The Inner Gambit of Darkness - Continued

"Legion put my soul to use here, as you can see..." Kaniza coughed. "Look...I can tell you where that jester went. I know you're looking for him."

"He went deeper...through the tunnel to my left." Kaniza informed them.

Kaniza looked at them with a face of worry. "But I warn you...the Daedrumak are all evil deities. Them and their slaves. You can't trust a word they say. You have to...kill them all...if you can..." he painfully said and then violently coughed.

Ryan cracked his knuckles, "That sounds fine to me." he said and headed to the left.

Nuala gave Kaniza a hateful glare, she wanted to kill him but decided against it for two reasons; killing him would most likely put him out of his misery and second, it wouldn't make her any better than him.

She tore her eyes from him and followed Ryan.

The cave walls became more like they should be, rock and not flesh.

There was a low growl near Ryan and Nuala. Not even seconds later, there was sound of flesh ripping and chunks of it rolling down a ledge. They were the remains of unfortunate Fleshbornes. The skeletal remains of an unfortunate treasure hunter sat against a stack of rocks, holding a rusty dagger with a worn out parchment note lying next to him.

Nuala picked up the note and read it.

He fell down into an underground river, that started to wash him away. There was a splash as the man followed him down.

It's only been a few hours into this spelunking job, and I'm already sick of this cave. It frightens me. Greatly. I can hear growling and whispers everywhere and the cave is so cold...so very cold. I'm being watched all the time. It doesn't feel like ordinary monsters, like a bokoblin or a chu...

My grandfather told me stories of monsters of the unseen realm. Ones that only exist to cause pain and misfortune to mortals. I think tho

The note ended there.

Nuala raised an eyebrow and laid the note back on the ground. "I knew it.." she muttered to herself and went to continue through the caves.

"That guy should've came with more men to fight off whatever came and killed him." Ryan commented.

The sound of muttering echoed through the cave tunnels. Dried blood splatters stained the walls as they went deeper into the cave.

There he was. The jester was crouched in the middle of the ancient ritual chamber of a long forgotten deity. The crumbled ebony statue of a monstrous demon towered above all things, resting its freakish claws on an unearthly warhammer. Blue everlasting flames illuminated the labryinth. The jester was muttering strange tongues, constantly stabbing a ceremonial dagger into some mangled corpse in a ritual circle. He gasped and stopped what he was doing, slowly turned his head to face the intruders, and got up.

"H-he has b-been waiting..." the jester said, fiddling with his dagger.

"Who's been waiting," Nuala demanded when she saw the jester.

"He Who Is Darkness." the jester fluently said. "The one w-who is worthy...must step f-f-f....forward."

"A straight answer would be nice..." Nuala sighed.

"Lorbane. I know that name, you were the family that were cast out because of one of you being too strong for them." Galenus said "And I apologise, I find it hard to trust, and I was worried that you were going to try to kill me. I....." he paused for a moment "I never had a female influence in my life, and so I can't bring myself to hurt a woman."

=====

Cyrus stayed strong and chuckled "My dear, I care not for money, and the attention you speak of? Unlike most men in Hyrule, it is something I do not crave. But when one of Hyrule's people is in danger or in need, I help them in any way I can, no matter what they have done." he paused and held out his hand "And if you would allow me, I would very much like it if I could help you in some way."

"That's right," Celeste nodded with a smile. "And I'm not going to hurt you," she laughed a little, "I try not to hurt people. I don't really like it."

Galenus gave a small nod and in a rare sign of emotion, he smiled a little. Somehow, he was able to find her trust worthy. "I really don't like to either, but with all the training I do, it seems as though I somewhat enjoy it." he looked at Celeste again "But in a matter of self defence and the defence of others, that is a different story."

Dane had heard the running water from above, but he had no idea that there would be a river there. He swam up and took a deep breath from the cool water. As he was swept away he swam to the river's edge, ready to get out of its flow as soon as land came into view.

"Yes, if someone hurts my family in any way I won't think twice about killing them," Celeste said seriously and then shrugged. "Still, I don't enjoy it, but I can't help it."

"How long have you been by yourself, Galenus?" Celeste asked.

Galenus thought for a moment "Close to about 10 years."

The man bobbed up from under the surface, and coughed.

"Sorry about this. Its the fastest way in and out of the Castle without getting filled with arrows."

"Oh my gosh..." Celeste said. "What keeps you going?"

"I don't know how I did." Galenus admitted "I guess it is because I train a lot and lose track of time."

The jester growled irritably. "You troglodytes are s-s-sooo...IGNORANT!!" He threw the dagger into a wall. He grabbed his head in annoyance and shook it. "Why did my lord choose such ignorant people to do his bidding!"

Suddenly, the jester was lifted from his feet as black armored fingers curled around his scrawny neck. Before he knew it, he was pinned against one of the labryinth walls and staring into ghostly white eyes. "Found you." Steven growled.

The jester was nervously hyperventilating as he struggled to get free. "RELEASE ME!! HELP ME, MY LORD!! STRIKE THESE WORMS DOWN!!" the fool screamed at the top of his lungs. This seemed to have caught the attention of almost every type of demon lurking in Blackwraith Caves, since Darkbornes and Fleshbornes were crawling out of cracks and holes to get a piece of these intruders. Steven let out an icy sigh and threw the jester aside before drawing his twin swords.

"But what do you train for? Revenge?" Celeste said. "...Or just something to do?"

"Something to do..... and mostly to escape my past." Galenus said, troubled.