A cold chill ran down Rosaleón’s spine when he heard the noise coming from outside. There was a reason the tunnel was made in the first place, aside for making the travel through the mountains more efficient. The Silver Mountains where inhabited by baals, dangerous territorial beasts of incredible size and capable of absorbing lightning inside their bodies from the storms, so regular in the area. He grabbed the interphone as fast as he could, shaking in his hand from pure primal fear.

“Mercuria are ya still there?!- He asked shouting as every second seemed like an eternity, with his heart beating violently, menacing with bursting through the chest.

“Yes. What the hell was that?”

“We’re in trouble, a baal is coming!”

“A baal?”

“You’ll see soon. I need that you two slow that thing until we get out”

“Ok!”

The roadie turned off the machine and focused all his mind in driving at the maximum speed Belle allowed, struggling to keep his emotions under control.

“Oh gods…”

Hanging to the furniture to maintain her balance, Mercuria moved towards the hatch and took a nearby chair to reach it, showing part of her body to the exterior and directing her attention to the singer and the valkyrie.

“Hey, Rosaleón says we’re in trouble! A…baal is coming!” -She said, taking her time to remember the most recent word in her vocabulary.

“A what?”- Said Glam as she looked to the direction from which the sound of colossal steps came, scaring her. Not even the valkyrie at her side was immune to the effect this unknown menace caused, although she did her best to hide it from the exterior.

The body of a titanic creature began to show from the hole, moving at a slow pace, smelling the ambient with a loud noise from the air coming in and out of its nostrils and looking at the surroundings. The beast almost occupied the totality of the tunnel, showing its terrifying appearance bathed in lightning in all its splendour. Its grey skin was stuck to the skull, while on the rest of the body it highlighted the muscles, and its face held two pairs of eyes as red as blood, alongside great curved and charred tusks, ramified into smaller ones. The spine traversed through the body leaving easily noticeable undulations on the back, and the torso and legs covered in dark fur, with metal thorns raising from beneath it.

“That’s one ugly motherfucker”- Said Glam with her body paralyzed by the size of the creature.

The baal detected the vehicle and his roar rumbled all over the tunnel, expelling the electricity contained inside, and marched against the intruders in his territory with his thin yet muscular legs, with three fingers that held sharp claws.

“Oh shit, it’s coming! That monster is coming!”- Shouted Glam as she was being overwhelmed by her emotions.

“You!”- Said Bellaria to Mercuria, extending her hand to Mercuria- “Give me the Pick! otherwise we are doomed!”

Mercuria remained silent for a short time, changing her sight from the valkyrie’s hand to the beast that was chasing them and throwing, weighing the different possibilities and their outcomes as the increasing stress gradually clouded her mind.

“No, not yet!”

“We do not have time for this shit, just give me the fucking pick!”

“If there’s no other way I’ll do it, but we could avoid using it!”

“Gods-fucking-dammit!”

As she finished, a bolt of lightning landed above them, causing pieces of the ceiling to fall. With quick reflexes, Glam took her microphone to her mouth and shouted as high as she could, creating a soundwave that moved the debris away.

“Shit, that was close!”- Said the singer as she recovered.

“Fine, I will do it your way, but have that fucking thing ready to be used!”

Mercuria returned to the trailer’s interior as Bellaria moved her fingers over the strings and Glam prepared herself.

The ground shook with every step the beast took, obfuscated into killing those strange beings, leaving clouds of warm air behind as she expelled air. A strange mix of sounds clashed against his mighty roar and a sudden bright light deprived him from is vision, answering by throwing his energy once more in every direction. Unable to see, the baal used his sense of hear and smell to locate his prey, attacking blindly to wherever his instincts pointed as he gained distance. Glam and Bellaria attacked him again without success, as the creature resisted the sheer strength of the sound, and so changed their approach, destroying the tunnel’s walls to slow it down, more effective than the other one, yet the baal still approached.

With her guard still up, Glam observed how the monster’s hair was bristling, and sparks of lighting began to flow through is body, recognising it as an imminent attack, and raised a wall of mountain rock from the ground, surrounded by shining minerals, with her voice.

“I don’t think I can stand much longer”- Said Glam exhausted, holding on her knees as she caught her breath.

“Stop complaining and keep fighting”- Said the valkyrie as the noise of the wall falling apart.

“Oh, thanks for saving our asses Glam. You’re welcomed Bellaria”- Mockingly said the singer, tired of her recent partner- “Has someone told you before that you can be kind of a cold bitch?”

“Do not ever speak to me like that again”- Said Bellaria pointing with her index finger to the singer, whose anger continued to grow.

“How about you go and…”

Their discussion came to an end when the baal tore down the wall and continued the chase, fatigued but still persistent to kill the intruders. Thankfully, the light that came from the near exit announced safety. That is, if they managed to survive the remaining distance.

Every second felt like forever as each step the monster got closer perforated their innards with its noise. In a last effort, both Glam and Bellaria played their music, making the whole tunnel tremble and causing it to collapse, blocking the beast’s path. The stars welcomed them, celebrating their triumph with their light, and the baal roared a last time before it retired back to his domains.

“Con sarn it!”- Said Rosaleón as he took his hand to the chest and took deep breaths to recover himself, refusing to stop until they had left that place far behind, and took the interphone- “Is everybody okay?”

“Yes, they’re coming back inside right now”- Answered Mercuria.

“They?”

“That valkyrie from before came before and helped Glam against the bikers and the baal”

“Tell me everything when we stop”.

“Okay”

The women took a seat wherever they could and took a moment to themselves, until Bellaria watched The Pick hanging from the guitarist’s hand, prompting her to make her demand one more time.

“Now that we have solved our problems, give me The Pick”

Mercuria hold tighter her grasp over the object before replying to the valkyrie.

“No, I… I don’t trust you. You’ve been asking too much for it”

“It is for your own good. Now give it to me”

“I agree with Mercuria”- Said Glam as she turned her stand into a halberd and pointed the winged woman with it.

“You do not understand”- Replied Bellaria- “It is too much for a common person to stand this responsibility”

The answer didn’t cause any positive effect in the two women, whose suspicions grew stronger.

“Just give me the fucking pick!”- Shouted the valkyrie as she moved the halberd away from her with her artificial arm and punched the singer in the throat, jumping afterwards over Mercuria and hitting her in the face. She took the desired treasure from her hand like if its life depended on it and ran away, throwing Glam to the floor in the process.

Enveloped in the dark night, Bellaria flew away to a destiny known only to herself, with her mission partially completed and a step closer to her final objective, leaving behind a confused and frustrated group that didn’t knew the danger of the enemy they had made.