Chapter 17

I took off the glasses as my hands started to feel grass. It was weird to have this sensation when we were just in the sandstorm. "They were protecting the entrance. Guardians maybe." Serene said pulling her shoes off, full of sand.

“Those weren't guardians. They just wanted to stop us from getting closer." Gregory retorted, pulling off his goggles.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” A push to my shoulder brought me to reality realizing that Johnny Stan was attacking me. "You blew up all the supplies. Our clothes our weapons. What the fuck is wrong with you?”

“Hey!” Serene pulled him back to her then. "Ray used his surroundings to defeat the monsters. It wasn't thought out too well, but smart." She insulted and complimented me at the same time.

“I did what I had to. Let's just get this over with, already." I started walking ahead of everyone, towards the center of the pyramid, getting deeper and deeper into the tall grassy oasis. Everyone was still on edge as we all were quiet inside. The thick humidity—along with the heat—started to beat down on me despite the shade the trees and the tall leaves gave, but again it was quiet... eerily quiet.

I took a step forward, casually. But Gregory stopped me, fast, hitting my shoulder. I opened my mouth to speak, but he placed his finger over his mouth to gesture to me to stay quiet. He then pointed his sword down to the ground to a net. The slight touch of the sword sent the net spiraling up into a tree. Then, an ax came out of nowhere from the complex mechanics and chopped it, killing whatever was inside.

"Imp traps." Serene said low, nudging Gregory. "This is more your department, isn't it?” She walked ahead of me watching her step. Johnny only followed her exact steps to save himself from getting chopped as the net had portrayed.

“Imps are usually small, non-threatening creatures, right?” I looked to Gregory for the answer, but he just started walking along with Serene.

“Stay close,” he ordered.

I hesitated to continue walking but did so in the exact same way they did. After a few more steps, I started to hear the whispers. His soul…Bring me his soul…I turned to where I believed the voice was coming from. In shock, I turned and a demon was right behind me. It didn't attack me, though, just terrified the shit out of me. Johnny's soul…it whispered to only me.

My eyes glanced back at Johnny knowing what I would have to do. I held the sword and my gun tight, not sure which to use on him. We were getting close to the Kukulkan, the pyramid only a few miles away. We didn't need him anymore. Save Brad…The voice whispered into my mind, again. I gulped as I got closer to them.

I lifted my sword to quickly attack him from behind, but Gregory—old, but wise and swift Gregory—stopped my blade with his with just a turn. He looked disappointed in me. "Ray?” He jerked my sword out the way. "What are you doing?”

Johnny looked surprised turning around now realizing his life was in danger. "This fucker trying to kill me,” he said. His eyes grew with every word. Serene even looked at me with shame.

“You have to uphold the law of not killing me. Agares needs his soul. The closer I get to the book, the less time I have to save Brad. This is a guaranteed solution that Brad's soul will be saved in time."

“This isn't the way, Ray. Did you make a deal with Agares?” I didn't respond as I looked away. I could hear Gregory sigh. "Please tell me you didn't make a deal with the devil's soul collector. How do you think this idiot got his soul taken in the first place?” Gregory lifted my chin to look at him, pinching my cheeks together —as if I was a child—while his other hand pointed to Johnny. "You shouldn't have done this. You should've waited…”

I jerked away. "I did what I had to do to save Brad. Agares never mentioned my soul, so I'm okay. I will be fine. You're just paranoid Gregory." I replied, taking a step back.

Johnny shook his head. "It's part of the deal, Ray. You're fucked just like me." I could almost hear him laughing if it wasn't for the sudden sound of beating drums. Serene took out her weapon as she started to run, still being careful where she stepped. Johnny was pretty much dragged behind her. Gregory took one more disappointed look at me and ran off behind her.

My feet wouldn't move, though, as I looked down at the ground. They felt like they were stuck in quicksand or something sticky. I couldn't lift my legs. "Greg…” My voice was rasped causing me to place my hand on my throat in confusion. The ground started to contort and shift as I felt a sting in my neck, distinctly feeling the sharp dart now. If my eyes hadn't deceived me yet, there was a small golem-like creature smiling at me with huge pointy ears, the Imps that Serene talked about.

Before I knew it, I was being carried away by a herd of Imps as they sang and danced around me. I continued to try and call for Gregory, but my voice wasn't working. They laid me down and started chanting. My vision was going in and out, seeing the demon following me in the background, as I struggled to get away very weakly. Why does this always happen to me? When had my life turned astray? I knew. It was the moment I had walked into that church, drunk.

I blinked and then the next thing I knew I felt a sharp pain in my chest that caused me to grunt and hold myself. "Ray?” I looked around confused, holding on to the sword and the gun still in place. Gregory waited for me to respond. I was still disoriented when he slapped me slightly harder than usual. "What were you thinking?” He looked confused at me, as well, seeing the panic on my face. He pushed me in front of him. "Run!” He shouted to us. Like an idiot, I looked back to see exactly why I was running and the leaves and the bushes all started to fall towards us.

I picked up the pace running right next to Johnny as he continually cursed with each step. "Shit shit shit shit!” I shook my head, but once I looked to my right, I saw a huge boulder falling towards us causing me to grab him and push him out of the way, causing Serene to become off-balance. Her arm twisted behind her and her body followed to keep it from breaking. We all fell into what seemed to be a bed of leaves. Serene hit Johnny in his shoulder as he was mounting over her on accident, but inappropriately. She groaned as her wrist was now severely bruised.

“I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking,” I apologized.

“No shit…” She muttered under her breath while releasing Johnny Stan from the cuffs. Gregory hovered over us, sword ready, looking at the fallen boulder. "They're playing with us,” she continued. Gregory's eyes only glanced back at her as she started to stand, holding her wrist.

Johnny looked at me suspiciously as if I was going to kick him off the cliff. "Don't go getting any more homicidal ideas."

I smirked at him to tease him, but my satisfaction was short-lived with the rock crumbling into smaller pieces. Those pieces started to roll towards Gregory. They stopped in front of us turning into Imps, the ones in my hallucination.

At first, I thought to myself they were so small we could take them. But then all the small Imps combined into one gigantic Imp that screamed and rocked the weak foundation we were on.