The Prince of Light

Chapter 21

I stepped out of the room into the darkness. I turned to Ash.

'Won't I wake up underground? I mean, I've been down here for, like, an entire hour.' I asked him. He smiled, flashing those teeth.

'An hour down here is a second on Earth. It's because of all the people who die in one day. We wouldn't have enough time.' He said.

'Well, I guess that makes sense. Ok, so what will happen when we get up there? I'm still being choked and pulled into the ground.' I said. Ash thought for a moment.

'I guess that I can save you when I get up there.' He said.

'But you are dead. Besides, what are you going to do against an army of earth tentacles?' I asked him. He just smiled.

'I have my ways.' He said, hinting at something. I just stared at him and shook my head.

'Take us up.' I said, sucking in a big breath. The air was stale but it was air. Ash pulled out the same key and inserted it into the darkness and twisted. Another door appeared an exact copy of the other door. He opened it and inside was pure white light. He gestured for me to go first. I walked slowly up to the door. I took a step in and suddenly I was falling. After a few seconds I noticed that there was a pressure on my throat. And the falling feeling was actually sinking. My eyes were closed too.

'I'm back!' I think. My eyes flash open, and I see Ash standing next to me. He shakes his head and then quickly reaches down and touches the tentacle across my throat. It disappears. He then moves across my body and does the same thing to the other tentacles. I realize that I still have the sword and shield. I jump up and start hacking at the tentacles. I hear combat behind me and see George and Bertie still fighting. Ash is flying around and shooting balls of gray.....dust? When it hits something, it dissolves into ash. The tentacles start focusing on him instead of me. They start shooting up at him. Soon he is completely entangled by the tentacles. A brilliant plan forms in my head. I see George bring a kill stroke to Bertie. George dissolves. The passageway appeared in the alcove where the statue was. I looked back at Ash. I couldn't just leave him. I balled up energy. My body started to glow. I began to float up. I focused all my energy to my hand. My hand was so bright that you could feel the heat coming off of it like you were in the middle of a fire. I pushed out with that hand and a beam of light shoot out, so intense that it charred the earth underneath it. It sliced through the earth tentacles like they were butter to a fire. Ash started to fall as the tentacles are severed. He spreads his wings and we race for the passageway. It's a set of stairs. They lead down. We quickly run down them. We reach the bottom and I am out of breath. I bend over and breathe deeply. When I stand back up, Ash points.

"Look." He said. I look and see that we were in a field of lava. There is a single stream carving through the cavern. A wooden bridge spans across it to a small earth strip. Beyond that is a lake of lava. Earth spots just big enough for two people go across the lake to the other side, where there is a small passage in between rocks.

"This looks easy. We can just fly across." I said. Ash looked queasy.

"Wasn't there guardians in the other rooms?" He asked.

"Yeah." I said.

"So it's like the room with the monster paintings. The dwarf. He had no weapons right? Yet he was the most dangerous. He looked harmless but he was the most powerful. Do you really think this room's guardian will let us just fly across?" He said.

"No. You are right. Let's go across and deal with the guardian like men." I said. He nodded. We jumped to the first earth island. Nothing happened. We jumped to the next. Still nothing. Four more went by and nothing happened. We were halfway through when the lava started to bubble and churn. The lava rose and formed humanoid figures.

"Elementals!" Ash shouted. Then a giant shape rose out of the lava.

"A phoenix....." I say. "We're dead. Again."