Into Darkness

"We know we have to go up, but what is this place anyway?' Felix wondered as they reached the end of the hall. He stared into the crater where tiny fragments of the glowing stone remain.

Nyitzcha tilted her head, glancing at the young elf for answers. He was the only one of the three without a look of confusion. The three of them found an opening around the dead end wall, a divide in the path which led them around and into a large circular room full of torches, furniture and several cabinets, one partially opened revealing a wine bottle inside. When Felix and Nyitzcha stared and waited for answers, Spi'Reto drew a soft breath in return.

"Mother use to say this place was ancient, a relic or some sort of weapon forged centuries ago. But we don't know more than that. Besides folklore and stories, we don't have any written script or source of evidence to provide history here. Just that it was old, it was big, and now it was abandoned."

"De carpets don look too old, dese folk know how to make 'emselves home." Nyitzcha remarked. Glancing at the soft red trail following their ally, Nyitzcha reached for her bag and flipped out a small rag before throwing it over. Spi'Reto easily caught it, applying it to his fingers and hissing in pain.

Even Felix flinched at the sight. "Are you sure you can keep up? You can stay and look after Emyri-"

"I wouldn't refuse if she asked me to, but I'm going to see this through to the end. This priest has history with my own tribe, screwing us out of a home months ago. The bastard approached us looking for good trades, when we offered the crystals we didn't realize what they were capable of, but he did."

"Those pink crystals, you guys know about them?" Felix asked out of shock.

Spi'Reto nodded. "We were the ones in charge of defending this tower in the past."

"Den why ya leave? Seems like ye gave it to 'im quite easy, ye lookin' fer a new profession?" Nyitzcha chuckled, but his emotional reaction quickly silenced her.

"My dad was the one in charge of guarding this tower, one winter our tribe fell ill and suddenly our rations we had hunted and stored in preparation was stolen from us. Most of us died from the ensuing blizzard. My dad was one of the deceased, and with him we lost our secrets and history as well. But we settled on a shaky alliance between us and the Nekomata's. Our small numbers began to grow and we looked to trading to find the resources we needed to feed the extra mouths we were raising. Unfortunately, our most popular product were these crystals we had in store and the priest took advantage of our ignorance."

"So what do you know about them?"

"Very little, I don't know how they're emitting that bright pink glow to them as they were black crystals when we owned them, but I do know that somehow they affect Monster Girls only. Humans, Elves, Dwarves and other beings without dark essence don't appear to be affected, but creatures containing enough dark essence to be categorized as Monster Girls will succumb to its effects easily."

"I heard o' dose, some sort of taboo magic usin' visual hypnosis to power 'em. Twas nothin' more den a silly story passed down at de bar, when drinks were had an' travelers were drunk n' got the horn."

"Does it work on any kind of Monster Girl?" Asked Felix as his eyes settled on a peculiar looking platform standing dead center of the place with chains passing through from above.

Spi'Reto shook his head. "Only the ones who can be overwhelmed by a sort of trigger to their senses. Everyone knows cats turn to mush when exposed to catnip, or become easily distracted by a wondering light on the ground. That crystal seems capable of capturing their attention through vision and exposure."

"So that's why it doesn't work on me." Felix murmured, approaching the circular platform. Once he stepped on it, the ground wiggled slightly under his feet. Startled, he reached for the chain to steady himself and pulled down. Suddenly the circle jumped as loud gears began to grind as Felix began to descend downward. Spi'Reto and Nyitzcha through wide eyes quickly jumped in to join him as they soon slipped deeper into darkness.

"Phew, I think that's all of them." Syri wiped her forehead, covering her fur in sweat before finding it revolting. Wiggling her paw around in an attempt to shake it off, Janette saw this and chuckled before reaching out and cleaning her fur with a towel. Leaning close, she offered to wipe the Nekomata's forehead as well before making a face.

"You're starting to sweat."

Syri scowled and pushed her away much to Janette's amusement, turning red as her mate laughed in return. "Oh I'm just having fun, you smell fine."

"You said I stink!" Syri pouted, folding her paws over her chest.

"Yes, so what? We're in battle, I don't think people care when they have bigger concerns. Not like you smell that bad." Janette assured her, hugging her waist from behind and nuzzling the Nekomata's shoulder making Syri turn red. Just then a black cat poked her head from within the tower walls, catching sight of them she ran to them in a flash before transforming into her Nekomata state.

"Syri, Janette! Dimyri needs you!"

Janette let go of Syri, raising a finger to her chin. "Goodness, is she hurt?"

"Nuh, but she can't see and needs your thingy." She explained, pointing at Janette's bag with her paw.

Janette seemed alarmed and gasped, clutching her bag. "Oh crap, I forgot she needs the map!"

She followed behind the raven-haired Nekomata girl, with Syri tagging along. "Wait for me, I'm going too!"

A Grizzly and two cats stared at the trio run back inside, each animal glancing at one another in bewilderment. The Grizzly was the first to speak, shifting to her Humanoid state to do so.

"What do we do now?" Asked Nukka, scratching her brown head. "Bad guys laying down, do we lay down with them?"

Zimi sat down with her legs crossed once she transformed and stretched her limbs. Her brows squeezed together as she rested her chin on her paw, looking deeply in thought. "Strange, an oversight in the plan it seems. Dimyri hadn't mentioned what we are to do at this stage. The strength of a bear would prove most useful at a time like this."

Nukka imitated her stance, falling back and resting her chin on her paw as well. A cloud of dust emerged from the force of a large Grizzly sitting down, causing Ori'chi to cough.

"Hmm.... " Zimi hummed to herself.

"Hmm... " Nukka pondered, raising her eyebrow. "Well, little kitty cat did mention needing to use bare force inside."

Both Ori'chi and Zimi froze, turning their heads in an eerie manner and staring at the clueless gal. Nukka noticed and began to freak out. "What? What!?"

"She needed bare force or bear force?" Zimi frowned as Ori'chi struggled to contain her laughter.

"Bare force?" Nukka asked.

Zimi huffed and shook her head, standing up to her feet. Or paws. Feet, paws, you get the idea.

"Sweetie, get up. I think I know why our Dimyri is struggling inside."

Nukka lifted herself to her feet as did Ori'chi when Zimi stopped her. "Actually, you stay here. Make sure the girls are looked after, you know where the food and water are. Can you do that?"

Ori'chi looked around to see several of her clutter sleeping peacefully under the shade of a large pine tree. Few of them glanced over and waved their paws. Ori'chi shyly waved back with her tail.

"I-I-I will do it."

"Good, let's go."

"Uhh, I can't see a thin' boys. Nope, can't see a thin', who's leg is that?"

"Mine." Spi'Reto muttered. "This platform isn't fit for high use capacity."

"We're going down." Felix added. "We should be going up, how do we control this thing?"

"Oi, I see light!" Nyitzcha gasped, raising a small pouch in her palm.

Felix eyed the pouch cautiously. "Be sure not to drop that anytime soon."

Nyitzcha cackled mischievously to his warning, making the two boys uneasy. Once they arrived at the bottom level, the platform came to a stop. This room in particular looked strange and alien, like stepping into a hive. The numerous catacombs carved into the surrounding walls were particularly unnerving to them, especially when each hole contained that familiar pink glow to them. Once the platform stopped with a loud squeak, shadowy figures began to emerge from each tomb, crawling and falling out before picking themselves up again. Felix felt his heart stopped, fearing the worst was yet to come as one by one each Nekomata stepped forward around them, locking them in with no place to escape.

Spi'Reto looked back and drew his arrow at someone, eliciting a feminine gasp which turned heads. Everyone looked to the woman Spi'Reto had his arrow directed to, a young woman in maids clothing. She stared back with trembling hands and sharp breaths, slowly raising something of a led box in between her quivering fingers. Flipping the lid open revealed a much larger gem, this one appearing to be different from the rest. This pink stone didn't simply shine bright, something swam inside its crystalline structure, something wiggled and slithered before turning to face them.

An eye, sharp and neither human nor feline in its shape stared across the room directly at the trio. Nyitzcha leaned against Felix as Spi'Reto began to sweat.

"Oh no..." He growled.

"What?" Felix asked, looking around to see the surrounding cat girls begin to pull back. Something began to crumble and tear away, like rock grinding onto stone. Something big was coming.

"That was quite a clever trick, diverting my attention for the ensuing ambush from behind. I never considered felines to utilize such efficient tactics to their advantage. Perhaps I have been careless."

All three of them aimlessly searched for the source of that voice. It echoed around the room, alerting even the swarm of glitterbugs hovering above their heads. They flew around in fright, dispersing the light around rather than concentrating on the center of the room. Felix stepped back as several glitterbugs flew into the darkness of this tomb, the faint glow reflecting off something large with pitch black eyes staring at him.

"Surely, you didn't approach me under the guise of incoming victory, believing you've bested my guards so what challenge can I present? Those knights are merely farmers and poachers, sinners wishing to redeem themselves under my servitude."

"Figures." Felix whispered faintly to himself. Those knights were clumsy and hardly well trained, he knew in the back of his head that a true knight would not fall so easily. Although he hated to admit, the revelation had hurt his ego and confidence in himself. He felt a nudge to his leg suddenly.

"Aye, we're here now. Don' let 'im get to ya."

Felix nodded, swallowing his concern. Nyitzcha is right, they've managed this far and turning back was never an option.

"Perdilius! Where are you?" Spi'Reto cried out, uncertain of where or whom to target. It was clear among the three he was beginning to grow agitated the most.

"What gall, you enter my house and demand my presence without my blessing to welcome you in? Breaking into people's homes is a crime you know, and a crime is neighbor to sin."

"You're one to talk!" Felix barked back. "You've committed far more sins than we have, you hypocrite!"

To this, Perdilius' voice shook in return, not out of shock but out of anger, a bitter and furious growl. "Mesa, would you kindly welcome our guests to their demise? I'm certain the Guardians would like a word with them."

Mesa the maid whimpered in return, raising the eye over her head and struggling to contain her fear. She squeezed her eyes shut, maintaining her stance as Perdilius made one last request.

"Monsters, come to me. We have our Nekomata's to catch."

"Don't you dare!" Felix shouted as Spi'Reto held his arm. The three of them backed away as hundreds of Nekomata's transformed into their cat forms and disappeared under the darkness. It appeared that the collars shrunk to size to fit their smaller forms. Once the girls were gone, all that remained were a dwarf, an elf, and a human facing a scared maid weilding a strange eye above her head.

Everything was dark, only the eye shined brightly revealing the maids tears as she wept.

When suddenly a thunderous groan echoed from around them, and the darkness began to swallow them whole.