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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