He
would never be sure who grabbed who. Phillip had moved quickly, but
then turned as if he wanted to attack Vile Darken. With a hundred
Xemmoni at their backs, Jack didn’t favor their chances going up against
the most powerful villain of the age.
Together
they toppled back into the room covered with Felix’s viscera as a
similar shower of body parts rained down as Cleo’s body continued to
explode in the hallway behind them.
Eyes of Vile
Over
all this Vile’s voice boomed. “What? You think to escape? This world
has never seen a gathering of Xemmoni such as I have summoned! Capture
them alive. Their blood will aid with the spell. Ha, we might be able to
wrap this up tonight and with the Multi-Verse heroes gone, the worlds
will all quickly fall to me.”
Bedroom of Blood
“He’s always been a gabby one,” Jack said, as the pair scrambled through the gore onto their feet.
Phillip’s eyes were wide open and he yelled straight into Jack’s face. “Become a small serpent. Do it now!”
Trusting
Phillip had a plan, Jack began to transform into a Mojave Rattlesnake
while Phillip tossed a heavy chair through the bedroom window. At once,
the growls and threats of more Xemmoni reached his ears from below, but
soon those ears disappeared as his reptilian form took hold.
Vile
might had shouted something, but his words would be forever lost.
Phillip snatched him up and leapt onto the graded roof outside of the
bedroom. But at once, Jack noticed that his friend’s body was
transforming into… His pointed tongue snapped out long enough to realize
that Phillip’s body was disappearing and becoming wine.
Wave of Wine
Caught
up in the small tidal wave Phillip’s body had become, Jack’s serpentine
form twisted and fought to keep his head about the rolling violet wine.
He might have gasped, if his body possessed such an ability, when he
went spiraling over the edge of the roof.
He
hit the ground hard as wine rained down on him. The Xemmoni appeared
stunned, but a big Caradon went to grab him. Jack rewarded the attack
with a mouthful of venom and the Xemmoni withdrew his hand with a
scream.
Then
the waves of wine moved him again and he tumbled over the lawn. He
could just determine they headed for the street when he felt himself
falling again. It looked like it was into the sewer this time. Looking
back, he saw they had passed through a storm grate.
Phillip’s
body carried him a sways further but then disappeared. Jack took this
as a cue to become human again and found his drenched body standing in
two feet of stagnant water.
Phillip
appeared out of the water a minute later. It relieved him to see that,
like him, Phillip transformed with all his clothes and weapons still
present.
“Neat trick.”
“I’ve
learned a few things along the way, but yeah, it’s a newer one.” But
then the reality of what had just occurred set in and his head dropped.
Placing a hand on his friend’s shoulder, Jack said, “I’m sorry man.”
“She…
she deserved better.” But then his eyes raised and met Jack’s. “But
what are we going to do? Besides Vile being here, did you see how many
Xemmoni are out there? There must have been hundreds. And we just lost
two of the last of our own.”
Jack
adjusted the grip on his sledge hammer. “Not like you and I can run
away. We don’t have a choice. If Vile eliminated the effects of that
damn scroll had on the heroes present when it was casted, we both just
might cease existing even if we’re a thousand miles from here.”
“So we just attempt the impossible because we are doomed anyway?”
“No,
we do everything we can, when we can do it. One thing, with all those
Xemmoni here, I doubt Bruin and Lanna had to fight much. Let’s at least
reach them and make sure they are safe.”
“Fine,”
Phillip said, while drawing his cutlass. “If I have to go down, it
might as well be with a sword in my hands and I don’t care who he is,
I’m going to kill that bastard Vile.”
Jack
led the way through the sewers, but called over his shoulder, “No
worries, I’m sure one of your incarnations has already killed the
bastard here or there.”
“Well
there is this one world, where I helped an Apollo man named Narrows. I
think I killed Vile there for sure. And on this other plane, I dreamt
that I was a reporter…
To be continued next Monday
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