Chapter 21
CHAPTER
TWENTY-ONE
Okay, time to go!” Seymour grabbed Day and then turned to bolt back down the hall.
He’d already had enough fights with monsters for a lifetime and was not interested in a repeat performance.
“Go, go, go!” Shiloh chanted as he bolted ahead, surprisingly fast for a man his age.
Maybe it was magic.
Sariel took up the rear with his wings stretched out like a shield, and his eyes glazed with golden fire as he shouted, “Do not stop! Do not—”
Long green vines whipped around Sariel’s wings and legs, taking him to the ground.
“Shit!” Seymour skidded to a stop and turned, trying to double back. “Sariel!”
“Sariel!” Day leapt off Seymour’s shoulder.
The vines dragged Sariel out of the hall with a quick snap. He couldn’t fly because his wings were tangled up, and he hit the ground hard, flailing to escape as he was drawn like a fish on a hook.
Day raced ahead, snarling furiously.
Seymour followed and only briefly thought it was very stupid since he had literally no weapon of any kind. He could see the horde of monsters scrambling and splitting, some racing away down other paths, the imp with the brain screaming as he too retreated, but the bulk remained.
And they were coming right at them.
Day managed to catch up before Sariel was in reach of the plant beast reeling him in, swiping at the vines with her claws. “Come on!”
Sariel flapped his wings as he rose, transforming all the way into Angel Super Saiyan Number Two so that his eyeballs peeked through his skin and his skin bulged and twitched all over. He swung at the attacking monsters, knocking several off the narrow path.
Seymour definitely heard a sickening splat of what may have been the offspring of a bug and giraffe as it hit the platform below. “We gotta get the fuck outta here! Now!”
“Go!” Sariel barked, his voice rumbling low.
“Not without you!”
The path was narrow enough that Sariel could effectively block the other monsters from getting around him and to the others. Day simply darted between Sariel’s legs and unhinged her jaw, promptly gobbling up a werewolf who let out a pained howl before he vanished down her throat.
Seymour scrambled back as another vine shot over Sariel’s head, aimed for him. “Shit, shit, shit—”
Schink.
Shiloh was there with a glowing playing card in his hand, the Jack of Hearts, and it had sliced through the vine like a hot knife through butter.
“Fuckin’ fuck, uh, thanks! Fuckin’ Gambit!” Seymour sputtered.
“Don’t mention it, mon chere. Hang on tight.” Shiloh popped a piece of hot pink gum in his mouth and chewed frantically.
The gum had a potent scent, earthy and damp, and it wasn’t exactly pleasant.
“What are you doing?” Seymour shouted. “We gotta—”
Shiloh blew a bubble, pulled it out of his mouth, and threw it up into the air.
The bubble expanded, passing through and then around Shiloh and Seymour to create a giant pink force field. A winged creature, maybe a gargoyle, dove at the force field and promptly bounced right off.
“Holy shit.” Seymour stared. “That’s some fuckin’ gum.”
“Don’t ask.” Shiloh looked around quickly. “Shit, where the hell is Izba?”
“Eh?” Seymour searched the ground by Sariel and the other fighting monsters.
“Don’t see ’em.” He cringed as the gargoyle dove again at the force field.
He could see Sariel getting overwhelmed and stumbling, and there was no immediate sign of Day.
“Got any magical stuff to get us the hell out of here?”
Shiloh grimaced. “Not right this second. I can’t portal outta Faerie. We gotta go back the way we came, but we’ll get jacked up the second I drop this shield!”
“Hey! They’re about to get jacked up!” Seymour pointed angrily. “We gotta do somethin’!”
“I’m thinking, okay?” Shiloh pleaded.
“Fuck this!” Seymour had no idea what he was going to do, but he kicked at the bubble.
“No, don’t—”
“Fuck you! I’m not standin’ here, watchin’ them die!”
Okay, technically Day was already dead, but details.
As if called by the mere thought of her, Day scampered up to the bubble. She was panting hard and covered in blood, blue fluid, green fluids, and lots of other fluids that may have also been blood. She put her paws on the bubble, looking Seymour over worriedly. “Seymour! Are you all right?”
“I’m fine!” Seymour dropped to his knees, pressing his hands against her paws. “Tryin’ to get the hell outta here so I can help you!”
Sariel let out a roar of pain, and Seymour watched in horror as his left wing was ripped nearly in half.
His blood glittered like molten gold, gushing across the stone, and he snarled as he hurled the assailant—some kind of purple fuzzy demon—off the path.
Just as quickly as that threat was removed, more monsters attacked and Sariel stumbled again, nearly going down.
“Fuck! No!” Seymour screamed, pounding at the bubble and trying again to break it. “Sariel! Fuck! Just hang on! I’m comin’!”
“No! Stay here! You have to summon them!” Day pleaded. “Quickly! Use the Inro! The chochin-obake! Kocchi koi yo, chochin-obake!”
“Huh?” Seymour could not have been hearing her correctly. “The chocobo what now?”
Day growled. “Repeat after me.”
“Okay—”
“Cho. Chin.”
“Cho. Chin?”
“Oh. Bah. Kay.” Day’s eyes flashed. “Got it?”
“Wha—”
Day raced away, leaping into the air and biting the head off one of the monsters swarming Sariel. She spat it out, perhaps getting full, and went for the next. “Come on, Seymour! Hurry!”
“Fuck me runnin’.” Seymour fumbled for the Inro in his back pocket. “Uh, uh, uh, coochie coo, yo, uh, chocobo-chin-ah…” He cringed. “Oh… backy?”
God in Heaven, that was fuckin’ horrible.
Something tapped Seymour’s arm.
“Ah, fuck!” Seymour jumped, flailing and landing on his butt.
It was the red lantern man thing from the Inro, and it was standing here with them inside the bubble.
“What the fuck?” Shiloh yelped.
“You’re seein’ the weird lil’ lantern man too?”
“Yup.”
“Uh. Hi there, lil’ guy.” Seymour waved. “Choco—uh… Chocobo? Choco?”
The lantern tilted sideways, as if cocking its head, but his entire body was technically a head.
“Got a question for ya’.” Seymour pointed at the horde. “You wanna go kick a whole bunch of ass?”
Choco nodded and clapped. It seemed excited, but it was difficult to be sure. It took off, its tongue flapping wildly as it ran right through the bubble to join the fight. It skipped around Sariel and immediately headbutted—lanternbutted?—a skinny green lizard man out of the way.
And then there were more of the lantern men.
A lot more.
Seymour couldn’t even deduce where they were coming from, but they were able to pass through the force field without any problem.
Gravity didn’t seem to be an issue for them either, as they scuttled along the sides of the path like Spider-Man.
They effortlessly shoved monsters off or pulled them down by their ankles, but the majority charged into the building to attack and drive the horde back.
It was like watching ants swarm a lollipop, only much faster.
And ugh, a lot bloodier.
In spite of their small size, the lantern men were incredibly strong. They were quite literally pulling monsters apart with their bare hands and crushing their heads under their feet like grapes.
“Fuck yeah! Yes!” Seymour cheered, pumping his fist into air. “Let’s fuckin’ go! Let’s go!”
Sariel was up, his wounded wing tucked back as he helped finish off the stragglers. Day was right beside him, fiercely taking out anyone who got too close to Sariel or the bubble. There were a lot of decapitated bodies and heads scattered around.
Like, a lot.
The rest of the fighting was now contained to inside the building, and many of the other monsters were retreating toward one of the stone doors. The door opened into something—a tree? The perspective made no sense. It was the underside of a tree’s foliage, as if the door was in the ground.
But then something came through the door.
Oh fuck…
It was the other troll.
The troll turned his head toward the bubble, and even though his face was covered, Seymour knew he was staring right at him.
Fuck.
The stone below Seymour’s feet moved. “The fuck?”
The cracks and varying hues of the stone morphed into… words.
HeLLo
“Izba?” Shiloh gasped. “The hell?”
I aM FaERiE nOW
i dO nOT LiKe iT
“We’re gettin’ outta here, buddy. Don’t you worry.” Shiloh pinched his fingers together as if holding a needle and poked the force field. The bubble around them popped and evaporated into nothing.
Seymour rushed over to Sariel’s side. “Hey!”
“Hello.” Sariel’s eyes were shifting in multiple directions, many of them closed. “I am afraid I am quite wounded.”
“Very wounded,” Day agreed with a worried meow.
“It’s okay, come on.” Seymour tried to help Sariel stand, wrapping his arms around him. “Oof, work with me, big guy.”
Sariel slowly but surely was able to get up, though he leaned heavily against Seymour’s side. “What about the chochin?”
“They are linked to the Inro just as I am!” Day replied. “They will follow. Do not worry.”
“But the mostri… They had the brain.”
“Later,” Seymour said quickly. “We need to—”
The troll jumped.
Seymour didn’t think trolls could jump.
Especially not so high or so far, allowing them to land only a few feet away…
Blocking their path back to the hall.
“Run!” Shiloh bellowed, clapping his hands and creating a giant shower of sparks.
It only seemed to annoy the troll at best, but it bought them precious seconds to race toward the building.
The same place where all the fighting was still going on.
Great.
Wonderful.
Because racing through a bunch of monsters and tiny lantern men sounded like fun.
“Once we get in there, we should just stick to the walls, yeah?” Seymour gave Sariel a reassuring squeeze. “We gotta make sure you—”
“Here, my stella. I will carry you.” Sariel grunted, perhaps from exertion or pain or both, but he swung Seymour up into his arms and took off at a dead sprint. “Day! Come!”