Chapter 8

Harumi realized that she had fallen asleep as she jolted awake. She quickly sat up and looked around herself, remembering that they had entered yet another cave. She was sitting right by the pond they had fallen into from the other pond.

As she looked around the dimly lit cave, a shiver was sent down her spine. The cave was lit by glowing mushrooms, and Harumi couldn't help herself but feel like... she had been here before. But that was impossible.

"Harumi, are you okay?" Harumi flinched as Vania's voice chirped next to her.

Harumi turned to see that she, Lloyd and Cole were lying beside her. Vania had clearly woken before her, as she was sitting as well, her eyes wide open. Cole and Lloyd were groaning, just waking up.

Harumi wiped her eyes as she sighed: "We're not falling down anymore, so I'd say this is an improvement..."

"Ah, visitors from above!" A foreign voice suddenly stated behind them.

Harumi snapped her head around. The cave continued behind them and from the shadows a man stepped forward. The stench of moss and mushrooms was what first reached Harumi. The man was in his 50s, adorning a wizard hat, cape and outfit covered in green moss and mushrooms. His mouth was concealed by a thick mustache, along with thick black hair that ended at his shoulders.

"Were you cast out as well?" He asked, his accent polished contrary to his appearance.

"What the hell's going on..." Was all that Harumi could sigh out.

To her horror, that is when she noticed her prosthetic wasn't working anymore. She tried to open and close her fist, but only saw sparks flying out of the wrist.

"Fear not weary travelers, for you are safe now," Harumi shot her attention back up, seeing that the mushroom man was smiling gently at them, almost making Harumi convinced of his words.

Then two other figures stepped forward from the shadows. Harumi's eyes immediately darted to the bigger one of the two. The man stood at least two meters tall, accompanied with huge muscles. He didn't wear a shirt, so they were quite frankly staring at Harumi. He had a skirt on, made of some kind of animal skin, as well as shoulder armor. He held a big ax, which immediately made him quite intimidating.

The other figure looked tiny compared to the ax man, his figure slim. He wore a hood, hiding his hair, and a mask over his mouth, making him intimidating in another way. He wore a harness type leather thing over his chest and stomach, accompanied with gloves and pants.

"Where are we?" Cole croaked, Harumi realizing he and Lloyd had woken up.

"You are in Rock-Bottom," the mushroom man said with a sigh. "There is no further to fall..."

Harumi quickly backed down, as another spider appeared from the shadows!

"Look out!" Lloyd yelled, creating an energy ball in his hand, ready to shoot the thing.

"No, wait wait wait!" The masked man quickly lunged between Lloyd and the spider. "He's one of us!" he panted, holding out his arms toward Lloyd.

Lloyd diminished the energy ball in his hand, but Harumi wasn't convinced about any of it.

"You are safe here," the ax guy said with a metalonian accent.

"Who the hell are you?" Harumi spat out more harshly than she was supposed to.

"No need to curse," The wizard chuckled. "We are... a team of former adventurers." he said, his tone uncertain as he clearly struggled to find the right words.

"Former adventurers?" Cole repeated with a confused tone.

"Time for you to get used to this place, because there ain't no way back up," the masked man said with a shrug. "This is your new home."

"That's not possible! If we somehow got down here, there must be a way up?" Lloyd reasoned.

"Please, enlighten us if you find one..." the masked man snarked.

"We have been stuck here for long time..." the ax man sighed.

"Are you going to eat us?" Vania gasped, to which the wizard chuckled.

"Calm down, young lady. We are just harmless men trying to survive. Allow me to make the introductions! This is Korgran of Metalonia!" he said theatrically and waved toward the ax wielding brute.

"Korgran is pleased to meet you," he smiled rather gently.

"Plundar the thief!" the wizard continued, waving toward the masked man. "Plundar, return their weapons..." he then said in a lower voice.

Plundar rolled his eyes and handed Harumi her two Kunai knives. "Sorry, force of habit," he said, his tone softer.

"And I am Fungus the sorcerer!" The wizard finished, taking off his hat and revealing his black hair. "And we are known as the Lowly!" he threw a mushroom into his hat and waved his hand a couple times over it. The pit of the hat started to glow and fireworks flew out of it!

If Harumi had to be honest, it was kind of impressive, but on the other hand, it was also intimidating. If they had magic too, could they be connected to the Skull Sorcerer?

"My name's Lloyd," Lloyd started, which immediately made Harumi grunt. Was it really such a good idea to trust these complete strangers? "And these are my friends, Cole, Vania and Harumi," He introduced them all.

"Honored to meet you, new friends," The wizard smiled.

"Is there really no way up from here?" Vania asked in a small trembling voice.

"I'm afraid not," the masked man sighed

A shiver ran through Harumi. Partly because she became aware of her wet clothes clinging to her skin, and partly because of the situation...

"You are cold?" the axe man said, Harumi snapping her attention to him. "I will make fire!" He said with a determined expression.

He walked over to a pile of firewood that sat in the middle of the cave. He started the fire with his ax and a stone he picked up from the ground. A small flame started to eat away at the wood, the ax man sitting down on the ground.

"It will get big soon. You can dry here," he smiled in a gentle way, his eyes soft as he looked at the shivering girl.

Harumi glanced at Lloyd, who did look just as cold as she was. Their eyes met, and Lloyd gave her a small smile. Then he walked forward, past the two other guys and sat down in front of the fire. Cole followed, as well as Vania. And finally Harumi. She sat down next to Vania, the two other guys also joining them around the fire.

As the fire roared bigger, another shiver was sent through Harumi's body. Just this time it was from the warmth of the flames.

"How did you end up here?" the wizard man, Fungus, asked.

Harumi still wasn't sure if they could be trusted, but Lloyd seemed to. Maybe she should too...

"Long story short, we are a part of a ninja team, apart from Vania here." Lloyd stared with a sigh. " We were invited to Shintaro for her birthday, but we discovered a horrible scheme that's going on in this very mountain. There is a cruel sorcerer that has slaved this mountain's inhabitants, Munce and Geckles. He is making them mine Vengestone for him, and is presumably selling that Vengestone forward to another villain. We tried to stop him, but instead we got caught. We escaped just barely, but were separated from the rest of our team and ended up here," Lloyd explained.

Harumi followed as the "Lowly's" faces dropped the further Lloyd explained their story. Their gazes were now fixated on Vania.

"You are the princess..." the masked man, Plundar, gasped.

Vania's expression turned into confusion, as the energy in the room shifted. "I... am?" she said with uncertainty in her voice.

The group of three turned to exchange looks between them, looks Harumi could quickly interpret.

"You know something about all of this, don't you?" Harumi quickly asked, an uncomfortable knot forming in her stomach.

They shifted around in their seats uncomfortably, exchanging looks of concern.

"If you know something, you need to tell us. It could be the key to solving all of this," Lloyd added.

Fungus looked at Lloyd with a worried expression, and then sighed: "I'm afraid we are the ones who gave that sorcerer his power..."

Harumi's whole body tensed up. She knew she shouldn't have trusted these men, they were in on it with the sorcerer! "Are you his allies? Will you now get rid of us for him?" Harumi questioned quickly.

"We didn't mean to do it, he tricked us!" Plundar defended.

"We were fools... we are fools. Group of failed adventurers, doomed to live out their days in this musty cave..." Fungus said with a mournful look, sending a tinge of regret into Harumi's chest.

"What happened?" Cole asked, his tone curious instead of accusatory.

"Korgran will tell tale," the ax man cleared his throat and sat up straight. "Listen and hear of Korgran of Metalonia, who strode the Earth with furry boots and his talking ax. Everything began, when he defeated this lizard monster! Korgran went home to tell his father that he was ready to become a member of the barbarian horde! He showed the lizard monster to his father, but it turns out it was no monster! It was Ross, his father's friend! So, Korgran had to find new quest. But luckily, my father had one! King of Shintaro needed help! Korgran did not know what he was getting into, but accepted as he wanted his father to be proud of him. So I traveled far for the distant land of Shintaro!"

"This is where we come in!" Fungus interrupted Korgran's story. "For we, too, had answered the king's call and journeyed to Shintaro."

"The king told that we need to find Skull of Hazza D'ur, so he could destroy it," Korgran explained.

"So it was. We entered the dismal darkness of The Dungeons of Shintaro," Fungus continued.

"It wasn't that dismal," Plundar chuckled. "I'm not saying it was a stroll in the park. It wasn't long before we ran into the usual stuff, you know, booby traps, poison spikes, blades. Oh, and spiders, too!" Plundar explained, smiling at the spider next to him. "But for a group with our level of experience, it was a cake walk."

"When we found skull, Korgran touched it. It was truly evil, I felt it! When we return skull to King, he didn't wish to destroy it anymore! He told us he want to use it! I explained that the skull was evil, but he didn't listen..." Korgran sighed.

"That is when he pulled a lever and dropped us here..." Fungus finished with a sad sigh.

The knot in Harumi's stomach exploded just the way she had feared. She wanted to feel surprised, she wanted to feel betrayed. But she only felt disappointed. That she hadn't seen it coming. The king had been acting kind of off for their whole visit, but Harumi had decided to ignore it. She would never ignore that feeling ever again...

"No..." Vania gasped next to her.

Just then, Harumi's own bubble of feelings was pushed far away from her. She lifted her head, Vania's white porcelain skin was now streaming with tears. She had a pleading expression, one mixed with sorrow, shock and betrayal.

"It... I-it' can't be!" she yelled, dropping her head between her hands.

"The king is the Skull Sorcerer," Cole sighed, shock covering his and Lloyd's faces as well...

"No, no, no it's not possible!" Vania yelled, lifting her head quickly up, shifting her gaze across all three of the adventurers. "Tell me you're lying!" she yelled.

Their faces were covered with guilt, Plundar turning his face away from Vania, while Fungus quietly said: "I am deeply sorry princess, but... we are not..."

Vania was quiet for a moment, before she dropped her head between her hands again and screamed loudly! Harumi's ears hurted, but her heart hurted more. It was as if she had traveled back in time. She was back in that Oni temple, back with her... mother.

Vania started sobbing loudly and Harumi wrapped her arms around her. She didn't know if that was what Vania wanted, she couldn't ask her how she liked to be comforted.

But as she was standing in the Oni temple, as her knees gave out below her. As everything around her crashed down, as nothing was left. All she wanted was someone to hold her. To make sure she wouldn't float away as well. To make sure she wouldn't diminish into nothingness, as the dark around her tried to consume her. As her heart shattered into microscopic pieces, she just wanted someone to hold her, so she wouldn't wither away from this world.

Vania let go of her own head and wrapped her arms around Harumi. Clung to her. Squeezed Harumi. And Harumi understood. Vania wanted to be sure her life line wouldn't just disappear as the whole world around her had.

She sobbed loudly, wetting Harumi's neck and shoulder. Harumi didn't speak as she squeezed Vania in her arms, knowing those words wouldn't do anything. Not right now.

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Lloyd followed as the fire slowly dwindled out. It was quieter now. Vania and Harumi had moved over to the pond, leaving Lloyd, Cole and the Lowly to sit by the dying fire.

Lloyd had been quiet. For he didn't have anything to say.

But his mind?

It was busy with thoughts. First he had scolded himself harshly. How he hadn't realised that the king was behind it all. How he had felt that there was something off about him, but had just decided to ignore it. Again. He had let this happen. By making the wrong choice, again. His thoughts traveled back in time, back into the Oni temple. Back to where he had been fooled by the loving smile of a parent. Now it had happened again.

Then his mind tracked further back, to his own parent... Garmadon had once trusted an evil man. He had made horrible choices, but could he be blamed for them? The Great Devourer's poison was slowly corrupting him, making him evil. But he could have resisted, right? He could have resisted evil? Like Lloyd tried to every day of his life. Defeat villains, prevent new villains from forming.

But he had been tricked. He had made the wrong choices, just like his father.

"How long have you been down here?" Cole asked, finally breaking the half hour silence that had fallen between them.

"It's hard to keep count in here..." Plundar sighed. "But for years. For how many? Couldn't tell you."

"I remember seeing the princess when we arrived for our quest. She was a child back then, maybe ten or slightly older. Now she is a young woman," Fungus added, realization setting into Lloyd. They had been down here for at least ten years.

"And you haven't found a way out?" Cole asked.

All three of them shook their heads. "Believe me when I say, we've tried," Plundar sighed. He shifted in his seat and pointed at the lake. "There's a system of underwater tunnels through there. All but one are dead ends, but the one that leads to another kind of dead end," Plundar explained.

"What do you mean?" Lloyd asked, his brows furrowing together.

"There is monster. Giant lava monster. We tried to fight twice, but only got our asses burned," Korgran explained.

As the fire dwindled out, a spark of hope lit inside Lloyd. "You haven't had us as your help," Lloyd sat up straighter.

"The thing's gigantic, and I don't mean to be mean, but I don't think you can handle it," Plundar snarked.

"But what if we all fought together," Lloyd countered, trying to grasp any idea, trying to push away his self-criticism.

"I don't think I have any fight left in me..." Fungus sighed.

Lloyd eyed the woeful men. Then he looked at Harumi and Vania sitting by the pond. Then at Cole, who had a determined look on his face. Lloyd let out a sharp sigh, gathering himself.

"Vania just found out her whole life has been a lie," Lloyd started, pointing at Vania. "And Harumi next to her, she was in the exact same situation just 8 months ago. Her whole world was crushed right with her heart. But she didn't give up. She was captured by her own mother, but still she didn't give up. She thought she had killed us all, killed all of her friends, but still she didn't give up. She rose up, and fought back. She fought back, until she didn't have any fight left in her. And she won. She found her way back to us, she found her way to a better tomorrow," Lloyd paused for a sigh, tears forming at the backs of his eyes as he thought of her voice guiding him through his hardest time. His eyes focused again, fixated on the three men. "I know you have been here for a long time, and it might seem like there is no hope anymore. You've failed, but winning isn't the same thing as never failing. Winning is failing and still choosing to get up and continue the fight."

The men were quiet for a moment. But their expression had shifted. Shifted away from shame. They glanced at each other, then Korgran stood up.

"If princess is ready to fight, Korgran would be honored to fight in her name!" determination painted his face, as he looked at his friends.

Next stood up Fungus. "I too, will fight in honor of the future queen," he nodded determinedly. Then their gazes shifted to Plundar. He rolled his eyes and threw a set of three dice in the air. They landed on the ground before them. Six, six and six. He sighed and shook his head as he gathered his dice. He stood up.

"I will fight for her as well," he finally said.

A small smile spread on Lloyd's lips, but it disappeared as he noticed that Harumi and Vania were approaching them.

"Vania has something to say," Harumi said as they reached the campfire. Lloyd and her shared a quick look. She didn't look sad anymore, she looked determined. So Lloyd nodded toward her, a small smile on his lips.

Vania cleared her throat and Lloyd shifted his focus to her. Her eyes were red and puffy, but she had clearly washed her face in the pond as it was no longer dirty. She straightened herself, her eyes swirled with determination.

"I have decided," she started, her voice stable. "In light of these news, now that I know what my... dad really is, I have decided that we need to put an end to his reign of terror. We need to free this mountain of him, above and below the surface. I know what I'm asking of you, and I wouldn't if I didn't think we could do it," she shifted her gaze to the "Lowly ". "You once accidentally helped my father become what he is. Will you now help me defeat what he has become?" she asked.

"Of course, Queen Vania," Fungus said as all three of them bowed down.

"The ninja are with you too Vania," Cole said, him and Lloyd bowing down as well.

"Great, so... do we have a plan of getting out of here?" she asked, her expression still quite professional.

"We do have a... concept of a plan. But it involves more swimming, and a gigantic lava monster," Cole explained.

Vania's professional look wavered into a smile. "Of course it does. Shall we get to it then?"

Lloyd looked around at his new group. They all nodded.

"If you'd be so kind and lead us to the lava monster," Lloyd pointed at the pond.

The three of them nodded and they approached the pond again. Lloyd followed behind them, but made sure everyone else entered the pond first. The cold water sent shivers down Lloyd's back as he stepped into it. They swam down into the pond, which was lit by glowing mushrooms. At the bottom of the lake, was a tunnel that the three adventurers swam into. The tunnel was quite small, but also short as it then led them into an underwater grotto. The Lowly started swimming upwards toward the surface, and Lloyd followed.

They surfaced, entering a new cave. Lloyd gasped in oxygen and then checked that everyone was there. After a quick headcount, Lloyd noticed that there was a ledge surrounding the pond. Plundar was peeking up from the pond, at the cave that continued forward.

"I don't see it, maybe it has died on its own?" he turned to whisper at the rest of the group.

"Let's move quickly, in case it's just taking a nap," Cole added.

Plundar then pulled himself up from the pond, Korgran doing the same and then the two helped Fungus. Cole pulled himself up, helping Vania, and then Harumi and finally Lloyd.

The climate in this cave was vastly different compared to the one before. A lava pond opened up before them, stone platforms littered across it. On their side of the pond were five tunnels and on the other side were three tunnels.

"These five are all dead ends, so we need to get across..." Plundar added.

"Where has the lava monster come from the other two times?" Lloyd asked.

"From the depths of this pond, roaring with many tentacles on its back," Fungus answered.

"Of course..." Lloyd sighed, eyeing the stone platforms. "Well it isn't here yet so let's get going before it is here," Lloyd said, approaching the edge of the lava lake.

Then he hopped to one of the platforms. It stood its ground, solid. So Lloyd continued. The pond's width was probably about 100 meters, so not that bad. They can make it across quickly. Behind him, the others had started jumping as well.

"Wait!" Cole suddenly yelled. They were halfway across the lava pond, when Lloyd quickly stopped and turned to look at Cole.

"I sense... tremors below us..." He said, kneeling down on his platform and touching the ground. "I-I've never felt anything like this!" he continued, a confused look on his face.

"This can't be good..." Plundar said.

"Keep jumping, maybe we can get across before it-" Lloyd's instructions were cut short by a giant lava-rock monster rising from the pond right before him! It had two legs it stood on and at least ten tentacles!

It roared loudly as it swung its tentacle. "Look out!" Lloyd yelled. He quickly ducked down. The creature roared again and started attacking with all of its tentacles.

Lloyd jumped from platform to platform to avoid its tentacles. He quickly realised this was way above any other monster they had fought, but then a plan popped into his mind

"Okay, everyone listen up!" He yelled. "Korgran, Cole, frontal assault. Keep its focus and look out for those tentacles!" Lloyd instructed.

Korgran nodded and jumped up, slicing two of the monster's tentacles! For a moment Lloyd hoped that this monster would be an easy one, but as it roared out of pain, it just grew new tentacles to replace the old ones!

Lloyd jumped to yet another rock to avoid its tentacles. Then Cole tried to shoot it with some stones, but the monster destroyed them by spitting out lava balls!

Lloyd breathed out and refocused himself. "Cole, keep sending those stones in, I'll try to redirect its lava back at it!" Lloyd instructed, to which Cole nodded.

He kept detaching rocks from the roof of the cave and shooting them at the monster. Then as the monster spat out lava, Lloyd spun into spinjitzu and spun the lava right back at it!

It roared out of pain and continued shooting lava at the group. Lloyd jumped closer toward Fungus. "Fungus, can you distract him with your magic?" Lloyd inquired.

"I endeavor to do more than just 'distract him'!" He answered with determination and then jumped toward the monster. He took off his hat and started brewing a spell in it.

Two more lava balls were sent toward Lloyd, so he quickly spun into spinjitzu and shot them right back at the monster. That is when Lloyd noticed it. There was a giant boulder just above the monster, hanging off a ledge. Lloyd looked around for Plundar, noticing he was a few stones away.

"Plundar, see if you can sneak around and reach that boulder! It just needs a little nudge!" Lloyd yelled, then jumped away again to dodge a lava tentacle.

"Adam, it's your turn now!" Plundar yelled and pointed at the spider, who had apparently climbed to the other side of the pond already. The spider started crawling upwards, and toward the boulder. That is when Fungus shot the monster with his spell, freezing it completely!

"Adam, now!" Plundar screamed.

The ice around the monster started melting, and its tentacles started to break free! It swung two of its tentacles up, but right before impact, Adam knocked the boulder onto the monster!

The monster roared as it sank into the pond of lava!

Lloyd jumped further away from it and toward his group. "Everyone alright?" He yelled, immediately searching for Harumi. She was standing on the same rock as Vania, standing in front of her.

A wave of positive replies was heard and Cole chuckled: "Not bad for a bunch of 'failed' adventurers."