Act III: Kurast Jungle
Part A: Sailing East
Quatre had never been so relieved to see dry land in his entire life. The time he'd spend aboard Meshif's ship had been a nightmare. He'd never seen so much water, and water apparently didn't agree with him, because he'd been sick the entire time.
While he'd been cooped up in his cabin, the others had ventured out onto the deck, basking in the sea air that had so sickened Quatre. Duo would stand on the end of the boat, pointing out sea creatures to Heero, who had watched the water with his usual stoicness.
Trowa had enjoyed the salt air, though as he'd said when he'd visited Quatre, he still wanted to see trees. Wufei didn't seem to care one way or the other.
When they did arrive at the port city of Kurast, they thanked Meshif before turning to what once was a great city, but no more.
"Though this is my home, I wish I'd never returned here," Meshif said sadly. "All this evil! I don't know where it came from, only that you must be the ones who are going to stop it. I wish you all luck."
"We will do our very best," Heero promised, as did the others one by one. With that, they started forward into Kurast.
What was supposed to be one city was actually a series of huge stone platforms, connected by some none-too-steady wooden paths. The last thing Quatre wanted to do was step onto one. If he didn't, he'd be left behind. Gulping, he followed.
Come on, Quatre, you've fought Andariel and Duriel! You can't let a little creaky wood get the better of you, Quatre thought to himself firmly. He followed the others to catch the tale end of the conversation they had engaged in with a tall, bald man bearing a staff decourated with the rising of the sun.
"...turn to him to seek wisdom, or turn from him to seek wisdom in thyself," Quatre heard the deep-voiced man say before he turned away.
"Who was that?" Quatre asked. Duo made the international hand sign for insanity.
"Ormus. He speaks of himself in the third person. He's some great mage, or something. I hate people who speak in riddles. I think--" Duo said, and was swiftly cut off by Heero.
"But not often."
Duo grinned. "You know Heero, you are really developing a sense of humour. I suspected the lightning retribution would be good for you." Heero didn't deign to reply.
"Deckard Cain is available," Trowa observed quietly. The others turned and waved to the old man. The old man returned the wave, but without the same enthusiasm.
Concerned, Quatre walked over to him, the others trailing behind. "What's wrong, elder?"
"I have not set foot in glorious Kurast for many years, but I had never imagined it could be so... corrupted. This is Mephisto's work! Quickly my friends, you must find Diablo and Baal, and stop them," Deckard Cain said.
"Mephisto? The Lord of Hatred is here?" Heero demanded. Deckard nodded. "Then we must destroy him and his evil, forever," Heero said firmly.
"Oh yeah, all we have to do is take on the oldest of the three prime evils, no problem at all," Duo muttered, safely out of Heero's earshot. He then raised his voice. "I'm going to see who we trade with in this city... what's left of it..."
Duo's exploring took him down to Hratli, a sorceror-smith, or so it seemed. He greeted Duo amiably enough.
"Greetings, young man. It's a surprise to see new faces. Few come to Kurast willingly. I hope you have brought your wits, for sanity is in short supply."
Oh... great, Duo thought.
"Once Kurast was a magnificent city, but the forces of Mephisto have changed that. Now this jungle-hell has extended its reach everywhere but to this part of the city, because of the magical warding, which I cast, that protects it. And I do not know how long that will last."
'And this is supposed to help me feel better...how?' Duo thought sarcastically. Hratli's next words caught Duo's attention completely.
"To make matters worse, the order of Zakarum seems to be supporting the forces of hell."
Zakarum... isn't Heero a member of that order? Duo pondered.
"The so-called warriors of light are gathering their power at the great temple in Travincal. While they were once a great people, now they are surely the twisted puppets of a greater hand."
"Thanks for the info," Duo said and ran back to his friends, deeply troubled. He stopped by Heero, and whispered in his ear.
Quatre watched as an expression of hatred flitted over Heero's face, one that had slowly disappeared as he got to know Duo better.
"What?!" he roared. Duo shushed him.
"It's true. I heard it from this guy named Hratli, down by the..." Duo trailed off as Heero stormed off. "Heero, wait!"
"What's wrong?" Quatre asked. Duo ran a hand through his hair.
"The Zakarum, Heero's order, have been corrupted by Mephisto too," Duo said, and then, Heero had returned.
Heero was transformed. Instead of the somewhat cold, stoic figure he normally cut, his face was filled with grief and sorrow. Duo would have thought he'd be crying, but apparently Heero still had some type of grip on himself.
"We will have to destroy the corrupted order of Zakarum when we get to Travincal," Heero said, keeping his voice firm.
"Heero, you can't--" Duo began, but Heero stopped him.
"It's what they would want, if they were still themselves. They aren't the order, Duo, not any more. They're just more demons to fight," Heero said steadily.
Oh, Odin, perhaps it's better you died before seeing the order corrupted by Mephisto. Oh, my honoured mentor, what if I'm not strong enough? What if none of us are strong enough..? Heero thought.
"Heero, pessimism is a quality of dark creatures, and you know how paladins feel about them, right?" Duo said, breaking Heero from his depressing thoughts.
"Of course," he said slowly. It dawned on him Duo was trying to make him feel better. It was working, but only a little.
"Then let's go out there, kick some demon ass and be back in time for dinner!" Duo said. Heero almost cracked a smile. Almost. "Oh, and there's a woman named Natalya who we can get information from. She hunts down corrupted sorcerers." Quatre flinched.
"Let's head out," Quatre said with false brightness, wanting to be as far from the sorcerer hunter as possible.
He walked out of the main area across a stone pathway. In front of him he could see the oppressing jungle, and the fading of the magical influence from whatever was protecting this place.
At the edge of the influence, Quatre saw a hooded figure.
"Hello?" he called. The figure merely turned and began walking away. "Hey!" Quatre called, running to catch up with him. The figure continued walking, brown robes concealing his appearance. "It's dangerous out there! There are..."
Quatre trailed off as the figure turned around and Quatre got a good look. His scream split the air, and the others who had been following at a more leisurely pace ran forward.
"Quatre!" was all Trowa had time to say before the hooded figure, Diablo himself, grabbed Quatre and disappeared. "No! Quatre!"
To Be Continued... *insert demonic laughter here*
Back to Act IIh
On to Act IIIb