chapter 43 : A.R.M

Timothy opened his eyes Slowly fighting the urge to continue sleeping , the little fox stirred in it's sleep as it murmured " Master mmm take me back mmm" Timothy held back his laughter , he went to wash his face before putting on his cloak and equipment . Outside his room komoni had her head placed against the door listening to what was happening inside only after confirming that Timothy was awake did she knock

"Coming"Timothy called out startling the little fox

"Could you keep it down?" The fox spoke half asleep

"Okay in that case I'll see you when I return " the little fox immediately jumped out of bed and stood beside him

"Why did you say we were leaving pal" it gave a weird smile to which Timothy only shook his head

After greeting komoni they left the castle and went to the ancient gateway where Finn had brought them through the first time komoni did the hand seals and the portal opened . They made their way out of the river and into the forest

" So where are going captain?" Timothy asked keeping his eyes on the path

"Blood forest or what it used to be , I believe that we will surely find a clue in that underground cave . I regret not letting us check it out the last" komoni said her voice full of regret , Timothy knew the real reason they didn't dare to continue exploring the blood forest back then

"Do not worry about it captain , it was an honest mistake plus we were all scared... retreating was the best thing to do" he said

"Yeah you are right , though I was wondering can he transform into a horse or something we can't really walk all the way there"komoni pointed at the fox

" Why did you not bring a horse then ? Do I look anything like a mount?" The fox asked angered by Timothy and komoni's stares

"Just turn into a fucking horse you little shit before I cook you " Timothy revealed a malicious smile

"You wouldn't really do that now would you?" Komoni created space between her and Timothy , he shrugged off her question continuing to stare at the little fox.

The fox started transforming into a dire wolf the size of a horse barring his fangs at Timothy before gesturing for them to get on

"See that wasn't so hard now was- YOU LITTLE PIECE AHH" Timothy screamed as the little fox took off at high speed before stopping at the edge of the forest

"Umh where are we going ?"the little fox asked after chuckling a bit , komoni had her arms wrapped around Timothy and her eyes were shut . Timothy ignored the question

"Nevermind " the fox's fur glowed and timothy could feel his mind being invaded

"Got it " the little fox said before dashing off again

Thanks to the speed of the fox they arrived at the blood forest or what was left of it , the fox continued to run deeper Into the forest until it reached the center

"Get off my back " the fox threw them down and reverted to it's fox form

"You little basrard -huh?

" the fox was already sleeping after draining all it energy being a mount for them. Timothy picked him up and carried him.

"Can you pick up anything ?" Komoni asked Timothy as she looked around the quiet dead forest cautiously , Timothy channeled the breath and he focused on the world around him , he picked up no sound whatsoever besides the ones produced by them Clearly indicating that the whole forest had nothing inhibiting it any longer

"No nothing" they started moving towards the underground cave

Within a few minutes they found it sealed under a huge boulder

"I'll handle this" komoni raised her foot channeling the breath into it , her eyes closed in concentration before violently stomping her foot down making the ground tremble a little bit and the boulder split in half . She walked forward and moved the split boulders out of the entrance , revealing the entrance to the cave . Timothy gulped at komoni's monstrous demonstration of an earth elementalsl's strength

"Let's go " komoni went first and he followed behind her with his breath channeled to his ears and feet in order to pick up any sounds in the air and the ground

They walked deep into the darkness of the cave until they could see an emerald glow far infront of them , Timothy concentrated hard on picking up a sound but there was still nothing so they proceeded with caution finally reaching the source of the emerald glow , they stood Infront of a huge cavern .

"Oh my"komoni covered her nose with her hand as a foul stench permitted the air and the sight Infront of then made the two believe that they were at the right place . Infront of them was a gruesome sight one that could make an weak willed person vomit their guts out.

"I believe this were the missing people sedrigus's men found and over there those without clothing are the knights that had their armor stolen " Timothy pointed to a batch of dead bodies that had no clothes on

They made their way deep into this cavern that had emerald crystals hanging on the ceiling , looking for clues . The cavern's walls had blood smeared all over and some of the crystals on the ceiling had blood stains , painting a very ghastly sight that had the two teenagers feeling very vulnerable within the cavern but they continued searching for clues and the time passed by slowly without any much progress on their side until Timothy found something in the palm of a dead m .

"Captain come take a look" komoni rushed to where he was and she picked up the item Timothy had spotted

"A ring ? But this type of ring i have seen it before.. yes I know , predecessor harmonia wore a ring like this but the carvings on it are slightly different, I remember it from the day we she gave me her cloak and dagger" komoni had a look of contemplation

"I - ...." Timothy gestured for komoni to keep quiet feeling that he had just heard something , he focused and he could see a red wave coming from the cave's entrance , focusing on it he could here the faint sound of breathing approaching them slowly.

He looked at komoni pointed towards a huge rock , komoni nodded and she ran behind the rock whilst Timothy and the sleeping little fox hid under under a pile of dead bodies ,the fox's eyes shot open as the stench of the dead bodies became too much for it but before it could react Timothy placed a hand over it's mouth

At the carven's entrance a man with a pretty old cloak and a straw hat stepped inside , his right hand was charred with wounds all of it and tiny red maggots crawled on the surface before digging into his skin

"Somebody was here just now I can feel the breath that is lingering in the air ,or maybe that someone is still here " he spoke out loud before unleashing an attack at the rock komoni was hiding behind incinerating the rock into dust but komoni had already moved

"Strange I felt a huge quantity of earth elemental breath behind that rock , means which means whoever was here might have just left" the man thought to himself

Komoni who was now hiding under a pile of dead bodies heaved a sigh of relief as she watched the man lose interest in finding them , what she had basically done was to leave an earth clone of herself behind the rock while she hid under the bodies as well ,making the enemy mistaken the earth clone for her and if the enemy attacked first without looking he would dismiss it since he would just believe that it was the breath signature left behind h

by an extremely powerful earth elemental Konqueror

The man walked back to the entrance of the cavern and took of his straw hat and cloak revealing a half charred face and body , red maggots came out from the hole on his chest and crawled all over his skin before digging into it . The man placed his charred hand on the ground and the maggots went down his arm to the bodies all around him digging into the dead's flesh, then he started chanting and a runic circle appeared around him with him in it's center , blood flowed from his charred skin into the ground lighting up the runes with a red light and also the smeared blood on the cavern's walls lit up

" Runes of unholy rebirth

Runes of the degenerate path

Foulness of the universe

Ruk nit sey fokra ka kmat vrona

Sacrifices have been made unto you

REVI BLODKLOT LET THEM BE REBORN IN BLOOD"

The dead bodies started moving catching both Timothy and Komoni off guard as they made their way out of the pile of squirming bodies retreating to the back of the cavern slowly . The dead bodies all started mutating , with skin peeling off of them ,hair falling off , bodies growing in size , the ones with missing limbs grew horrifying new ones and some even grew horns and wings , while others had bones sticking out from all over their bodies , and some had their brain exposed with blood dripping down their faces , thier eyeballs hanging down and razor sharp teeth . The whole scene looked like a scene from a nightmare , the creatures looked at the entrance before turning to look at the trio .

"I knew there was someone here but I didn't think it would be people I know of hehe, I'll undo the embarrassment I suffered from you Mesa the last time we fought , for Helis is a man who holds grievances and grievances must be payed with blood" the man focused his foul intent on Timothy making him suffocate under the pressure

"I have improved ever since we last fought !" The man screamed in joy as he watched Timothy drop to his knee With his eyes closed the chains on his sword guard unraveled floating in the air behind him with an ominous purple light , Timothy unsheathed the sword from his back and he looked at Helis with a smile

"You are not the only one that has improved " Timothy released the breath into his sword and the chains started wrapping around his arm but they didn't drain his blood this time , he placed his left hand into the ground lighting it up with silver runes

"Ancient rune magic , distorted world" a shockwave hit the whole cavern making it tremble a bit before it stopped

"Hahahaha is that the improvement you speak of ? Your rune spell did nothing but make the ground shake a little bit , are you sure you have truly mastered that rune spell boy ? Let me show you true power! my undead army attack!!" The army of undead dashed towards Timothy , he turned to look at komoni who had raised her weapons ready to fight

"Captain you have to stay out of this one" Timothy placed his hand on her shoulder making her fall back

"As soon as I see you being overwhelmed I'm joining in the fight" komoni leaned against the cavern's wall as she spoke

Timothy turned to look at the approaching army of undead with a strange calmness , the first undead arrived slashing at him with it's deadly claws and surprisingly Timothy didn't even dodge any of the claw attacks standing there as more and more undead joined in , Komoni heard Timothy's voice just when she was about to intervene "I'm fine captain don't move" right where Timothy was standing a disgusting aura spread out blowing the undead away revealing the charred man , his whole body dripping blood covered on many hideous wounds and claw marks , his eyes were wide open starring at the entrance of the cavern where Timothy was standing looking down on him "how ? How????? " Helis screamed his rage reaching the limit

"I told you Helis , you not the only one that has improved" Timothy spoke with a strange calmness , Helis turned to look at komoni who had her back leaning against the wall , smiling viciously he ran to her with his hand turning into a claw , digging it into komoni's heart and ripping her heart out so fast komoni didn't see him coming

"Your fighting a lost battle Helis" he quickly turned around with the heart still in his palm only to find komoni leaning on a wall on the other side of the cavern

"What is this ? What did you do to me????!!!" He screamed as he realised he was holding the heart of one of his undead , Timothy shook his head and he walked forward slowly channeling breath into his sword but then "his ....a ... Vile ... creature.... kill himm.....punish himm .." a child's voice crept into his ears , his grip on the sword loosening a bit before he held it firm again and continued onward looking at helius straight in the eye without breaking eye contact...

In the throne room a heated discussion was taking place between the king and elder Harmonia

"La'faura's army has already invaded our lands publicly , which means the war has just begun...prepare the armies , for war has descended upon us .." Finn commanded

"But my Lord , shouldn't we be sending out our soldiers in retaliation?" Harmonia asked with great worry laced in her voice

"That's a you tactic but not me I work on analysis and strategic planning ,let them come" Finn smiled

With the war already started , gone are the peaceful days under the sun.