As the awesome structure loomed overhead the Ferryman pushed away from the dock to make birth once again at the port from which they left. It seemed that there was no choice but to venture into the Gothic construction of the mountain hewed castle.
Golana's hands immediately migrated to the hilts of her axe and sword as the group ventured toward the castle.
Grim eyed everything with suspicion, making sure that there was nothing waiting in ambush for the party. The castle loomed ahead and everytime he looked at it, a chill went up his spine.
"So... what's this thingy all about?" Diji asked, still sitting on top of her pet's shoulder.
Grim fought the urge to shrug, afraid he would topple the little girl. "Me not know." he said, "Me not like it though."
Max tried to stay in the shadow of Grim, as large as he was she was basicaly hidden behind him.
Two enormous doors opened at the front of the castle, beckoning in the new arrivals.
A sudden wind squirreled around the group seeing as how they seemed not so eager to continue towards the castle. The wind pushed them forward until they'd gone out of sight within the doors. As the doors slammed shut they where encased in darkness for several moments until brackets in the walls began to flicker, splashing pools of light against the stone corridor. When the hall finally ended they found themselves standing in what appeared to be a thrown room. A defining howl pierced the melancholy darkness and echoed across the walls.
Max seemed instantly distraught at the sound of the howl. "You guys have anything sharp I can borrow for a bit?" She asked "i think it's safe to say that we're about to meet the Cerberus."
Golana pulled a short handled axe from her belt and handed it to Max. "I would wager that this is some sort of hell beast?"
Grim's axe was in his hands and ready to go. Looking up at his shoulder to make sure the little girl was still there.
Crackling electricity formed around
Spellborn's hands as he looked around for danger. "I don't see anything...are you sure this is where the Cerberus is?" he asked no one in particular.
"Yeah I'm here, give me a second man." There was a rustling of a curtain off the left of the thrown room "Patience is a virtue." Another booming howl reverberated off the walls before the curtain moved. What stepped out appeared to be a 50's greaser, leather jacket, oiled hair, black jeans rolled up at the cuff and matching biker boots. He coughed to clear his throat. "Stupid curtains, I can never find the exit." His boot caught on the hem of the curtain but he shook it free. "So you guys are the fresh meat." He said fixing his clothes and smoothing a comb over his hair "I'm the cerberus."
"Wait a second,"
Max said automatically deducing that things didn't seem right. "Cerberus is supposed to be a three headed dog beast. You don't look like a three headed dog beast."
"You haven't pissed me off yet ether." The supposed mythical creature replied. "I'm Elias Winterbourne your friendly neighborhood Cerberus."
Grim took a step back so he could lean over and whisper to Max, "Should we kill him now? Or wait?" he asked.
"From personal experience, don't kill anything until it tries to kill you."
Max told the big guy with a pat on his arm. He was certainly beginning to seem more gentle and less bestial than she'd initially thought.
"Good idea, cause frankly I just ate and I've got a nice harmonious balance going on here." Elias gestured to his stomach, using his hands while he talked. "Let me guess, you guys wanna know how and why you got here am I right?"
"That is the sum of it yes."
Golana said, she'd relaxed somewhat when it appeared that the "Elias" wasn't going to harm them.
"Aww...I think he's cute."
Diji smirked, patting Grim's head for attention.
Grim nodded understandably and stepped back to where he was. He still wasn't ready to relinquish his weapon, which he held full ready to cleave this man in two.
"Yes he is very cute." Elias said with a slight roll of his eyes. "Aren't you guys wondering what your doing here? How you apparently "Died" so suddenly? I usually get a whole crap load of questions during this part."
"Are you dead too?"
Diji asked.
"Why yes little girl I am." Elias said leaning down a bit "But I'm not dead in the traditional sense and nether are you or any of your friends. You see we're not real. Someone out there in Computerland thought you up, thought you where cool for about twenty seconds and forgot to play you ever again." He popped back in an upright position to better address the group "And the same is for all of you, basically. Sometimes there's a reason why you died but for the most part your just figments of someone's imagination."
Max was sort of stunned for a moment "Wha... who... hold on a fucking second no way! Look buddy I remember my childhood, I don't know about the rest of you but I remember the smell of my grandpaw's aftershave and the time my mother tried to make me wear pink and kissing Michael Spivey under the bleachers at the Junior High dance. So don't try telling me that I'm some dumb ass make believe person, because I'm not." If there was a point during this entire endeavor that Max "lost it" now was that time. She was often prone to automatic outbursts during the crux of a storyline.
"She boasts a point."
Golana said "If we are not real then why do we retain the knowledge of our youth and the history of our people before us?"
Elias had come to lean against one of the stone collums, all he said was "Back story."
"That's... silly. We are just little characters in someone's storybook?"
Diji asked, jumping down from Grim. "Well...what do we do now that the story is over?"
"It's the end of the road." Elias said "Nothing happens after this. Just like with real people who die, they go to heaven or hell and that's it."
"So...if what you say is true we are in hell cause of the way we were played?"
Spellborn asked, "Doesn't seem fair to me."
Grim snorted loudly through his nose in disbelief. "You liar. Me not fake, me real." He said, anger noticeably rising in his voice.
"No your fake, I'd wager my nonexistent life on it." Elias said "See, you where all made for what real people call RPG's or Role Playing Games and Hell is always more exciting that heaven so that's why your all here now."
"I will not believe it."
Golana said becoming noticeably agitated "This is some trick of the underworld, some test we must pass before finding the way out."
"Hm....I bet my creator is pretty! She is probably the best of them all!"
Diji bounced. "But hey- why don't we make our own story now?"
Elias looked at Diji as if she'd insulted his mother. How could such a twerp figure out the whole grand design of the role playing underworld "Nope, can't, impossible."
"Puh leez!"
Diji glomped onto Elias.
"ACK! GET IT OFF!" Elias shouted once Diji had attacked him. "She's too cute, I can't handle the cuteness!"
"Kiss me puppy!"
Diji shouted, puckering like a little school girl.
muscels began to pop and shift beneath Diji and a low bestial growl issued from deep within Elias "GET OFF OF ME!"
Diji's body shifted too. Breasts shot out from her chest, her hips expanded and her height increased. She was now a full grown woman, glomping onto the werewolf. "You're too mean.." she let go. "ACK! Look what you made me do..."
Spellborn stood dumbfounded at the sudden transformation of the little girl to a full grown woman.
With a curious look on his face
Grim stood stunned, "Diji?"
"I bet my creation was a sick joke then..."
Diji grumbled. "Puberty is a terrible thing."
"Your a woman."
Golana said, proclaiming the obvious.
"I'd be more worried about what's going on with him."
Max said pointing at Elias as it was obvious he was changing into something. She found herself peeking out from behind Grim.
Elias was doubled over on the ground, he'd shed his leather jacket and the white t-shirt beneath had begun to rip and tear as his spine began to protrude and grow hair. A shriek of pain issued from him as it was visible that he was transforming. With his back turned to the group he completed the transformation
, ripping out of his jeans and boots as if they where made of paper. "What I made you do?!" He roared, his voice sounding almost if he where accompanied by two other versions of himself. The creature that turned around was obviously a werewolf but one gifted or cursed with two extra heads.
"Oh..." Diji stared up at Elias and whimpered a little. "You- don't have to yell." she whipped her eye and sniffled. Her tail curled around her leg.
Grim quickly moved forward, putting himself between Diji and Elias incase the Cerberus creature tried to hurt her. A low menacing growl escaped his lips.
It took only a split second for Golana to join Grim's side, axe and sword in hand.
"LOOK AT ME!" Elias roared "Do you know how hard it is to find a pair of Levi's in hell?" he asked, each of his heads talking at once. "Look at my boots, LOOK!" He kicked the tattered scraps of leather across the floor, his nails scraping on the stone floor as he moved. "I can't just change back you know." he grumbled "it's part of this stupid curse."
"Oh oh! Like the Frog Prince?" Diji raised her hand from behind Grim and Golana. "I can kiss you so you can turn into a handsome prince if you want!" she smiled, wanting to help the big doggy man out.
"No no, you've done enough." Elias' heads said all at once.
Max was getting slightly perturbed at the fact that they'd not really gotten any answers other than the information that they where apparently make believe characters so she asked "So is there any way we can get out of here? I've heard stories, I know not all of them are true but there has to be some sort of loophole."
"A pocket in time which repeats itself?" Golana asked.
"No, a chink in the fine print that gives us a chance to win our way back home." Max stated.
"If that's what you want then ok." Elias said "It's based upon what you pick and since you've already chosen your set to go."
"Woah, woah, woah." Spellborn said, stepping forward. "What, may I ask, have we chosen?"
"You get to prove yourselves worthy of existence." Elias said "If you don't like it blame short, dark and gothic over there."
"I'm not short!" Max said in defense "And I didn't choose anything, I merely made a suggestion."
"It seems that a suggestion is all that was required." Golana said "I am reminded of a proverb from before my time." She thought for a moment before reciting it "May you live in interesting times."
"Where I come from it's a curse." Max replied.
Diji had lost interest and was poking at her new, enormous breasts. She jumped and watched them bounce afterwords.
A grunt of understanding came from Grim. He had done this sort of thing before.
Spellborn whirled on Max. "Maybe next time you should consult with us before speaking for the whole group."
"I didn't know!" Max said in her defense. "I was using it as an example!"
"Don't blame her." Elias told Spellborn "I'm supposed to warn you all about that if you mention the loophole, but I often don't because it amuses me. I don't get a lot of entertainment down here."
"Huh, some loophole." Spellborn mumbled under his breath.
"That's why they call it Hell pal." Elias said, still with all three heads.
Diji, a full woman now, was staring at Elias from behind, wondering about the three head thing. She didn't say anything right away, worried that he would be mad at her yet.
"How we prove ourselves?" Grim asked.
"Come with me." Elias said and led them threw a few tunnels and up several rather steep staircases until they reached a room high above the canyon that let them look down on a canyon like structure which, from this bird's eye view appeared to be a maze or labyrinth of some sort. "Survive that and you guys are free to go." a well placed scream echoed from somewhere within the labyrinth "There are five of you, so there will probably be five or so tests. I can't clue you in as to what they'll be but as these things go each test will probably be tailored to a specific one of you."
"Well when we get to the test that requires something smashed through then we know who to call." Spellborn said, walking up next to Grim and patting him on the arm.
Grim growled, glancing down at Spellborn as he touched him. "And if we need brains eaten we know who we talk to." He said in retort.
"That was only the one time." Max told Grim, not realizing he wasn't talking about her "And they told me it was pattay."
Golana didn't find a reason to thoughtfully interject. She looked down on the labyrinth, committing it to her photographic memory. It would be a difficult thing to navigate but the mental map she now had in her head would make it less so.
"Can I be on your team?" Diji asked, slipping her arm under Elias's and holding onto it. Her new boobs rubbed up on his forearm a little. "This is scary." she tucked her head in towards him.
Spellborn turned slowly to stare at Max for a few seconds before lowering his head in a resigned manner. Throwing his hands up again he said, "Thats great...we're doomed."
"I'm sorry little one but I can't go with you." Elias told Diji "But you can stay here, if you want." The fact that she was a half way cute but really annoying little girl didn't matter much considering she'd suddenly bloomed into a hot little number. "We'll play games."
"Oh! Games? What kind? But...can we play outside? I don't like all this rock. It's hurts my feet." Diji said, lifting a leg.
"We'll play tag." Elias said "But when I catch you you have to do what I say."
Golana put her hand on Diji's shoulder and looked at Elias with a bit of warning "If you want to be a real girl you need to come with us." She told Diji, not taking her eyes off Elias.
Diji frowned and looked between the two. "Just come with us puppy man! Who says you cant?"
"Um, the evil deamon lord that runs this place." Elias told Diji "See, I'm a character who was never played until now, not like you guys, so I'm not dead yet. I'm just bound to this place until the game I was made for reboots, if it ever does. But it's ok, I can get out if someone writes a story with me in it. That's my loophole.
"Um...do you have something I can write with?....and on? I can write you out, ok? Then we can be in a nicer place and we can ALL play tag." Diji smiled innocently.
"A real person has to write me out." Elias told Diji "And you aren't real yet are you?"
"I don't think the tag he wants to play is a group game." Max told Diji, she'd noticed the glint in his eye when he suggested it.
"Huh?" Diji didn't get it. "But that isn't fair! Why are we allowed to leave but he isn't? You won't have any friends when we are gone!"
Three bug sets of puppy dog eyes looked down at Diji and slowly Elias returned back to his human form. There wasn't as much grinding and snapping of joints and bones this time. "That's very thoughtful of you." He told her "You guys go and once your real you can write me out. How does that sound?"
"Ok! Your name was 'Elias' right? 'E-L-I-A-S.' Got it!" Diji gave a thumbs up.
Elias smiled and patted Diji's head then looked at Max "Make sure she writes me with only one head."
"Hm?" Diji looked at Max as if she had a reason for that. She released Elias's arm from between her breasts and stepped away.
"Gotcha." Max said with a thumbs up.
"We should depart." Golana said "Darkness falls upon this place early and we should be on our way."
"Yes. The sooner we get under way the sooner we can be ripped apart by the minotaurs that undoubtedly roam the labyrinth's corridors." Spellborn said cynically.
"That's the spirit." Golana said completely missing Spellborn's sarcasm.
"Use this door." Elias told them and removed a piece of chalk from his tattered jean's pocket. He went to one of the stone walls and drew a large rectangle from the floor up, after scrawling a little doorknob like shape and hinges he knocked three times and an actual knob appeared. He turned the knob and a red light issued from where the chalk outline had been drawn, after a moment that section of the stone wall opened as if there had been a door there all along. Even though they where standing in one of the tallest towers in the castle the image beyond the threshold was of ground, dirt and dead trees, the entrance to the labyrinth.
"Can I borrow that?" Max asked "Magical chalk right?"
Elias tossed the chalk to Max, "Not sure if it will do you any good but here you go."
Diji climbed up onto Grim once more like a parrot. "Hi again." she smiled, now a woman. Though she seemed to do whatever she would as a kid in this form.
Wanting to be on their way Golana went threw the door, cautiously looking around to make sure they didn't run straight into danger.
"Thanks." Max said pocketing the chalk. She looked at Diji, "Comeon, let's go make you real."
"Whoohoo!" Diji patted Grim's head as she sat on his shoulder, "Come on silly!"
Stumble!