Chapter Eleven - Roots of Chaos

Chapter Eleven

Leofwin Warrin

"Claire?"

"Leo?" Claire stood only a few steps in front of me. She wore leathery armor with a blue shirt underneath. Strands of hair flew in every direction; it was pulled back in a golden ponytail. Sweat beaded down from her forehead and her heavy breaths could be heard even above all the screeching of monsters.

"Leo! Focus, we need to go!" Drew screamed at me, waving to Claire and her two companions. One was a tall, lean man with a large two-handed sword strapped to his back. The other was a petite brunette girl who had an intense look in her eyes. He stared at me like we had crossed paths before, but I ignored him.

We rushed towards the giant stone doors in between the statues.

"Quick! Everyone put your hand on the door," Grace screamed. No one dared waste any time to question her. Screeches of pursuing monsters sounded from behind us.

Deep violet lightning crackled forth from the glowing emblem at the door’s center, spider-webbing through the stone cracks as if awakening ancient circuits. The emblem pulsed once, twice, then exploded in a burst of magical energy, forcing the massive doors to grind open with an echoing groan. Claire's group sprinted past the doors, and we followed with no hesitation. The snake-like beings seemed to stop and watch us enter the room, their screeches now sounding more like laughs.

"What the hell are those things?" I asked Grace.

"They are basilisk, they drain the life force and Aether out of any living creature," Grace said as her eyes never left Claire's group. I looked around to notice we were on a large stone bridge, roots and crumbling stones swept across the bridge floor. Roughly one hundred steps forward, the bridge connected to a large oval-shaped platform.

At the center of the platform, stood an oak tree. It was possibly the largest tree I had ever seen. Delicate beams of sunlight pierced the cavern’s crumbling ceiling, lighting particles of dust drifting lazily in the musty air. Ancient moss carpeted sections of the cracked bridge, lending the eerie cavern a surreal sense of life hidden beneath centuries of decay. It would have fallen if it did not have two giant humanoid statues rising out of the pit surrounding the platform and stabilizing the ceiling. A slight wind blew throughout the cavern. There was a foul stench in the air.

Slowly the oversized doors closed behind us, leaving a comforting layer of protection between us and those horrifying monsters.

"Umm... What kind of monster did you say the boss was?" Drew asked, Grace and the muscular man from Claire's group exchanged worried glances. Finally, their eyes settled on the giant tree in unison, "I would take it that as not a good sign, why are you guys staring at the tree?"

"None of this makes any sense," The man who seemed to be the leader of Claire's group said out loud, "How did you find us? How did you know where we were?" He didn't wait for Grace to respond before ranting once more, "This dungeon should belong to goblins, how the hell are Basilisk here? This whole dungeon doesn't make sense," His eyes were bloodshot, I swallowed hard and waited for him to make the first move thinking he was going to

.

"It's pointless complaining, Alex. We need to find a way out of here," Grace replied with a sigh.

"I don't know, the basilisks that were chasing us are way too strong for this place. And this boss room was never here before. Everything has changed," Grace was trying her best to stand, I know she was exhausted. Alex turned around and studied the tree before us, his eyes looked puzzled.

"I feel like I have seen this tree before... Not possible," His eyes widened, "The Howler Monkey

King?" Alex had the look of shock written all over his face as he stepped back a little, "Everyone close your ears as tight as you can," He yelled and dropped his sword as he covered his ears.

I stared at him like he had gone mad, why would anyone cover their ears and drop their blade when they need to be alert? Like an absolute fool, I fell for it.

"Why would I cover-," In a split second an ear-piercing screech so loud it sent me to my knee, I lost my balance and fell to the floor, my body convulsed in shock as I tried to cover my ears then it stopped.

Well done, Leo. Next time someone yells a random order during a monster fight, just do it—asking questions clearly isn’t your strong suit.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

With my ears basically bleeding, all I could hear in between the howling were Drew's curses, which I would dare not repeat, "I don't think we will be able to fight while covering our ears like this!" I yelled.

I felt some sort of warmth behind me, and then a massive fireball shot from just behind my right shoulder. Grace's hands were extended, and a look of extreme panic stretched across her face. It was miraculous she and the others were still standing. I looked towards where the fireball was headed.

I don't think she had aimed it at anything in particular except the large tree. I waited for what felt like years as it sailed. I hoped that it would collide with the tree, but it sailed past and burned out as it hit a stone wall. The howling stopped with a rise in pitch as if it were surprised.

"Alexander, we need to think of a way to fight without covering our ears,” Grace yelled. Claire clutched a small dagger, avoiding my gaze.

"I would have come prepared with extra gear if I knew this would be here, but I wouldn't have come at all even if I knew. Let us just hope that it doesn't have any elemental affinities." Alexander called out.

A colossal vine erupted from the dense foliage, pulsing with emerald Aether, and lashed out with frightening speed. I dove beneath it, feeling its coarse surface scrape against my back as it smashed violently against the stone, leaving behind a cracked crater. Alexander looked up to Drew in annoyance, “Next time, muscle head, do me a favor—knock on wood before you summon a bigger problem!" Drew shouted, ducking another swipe. Alexander laughed sharply, eyes wild with adrenaline. “I’ll carve that advice into your gravestone, kid!”

The vine whipped back and forth directly in front of me. It was almost taunting us to take a step forward. I could sense a faint, brown-colored aura of magic coming from beneath the canopy of leaves. I had never been able to sense the color of aura before, that was new.

Even with my hands covering my ears, the sound pierced my brain. I scanned the bridge. Only dirt and stone led up to the tree. Nothing useful. We were sitting ducks. Wait! A thought ran through my head.

That could work!

"Does anyone here use water magic?" I yelled so that everyone could hear me over the terrible

screaming from the tree. The group Claire had arrived with pointed towards her and stepped to the side.

God, did that armor look good on her! Focus Leo!

"Claire, wet the dirt—just enough to make it sticky!" I shouted desperately. She gave me a baffled glare but thrust out her palm anyway. A controlled surge of water sprayed, soaking the dirt until it thickened to sticky mud.

"Perfect!" I said, molding quick clay plugs for my ears. "Mud earplugs—great fashion statement, too!"

Claire glanced skeptically at the muddy lumps in her hands, eyebrows raised. "Mud, really, Leo? You couldn't think of anything less disgusting?"

"Sorry, princess," I said dryly, "the luxury earplug store was closed."

Drew groaned. "Can you two flirt later? We're kind of about to be Monkey King food!"

Claire's face reddened and she opened her mouth to respond, but Alex cut her off with a sharp wave of his sword. "Save the awkward teenage drama for after we survive, please?"

Grace nodded seriously. "He's right. The Howler Monkey King will feed off any distraction. We need to trust each other, even if it’s temporary."

I stuffed the small clay pebbles into my ears and waited for another howl. The group watched.

It worked! I gave myself a high five and a thumbs up to the group. Once Drew and Grace had plugged their ears with dirt, Claire and her group did the same. Drew smiled at me, fist-bumped me, and said something along the lines of

"Tuck yeah?!"

I will figure out what that means later.

Although we had left a considerable group of legless monsters behind, I knew from the Aether emanating out of the tree that the worst was about to come. Alexander took a step forward into the range of the vine, he bent down in a squat position. The vine above his head tried to slam him against the floor, but Alex blocked it with his sword.

"Get ready!" while pulling out his two-handed silver gleaming sword. Oddly enough, that made me feel a bit better. I turned to Grace, who was shivering out of what I can only assume as fear or nervousness, probably both. I clasped my hand on hers, squeezed it a little, and gave her a reassuring smile.

She had done so much to get us this far. It was my turn to help. I swear I even saw her blush for a second.

The group rolled underneath another pass of the vine, "Now," Alex yelled. And like absolute fools, Drew and I ran towards the tree. It seemed to get bigger and bigger with each step and with that; even more ominous. As we got closer, we could hear the howling through the clay. Then we stood at the foot of the tree.

The howling was so intense it was shaking my body. I felt like I was at a concert and was standing directly next to the speakers. I looked up into the leaves, my eyes desperately searching for any sign of the monster. It had to be something huge if it lived in a tree this size, right? I scanned the tree. There was no way we would be able to find the boss in all these leaves.

From the corner of my eyes, I could see a fireball flying in my direction. I stepped back a little, the heat off of Drew's fireballs tore at my face.

"What the heck are you thinking firing that so close to my face?!" I yelled at him, but instead of responding he just pointed to the tree

Where a once beautiful and flourishing tree stood, now was a burning mess. Burning leaves dropped all around us. The tree was burning at an insane rate. I stared at the beautiful gargantuan fire in front of me, watching the leaves catch fire.

Something moved past me so fast I couldn't react, a fresh cut formed across my cheek. Too shocked to react, I stepped back while Drew clashed his blade with the next attack.

"If you are here to stand around and not help, you can head back now," Drew screamed as he kept dodging the vines.

The problem was that we couldn't see what was attacking. But Drew had a third sense, that's what I had always called it. It has saved us a lot whenever we were being bullied, back in school.

At the corner of my eye, the Howler Monkey King perched menacingly atop a burning branch, violet Aether-infused vines twisting like writhing serpents along his muscular arms. His piercing amethyst eyes glowed with malevolence as he inhaled deeply and released a roar so powerful I felt my bones rattle, then he launched toward us.

Welp, here we go.