Chapter 11. OCTAVIET

The queen examined us. There was a crazy glint in her eyes as if she was imagining all the different ways of killing us–her thoughts suggested the most torturous of methods. Darius commanded, "Octaviet distract it while Carter and I will attack it." I wielded my chaos to place invisibility on all of us. Though I could still see everyone.

The queen moved her sting. She thought, "I will just shoot them down." She shot out pools of acidic poison. The pools dissolved anything they touched. She was hitting directly at the rest. She bloated, "You do know I have great hearing." I had to change tactics. I conjured up more chaos that I used to illuminate multiple copies of us. She mocked, "You do know that illusions don't have heartbeats."

I could do nothing that her super hearing couldn't look through. I joined in the ambush. I held out my dagger and prepared to strike her. She shot a pool right at me. I dodged by going behind a pillar. I could hear the hissing as the pillar was being dissolved. She mocked, "Coward." A screech was the next thing that came out of her mouth. I turned to see Darius thrusting his spear into her leg.

She glowered with rage burning in her eyes. She attacked them using her pincers to crush any pillar that was in her way. Darius and Carter split up not allowing her to take down 2 birds with 1 stone. She halted and looked back at me as if she had just discovered I existed. She dashed towards me. I held out my sword with the little bravery I had. My hands were shaking. Multiple pools of acid shot toward me.

I read her thoughts to evade her attacks. I charged at her. I did a slide tackle and struck her leg with my dagger. Pincers headed for me but the rest used their weapons to block the attack. I used the chance to jump on top. I landed my dagger into her exoskeleton. My sword just got deflected as if it were a butter knife trying to cut through steel. She started shaking me off.

With no support, I lost my balance and fell to the ground. We needed to find a way to penetrate that shell. I shouted, "The shell is hard so attack the segments." They complied. Carter used his axe to chop up at the segment. She fell to the ground having lost balance. We didn't waste time and went for her other legs. She changed her strategy and swung her tail sweeping me off my feet. Darius thought, "Execute plan B."

She broke more pillars creating debris all around. We scattered in order not to be buried. I noticed I was now trapped with her. She shot out more pools. I barely dodged them but one waved past my arm. I felt the poison dissolving my skin. My arm throbbed as I heard the hissing sound burning. It just paralyzed dropping my sword. I staggered to pick it up trying to ignore the overwhelming pain. The queen took advantage of this–charging for me. I picked up my sword and quickly maneuvered it to thrust it into her eye. She shrieked.

I bloated, "You may have hard skin but not those delicate eyes." She tried to chop me apart with her pincers. I barely dodged leaving a big wound on my leg. I could no longer run. I lunged for my lighter and set her ablaze. Her shriek grew louder. I started limping as fast as I could to get away. She raved, "NO YOU DON'T" She launched forward with her pincers ready to tear me apart. My heart drummed with fear. Fear was the only thing keeping me going. She closed in on me. She positioned her pincers and went down for my body. one snap was fatal.

I was too awake to maneuver myself to dodge the attack. This was the end of me. The pillars broke and fell on her. She didn't die but was now trapped under them. Carter said, "Well that was close." I said, "You think." Darius said, "Nice work leading her right into our trap." I remembered Darius' plan B. I said, "You should have reminded me." he said, "I thought you knew." He paused, "So you weren't pretending as you were limping around scared out of your wits and I almost complimented your acting skills." Carter hit her eye with his axe that stuck in her eye like Excalibur in stone. The queen shrieked as loud as she could. Stumping was heard. Whom was she calling? All the scorpions that we had left outside came into view. She widened her mandibles as if smirking, "You are outnumbered. Give up now and I will give you all quick painless deaths." I almost flinched but hid my fear. I said, "I doubt you're the one supposed to be making threats."

She said, "But you will never be able to penetrate my skeleton. It is only a matter of time before they all arrive." She was right and we all knew it. I could predict that we had roughly 4 minutes. I rethought the situation in my head trying to come up with a solution. Most of the pillars had been destroyed so all we needed to take out was that one and this place would come down crumbling. We were also near a pure breed warrith. We had a team of pudeky, warrith, and tenebris bloodlines. Come on–think. A bulb lit up.

I glanced at the pure breed. I pleaded, "Lead him with your glow, please." I pointed at Carter. He chuckled, "Give you the collateral." I replied, "We would be of no help dead." He looked at me still unconvinced. I snapped, "Unless you want to spend here another century." He caved in. An orange light burst out of him and went into Carter.

Carter took one look at me and understood the plan. He placed his hands around his axe. With the upgrade, he easily summoned his petrifying mist. He directed it through his axe into the queen. Her screams soon stopped. A layer of stone engulfed her whole. We descended onto a pile of ashes. The scorpions now ran faster fueled by vengeance.

Darius thrust his spear into the last pillar sending a crack throughout the crypt. The crack wasn't spreading fast enough. The scorpions would end us before the ground buried them. Carter picked up the ashes and went to free the pure breed. Darius said, "If we don't make it out of here then know that it was nice having all of you on my team." He held his spear with a hopeless look on his face. We were all tired and stood no chance. We were doomed to die by either the scorpions or the collapsing crypt. Pick your poison.

No, I won't let us die. I can't let myself rot in here. I can't let all I have worked for come to such a terrible ending. I could taste the bitterness of grief and sorrow in everyone's thoughts. I won't let them or her down. I swelled my negativity into conviction. I held onto Morpheus. I called onto its power and this time I didn't take no for an answer.

Thank God, Morpheus glowed blue. My body went into full instinct mode. I held out my hand. I could feel liquid metal flowing to it like blood. Before I knew it, I was holding on to the golden hilt of a double-edged sword. The blade of obsidian was designed with an octopus and a chameleon on its faces. The scorpions were microseconds away. I thrust the sword into the ground. A big shockwave of blue energy erupted from it. All the scorpions fall to the ground.

My vision was shifting between here and my mindscape. My mindscape had a sky with the floor flooded with a shallow ocean of water. The rest were golden mirrors that reflected my memories. I could see that scorpions were in it. They first looked confused then they started stinging the sandy floor. I felt each sting pierce as if it were my body. A terrible headache followed. The pain induced me to kneel on the ground. I screamed in pain.

The rest watched unsure of what to do. My body felt numb. The pain dimmed out my senses. My heartbeat slowed. Darius ran to me. My eyes urged to close. Darius said, "Don't you dare die on us. We get through this war altogether without leaving you or anyone behind." I was touched. I'd have smiled if I wasn't being stabbed from the inside out. I started jumping between being conscious and unconscious. My mindscape lit on fire burning all the scorpions. My body still throbbed though.

Darius threw his bead to the floor. A black mist cocooned us. It dissolved leaving us in the town. Darius gave me a cardiac massage to restore my pulse to its former glory. My eyes shut. He asked, "Can you help us?" The pure breed bargained, "I can help with my glow but if I do, I will not give it to you after I heal him." Darius nodded, "Doesn't matter. Just do it."

A drop of chicha was poured into my mouth. Then Sparta placed his palms on my chest. I felt a warm light caressing my body. It was like the sun was embracing my body. The pain stopped. My wounds felt like they were being stitched back together. I woke up with a gasp. The pure breed stood over me, "My work here is done. I wish you luck with your endeavors." He vanished into thin air. Classic enigma parenting.

Carter asked, "Are you all right?" I wanted to answer with, "What do you think" but managed to shake my head and replied, "Thanks for the save. Wouldn't have made it out of there without him." He said, "I should say the same, "What happened back there?" I replied, "I got to know the consequences of using the hexed sword." He commented, "Kind of dumb to carry around a weapon that hurts you along with the enemy." Darius chuckled, "You're right. The price was hefty but at least you're still alive. You better make it worth it."

I struggled for more air. My body was still weak but I was now conscious and could walk. I stumbled onto my feet. I said, "We should tell Calisto what we found out." Darius said, "Sure" He grabbed his phone and called her. He said, "Good afternoon." She replied, "Good afternoon." Darius began to speak but Calisto cut him off, "You will report what you found out later. Right now I need you to go to this location." A message was sent to me, "It should be near. The rest of your group is there. Offer backup if needed standby." She hung up the phone. She didn't sound like she was giving us a choice. I said, "There she goes again. Sending us into a dangerous situation." No one objected. They were too chicken to come and do the job themselves. I hated the enigma sometimes. Darius said, "Are you up for it?" I replied, "If I wasn't, would I be here." For my father and friends, I will continue to obey that witch's orders. I summoned Phil and we flew off to the destination. I hope you're safe, Ella.