Chapter CLXIII: Problem for the Few… ~Grimace Death

Now, sitting there, in a small four-foot-by-four-foot room, on the floor, Grimace Death awaited the moment. It had been hours; maybe even a day, or two, since he had awakened in the corner of this room. His staff was taken and locked away in another room all together. He had found this valuable information out when one of the guards, who was a little drunk, gave in too easily, and started answering all the questions asked. The demon now knew that he was somewhere near the back of the Spectrum, in a reinforced cell, guarded by two guards. One of which, wasn’t very good at his job, sometimes falling asleep for long periods of time while the other guard was off his shift. During most of the time both were there, but for maybe two or three hours at a time, there was only one guard, while the other went off to eat, or change or sleep. Yet, when the one foolish guard was on duty, Grimace Death had never made his move...the other guard was always curious to this.

“A demon of his power...” he stated one time while talking with his partner. “And he never takes his chance...”

“What make’s you think he’s so powerful?” asked the other guard as he took a sip of his drink.

“Well, why else would we have to lock him up, at the back of the ship with two guards,“ he continued, “and have his Staff locked up at the other end of the ship?”

“Well, maybe he just looks powerful.”

This was the guard that always gave Grimace a chuckle. Looks powerful...the demon thought, he’ll see soon enough...

And at this exact moment, Grimace Death thought it was time. Again, the one guard was sleeping. He apparently believed his theory of only looking powerful.

Grimace Death raised his hand towards his neck, and ripped at his beaded necklace. They may have taken his staff, but he still had his necklace of souls. He pulled off two of the beads, as the rest fell off the broken necklace. They all seemed to be magnetic as they rolled into one another in a line and reformed the necklace. Grimace picked it up and slid it back over his neck. With the two beads in his hand, he quietly started to chant - he had to be quiet because he didn’t want to wake up the guard. Though there was probably nothing he could do, Grimace Death thought it better to be safe than sorry.

“Orim, Dijin, Shareef,” the demon started.

Even without his staff he had some power: not nearly as much as his staff, but enough to get himself free.

“Ranok, Kyurok, Whirleith.”

The two beads started to glow. One was a dim forest green, the other was pastel blue. He stood up to the small caged opening of his cell and tossed the green bead outside. It rolled on the floor and hit a wall. It stopped. The guard, snorted restlessly, but then went back to sleep. Grimace Death wished he had his staff - It only takes a second with my staff he thought. Yet he continued his chant: “Halow, fripow, kinate. Pskyew, Minew, shibate.” The green bead started to shake against the wall. It rattled and bounced. The guard awoke.

“Huh?! Arrgh! What’s going on?” He stood up and turned too see Grimace Death smiling at him from behind the bars. “Stop whatever you’re doing! Stop it NOW!”

The guard pulled a dagger from his belt and held it up for the prisoner to see. The prisoner just chuckled, as he tossed the blue bead out the bars. The guard turned to watch the bead line up with the other against the wall. Both beads vanished into blue and green smoke. The green swirled up and formed the shape of a panther, while the blue seemed to form a brain.

“It doesn’t need to feed, yet it still hungers…” Grimace Death chuckled as the smoke turned into the real thing.

A black panther walked its way slowly toward the guard who slashed his dagger back and forth in front of him, as if it was going to help him.

“Help!” The guard cried out. “The demon guy, he’s released some big cat creature...HELP!”

No one came running. The last time he had cried out for help, he was drunk, and said he was pulling a practical joke - not funny anymore. The panther lunged toward the guard and started to maul him...but before the cat could finish him off, Grimace Death called him off. He told the cat to get the keys, and sure enough, the cat started to claw at the guard’s belt. He got the keys free but couldn’t seem to get them high enough to reach his masters arm. Grimace Death toppled backwards into the wall. He knew that without his staff he couldn’t keep his panther alive for long, he had made it extra smart with the blue bead, but it also was draining his power by the minute. He was becoming weak. Instantly, the panther vanished into the blue and green smoke which returned itself to the necklace in two new beads. The keys were left lying there in front of the door, the guard, was lying in the middle of the hall, with his face and rest of his body covered in scratches.

Grimace reached around his neck and took off his necklace. He reached down as far as he could and used his necklace to hook the keys and pull them up. He opened the door and went over to the guard. He grabbed the small dagger, then dragged the unconscious body into the cell. He locked the door and then ran off toward the back of the ship, hoping he would find a power source of some kind, which he could use to cause another blackout. It worked before, why wouldn’t it work now? And as easily as he had been caught, the demon ran off deeper into the train...