Chapter 14: Demon

1

Nothing could have prepared them for this.

Straight up absolutely nothing.

Everything about it was newfangled, absent. A creature that they had never seen before. Ben felt obsolete while standing below its huge biomass. For the first time after entering the Alpine realm, he felt small.

The creature stands three metres tall, standing on its six spider-like legs. Its limbs were bony and pale, with sharp talons as nails that looked like they could slice through steel. Its huge face looked structurally obscurely human, with six massive tentacles that stuck out from the side of its head, looking like a feathered headdress. The tentacles were scaly, unlike the rest of its bony body, with a sharp drill-like needle attached to the end. The back of the vertebrate has pointed plates that of a reptile. The chest was engraved with red, tattoo-like symmetrical patterns, glowing orange in the darkness. Its teeth were vicious and menacing, sharp as razor blades. There were no pupils in those emotionless eyes—they were blood-red crisscrosses that were slashed across its iris, like a scar. The way it tilted its head reminded Ben of one of those ventriloquist dummies that you'd see at a fair. Two slits were positioned where its nose should be, breathing loudly.

'Stay back from it,' Ben whispered. 'Don't make any sound.' He clamped his hand over Sam's mouth to muffle out his terrified screams. The demon sniffed the air, dissatisfied. It was searching for them. It was searching for their scent because they were free food. 'You must keep your head clear, Sammy. Don't hyperventilate. That will expose our position.' consulted Ben. Sammy nodded desperately. 'Follow my count. Move slowly backwards, until it loses track of us, ok?' He nodded again. 'Ok. Take your time. One step at a time. 1… 2… 3… 4…' They gradually moved out of the way of the demon. It gave a growl of dismay as it felt the scent of its prey smothering. Disappointed it took a gigantic step forward on its long spider legs, tremoring the ground. A few rocks came falling down somewhere from above, landing on the stalagmites and shattering into pieces. The demon, still dissatisfied at the obstacles blocking it, raised its head so it looked like it was staring up at the ceiling of the cave.

'What is it doing?' Sammy asked, puzzled. The demon suddenly snapped its neck forward—launching at the dripstones ferociously whilst swinging—and bashed the stones into pieces. 

In reaction to dodging the flying debris, Sammy stumbled backwards in panic, tripping over a set of stalagmites, and falling flat on his butt, socking his tailbone. He winced in agony, alerting the demon's sensitive ears. The demon lounged over the pile of rubble, crawling menacingly towards them. 'Help me, Ben!' Sammy cried. 'I'm stuck!' Ben swerved around and shuffled closer toward Sammy—his foot was trapped in between the two stalagmites. He frantically pulled and pushed—it wouldn't budge. Ben could hear his ears pumping from adrenaline. The demon closed in on them, glaring at them with pure bloodlust. It's no use. I have to distract him. His hormones kicked in, moving with agility as he picked up a medium-sized rock, throwing at the demon's tough legs as hard as he could. Smack! Although unscathed, the demon recoiled a little, turning his attention to Ben in fury. 'Don't let him catch you, Ben!' Sammy yelled, supporting his imbalanced body with his arms, which were awkwardly positioned from being pinned.

Ben gulped as he met the demon face to face. The demon might be blind, but that didn't seem to hinder it from hunting down its targets. In the blink of an eye, the demon pounced at Ben with supernatural speed. For a second, he thought he was caught, but then he was running—avoiding the labyrinth of rocks and stalagmites that would screw him over in one misstep. Behind him, the enraged demon chased him. With the agility of a leopard, it casually swung its fists into the obstacles that were in its way, breaking them and sending them flying like wooden bricks. The demon is very destructive. Ben concluded, running. I need to use my head to win against him. He took a sharp turn, almost getting hit by the flying shrapnel, and ran to the side wall of the ravine. As expected, the demon followed him in hot pursuit. Sensing its victim had been cornered, the demon lowered his head. Still running, its tentacles curled into the shape of an excavation drill, preparing to ram Ben into the wall, causing his demise. There wasn't a more velocious attack than this, as the momentum would impale him with full force. Although nervous to the tip of his fingers, Ben stood his ground, setting a timer inside his head. Not yet. He swallowed, staring forcefully at the tentacle blades. If I react too early, I die; if I too late, I also die. He held his breath as the timer reached a critical point, counting down to mere milliseconds. 1948, 1852, 1543, 1044, 645… Milliseconds until either his plan works or he gets crushed. But sometimes, even milliseconds count. 456… Now! Just as the demon was about to rush into him. He sidestepped, diving to the ground. The demon realised this but was too late to stop the momentum.

Everything seemed to shake at once. Rocks pummelled into the ground as the demon crashed into the stone wall. Somewhere above, massive sticks of heavy stalactites drove into the ground, destroying landmass and creating craters in the ground. Hard shrapnel flew in every direction. Ben lay on his side, covering his head with both hands and crouching into a fetal position. He was showered by a million pieces of small rocks and dust, many of which left a small cut or bruise on his body. 

The terrifying commotion lasted for about a minute, but it felt like hours before Ben dared to open his eyes and get up to his feet. Part of the ravine was devastated by fallen debris, shattered stalagmites and craters in the ground. The fog cleared away for once, replaced by suffocating dust in the air. But most importantly, there was a humongous hole in the solid rock wall. 

Panting for dear life, Ben rose up and ran towards the hole in the wall like hell, broken stones crunched beneath his shoes. 'I'm not getting outsmarted by a creature five times my size. Not today!' He exclaimed at nothing. Before him was the body of the demon, lying on the cold surface, unresponsive. Ben flinched as he looked down at his feet—blue sticky fluid was dripping gruesomely at the sole of his shoes. It was flowing from the direction of the demon. He gave a muffled scream as he saw its head—three of the six tentacles on its head were torn off, most likely by the impact of the wall. Mountainous amounts of that blue liquid flowed from the holes of the absent tentacles, forming a stream that flowed around his feet. Blood. He realised grossly. One of the three tentacles that stayed intact on its head was half-ripped open, steadily pouring out blood. The other two were unscathed from the exterior but sprawled at an unnatural angle. I've never seen the anatomy of a demon, but the tentacles look like they contain bones. He theorised. In which case, they're all fractured. The bloody creature was still breathing but unconscious. It wouldn't take long for it to bleed out, at this rate. Ben looked disgustedly at the spurts of blood that flowed down the bottom of the ravine. Imagine if June or Ozin sees this, that would be impressive. He turned his attention to himself. Nothing was broken except for minor scratches. He felt woozy and tasted blood, which streaked steadily down his temple. I must have been cut after I uncovered my head. What stupidity. He complained. More importantly, he needed to find Sammy again. All the stalagmites got misshapen, I can't remember which one was which. He continued wandering through the labyrinth of rocks, starting to lose hope once again. The number of times he'd lost count of time in this place was too many. It could be 3 am in the morning, and I would have no sense of that whatsoever.

'Sam!' he cried. 'Are you still there? Where are you?'

'I'm over here!' a small voice replied determinedly. Ben snapped his head around, calculating the proximity of Sammy.

'I'm coming for you!' he shouted back. 'Don't move!'

'As if I could!' Sam replied sarcastically.

'Are you hurt?'

'No, but it's getting infuriating,' he replied. 'The rocks had loosened slightly from the shockwaves, but I'm not strong enough.'

Ben ran over, seeing a protruding foot stuck between a small crevice. Sammy had been completely buried by the rubble, unable to move a limb. 'What do you mean the rocks had loosened slightly?'

Sammy sighed. 'The rocks protected me from bigger ones, they're easy to lift, but I can't because of the angle that my legs are in!' Ben scurried over the pile of rocks, digging into them and throwing them behind his back. Sam felt the weight upon him loosen and relaxed a little. 'We don't have much time,' said Ben. 'The demon isn't dead. I managed to trick it into ramming into the wall. It has lost quite a lot of blood—but I'm certain it wasn't enough to kill it. Once it wakes up, it will be coming right back at us—and tear us to shreds—personally.'

'You subdued a demon single-handedly?' Sam praised. 'That's insane.'

'That's something Ozin would say,' replied Ben flatly. 'Now hurry up and help me rescue you.' 

'Free my foot first,' he hinted. 'I can't do much otherwise.'

'Ok, I see,' Ben inserted his fingertips into the cracked stalagmite. He planted his foot under his hands and pushed. The dripstone dislodged a little. 'Try again, you can do this,' Sammy encouraged resiliently. He pushed his entire hand beneath the heavy rock, racking his palms. 

'Stop! You're hurting yourself!' Blood trickled and dripped down Ben's fingernails as he scowled. He would not allow the rock to win. Breathing deeply, he tried again, veins popping out of his arms as he leaned his entire body against the stalagmite. Slowly and painfully, it began to move. The dripstone slid along its crack bit by bit. Sammy bit his lips and resisted the burn against his calf, wiggling his feet as he attempted to pull free from his shoe. Mustering all his strength and fury, Ben gave it one final, fierce push against his shoulder. Sammy yelled in pain and rasped as the stalagmite fell clean off along its crack, sending his leg flying. 'It's fine! It's okay now! I got it off!' Ben gasped tiredly, scrambling close and brushing the rocks away from Sammy, who was in tears. 'You're free now, it's just a mild laceration. You're safe,' He embraced him as they burst into tears, crying with relief. 'That must be traumatising.'

'That was so much freaking worse than the tsunami,' Sam blinked. 'The setting for this is so much more intense.'

'I've never told anyone about this, but I'm claustrophobic,' said Ben, shaking. 'Getting stuck and crammed in there like you did would be a hundred times worse for me.'

'Was that supposed to make me feel better?' asked Sammy, smiling a little. 

'Yes,' Ben replied. 'You're so like your sister.'

'I get that from a lot of people.'

As they sat on the ground, talking, they heard faint whispers and sounds from the distance. Sammy stood up unsteadily, swaying on his abrased and bloody ankle. 'Is that them?' he spoke weakly, his eyes fluttering. 'Ben! I think it's them!' He exclaimed excitedly. From the shadows came walking in no other than the hermit himself, accompanied by June, who looked even less unscathed.

'No way, June,' Ozin exclaimed in awe. 'The demon blood – they're here?!' She ran over to them and leapt into their arms, opting to kiss them both on their sweaty faces. Ben felt better than ever, living to embrace her. It was a touching moment, as this was the first time they found their way back together after being separated.

'How intriguing was it?' asked June. 'You look like you had a much more interesting 

misadventure than we did.' 

'Really?' Ben sputtered. 'How did you find us?' June pointed at the trail of demon blood, which still trickled past their shoes. 'We walked over two hundred metres after we saw the demon blood flow. At one point, we heard one of you speak, so we just rushed over.' She looked at them suspiciously. 'Where did you jump? How was there a 200-metre distance between us?' 

Ben stared at her face-to-face. 'We went to the exact place you did, and we somehow ended up over here.' June creased, looking at the unconscious demon and then back. 'How strange. Forget that, what happened with the demon?'

'The demon tried to kill us, so Ben tricked it into running into the wall, causing a great collapse. It worked, though,' Sammy replied melodramatically. Her eyes widened. 'So, you managed to kill a demon? All by yourself?' 

'The demon's still alive,' Ben emphasised the point. 'We can't put down our guard just yet.' He glanced at Ozin, who was examining the fallen tentacles and spilt blood. 'This is major news,' Ozin exclaimed. 'Everything we thought we knew about demons had just been thrown out of the window. What is this? Magical harness? Demon blood contains magic! That's how they function so well with such a complex anatomy! It's a miracle you managed to knock it unconscious.'

'Osen, I must consult something,' interrupted Sammy. 'It's still a mystery to you why Ben and I drifted away from the original location. But I think I know.' He took a deep breath. 'Somebody-'

'Wait!' Ozin stuck out his hand. 'Whatever you say, give these two a few moments to contain themselves. I know what you want to tell us, but the information might be quite… unfamiliar and unrealistic.' He straightened his coat and cleared his throat. 'Clarity.'

He told them almost everything, leaving out the part that it was Ellie who told him all of this. To summarise, he talked about the nihilistic side of Sorrow Mountain, the uncomprehended physics inside, and the hallucinations from the dangerous toxic fog. When they asked him who told him all this, he gripped his knees and said a voice. 'Osen, I supposed you knew about the effects of Atlanta seaweed, as you treated my sister's symptoms with it. Now, I would like you to use it to counteract the poison of the fumes.' Ozin nodded and reached into his pocket, grabbing a stack of drenched seaweed. 'We need to periodically consume these to not get driven mad by the hallucinations.' Confused, they stuffed some of it into their mouths and swallowed.

'I feel like my throat is burning with the taste of salt,' June retched. Ozin smiled faintly and maintained his composure. 'I knew bringing some of the seaweed would come in handy.'

'Sammy… this newfound information is really sudden, but I trust you,' Ben scratched his chin thoughtfully. 'I'm kind of figuring out the part about this non-existent mountain.'

'Really?' exclaimed Sammy. 'What do you think?'

'I've been thinking about how we got sent so much off-course after we descended because physics doesn't exist in these tunnels. Allow me to demonstrate,' Ben picked a hand-sized rock from the ground and threw it straight up into the air. Unexpectedly, the rock fell down—at an angle, falling diagonally, and landing about three metres away. 'Point proven. Again.' He picked up another rock and threw it straight up. This time, it went off-course again and landed five metres away, behind them. 'One more,' he said determinedly. Again he threw a rock straight up into the air, but this time, the rock fell back down perfectly into his hand. June stared at the rock in his hand, astonished. 'I did the same experiment three times, around about the same time, date, temperature, and location,' he said profoundly. 'All three times, the results were different. Now, that's something you don't get to see every day. It's astounding. If we follow what Sammy had told us—the mountain itself physically shouldn't have existed, then everything Alpinos have known about this place can be thrown out of the window.' He took a few steps forward. 'This means the reason that demons should thrive in this place is because they don't rely on physics. This means their species have rapidly mutated and evolved to adapt to this place, hence why we find this place… creepy, unnatural, and abstract.' 

'So, what should we do?' asked June.

Ben paused for a few moments to think. 'Believe that anything could happen, and expect everything to happen. That's your new motto. If we can adapt to this intent, we can find the talisman without problems.'

'Philosophy hurts my head,' said Ozin hypocritically. 'Either way, easier said than done.'

'You're right,' replied Ben. 'Our brains have developed a way of doing things, and it is not easy to make it trust something that contradicts its rules.'

'Worry about that later,' said Ozin grimly, turning his head to face the demon, who had gotten up, ripped off its half-torn tentacles, and coiled around them, its slashes of red and black eyes penetrated them piercingly with misanthropy. 'We have an adversary that got real personal at you to deal with.'

2

The demon cocked its head, raising one of its tentacles, and whiplashed the ground with monstrous strength. The ground shook, sending them flailing their arms in the air. It charged at them with astounding speed, sending dust into the air. Dissatisfied with his previous tactic, fearing it might harm his friends, Ben threw a rock at it with all of his strength. The rock hit it in the collarbone, and it howled with rage. Scowling, the demon held back a fist and swung it at them, creating wind strong enough to lift June's hair.

'Halt!'

The fist that would clobber them stopped in midair. Ben turned to see Ozin with his hand extended, a radiant purple glow emerging from his palm, touching the demon's claw. The demon froze, astounded. The purple aura looked as if it rearranged itself to form a transparent, tinted sphere around the demon's fist. The demon looked surprised and unsuccessfully tried to pull its stuck hand free from the sphere. Its huge fist was locked in place and waited for something to happen. Ozin waited as his comrades looked at it in confusion, as the demon struggled to free its hand. Creating tension—a little peculiarity of his. A few minutes passed, and June and Sammy sat down to rest their legs; Ben leaned against an intact stalagmite, whistling a tune to entertain himself, leaving Ozin—the only person there who stood, his devious eyes locked on to the demon's protruding arm, plans stored inside his head. The demon pulled and even pushed, but its hand wouldn't budge. It staggered backwards—not by very much because its fist was still trapped inside the glowing sphere—and calmed itself down. Surely the sphere is harmless and just prevented him from performing an attack, right? With that in mind, the demon lounged forward confidently, leaping into the air and aiming its spidery legs at them for a dropkick. Just at that moment, Ozin lifted his hand, curled it into a fist, and whispered a word in a trembling voice, echoing through the ravine.

'Dissipate.'

The fist inside the sphere shattered, lacerated into a million chunks by an invisible knife. The gory mince, mixed with flesh, bone and blood, splattered everywhere inside the sphere containing the fist's remains. The demon dropped to the floor, holding the stump that was its fist, which gushed out the blue fluid like a water fountain. Its spidery legs spasmed as gruesome blood splatted over them. They watched in horror as the demon grabbed and gnawed at the bloodied stump in agony, covering it with thick saliva while making a gurgling noise. Then, it was still.

The ravine was silent once more, except for Ozin, who was out of breath. 'That took a lot of concentration,' he gasped, pouring water from a flask down his throat. 'Demon skin is so hard to cut through.'

'Well, that was… gruesome,' exclaimed June. 'If it wasn't for the talisman, I'd have rather felt sorry for the –'

The demon suddenly reached out one of its tentacles, sitting up. The tentacles reached and whiplashed around Sammy's waist. He shrieked in pain and horror; fresh blood dripped down his sweater and soaked through his slacks. 'Get it off me!' He screamed, trying to loosen the tentacle with his fingers.

'Sams!' June shouted in dismay. 'LET GO OF HIM YOU BITCH!' But it was no use. She turned around. 'Osen! Please save him… do something!!!' The demon retracted its wormy grip on Sammy, pulled him in front of its face—and leered at him defiantly.

Osen looked at her helplessly. 'Can't… use… magic…' he rasped. 'The dissipate… uses up… too much…' He collapsed to the floor, unresponsive. June ran up to the demon fearlessly and sank her teeth into one of its spider legs. The demon punted her away with a swift jerk of his legs. June crashed into one of the stone pillars, groaning in pain. After that, it looked back at Sammy, who was trembling in trauma. The demon stood very still for a moment and then bared its teeth. Its crisscross eyes sunk in, looking at Sammy dead in his terrified eyes, and then radiated a red blinding glow from them. 

Again, June couldn't see anything anymore. The red light pierced through her eyelid, ten times more intense than Ozin's signal flare. She heard the sound of Sammy shrieking in… terror? Agony? Anger? Those things she couldn't tell. She pulled back her lips and coughed up blood. She must have bitten her tongue. The intensified glow lasted for maybe ten seconds and then faded before them. 

She opened her eyes, hugging herself tightly. Sammy's shriek had stopped, and blood trickled down her chin. My back got injured. She winced. I can't feel my arms. She gasped when she saw Sammy, still restrained by the demon, had gone limp. His arms and legs were dangling uselessly, and his head was tilted to the back. 'Stop hurting him, please.' Tears were drawn from her eyes as the demon shook his small frame in its pythonic tentacle. 'Stop hurting him!' The demon looked at her, surprised. Obeisancely, it put Sammy onto the ground. Stepping over him, the demon sneered at the rest of them, raising its amputated hand, which was covered in blood.

'It – it – it regrew…' whispered Ozin in despair. The demon's cut-off hand was restored anew as if nothing happened to it. Sammy whimpered weakly in the background, sputtering and coughing. Once it was satisfied with intimidating them, it lurched forward again, sweeping away rocks carelessly out of its way. Despite losing so much blood, it looked like it could confront them just as easily. 

'What are you… some sort of divine being?' June whispered softly, her eyes becoming unfocused as she slumped helplessly against a dripstone. 'I guess… it couldn't be helped… living in such conditions…' She wasn't feeling afraid anymore. At the very least, I get to learn a lesson before I die. A lesson of how resilient a species can be. Miraculously, the demon crawled over her, stepping on where she wasn't, leaving her alone. Instead, it slowly marched towards Ozin and Ben, not hiding the hatred in its glittering red X-eyes. It wrapped its tentacles around their necks. Ozin, who was defenceless, closed his eyes to pray cowardly, while Ben looked determined, preparing for his own demise. This is it for me. He thought absent-mindedly. He was right. I should have left. I shouldn't have stayed. I don't regret my decision, though. The only unfortunate thing about this is we're all going to die. I never even got to save her for one last time… He shouted with the remaining air he had in his lungs, 'I had such a wonderful time!'

A rock came flying at the demon's forehead, sending it staggering back, flailing on its arms and legs. It instantly released them both, holding its injured eye, howling in agony. Ben's eyes became wide open. They became wide open because… he saw her determined eyes. 

June was kneeling beside Sammy, who was unconscious, bandaging his bruised waist. She was holding a rock in her left hand and cradling Sam in her right. Her eyes were red from the tears, but those had been dried up—replaced by marks of wretch and hate. 'You shouldn't have left me alive. You shouldn't have shown mercy,' she spoke slowly, letting her words sink in. 'Because I'm not going to.'

3

The tension in the atmosphere reached its peak. Everything was quiet. Even the demon, who was holding its eye, stared at her in disbelief. A smug grin was on her face. Confidently, she threw and caught the rock in her hand, giving the demon plenty of time to realise what was going on. 'I have figured out,' she announced dramatically and then turned. 'How to kill you.' Ozin and Ben looked at the demon and her in astonishment. 'Ben! Ozin!' she shouted. 'You've both saved me before, so I think it's time to return the favour. Let me save you now,' She unravelled something behind her coat, igniting it with a matchstick. 'You've shown us the theory and rules of the mountain, Ben. So let me take that one step further and apply it to a real-time tactic. We're being pummelled and hurt by the demon because it understands the properties of the mountain while we don't. That changes things.' She buried the object under a pile of rocks. 'Osen, I'm sure you know what's under the pile of rocks right now.'

Osen's eyes bulged. 'I know, but how did you manage to steal one of my precious signal flares — I mean firework rockets from my pocket dimension?!' He exclaimed shockingly. A smile crept up her face. '3…' The fuse sizzled beneath the rocks, sending sparks everywhere spontaneously.

'2…' The demon's jaw dropped, charging at her in rage.

'1…' June didn't even flinch.

A blinding white light flashed past their eyes, followed by a thunderous boom. The fireworks launched themselves into the air, bringing the ton of rocks with them. The shards of stone reached the highest point and fell, sending all of its kinetic energy—straight at the demon. 

The hundreds of razor-sharp rocks impaled into the demon's body, seeking its huge mass at the speed of bullets. The demon groaned and screeched in agony. Bigger, less delicate rocks punctured through it, rupturing its blood vessels and ripping apart its internal organs. Ozin, Ben and June watched in horror as blue blossomed all over its ginormous frame, spilling like holes punched into a water balloon. Even as gallons of blood poured from its wounds, the demon was still alive—just in great pain. It raised its fist in panic, planning to finish the weakened June, which appeared to have performed twisted sorcery on it. She looked at it with resignation. 'Did you forget? There's one more thing coming for you. You're gonna die if you don't avoid it.' She sighed at the demon snarling at her with its teeth, still unaware of the speeding firework that shot through the air, a trail of devilish fire behind it.

It was sharp and crystal clear. The firework entered its gaping mouth, making a hole in its teeth. The still-active container of gunpowder entered its respiratory system, making contact with its lungs. 'Light up inside.' June whispered.

The demon jerked rapidly, and the explosion could be heard inside, mixing with the splats of tissue ripped apart. A hole appeared in its chest, then another, then another, until its body separated itself into pieces, parts of flesh and bone coated in blue, showering the humans in blood and guts.

Traumatised and frozen in fear, no one moved for several minutes until June whispered in a shaky voice. 'Is it dead?'

Osen swallowed, trembling at the chunks of meat and gore. 'I think so. Definitely. Oh my god, I haven't seen something this brutal in three millennials. Please don't do that again.'

Ben walked close to June, bursting into tears. 'You worked it out and saved us.' They held their hands on each other's shoulders, drenched in the sticky blue goo. 'Well, that makes us even again.' She smiled, showing her white teeth. 

'How did you figure that massacring strategy?' Ozin stared at her admiringly.

'You explain it to him, Ben,' she dropped to the ground in exhaustion. 'I'm too tired.'

'Remember the experiments that I conducted? The rocks fell onto random places,' explained Ben. 'Well, there's actually a consistency that exists in the inconsistency. Unlike what I theorised at first, June actually found a pattern in the physics of this mountain.' He picked up another rock next to June and threw it in the opposite direction of the demon. The rock doubled back and smacked the demon's carcass and then dropped to the ground slickly. 'The elements in this place aren't affected by random forces. It's attracted to residues of magic.' Ozin wavered as the fallen rock slid slightly in his direction. 

'I turned on my magic probe for a second,' Ozin flinched. 'I probably shouldn't try that again.'

'Where's Sammy?' June winced, holding her chest in pain.

They rushed over to Sammy's body. It was cold and sweaty. He was taking painful shallow breaths, and his eyes were closed. 'What's wrong with him?' Ben asked.

Osen pressed a hand against his forehead. 'He has a very high fever, I'm afraid we can't leave the ravine yet.' He felt for his heartbeat. 'His heart is beating very slowly, and he's going into shock.'

'What do the symptoms remind you of?' asked Ben urgently. Ozin shook his head. 'I don't know. I'm trying to think!' He furrowed his green hair in frustration. 'This is not good, by any chance. I recall sharp spikes that grow along a demon's tentacles, but I don't know if they contain venom or not.' He brandished his hand against Sammy's bandaged waist, smearing the blood that seeped through the dressing. 'Thank god,' he sighed with relief. 'The blood isn't poisoned.'

'Then what's with the high fever and the slow heart rate?' Ben leaned over June, who had blood flowing from her lip. 'It reminds me of septicemia.'

'Wait,' interrupted June, coughing. 'Did you see what the demon did to him?'

'It forced Sammy to make eye contact with it,' Ozin replied confidently. 'That must be the reason why he has these symptoms.'

'Would the seaweed work on this too?' asked Ben.

'I don't know,' replied Ozin. 'The seaweed might wake him up, but I can't be sure what other symptoms he may develop.'

'We might as well try it,' said June. 'Even if it doesn't work, we know it nothing worse can happen. After all, the seaweed did save my life when we were still in the Alps.' She tapped on her injured leg. Ozin nodded. 'Here goes nothing,' he hissed. Slowly, he brought some of the wet, soggy plants—dripping with saltwater—out of his pocket, prodding some of it into Sammy's mouth. 'Get well soon,' he prayed. They shuddered as the temperature in the ravine dropped, surrounding Sammy, they brought out more warm clothes from Ozin's pocket.

'The clearing of the fog must be why it got colder,' said Ozin in a trembling voice. 'I never thought the warmth down here would go away. How many years did it take for the heat to go trapped down here to rise ten degrees? Many. Probably more if we didn't come.'

While he muttered, Ben limped over to the corpse and examined the demon's blood, staring at the blue glittering fluid fascinatedly. 'Osen, could the magic from the demon be useful to us?'

'Oh, it definitely could. I forgot to check in detail during all that commotion,' Ozin raised to his feet, leaving June and Sammy be. He crept above the pool of blood, sticking his finger into it, wiping it on himself, smelling it, and even tasting it. His eyes gleamed. 'This has healing properties, and it's pretty pure, too,' Ozin looked at Ben's temple cut. 'This could be a huge step for us in the field study of medication. You try rubbing some of this onto your bruised temple. See what happens.' Ben reluctantly scooped some of it with his hand, it dripped off his palms like slime. 'It's completely safe,' reassured Ozin. Hesitantly, he rubbed the demon's blood against his temple. A sharp burning sensation flared at his wound. He wince and scowled, 'Are you sure?' he asked sarcastically. 'It's the magic, regenerating your cells,' replied Ozin. 'Recovering from a gunshot is more painful than actually getting shot…' Astoundingly, the blood flow was clotted up quickly, patching up his temple. 'See? I told you so!' Ozin cried blissfully. 'This would be such a great discovery in the field of magic science.' 

'When is Sammy going to wake up?' June asked, her voice cracking. 

'Hmm…' Ozin looked at the unconscious Sammy thoughtfully. 'I highly suspect that the demon stare caused psychological damage, not physical.'

'Psychological?'

'Basically, it sabotages and messes up a person's neuron connection. Less of memory loss, more of feeling pain when you shouldn't be. The hypothesis was first stated by…' 

'Okay, I get it,' interrupted Ben. 'What can we do to make him feel better?'

'We need him to drink the solution, excuse the pun.' replied Ozin, scooping up some of the liquid with both hands.

'How is drinking it going to help?' 

'He can digest it and spread it across his bloodstreams,' answered Ozin profoundly. 'Like taking a pill.'

'Is his stomach going to tolerate it?' whispered June.

'We would never know unless we try!' exclaimed Ozin triumphantly. 'June, you can feed him.' She got to her feet and poured the blood gently down Sammy's throat. 'Now, all we can do is wait and pray.'

Osen slowly sat down, staring at the ground thoughtfully. 'What are the odds?' He asked. 'What are the odds of the demons becoming aware and aggressive to us?' He held his stomach. 'After all, the demon attacked us first.'

'Demonlord must have seen us coming, so he ordered demons to eradicate us.' suggested Ben. 'Either way, June was clever enough to counter them effectively.'

'We can only hope that doesn't happen again,' Ozin sighed. 'We dealt with one, but not against a horde. Even her tactic wouldn't work. Speak of which –' He extended his hand again. 'Where does it hurt, June?'

'My back was struck against a rock,' June replied, groaning. 'I can't seem to bend forward.'

'Okay, you consume some of it too,' he brought out some vials. 'I'm going to collect it before it gets contaminated.' She nodded and drank an entire cup. Immediately, she gagged and dropped the cup. 'It's so bitter and salty,' she exclaimed, slumped against a rock. 'My throat is on fire.'

'We must get out of the ravine now,' said Ozin. 'We can't afford to attract more attention while trapped down here.'

After finding the right spot, leading forth to the tunnels, Ozin levitated and secured the ropes on top. June went first, followed by Ben, carrying Sammy on his back. Finally, Ozin watched their backs until they reached the top. He took one last suspicious look at the ravine that they had been trapped in for the last hour or so. Strange. He thought. It's almost like something tore a gap between the connected tunnels, but that's got to be the most ridiculous power in the world, right?