Chapter Forty-Three
Travis found himself in a desert with volcanos
in the distance when they exited the portal. His survival instincts kicked in,
and he tried Popping back to Earth but only managed to free himself from the
net. He caught the monsters off guard, skewering them with his tentacles, and
dined on their flesh and souls, inhaling the white balls of light into his
mouth.
All of his senses
heightened, and he smelled something good up ahead and took off in a run,
tearing through chimera, manticores, and other creatures that stood in his
path. He continued until he found himself in a tropical jungle full of
iridescent plants and strange beings that looked like rejects from a bad SYFY
movie.
They carried swords and spears that had
glowing runes on them and were dressed in armor with monstrous faces on them,
alive and contorting in pain. They advanced on him, and he attacked, ripping
them apart, savoring the taste of their blood and feasting on their souls.
He tore through them until someone said, "That
will be enough of that."
Red eyes aglow, Travis turned toward the
voice. A man with lavender hair in a ponytail with makeup on held a lone white
rose in one hand. He sent Travis a condescending look.
Dessert. Travis unleashed his
tentacles on the interloper. The man raised an earthen shield and dodged.
Travis's tentacles struck the shield, crumbling it. The man laughed, wagging
his beringed finger. Then he blew on the rose. A vine grew with enormous
thorns, and he fired them off like bullets.
Travis waved his hand, and the thorns
rebounded, impaling those who hadn't the sense to get out of the way. His
opponent hissed, then slammed his hand into the ground. Roots sprang up,
encasing Travis as the man disappeared in a cloak of shadows.
He reappeared with a bracelet covered in
gems and precious stones etched with runes like those on the creatures'
weapons. He wiped some of the white blood from his wounds onto it, and the
bracelet glowed red.
He placed it on Travis, and Travis stilled,
his mind clearing and the blood lust leaving as the bracelet took effect.
"Where am I, who are you, and why am I
imprisoned?"
"Child, you killed several of my vassals, but
we'll speak of repayment later. I am Lord Abraxas (|uh |bracks|
|us|), King of Rose. And were it not for me, you'd be condemned to the life of
the strigori (|stree| |gore| |ee|),
mindless animals that live only to kill."
That's nice," Travis said and torched his way
out of the cage.
"That's not possible. The bracelet should have
bound your demonic powers. Unless . . ."
"What?"
"Nothing, boy. Come with me. There is much you
must learn."
"I don't think so." Travis formed a sword of
flames and leveled it at Lord Abraxas.
The king frowned and began chanting at a rapid
pace. When he was done, he'd knocked out Travis and imprisoned him in a cage of
brambles.
***
Travis awoke with a headache in the bramble
cage.
"You're up. Welcome to The Palace of Desires."
"Where the hell is that?"
"There is much you must discuss, boy."
"The name's Travis Turner."
He Popped out of the cage and blasted Lord
Abraxas with everything he had, but the Calvin Klein model wannabe flicked his
wrist, and pain shot through Travis's body.
"What did you do to me?"
"A simple spell that you will learn in due
course. However, consider this your first lesson. When you aim for the king,
don't miss."
He flicked his wrist, and another wave of pain
shook Travis.
"Welcome to Pandemonium. Do try not to let
that tongue of yours get you killed."
Lord Abraxas strolled away, leaving Travis
writing in the air.
And thus, we've reached The End of this
chapter in Travis's tale . . . but his story is far from over.
Epilogue
Pro fell to the ground and said, "Fuck me,"
when he saw more Nekoshins had arrived and were out for his blood. He closed
his eyes and tried to Pop home but passed out instead.
***
"Come on, wake up."
He opened his eyes, finding himself on a
bed next to an eight-armed bipedal dog creature in a high-tech hospital.
"Is the neural-com operational?"
"Yeah. So what do you
think he is?"
"Hard to say. He looks almost Torin, but they
went extinct ages ago."
"Well, whatever he is, he's awake. Prep him
for his first fight."
Pro turned his head and found a gelatin
creature in front of him that reminded him of Cookie Monster. It turned,
opening its mouth, but the sounds came out like the badly dubbed Kung Fu movies
Travis and Josh loved so much.
"Alright, newbie, listen up. The furballs did
a number on ya, and the cost to fix ya up wasn't cheap. Until further notice, you'll be working
off your debt to the boss as his newest prizefighter. Drink this."
He handed Pro a cup of green liquid the
consistency of molasses. It burned going down, but afterward, he felt
wide-awake.
"Yeah, Mido (|me| |doh|) packs a punch. Just
be careful you don't get addicted to the stuff."
He nodded and followed Gelatin Man, who
explained how things worked. All fighters were charged room, board, and any
expenses incurred fixing them up. If they won, they got a cut of the prize
money.
"Now you can bet on yourself. Long as you
don't get greedy. The fastest way out of here is to go pro and get your debt --
out by a --"
"What was that?"
"Never mind. We're here. Good luck."
Pro looked out at the audience, and his jaw
dropped. Creatures he never imagined stared back at him. Some had hundreds of
eyes, while others were covered in rainbow-colored hair. What stopped him cold
was the giant rodent he was to fight. The thing looked like a gerbil, only it
was green and stood thirty feet tall.
No sweat. I got this.
Then it fired lasers from its massive
eyes.
"Crap."
"Don't worry, newbie. Stick and move, and
you'll be fine." Gelatin Man said from the safety of the stadium's force field.
"Creatures and creat-ettes,
put your appendages in the air, if you have them, and give a welcome to the
newest fighter out of Flan's stable. From parts unknown, making his first, and
maybe only appearance in the Slaughterhouse. Give it up for the one, the only,
Catatonic Kid."
The crowd roared and stood, or floated in some
cases, from their seats, and the match began. The Giga Gerbil roared as the
force field holding it turned off, and it bolted for Pro. He popped behind the
behemoth and sent a wall of flames, but the Giga Gerbil shrugged it off and
roared. Then it blasted him into the corner with its eye lasers.
Pro dusted himself off, marveling as his
wounds healed instantly. "Well, ain't you a big one? Boss up, bitch."
The beast galloped forward, its four huge
legs booming as it ran. Pro waited until the last possible
second to sidestep it.
It hurtled past him, losing its balance, and
crashed.
Seeing his chance, Pro hopped on its back,
wrapping energy whips around its neck. The Giga Gerbil bucked him, but he held
on, imitating a bull rider to the cheers of the crowd. But it shook and rolled
on its back, trapping him.
"Folks, it looks like Betty's claimed another
victim," the announcer said.
The crowd booed until Pro burst through the
Giga Gerbil's chest. He called forth his axe, and with one swing of it, a blade
of golden energy severed the Giga Gerbil's head.
The axe disappeared, and Pro, covered in green
blood, soaked in the cheers.
"Good job. They love ya.
Keep this up, and you'll be out of here in no time. Now go wash up; you stink.
And pro tip: you can't use that axe of yours unless the rules say, or you'll be
dis--la--ied."
"What?"
"Neural-com must be
on the fritz again. Never mind," Gelatin Man said and showed him to his cell
and explained how the sanitation units worked. Pro waved his hand over the
washing station, causing a stream of pink liquid to come out. After he lathered
up, the liquid turned into a gel, then hardened and fell off, leaving him
clean.
A few minutes later, Gelatin Man appeared and
showed him to the cafeteria. The entrees came in as many colors and forms as
they were stars in the sky--soups, sandwiches, casseroles, wraps, and what he
suspected were giant maggots. The only thing he dared eat were bluish
drumsticks, which he piled high on his plate and dug in.
"Mmm, mini-gitauros (|ghee| |tour| |ohs|). Nice choice." Gelatin Man
sat beside him, snagging a drumstick off his plate.
"What?" Pro asked, drumstick halfway to his
mouth.
"Sorry. That thing you fought?
Those are its smaller cousins. We breed em for food.
Where ya from?"
"Don't suppose ya
heard of Earth?"
"What crap name is
that for a planet? Now Drac'con (|drack| |khan|),
there's a name for a planet. Homeworld of the Hebin
(|hay| |been|), by the way. Dirty fighters they are. Smelly, too, but so would
I if `n I lived on a dust ball."
"Are you done?"
"Sheesh, newbie. I was just tryna school ya, but I can take a
hint."
Pro sighed and finished off dinner. He didn't
care if he was eating gerbils; it tasted delicious, and he went for seconds and
thirds.
Then he wondered, Should I try Popping
to Earth? Ultimately, he decided to wait until he had a bit more
control. He didn't want to mess around and teleport into the middle of
space.
Speaking of control . . . he wondered how that
psycho Travis was doing. The next time they met, Pro was legit wrecking his shit.
Author's Note: There ya
have it, folks. Did things end how you thought they would? Let me know. And I'm
still recruiting beta readers for the next book in the series, Pandemonium,
so hit me up if you're interested in reading it (phenix39@yahoo.com).
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