Chapter 4

  And Hell’s Comin With Me

  “Fayyyyy……Wakeeee upppp….Fayyyyy. FAY”

  Oh Shit.

  Fay bolted awake, but the normally accompanying headache was not there. Fay slowly opened his eyes. It was pitch black. He began to remember, he had fought the beast. He had fallen. He had saved them.

  So this is death huh. Ain’t all it was said to be, it's just dark. At least it didn’t hurt, I knew it was curtains for me when I went in there anyways.

  Fay's head lurched forward, his nose slammed into the floor of the abyss, as the massive iron gauntlet smashed into the back of his skull.

  There it is, it was weird waking up without the pain.

  Fay, in the same fashion he did every morning, sprung from his position on the floor and threw his fist at his assailant. Instead of Ridley however, it was Barron that caught his strike.

  “Sun above son, you call that a punch?” Barron said disappointedly, his head shaking side to side.

  “I’m guessing Ridley learned that from you? I don’t care if you're dead, or my dad, I'm gonna whip your ass for that” Fay hissed through gritted teeth, throwing his second punch.

  Barron caught the second punch, and in the same fluid motion as Ridley had every morning before, spun Fay around and wrapped him in a hug. Fay fought and squirmed. After he had accepted that he was caught, he stopped, and Barron released him.

  “Haha, I’ve always wanted to do that, Ridley always made it look so fun” Barron laughed.

  “What the hell do you mean, you could see that?” Fay questioned.

  “Aye son. Do you really think I died to that weak little beast by itself? I broke my chains during the war same as you just did, and the natural order took notice. It removed me from its world.

  After I got killed, I sent what I could of my soul into you and Ridley. I can’t remember a whole lot, but I know it was for a reason, and not just to break the chains that had you caught.

  We’ll figure all that out later. First you have to get the hell out of here and back on the surface. You probably fell some 15 floors.” Barron said, the flurry of information to much for Fay to fully absorb.

  “Are you saying I’m not dead, and I’m on the 21st floor? When it rains it pours” Fay said, his hand massaging his temple.

  “Aye, looks like it. Don’t know how far down this goes, but I do know if you get to the bottom, you’ll be able to go back.

  Back during the war, we got down to the end of a small Catbug labyrinth just outside of Ralir, seems like they all got circles leading back to the surface, but only humans can use them, cause you gotta use your piece’s light to activate it. Almost like we were always supposed to get to the end of em……” Barron let his words trail off as he tried to remember.

  “Anyway, you got some piece there son, but you ain’t shit besides it. Good thing we can come here though.”

  “And where exactly are we?” Fay asked.

  “Your soul boy. Don’t remember how, but sometimes when you go unconscious, I can pull your mind in here. You won’t get physically stronger, but I can at least beat into your mind how to fight. I’m confident your body will react on its own after I’m through with ya!” as the words left his mouth, Barron sprung upon Fay.

  He stopped just short of him, and with a motion faster than Fay could follow, placed his hands on the ground. Sweeping his back leg in a crescent, Barron kicked Fay’s own from beneath him and he began to fall. Before he could make contact with the ground, Barron had continued with his kick, and used the momentum to stand himself on his hands. He pushed himself from the ground, and planted his feet in Fay’s chest. With the added force from Barron’s strike, Fay hit the ground and shattered it, the strange obsidian colored rock scattered around him.

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  “What the fuck was that for” Fay groaned from the crater, his body curled in a ball.

  “Trial by fire son. You don’t have time to undergo proper combat training, so I’m just gonna have to beat it into you. You can’t die here on account that it's just your mind, so I can whoop your ass as much as I please.” Barron proclaimed from the edge of the crater Fay was lying in.

  “Ridley was right, you are a mean old sumbitch” Fay yelled from his back, his words rewarding him with a rock to the face from Barron.

  “Get up now son. The beasts down here won’t hold back so neither will I. We got some time before you regain consciousness. You’re in a rough state, it's gonna hurt like hell when you wake up” Barron said as he pulled Fay from the pit.

  And so they trained. Little by little Fay began to adapt to the onslaught brought upon him by his father. It wasn’t enough to not get hit, but Fay managed to dodge a strike or two that were well telegraphed. He understood why Barron was doing this. Although his piece was ranged, if a beast was able to close the gap, he was defenseless.

  During his fight with the beast, Fay could feel that he had gotten stronger now that his piece was whole.

  Dad’s an S rank, and Ridley is A, so maybe I'm around the upper B?

  His thought was cut short by Barron’s fist driving into his nose, the force sending him flying some 10 feet behind him onto his back.

  “Rank don’t mean nothing down here son. You kill or get killed. The beasts don't worry themselves with labels. To remove another from the order is to be strong, and to get removed is to be weak.

  There ain’t no humans down here, you better start thinking like a beast if you wanna live. Kill and be strong, or die and be weak. You alone make the call” Barron yelled at Fay like a knight trainer.

  The two trained, and when Fay grew too tired to continue they talked. Barron told Fay of all the things he wished he could have done with him. Fay told Barron of his and Ridley’s antics, of his quiet life with Tima. He told him of his friendship with Dorian, who had taken him under his wing after Barron died. He told him of the odd Whitlock trio that spoke in unison.

  They talked, and trained, and cried, and trained, and laughed, and trained, and trained. After a particularly brutal session, Fay began to feel himself being pulled into consciousness.

  “See you soon, keep yourself alive out there. GO GIVE EM HELL SON” Barron yelled, waving goodbye to Fay’s fading form.

  Fay returned the wave with a smile and said his parting words to Barron.

  Pain.

  Before Fay could open his eyes he could feel the pain radiating from his injured body. It burned like hot coals in every cell of his being, and he would have puked if he had anything in his stomach. He ached. He was hurt. He couldn’t move. He laid still for quite some time, the pain too much for him to even think.

  I gotta get up, somethings gonna get me at this rate.

  Fay, through will alone, forced himself to sit up. The pain intensified with every movement, stabbing him like sharp daggers at the smallest twitch of his muscles.

  Don’t think anything’s broke. I gotta get going.

  After sitting for a time, Fay forced himself to his feet. His body burned, his bones crying to return to the ground. Fay would not abide by their wishes. He was not going to die in a place like this. He was going to get to the bottom of this place. He was going to live. He had to get back to everyone.

  He was done with living by the natural order. He was a desperado, and he was going to become strong. Fay shuffled forward though the dark hollow tunnels of the Labyrinth. As he continued forward, he came out of the mouth of the tunnel into a great forest. The green trees smelled of the spring, and the running water of the little river was unseen, but played sweet tunes though the thicket with its babble.

  Must be far enough down for the magic to warp this place.

  While excursions into low floors of the labyrinths were uncommon, some S and A ranked hunters had made it far enough down to report that the lower floors would become warped by the intensity of magic they held.

  Never heard of anything like this, guess the magic just does whatever the hell it feels like, Fay thought, awestruck by his surroundings.

  Before he could fully take in the beauty of the landscape, a beast emerged from the treeline. It seemed mindless, but Fay could tell from the thick aura of mana that engulfed it, that it was stronger than the one he had fought before.

  Fay spun his piece into his hand and leveled it at the beast. He pulled the trigger, and with a thunder the hammer slammed into the receiver and let loose his shot. The ball of light roared from the end of the piece bisecting the beast, its body exploding into a spray of gore, the redness of its vital juices swallowing the green of the forest. Fay spun the piece in his hand, its form fading from existence and retreating into his chest.

  “Should have killed me when you had the chance. I’ve come back from hell, and it's coming with me to the bottom of this damned sun-forsaken pit”.