The Stage Is Set

With a scream of rage, the Iron Shakespeare raised one of his hammer hands and tried to smash Cahara to the ground. Using his superior agility, Cahara leapt back, away from the blow that cracked the stone floor with a loud crack, and hurled a series of throwing knives at Iron Shakespeare.

Iron Shakespeare used his remaining hand to block the incoming projectiles, but left himself open to the red haired man's blows.

Closing the distance, the red haired man delivered a series of swings with his axe, the blade of the weapon passing through the armor with a shower of sparks, leaving behind three large gashes oozing blood.

Letting out a cry of pain muffled by his helmet, the Iron Shakespeare raised one of his hands and swung it quickly towards the red haired man, the man had little time to dodge, and so at the last minute he raised his arm, blocking the strike with his leather shield.

Unfortunately, that didn't do much to reduce the strength of the blow; the red haired man was sent flying away, slicing through the air until his back slammed against the dungeon wall.

Letting out a muted scream, due to the air knocked out of his lungs, the red haired man stood up on shaky legs as blood trickling from his mouth.

"Are you okay there, man?!?" Cahara asked, not looking away from the approaching armored knight.

The red haired man glared at Cahara, before swinging the arm that blocked the blow, giving a few thrusts in the air.

"Isn't broken." The man replied in a serious voice before grabbing his ax tightly and running towards the Iron Shakespeare.

"You don't talk much, do you?" Cahara asked with an amused smile, before advancing towards the Iron Shakespeare.

Iron Shakespeare pulled his fist back, and tried to punch Cahara in the head, with great agility, Cahara ducked, passing under the blow, cutting Iron Shakespeare's side with his scimitar, right after Cahara turned his body and pierced the knight.

The Iron Shakespeare arched his back, letting out a scream of pain and fury. Trying to hit his enemy, the Iron Shakespeare rotated his body at a speed that seemed impossible for someone wearing such heavy armor.

With a cry of surprise, Cahara ducked, avoiding the blow, but he had to back away immediately, to avoid Iron Shakespeare crushing him with his other fist, unfortunately, Cahara didn't have time to dodge the third blow, a punch that hit him in the center of his chest.

With the sound of something being broken, Cahara crossed the large stone hall and hit the ground repeatedly like a stone bouncing off the surface of a lake. When he finally stopped, Cahara tried to get up while gasping for air and clutching his chest.

"COUGH! COUGH! Son of a bitch..." Cahara muttered, reaching his hand to his leather bag and pulling out a blue herb, eating the herb quickly, Cahara stood up with a sigh of relief.

In addition, the mercenary got up in time to see the red haired man engaging Iron Shakespeare in combat. With fury in his eyes, the red haired man landed a series of vicious blows on Iron Shakespeare, who due to his heavy armor, had difficulty keeping up.

The red-haired man took a step to the side, dodging a heavy punch, and then delivered a deep cut to the Iron Shakespeare's chest, then he ducked from a blow aimed at his head and slashed the great knight's belly.

Raising both fists above his head, the Iron Shakespeare tried to crush the red haired man, planning to reduce him to a red stain on the ground, but before he could do so, the Iron Shakespeare screamed in pain, as a throwing knife passed through the opening in his helm and lodged in his left eye.

Taking a quick look behind him, the red haired man saw Cahara smiling with one hand extended forward, giving a nod of approval, the red haired man grabbed his ax with both hands and with a shout of rage, stuck it in the center of Iron Shakespeare's chest.

The knight let out a cry of pain as blood gushed from the wound in his chest and smeared the red haired man's face, clenching his teeth; the red haired man pushed the back of his ax with one of his hands, sinking it deeper in the flesh of his enemy.

Slowly the Iron Shakespeare began to fall backwards.

"Ha! Take that you bastard!" Cahara celebrated with a painful smile as he pointed at his falling foe.

However, that smile turned into a face of fear when Iron Shakespeare managed to catch himself before hitting the ground and stay upright.

Quickly the red haired man ripped his ax from Iron Shakespeare's chest and walked away, waiting for his enemy's next move.

"AAAHHH!"

Raising both fists in rage, the Iron Shakespeare let out a deafening scream that echoed through the dungeon floors. Then the Iron Shakespeare began to thrash around, hitting the floor and walls viciously, random blows that didn't care what they hit, leaving cracked holes everywhere.

Suddenly Iron Shakespeare began to lash out, hitting himself with his heavy armored fists, Iron Shakespeare let out a series of screams of pain as he crushed his own armor and broke his own bones, the noise becoming a disturbing cacophony.

With a final blow, both of Iron Shakespeare's fists were engulfed in flames, lighting up the dark corridor of the dungeon and with heavy steps, Iron Shakespeare approached his enemies.

The red haired man raised his eyebrows in surprise as sweat trickled down his face, whether it was from fear or the heat of the flames nobody could say.

"Holy crap!" Cahara yelled in surprise, offering a more appropriate response to the situation.

All combatants prepared their weapons as the fight just got tougher, but to everyone's surprise, something happened. The ground lost its solid form and everyone present began to sink as if in quicksand.

With a series of screams of protest, the three combatants disappeared into the once-solid stone.

-Inside the Tree-

"RRAAHH!" With a scream of rage, D'arce slashed the arm of one of the Mumblers that got in our way before driving her sword through the creature's chest, piercing its heart, with a last gurgle of pain; the monster fell motionless to the ground.

"Well, at this rate we won't have to fight any monsters." I said, giving the girl a relieved smile.

The girl responded with a wave and a small smile.

For the time being things were going well, we advanced without major interruptions, and the Mumblers weren't particularly difficult enemies, just avoid attacking their heads to not be poisoned and focus on the rest of the body.

We continued down the hallway, picking up anything we found useful until we reached a dead end.

"Secret passage?" D'arce asked me with a less distubing smile this time.

"Secret passage." I replied as I walked past her and pressed the wall in front of me. With cracks of wood and earth moving, a section of the wall parted to the sides, opening a way for us to pass.

Nevertheless, I immediately took a step back when a Mumbler jumped out of the passage and tried to cut me with its claws, luckily I managed to get away in time and I landed a blow with my rapier right after.

At least I tried, you couldn't call it a blow, it was more like a clumsy forward thrust, but even so, I managed to pierce the Mumbler in the stomach, to the point where the sword sank to the hilt. With a wet sound of flesh, being pierced, purple blood oozed out of the wound.

However, when I realized that the Mumbler was still alive, I ripped the rapier from its stomach and cut it in the chest, unfortunately the cut wasn't deep, because in the middle of the blow, dragged the rapier blade on the wall of the narrow corridor where we were in.

Excellent! A type of weapon that I don't know how to use and that is not the best for tight places!

The shallow cut left on the Mumbler's chest oozed a little, the creature let out an incomprehensible murmur, but before it could attack me with its claws, D'arce put herself in front of me.

The knight hit the Mumbler in the face with her shield and with a series of quick slashes; she covered the creature's torso with cuts. With a final sigh, the Mumbler fell motionless to the ground.

"Are you hurt?" D'arce asked with a concerned look, extending a hand towards me.

Instinctively I took a step back as I placed the girl behind me, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw the girl facing D'arce with her dagger ready.

Seeing our reaction, several expressions crossed D'arce's face. Anger, fear, surprise, sadness, in the end, with a nervous smile and looking away, D'arce lowered her hand and stepped into the passageway, stomping on the Mumbler's body in the process.

"What a cold heart! See what you've done! You made your girlfriend sad!" Kitab wrote in its pages.

"D'arce is not my girlfriend! How long do you intend to play with it?"

"I'm a book, I don't have much to do; I need to have fun somehow, I thought you already understood that. Nevertheless, changing the subject. You had better go apologize before she freaks out even more. Alternatively, let her freak out, I'd love to see what happens. Hahaha!"

The girl and I stared at the passageway for a few seconds, looking down I saw the girl pointing her dagger at where D'arce was while making stabbing motions.

"No! We are not going to kill D'arce!" I replied surprised and a little scared that the girl would even consider that.

The girl gave me an annoyed look as if she was asking why.

"Listen, I gave you this dagger to defend yourself, not to kill others. If I see you stabbing someone without being in a dangerous situation, I will take that dagger from you."

Upon hearing this, the girl's eyes widened as she shook her head negatively and hugged the dagger like a toy.

"If you don't want that to happen, you better behave, okay?"

The girl nodded as she pouted. How dare they lock something so adorable in a place like this?

We were pulled out of our conversation by the sounds of fighting coming up ahead. I seriously need to stop forgetting about D'arce! Entering the passageway, we came to another narrow corridor where D'arce was fighting two Mumblers.

The knight used her shield to block the blow of one of the Mumblers while slashing the chest of another with her sword, but due to her awkward position and little space to fight properly, the Mumbler who forced itself against D'arce's shield managed to push the knight's arm to the side, leaving her open for the next attack.

Upon seeing this, I ran towards D'arce as she regained her balance, passing the knight, I slashed at the Mumbler who was preparing to attack, but this time in a different way, I landed a blow upwards, slashing the Mumbler from the stomach to the chest.

It wasn't a graceful swing like in the movies, I swung the rapier with all my strength as if it were a piece of metal and due to that, the sword hit the tunnel ceiling, where it bounced and forced my arm down, I let out a scream in surprise and widened my eyes as soon as I saw the second Mumbler coming towards me.

However, before it could do anything, D'arce ran past me, pierced the Mumbler's chest with her sword, and kicked it off the blade right after, the Mumbler slid motionless against the wall.

The Mumbler I had slashed tried to charge at D'arce, but the knight deflected the monster's blow with her shield and pierced it in the stomach shortly thereafter, the Mumbler let out a series of high-pitched squeals before coming to a halt on D'arce sword.

Removing her sword from the creature's stomach, D'arce kicked the corpse aside and grabbed something from the floor near the wall at the end of the tunnel. Then she came towards me with a big smile on her face as she held up an object.

A golden coin, in this case a lucky coin, the iconic item for coin flips in the game.

"Look what I found!" D'arce said, placing the coin in front of my face, I flinched a little at that action.

"I see. Better save that coin for later, you never know when a toss could save your life." I replied with a nervous smile.

"Oh! Are you worried about me? I don't deserve a friend like you. I would kiss you, but my heart already belongs to someone else." D'arce said, with a tinge of red in her face and a hand over her heart.

Glancing to my side, I saw the girl stick her tongue out with a disgusted face at the mention of D'arce kissing me. I had to stifle a laugh at the sight, but I couldn't help but tease D'arce a little.

"Is that so? I thought the kiss you placed on my cheek meant something. It breaks my heart to know that the heart of the fair maiden in front of me belongs to another! How will I live with this knowledge?" I spoke in my most dramatic voice.

"W-wait! T-that's not what I meant! I-it's not that you're ugly, in fact I believe the maidens of Rondor would find you attractive, but…" D'arce stammered, her face flushed as she sweated profusely.

However, before she had another meltdown, I put a hand on her shoulder and said in a more serious tone, "D'arce, I was kidding."

D'arce stopped apologizing and looked at me confused for a few seconds, before adjusting her posture and letting out a few chuckles.

"Oh! Right! You were kidding! Friends do that sometimes, don't they?" D'arce asked, grinning as she punched me in the arm.

I let out a cry of pain as the armored fist hit me with considerable force, but D'arce didn't seem to care. Looking at the girl, I noticed that her face was red as she puffed out her cheeks and tears leaked from the corner of her eyes.

"You're having fun with this, aren't you?" I asked.

The girl shook her head, but it was obvious that she was lying. Letting out an amused laugh, the three of us continued forward. Entering another secret passageway, we came to a room with a chest, but this time I wasn't in the mood to spend coins, not with the amount I spent to get the rapier.

But even if I spent the coins, I wouldn't get what's inside the chest, as it was locked, if D'arce's attempts to open the chest meant anything, then putting the chest aside, the three of us entered another secret passage where we arrive in a dead end.

"Where to, now?" D'arce asked me.

"Watch." I said as I stepped forward and pierced the center of the room's floor with my rapier, and as if it were made of glass, the floor cracked and collapsed, revealing a hole that led to the floor below.

"Good and it looks like we might be able to jump down from here." D'arce spoke as she looked into the hole.

She was right, shining the hole with my cellphone flashlight, I could see the ground just below, we could jump without breaking our legs.

"Okay, we'll take it easy. Fine?" I asked D'arce and the girl, they both nodded.

The first to go down was D'arce, I expected her to do another crazy thing, like diving headfirst into the ground below, but no, to my surprise she did something much more restrained.

She took a small leap forward and landed with her body completely straight, I heard the sound of her metallic boots crunching on the wooden floor in a cacophony of creaks, looking into the hole, I saw D'arce waving at me.

Heaving a sigh with a stifled laugh, I threw my rapier into the hole, where it landed at D'arce's feet, then sat down on the edge of the hole and held my hands out to the girl.

Understanding my message, the girl let me hold her; I sat her in my arms as she wrapped her hands around my neck.

"Hold on tight, okay?"

The girl nodded. So pushing myself slightly forward, I fell from a small height, I felt the girl squeezing me harder, but soon my feet touched the ground.

"Hey, it's okay, it's over."

Slowly loosening her grip, the girl looked around, seeing that we were on solid ground, she let out what I thought was a sigh of relief accompanied by a small smile.

Holding the girl with one of my arms, I walked towards the rapier and bent down to pick it up, but as soon as I got up, I felt a hand grabbing my shoulder tightly, I was about to strike the owner of the hand, but I stopped when I realized it was D'arce who was looking at me nervously.

"We have a problem." D'arce said nervously through clenched teeth as she pointed in a random direction.

Squinting my eyes, I recoiled in surprise as I realized what D'arce meant, not just in the direction she was pointing, but also around us.

Dozens of Mumblers, all moving erratically and disturbingly like living mannequins, snarling and litany as they advanced toward us.

D'arce and I stared at each other for a few seconds before a single word came out of our mouths simultaneously.

"RUN!"

Simultaneously, all the Mumblers screamed, running towards us with their claws outstretched.

Wasting no time, I cast The Cats of Ulthar, the black sludge oozed out of Kitab's pages before they formed into the monstrous cats of before. With a series of distorted meows, the cats attacked the monsters blocking our way, opening a path for us to get out of there.

We passed the monsters being torn apart by the cats, leaving behind a series of screams and meows that echoed through the tunnels, unfortunately there were too many Mumblers, so as soon as we ran; more Mumblers came after us as more got in our way.

I felt the girl holding me tightly as she hid her face in my shoulder, with the girl sitting on my left arm; I gripped my rapier tightly in my right hand and ran faster.

But as I ran I saw the environment around me change, for a moment all the walls were taken over by huge eyes that stared at me with hatred, the eyes whispered something, but I couldn't understand it, but I felt that the meaning was deep inside my mind. Then as quickly as that image came, it disappeared.

I felt my heart race and sweat trickle down my face as I ran through the tunnels dimly lit by my flashlight, with D'arce at my side and the shouts and footsteps of the Mumblers behind us closing in.

The world changed once more, this time I walked through a long stone tunnel with glowing green symbols carved into the walls. The sound of voices chanting some unknown language echoed through it. Soon everything was back to normal.

As we ran, I slashed at the side of a Mumbler that got in my way then shoved it with my free shoulder, knocking it to the side, while D'arce slammed her shield into another Mumbler's head, knocking it into the floor.

Another Mumbler leapt out of a corner and tried to slash D'arce's neck, but the knight threw herself to the ground, skidding for a few seconds before getting up as soon as she passed the monster and kept running.

I jumped when a Mumbler lunged towards my legs, I felt my feet step on the creature's back and the sound of something breaking before I continued running.

However, as soon as my feet hit the ground, I was in a dark void with water covering my feet as mist floating around me, obscuring my vision, but in a bright flash of light, I was running alongside D'arce again.

To our dismay, our race ended, as we ran into a dead end. With our backs against the wall, we pointed our weapons on the approaching Mumblers, but we both saw that we weren't confident we would make it out of this alive.

"For what it's worth. I would like to apologize for everything I've done to you. Threatening you and all of that." D'arce said to me.

"Don't worry, I don't hold grudges, I just wish we had more time to talk and get on better terms with each other."

"Likewise." D'arce replied.

The Mumblers advanced and instinctively we took a step back.

CRACK!

Nevertheless, as if time had stopped, the Mumblers were no longer our focus, as D'arce and I didn't feel the ground beneath our feet.

All we could do was scream as we fell.

"AAAHHH!"

TUMP!

CLANG!

I let out a scream as the air was knocked out of my lungs, letting out a series of gasps, trying to catch my breath; I slowly opened my eyes, only to stare at a stone ceiling.

Hang on? Where I am?

I felt something moving in my arms, slowly letting go of the moving thing, I saw the girl getting off me and standing beside me with a worried look on her face.

The girl crouched beside me and placed her hands on my chest, pushing me desperately, I saw tears forming in her eyes, and I slowly lifted a hand and placed it on top of her head.

"I'm alive." I spoke while trying to give the girl a reassuring smile, but I found it difficult due to the pain I felt.

The girl nodded slowly while sniffing her nose, I tried to get up but flinched as an excruciating pain coursed through my body, well I still felt my legs and I don't think anything was broken so I'll be lying here for a while.

A few minutes passed as I moaned in pain, but the sound of Kitab's pages turning interrupted my little rest, I slowly opened the book in front of my face and read what was written.

"That was fun! Can we do that again?"

"Of course! How about race a little? We will throw ourselves into the middle of the Mumblers and the first one to escape the tunnels wins."

"Hey, that's not fair! You know I can't walk around!"

"Exactly!" I replied with a cocky smile.

We passed a few seconds in silence until Kitab spoke again.

"So how do you feel?"

"Tired, hungry, and with a bad backache."

"So nothing out of the ordinary for a human."

"Tell me, did you just decide to speak now to make jokes?"

"No, that's just one reason; the other is that I'm a little worried about you. I'm a magic book, boy; I know something happened while you ran away."

"And you're right, as I ran, the world changed, I saw things that shouldn't be part of this dungeon, eyes that spoke; tunnels full of strange voices and much more. What was that?"

"Boy, I want you to answer me sincerely. When was the last time you really rested? When did you actually stop to restore your mind?"

I thought of Kitab's words, and he was right, since arriving at the dungeon, I haven't stopped beyond that moment in the kitchen, other than that it's been trouble after trouble.

"So I saw those things because is my mind is lowering?"

"Yes. Listen; boy. The Old Ones are watching you, and you've read the stories, haven't you? What you saw was a glimpse of what lies beyond reality, and the more your mind lowers, the thinner the veil that separates these nightmares from your eyes will become. You are resistant to the madness of this dungeon, but resistance isn't immunity."

"So basically I suffered the equivalent of having too much insight in Bloodborne?"

"Meh! You can put it like this. It's not much different from what actually happened. You will see things that no one else can see. And who knows? Maybe that's not a bad thing?"

"Great, one more thing to worry about. Changing the subject to something less disturbing. The rapier I got, I spent higher value coins to get that thing, and the sword design is not something generic. It looks more like a special weapon like Miasma and Blue Sin…"

"What you're asking is if the sword have any abilities or special effects?"

"Yes."

"Hm… Look at the rapier blade up close."

With a little bit of effort, I managed to get up and passing by the girl who was looking at me worriedly, I grabbed my rapier that was a little away from me.

Bringing the sword to my face, I saw a series of words written in red on the rapier's blade. R'lyehian

"Ahornah poison cahf flows hup veins ot r'luhhor ymg' ah'mgehye bthnkor ng orr'e"

The only words I could make out were poison, flows and veins.

"So you mean this sword can poison my enemies?"

"I don't know. Why don't you try and find out?" Kitab responded with what I thought was amusement.

Closing the book, I looked around, judging by the location, we were in the catacombs. Which means Le'garde was close. The girl approached me, with her doll in her clothes and the dagger in her hand. D'arce was on the floor, mumbling something.

"D'arce, are you okay?" I asked as I approached the knight.

The knight opened her eyes as she moaned in pain, but slowly she got to her feet, retrieving her sword and shield.

"Where are we?" D'arce asked, looking around.

"In the catacombs, the place where Le'garde is imprisoned."

As soon as D'arce heard my words, she jumped to her feet with a smile on her face.

Heaving a weary sigh, I walked toward Le'garde's cell, D'arce and the girl following me. I felt the girl squeezing my arm tightly, looking down; I saw that she was giving me a nervous look.

Considering who we're about to meet, I understand why she's feeling this way. However, I can't decide whether Le'gard being alive or dead is a good thing or a bad thing.

Our footsteps echoed down the dark corridor, passing through a large hall filled with purple, sticky goo, we arrived at the gate of the tomb of the gods.

Hm… We don't have the cube, but I feel like we'll have to go after it… It can never be easy, can it?

Following our path, we returned to the stone corridor, and there, we stopped in front of a metal door.

"Well, there you have it, as I promised. Le'garde's cell." I said, stepping to the side and extending my hands towards the cell.

To my surprise, D'arce took both my hands in hers and shook them vigorously while giving me a big smile, less crazy than the last few times.

"Thank you very much! Thanks so much for bringing me here! And I'm sorry for doubting you!"

"Sure… Sure… No problem. Now go on with it, your boss is waiting for you inside."

With a quick wave, D'arce walked towards the cell door, but stopped suddenly, there was something wrong, exchanging a look, D'arce and I had the same feeling.

The knight backed away from the door, readying her sword and shield, I raised my rapier and prepared to cast a spell, the girl released me and took a few steps back, her dagger in hand.

"RROOAAHH!"

"Shit!"

"Stop screaming!"

A series of screams came out of nowhere, and we looked around, looking for the source of the noise. We had our answer when the girl pointed to something above us, the ceiling above Le'garde's cell door rippling like the surface of a lake.

With a loud crash, three figures fell from the ceiling and landed on the ground, as the dust settled, I caught sight of Cahara and Ragnvaldr.

Seeing me, the mercenary smiled in a mixture of joy and nervousness "Boy! It's good to see you're alive!" Cahara waved.

"Focus! That thing still alive!" Ragnvaldr exclaimed without taking his eyes off the dust cloud.

"Thing, what thing?!?" I asked.

"Well, let's say we meet a new friend in the dungeon, but he doesn't like us very much." Cahara replied, readying his scimitar.

I knew what Cahara meant, because as soon as he finished speaking, the Iron Shakespeare leapt out of the dust cloud, both fists covered in flames.

As soon as I saw the flaming knight approaching, I grabbed the girl and D'arce and pulled them out of the cramped hallway.

"Hey, wait for me!" Cahara shouted, running after us, Ragnvaldr following.

Nevertheless, as soon as we entered the hall where the door to the tomb of the gods was, a wall popped out of the ground, blocking the path ahead of us, preventing us from reaching the stairs to the prison or running into the mines.

A furious growl accompanied by heavy footsteps entered the hall, turning around, we saw the Iron Shakespeare approaching, as soon as he stepped into the hall, a wall rose up behind him, blocking the way to Le'garde.

"I don't think we've met before, my name is Cahara." Cahara said, introducing himself to D'arce and the girl.

"Oh! Nice to meet you Mr Cahara. My name is D'arce, and this is my sorcerer friend and his daughter." D'arce replied, introducing herself and pointing at me.

Cahara stared at me for a few seconds and then shifted his gaze to the girl behind me, upon seeing the girl his gaze softened. "Now I understand why you left me in the cell. You had more important things to take care of, didn't you?"

"If you are done introducing yourselves, how about helping me out here?" Ragnvaldr growled, preparing to fight Iron Shakespeare.

"What the hell is going on here?!? Iron Shakespeare should be in the basement and the walls shouldn't move!"

"As I said before, the dungeon has a sadistic sense of humor."

"But isn't that an exaggeration? Why did the dungeon trap all of us here?"

"The dungeon acknowledges your presence, son of the void! Moreover, it doesn't like what it sees! Because of this, the dungeon wants to erase what shouldn't exist, like antibodies fighting a disease! Iron Shakespeare stands in your way, his body burning with the flames of madness! All the Gods are watching! What will you do?"

END OF CHAPTER