Chapter 8: Chapter 8 -The Final Battle
She woke up screaming, covered in sweat. Andrea was above her, face filled with concern.
"Are... Are you ok? You were screaming in your sleep", Andrea asked, panting.
Sarah steadied her breath, swallowed the big lump that had formed in her throat. "Bad dream..." she said, voice cracking.
She got up and walked over to the tree where Thomas was bound tight, ignoring Andrea's protests.
Thomas was staring at her with eyes wide open with fear. "You saw her, didn't you? In your dream?,he asked her.
" hell yeah. Now tell me where she's kept the others", Sarah said, her voice stern. She now fully believed Thomas. The darkness that she felt... Even thinking about Fear sent shivers down her spine. And she had ordered Thomas to murder her mom. Sarah had kept in her anger for so long now. She needed to make Fear pay for destroying her life. And also, if Fear was holding her family prisoners, Sarah was going to kick her ass back to her isolated prison.
***
Thomas told Sarah and Andrea that the campers and Sarah's family was held in Magic Mountain. He insisted that he stayed back because he had no idea when Fear would take control over him. Sarah gladly obliged. She didn't want to be anywhere near a mad, uncontrolled martial arts master.
After a few more hours of trekking, Sarah could finally see a huge brown mass jutting out of the earth in the distance. The sneaked silently and positioned themselves behind a thick bush. Sarah stared the mountain, searching for enemies. A set of huge double doors lead to the inside of the mountain. Outside, three strongly built were standing guard with spears. Their heads seemed to be on fire. Sarah rubbed her eyes, trying to figure out if she was still sleeping.
"What the hell are they?!", Sarah whisper-shouted to Andrea.
"Hellants", Andrea replied nonchalantly, as if scary-looking men with their heads on fire was completely mundane.
"Excuse me?", Sarah whispered back.
"Ancient man-eating demons."
"Great. Just great. And how do you know about these creatures?"
"A kid at camp told me about them."
"Any weaknesses ?"
"Water?"
"we don't have water!", Sarah hissed. But the words came louder than she expected.
The three demons turned, snapping their attention to the bush where Sarah and Andrea were hiding. They started advancing . They were just a few feet away now.
Sarah didn't even need to think. She immediately notched three arrows in her bow. As quick as a flash, she jumped up and took the shot. Three consecutive squelches made her know that her arrows had found their targets. All three of the Hellants fell on to their knees, barely getting time to register who attacked them. Their golden flames sputtered as they neared death.
Andrea got up and stood next one of the demons. "Well, I guess a crazy sixteen year old archer named Sarah is one of their weaknesses.", Andrea said, giving Sarah a sidelong smirk. The demon next to Andrea tried to grab hold of her ankle, but Andrea kicked him in his face.
Sarah chuckled as she started walking towards the giant doors. The keyhole was rather small compared to the massive door.
"Don't think there is a welcome mat around here with a spare key underneath", Andrea said from behind Sarah.
"Who said anything about keys?", Sarah said, pulling two bobby pins from her hair. She jiggled them into the keyhole, trying to open the door. She had done this numerous times when Amir locked her in her bedroom. The hunger got too much to handle that she sneaks into the kitchen in the dead of the night. She jiggled the pins in the keyhole until she heard two consecutive clicks. The door opened a crack.
"whoa...were u a stealth ninja in an other life?",Andrea asked, her voice tinged with pride and amaze.
Sarah chuckled silently and led Andrea into the mountain. The room they stepped into was considerably small, walls lined with torches. Sarah had been expecting a huge dark chamber filled with more Hellants . They ventured on further inside the mountain. At some point,they reached a throne room of sorts. Except it was a throne room of dread. One look at it and Sarah's heart filled with fear and dread, finally understanding the depth of what they were facing.
The entire room was filled with huge cages, occupied by campers and... Sarah felt the blood rush out from her face as her eyes landed on the cage holding her dad, Rizwan, Alan and Mathew.She suddenly felt lightheaded. The whole situation was so inhuman that it was disgustingly terrifying. Then again, what had she been expecting from Fear? Rainbows and unicorns?
Sarah yet again felt dizzier as she saw the raised dais for the throne. Except, there wasn't a throne. instead, in its place was Hope, chained from head to foot in red, glimmering chains. She was sitting down from exhaustion. Though she didn't look like Sarah's mother anymore, Sarah immediately knew that she was Hope. Weak beams of light were emitting from Hope, As if she was trying to use magic to set herself free. But the chains seemed to be...draining her. The beams of light kept getting weaker.
Sarah tore her eyes away from Magic and rushed to the cage holding her family and the Mathews.
"Dad!",Sarah exclaimed.
"Sarah?",her dad said, confused. "your safe! I-"
Her dad was cut off by Mathew. "Keep it down! She's probably nearby!", He whisper-shouted.
Sarah scowled at him and started scanning for a lock, but there didn't seem to be any visible one.
Mathew grabbed her hand and forced her to look at him. "There is no way out. These cages and the chains bounding Magic were enchanted by Fear herself. Only she can let us out. And seeing as that won't ever happen, destroying her so that all her enchantments come undone is our only option. Give me an arrow, Sarah."
"what?", Sarah asked, startled at the sudden weird order.
"trust me."
Trusting Mathew wasn't really high on her to-do list but she gave him an arrow from her quiver anyway. He waved his hand over the arrow and instantly coal-black chains were attached to the fletching. "shoot it at Fear and the chains will do the rest. This should send her back to her prison."
Sarah didn't see how in the world she could possibly even sheath the arrow on to the bow successfully as the chains looked really heavy. She raised an eyebrow at Mathew. Next to him, Alan gave her a reassuring nod. That was what surprised her the most. Alan never trusts his dad. Yet here he was, giving Sarah a clear sign to trust him. She sighed and took the arrow. She gasped.The arrow didn't even weigh more than its normal weight. The chains at the fletching was as light as a feather.
"you-",Sarah began, but was cut off by a loud bang echoing through the throne room. Sarah turned on her heels and what she saw almost made her knees buckle. Standing by the huge double doors were a giant horde of Hellants. At least a hundred of them. And leading them was an exact look-alike of Magic, only this lady was completely shrouded in black. Her pale face stood out from the pitch black colour of her clothes and her eyes were a deep hazel colour filled with malice. One look and Sarah confirmed that this was the lady she was looking for.
Fear laughed. The same kind of laugh Sarah heard in her nightmare that made her want to crawl underneath a bed and stay there for eternity. "This",she gestured to Sarah and Andrea , "is the best you got ,Magic? we may be equally powerful, but I have to say, your choices are pretty dumb. Helping puny little humans and giving them place on your island...pathetic. You see, this is our main difference. If I were you,I would have trusted bloodthirsty monsters to carry out my will. But you? you trust little human girls."
Sarah had got enough. She notched the arrow Mathew had given her and took aim.
"I have been planning my revenge for several millennia. You really think one arrow is going to stop me? I killed your mother and I didn't have to lift a finger. Killing you would be much more easier.",Fear drawled on. "Hellants! Attack!"
And just like that, all of the fiery-headed beasts started advancing on them.
Andrea turned to Sarah and said, "I will hold them off. Get a clear shot as fast as you can!" Andrea ran off to battle. Sarah couldn't see how Andrea could hold off that many monsters but she turned and climbed the cage holding her family. She positioned herself and took aim once again at Fear. Fear was too busy enjoying the impossible fight between Andrea and the hellants.
Sarah felt her heart crumble as she thought about the things that Fear said. If Fear had not ruthlessly killed her mother, she would have been with her now. She felt a pang in her chest as she thought of her mother lying there on the road, gasping for breath. As she sat there,perched on the cage, she thought about her mother's words.
One day, you will get a chance to be a hero. Don't turn it down. Don't be afraid to do what needs to be done. Focus on your target, pull back your string and shoot when its time.
It was time. Time that Sarah broke free from her past and take the shot. She focused on her target, Fear, and channelled all her anger, pain and misery at her. And then she let go. Let go of everything holding her back and shot. A split second later, the arrow was sticking from Fear's chest. She gasped and looked down, unsure of what was happening. Then, the chains took charge. They started glowing red and came to life, wrapping itself around Fear's dark shape. Fear screamed in pain. The entire mountain shook. A huge blast of light emanated from Fear and Sarah screwed her eyes shut.
As soon as she closed her eyes, fatigue overtook her. She felt herself falling a short distance into someone's arms. But she didn't care. All she wanted to do was rest. She let her limbs go limp and slowly shut down all her senses.
"It's over, princess...you're okay now",she heard someone say faintly. She couldn't even recognize the voice. But she kept her eyes closed and slowly sank into a deep, peaceful sleep.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone