Fallen part 5

There was no oxygen left in the Old World, it seemed.

The second they went through the portal, Xephos nearly collapsed, and he was doubled over coughing until one of the scientists put an oxygen mask on him. Looking around, Xephos saw that Honeydew and the scientists had on oxygen masks as well.

The stories Lalna had told him about this place were true. It was nothing but a wasteland.

They had come through the portal in front of two enormous craters. They were surrounded by trees that had been burnt to a crisp, and far in the distance, they could see the hollow shells of houses and buildings.

This had been the battleground between Lalna and Sjin.

Xephos was shocked at how extensive the destruction was. The crater where Sjin's house used to be was enormous, but it wasn't as impressive as the one where Lalna's house used to be.

“I guess a nuclear meltdown is stronger than two nukes,” Xephos muttered to Honeydew, who simply nodded in awe.

One of the thugs behind them shoved them. “Keep moving, and enough with the talking,” he snarled.

They began trekking around the craters. They stepped over the remains of building materials and machine bits. There was even a tower made of stone brick that they had to climb over – it was laying completely on its side – and that tower was still radiating with magic.

The air all around them was thick with radiation. It made Xephos' hair stand on end and his skin crawl. He started to taste blood.

“There,” Professor Brightmeer suddenly said, pointing up to a large obsidian platform on top of a hill. There was a portal in the center of that platform.

It was still lit.

The large scientists dragged Honeydew and Xephos up the hill, and they all gathered in front of it.

“Take one last good look around,” said Brightmeer, turning to Honeydew and Xephos. “This will be your last time seeing the sun.” The actual sun was obscured by all the smog and debris, but they could tell it was sunset judging by the blood red color of the sky. “This is also what the world will look like after Israphel returns.”

With an evil laugh, he went through the portal, and they were forced to follow.

After the nauseating act of teleporting, Xephos and Honeydew found themselves standing in front of Israphel's crumbling fortress. Half of the fortress had already collapsed into the lava sea.

While Honeydew and Xephos trembled in fear, one of the scientists went up to Professor Brightmeer.

“Sir, I don't think sacrificing the spaceman and dwarf will be enough to bring the dark lord back,” said the scientist.

Brightmeer nodded. “I know,” he said. “We'll need a third sacrifice. One just as powerful as our two hostages.”

“How do we find a third sacrifice?”

Brightmeer pointed at the trail of cobblestone and torches that Rythian had left.

“We follow that. It'll lead us right to them.”

“What about the spaceman and dwarf?” asked the scientist. “What do we do with them?”

“We'll have to take them with us,” said Brightmeer. “Once we have all three, we can sacrifice them then and there. And if you find my nephew, leave him. He's mine to kill.”

The scientist nodded and backed off.

Professor Brightmeer then turned and followed the trail deeper into the Nether, his group of scientists following him and dragging Xephos and Honeydew behind them.

XXX

Rythian gasped and sat bolt upright. He had been having another nightmare. In this one, there had been people hunting him down for his magic. Though it was a nightmare he commonly experienced, it always scared him.

With a sigh, he rubbed his eyes and sat away from the wall. He had just been dozing off, exhausted mentally and physically from the stress of being trapped and worrying if Lalna was going to make it.

Speaking of the scientist...

Rythian looked over at Lalna, who was sitting upright against the adjacent wall. He had a blanket wrapped around his shoulders, even though it was boiling hot. He was looking off into the distance, his eyes glowing purple. His amulet flickered weakly, his skin was washed of color except the slight blue tinge from his blood loss, and his red lab coat was stained even darker around the arm. Rythian saw that his bandages needed changing. They were running so low on bandages now.

Rythian stood up, and Lalna turned to him.

“Someone's here...” he said quietly, his voice hoarse.

Rythian's eyes widened. “Is it the others?” he asked frantically. “Did they find a way back? Did they cause the eruption?”

Lalna shook his head slowly. “I don't know,” he said. “You're the Mage, use your magic to see.”

Rythian ignored his bitter sarcasm and leaned against the low wall of the tower, looking out towards the general direction of the portal and the crumbling fortress.

It was difficult for him to see due to the fact that he was still too far from the End for his magic to be at full power, but he thought he could see several figures. They were coming towards them quickly.

“I think it's them!” he exclaimed happily.

When the scientist didn't respond, he turned and looked at him.

Lalna was staring dejectedly at nothing. He looked so tired and worn out. Golem was sitting curled up against his left side, and he was absently scratching him behind the ear. The little Pigman looked up at the scientist, his eyes wide with worry.

“Lalna? What's wrong?” asked Rythian, slowly turning and leaning his back against the wall so that he could face the scientist.

Lalna didn't move for a long time. Finally, he took a deep, pained breath and looked up at Rythian with glassy eyes.

“I can't walk anymore,” said Lalna, his voice cracking a bit.

Rythian's eyes widened. “What do you mean?”

“I tried while you were sleeping,” he said. “I couldn't even stand up straight. I mean, I could stand, but it hurt. And I couldn't walk. I can barely move my legs.” Lalna stopped talking and started to cough. It was such a violent fit that he doubled over, and Rythian had to hold onto his shoulder to keep him upright.

Finally, the fit ended, and Lalna sat upright again. Blood was dripping from his mouth.

“Are you okay?” asked Rythian quietly.

Lalna nodded once. “I'm fine...” he choked out. “There's just... blood everywhere...”

“Speaking of which...” Rythian gestured to the remainder of Lalna's arm.

“We're gonna run out of bandages,” said Lalna, hesitating.

“Yeah, but the others are here, and they'll take us home,” said Rythian. “And besides, if you don't let me change the bandages, it'll get infected.”

Lalna sighed and lethargically pulled the blanket and lab coat down and held out his arm. He closed his eyes, not willing to look at his mutilated arm.

When Rythian unwound the bandages, he saw that the lower half of Lalna's arm was swollen and red, and there was pus and blood oozing out of the wound. He quickly cleaned it as well as he could, ignoring Lalna's pained cursing. Then he bandaged it again. Whenever his hand came in contact with Lalna's skin, he could feel just how high his fever was.

The wound was slowly becoming infected. If they ran out of clean bandages, the infection would surely set in, and he wouldn't have long after that. If the infection and blood loss didn't take his life, the fever would.

Rythian just hoped his friends hurried.

XXX

Time passed slowly in the Labs. Finally, only after the sun had gone down, the scientists got the portal working.

Ridge had been handing everyone a special helmet and pairs of boots when Dr. Srivaramen came running over.

“Sir, it appears we have the portal working again!” he exclaimed.

Ridge nodded. “We'll be ready to go through in a minute.”

The doctor nodded and ran back to the portal.

“Okay guys,” said Ridge, turning to the others, “the Old World is dangerous and hostile. The air is poisonous, so make sure you've got these on.” He held up the helmet. Inside was a mouthpiece, and there were small air tanks on the part of the helmet that came down on the back.

“I also made these,” he said, gesturing to the boots he and everybody else was wearing. “They'll let you run faster so that we'll have a chance to catch up to the scientists.”

“Is everybody ready?” asked Lomadia. She was met with tense nods. “Then let's stop wasting time and go.”

They all went over to the portal, putting on their helmets on the way.

Ridge went through the portal first, followed closely by Lomadia and Nano, then Sips and Sjin.

The Old World was cold and dark. A thick poisonous fog hung over the moonlit land. The sun had only just set. There wasn't a living creature to be seen.

“There!” exclaimed Sips, pointing to the large obsidian platform with the portal on it.

They ran for the platform, Sips having to drag Sjin along behind him, because he was having flashbacks to the battle and how much destruction he had caused.

When they reached the platform, they didn't stop. They simply ran straight through the portal and appeared in the Nether in front of the fortress.

As soon as they were through, they took off their oxygen masks and left them next to the portal. Sjin stumbled off to the side and vomited, nauseous from the two consecutive teleports.

“How do we find the cultists?” asked Nano, looking around.

Ridge was looking at something in the distance: a short stack of cobblestone with a torch on top.

“I'm guessing we follow the trail,” said Ridge.

“Who do you think left that trail?” asked Lomadia.

Ridge squinted at it. “Judging by all the burns on it, those markers have been here for more than a few hours. “I think Rythian and Lalna left it.”

“And the cultists are following their trail too,” said Nano, her eyes widening in fear.

Ridge nodded. He gestured for Sips to get Sjin. “We're running out of time,” he said. “Their only chance is for us to catch up to the cultists.”

“Then what are we wasting time here for?” asked Lomadia before turning and taking off, following the trail.