Much like how I had to enter the Labyrinth for my sixth Labor, I once again must journey to the secret portal beneath Pleasance Island. Only unlike last time, when I open it up this time I'm not walking into the Labyrinth, but rather am staring down an abrupt drop-off.
Trusting my instincts, I step forward and plummet into the abyss.
♣ ♦ ♥ ♠
"Wha...? Where am I?" I groggily sit up. I seem to have just morph from the thin air. I'm now sitting in the middle of a dusty cave. Stalagmites and stalactites form jagged rows of rocky fangs around me, making me feel as though I'm in the maw of a monster.
I quickly scramble to my feet and follow the weak rays of light looming at the mouth of the tunnel. I emerge from the cave on a ledge jutting out from an enormous black mountain. The view before me nearly takes my breath away.
This must be Mount Tenniel.
As far as the eye can see, towering black mountains dominate the landscape. Winding between each colossal tower are thick, slimy rivers that reek like sulfur; arbitrary green flames shoot up every so often amid the lurid tarn. Green smog congests the sky and forms winding ribbons around the mountains, the smog is so thick, it nearly blocks out the sun. But what's most impressive and horrifying about this grizzly terrain is the gigantic skeleton I see laying at the foothills of the smoking mountain I stand on.
The skeleton is of a Jabberwocky.
The beast is so impossibly huge, it's basically another mountain laying across the rocky ground. Despite being slain eighteen years ago, most of its hide is still remarkably intact so at first glance it almost looks like the monster is just sleeping.
So this would be the Jabberwocky that Vyndren slain, I muse with equal parts amazement and disbelief. I almost can't believe it, it just seems so...impossible. But if anyone can do the impossible, it's Vyndren.
I carefully begin scaling down the mountain. I have no idea when this Labor starts but I want to be on the ground before it does. I'll have to defeat the Jabberwocky's ghost haunting its cursed bones before I can even wander into the boneyard to find the heartstones...
How exactly does one defeat a Dark creature's ghost?
As I scramble down, I can't help but become lost in the details of the terrifying creature below me. In the nigh darkness, I can see grizzly puncture wounds scattered all over the enormous body. I do remember how Vyndren said he tricked the beast into killing itself which does explain the brutal damage this monster's bones have undergone.
Jabberwockies have two skeletons and I see both of them now, making passageways between the layers of bones. God, it'll take forever trying to navigate through this thing!
The ground abruptly trembles the moment I step onto the level ground. Geysers of green smoke shoot into the air with a painfully loud hiss, I press my hands over my ears and frantically look around as spirit warns me of danger.
My jaw drops as I watch the bones of the Jabberwocky suddenly glow. A gossamer silhouette rises up from the corpse and now two fiery green pits of light illuminate on either side of the skull.
I swallow my scream of horror as I realize I'm now facing down the ghost of the Jabberwocky.
It throws its head back with a deafening roar.
I cry out with pain and clap my hands over my ears again. The roar literally shakes the mountains around us and rocks begin falling down all around me.
Its chest suddenly shimmers, I see a dull green light glowing under its scales and now the Jabberwocky suddenly spits pale green fire.
I frantically dive for cover behind one of the rocky slopes, ripping my shield off my back to hold over my head as more rocks and soot careen down over me. I don't have a sword! How am I supposed to fight this thing?! I desperately wonder.
Everything you need is already with you...the voices of the Alices before me echo in my head.
But what does that mean?!
I hear a clap of thunder and anxiously peer around my shield, my eyes widen as I realize the thunderous sound is the Jabberwocky taking flight above me. Its chest glows again as it prepares to hurl more fire at me.
I leap to my feet and in a flourish, I summon my animal soul spirit.
In an explosive burst of white flares, my Angelus Reprobi takes form just as the Jabberwocky ghost releases its next blast of flames.
My Angelus Reprobi meets its deadly current with an icy exhale. The two elements clash together overhead with a deafening crackle. Fire and ice are slung in every direction as they keep pressing closer together, flames and chips of ice rain down on my shield as I run beneath the dueling spirits for a more secure shelter.
The Jabberwocky ghost abruptly twists to the side and swivels around to bear down on me again. It blasts an inferno down to the ground just behind me. I frantically run as fast as I can as more fire savagely eats through the ground in pursuit of me.
My Angelus Reprobi dives into the ghost, knocking it off balance so its fire is disrupted moments before I would be consumed in the flames, and now I watch as the two spirits brawl in the sky above me.
My animal soul spirit slams its horn through the lower jaw of the ghost but the other creature barely seems phased and brutally clobbers my Angelus Reprobi in the face hard enough to send the spirit careening down to the ground.
It impacts with the ground forcefully enough to send me flying off my feet. I crash-land on my shield and slide down an embankment, soot falls over me like a blanket and stains my hair and skin. I anxiously stagger back up; my eyes widen in horror as the Jabberwocky ghost looms before me.
How am I supposed to kill this thing?!
The fire beneath its scales glow as it drawls another breath.
I wildly look around for inspiration.
Wait a second...it killed itself before, maybe it can do it again.
I desperately summon spirit right as the ghost breathes fire again. I swiftly conjure a forcefield that engulfs the ghost and its fire. The fire races up the sides of the forcefield and surrounds the ghost in a fiery bubble. The outraged Jabberwocky ghost breathes even more fire, completely consuming itself within the forcefield.
My entire body trembles with effort to maintain the imprisonment, I can hear my blood roaring in my ears as I strain to contain the inferno.
I give a cry of effort as I force the fiery sphere to collapse.
A blinding flash of green light washes across the entire sky with an ear-splitting bang.
I'm flung off my feet and crash on my back a few yards away. My skull is aching as I groggily force myself to sit up, blood runs from my nose, and my eyes are still seeing starbursts. I strain my eyes to work and now I gasp with amazement as I stare into the sky.
I see an enormous cloud of smoke the shape of the Jabberwocky ghost blowing apart in the wind.
All around me, Raetri suddenly gives a shudder, marking the end of yet another Labor.
I swiftly summon my animal soul spirit back to my palm with a laugh of relief. "It worked!" I shake my head, brushing my tears of joy with the back of my wrist. I killed the ghost the same way Vyndren killed the living Jabberwocky. "Thanks for the advice, Chief."

YOU ARE READING
Behind My Shadow - Book Three
FantasyThe day has finally donned for Adara to complete the sacred Eighteen Labors of Alice to prove her merit to Raetri and secure her rightful place on the Vorpal Throne! But Adara feels like she's playing against a stacked deck. While struggling to conq...