FF Entry - 7

The square was empty upon Janeil's arrival. Not a single soul was in sight as he stuck along one of the walls behind a stack of barrels, staying out of sight. The shadows hid him as he peered at the supposed chapel-like building. Small, gothic looking, not very elaborate. A dim light flickered behind one of the oil-stained cloth windows.

Biting his lip, Janeil took a deep breath and sprinted towards the chapel, covering forty feet in three seconds. Bounding up the steps, he reached the doors, letting the rifle drop slightly as he tried the handle. It rattled some, the doors staying shut.

He exhaled and gave the doors a sharp kick. The flimsy look snapped as the doors burst open. Janeil brought the rifle to his shoulder and aimed into the dark interior, flicking the light on the end of the rifle.

The beam illuminated musty looking bookselves and cubby holes with dust-covered and moldy books and scrolls. A saline smell of saltwater reached his nostrils, the room completely silent. He cautiously entered in, aware of his surroundings the entire time.

There was a small rattle in the distance. Looking up, he crouched slightly and pushed past a curtain that separated another room. This place looked nothing like a chapel or temple like he knew. it looked more like a workshop mixed with a library. Except the was being worked on seemed like chemistry or biology of sorts....

There was distant yelling the street as people seemed to gather together. The noise seemed to come closer. Janeil ignored it and pushed forward; if people were coming to do justice by breaking and burning, there might not be a clue what happened to temilia or what his motives were.

The next room was somewhat spacious. Jars lined the wall, strage pickle-colored hunks of flesh in preservation alcohol. A rat skittered across the floor, knocking over a tin can in the corner.
Janeil sighed. Nothing made sense. He didn't see anything else or evidence of Volus' other "treasures", but he was studying about some living thing. And the few scrolls that made sense, they looks like maps of the ocean. Maybe the thing was an ocean-dweller?

The ever-present sound of clamoring people reached the front of the building. Sophia darted in.

"Janeil!"

He turned to see her, somewhat shrinking back at the eerie surroundings. Stepping close to him, Sophia tugged a strand of hair out of her face.

"Did you find her?" She asked worriedly.

"Not yet. You?"

"A couple people saw Volus head towards the bay. Some are looking for him over there now."

"They might be right; I don't see any sign of anyone here." Janeil started to brush past her.
Sophia stuck close to him as the two walked outside. A large group of the villagers number roughly fifty or so gathered outside, armed with torches, harpoons and shovels.

"Is he in there?" Pierre asked.

"No. Search inside, but don't ruin anything." Janeil looked around. "Where's the bay?"

"I'll show you." Pierre motioned for some of the people to go inside.

Everyone seemed to realize this was a sense of urgency. All of them were running behind Pierre down the road towards the water's edge. Most of them were silent and didn't say a word...

Upon arrival, everyone's voice raised along the lines of a cave that wasn't there. Between outcroppings of rocks a black gaping hole stared back at them. There was a low and deep moan that seemed to vibrate through everyone's body.

All the voices fell silent.

"What in heaven's name was that?" Pierre asked quietly.

Janeil didn't answer as he scampered over the rail down the rocky slope onto the sandy beach. As he hit the bottom, pebbles rolled past him as Sophia skidded to a stop next to him.

"What are you doing?!" Janeil's voice was clearly annoyed and warning.

"What else do you think?" Sophia shot back in a raised voice.

"You're getting in the way!"

Sophia sighed, holding her forehead in frustration. "I'm trying to help you. Doesn't that mean anything to you!? You're the one crying on my shoulder a few days ago about fighting alone." She grabbed his shoulders and tried to give him a good shake. "I'm your friend! Get a grip and see past yourself!"

Janeil was quiet, knowing that in the midst of this, they were causing a spectacle. He needed to get his act together. And Sophia was right; she was in with him as much as he wanted to deny it. Still, he thought it was too dangerous for her.

"I'm sorry." Janeil answered in a quiet voice. "But..."

"Let it go. Don't waste time." Sophia unclenched her hands from Janeil's shoulders and started towards the cave. Janeil picked up his pace to come in front of her.

Most of the cavern's roof has collapsed, the bright moonlight starting to bathe the rock and push away the darkness. Glimmering pools of water were scattered left and right, a few large ones bubbling in motion as the waves crashed against the shore outside.

"What is this place?" Sophia noticed a part of the wall had been cut flat by hands of man, inscriptions engraved into the wall. She studied it closer, forgetting that they were on a chase to save someone's life.

"This writing...I have not seen it for ages." She whsipered to herself. Her lips mouthed the words, trying to make sense of what had been inscribed.

Janeil had not noticed her stop. Something else had caught his eyes. His footsteps quickened as he came to what appeared to a flat area, a stone oblong altar in the middle. A mixed lump of fabric was piled at the base of the altar.

"Sophia!" Janeil called out ot her, noticing that she was more than ten feet behind him.

"...the nightmare that possesses its host is complete." Sophia mouthed the words. She looked up, seeing Janeil wave her over to him.

"Janeil...that wall...something horrible is here." Sophia started to explain in desperation. "We have to-"

Her sentence stopped short at the pile of fabric. Sophia gasped, kneeling down and shuffling through the fabric.

"Tamilia's clothes...even her undergarments. The poor girl's completely naked...What is he... " Sophia's voice dripped with anger. "I can't forgive him for this."

"You won't have to, my dear." Came a voice out of the darkness.

Sophia was immediately on her feet. Both her and Janeil looked over a giant sinkhole of water where the voice had come from. An outcrop of rock hung over the edge, Volus' sillouhette outlined by the moonlight.

Janeil immediately raised his rifle at him. "Where's Tamilia?"

"She's right here." Volus motioned to the base of the pool with open arms. Tamilia was bound with rope, submerged up to her neck in water. She coughed, shivering and sweaty.

"Janeil! Sophia! Help!" She cried, coughing as water splashed into her mouth.

"No one can hear your cries, child!" Volus boomed. "Your time is about to end. Krashalna will be mine, and you will be its offspring."

"No!" Tamilia tried to struggle against her bonds, choking and gasping for breath.

Janeil didn't wait and opened fire. Volus raised his hand towards him as a blue bubble formed around him, the bullets ricocheting off.

"You cannot defeat me!" Volus shouted. A bolt of lighting crackled from his hand and lanced towards them. Janeil shoved Sophia behind the altar as the ducked behind cover.

"It's one of the artifacts! It's preventing you from hitting him." Sophia explained in a strained and harried voice.

"You think?" Janeil ducked back out and started to fire once more.

Volus apparently was surprised by this, switching back to his bubble. The bullets' impacts seemed to make him lose his footing a little, making him grimace and stand tall once more.

"Your futile attacks willl not damage me! You must be as powerful as I am to defeat me!"
Another lightning bolt lanced out.

The bolt devastated the altar as Sophia yelped and threw herself to the floor. Janeil rolled to the other side, the pulverized dust blinding their vision. In between the confusion, a yellow glow illuminated where the altar once stood.

Volus's attacks ceased. "What do we have here?"

The glow seemed to "roll away" and plopped into the water. There was a rumble as the moan that was heard earlier sounded again, reverberating throughout the cave. The watter bubbled as the sinkhole glowed with the light, a dark and twisting shape.

Sophia crawled over to Janeil and started to pull him to his feet. Volus paid no attention to them as the sinkhole glowed even brighter, as if a portal was opening in the water's surface.

"Come forth, Krashalna! I beckon you to be my servant and offer you this mortal as a sacrifice and your offspring!" Volus declared.

Four humungous tentacles emerged from the portal, stretching skyward. They wre more than forty feet long, each three or four feet across. They snaked towards the cavern roof, the tips arriving at Volus' level.

Janeil fumbled at his thigh, drawing his pistol. "Stay out of the way." He pressed it into Sophia's hands.

Sophia stared at the weapon, holding it gingerly. Before she could say something, Janeil had dashed off towards the end of the pool towards where Tamilia was.

Tamilia was barely keeping her head above the water. She saw Janeil approach, but wisely kept quiet as the monster's tentacles danced around in front of Volus. He stepped into the water and lifted her out and quietly as he could, slashing the ropes with his knife.

Tamilia collapsed facefirst onto the ground, coughing. Janeil looked up to see if Volus was still occupied as he tugged her behind the outcrop for protection, motioning for her to stay. Satisfied that she would be safe for the moment, he started to make his way up the outcrop.

Unforunately something happened just at that moment. Several squid-like creatures emerged from the pool, roughly five feet in length. They crawled along the ground with their tentacles, their dark green bodies standing almost vertical. Sharp yellow pupils burned the night as they twitched around, searching.

Sophia gasped and took cover behind a chunk of the altar, squeezing the pistol as hard as she could. Three of the creatures were crawling towards her at a rapid pace. One of them whipped of the longer pair of tentacles towards, eaching having a black fang-like hook on the end.
She gave a short shriek, jumping backwards as they missed her by inches. Sophia prayed hard that she would know how to use the gun given to her and pulled the trigger repeatdly at the creature closest to her. She flinched as each report each bullet made, the slugs tearing into the creatures flesh. It writhed around with no noise, flopping to ground and squirming about, clear liquid oozing out from its wounds. Sophia did not miss a beat and started to fire on the other creatures

Volus looked up from his "summoning" and looked at Sophia's plight with a sick grin on his face. He started to raise his hand to lance her with lightning once when Tamilia screamed. He looked down to see another creature approaching her helpless form but also Janeil scaling the wall. He swung his hand around, Janeil realizing he was caught.

He thumbed off the safety and fired off a rocket out of the secondary weapon tube on his rifle. The projectile left with a pop and impacted the outcrop with an explosion, causing Volus to lose his footing and the lightning to spark into another portion of the cave. The explosion pushed Janeil off of the outcrop, sending him crashing to the ground. His body flared with pain as he rolled onto his stomach and peppered the creature next to Tamilia.

Volus lost more than just his footing; he lost his balance. He gave a suprised cry as he toppled off the rock, grasping the edge at the last moment. His eyes widened in fear as he stared at the tentacles below him, struggling to climb back up.

The pistol gave its last round as the slide jammed into the loaded position, the magazine empty. Her frantic eyes realized that she was in serious trouble and backed away from the creatures that had either been injured or still alive.

Janeil had Tamilia leaning on his shoulder, making his way towards Sophia's position. The way the creatures were advancing, they would be cut off and Janeil would not be able to aid her in time.

Out of nowhere a harpoon stabbed one of the creatures approaching Sophia. Pierre overlooked at the proceedings, horror in his eyes. He plucked his weapon out of the creature and hurled in at another, skewering it against a rock.

Janeil had skirted around the edge out of range of the creatures and opened up on them, leveling the field within seconds. Pierre let his harpoon drop and rushed to help his granddaughter as Janeil got to Sophia's side.

"You okay?" He pried the pistol out of her hands and exchanged the clip with a full one.
Sophia nodded shakily, somewhat tramautized at the current event. Janeil put the pistol back into her hands as more creatures started to slither up from the portal.

"This cannot happen! No!" Volus was starting to lose his grasp. He stared hatedly at the foursome below. "You ruined everything!"

More tentacles from the larger creature emerged as the creature started to wrap its arms around the outcrop and pull itself out. Its body slowly emerged, gigantic eyes fifteen eyes across staring at them.

"Get out of here! Go!"

Pierre picked up Tamilia in his strong arms, draping her clothes over her exposure. He quickly left the cave, leaving Sophia and Janeil to fend on their own.

The pupil's seemed to tighten as one wrapped around Volus' body, pulling him off the rock. He
screamed as it brought him to its mouth, devouring him whole.

Sophia looked away with a cry of horror, Janeil tearing the next wave of smaller creatures to shreds with the armor-piercing rounds in his rifle.

"We have to leave!" She cried.

"We can't! We have to stop that thing!"

Sophia understood and fired off the pistol at the creature's eye. It roared in pain as Janeil shifted his fire to aim at the same target, the eye disintegrating as it was riddled with bullet holes. The creature writhed as it slowly started to sink back into the portal, tentacles trashing about wildy.

Sophia took hold of a loop in Janeil's vest in the chaos so that she would not get separated, watching him as he yanked a grenade off his vest and pitched it at the edge of the pool, letting it plink along the side of the pool towards the bottom towards the yellow light. There was a dull explosion as the portal started to shrink, starting to squish the creature's tentacles together. It seemed to struggle to yank them in as the portal finally closed, severing the tentacles with a loud pop. A shockwave shot through the water, rippling the rock and causing the cave to crumble.
Janeil knew his work was done and ran out of the cave, grabbing Sophia's hand and pulling her behind her, dodging falling rocks and hunks of severed tentacles falling all around them. Sophia glanced back at the wall where the inscription was engraved, knowing that she would never see it again...