"Pops?" Will, Momo, Robert, and Gale called out.
"Hello everyone." Pops Replied. Momo ran to Pops and gave him a hug. The others did the same. They were all glad to see Pops.
"We are still looking for Jay." Momo said, looking at Pops wondering if he was going to help.
"I know. I actually came to help find my son. It took me a while to track you guys down. I got some help from The Cloaked Man." Pops looked past everyone and noticed The Cloaked Man walking towards them. "Did you guys find anything about getting Jay out of purgatory." Pops asked Momo.
"Yes, we need to go to castle grim. We need to kill the boss there and then fight the king of the castle who is said to be The Cloaked Man." Momo said. She turned around sensing something was wrong. She saw that the Cloaked Man was wearing a mask, and his brightness became dim. He looked very weak.
"I will go with you all to Castle Grim, but you will all need to need to follow my directions. I only have enough power to get this done right. Now if everyone is ready, gather up in a circle around me." The group seemed to be a bit skeptical about The Cloaked Man as he asked everyone to gather around him. Pops and Momo were the first to get into the Circle. "Now hang on tight to me." He told everyone. They did as he asked. In a blink of an eye, they were transported to a room with a light breeze in the air. A window was cracked open. Noise could be heard outside; it sounded like a war was breaking out. Larry took a look outside of the window and noticed that the people outside fighting were the Grims Disciples. "They are killing each other." He whispered to the group. The Cloaked Man motioned to them to follow him. Through a large double wooden door with blood stains on it.
"I know you have been here Pops. You don't have to worry about the boss this time. We must fight my other half before he has realized that we are here." The Cloaked Man silently spoke with Pops. "Fred brings your laptop out." Fred summoned his laptop, and the Cloaked Man took it and began typing.
The room lit up as the sound of a symphony began slowly performing in this room. The light revealed piles of bones laid all over the floor. The symphony began to raise the suspense as the creature began forming from the piles of bones. The room began to enlarge as the creature grew larger. The doors slammed shut behind them and the group felt terror unlike any other. The only people that seemed to be unaffected were Momo, The Cloaked Man, and Pops.
Pops looked at Momo and said, "You have spoken to the Cloaked Man at the hospital as well." Momo nodded, staring down the creature as it formed to become Lord Grim.
The Cloaked Man handed the laptop to Fred who was quivering in fear. "Press enter when I tell you too." He told Fred. The Cloaked Man walked forward to Lord Grim. Pops began to walk forward, and The Cloaked Man said, "Stand still both of you." He raised his hand that was dimly lit, and with what seemed to be the last bit of magical energy he had and shot out a black beam of light. Lord Grim who was a large pile of bones that appeared to look like a skeleton dashed for an attack. Lord grim slowly began to fall apart. The bones made up his body landed on the floor and became dust. The large skull fell last. As the skull landed it exploded into a dust cloud revealing a hidden message.
The message read 'Those that pass through the first gate will reap rewards that are great. Those that wait for the second gate will meet the King of hate. Beat the King and you will win a prize that can't be obtained.'
The group looked at the now fading Cloaked Man. Pops tapped Momo on the shoulder and asked her if she could use a healing spell. She told Pops that she's never attempted it before, and she was willing to try. She lifted her staff up pointing at the Cloaked Man, but he swiftly took the staff right out of her hand. It almost seems as though he didn't move when he did take it out. "Do not try to heal me, it is a waste of your spell." The Cloaked Man tossed the staff back at Momo. "I still am stronger than you think. My Magic may be weak, but I can still move and until I can't you all should not worry." A second gate began appearing at the center of the dusty room. Pops and Momo walked towards the door. The door swung open as if inviting the group into the next room. "We need to go in to save Jay," Momo said. The group agreed and everyone rushed in all, but the Cloaked Man. Momo turned to look at the Cloaked Man and saw that he couldn't get through.
"It's etching around the door. It's not allowing me to get through. He Knew I was coming. It's a trap come back!" The Cloaked Man yelled out to the group. They all turned and ran to the door. The door slammed shut. The room was pitch black. Not a noise could be heard. At the center of the room a red magical symbol appears lighting up the entire room. Voices of a choir began to ring as they hummed an ominous sound. All the instruments of the orchestra played loudly. A ghostly Cloaked figure appeared. Looking through the cloak everything seemed to be decaying. As it stepped forward the footprints looked as though it were blood that began boiling then faded as the Ghostly figure walked forward.
"This is the guy that told us to go to the City of Beginnings" T and Larry said simultaneously. The group raised the weapon at the ghostly figure. The Ghostly figure began walking in circles around them. The group put their backs to each other.
"Something seems off." Fred said.
"I agree," Will responded.
"Whatever we do, don't attack first" Pops said. "Keep a close eye on him" The figure stopped. Everyone was staring him down waiting for a chance to counterattack. The cloaked figure began to walk backwards in circles and images of himself began to emerge all of which were walking backwards in circles around the group. "This is an assassins' trait." Pops called out.
"He could be any one of them," said Gale.
"What is the real one." Robert called out. The figures dove towards the group. The group moved their weapons to defend themselves. The figures retreated back walking in circles.
"He couldn't land a hit. Keep watching him!" Will shouted.
The figures jumped backwards and threw knives at the group. T attempted to cast a spell but Pops with a blink of an eye blocked all of the knives. "He has us cornered. The symbol on the ground makes it so no magic can be done. We have to rely on strength and speed here.
"You think your physical attacks are superior to mine!" The ghostly figure shouted. Robert charged at one of the figures and ran through it.
"Hey pops, is that a magical skill the boss is using?" T asked.
Pops whispered to the group, "No, that skill he is using is based on his agility. He is moving so fast that it is hard to trace exactly where he is at… But I can tell when he could be back in one spot. Larry, hand me your grenade but hand it to me in a cloth we don't want him to know what we are up to." Larry moved close to Pops and handed him the grenade. Pops waited and noticed the little jumps the Ghostly man did and tossed the grenade to the figure. The grenade blew up just as the figure landed and knocked the figure back as all of this happened the symbol underneath their feet changed. It was now a greenish color.
The figure yelled out, "you won't be able to do that again." all of the after images disappeared as the Ghostly man was knocked back. Robert ran to the man and slammed his axe down. The figure stopped the attack without touching Robert's axe. "You are too weak to beat me peasant." The figure grabbed Robert by his neck and lifted him off his feet. T finally wielding his scythe ran to the ghostly man and swung at him stabbing him on his back. The symbol seemed to change blue after T stabbed the ghostly man. Fred took his laptop and began typing a Fireball appeared behind the figure and shot out, hitting him. The symbol turned red.
Pops Looked at the floor noticing the changes and realized what it was. T saw that the Fire ball worked from Fred and attempted to cast a spell again, but nothing happens. Pops Yelled out, "We need to switch our attacks to beat him!" Larry lobbed a grenade at the figure and yelled out "focus target". Activating his ability. The explosion was focused on the ghostly man and T finally got out a spell yelling out "shadow lock." His shadow enlarged and grabbed the shadow of the Ghostly man. Will shot out an arrow and yelled out "infinite arrows." the one arrow turned into thousands all of which began landing on the Ghostly man. Robert swung the axe down at the Ghostly man landing a heavy blow.
The Ghostly man became furious and teleported to the center of the symbol. "You will all die now." The Ghostly man called out to the group. He began uncloaking himself revealing skeletal angel wings. The skin on the ghostly man looked decayed and he reeked of death. His fingertips seemed to have claws. He knelt down to the symbol and absorbed the symbols to his body making a tattoo of three different colors. The tattoos seemed to shift all over his body. "You cannot defeat me!" The demon-like angel yelled. The group surrounded him, all of them aiming their weapons ready to deliver a blow. "Your little weapons will not affect me. Your only hope and savior was left out in the castle. My brother will not take my power away from me; he will never reach me." the figure opened his eyes revealing that he was blind. "Your mana is almost depleted. You don't have many potions either. I will only need to hold you off for 5 minutes. With my first blow you will use 2 potions. Before I kill you all I'll tell you, my name. I am Kelphine, angel of Death, one of the four horsemen of purgatory. Dalphamire has sent you to death, and you are facing him. Hahahahahahaha..." Kelphine was in the middle of laughing when he felt a sharp pain on his back. He turned face to face with Robert. "Well, that was expected from an Orc that has no patients." He grabbed Robert and ripped his head out with the spinal cord attached. "That's one less person I have to deal with. Oh, Don't bother trying to resurrect him, it won't work. He's already my puppet." Roberts headless body stood up. Kelphine handed the head and spine back to the headless Robert. He carried the head and spine like a ball and chain. Swinging it and releasing it to attack Gale.
"When he said that he would come back and haunt me I thought he was joking." Gale said while dogging every attack Robert made. Kelphine turned to Pops and spoke.
"Two potions will be used. MANA DRAIN!" From his body erupted a dark sinister energy that attaches itself to the rest of the group. Everyone's mana bar hit zero. Each player drank one potion to refill their mana. They realized that it was still going down. They waited a minute and noticed their mana stopped going down and drank a second potion. Pops noticed that Kelphine was just observing everyone. Pops was in the middle of grabbing the second potion and stopped.
"Everyone listen up. This guy is making us waist potions as quickly as he can so he can finish us off. Attack him and use as little potion as you can. This will make it so we last longer in the fight." Pops said as he pocketed his second potion. Kelphine expanded his wings and flew up into the air. "Flames of eternal hell!" he yelled out and Black Fire burst out from the ground. The group ran to the pillars and climbed up it. Gale was too slow the fire touched the bottom of his shoes as he was climbing the pillar, and his entire body burst into flames. He yelled and screamed in agonizing pain. Will noticed his body was not actually burning. His skin did not look like it was melting. Will mentioned it to Fred who was floating in the air by him. Fred summoned a pair of binoculars to take a better look at Gale. The binoculars had shown Gale's health and as well as any damage taken. The Fire seemed to not deal physical damage. The group has dealt fire damage before, and it would always damage a person significantly. This fire seemed to be affecting Gale's mind.
"It seems as though the flames won't kill you." said Fred.
"Yes, you are correct. These flames won't kill you. They send you to your own personal hell." Kelphine's voice echoed. Momo reached into her pocket and felt something hard. She pulled out a yellow crystal. She knew immediately to throw the crystal at Kelphine. Kelphine grabbed the crystal in midair and began inspecting it.
"Will shoot at the crystal!" Momo yelled. Will hopped out from the pillar and took aim at the crystal. He released the string and a flaming arrow shot out. Will landed at the center of the flames and began yelling and screaming. His body erupted into black flames. The arrow hit the crystal shard and burst in Kelphines hand. A golden orb enclosed around him and The Cloaked Man appeared.
"Dalphamire, how did you get in here?" Kelphine yelled.
"Kelphine you must go back to purgatory with us." said the Cloaked Man known as Delphamire.
"The master must die. It's the only way!" Kelphine yelled.
"We must serve the master. Farten and Vaxmind are doing what they can to keep him alive the Leviathans will take them soon. Please brother, we need you." Dalphamire knelt down and released Kelphine from the orb.
"Fine but we must summon him." Kelphine said. Dalphamire looked displeased as though the person they needed to summon was much worse than Kelphine. Kelphine pulled out what seemed like an hourglass that seemed to be filled with black sand. He turned the hourglass, and everything was rewinding in time. Everyone was now at the door. Robert with his head intact was feeling around his neck.
"What happened?" Robert struggled to get the words out. The second set of doors were in front of them. Dalphimare stood in front of everyone waiting for the doors to open. The doors opened and Kelphine walked out. Robert grabbed his axe and began running to the door. Dalphimare quickly disarmed Robert and told him to calm down.
The group walked out to an army of players all with weapons ready. Kelphine entered the room last, and the army of players all bowed to him. Kelphine motioned the group to walk through the army of players. There was a man blocking the path and he was dressed in black robes. He stood up and asked Kelphine why these groups of players weren't killed. Kelphine looked at the man and said that sometimes it's better to have strong allies to grow the guild. The guy standing in front of the group stood up and had taken his oni mask off revealing the imposter, Jay. "These people are weak. They do not have the skills to become the greatest." The imposter Jay yelled out to Kelphine.
"Hold your tongue Vale or you will be sent to purgatory!" Kelphine shouted at Vale.
"You're just a program that I can re-write you little pet!" Vale yelled at Kelphine as he summoned a large pillar and began typing on it. Kelphine began to glitch but laughed. His voice seemed to echo as he spoke to Vale.
"I'm not just a program Vale in fact you will never overthrow me you traitor. I Created this kingdom and when I am set free, I will make you Suffer. I will be seeing you very soon Mark." Kelphine seemed to drop out of his trance and began speaking in his regular voice. "Vale you will stop what you are doing, or I will kill you." Kelphine began. Vale stopped everything he was doing.
Dalphimare said to the group that was their master and that they have no idea when he controls them. Vale called forth the army of players and said, "If I can't reprogram you then I will kill you all!" They all surrounded them, but Kelphine merely shrugged his shoulders and wrapped Momo and the team in his wing and a bright light flashed leaving only Dalphimare standing in the center. Dalphimare looked at the group of players and smiled. "You have started a war, Vale." Dalphimares voice changed, and it began echoing. "Meet Dalphimare, Creator of War, and my finest Horsemen. Now Dalphimare, KILL!" Dalphimare became angelic and summoned A thousand swords in the air. His hand was raised, and he dropped it down. The swords all followed the motions of his hands. Hundreds of players began falling, blood filled the floor creating a small stream. Vale had fled along with many other players realizing that they were fighting a losing battle. Those that stayed got slaughtered by Dalphimare. Dalphimare's light seemed to get red and become more sinister, his face seemed to look demonic and fierce. The display of power was unlike any other. It looked as though he could fight on for years. "Thank you, brothers, for your help." Dalphimare said out loud to the sky. An image of a figure that looked sickly and almost decaying and another one covered in bugs nodded and disappeared. Dalphimare put his hand on his chest and teleported to the guild looking as though he was upset that Kelphine had left him there.
"I should punish you Kelphine." Dalphimare called out. Kelphine simply ignored him. "Preparations are completed; we need to summon him now. Master will be wanting us to call him now." Kelphine finished writing a symbol on the ground as he spoke to Dalphimare.
"Master is getting stronger as we get closer to freeing him. Vaxmind and Farten have begun the healing process in the pit of life. The Leviathans will be reaching him soon. That was a message from our brothers." Dalphamire informed Kelphine.
"Who will we summon?" asked Kelphine.
"The arrogant one." Dalphamire answered hastily.
"Other than yourself brother?" Kelphine said, giving a harsh look at Dalphimare. "Fred, will you bring up the program I have written, and press enter?" Dalphimare asked. A circle began creating itself and torches popped out from the ground.
Dalphimare ignored Kelphine and entered the circle that Fred created. The group quietly watched as the two began casting a spell.