the" it's here to kill me !"
Joey could not move from his place as if he was stuck to the ground, his eyes did not blink and his mouth was open from the shock and this terrifying scene as if these two hollow eyes are looking at him and swallowing him into darkness.
Once this creature raised the ax with its hand in the air. Joey closed his eyes and prepared himself to meet his creator.
Suddenly, he felt an intense pain in the side of his abdomen. And felt a bit of warmth right in front of him. He opened his eyes to see what had happened to find something with a black cloak standing with its back at him, facing that being with the silver ax.
"He is not for you to take Elia!" Said a girl in the black cloak standing in front of him.
"His mine!" The creature seems neither pleased to see her nor for what she is saying and at the same time, it does not attack.
"Elia?" Joey said with a heavy breath. As he was panting in a cold sweat, clutching his stomach.
The girl turned her back to him, Joey was surprised, " The water ... witch!?"
Suddenly the creature placed the ax beside it and looked at Joey and began to fade like smoke in the air in seconds and everything around him started to get back to normal.
The water witch turned and got on her knees to face Joey, "You are full of surprises!"
"What? ... Why are you here?" He said while trying to catch his breath.
-"For this…" she smiled, then lifted his shirt with her long, slender, white fingers to reveal the mark on the side of his abdomen.
He pulled the shirt off her hands forcibly and pulled it down as it was, While his face turned red, she smiled slightly from his reaction, "Seems like we'll meet a lot Joey, My name is Napi, and the creature which has been here minutes ago is called Elia ."
-"You and I have a deal, do you remember?" she said while standing, crossing her arms.
"N ... Napi?"
-" Yes! "
"Elia .... so this thing was Elia which everyone was talking about?"
-" Yes !"
"You are the witch who saved us by the river?"
-"Yes!"
"Why is Elia afraid of you ... She seemed to have gone when you came, Why are you here, And what do you want from me?"
"Water.. witch ....."
Both Napi And Joey Looked towards the source of the voice to find Zain muttering while he was trying to support his body with both of his hands to get up, But his body was so heavy that he could not move alone.
Joey stood on his shaky legs and rushed towards him followed slowly by Napi.
Napi smiled more and sat at the bedside.
-"She does not fear me, The deal between us, it saved you from staying here forever". Napi said in a proud tone.
"What about Zain? and the others? Why does he appear sedated and powerless ?" Joey asked nodding towards Zain with his head.
-"His blood saved him from becoming like the rest of your friends.
"what do you mean?"
-"He's from one of the families that helped the underworld ages ago, and their name must be written on the list, so his body has some kind of anti-water magic, So no dark creature could poison or put a spell on anyone from those families without an order or a seal from the King of the Underworld himself, so the easiest is to numb him constantly till he dies by himself," she said jerking her head towards him.
Zain couldn't support his head himself so he ended up leaning it on Joey's shoulder, Joey didn't pay him much attention as he was listening and analyzing every single word that come out of Napi's mouth.
-"As for you, you and I have a deal between us, and until you give me what I want, and When this deal ends, this mark will be removed from your body and you will be free again, but as long as you still owe me, this mark will keep us connected, it let me know in case any other being is harming you in any way. Anyone that will try to do this, I'll be obliged to appear to protect you, and you are also obliged to pay your debt to me till the end of the deal, otherwise, your pain will increase and the mark will not disappear, etc. In other words, I am responsible for you until you pay me that debt" she said as she got bored by the end of the sentence.
" And what do I owe you?" Joey asked Hesitantly.
Napi smiled and got closer to him and whispered " Your Soul & body "
He was shocked and Drawn back to stay far as possible from her with Zain by his side still unable to open his eyes. A blush could be seen on Joey's pale white skin, which add only to his beauty! which made the water witch only look at him with surprise but found it kind of cute after a minute.
" Little kitten! You're blushing boy!" She said in a mocking voice, And a muffed laughter, while moving away from him a little.
Joey was irritated " What are you saying! Look I won't give you what you want, Not until you get us out of here alive and get us to our world safely" Joey said with a voice full of confidence.
Napi's smile faded gradually. She got angry, a little, she never thought this will be his reaction, she was expecting fear and obeying, but she found this confidence in his voice provoking her, "You lowly human are you Extorting me ?? "
" I doubt that I am a lowly human because if that's true, You will not need a thing from a lowly creature right ?"
Napi got even angrier" You are not an easy one, Are you? Yang Joey, Believe me, I will not let this be easy for you"
" Look I don't want you to make it easy, I want my friends back, and get us out of here, Then..." He took a breath, letting his eyes float into the room around him "Then take what you want when we are safe"
She calmed down after a minute And fixed her long dark coaled black hair
-" Fine...this will quicken the process"
-"First You need to stop them from drinking the river's waters, it has a kind of wine, Which causes them to be unconscious and controlled by Elia easily," Napi said in a plane voice.
" So, these people are also humans? But unconscious? "Joey asked with slight hope in his voice.
-" No, of course not ، there are no Human beings in the underworld, they will not be able to live here for long, they are lost souls that died from decades in wars and such, they took home in this area in the underworld after they took an agreement from the king to have the right to hunt and live here, and they workshop Elia, a Climate Spirit ."
"Wait wait...A climate spirit?...Hunt? ... What Do you mean by they took an agreement to hunt here" Joey got suspicious and wanted to know if what he was thinking is right and he wished it is not.
-" Elia, is not a demon or a dark creature herself, but she is an evil old spirit, it causes bad weather and It was causing hail which resulted in damaging the crops, houses, and living, so they workshop her to get her to make a better climate Which allows them to grow crops and Hunt, so they could live peacefully. Every creature in the Underworld has a right to hunt and feed on other creatures, it's like a jungle in your world you may say, but with rules, Every creature has a limited place with borders, if they overpassed the borders which the king drow himself, They will be killed by the king as a punishment, but that was in the past"
" What do you mean? Does he not punish them now when they cross the limits? And what are they feeding on? "Joey asked her worriedly.
Napi looked at him and he could notice that there is some buried sadness that could be noticed if you looked at her face close enough.
-" The king went missing, and so the Underworld fell into Chaos, now there are a lot of wars between Tribes, low and higher ranks...that's why your world was messed with"
Joey got shocked there was too much information in this little period:
" What do you mean by my world being messed with?"
-"A lot of My Friends were killed in this current war we are having," she said with a dark and sad voice. looking to the ground.
" How can we find a gate to get back then?" Joey asked Napi trying to change the dark path in their conversation.
-"The only one who can open the gates between both worlds is the King himself or by a chosen one in the upper world, but I was told that this person's identity was kept as a secret and no one know him, he was the one who wrote the Peace treaty and signed it as he represents the upper world "
Joey's eyes widen, " So you mean that no one knows who he is, but doesn't that mean he may be the one who got us here by opening a fate in the Upper world ?" Joey was thinking out loud.
-"What got you here anyway ?" Napi asked.
" There was supposed to be a test that is I guess meant to be a simulation to the real Underworld, and it was quite alright as a test in the beginning, but suddenly some kind of monsters, a Nuckelavee as Zain called it ، it chased us, Zain told us to run to the river and then you know the rest " he raised his head to look at her.
Napi Smiled" Yeah...saved your asses !"
Joey looked at her with a look that says (I want to kill you but I can't) look.
"How can I wake him up again? he was okay a few hours ago, but he got sleepy again suddenly. And even more, how can I make them wake up from this illusion" Joey asked her.
" As I said, just as I made you do, because of the deal, you can not be possessed so you threw up the demonic wine, so the same goes for your friends, as for him... " She took some closer steps towards them until she was right in front of Zain, She put her hand on his forehead and a purple aura could be seen, it seems like she was absorbing something from him, when she finished she stood again in irritations " Happy now? I took the residual anesthetic in his nervous system... he will wake up shortly" she walked away after saying that.
She laughed " And by the way, you got to move fast Joey, Elia will get the villagers here.. they are on their way.." she said looking at the closed door of the room.
"What do you mean?!" Joey got worried.
-" If Elia can't kill you by herself, and they can't make you one of them too, then they will offer you as a Sacrifice for her "
"WHAT!" Joey got shocked and couldn't think probably.
" Then do something!" He yelled at Napi
-" I can't..am not that strong either, She is a spirit and I am a witch, she was afraid of the deal not from me! Other than that if she killed you indirectly, I don't know...." She said as she played with a strain of her hair.
-"I mean I will save you because of the deal that bonds us, but am not sure if you will be in one piece" she continued laughing sarcastically.
Joey felt she was useless now, She is only after the deal, even if he lost a friend or an arm! He closed his eyes and begin to think carefully.
After a few seconds he opened his eyes suddenly as if got an idea, he looked fastly at Npai " Can you open a gate in the Underworld?"
She was startled by the question" What?... Yes...I can but how will that save your friends ...Unless....."
End of Chapter 16