by T5, GoozX and Danny
Lance Lorenzo asked, "Um... Naecken, do you have a lost brother or something?"
"Don't know, but the look is familiar, like something I have seen in a dream before... a girl..."
"Prepare to meet the challenge!" boomed the loud voice from the white being.
Mick Harrison turned to Naecken. "If we distract him, could you knock him out or something?"
"Sure. I mean... I will try," he said, flexing his huge muscles.
Sam Dawson, the shapeshifter, ran for the beast's feet, dodging eye-blasts that turned the ground into melted glass wherever they struck. The villagers cheered.
Suddenly, the beast turned his attention to Naecken. "You do not belong here! You are a mistake! I will eradicate you as the cosmic anomaly you are!"
That was when Sam formed and merged his arms into a long chain, tying his feet. Naecken took his cue and jumped into the air, striking the being with all his might.
The result was quite unpredictable. It shattered into hundreds of copies of itself, each no higher than a garden gnome. And they started to pile up on Naecken.
Sam looked at his hands. The chains that his arms formed could in no way be able to hold all of the smaller creatures. "Guys?" he said, turning toward the rest of the group.
The blackened demon known as Naecken fought off his garden gnome-sized twins, when they outnumbered him, taking him to the ground. Tobias Christopher quickly ran over, kicking three off Naecken before three others grabbed his feet. Danny Hearn and Pete Glover charged in, grabbing Tobias by the arm, taking him away from the pile.
The little creatures ripped apart villagers, shouting as one, "TIME TO PAY FOR YOUR SINS TO HUMANITY!" They created a bloody mess on the walls.
Naecken launched himself up on his feet, sending the creatures off his huge body.
Lance turned to the villagers, shouting, "Run!" He then turned back to his friends and shouted, "Run!"
The team began running down the darkened caves. "Guys, this way!" Tobias yelled, his voice echoing throughout the tunnels. All of a sudden, his bruised and bloody body hit the dirt in front of Danny Hearn.
"Aw, no."
A huge, robotic dog, a Mastiff of War, slammed its metal feet into the ground. Behind the team, a few of the gnomes formed the Naecken-like creature once more. Before anyone could really react, the ground below them collapsed, sending the team straight down, hitting pavement hard as a rock. The new cave was pitch black. Danny's eyes glowed green.
"Guys, you are not going to believe this!"
"What's up, man?" Mick asked.
"Luck is with us!" Danny responded and walked further into the darkness. "Hold on a sec. I think I once read about these."
Danny hit a switch, and lights turned on all over, revealing an old mining railway and several rail cars. "Think it still works?"
"If it does," Lance said, "then we got our way out of here!"
The abandoned mining railway line stretched off into a darkened cave that split off from the large one in which the team now stood. The train itself was parked at the back of the huge room, which had metal walls stretching all the way up to the rock ceiling. Of course, right now, the ceiling had a huge hole in it.
The train was rusted and dust-covered. Freight cars extended behind it, seemingly remnants of some long-forgotten mining operation. They hoped the damn thing still worked.
"Into the train?" Danny asked the others.
Without anyone answering, they all clambered into the first carriage. Velo sat in the driver's seat, frantically inspecting the controls.
Falling rock from the gaping hole in the roof drew Danny's attention upward. For a split second, the hole seemed to cover up completely. What the hell? thought Danny. Oh, right. It's being blocked... by something very large. Oh, no.
The huge Mastiff of War came crashing down to the floor next to them with a deafening noise.
"Make train go fast now!" Sam yelled out.
On cue, Velo threw a lever. The train lurched forward, slowly. The engine rumbled its complaints. The creaking of long-disused gears and wheels echoed around the group.
The wolf stood up and threw a paw down toward them.
In an incredible display of good timing, the train picked up speed at that exact moment and shot off into the tunnel.