a tinge of iron in his mouth, “That…was gnarly.”
Then, he saw it – a tall shadow towering over him accompanied by the musty odor of rotting wood. “Crap,” Sam muttered before turning around to see the Subsumer standing in front of him. The man watched as the creature curled its gelatinous body; spreading its circular mouth wide open.
SWOOSH!
The man trembled as he saw a shadowy figure shot out from the trees and in a blink of an eye, split the Subsumer in half. What the…? Sam mouthed, shortly before seeing a black mass rose from behind the leech’s remains.
“You’re…,” Sam gasped, glaring at the robed figure.
“It’s not your time to die. Yet,” the Night Terror asserted, waving his falchion around to rid the slime from its sharp edge.
Sam quickly got to his feet – his tired, vermillion eyes were fixated on the masked vigilante. Many questions were running through his mind, but the first one that he blurted out was, “Why did you help me? You have no reason to do that.”
The Night Terror looked Sam dead in the eye, causing the latter to fidget. “My reason for doing what I did is irrelevant. Yours, on the other hand, is much more important,” the vigilante responded.
“I thought you despise the Opal Sun Royalties-.”
“I despise those who oppressed the weak – those who view the civilians as nothing more than fodders to the Distorted,” the Night Terror interjected, “The one that dwells in the mausoleum – he may be young and inexperienced but like his father, he is the ray of light for his people.”
SQUELCH!
The Subsumer’s cadaver began to twitch, prompting the Night Terror to mutter something under his breath. “Go,” the vigilante remarked, “It won’t take long for this thing to regenerate.”
“Wait, don’t tell me you’re going to stay…with that.”
“As I said earlier, you have a more pressing concern than taking care of some pests,” the Night Terror barked, “Now begone.”
Sam let out a heavy sigh, realizing that his words would not sway the vigilante’s decision. So slowly, he dragged his feet toward the mausoleum, leaving the Night Terror alone with the Subsumer. As he got closer to the building, he saw the main door was ajar.
Wait a second, Theo said Jason shut both him and Aria out of the building. Then how…? Sam then turned his head toward the Night Terror who along with the Subsumer, had disappeared without a trace. “He couldn’t have…? No,” Sam shook his head, “This is not the time to throw around some wild theories.”
After taking a deep breath to compose himself, he walked toward the Cerulean Mausoleum to inspect the gap between the doors. The first thing he noticed was a cool breeze creeping out of the aperture accompanied by a mild floral scent. “A tomb that smells of flowers,” Sam whispered, “Talk about a breath of fresh air. Argh, why am I sounding like Rupert just now?”
After finishing his monologuing, Sam slipped through the narrow gap until he turned up at a dim corridor lit by several small torches fastened to the pearly white brick wall. It had been barely a minute and Sam could feel the back of his neck slowly tensing up. Additionally, the palms of his hands were dry and rough like sandpaper.
“Starting off with some bad vibes,” Sam exhaled, “This is just great.” Shortly after, he sensed the air around him grew heavier and colder – so much so that he could see his own breath. The flames on each torch also began to flicker for nearly half a minute until they were fully extinguished. Then, a bluish light appeared at the end of the corridor and Sam felt a sudden sense of déjà vu washed over him.
“Interesting,” spouted Sam before he slowly approached the mysterious light. At first, he was expecting another obelisk waiting for him but the pathway soon opened up, leading to a bright, cylindrical hall. “What in the world…?” Sam gawked at the ceiling that eerily resembled the morning sky. The walls of the chamber were white as snow; their surfaces were glittering like the calm ocean.
Sam walked to the middle of the room, towards the glass steel railing where he saw the lower levels of the mausoleum. “One, two, ten floors?” Sam grunted. Moreover, he noticed a circular pond lying at the depth of the hall which was filled with yellow flower petals. Yet, despite the impressive interior of the tomb, he still could not see any signs of Jason’s current whereabouts. But he had a good feeling that the prince was on the same level as the pond. “Now, how am I going to get down there?” Sam uttered, looking left and right to an elevator or at least, some stairs to make his descend. However, the only thing that caught his eye was a gap between the railing not far from where he was standing.
Without having a second thought, Sam made his way to the breach but much to his disappointment, there was nothing there except for a short grey platform with a sun-like symbol imprinted on it. What now? Sam mouthed as he stood over the edge of the platform with a dejected expression.
A few seconds later, he felt a weak vibration beneath his feet. The sun symbol he saw earlier began to emit a faint navy glow and the entire place was soon filled with the deafening sound of rushing air. Before Sam could comprehend the situation, a wall of flower petals emerged from below, surrounding him in all directions.
“Ah, shit! Of course it’s a trap!” cursed Sam, swiftly reaching for his sword. But before he could grab the handle, his entire right arm exploded into countless flower petals. “What…!” Sam gasped in shock. Strangely enough, he did not feel any pain – in fact, he did not feel anything at all.
Sam then shifted his attention toward the wall around him where he saw numerous silhouettes of different heights and sizes standing motionlessly on the fluttering surface. Although they lacked any form of eyes, Sam could feel them gazing at him like a pack of wolves – waiting for him to make a move. Soon after, Sam saw a shadow in front of him lifted his right hand, and the wall instantly froze in place. But the moment of silence was cut short as Sam saw the whole enclosure collapse on top of him.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Sam remarked before bracing himself for impact.