Stumbling Into Madness (Complete)

After Iha jumped on the now creatures back they made their way deep into the temple. The flashlight beamed against the walls of the cavern like shaft. Vines, grass, and ivy like leaves  combined with the strange designs of Aztec architecture could send chills down the spine.

The light flashed downward. It was indeed going to take a minute to get to the bottom.

"Well, I don't look it, but am actually and ancient Egyptian. At least that is what people call us nowadays. Long ago I found out that my teacher in the magical arts sent an evil spirit to kill me and my family." He spoke quietly, trying not to let his voice echo and give away their position; if it might be saved. "I was able to defeat it, but at a cost. The type of spirit that attacked my family would have destroyed my city.. my people if I didn't go away." He sighed.

For a moment Iha's eyes fell on the wall. Thoughts of his family ran though his head. His teacher. Healing the body was easy, but not the mind. Talking about it might help. He thought.

"I sealed my soul inside of a stone, the one that now lay in my chest. In doing so the spirit had to turn on my teacher, and I was able to save my people." He whispered. "In doing so I made a packed with my God's, that if I was ever given another chance at life. I would protect this world from evil and protect the artifacts of my time." He finished.

A small laugh left his chest. "You must think all of this is crazy... How about you, how did you become... this?" He questioned.

"Wow, and we thought we had it rough..." Aurora remarked in hers and Alan's shared mind once their new friend's story was finished. Alan could only find himself nodding in agreement.

"...Actually, that's not as crazy as you think..." The former human tilted his gaze away from the egyptian, "First off, let me say I'm sorry about what happened to you. In all honesty, I do know on some level how it feels to be betrayed by someone you trusted..." Shaking the thoughts of his deadbeat father from his mind, he focused on the question, "As for me, I was once just a normal human out watching the stars one night when a ship crashed nearby. Inside, I found Aurora, but unconscious,"

"I took her home and nursed her back to health and eventually she got comfortable enough to tell me her story. She was a member of a race of Space Sirens who travel the stars and wield the kinds of powers normal humans would see as supernatural. However, space pirates started tracking her people down in the hopes of either selling them as slaves...or using them as weapons,"

Alan shuddered at the memories, "At one point, the pirates came back for her and captured me too. They were gonna use her to clone an army and once they had some of her genes, they were ready to kill her with a special virus. I did the stupid thing and tried to protect her only to end up getting infected in her place. Aurora went mad and used her powers to mentally break everyone and to save me she used some of the genetic code to turn me into one of her people and save me,"

"That's the first time we fused and my regeneration started up in time to eliminate the virus. Ever since then, we've been traveling the world, doing what we please, helping people in need...as for the rest of Aurora's people? Well..." Alan chuckled nervously and motioned to his noggin, "They're up here as well. It's a long story but suffice to say, until the universe isn't such a messed-up place they're setting up camp in here."

The ground was in view. It was hard to tell exactly because of the vines and leaves covering it, but it was there. Iha's flashlight beamed downward.

"Well, I hope you find a safe place for them eventually. Neutralizing this place is bound to help with that." Iha mentioned. "I think we made it to the bottom." As they landed they could notice five different tunnels that jetted out in diagonals, each as scary and dark as the others.

"Which way do you wanna go?" Iha asked. "It looks like they all disperse out, go down a short shaft, then reconnect right below us in a large chamber. The shape kinda looks like a star." He said while reading his schematics.

Ih...ahhhh.... Iah? The comms glitched as Mehka tried to communicate. It was no use, the deep structure made it practically impossible. He kept this to himself as to not worry his companion.

"I hope so too. It may take a long time though...but than again, I'm not going anywhere anytime soon..." Siren admitted as they landed on the ground and he morphed back to normal. They suddenly put their hand up for silence, "Wait a minute..." He crept over to one of the doorways and leaned in, listening, before he heard something heading towards them. Out of the darkness slithered an absolutely massive serpent formed out of flora and the coyote spirits.

"Oh crud! We gotta move now!!" Siren took off down a random hallway and, once making sure Iha had followed her, would use her voice to cause a wall to shoot up in the hopes of slowing it down, "Be very careful! This thing looks like it could show up anywhere!"

Iha ran behind the hero, glancing behind to watch a gigantic serpent coming right for them. It's body filled the tunnel, as if it was made for using them to travel. Breaking down the door and wall all together, shattering them into thousands of stone pieces.

Metal formed into a large spear, as soon as it solidified in Iha's hand he threw it at the serpent. It pierced its head. With a violent shake of its body the spear was absorbed by a mass of vines, branches, and other green plants. It didn't even stop moving.

The metal melted and returned to Iha just before a wall was formed right in front of the thing. It pushed right through.

"Maybe fire?" Iha asked.

"Good idea," Siren remarked as she stopped and threw out her telekinesis yet again in the hopes of slowing down the massive creature. It worked somewhat, though it was clear it was struggling against her control. Thinking quickly, Siren pushed her ability further and made a bunch of debris rise up in the air around her. She sang yet another song which caused the objects to start vibrating as waves of intense heat started to come off them and then they suddenly burst into flames.

Almost immediately, the serpent screamed and backed off a bit, allowing Siren a small breather, "Voice...doesn't work on...wood...so...gotta make do..." She hurled a chuck of flaming debris at the creature's face, scolding it and causing the spirits animating it to scream in agony. Siren suddenly fell to one knee as a bit of blood dripped from her face, "Can you...finish it, please?"

Using the metal to form into a large ball, about half the size of the tunnel. It wasn't solid, but should be strong enough to cause damage. Liquid metal poured into the spherical shape from Iha's belt making it gain density.

As it pushed through the air you could hear a whistling noise pass over it. It pushed into the serpent, conforming into a large 'V' shape, splitting it in half. Screaming, thrashing, the walls shook. The whaling of the serpent, the screeching, seemed to give rise to another problem.

Out of the vine covered walls and ground formed other things. Humanoids, each holding swords and axes glided along the ground closing in on Iha. They where made from the same material as the serpent.

"Next time we'll have to shut em' up first." He said while running toward the mob. "Are you going to be ok? This would be a lot harder without you!" Iha remarked as he started to pound on the others. They were sly creatures, able to move and shift around physical attacks.

Siren watched her new friend go to work...and only smirked before wiping the blood off her face, "What, this? Please...in my line of work, I've been dealt far worse a few cuts and bruises," To prove her point, she whirled about with her arm morphing into blade and sliced one of the monsters in a single clean movement. Causing more blades to form out of other parts of her body, including her ankles, Siren leapt into the fray, bisecting two of the monsters at once before leaping off her heel and doing a whirlwind slash with one of the blades on her heel. "Don't go for blunt force trauma! Slice them up into as many pieces as you can!"

Leaping into the air along with several other beasts, she began cartwheeling in mid-air, becoming akin to a giant buzzsaw as she hacked her attackers to pieces and began flying around, cutting even more into shreds. After landing, she caused her hair to lengthen out and shoot forth to impale another trio of the monsters before getting her hair to turn spiky within them, shredding her targets apart as hair spikes ripped forth from their bodies.

Realizing they needed to do something else, Siren sent out her arm which morphed into a dragon's head and started devouring the plant matter whole. She proceeded to do this with attacker after attacker and as she did so, her body gained more of a flora theme to it, "Alright, let's see whose will is stronger!" She then focused on her new connection to plant life and began to push against whatever force was controlling them, trying to in some way get them to back down or remove the strings connecting them to the puppeteer.

Listening to his companion his metal staff shifted into a bladed one. Slicing through the creatures. Going for the head seemed logical, but he learned they can be animated without it. He then began to slice at their legs and arms cutting them into pieces. Leaving only flailing vines on the ground.

Seeing the dragon like head was impressive. As his new friend began to cease some kind of control over the area the creatures shifted. Moving in odd jerking motions. As if something was fighting over them. Some where able to fight back still, Iha made quick work of them with his sword.

"Can you keep this up? We need to get to the end of the tunnel." He said as he continued to chop at the creatures, dazed or not.

"I think so..." Siren grunted, "But whatever force is behind this...its will is strong...it's pushing back just as hard as I am!" Even so, they knew their new friend was depending on them. As such, they gritted their teeth and pushed even harder, causing the remaining plant monsters to start backing off. Siren kept up the control as they gradually made their way down the hallway. As they did so, the presence of the other Sirens began to respond within their shared mind, adding their strength to her own efforts.

"We can do this. I think I see the end just up ahead!"

The creatures where easy to kill now. Their bodies didn't shift of moved around his sword, they just stood there and took the cuts.

As the end approached there was another shaft that went downward. Iha was able to clear the way as they moved. He tried not to let any remain standing, they could prove to be a challenge latter.

This shaft wasn't as deep as the last one; only about twenty feet or so. Iha formed a solid peace of metal for both of them to stand on and use as an elevator. It would move quickly and quietly.

"Jump on." He said as he walked onto the platform.

"Hang on..." Exerting what little control he had left, Siren took some leftover debris and blocked up the path they had just walked before letting her power go completely, "Ok, I'm ready..." She stepped onto the platform, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow.

As the platform moved Iha noticed some of the sweat on his companions face. "Kinda taxing huh? What did you do to them?" He questioned, watching the vine covered wall pass by.

"When we get to the bottom there is another tunnel that leads to the main chamber. The mask is there. Make sure your careful. Take this." He handed her a small bottle with a cork top. The fluid was a deep florescent blue. "A drop of this on cuts or bruises will heal them quickly. If you drink it, a major one... just make sure you don't drop it." He smirked.

The bottle was filled with a potion that Iha concocted a few months back. The ingredients would even heal his metallic body if he drank it. After an encounter with a crazy Russian you learn how to deal with the pain. Iha had a tendency to drift off into his magical tomes.

"Thanks..." Siren took the potion and took a sip, "Ah...feeling better already," At Iha's question though, he turned his head, now looking a tad embarrassed, "Well...remember earlier when I said Space Sirens are known to have potent psychic abilities? To be honest, I was downplaying what they can do, especially when they're working together. One of the notable features we have is control of our bodies down to the molecular level. In my case, it functions like a very advanced form of shapeshifting which is why you've seen me do so many crazy things with my body..."

She handed the potion back to him, "In some cases, space sirens have the ability to absorb matter and energy and gain abilities associated to whatever they took in. As you saw when we absorbed enough plant matter it gave us a type of...plant control, so we used that to fight against whatever force was controlling the creatures chasing us. However, the powers gained this way don't last very long and I can already feel my connection to plant life fading away..." Siren sighed in dismay, "Hopefully I won't have to play tug-of-war with that force again as I'm not sure it'll be ready for me next time..."

"Keep it." He said, raising his hand. "There is more where that came from." He patted his belt.

The platform hit the bottom of the shaft with a little thud. The tunnel was at a slight downward angle. When walking you could feel gravity beckoning. At the end of the tunnel was a dim green light.

The tunnel walls where caked in even more vegetation. Vines hung from the ceiling and ivy covered the ground. The large areas of grass and weeds made it difficult to walk. Iha kept his eyes out for anything threatening.

"What's this?" He looked down. A skeleton was leaned against the wall. He was wearing old Spanish armor and had a halberd across its lap. An old crumbled note was in his hand.

"Wanted ...De... Alive. C...f Etapalli. Wi...ld... of Men." (written in Spanish)

"Its extremely degraded but it looks like an old Spanish wanted poster. Etapalli, The Wielder of men... I think." He pulled it out of the skeleton's hand and gave it to his companion. "What do you think?" He asked getting to his feet.

Without getting to to the internet there wasn't much he could learn about the name. Who knows there may have not been anything at all. Some things just get lost in time. A shadow of fear was getting to him.

"Lets prepare for this, give me a few moments." Iha said as he took a seat cross legged back against the wall.

His mind focused on the names of Osiris. Iha's spiritual body, though unnoticeable to his counterpart, left his body. The spirit realm was much like the physical world, but it showed what was actually happening, or at least the concepts of it. A shadow lingered in the chamber before them, though it was difficult to approach, there was something holding him back.

In hindsight, perhaps Alan and Aurora should've expected something like a dead body considering they were in the middle of some ancient Aztec Ruins with mystical energies running through its halls. Regardless, they actually took a step back from the skeleton, wincing as they did so.

When Iha offered the paper, Siren took it and looked it over, "...I'm starting to think somebody got down here before us and managed to get their hands on the relic, but either wasn't able to get back out...or they were sealed here," Swallowing her hesitation, she bent down to inspect the skeleton closer, "I wonder..."

She began reaching out to sense the feelings of whoever or whatever was around them. As they did so, they began to shudder as their mind was opened to feelings of raw anger and sadness laced with hints of desperation but ultimately...despair, "Something terrible happened here...whoever got their hands on the mask was a very troubled individual...but I don't think they were evil. Just desperate...and afraid.."