"William? Are you there? I can't see anything." Sam shouted as he felt his way around in the dark before stumbling onto something solid. He felt his hands around, trying to figure out what he was feeling.

"Don't move, Sam! I'll make my way over to you" William reached out one of his hands to guide him as the other carried the book that transported them. He felt some kind of stick, and he pulled on it, causing the room to light up with torches sprouting a blue flame.

Sam, now being able to see, was amazed at the statue that he was touching it. It was a bonafide Omnituen, not one of the worshipers but the actual beings who lived in the Pinnacle and rarely left it except for their church's extreme matters. Large angelic wings sprouted from its back, and it was wearing what seemed to be large plate armor that was now encased in stone. Sam couldn't make out what its face looked like beneath its helmet, but he was in awe of it.

"William, do you see this? It's an actual Omnituen. I've never seen one before outside of paintings or from the book of laws." Sam walked around the statue, observing all of its features.

"That's not the only thing in here Sam, there are statues everywhere!" William had begun walking in the room, observing a mix of humans, monsters, and more Omnituen that seemed like they were forever frozen in place in the middle of a battle. The room was large and open, with stone walls surrounding them and pillars scattered throughout. He stopped as he reached a statue that seemed eerily familiar to him.

It's the same as the Lizard guy that I saw in my dream?

They made their way deeper into the room as more torches began lighting up, showing more of the statues and some broken ones lying on the ground. In the corner, Sam spotted what seemed to be a giant monster that walked on all fours and seemed to have been frozen while in combat with multiple of the Omintuen. William continued walking toward an alter he spotted at the end of a room with a singular statue next to it and a cloak that not been turned into stone over it. On the altar was a massive object that was also wrapped in fabric. William felt a strange sensation as he looked at it. It was drawing him in.

Sam continued to observe the creature more as he found a spiked ball at the end of its tail. As he was finishing his walk around the monster, he noticed on its left flank that it had a spear sticking out that had not been fully solidified in stone either. He gently tapped the spear and watched as it fell out of the creature.

"Be careful over there!" William shouted. Sam sighed as he picked up the spear and started twirling it around, pretending he was some sort of a fighter until he accidentally hit one of the statues, causing a piece of it to break off.

"What did I just say?"

"Sorry!"

William sighed and continued until he reached the altar, the book had begun to glow again, and William held it up in front of him. Once he was next to the statue with a cloak on it, the book floated away from his hands until it was in front of him and rapidly flipped pages until landing on one.

"What good is it showing me a random page if I can't read it?" William muttered, fed up with this book.

As if to acknowledge his plight, the book had the ink within it start to rearrange itself in multiple languages until it landed on one William understood.

De-petrification Spell? You want me to use this spell on the statue? I've never even used magic.

The book tilted itself in the air back and forth as if answering the question in his mind. William sighed as he read the page.

"First, slice open your hand and used the hand to draw this sigil on the person you are de-petrifying. Then continue chanting this spell until De-petrification is completed." William reached in his satchel, feeling around for any sharp object but couldn't find any.

That's gonna be a problem; maybe there's something in there I could use?

William looked back down to the Alter at the objected wrapped in brown cloth. He began to unwrap it until it revealed the evilest looking sword he had ever seen. The blade's length and width were unlike anything he had seen the Omnituens at the village carry. The blade was black and seemed to be made out of an otherworldly metal with flesh-like texture wrapping itself around it. At the end of the blade, he could see that it became a hook at one of the edges, but that wasn't what even stood out the most. Where the blade and hilt met, there was a giant circular object in it that was covered with black material, unlike the rest of the blade.

What is this thing? Whatever, I'm sure it can cut my hand; hopefully, it won't take the whole thing off.

William reached out and grabbed the handle and collapsed to his knees, still holding onto the handle. Pain flew throughout his entire body, and he felt like he was on fire. He tried to call out to Sam, looking at the other statues, but he couldn't get the words out of his throat. His whole body was seizing, but his hand was unable to let off the handle.

"I'm surprised you've lasted this long. If you can keep it up, maybe, you'll be able to swing me." A voice had come from his head that was not his own. He wanted to question it, but he continued enduring the pain silently as tears fell from his face. He had lost the ability to breathe, and his vision was starting to go dark.

"Congratulations, it's done!" The voice this time sounded cheerful. William opened his eyes and realized that he no longer felt pain throughout his body. Instead, he felt more aware and awake than he had ever been.

"Hey, you gonna say anything else?" William asked the blade as he lifted it up the handle end as much as he could. It was cumbersome, which William thought would be the case with how large it was.

Maybe I was hallucinating from all the pain? Whatever, I can at least use this thing for the De-petrification spell.

William used his right arm to hold the blade at an angle as he brought his left hand onto one of the edges. Before he could even press into it. His hand had begun dripping blood. William let go of the sword and looked at his left hand. The entire part of it that had touched the edge was ripped open and bleeding.

That's one hell of a sharp blade. I think this is going to be more than enough blood.

William turned to face the statue and removed the cloak from it, and felt a chill come over him. It was the woman he had seen in his dream but younger and more girlish. She had horns sprouting from her forehead, and she was wearing some sort of dress with a breastplate attached to her, hiding the size of her bosom. It then clicked in William's head.

She's a real demon. Like the ones from the stories that Omnituens tell us when we were kids. They're all supposed to be evil and had once tried to conquer humanity. I can't free this thing!

William didn't realize, but his hands had already begun to draw the sigil on her with his blood. He tried to stop, but whenever he resisted, his arms glowed the same purple color as the book that continued to float in front of him. As if to mock him and tell him that it was too late.

"Stone Cage Release Spell!" William continued to chant over and over again, unable to control his mouth. Sam was still playing with the spear. He came closer to see what William was doing and saw the book floating in the air and blood dripping from William's hand.

"William? What are you doing" Sam was horrified as he saw the stone began to break off the statue revealing the cloth and flesh beneath it.

"SAM-Stone-I-Cage-Stop-Release-Chanting-Spell!" William struggled to explain what was going on as they heard something else cracking from within the room. Sam took his attention from William and ran towards the cracking sound as stone continued falling into the floor. He found the beast that had previously been imprisoned was now freeing itself. Its tail had already completely unthawed and started smashing around wildly, breaking the other statues.

"William, whatever you are doing is waking up the monster over here too!" Sam didn't know what to do as it would be mere seconds before the beast was completely freed. Panicked, he ran behind one of the pillars in the room as William continue chanting. The statue's legs and arms had almost been completely freed of stone while her core and head were still encased.

The monster was finally freed of the stone cage that had imprisoned it for hundreds of years. It snarled as saliva dripped from its mouth as it looked for the intruders in the domain it was entrusted with protecting. It could smell blood in the air and began moving toward it. Running over the other statues in its way, leaving only pieces of the people who use to be there.

William still couldn't stop the chanting as the de-petrification had still not reached the girl's neck, and her face was still frozen. The book had the same glow on her body, making sure it did not slump over and cause her head to shatter. The beast that Sam was scared of was now in sight of William, and he could see why Sam was scared. It had vicious horns on its head coming out its head and tusk sprouting from its mouth, causing it to be open ever so slightly and let the drool fall out of it. It was making it's way over to William.

This damn book. It rather cause us both to die than fail to complete the spell.

William kept glancing from the girl to the monster and realized the spell would not finish in time for him to run from the creature. Suddenly he saw a flash of blonde hair as Sam had peaked from the pillar and saw the monster heading for William. William locked eyes with Sam and pleaded with him not to try anything as he didn't want him to die too.

Sam gripped the spear from earlier tightly and took a deep breath. He knew this was possibly the stupidest thing he could do as he had no hope of beating such a beast, but he wouldn't let William die. He ran from the pillar into the open and charged the spear into where the monster had previously been pierced, causing it to roar in anger. Sam tried to pull out the spear as he intended to repeat this tactic using the pillars in the room to distract it from William, but the spear would not budge.

The monster realizing Sam was still holding onto the end of the spear, viscously rolled over to its side and launched Sam into another group of statues. Sam let out a yelp of pain as he collided. One of the statues had fallen over with its spear forward, traping Sam's left thigh down into the ground. He screamed out in pain and fear as the Monster continued to make it's way over to Sam.

"Don't worry about me, Will! I've got it handled over here!" Sam shouted, trying to fool himself. Sam closed his eyes and felt almost a sense of relief because he could help William even a little bit, who was always helping him. "It won't long now until this monster makes me into its meal. I'm sorry I couldn't do more, Will." Sam thought as tears came down his face.

William was growing frustrated that he couldn't stop chanting as the monster was making it's way over to the pinned Sam. He kept looking back at the girl, who was almost completely unfrozen now, but he didn't know what he could even do once the spell was finished. He had never fought or seen a real monster before, but if he didn't do anything, Sam would die. The spell finished, and the girl fell down to the ground. William began to move towards the monster when the sword's fleshy tendrils had shot out and wrapped itself around his left arm. He tried to pull against it causing the sword to fall off the alter and dislocating his left shoulder as its great weight hit the ground. He bit into his lips to control the pain. Blood began to leak from them.

Dammit! Come on, you bastard, You said you would let me swing you! Let me swing you now!

William was running out of time. He kept pulling the sword using the tendrils around his arm, desperate to save Sam. It wasn't fear he was feeling anymore. He was mad, mad that they were in these circumstances, mad that the book forced him to complete the spell instead of helping Sam, mad at his own lack of strength. The tendrils began to pulse on him as they felt the dark feelings in William's heart.

"We can kill it, this beast, anything that gets in our way" The voice was speaking to him again. "Take that rage and feed it all to me." The tendrils had fully enveloped William's left arm bringing the blade into his grip. He dragged it as it cut into the stone ground below the sound, gaining the attention of the monster who had now turned its attention to him.

"Come on, you overgrown rat! Your lunch isn't going to be free!" William shouted, taunting the monster. Sam opened his eyes finally after hearing William saying something other than the spell. William was almost unrecognizable to him with the dark mass that had covered one of his arms, pulling a massive sword. Sam was in awe and in fear of what was happening to his best friend.

William prepared himself as the beast began to charge at him. He gripped the blade as tightly as he could, ignoring the pain in his left arm and instead focusing on the unnatural strength he felt flowing into him.

I can kill this thing. Because it's in my way.

He could feel the approval from the blade because of his resolve. William smirked as his foe reached his slashing range. He willed his arm to move and brought the blade up vertically as fast as he could, cutting through the monster and removing one of its legs, causing it to lose its balance.

I did it! I manage to cut it! Now I just-

William felt the pain he had never felt before. He had failed to keep in mind the spiked end of the beast tail, which it had flung into him, piercing his chest and stomach in multiple spots.

"William!" Sam cried out

The beast pulled its tail out of William, causing blood to start flowing out of his body, the dark tendrils that had allowed him to lift the blade had retracted back onto the sword as William fell down to the ground. There was no voice now telling him what to do, just his own thoughts.

Well, I was able to hurt it, at least. I'm sorry I couldn't do more, Sam.

William let the darkness comfort him as he lost consciousness. Sam tried desperately to remove the spear from his thigh so he could get over to William. He managed to pull it out; however, he could not get to his feet as the beast had begun to move onto William's body.

"The people who freed me are this weak? Pathetic." Sam looked to find that voice came from the woman who was previously encased in stone. She was stretching her limbs, trying to shake off the stiffness from the two hundred years she had been imprisoned. The monster turned its attention to its new opponent. "Disgusting, They chose something so lowly like this to keep me here?" She spoke with scorn in her voice.

She raised up her right palm in the direction of her opponent.

"Obliterate"