Virgo Tuus Part 21: Whisper, the Second Horseman

Peli and Nana were startled by Agi when she finally caught back up with them. Nana ducked behind Peli, who had her beam striker aimed at Agi for a second. They had finally made their way out of the square of rooms they were walking through repeatedly, Peli was ready for anything to strike. Agi chuckled, retiring her weapon back to its holster, bringing herself to a slow clap.

"Well done, Peli. You're getting sharper." She said.

"I almost made dust of you, Agi." Peli replied. "It's nice to know you are back with reality once again."

"Yes... According to Kora I had a really bad fall down a stairway and blacked out. Funny- only my head is sore, I'd imagine my whole body would be sore." Agi explained while she rubbed her forehead.

"Stairway? Sounds to me like someone or something hit you in the head to knock you out." Peli retorted.

Agi was about to agree when she thought about what Peli said. Then she thought back to when Kora was explaining what happened, Gala tried to interrupt her, as if Kora was fabricating the story. Now Agi knew that she had been knocked out, and there was little doubt that Kora socked her right in the fact with a punch.

"That little--" Agi growled.

"Careful, don't let her hear you say that!" Nana joked.

"So what did I miss?" Asked Agi. "Clearly we have Nana now."

"Peli killed a Phantom!!" Nana cheered, met with a hush from Peli.

Agi had a look of curiosity on her face. Now Peli had to explain.

"Acidicus, the third horseman. I'm afraid he's all burnt out." Peli said. "But I have a feeling we've only just begun the journey."

"Let's get going then, I'll take you two back the way I came from, it'll take us straight to the others and then we can get the hell out of here." Said Agi.

Agi turned around, Peli and Nana followed her down a narrow corridor, barely wide enough to fit a single person in it. At the end of the corridor there was a ninety-degree corner that turned to their left. As Agi stepped into the turn, she stopped and looked up and down in front of her. Peli knew that the exit had disappeared, she'd already had that trick happen to her a few times so far. Nana looked behind, she saw the walls begin to move further apart from each other, widening the corridor.

"Look!" She exclaimed.

The walls quit separating after several seconds. One of the walls revealed another downward set of steps to a lower floor.

"This fortress is morphing, it won't let us live until we face the horsemen... And Talia." Agi mentioned. "That means..."

"It's the Living Labyrinth!" Peli panicked.

"What's that?" Asked Nana while she watched the two others look at the ancient Phantom scripts that began to appear on the walls.

"It was built a long time ago by a most wicked spirit. The whole place is literally a maze." Agi started to explain. "The Living Labyrinth was created for the purpose of inviting people in, and never letting them leave."

"Unless we are allowed to leave." Peli interrupted. "The walls of this fortress are literally the bones of Phantoms that were ground and cemented into stone. The whole place literally has a mind of its own, and we're in it."

Peli and Agi approached the stairway that appeared from under one of the walls, they peered in as if to see anything at the bottom. There was no light however, it was totally dark.

"And this stairway will take us to the second horseman." Said Agi, goosebumps forming over her arms, hairs raising on the back of her neck. "The worse nightmare of the inexperienced Light soldier."

"Who is the second horseman?" Asked Nana.

"Whisper." Peli answered. "The man whom went invisible, and went mad through his own isolation. Nobody knows what he looked like, not even Ixora. He wears a special gas mask that was blessed by a powerful witch doctor, nobody can see beyond that mask. Nobody has even seen what he looks like in ages, not ever since his accident."

"He used to be a member of the military special operations unit that preceded Opal's. It was called the 'Night Fright' unit. They specialized in terrorizing their enemies in the most sinister of ways." Agi added to what Peli stated. "Nobody knows how to sense him, or how to tell if he is near."

"How come?" Asked Nana.

"Because nobody has ever lived to tell anybody." Said Agi.

That was the first time that either Peli or Agi ever saw Nana lose all giddiness in her. She could sense the fear in the both of them. Nobody wanted to go down those steps, but since it had to be done, Agi hatched a plan in her mind.

"I'll go down, Peli you need to try to sneak by and get Nana out before Whisper gets to me. None of us stand a chance against him." She said.

"But Agi, the maze wouldn't let us escape Acidicus." Peli warned Agi.

"Then we'll die trying." Said Agi, taking her first step down the stairs and into the dark chamber below.

She finally reached a landing, triggering the torches on the wall to light up. The chamber was large, rightly square and well lit. There were two pillars, both on opposite corners of the room. The only way out sealed shut by a gigantic slab of stone. Agi took her steps slowly, quietly, and kept her eye out for the unusual while she drew closer to the exit. Nine steps into her path, she heard a noise in the room, she quickly looked back to see if it was Peli at the landing. Peli wasn't even in the room. That was when Agi felt a heavy gulp go down her esophagus, and her breathing became heavier in nervousness. She heard the noise a second time, now she knew that it was a foot step on the stone floor with some drag to it.

It was Whisper.

Suddenly the sound of hurrying boot steps were heard, drawing nearer to Agi. Whisper was charging her. She turned back with her beam striker, but she didn't have enough time to pull the trigger. She let go of the gun when she felt two hands grab her, one by the neck and one by the torso, and with a strong force of power lifted her up. Peli heard her begin to choke, she rushed down the steps with her beam striker ready to fire and instantly saw Agi suspended high up in the air, her feet kicking and her face turning blue from suffocation. Peli took aim just below Agi and fired. Whisper let go of Agi just in time for her to take the blast in the leg when she fell. Agi screamed from the pain, Peli tried to pay no mind to it and instead listened for his boot steps in the room. Peli heard him closing in on her, she got the sense of direction that it was coming from, then again she fired her gun. Again she missed and the beam struck the wall behind, charring it in a large star-shape. At the instant the beam struck the wall, Peli felt a sharp object get driven into her abdomen. Whisper stabbed her with a knife.

"Gahhhh Damn it!!!!" Peli screamed, falling to the floor.

As soon as Peli got to one knee with one hand over her wound, she fell to the side and felt Whisper plunge his knife into her shoulder. The pain was incredible.

Whisper's boot steps could be heard running back towards Agi, who had her beam striker in hand once again. She took aim for where she heard the steps, but then she felt something force the weapon out of her hand, it was Whisper's boot. Peli watched her get thrashed onto her back when Whisper's boot struck her in the face. It was almost surreal to witness when the dirt from the sole of his boot suddenly appeared on her face.

"Agi!!" Peli cried out.

Peli grabbed her weapon again, now she took aim at the space above where Agi was laying on the ground. She watched her being thrashed by his boot, she figured that shooting in the general area would get him. She pulled the trigger, and this time fired off a couple of shots to increase her chances of hitting him. She seemed to miss again. She kept pulling the trigger even when she could hear him coming after her again. Within the second of firing the fourth shot, she was struck in the chest by his boot, then she was picked up by the neck and shoved up against the wall behind her. She watched her weapon once again fall to the floor. Then she was struck in the abdomen by what felt like brass knuckles, then again she was struck in the same spot, in the lower left of her abdomen. Whisper was slugging her repeatedly, and in the meanwhile she could smell the carbon from his breath, his burned lungs.

She counted six strikes to her abdomen, then felt a most awful and sudden extreme pain in that region when he let go of her. Peli begna to cough out blood, and collapsed to the ground. While Whisper had assaulted Peli, Agi once again got a hold of her weapon, and now she began to spray fire all around in front of her as she lie on the floor. A loud agonized scream of pain from a mans voice was heard. It was muffled, it was Whisper screaming from behind his gas mask, Agi had shot him finally.

A trail of blood drops led out of the room as the only exit from the chamber had opened back up. They had averted death at the hands of Whisper for now.

"Nana!!!" Agi yelled. "He's gone!!!"

Nana hurried down the steps, gasping when she saw Peli sitting against the wall all covered in her own blood.

"Peli!!!!!" She cried.

Agi got to her feet and hurried over to Peli. Peli was helped to her feet by Nana, still coughing up blood.

"I was a nurse for the military, Peli. You are suffering from internal bleeding, where does it hurt the most?" Asked Agi.

Peli pointed to her lower abdomen, at her left rib cage.

"My left shoulder is in pain too, not to mention the stabs." Peli moaned.

"Ruptured Spleen." Agi mumbled. "We gotta get out of here!" Agi panicked. "It's not too bad yet, it's only minor, but still needs to be operated on."

Agi and Nana both helped Peli walk, she had been badly beaten in a brush up with one of the most dangerous killers in the Phantom Realm...