Consequences

Chapter 10

Upon entering the Nether, he was hit by the other realm's extreme heat. Sweat beaded across his forehead in a matter of seconds. It took some time for his eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness, as lava pouring down was the only source of light around.

Lyle took a good look around, scanning his surroundings thoroughly. He had come to a closed hallway, which seemed to go on forever and was empty of life. The human could spot an opening in the wall. Assuming it was the armoury and seeing that there was no sign of an ambush, Lyle threw a rock through the portal.

Kiyoto came through soon after along with Achillean and the Felden army. Lyle gestured in the direction, and Kiyoto nodded before signalling for everyone to follow him. They made their footsteps as quiet as possible while they marched up to the armoury.

Lyle turned the corner to meet the eyes of a shocked Netheran, immediately firing with his crossbow, though his arrows did little to penetrate their tough skin. Lyle ducked, and Kiyoto thrust his spear through the Netheran's skull, who then fell back, dead.

It was just a guard... Kiyoto thought, seeing there were no more enemies in sight. He was honestly surprised the armoury wasn't heavily guarded since it was where they kept their weapons. The Felina walked in, grabbing a spear that was hung up on the wall and studying it. The spearhead was made of something that didn't seem to be from the Overworld, being a dark grayish purple colour. Most of the weapons in the room were either made of the same material or iron.

' Netherite... it's-' a soldier whispered to Kiyoto. Lyle hushed him, but Kiyoto held up a hand, giving him a nod of acknowledgement. ' It's supposed to be even tougher than diamond...' the soldier found the courage to add.

Kiyoto pondered for a moment, swinging the spear around to get a feel for it before placing it on his back. The Felina looked around, ' There's not much we can do here but guard the place for now...' he informed everyone. His eyes scanned through the crowd, only to notice the lack of a Nestoris glow, ' Achillean?' when he received no response, he turned to Lyle, ' Where did he go?'

~*~

The moment the Cydonia army came through the portals, the guards were swift to go defend the city against the humans, leaving the last portal unguarded. Thanks to that, Ingressus, Pythus and Rendor were able to enter the realm without much resistance. They appeared on an open walkway of Nether brick, with another bridge above them and a few more below.

' Straight ahead,' Pythus told them, pointing forward, ' The throne room.'

' How can you be sure Chronos will be there?' Rendor questioned.

' He will be,' Pythus said confidently, ' With an emergency like this, he'll need to give hasty orders to the generals - including me. And we were always told to gather in the throne room.'

Rendor opened his mouth to make a statement, but Ingressus voiced it first, ' That would mean Chronos won't be alone in the throne room.'

' You pretty much killed all of them, so it's just left me, Vulcannus and Lavana,' Pythus informed them, ' I can take her on, but my brother might be a problem.'

' Couldn't have told us earlier?!' Rendor yelled. If there would be three Netherans and only three of them... then they would have to fight one each. And there was no way any one of them stood a chance against Chronos alone. Even five Enderknights failed, what was the Enderking, an Ardoni and a Netheran going to do on their own?

' Well, we could also all team up to get rid of Lavana first, then Vulcannus and finally Chronos,' Ingressus suggested.

' Would we have any strength left by that time?' Rendor asked, ' That was the whole point of the Cydonia army! To distract them so we wouldn't have to fight our way to the throne room!'