A Cynical Shadow's Return

Chapter 6

     Back at camp, and inside of Reko’s room, Lotus was lying on the floor, and looking up at Igneous’ sleeping body, wondering if the boy would ever wake up. She softly whined as she laid her head down on the floor and licked her snout. Then, her head and ears shot up like a rocket when she heard a groan come from Igneous. Lotus got up and jumped onto the bed, wagging her tail ecstatically, but the groan was not a sign of the boy waking up. Igneous was sweating, despite the room being at a cool temperature, and was tossing and turning in the bed. This made Lotus back off a bit, and she whined again, being very worried about what was going on with him. To anyone else, it may seem like a simple nightmare, but something far more dangerous was happening to Igneous.

     Everything was dark; the skies were bloody red along with moon matching the color of the sky, but it was almost the size of the sun; and trees were as black as shadows. In this version of Tasaloo, there were no signs of life, except for poor Igneous. Tasaloo, a beautiful and large area, now transformed into its exact opposite. A demon’s playpen. Igneous walked amongst this atrocity, and could not help but feel as though he were being watched or followed, so he turned to look behind him every now and then. Each time he would see nothing, not that he wanted to, but even if he would see nothing, he had a feeling that he was not alone which made him more nervous than he is now. Everything was dead silent. The only things that could be heard were the sounds of Igneous’ rapid breathing, and his footsteps as he wandered around, hoping that he could find an exit of some sort, but it was no use.
        “Wh-What is this place,” Igneous asked himself, and quickly turned around, for he had received that feeling of being followed yet again. “S-Something’s here...There has to be…” After a few minutes of walking, Igneous heard crying, but the voice was familiar to him. It sounded much like Sitha’s voice, so Igneous rushed to where the crying was coming from, and what he found was something he wished that he could unsee for the remainder of his life. Sitha was sitting on the ground; her clothes torn and stained with blood along with bleeding cuts on her entire body. She went on and on about being sorry about something, but when Igneous went to confront her, she disappeared right before his eyes. Shocked, and now worried about the others, Igneous started running through the forest labyrinth as fast as he could. He did not stop until he grew exhausted, when did stop to catch his breath, he saw yet another disturbing sight. Kinsa was hung up from a tree by his entrails, and Rai was beneath his brother with his right leg missing; his left wing snatched out of his back and now sticking out from his mouth. Igneous looked at them in shock as he grew more and more afraid.
        “K-Kinsa...Rai...Who did this to them, and what was Sitha crying for? I have a bad feeling about this…” Igneous continued on, still frequently checking behind him. After seeing Kinsa, Sitha, and Rai, he was more than convinced that there was some demon lurking around in the depths of darkness, but the question Igneous continued to ask himself was: where could it possibly be? It wasn’t until after a few extra minutes of walking when Igneous noticed that he had been walking in an endless loop, judging by the fact that he had come across Sitha a second time, but this time, she wasn’t alive. At that moment, Igneous did not take another step forward, but when he did, he heard a burst of demonic laughter that echoed throughout the entire area. The laugh startled Igneous, for sure, and he looked all around him, searching for anything that may pop out at him.
        “Are you having as much fun as I am, you worthless brat,” a demonic voice from above asked. “You’re gonna have a ‘killing’ time in this little playground that I set up specifically for you. Just wait until you met your playmate.” Igneous was now trembling with fear, but if he were going to gain any information on his current situation, he would have to speak with the voice as much as he’s allowed to.
        “Who are you,” Igneous called up to the voice, trying to mask his fear, “and why are you doing this?”
        “I believe you know well who I am,” the voice chuckled, “and let’s just say that you’re considered a threat in my conquest to destroy all of Tasaloo.”
        “You again? Why are you so bent on destroying Tasaloo? ”
        “You’ll learn if you survive here long enough, which I doubt you will.”
        “Don’t look down on me! My dad taught me everything I need to know to survive on my own! Now tell me why you’re doing all of this, and what you did to my family!”
        “Oh, it’s not what I did. It’s what Agnus will do once I control him.”
        “What?! Agnus wouldn’t--...You’re lying!”
        “You’ll see for yourself if you’re to wake up, which means surviving here. Good luck, brat.” The voice did not speak anymore, and Igneous sat down near a tree, rubbing his forehead as he was trying to think clearly. He would not allow himself to buckle down under pressure, but with no one by his side this time, he found this as a difficult task.
        “Come on, Igneous,” he told himself, “pull yourself together. We may be alone, but we can still do this. I don’t know what’s waiting for us out here, but we can take it. Oh man, I don’t wanna die here, but if I keep sitting around and not doing anything, I am gonna die. I wish Dad were here…” Igneous sighed and got up from his seated position, and began wandering through the dark forest in hopes of finding somewhere to hide. Unfortunately for him, there were no areas where he could wait everything out, which then began to scare him. He knew he could not run anywhere, since he’d only end up wasting stamina. With nowhere to run or hide, Igneous knew he would have to take the risky route and fight for his own survival.
     An hour of nothing happening passed on, and Igneous’ patience was running thinner than silk. The undying silence did not make anything better, for it made Igneous want to scream at the top of his lungs since his boredom was at its peak. To help pass the time, Igneous began playing with his tail, then found a sudden urge to start chasing it. This went on until the ground vibrated roughly and a loud, demonic shout which set Igneous off balance and made him fall on his butt. His heart raced from the sudden disturbance in the atmosphere, and as he looked ahead of him, he saw trees being deracinated and a pair of yellow, glowing eyes that were getting closer and closer. Out of the darkness came a tree that was hurled right towards Igneous, but the teen reacted quickly enough to jump out of the way in time. The tree crashed into the one that was directly behind Igneous, making a loud, booming noise. When Igneous landed on the ground, he took a deep breath to prevent himself from hyperventilating, but when the monster that awaited him came into view, his heart sank to the bottom of his feet. This monster was a tall, buff demon that had chains on its wrists, glowing yellow eyes, shark-like teeth, and razor-sharp claws. Its skin was as red as an apple, and it stared down at Igneous while emitting a demonic growl. Igneous backed away from the demon as much as he could, now wishing that he’d been more patient.
        “I’m expected to take this goliath out if I want to live!?” Igneous shouted, followed by a gulp as the monster began running towards him. “W-Well it’s official, I’m gonna die!”