War Of Egypt II • The Persians

Chapter 21: Dahaka's Labyrinth

Let's go! I deliberately left to give people time to catch up. We're done, let's continue. 

    When the platform sunk back into the ground, Kha opened his eyes, stepping forward and saw that he was staring down a long dark corridor. No, not a corridor. The labyrinth. The walls were worn concrete, at a terrifying 42 cubics high and a width of 23 meters. Dark vines and little unsuspecting bushes grew near the walls, tearing through the cracks and bursting from the earth. The smell, Kha screwed his face, was of freshly dug earth; of cold and wet mist. As if sensing his thoughts, Kha turned around swiftly when to see the thick mist crawling towards him, dancing in triumph like it was pleased to finally devour something from the living realm. Kha held onto his swords tightly and forced his foot forward towards the mist, step by step, until soon he was confidently advancing through it.

    There were no torches, not even a moon or sun. The labyrinth existed in itself like a world of it's own. The only light he would rely on was the unnatural green hue of the skies all the way above him. Kha tried to focus on his task and found himself worrying about Asire. His journey through the labyrinth only started so it would be fair if hers did so too, what wouldn't be fair was if she was already dead somewhere here.

    As he turned down another corridor, his ears picked up on a low hissing sound somewhere to his right beyond the walls. Whatever it was, Kha was glad it was in another whole section of the labyrinth—but he thought too early. The wall shattered with a loud clap and he quickly jumped back, his right arm holding one of his blades up for protection as his eyes scanned the disturbance in front of him. In the heavy cloud of dust and broken concrete, Kha came to see red eyes peering back at him. He stepped back, what is this animal? The hissing grew louder as the red eyes flickered in the dust and started to rise from their original stationary point. Kha twirled his blades, only realizing that the creature was either flying or incredibly tall.

    When the dust cleared, Kha could see it was flying, oh yes, it was flying and the creature was a huge terrifying Drug. Unlike the 'civilized' ones that honored Asire, this thing was wild and out of control, just how it was created to be. She lifted her 6 clawed hands and shrieked into his face, a long slimy black tail whipping out from behind her as it struck Kha backwards. She shrieked again in a thousand hoarse tones and advanced on him, her tail swaying and curling behind her. Kha gripped his blades as he struggled to his feet and turned to face her. Venom dripped from her fangs and her eyes twisted around in a sickening way, to and fro to the back of her head, her multiple claws lashed out and sliced Kha across his face. The blade flew out of his hands and up into the wall somewhere. The female demon triumphantly hissed.

   "A distraction would be nice father," he shouted out to his ancestors but received nothing in reply. Even their presence was gone and Kha then knew he truly was alone. So much for guidance from his ancestors, he thought sourly about the Priestess' prayer.

    Instead of receiving a distraction, he became the distraction to his own cause. The Drug snatched him up, four limbs reached to clutch his arms and legs to pull him apart. Kha groaned when his muscles started tensing and tightening underneath the strain of her powerful tugging. He had no choice but to slam his head forward onto the demon's face. The force of their heads slamming disoriented the demon and she slithered backwards, howling at the searing pain that was no doubt sawing her head apart. Kha was dropped to his feet with a grunt escaping his lips. Once regaining his composure, he sliced his sword across the demon's midsection. Dark-colored blood sprayed but that did not mean it was over for her.

    The long scaly black tail coiled back and knocked him backwards once again. Kha flew out, collided into the wall on his left and lay still on the ground for a split moment. There was no way to easily defeat this creature but he had to try. Pulling his remaining blade to his body and correcting his stance as he stood, Kha charged at the screeching Drug. His legs carried him with a godly swiftness and he expertly wove his way through her many arms, especially sparing himself from her vicious tail whips. And when she finally captured him in the black coils of her long snake-like lower section, he struggled to secure himself before plunging the blade into the bulging surface crawling beneath his arms. Her tail immediately flexed and shot upright, propelling Kha into the air. Three things then happened in the very small moment: he reached out for the other blade that had previously been impaled into the top of the wall, brought his bades together in the form of an 'X', and just when Asire's voice perforated his head, Kha brought the blades down onto the Drug's head; cleanly slicing through it. She fell.