~Chapter 11~
"What do we say when death smiles at us...Little Beuren…?" Whispered the shadowy figure in a voice that echoed in the abyss as I was dragged into the decayed clutches of the Wall-Of-Woe, with my broken bloodied hands clawing at the black and white checkered floor, covered in scores of blood and crimson gore. With my broken bleeding fingertips being the only thing left to be pulled into the wall of flesh, I heard the voice utter one more thing before my hand finally disappeared into it.
"…What do you have to say to me?"
Barely a second had passed before the wall imploded and like a wrecking ball, I found myself bursting forth from the inside of the wall of hands. No longer was I frail and fragile, nor was I weak and wounded, but burst forth from the wall now covered in sleek silver armor with a glowing cross surrounded by symbols on my chest and my hand stretched out in front of me as if desperately diving and reaching for life itself. I crashed through the Wall-Of-Woe as if it were made of paper and demolished the checkered pearl and obsidian tiles which cracked and broke like dry eggshells beneath my flaming feet. The black-steel braziers began burning in blue flames between each of the black-wood doors on either side of the Cursed Corridor. Doors that flew off their hinges as if a tornado was passing through the hallway while I made my grand entrance.
"Okay, here we go. Lean back onto your heels to stop." I said to myself as I came to a swift stop leaving behind a short skid mark that dug deep into the corridor's floor, and stood there while the sharp shards of shattered tiles and rubble from the nearby doors slowly floated through the air in slow motion as I turned to the ominous hooded shadow that had watched me get sucked into the red wall, and said one thing before continuing down the haunted hallway as if a tempest raged on my back.
"Not now. Not yet," I said before I turned my back to the hooded shadow and began running down the Cursed Corridor with the rubble being pulled behind me by tremendous force and a tidal wave of blood shooting forth from the large hole I had left on the bloody wall as I ran down the hallway. Tons of rubble and a tsunami of blood which slowly took the form of a giant monstrous hand now chased me down the corridor, consuming and absorbing everything into it like a crimson tide. The crimson wave moved as fast as I did and began to close the distance between us with hurricane-force winds being funneled through the cursed corridor; warm winds which uprooted everything in sight and like pissed off phantoms, the whistling gusts sent sharp shards flying my way like shrapnel from exploding cannon fire.
Hundreds of shards from broken tiles and pieces of shattered wood were now razor-sharp ruby disks and jagged crimson blocks which were hurled at me and whizzed past my head as fast as shooting stars yet I followed them with my eyes as if I were watching butterflies flutter around me while I dodged and weaved between them in the narrow corridor like I was evading thousands of arrows from a legion of archers within a minute space.
"Geez, give it a rest, why don't you," I said after looking back over my right shoulder only to see the colossal crimson hand made of hot steaming blood and gigantic, glowing glistening rubies, closing the distance between us and stretching out as if to grab or perhaps swat me against the sides of the corridor. It moved in a serpentine motion like a side-winder sand snake, as its fingers splashed and crashed against the side of the hallway, breaking apart and finishing off whatever of the Cursed Corridor I had not completely uprooted; with the rest of the bloody tsunami bringing with it what felt and sounded like typhoon winds as it rose and crashed through the haunted hallway. The funneled storm winds roared down the corridor like battle cries from berserkers, carrying the putrid eye-watering odor of decayed blood and the warm fermented stench of men shitting themselves from a thousand years' worth of war.
"Good Lord. My bloody nose is gonna fall off," I thought to myself, all the while wondering how long I would be running from this 'Tide-Of-Terror', from this 'Wave-Of-Woe' or perhaps it's the 'Storm-Of-…
"Stop your inner blubbering and get a move on! Now, take the next right turn!" Mirella said with a concerned and urging tone as she yelled in my head once more.
"What right turn!? It's a one-way bloody corridor," I said to her.
"Why don't you try looking where you're going Beuren!" She shouted.
My head snapped back from the crimson wave behind me, only to find a sharp right turn and a wall donning a brazier burning blue flames a few feet from my face.
"Oh shite, this is it. Don't smash your face, don't smash your face, don't smash your face," I repeated as I leaped from the checkered tiles leaving behind a fractured floor as if it had been hit by a mortar. I jumped onto the wall to my left and ran on it, defying gravity and destroying the wall with every step that I took like cannon fire taking down a fort's walls revealing the breathtaking spectacle that was on the other side. As the rubble from the wall floated away like moon rocks bouncing against each other, the large hole I had created revealed an endless ocean of stars and constellations with asteroids passing by so close to the corridor I could reach out and grab them, if only to surf them through the sea of sparkling stars.
I made the tight right turn and continued my short jog on the wall before leaping from it and yet again landing onto the checkered tile floor of the now crumbling cursed corridor. With the scarlet cosmic lights of the nearby Red Dwarf star and the many solar flares from suns nearing supernova being captured by my silver skin and reflected back into the vastest of space like a man-shaped light show, I ran towards the festive sounds of feasts, crowds dancing to jigs and brutal bone-breaking bar brawls which now filled the corridor and got louder as I ran through it, towards what seemed like a giant wall ahead of me. A wall that went straight up into the deep abyss of space, further than even my eyes could see.
With my eyes wide with wonder behind the smooth obsidian visor I looked back down to the foot of the wall to find the end of the corridor and yet another door. This particular door although similar to the rest, had two suits of armor yielding great swords on both sides of the door as if they were guarding it with torches burning in blue flames above their heads; swords which ignited and burst into flames as I approached with the tsunami of boiling blood and a landslide of rubble on my tail.
The festive sounds, along with Mirella's annoying muffled voice got louder with every step that I took as I got closer to the guarded black-wood door.
"Sounds like it's all coming from behind that door. That's gotta be the way out!" I said as the two suits of armor sprung to life and stepped forward from the door in synchronicity, with their blazing blades now raised over their heads.
Like incendiary whips, the silver guards swung their fiery swords which extended in length and swept what was left of the corridor as I ran towards the door. I dodged and jumped from wall to wall and even ran the corridor's ceiling, all while evading the blue-hot blades whose scorching razor-sharp edges missed my mercury mirror-like skin by the width of a strand of hair with each step that I took. As I ran and hopped off the walls while heading towards the door and watching the extremely malleable metal of their swords surround me like flaming metallic tentacles, I heard the guards praising themselves and laughing with each swing of their sword yet not a single blade touched my skin, until I looked over my shoulder and found the giant crimson claw being whipped back and slowed down by the Silver Knights' swords as if it were a tamed lion in the circus.
"This way Lord Beuren! We can't hold it back for long!" Shouted one of the knights in a spectral voice as if it were the ghostly roars of a fallen berserker warrior.
"Aye! Get back you fowl beast!" Roared the other.
I looked back at the knights who were fighting off the monstrous tsunami while joyfully laughing as flames escaped their visors with every cackle.
"Bloody hell, I've got my own body guards," I said to myself as I heard a spine-chilling voice coming from within the blood ruby wave.
"Enough!" Wailed the ominous serpent's voice which sent a shockwave from the depths of its bloody tide.
The wave of glass shattering sound and pure force swept down the corridor and sent me stumbling on the ceiling before I dropped back onto the checkered floor, which left me rolling on its smooth surface until I gathered myself and finally come to a complete stop with a short slide on my knee. I watched the force as it pushed the Silver Knights back and down onto their knees with their swords buried in the floor to avoid being thrown against the wall behind them; swords that fractured the floor like earthquakes and forced out flames like geysers from the bowels of hell.
"Incendiome. That's it!" I shouted as I looked back towards the crimson wave.
The giant rubies then formed red razor-sharp claws around the fingers of the bloody hand like giant curved swords and encased the rest of it in solid ruby skin which erected spikes and formed scales along its forearm and fingers which transformed it into a dragon's claw. A claw which no longer splashed against the walls of the corridor, but began crushing and chewing through them like scaly rock grinders on a giant serpent's body.
"Excuse me, Sir. I don't mean to interrupt you talking to yourself, but running towards the door seems the wiser choice!" yelled one of the knights as they both gathered themselves and walked a few steps away from the door with their blades yet again poised for battle and their eyes like furnaces which burned in the flames of a thousand years' worth of warrior's rage.
"Guards! Cast an Incendiome field on my word and only my word!" I commanded.
"Aye Sir!" They responded in unison.
"Keep it busy for now, until it's within range!" I said as I took off once more. I yet again left a fractured checkered floor beneath me as I launched myself down the corridor with the giant dragon's claw accompanied by a tidal wave of blood now only a few feet behind me; now so close I could already feel its scorching embrace against the silver skin on my back as if I were sitting uncomfortably close to a great blazing borne fire with my back turned to it.
"Flame Edge Barrage. Shred it!" I yelled down the corridor.
The Silver Knights' great swords gave off beastly growls as if the souls of dire wolves resided in their steel as they swung them at the incoming storm; growls which drowned the roaring of the waves behind me. Blue flames shot forth from their barking blades and travelled down the corridor like crescent ripples made of fire and pure force which glided through the air as fast as a bolt and as sure as a crow; slicing and bringing down the walls of the corridor ahead of me which revealed more of the cosmic background through which the corridor was built. Mercilessly and relentlessly, the waves of soaring flaming blades impacted and slightly cracked the ruby surface of the dragon's claw causing shallow wounds which soon after healed and mended the fractures, leaving the ruby skin as smooth as it was before the impact with the brutal barrage of blazing blades.
I watched and again followed with my eyes, the waves of flames as they passed past and over my head, and soon noticed that they were in fact a flock of hundreds of blue flaming eagles which were soaring and diving into the tsunami of blood only to explode soon after entering the crimson drink, with most of them exploding against the ruby dragon's claw itself.
"Bye-bye birdie," I said to myself as I continued to run towards the door, weaving side to side and ducking under the giant flaming eagles which soared from the knight's blades.
In unison, the Silver Knights shouted down the corridor once more.
"My Lord, we must do it now!" They shouted as the claw closed in on me and the blackwood door began rippling like a pool of water, as the rest of them did with my arrival.
"Hold! Hold your ground!" I ordered, as I approached them with one of the claws now practically slashing at my right shoulder and the golden lightning bolts around me once again being drawn to the luminous cross on my chest which began emanating a humming sound which got higher in pitch with each step that I took.
With their swords raised and pointed to the ground the Silver Knights braced for impact with the dragon's claw which would have completely demolished what little of the Cursed Corridor was left, leaving nothing but the emptiness of space in its wake.
"Now, sssleep little Beuren. Sssleep!" Hissed the serpent once more, before I jumped towards the guards with my legs yet again ablaze and the trail of fire that I left in the air scorching and blackening the surface on the colossal claws' ruby skin, which made the voice wail in pain.
I shot forward and passed the guards as fast as a short breeze before I leaned back and skid on my heels, finally coming to a complete stop right before impact with the wall ahead of me which left deep fractures in the checkered floor. With no more corridor to run on, I turned to gaze at death itself and from my diaphragm, I roared at the gargantuan claw convoyed by the Tide of Terror.
"Not today mate. FIRE!" I shouted at the top of my voice and watched the Silver Knights plunge their swords deep into the floor.
"INCENDIOME!" Roared the Silver Knights in unison as their swords sank halfway into the checkered floor and greatly fractured the ground which immediately spit out blue flames and molten rock from the trench-like cracks on the corridor floor as if it were lava erupting from a volcano; sapphire fire and lava which surrounded us like a protective dome of flames and molten magma.
Having been right behind me, the dragon's claw crashed straight into the fire dome and completely shattered its ruby exoskeleton like a glass cup thrown against a brick wall, leaving behind only the blood flooded hallway. As the force of the bloody water began pushing the dome inwards, the Silver Knights were pushed backwards by the tremendous force with their feet being dragged on the tiles and their swords cutting through the floors as they struggled to hold the dome in place.
"It will not hold for long my lord. You must pass through the door now!" Shouted one of the knights as their visors and vent-tail face masks spouted fire as if they were a pair of enraged dragons, with the strange symbols around their gauntlets lighting up like red hot steel.
"Not until I put this wanker to sleep," I said as the high pitch sound of the luminous cross reached its apex and the last of the golden lightning bolts were absorbed into it.
"Time to take your medicine mate," I calmly said as I held out my arms with my fists clenched and puffed out my chest which explosively released the amber asteroid-like beam of raw energy from the sword shaped cross on my chest; a beam surrounded by smaller bolts of lightning which crackled all around it like intense static discharge.
Like a meteor crashing into the ocean, the wide golden beam split and flash boiled the sea of blood ahead of us, while pushing it back down the destroyed corridor with the serpent's voice screaming in agony.
As the sea of crimson was evaporated and pushed back towards the freezing abyss it had come from, the corridor itself began reconstructing and refurbishing its floors and walls. The debris which was floating away into star spangled emptiness was pulled back from the cosmos that surrounded us and rebuilt the corridor's walls and checkered floor as if by a phantom construction crew. My roar thundered louder than the beam itself and drowned the agonized hisses as the last of the bloody water was forced back into the Wall-Of-Woe; a war cry that escaped my lungs like the howl of a dire wolf during the brightest and fullest moon until the entire corridor was free of the crimson scourge that nearly consumed everything including me and the Silver Knights.
When the Cursed Corridor was finally cleared of all traces of the serpent and his bloody tide, the beam slowly powered down and dissipated into thin air like flames in strong stormy winds. Like a cemetery, the corridor once again fell into a silence, one where all you could here was the crackling of the braziers along the corridor's walls and my deep breathes as the silver skin thin armour liquidated and was drawn back into my silver scar tissue like water to a sponge, which left me standing there as normal as I had looked when I first stumbled into the corridor. My hair darkened and my eyes turned from a fiery amber to dark chocolate brown once more as my silver skin was also absorbed into the scar tissue surrounded by the strange tattoos and runes which revealed my light brown skin and left me standing there in the leather jacket, trousers and square toed leather boots I was wearing before.
"My liege! Are you alright?" Said the Silver Knights in unison as they ran towards me while sheathing their swords to their sides.
Still disoriented and woozy, I bent over and vomited on the floor, creating a large puddle of liquid insides.
"Is that orange juice Sire?" Asked one of the knights.
"And some blue rose tea by the smell of it." Said the other.
I stood upright and turned to the Silver Knights while wiping the hanging spittle from my mouth.
"That's the last of the breakfast I ate earlier. And all that running has made me hungrier than that black hole I saw back there. I could eat a…Wait did you just call me Sire?" I asked with a disgusted and puzzled expression on my face.
"Aye Sir. My name is Argentum, and you are the head of House Kolte," said Silver Knight Argentum.
"And I am Aurum my lord. To the scourge that plagues Neverrealm, you are the tip of Athena's spear…" said Silver Knight Aurum.
"…But to its people, to the innocents of this great land, you, are Achilles' shield," said Silver Knight Argentum.
They both bent their knees and kneeled before me with their fists on the Kolte insignia above their hearts and swore an oath in unison with their other hands on the hilts of their great swords.
"We, are your King's guard. We shall shatter the knives that dare try to pierce your back. We shall swat the arrows that dare soar for your beating heart. Whether it be battle that claims your life, or aged grey hairs on your pillow in the night. We will stand by your side Lord Beuren Van Kolte, in this life and the next, forever your guardians, the Silver Knights!" Chanted the knights in unison as the torches throughout the refurbished corridor engorged and explosively spit fire upwards towards the ceiling like pillars of flame.
I stood there awkwardly not knowing what to do or say and yet again vomited out the first thing that came to mind.
"Well geez, that's neat. You may rise, I guess," I said while looking around awkwardly and scratching the back of my head.
"Neat indeed my lord," said Silver Knight Argentum as they both rose from their knees.
"Oh, no you can just call me Beuren. No need for lord or sire, that's rather corny for someone my age." I said to them.
"Aye, my liege!" They said in unison as they bowed and placed their fists over their hearts yet again.
"Alright then, I'm not gonna win this one," I said as I looked at the floor and then looked up and towards the rippling door a few feet away from us.
The Silver Knights walked over to the door and each stood on either side of it facing each other, which formed a two-man tunnel for me to walk through.
"You must hurry my liege. As long as you are in this place the sinister serpent Slevitan will never stop coming for you," said Silver Knight Argentum.
"Aye, he will gather his strength and return shortly. This is the cost of traveling using this corridor my liege. Death itself will always be right behind you, every step of the way," said Silver Knight Aurum as a faint hiss echoed through the haunted hallways.
"Lady Mirella waits for you on the other side my liege. We will meet again at Kolte manor, but for now, you must depart immediately. It was an honor doing battle with you Sir." said Silver Knight Aurum.
I walked towards the door with a pep in my step and eager to leave the Cursed Corridor behind.
"Godspeed my liege," said Silver Knight Argentum as he stuck out his foot which I tripped over causing me to fall forward through the rippling door.
As I fell through the door, I heard them laugh and playfully taunt me in their deep spectral voices.
"He 'falls' for it every time," said Silver Knight Aurum as they both hysterically laughed.
On the other side of the door, I dropped out of the ripples and landed face-first on a damp beer-stained wooden floor with a loud thud. I lay there next to a bloody golden tooth that had been knocked out during a brutal bar fight which was still going on amidst the festive dancing to a fast violin jig and gagged as its stench reached my nose. As I tried to get up from the filthy floor, a pair of leather boots walked up to me and stopped right in front of me; boots which I recognized as I immediately looked up to see who they belonged to, and to my relief and surprise, before me stood a milky skinned girl with sapphire blue eyes and scarlet quartz colored hair holding two breaming horns of ale.
Mirella stared at me with the sweetest smile and yelled over the loud music and singing crowd in the tavern.
"What took you so long, and why are you on the floor!?" She asked as she bent over to hand me the horn of ale.
"My, my face, it, it really hurts," I said sluggishly as my head hit the tavern floor once more and my vision blurred and faded as I passed out in a puddle of spilled Neverrese beer with the ghastly golden tooth now practically lodged up my nose.