" The Towering Worlds : Hell's Chalice. ™ "
A Story written by @mohhdude.
(Be warned, there will be references from other series in this book!!)
Alternative Names -
" TTW : HC.™ "
" Protocol — Hell's Chalice. ™ "
" End of Earth, Beginning of Hell. ™ "
Chapter XX :
" Subtle. "
Act I : The Dungeon Tower of Hell.
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" To say the secret of another is betrayal, to say yours is stupidity. "
– Voltaire.
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After spending half of the day resting, the five's bags and belongings were sent back from inspection. (excluding Sheri's potion bag, which Sheri was a bit pressed about.)
Victor got his daggers back and Leif got his sword back. Aurum got out of the bathroom after washing his hair and a towel around his neck.
" Alright, let's take a tour and I'll lead you all to one of the paradox bases. ", Aurum says, as he dries his hair. Leif strapped his sheathed sword to his left hip.
Victor tied his daggers to his waist, Leif looked at Victor. Raising an eyebrow, as he asks: " Hey, what happened to your stone gauntlets? ", Victor looked over at Leif.
" Oh, I bought daggers at a shop in Grandolia. I can summon the gauntlets too, but I have to use one at a time. ", Leif nodded at Victor's response to his question.
Aurum gets ready for the trip throughout Putresc to find Gudo, waiting outside of the door for the others. Aurum tapped his feet.
Sheri walked out with Kalon, Victor and Leif walked out of the apartment door. Aurum went downstairs and handed the apartment owner the keys to their room so they can get it back when they get Gudo back…
" Alright, You all forgetting something? ", Aurum said before they head out of the complex, all of them had their stuff. Sheri went out to buy potions as the others head out. Sheri joined them later.
Aurum led them to the wilderness of Putresc, " So, where did you last see this base, Aurum? ", Victor asked; Sheri, Leif and Kalon were following Aurum along with Victor.
Aurum scratching his chin whilst pondering where it is. " … I recall it being around a pit of lava, since nobody would go near there. ", Victor sighed.
" Well, can't you make stairs made of stone, Vick? ", Sheri heard the conversation between Aurum and Victor. " Well… It's not that easily to make stones that float or sides of the pit into stairs… "
" Why? ", Leif asked the follow-up question. " Because I have to focus my magic on one thing without anything or anyone disrupting me, I'm sure that's gonna be a problem… ", Victor glances over his shoulder at Sheri.
Sheri grew a vein on her forehead, but she sighed. " I wanna beat the hell outta you but Kalon is here so consider yourself lucky… ", The Five kept walking down the wilderness.
Every thing felt uneasy step by step. Aurum had an expressionless face, while everyone else felt a stressful and uneasy pressure. After walking for 30 minutes, Aurum reached the pit of lava far from the city.
" … Here we are, one of the bases… ", Aurum said, Victor formed stone gauntlets, taking a deep breath. Extending both of his hand's forwards. Closing his eyes, Victor tried to picture stairs forming out of the walls of the pit of lava.
Kalon suddenly fell down, holding his chest whilst gasping for air. " KALON! ", Sheri shouted, quickly rushing to Kalon to make sure he's okay. Kalon couldn't talk without gasping.
Victor lost composure. Looking over at Kalon, Kalon could speak a few words. " I… feel something… here… ", he said weakly.
" … You three should go without me. I'll be here with Kalon. ", Leif looked at Sheri who held Kalon. " … Are you sure? ", Sheri nodded. " You better make sure Gudo is safe, Leif. ", Sheri playfully punched Leif's shoulder.
Leif chuckled, nodding. " I'll make sure, Sheri. ", Sheri nodded. Walking to a spot in the wilderness far from the pit of lava. Sheri removed her cloak and folded the cloak into a pillow, laying Kalon's head on the pillow while Kalon is panting.
Sheri had potions on standby, Victor, Leif, and Aurum left. Victor focused his mana on making stone float on the lava so they can explore the entrance of the pit to find the base.
Victor successfully made rocks float on the lava so they can walk on it. " Yes! Finally, but be quick since it can fall after standing on it for too long. "
Leif nodded, " Alright, on three… ", Leif, Victor, and Aurum get ready to jump on the first rock. " One… ", Leif sweats a bit, " Two… ", Aurum was slightly shaking. " THREE! "
The three of them jump of the first rock. All three of them interlocking their hands, jumping on rock after rock. Aurum almost slipped. " WOAH- " Aurum's heart beats at a fast pace. Sighing in relief.
Leif pulled Aurum up, they jumped again. Now surrounded by three caves. The three of them stood on one shaky rock. " … Split up! ", Victor shouted. All of them releasing the interlocked hands.
Leif jumped in the cave in front, Victor jumped in the cave in the right side, Aurum jumped in the cave on the left. As Leif sat down, exhausted. " Damn… Almost got fried… "
Aurum calmed down, sighing in relief that he didn't get burned in the lava. " We'll cross paths, you two. Okay? ", Victor said. " Alright! ", Leif responded back. " Got it. ", so did Aurum.
Leif went inside of the cave he landed in, so did the other two. Leif formed a flame in his hand to light up his surroundings, holding the handle of his sheathe firmly, staying alert.
Victor got out a match and lit it, lighting up his surroundings. Aurum had no source of light, thus had to walk in complete darkness.
Leif kept walking down the cave, his footsteps echoes as he walks through the cave, Leif felt the mana presence of Victor and Aurum nearby.
Leif kept going, as he heard footsteps in front of him. Dismissing the flame in his hand, grabbing the sheathe with his left hand and hovering his right hand on the handle. Slowly descending his hand down on the handle.
The noise in the distance got closer, Leif would quickly draw his sword with flames imbued on the blade, it was just a random paradox member.
" Who are you. ", Leif asked in a demanding tone, wanting answers from the random member. " J-just a man roaming the caves, sir! ", Leif nears the blade to the neck of the random member.
" Don't play dumb with me, who are you? ", The paradox member quickly whipped out a knife and try to slash Leif. Leif's blade swiftly traveled through the paradox member's neck, thus rendering him decapitated, Leif sheathes his sword.
" … He came from that way, so that would probably mean it's the base we're looking for… ", the body turned into mana dust, as Leif didn't notice and kept walking deeper.
Leif ended up at a larger section of a cave, where someone sat atop. Swinging their legs back and forth as they looked around the cave, the mysterious individual placed one leg on the other.
The person hummed some sort of soothing tune, looking down at Leif. Leif kept his hand on the handle of his sheathed sword. " Who are you? "
There were numerous body parts, arms, legs, heads, torsos, eyes. But none of them seem to be bleeding. " We meet again, Leif Sagamore. "
The cave gently lit, the individual's face was visible along with their green hair. " I had to beat the bricks out of Gudo Nomasaki just to get my answers. Am I glad you're here. "
Leif sighed in an irritated way, " I can't say the same… You are…? ", Charles's face grew numerous veins in anger. " I AM THE ONE YOU HUMILIATED BACK AT IRONIA! CHARLES GREENDAY?! "
Leif takes a second to think… Scratching his chin, wondering if he heard that name anywhere… " … Hm… Nah, no clue. You probably got the wrong guy. "
Charles, without a second thought, pulled strings from his fingertips as a barrage of knives fly out of the darkness of the cave at high speeds.
Leif quickly noticed, however, he got stabbed a few times in his arm, thigh, and shoulder. Leif withdrew, unsheathing his sword. Imbuing it with mana flames.
Charles chuckled, looking down at Leif as he kept one leg on the other. " … Don't you sit femininely? ", Leif wanted to aggravate Charles.
" I grew up with my mother who taught me that men and women are equal. Your insults don't hurt me. ", Ignoring the time where Charles bashed Gudo's face in after he called him an Effem.
" Is that a fact? ", Leif ran up to Charles with embers of the flaming sword condensed into the tip of the sword. Leif pointed it to Charles's torso, blasting it open.
Charles falls limp, face flat. Leif looked at the body. " … Strange… He isn't bleeding… ", He quickly turned around at the sound of rattling. And Charles's humming.
" You can't win, Sagamore. This is but a fake body controlled by me. ", Charles said, as his torso was replaced by a new one on the floor. Charles had stitch marks on his arms, wrists, hands, fingers, and more.
" … So, just a ventriloquist puppet or something? ", Leif gripped his sword. " I might as well make an escape. " Leif condensed flames around his feet, jumping down a height and then blasting through the section of a cave.
The puppets made by Charles form into a giant puppet, crawling through the caves.
Victor felt the rumbling of the cave system, so did Aurum. Leif met up with the two of them, shouting: " VICTOR! AURUM! RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! ", the flames boosting Leif's running distance wore off, so he just leap.
Aurum looked back at the giant puppet crawling. " WHAT THE FUCKKK?!?! ", " WHAT DID YOU DO LEIF?! ", Victor shouted whilst running.
" I'LL EXPLAIN LATER! IF YOU DON'T WANNA BECOME A SQUASHED BUG, RUN! ", the three run as fast as they could. Reaching the end of the cave, The puppet entered the end, dissipating into mana dust.
The three entered the end of the cave, but fell down since there was only a long fall, Aurum bumped his head, Leif landed on his back, Victor landed in a distant but not that far tree.
Leif woke up, rubbing his back. " Ow… what happened… ", Aurum got out a Victor who was covered in leaves and dirt. " Sup. ", Aurum said casually.
" Don't 'sup' me… What happened? ", The three had ended up in front of a stone statue of The God of Rot, Reo.
" Who is that? ", Leif pointed at the statue. " It's the God of Rot, Reo. He created Putresc as a country with a purpose to safeguard those needing protection… But after the Great War and all of that, Putresc became a gatekept city. Only allowing the people who were born in it in and out.", Aurum answered Leif.
" He's the eldest of the ten children, The Ten Children of Aria, and The Forces of Nature. ", Leif nodded. " You want to teach us history after giving information to the enemy? "
Aurum sighed from Leif's sarcastic remarks. " No, but I thought I'd show some historical knowledge… It's also said in The Holy Text of Aria that Archangel Solomon are the ones that guided the Ten Children in the right path… Nonetheless… "
" The Paradox bring some unwanted memories to me… ", " Like what? ", Leif asked, Aurum wrapped his arms around his own body and curled up into a ball while in grief, Leif widened his eyes slightly.
" Oh… Wow, I'm… so sorry that happened to you. ", Leif shuffled over, patting him on the back. Victor slowly woke up, Aurum sighed.
" I think a little history lesson would be nice, Reo was a favorable God amongst the Ten Children. ", Aurum says, trying to move away from the stinging marks of his past all around his body.
The pact mark on Leif's back and Victor's hand glowed, allowing Solomon to speak publicly.
" Reo was a fine child of Aria. He had found love for himself and found a mortal he could call his own wife. That was until His brother, Sora did something so unforgivable that Aria, The Most Merciful, had to punish him for his crimes. ", Solomon said, reminiscing the past he had.
" Oh, It's an honor, Archangel Solomon. ", Aurum says, bowing gently. Raising his head in a sign of respect for the higher being. Aurum had a copy of the Holy Text of Aria in his hand.
" Do you carry that copy with you everywhere? ", Victor asks Aurum, " I'm a firm believer of Aria, let me be. ", Victor nodded. " Yeah, I get that. But there are some times where you don't need things like that. "
" Again, Leave me be, Ivanov. ", Aurum responded.
" Anyways… let's continue with the history lesson… ", Solomon claims.
— Chapter XX, Fin.