Hellwalkers

Striker

The first thing Moxxie felt as he came to his senses was a soreness in the side of his head. With a loud, painful growl, he managed to sit up, rubbing the aching part of his body. He tried to get to his feet, but his head bumped into a hard surface. A rock.

It was then that Moxxie realized that he was in a sort of cave. It was dark and damp, he could even hear the echo of water falling. A waterfall, perhaps? 

How did he get here? What happened? All he could remember was going to get wood for the bonfire, running into a hellbeast, the Pale One attacking and then...

The Pale One! 

The hellbeast must have brought him to its lair. It would probably...eat him. Or perhaps it was going to feed him to the rest of the pack! 

Moxxie scrambled to his feet and tried to feel his way around the cave, looking for the way out before the hellbeasts returned. He realized that this cavern had a circular shape, enventually finding a tunnel that would lead him... somewhere.

Soon the tunnel divided into two pathways. Moxxie briefly panicked until he recalled the waterfall. If he followed the echo, it might lead him outside. So he took the tunnel to the right, and again at the next crossroad. 

The exploration led him to a wide, tall cavern. Oddly, the place was neatly clean, with no imp bones or remains to be seen. One wouldn't believe it to be the lair of a hellbeast pack, or any beast at all. 

But Moxxie paid no real attention to the state of the cave. What picked his curiosity was the carvings on the wall and the ceiling. He wasn't exactly and expert, but from the look of it they must be very old. He didn't recognize the sigils, but he managed to recognize the vague shapes of Imps and hellbeasts. 

One, in particular, was reminiscent of the ying yang symbol Moxxie had seen in some chinese restaurants. One half depicted an Imp—a snake Imp—and the other half a hellbeast. 

The biggest carving was located on the ceiling. It was circular too, but it wasn't divided in half. Instead, it had a smaller circle of hellbeast sigils, and right in the middle was a pair of hands. 

What did these all mean? And who made them?

On his way towards the final tunnel that would hopefully lead him outside, Moxxie passed by a small formation of big, round rocks right in the middle of the cavern. To his utter shock, he found an imp seated on it, sleeping. 

It was the same snake Imp who left him hanging the previous day. 

What is he doing here? How can he just... sleep in such a dangerous place? Moxxie briefly thought he was dead, but upon closer inspection realized that the snake imp's chest was rising and deflating. He still breathes. 

"Hello?" 

The snake imp didn't even flinch. Moxxie warily poked at his arm.

Nothing. 

After a few more pokes and shakes, Moxxie lost his patience and outright smacked the side of the snake imp's face.

Still nothing. 

Is he... comatose or something?

Moxxie heard another echo coming from the tunnel. It sounded like footsteps. Panicking, he hid behind one of the big rocks near the wall just as the pack of hellbeasts returned, led by none other than the Pale One. 

Moxxie covered his mouth, holding his breath. That snake imp was done for. 

But the hellbeasts made no move to attack the snake imp. Instead, they all obediently sat down around the stone throne as the Pale One approached.