The Lost Quest
Chapter 13: Into the Tunnel

Yannic stood on the garden. He heard the people on the main entrance still screaming “Power!”

“Power!” “Put the blood on the hallway, Give us the Power!”

Yannic swayed his hands towards the people standing on the main entrance. Golden lights slowly floated towards them and spread the warm beam of light to their dead grey skin. The light scattered all over their skin that seemed to bring the lost light into their dead souls. The glimmered light turned the skin pinkish. They finally looked alive. They all stopped muttering “Power!” A drop of power they had been thirsty for, they got an ocean full of it.

They all looked at Yannic. There stood their savior, Lord of Peninha, Lord Aerius! Yannic could see the happiness in their eyes, grateful they seemed. One of them knelt down and shouted.

“Long live lord!”

“Long live lord!” “Long live lord!” followed others.

“Long live lord!” This prayer buzzed all over Peninha. Along with the sound, floated the glittering golden souls which spread their beams to turn the dull grey land of Peninha into bright magnificent shrine. Yannic looked at the beautiful land, where the sun beam had fallen after hundreds of years. Behind him, stood Zohar looking at everything so lively and beautiful. “You did it, my lord!” “You freed the holy souls. You saved the long lost land! You completed your quest!” said Zohar as he approached Yannic.

“No!” said Yannic. He turned around. “I haven’t completed what I came for, Zohar.”

“What are you talking about, my lord?

“I’ve lost my love, my Tiara to it. He killed her and I can’t let him get away like this.”

“Let them go! Lord! They have entered the dark chamber, where they belong. They are never coming back. They are going to rot and finish in there.”

“I don’t know what she’d been through. That Demon ripped her off. How hard she might have cried. How bad she might have missed me. I can’t let him get away like this, Zohar. My Tiara wouldn’t go on rest like this.” Continued Yannic.

Zohar saw tears flowing through the flames burning into his eyes. The fierce rage that would amplify his power which was the indication of a terrific destruction, a huge battle. Zohar got scared.

“Let them go. My lord!” said Zohar as he grasped Yannic. Aiden helped him stop the King. But he won’t, he shuddered and freed the grasp. The fire of his lost love made him move frantically towards the hallway to the dark chamber. Zohar and Aiden followed him. On the way, Yannic looked at the pool of crystal clear water in the hallway. He saw his reflection, the flames ready to destroy the evil. He entered to an alley where the demons had ran into erstwhile. It lead to a huge wooden door, crafted with the powers of demon. He hit the door with his leg. The door got broken into pieces. No one knew where the pieces fell but it was a huge terrific sound which scared Zohar and Aiden following him. Yannic, he was determined, he wouldn’t rest until he had got the murderer. They entered the chamber. It was not an ordinary chamber but a tunnel, a dark long tunnel, where evil would be prayed and strengthened, the place where Ariman used to perform his black wizardry. Yannic moved furiously inside the tunnel. At a distance, they could hear a sudden buzzing as if some kind of weird ritual was taking place. They got near, they saw Dark wizards and Czars holding hands in a circle and muttering something weird. Inside the circle sat Alice, their master, surrounded by the circle of candles all around.

“What are they doing?” said Yannic as he turned towards Zohar.

On heeding carefully, they heard “Father of the demon! We need you. Come to us! Help us conquer!

“Oh father of Evil! Hear our prayers! Come to us!!” muttered everyone.

“They are calling their father, the supreme power of the Evil”, whispered Zohar from

behind.

“Call all your ancestors, if you want. No one’s going to save you today, Demons!!” yelled Yannic. He threw a swirling flash of light to the demons in the circle. The dark wizards and the Czars got crashed against the wall of the tunnel.

“You can’t kill the demon. You don’t know the power he owns,” shouted Alice as he got tossed on the ground.

“You tore my Tiara with these hands.” He fired the flash of lights to his hands. The demon tried to get up and reach the wand that had fallen beside him but another flash of current hurled from his roar smashed Alice on a wall of the tunnel. Alice looked all around for his dark wizards and Czars. All of them had fled away. Alice was left alone with Yannic’s furious flurry. “She was innocent. She was the one I loved all my life and you watched her suffer with these eyes?” Bellowed Yannic. He threw a gust of his fury to Alice’s lightening blue eyes. Alice screamed with pain.

“Scream harder!” Howled Yannic.

The scream exploded all over the tunnel.

“SCREAM HARDER!” shouted Yannic and he darted another beam of powerful flash into his eyes.

“You can’t conquer Demons!”

“I am Aerius, you Devil. I can conquer with all my goodness, my piousness, my blessings of the holy souls.”

“Your goodness is going to kill you. You can’t conquer the demon, my friend. You’re going to be finished like your loved ones,” said the demon lying on the floor.

Then Alice started muttering something strange. “Thee Father of Demon! Please come to save our reign. I offer my life to you. Accept my oblation.” Alice slowly lifted his hand. On his finger, was the ring with a shining gem on it. He sipped and then got broken into pieces. The parts of the demon got stumbled and slammed against the wall. The blast of his scream thundered the tunnel.

Yannic wheezed as if his blast of fury, was slowly receding. Behind him stood Zohar and Aiden looking at the wreck his anger had made. Then Yannic fell onto the floor after a while.

“We need to go back Yannic. The rage ain’t good, his last words were cursed. The supreme power of demon is going to come.

We have to get out of it as soon as possible,” Zohar said in terrified voice.

Yannic could feel the warmth of the land fading away. He again started getting the dreary feeling into his heart. The dark tunnel started getting colder.

“Tiara! She’s gone. Whom I’d return back to?” He wept tears for his lost love. Aiden ran to his brother and wrapped him from behind.

“Tiara! I’m not sure that she’s dead,” said Zohar who was staring Yannic from behind.

“What are you talking about?” Yannic wiped his tears and he turned towards Zohar.

“She may not be dead.”

“But that ring! That demon! All that we’ve seen in the suicide forest.” It seemed confusing.

“You spent time together at your wedding night?”

“Yes!”

“He may have captured her. But the demons wouldn’t kill her. The next heir after you is preserved in her womb. They won’t let Peninha be heirless. They will always need a royal blood, pure line of the family, to feed on their power.”

“Where is she, then?” asked Yannic. There sparkled hope into his eyes.

“We can connect to her. Dead or alive.”

“Connect? How do we do that?”

“Ouza board! Spirit recorder! We can talk to spirits through that.” said Aiden as he stepped ahead.

“Yes! We had found one on the bag in the suicide forest.” Said Zohar.

“I had the bag till the grassy alley at the entrance to Peninha. Then I wore your cloak and left the bag there.”

“On the grassy alley! I’ll go get that for you.” Aiden stepped away from the tunnel. “Wait!” Zohar spoke and mumbled some

chants the bag appeared right in front of

him.

“Zohar! You do magic. Why don’t you bring Tiara to us?”

“My Lord! My magic’s limited to few people and things. I cannot shake a tiny little hair of any supreme power and demons may have captured her.”

“But you can.” continued Zohar. “You are Lord Aerius, with all the blessings of holy souls, you can call any spirit. Good or bad, holy or evil, dead or alive. You’ve got the power.”

Zohar handed him the bag and Yannic slowly unzipped it. He saw the candles, an ouzo board and a spirit recorder. They burnt the candles and placed them on the floor. Beside them they kept the spirit recorder, they would require to connect Tiara. Then, in that dark tunnel, the three men sat around the burning candles holding each other’s hands in circle.

“Tiara! You’re hearing me? Tiara! Are you with us? Tiara!”

“It’s so spooky in here. I’m freezing. Where’s the foul smell coming from? I

don’t think I can stand this anymore.” Said Aiden.

“No matter what lords, don’t leave the hands, Aiden don’t let go. We’ve reached this far. She is the only one who can help us get through it. We’re trying to communicate.” said Zohar.

“Tiara! We need your help. You’re here? Please give a sign.”

“Tiara!” repeated Yannic.

(The recorder started buzzing like being tuned to any local station, some weird music began to play. In the broken and unclear sound they heard someone sobbing.)

“I! I warned you!”

“Tiara, is that you?”

“I warned you. (Female sobbing voice they could hear) I warned somethings wrong you can’t fight them.”

“He is going to kill you. He killed me. He’ll kill you all. Save your life! Run away Yannic!”

“Run away!”

“Who killed you Tiara? Who’s going to kill us?”

“Run for your life! Ru…”

“Tiara!”

(The sobbing was gone. Random station was tuned. The recorder started rattling weirdly. Heavy manly voice started crackling through the recorder)

“It ain’t thy wish when thou arrived, ain’t that be the way thou go,

None have ever defeated the demon, see the power he owe,

The dawn thou want to see is far far away

The elegy of death song has just begun to play

Now until the games over thou have to stay… So Stay!”

“My lord! That’s not Tiara. He has arrived.”

“It’s scary brother! Feels like somethings climbing my back.”

(The recorder crackled and made rattling noise. The gentle breeze turned into howling wind. Wind growled harder swinging the men. Rattling grew noisier, the foul smell like that of rotten corpse grew stronger.)

“Don’t leave the hands! Don’t let go! We need to be together. It’s a trick. No matter what. DON’T LET GO!!”

The swirling wind blew off the candles leaving the men in pitch darkness, feeling the tight grip of each other’s hand.

“I’m scared! It’s all dark now.”

(The boy beside them started shaking vigorously.)

“Aiden’s trembling, Zohar can you feel his hands getting colder?” “Aiden! You’re okay?”

“Lords don’t let go. We need to hold on. She’s going to help us.”

(Storm grew wilder! Men started swinging with wind.)

“HELP!”

“SAVE ME!” (Painful scream they heard)

“Who’s yelling?”

“Aaaahhh” the scream seemed to be fading away.

“It’s like someone’s dragged out of the tunnel.”

“Help! Brother! Save me! He’s taking me away! Zohar!”

The scream grew bitter.

“Holy god, Zohar! That’s Aiden!”

“How’s that possible? Whom are we holding on?”

The sound slowly vanished along with the rattling of recorder, the trembling was all gone. All that left was heavy breaths, bumping hearts in dead silence of the pitch dark tunnel and unknown pair of cold hands that they were still holding on.