• CHAPTER 5: Two Sides

    In a steady paste, they continue into the darkness of this mysterious cursed cave. Shinryu, Fenix and Mak stood along side each other. Still couldn’t explain what has happened to them as well as their own comrades.
    “Mak…” Called Shinryu.
    “Yeah?”
    “Back there, in my head, I’m not sure… But, something was calling my name… And it was weird… There was this loud screechy noise that felt like pins were inserted into my brain or something…”
    “By any chance,” Mak interrupted. “Did you see pieces of your memories from the past showing up?” Shinryu nodded as he swallowed.
    “Yeah, I did.”
    “So did I.” Fenix agreed. Mak nodded as well.
    “Me too.” As they kept walking, the travel was quiet. Ahead they saw another light, however, this one seemed almost dimmed and flickered from bright white to dark red. Mak stopped as well as the other two behind him.
    “What is it with that light?” Shinryu asked.
    “…Its just damaged that’s all.” Mak answered. “Come on, stay close.” They slowly continued onward. The closer they got, the more they saw something on the ground. Unable to see clearly from that distance, they raised their weapons and took extra caution. Slowly approaching, they realized their mission was at an end and Sorean sat up against the wall with his long sword on his left hand. The three of them ran in front of him, Mak kneeled down and shook Sorean by his left shoulder.
    “Sorean!” Mak calls. There seems to be no damage on his armor nor a wound on him. His eyes were closed, Mak felt his neck to check for a pulse, at the moment he land his finger on his neck, Sorean opens his eyes, grabbed Mak by his collar and placed his blade on Mak’s neck, at the same time Shinryu and Fenix raised their weapons directly at Sorean’s head.
    “DROP IT!” Fenix shouts.
    “YOU FIRST!” Sorean shouts.
    “CIEZE FIRE GODDAMNIT!” Mak shouts to all of them.
    “Are you ********’ normal or what?!” Sorean asked in almost a nervous tone.
    “Yeah, Sorean, its me. We’re here to get you out of here, dude.” Mak said. Sorean releases his grip on Mak. The others lowered their weapons. Sorean shook his head looking down.
    “Man…” Said Sorean. “I’m glad to finally see you guys then…”
    “Sorean, what the hell is going on here?” Shinryu asked.
    “Now isn’t the time.” Interrupted Mak. “We have to get the hell out of here. We completed our mission. Exploring this cave isn’t part of our objective. Sorean, can you stand?”
    “Yeah, I was just… Out of hope I guess…”
    “The Naturals.” A voice said from within the darkness of the cave ahead of them.” Mak and Sorean quickly stands up on their feet as Shinryu and Fenix aimed their weapons within the darkness. The light continuously flickered from light to red light. They heard footsteps approaching them. Sorean raised his sword in front of him. From the shadows, appeared a stranger in a black cloak with a large hood over his head completely surrounded in the blackness of the cavern behind him.
    “Who are you?” Mak asked.
    “I am simply the being of delivery.” He said facing Sorean. “You all have one thing in common that interests us.”
    “Us?” Mak repeated.
    “Your minds are powerful. We seek those who linger power.”
    “What happened to the others?! What was it back there that you managed to skip and get here before all of us?!!” He said in anger of the men he had lost.
    “They were simply weak and couldn’t handle the test of fate.”
    “Screw your test. I lost good men today because of something we couldn’t even see and fight back towards.”
    “To fight back is something you could only do with your mind. You’ve all accomplished that already. Hence, the reason why you all lived.”
    “What?!”
    “The power that wanders through this cave is the Torrential Curse. A power created long ago by us. It is a wave of souls who feeds off of memories of despair, sadness, anger and any other negative impact done upon you in the past. Those who are weak will not survive and will result in chaos vision. Everything becomes their target, insanity begins and their thoughts no longer are controlled by them.”
    “You’re behind all of this..!” Sorean said in an angry tone. The stranger did not reply. Staying absolutely still and unexpectedly, Sorean charged towards the enemy.
    “SOREAN NO!” Mak yells. Sorean raised his blade towards the stranger and at this close enough range, could see his black eyes with no pupils. The stranger raised his left arm and from behind him, from the shadows suddenly appeared a wolf-like creature leaping towards Sorean. Very quickly, Fenix managed to aim and successfully fire his weapon directly at the creatures head. Even with that, the creature was still able to grab hold of Sorean’s wrist with its sharp jaws, pinning Sorean down on the ground. Its jaws were even able to pierce the hard wrist armor Sorean was wearing into his skin. Sorean yells as Mak charged towards this large creature. The stranger steps back slowly, observing the battle from the shadows. Sorean used his blade on his left hand to stab the creature at the side of its stomach. With blood dropping above its head and no kind of painful growl, the creature was almost unstoppable to kill. It had a hard lock on his wrist and growled over and over again. Mak leaped towards the creature with his sword and thrust it within the head of the beast and out the chin of its face with blood spilling on Sorean’s wrist.
    “AH DAMN IT SON OF A b***h GET THIS s**t OFF ME!!” Sorean shouted in pain. The beast shook its head releasing Sorean’s wrist and forcing Mak to jump off with his blade. The creature stepped back a few steps and yelped as Sorean got up from the ground holding his wrist. Shinryu and Fenix fired their weapons on the beast, holding down their triggers for as long as the beast was still standing. The bullets pierced through the beast’s skin. As their weapons fired, it shook along with their arms from the firepower it was releasing. The beast repeatedly steps back as the bullets were still engaging into its skin. Mak shook his head in confusion, of how the animal is still able to even move after all the shots fired from the assault rifles. Then their magazines were empty. Shinryu and Fenix looked at each other for a moment and released the old magazines from their weapons. Dropping on the ground and quickly grabbed another from their back belt.
    “Reloading!” Yells Shinryu.
    “Same here.” Fenix also said. Mak sheathed his sword and raised his rifle towards the beast that was amazingly still alive. It laid on the ground still breathing. Sorean had then discovered something from the creature that jeopardized all of them. The creatures’ wound were slowly dissipating. Closing as the bullets from within were dropping on the ground around the creature.
    “Its recovering……” Sorean said. Shinryu and Fenix slaps the clips within the weapons. At that moment, the beast slowly stands up on its feet. Then the same voice of the stranger within the cave shouted.
    “Darkness Is The Element To Many Abilities Some Consider To Be Unnatural.” Mak shook his head.
    “There’s no use, we have to run, wasting bullets is only an advantage to the beast.” Mak turns and points to the way they came from. “RUN NOW!!!!!” All of them followed Mak through the cave as fast as they can as the creature growled with its red eyes and sharp jaws that laid on Sorean’s wrist. Mak stood at the back as the rest were ahead of them. He heard the beast chasing them with its loud steps hitting the ground and the growl echoing through the cave.
    “Mak, what the hell are you doing, stay ahead of us!” Sorean shouts.
    “Just keep going!!” The beast was getting closer to Mak since he was the last of the group. Mak turns while he runs to face the beast. The beast’s speed was immeasurable in comparison to them. Mak hold tightly on his sword, constantly turning around to face the beast and each turn only led to the beast getting closer to Mak. Mak turns to face the others as they ran. It was either them or him at this point the thought to himself. There was too many sacrificed. Then, the footsteps behind him stopped and the creature made another large growl. Mak turns and saw the creature was in the air with its jaws opened towards Mak. Mak completely turns his body and swings the sword into the jaw of the beast. The beast laid its jaws onto the blade and landed on Mak’s body falling on the ground and sliding as the dust completely covered them both. Everyone else stopped, Sorean was the first to return to Mak. Shinryu and Fenix aimed and fired their weapons at the wolf-like creature.
    “FIRE!!!!!” The both of them yelled. Sorean crouched under their aim and the creature let go of Mak’s blade as the bullets again pierced into the skin of the monster. Sorean helps Mak up, moving aside and away from the bullets of the weapons. From the force of the rifles, the creature was unable to keep it’s stance. Mak and Sorean continues, Shinryu and Fenix as well ran behind them. The end of the cave was close. They ran as fast as they can, Mak looks back in between Shinryu and Fenix. Then looks ahead again, in just a few seconds, they were finally out of the cave and the sun light hit their faces. They continue running through leaves towards the helicopter, all but Sorean. He stopped and looked back into the cave. He saw the beast again staring at him directly into his eyes. It then ran back deeper into the cave. Sorean continues to run, catching up with the group. Afterwards, they were finally in front of the chopper. Mak could see the pilot through the cockpit window.
    “Let’s get out of here.” Mak said entering the chopper with the others. The pilot turns his head to face the four of them, then asked a question.
    “Where’s the rest of your group?!” The pilot asked. Mak shook his head.
    “Let’s just go…” He said. The pilot’s face was surprised as he faced forward and stood still for a moment. He started the engines and the chopper starts to rumble. Everyone was silent, the chopper shook and soon they were off the ground of Olton. Finally, the Sarge was able to get through the communication.
    “Mak! What happened?” Said the Sarge.
    “We found Sorean…” Mak said in a stressful tone.
    “Well done. How is your team holding up? Was their anything else you found along the way?” Mak paused for a moment.
    “I lost all my team except Shinryu and Fenix…” The Sarge sighed. “We’re on our way back now…”
    “Very well. We’ll be waiting in headquarters for the rest of your report.” Mak nodded. “Mak, well done, son. Same goes to the rest of you.” He looks out the window ending the communication with Sarge.