CHAPTER SIX

FINAL FANTASY

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He came back...

"Stokes, please save me!!"

She cried out, tears trickling down her cheek; Stokes's heart ached; he forced back a tiny tear that was almost dropping from the corner of his eye.

"I'm not leaving without you, Ruby, not anymore."

Stokes replied, heading towards the pit thinking of a way to free Ruby; just then, the booming voice they had heard down in the cave sounded.

This time it was nearer and louder. Stokes stood still; he could feel the presence of a supernatural being behind him. "I KNEW YOU WOULD COME," the voice spoke, and the whole tower vibrated; the rope which Ruby was tied to swung from side to side due to the vibration of the tower and Ruby tried to keep her balance.

"WELCOME TO MY PALACE, THE TOWER OF DOOM, TODAY WILL BE YOUR LAST DAY HERE AND ON EARTH"

The whole tower was vibrating, windows shattered, Stokes stood still, could he defeat a being this powerful, his heart raced, mind focused and at alert, he felt the presence drawing closer to him from behind, he turned to look at this supernatural creature. Surprisingly it had human form, the only difference between the beast and a human was that it was so huge. Three horns came out of its forehead; his fingers were sharp and long, he had four eyes, two in front and two at the back.

Stokes heartbeat increased, he tried to calm himself, but the creature's mighty presence was suppressing his powers; he took few steps backwards and stopped when he discovered he was almost at the extreme of the large pit filled with hot burning larva.

"IT'S TIME"

The creature roared and charged towards Stokes raising its fist to attack; Stokes evaded the attack jumping from the spot with a double flip. The beast stopped sharply in other not to fall inside the pit.

Stokes observed as the creature charged him again; he quickly dodged the creature's attack just by moving slowly away from his previous spot.

The creature was powerful but had low speed, with slow reflexes, Stokes thought, but that will only help him evade and escape its attacks.

He needed to attack too, but the question was, will his attacks have any effects on the creature? He could only test it out to find out.

"ALL YOU DO IS TO DODGE MY ATTACKS, BUT YOU'LL SOON GET EXHAUSTED, HUMAN!!"

The creature yelled angrily,

"Fine, I'll show you what I've got"

Stokes replied, trying to sound fierce. This was more like a "Player Unknown Battleground" (PUBG) game, Stokes thought.

He charged towards the creature this time; at about a few meters away from the beast, he took an incredible front sided flip, landing on the beast and rushed him several hard blows. However, the creature didn't even flinch; it stood there watching Stokes standing on its shoulders, still rendering his most powerful impacts.

"COMMON YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT, HUMAN"

The creature said, grabbing Stokes by the waist, and threw him away with force; Stokes landed on the wall breaking it to pieces, the blast made a hole through the wall, revealing the down view of the tower, Stokes stood up gradually from the ruins, his back ached, just as he had guessed his attacks were no match for the creature.

The only option he had left was to destroy the creature's eye and escape.

He came out of the broken wall like a dead man who rose again,

"Stokes, please don't overdo it; run if you can't defeat it."

Ruby cried. "If we're both going to die here, that's okay, but I won't leave you here, Ruby, never."

Stokes replied, picking up two sharp rocks from the ruins of the shattered wall.

"YOU WANT TO BE A HERO HUMAN, LET SEE IF YOU CAN!!! HAHAHAHAHA" the creature yelled, letting out a peal of loud laughter that vibrated the entire tower.

Ruby dropped down a little from the vibrations; the source of the rope was getting weak,

"Stokes!!! We don't have time," She cried.

Stokes charged towards the creature at full speed and anger, this time, the beast didn't wait behind; it also charged towards Stokes raising its fist for an attack. He threw the first blow at Stokes; Stokes dodged it, the creature hands met with the concrete floor breaking it apart, its hand were still resting on the ground due to slow reflexes, Stokes took advantage of this and quickly climbed up its large arm at top speed running straight to its head. The creature used its other hand to hit Stokes on its shoulder, but Stokes evaded it with a side flip, landing on its neck; he quickly used the sharp rocks to stab the creatures eye severally, the supernatural creature yelled in pain and got hold of Stokes, he threw him away instantly so it could concentrate on the pain.

Stokes flew towards the large pit; he gasped and tried to hold himself back. Still, he could not, the force the creature used in throwing him was nothing to write home about, almost falling inside the pit he caught hold of Ruby's legs with one arm, she dropped down a little and so did Stokes, he could feel the heat of the larva. He held onto Ruby's legs with his second hand and climbed on slowly; she didn't say a word, she just sobbed.

When he got to her head, he held the rope with one hand and put the second one around her waist; he kissed her, Ruby returned the kiss, but he immediately stopped it.

"I won't leave you here, Ruby," he whispered and looked at the creature, which was still Battling with the pain of its front eyes; he still had a back vision. Stokes thought, they had to escape while they can.

The rope dropped again; the weight of two people was weakening the source quickly; Stokes looked up, he held the rope above Ruby's hand tighter and looked at Ruby,

"This is our only chance."

He whispered again; she nodded with sober eyes; talking was out of her now; what she wanted was to die or wake up from this misery she had suffered so much.

Stokes swung the rope back and forth, slowly, till they were swinging at high speed; they were now almost reaching the windows of the tower at a swing; Stokes swung harder but still wasn't able to hit the windows with his foot.

The creature regained composure; he stood meters away from the pit, it could see clearly how Stokes was swinging,

"SINCE YOU HAVE DECIDED TO BE STUBBORN HUMAN, I'LL TAKE YOU WITH ME TO HELL"

The creature yelled and charged towards the pit; Stokes looked at the approaching creature in surprise, was he trying to take them all inside the hot burning larva? "This isn't good," he murmured; Stokes swung harder with all his might, has the creature jumped at them, the swing evaded it. It fell straight into the hot larva; the swing made it to the window. The source of the rope removed instantly, Stokes left the rope and held Ruby whose hand was still tied together, they burst through the window glass falling at incredible speed, Stokes loosed the rope on Ruby's wrist with one hand while holding her with the other, when he finished losing it, Ruby wrapped her hands around him and started crying heavily.

"Thank you so much, Stokes, I'm forever indebted to you," she said with a sobbing tone,

"Don't mention it, Ruby, I couldn't just stay at home when there was still a chance that you were still alive," Stokes replied.

"I love you, Stokes"... "I love you so much."

Stokes didn't reply, he had met Ruby in this unimaginable world, and they had fell love even during the troubled times. Would he ever see her once they got to the real world? The question was up to fate to decide. "I love you to Ruby," he finally said, fighting the tears that were threatening to fall off his eyes; he closed his eyes as it was going to be a long fall he had witnessed before…