April 10, 2032
County Kerry, Ireland
Lord Samson whistled a cheerful song as he walked through the woods. The orangish light of the setting sun always cheered him up. It was like a spotlight for a champion who had just conquered his foe. His foe was a deer he had hunted and butchered. It was inside a heavy leather bag he held in his hand while in the other he held a hunting rifle. He was a strongly built man of average height. He had a magnificent looking moustache which was complimented by sideburns that ran till his jaw. There was a tweed, striped hunting cap on his head and he wore 19th century style hunting clothes.
Samson felt that he was the best hunter in the world. He had been considered one two centuries ago too. But now, he was an immortal hunter. He was a respawner.
But on this occasion, he had no idea that he was the hunted.
"There's the ancient whiskered bugger," said Crazy Terry watching the respawner through the binoculars he was holding.
"He's got a victim in the bag," noted Professor Terry.
"Well, let's make sure that's his last."
Crazy Terry moved forward stealthily like a cat. Hunting was his forte and Professor Terry had let him control the body in this situation. They both shared the same body after Professor Terry had developed a peculiar multiple personality disorder.
They both watched Samson like a hawk as Crazy Terry cut through the trees and bushes like a silent wind.
Eventually, the respawner arrived at an ancient looking castle. Vines trailed across its surface along with patches of moss, giving it a greenish texture. The castle was not very big but everyone in the respawner's zone feared it. Even the woods that encircled nearby seemed always to be deserted from any sign of life.
"No unusual weakness exhibited by his behavior yet. Just like all the other respawners," noted Professor Terry.
"Hopefully, your theory will work. If it doesn't, then we're screwed," said Crazy Terry.
"It should work. According to my calculations…"
"Stuff it!" interrupted Crazy Terry. "Don't want to hear your scientific mumbo jumbo right now."
The entrance was guarded heavily by the mercenaries that Samson had hired to protect the castle and watch over proceedings in the nearby village. They also kept patrol around the castle walls and the nearby forests. Crazy Terry had to stealthily make his way around them before approaching a tree closest to the castle walls. Before he began to climb it, he noticed a recon surveying the area with his scope of sniper rifle. He had not noticed Crazy Terry who climbed the tree silently and swiftly before he drew out a blade from underneath his robotic prosthetic right arm. The blade was built within the arm and was one of Professor Terry's inventions that he had built after a respawner had cut it off years ago. His inventions were key to their survival and were perhaps the main reason why they both weren't dead yet.
Professor Terry cupped his hand around the recon's mouth and shoved the blade into his back. The man tried to fight back but Crazy Terry turned the blade inside his back until the recon had died. Crazy Terry swiftly lowered the dead body and hid it in one of the nearby bushes. He scaled the tree back up and looked at the nearby castle walls which were still a long way off to jump to. But Crazy Terry had gravity boots that Professor Terry had invented.
He quickly activated them as he jumped off the tree. They gave him a quick boost that elevated him enough to grab the window sill he was aiming for. The walls of the castle were crumbling and as Crazy Terry hauled himself from up the window ledge, it broke from his hold and he fell.
He desperately got hold of a vine but it snapped immediately from his weight. Professor Terry was quick to react as he took control over the body and pulled out the blade from within their prosthetic arm. The blade cut through the stone and held into it as they came to a screeching halt. Crazy Terry looked below to see if the guards had noticed him. They hadn't.
"You should use my inventions in a better way," criticized Professor Terry.
"I was going to," lied Crazy Terry. "Now get back in and play with your test tubes or something."
Crazy Terry, using a combination of the blade and the hanging vines, reached the window and slipped inside. He was in a long corridor that stretched a long way ahead. A flight of stairs ran down towards his left. A pale flickering light from the burning lanterns illuminated the hall. Crazy Terry had seen a lot of messed up stuff in his life. But what he saw on the walls made him cringe.
There were human faces with lifeless eyes staring at him as he walked through the corridor. Human heads were stuck to plaques like trophies. Among them, there were heads of animals too. The trophies stretched throughout the castle hall. To the Terrys, it seemed like it would never end.
"And they called me crazy," muttered Crazy Terry. "These must be those villagers that he captured and hunted in his arena and the forests. This guy's sick."
"It has to be among the trophies," said Professor Terry. "An object that links him to his past."
"You say that like it's an easy job."
That's when a man entered the corridor and Crazy Terry quickly jumped out of the window and hung over the window sill. He waited for the person to walk past him and out of sight. It was one of the many black servants that served Lord Samson against their wills. They were young men who had been snatched away from their families and forced to work in the castle. Professor Terry had also noticed that none of the mercenaries who were patrolling around the castles had been black. Racist prick.
Crazy Terry continued to search among the trophies. He was careful as he crossed the doors in the corridor listening intently for any noise and hiding when a servant would be walking close by. The castle began to look more furnished as he ventured deeper into the castle. There was rich carpeting on the floors with silk drapes on the windows. There were also many life-like statues and armors set against the wall along with ancient portraits hanging on the walls.
"This man's taste is as old as himself," remarked Crazy Terry.
That's when they heard a woman screaming. It was followed by the sounds of violence.
Crazy Terry stealthily made his way to the lit room where the sound had come from and peeped inside. A woman dressed in a white gown lay on the ground. The respawner Samson was cracking his knuckles.
"That's the last time you'll ever sneak into my study, Sally," said Samson. "If I catch you inside ever again, I swear I'll make you part of my collection. Is that clear?"
"Yes," sobbed Sally.
Samson kicked her hard in the stomach which made her scream in agony. "Correct that accent of yours, you wench!" scolded Samson. "You're the wife of an esteemed lord like me. This is how the filthy peasants of this time talk. Like your father."
With that, Samson turned towards the exit.
"One more thing," he added as he reached the door. "Tonight, it's your turn to join me in my chambers. Your sister is still undergoing her punishment for disrespecting me. You both still have a lot to learn about your duties to me as wives."
"The farmers' daughters," noted Professor Terry. Crazy Terry did not hear him. His fists were clenched in fury. They had met the farmer that lived a few miles away whose daughters Samson had taken away who had chosen them as his wives because of their beauty. Against the farmer's wishes, of course.
"You should follow him. Maybe he'll lead you to it," said Professor Terry.
Crazy Terry followed Samson downstairs, who had his rifle slung over his shoulders. A servant, wearing a flimsy white shirt and black trousers like all of them, was finishing lighting the lanterns in the downstairs corridors. The sun was just at the pinnacle of completely setting.
"Good evening, master," he said with submissive bow towards Lord Samson.
"Are the upstairs corridors cleaned and dusted?" he asked the servant with an air of disgust, as if the man did not deserve to be standing in his presence.
"No, master. We were just finishing these corridors and-" The servant was cut short after getting kicked in the gut by his master. He fell to the ground groaning.
"Then what are you standing here and doing talking to me?" demanded Samson. He looked towards his shoe as if it had been tainted. "If the upstairs corridors are not spotless within the hour then I will give you a whipping so bad you won't be able to stand. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes… Yes… master. I will get on to it at once," said the servant holding at his stomach and hurrying away to the stairs.
Lord Samson was not in the best of moods. He had invited an exotic animal trafficker to his castle tomorrow morning and was nervous about the meeting where they were going to negotiate the price for a rare white rhino that the lord wanted to obtain. He wanted the castle to be spotless when he would show the man around it and how was that going to be possible if his wives and servants were going to slack off? He had already made his mind up to whip each one of them for a whole day if his meeting did not go well.
"This guy just keeps on giving me reasons to kill him," commented Crazy Terry through gritted teeth.
The respawner made his way forward and Crazy Terry followed until eventually, they arrived at the courtyard which was in the middle of the castle. The courtyard had been heavily modified to look like an arena. It was designed like a maze with towering walls that blotted out the rays of the setting sun. He could only see the windows of the rooms in the top floor of the castle from there. Professor Terry also noted the mechanical gates that shut down any victim within the arena inside which the respawner would hunt them down.
Crazy Terry stepped onto the thick grass and followed the respawner through the arena. He treaded softly and peeked around the corners before moving ahead.
"He's probably going to go check on one of the victims he's caged somewhere the arena." Crazy Terry had obtained that information from asking around people in the village.
The respawner would kidnap victims from the nearby village and imprison them in cages. He would then set them free in the middle of the maze and hunt them down as they tried to find the exits. "Maybe we can free them."
"You must stay careful though," advised the professor.
Eventually, they arrived at the middle of the maze where Crazy Terry noticed the various cages hanging from wooden poles. They were all empty. Had his prisoners escaped or something? Though Lord Samson did not seem to be showing any signs of finding the empty cages unusual.
"A good hunter," proclaimed Samson out loud. Crazy Terry stopped in his tracks. He instantly knew something was wrong. He was just about to activate his gravity boots when he heard the click.
Too late.
The bear trap pounced onto his right foot. Crazy Terry howled in pain as the trap's teeth dug deep into his foot. He looked up to see Samson aiming the rifle at his head.
"A good hunter…" repeated Samson then continued. "always kills his prey when they are at their weakest."
He fired.
Crazy Terry was quick to react. He painfully hauled up his trapped foot and the bullet hit the hinges of the trap. It came loose and he pushed it away. He immediately drew out the blade from underneath his prosthetic arm and deflected another bullet from Samson.
Crazy Terry stared at his foot with greeted teeth. The gravity boot had been crushed and had prevented his foot from breaking. Still, the trap had damaged it but he could still limp.
"You think you can come to my home and kill me," proclaimed Samson aiming the rifle at him and firing again. Crazy Terry deflected it again with his blade and hurriedly limped away towards the corridors of the maze. "You think you're the only one who has tried? Many have tried to kill me. My wives' lovers have tried to save them too. They all died here. Just like you will."
Crazy Terry deflected another bullet and Samson laughed heartedly. He loved the feeling of a prey cowering and running away from him in fear. It made him feel like a god. Of course, he was a god. He could not die.
"It's been a while since I last hunted a human of your skillset. They seldom present any challenge to me. But you seem like a worthy foe. You possess a lot of agility, reflexes and stealth. No wonder you weren't caught trying to enter my castle." He then looked up at the windows and ordered in a booming voice. "Close the gates!" The mechanical gates then slowly closed making a loud groaning noise that shot fear through Crazy Terry's heart. "I will give you a head start so you better make as much progress as you can."
Crazy Terry continued to limp through the maze with absolutely no idea where he was going. The pain had sent all his acute senses into disarray. He heard a distant gunshot which froze him. It was followed by a sound of thunder. Samson had shot himself so he could move away from the maze for the head start.
Crazy Terry took off his shirt and wrapped it around his bleeding foot. The blood would easily give them away especially considering how good a hunter Samson was. They would need all the luck in the world if they were to get out of this godforsaken maze.
"Stop, move right from here, not left," directed Professor Terry.
"How do you know where to go, mister smarty-pants?" asked Crazy Terry. He was in no mood to listen to Professor Terry.
"I memorized the path when you were following the respawner. I had a feeling he was leading us to a trap and it seems like it was a wise decision."
"Why didn't you tell me about it before?"
"You are the instinctive one and so I felt you knew what you were doing. Either way, you would not have listened to me."
A few minutes passed where Crazy Terry limped through the maze instructed by his professor counterpart. Left. Right. Right. Straight. Two more lefts. Another right. Crazy Terry stopped when he heard a distant gunshot before lightning struck nearby. The respawner had respawned back into the maze. After a few seconds, he heard another gunshot and the respawner transported to a different spot in the maze. The injured Terrys realized that Lord Samson would find them very quickly at this rate. Fear shot through their heart when the realization hit him. We're screwed! They had targeted Samson thinking he would be an easy target. Now he was on the verge of killing them.
Straight ahead. Two lefts. Right, no wait, left. Now right.
"What if he cuts us off at the exit?" asked Professor Terry.
"We have to take the risk. Because at this rate he is going to find us soon enough. We have to keep mov-"
The sound of thunder boomed cutting Professor Terry off just as Crazy Terry turned the corner. The respawner had spawned just inside the pathway they had just been in. Crazy Terry hugged the wall at the corner and held his breath. He could hear the respawner shuffling around in the corridor.
Samson was crouched at the beginning of the pathway looking intently at the grass. It was difficult to make out any of the bloody marks on the grass which he had seen in the beginning of the maze. This guy is good. But no matter. This would only just extend the life of his stalker for a few mere moments.
Crazy Terry then heard the respawner move away towards the pathway from which the professor had ushered him away. Whew! That was bloody close.
They continued making their way through the maze. The lightning strikes continued and the professor knew that it was only a matter of time before the respawner would just end up respawning at the exit and gunning them down.
"The exit is not far from here no-"
Professor Terry was cut off by the lightning that struck the ground in front of them and the respawner stood with his back towards them.
This time Crazy Terry was the quicker one to react. He thrust out the blade from his arm and ran for the respawner who quickly turned around with his rifle aimed at him. Before he could fire, the blade cut clean through his shoulder and his whole arm fell to the ground.
Crazy Terry leaped onto the howling respawner's back and activated the working gravity boot. He managed to gain some air slightly losing control before barely managing to grab hold of the edge of the maze's wall. The respawner had spawned again now and had his rifle aimed at Crazy Terry from below who jumped for the nearby window while activating his boot again. The bullet missed grazing the top of the wall and the Terrys went hurling through the window.
Broken glass splintered all over Crazy Terry's body and the heavily carpeted floor. He looked up to see he was inside a spacious bedroom adorned in rich velvet. A young woman wearing a black gown sat in front of a dressing table. She screamed at the sight of the blood-covered Terrys that crashed inside.
The realization hit Professor Terry as they regained their composure. As if the pain that wracked their body had given him the answer.
There is only one way to escape.
How?
By killing him?
How will we do that, mister smarty-pants?
He told Sally not to go into his study.
So?
Where would Samson put his most prized possession?
Crazy Terry understood.
"Where's his study?" asked Crazy Terry in a panicked rush. The woman sat frozen in silence. "Please, hurry. I'm here to help you!"
The woman regained her composure and pointed towards the left. "Around the corner and two doors down," she whimpered.
He could feel shards of glass biting into him like relentless mosquitos as he stood up. But it was nothing compared to the pain in his injured foot. Crazy Terry limped outside into the corridor and froze. There were three mercenaries patrolling inside the corridor. They must have entered after all the ruckus they had heard. They instantly began to fire their assault rifles at Crazy Terry.
He drew out the blade from his arm and began to deflect each bullet and moved forward as they shot at him. When their magazines had emptied, Crazy Terry rushed forward and shoved the blade into the nearest enemy's gut before pulling it out and slashing the other guard's throat.
A flash of lightning struck behind him and he instantly grabbed the remaining mercenary and pulled him in front of him. Lord Samson was enraged at all the destruction that was occurring within his castles.
I will make this man rue this day! He thought as he fired his rifle in a semi-automatic manner at him. All the bullets hit the guard in his body and he groaned in pain as Crazy Terry used him as a shield making his way backward through the corridor. When the respawner's magazine had been depleted, Crazy Terry put his gravity boot against the corpse in his arms and activated it. The body went rushing at full force and collided into Lord Samson. Crazy Terry hurriedly limped around the corner and stood in front of the respawner's study.
Another gunshot followed by a lightning strike behind him and Crazy Terry leaped into the air with the help of his gravity boot at the exact moment. Samson looked around in confusion and noticed Crazy Terry's shadow grow over him as he fell on to him from above. But it was too late. Crazy Terry cut through Samson's shooting arm again and the respawner's arm fell to the ground. He then used his gravity boot against Samson's body who shot away with full force.
Crazy Terry entered the study and looked around. A fireplace was lit inside the room that had an ancient aura to it. There were trophies inside the study too though one of them was more prominent than the rest. The plaque that the trophy was stuck to was freshly polished. It was looked after so well that you could see the flames dancing across the surface.
The head stuck to the plaque belonged to a Bengal tiger with a scar across its left eye. The size of the head showed how huge the tiger had been. The words 'Shere Khan' were engraved on the plaque referring to the legendary tiger that many had tried to hunt in the 19th Century and failed.
"I'm sure that is it," said Professor Terry. "The slipknot to his past. You destroy that and his existence should unravel. That is what my calculations say, at least."
"You better be right," muttered Crazy Terry.
Crazy Terry grabbed the trophy of the wall and limped towards the fireplace. The trophy was very heavy and it took Crazy Terry a while especially with his injuries. That's when the respawner spawned inside the study. Crazy Terry lifted the trophy towards the fireplace as Samson aimed the rifle at him whose arrogant smile instantly vanished and he lowered the weapon.
"What are you doing?" asked Samson. There was worry in his voice now.
"What's the matter?" asked Crazy Terry. "Why do you sound so tense? That's really strange from a man who can't die."
Samson gulped. "It's just a very special trophy for me. Put it down or I swear…"
Terry inched the trophy towards the flames and Samson let out a frightened yell. He dropped the rifle to the ground.
"Stop!" he pleased. "Please, stop! I'll let you go. Just give me back the trophy."
"Tell me," said Crazy Terry with a sly smile on his face. "Who the better hunter is?"
Samson hesitated.
"You are," he finally muttered in a disgusted tone.
"Aye," Crazy Terry smiled. "And a good hunter always kills their prey when they are at their weakest."
Crazy Terry threw the trophy into the fire. The respawner let out a cry of anguish and ran forward to save the trophy from the fire. Crazy Terry kicked Samson hard in the chest with his uninjured foot and activated his gravity boot. Samson flew out of the room and slammed into a suit of armor which fell on top of him. Lord Samson hurriedly got to his feet and stabbed himself with the sword which had been attached to the suit of armor. He then respawned right in front of the fireplace.
"Oh no you don't," said Crazy Terry. The blade shout out of his right hand and he slammed it straight into his gut. Samson's let out a howl of pain that sounded across the corridors of the castle. He writhed in pain trying to escape by flailing his body but Crazy Terry held him there. The trophy too burnt alongside until it was barely recognizable and slowly turned to ash.
As the trophy disintegrated, the respawner's body, slowly went limp. He did not respawn. Crazy Terry fell to the ground and let out a sigh of relief. He waited, watching the body intently, until he sure that Samson was not going to respawn.
"My theory was correct," said Professor Terry joyful completely ignorant of the pain that wracked their body. "Every respawner has a slipknot. I told you."
"Yes, you were right," admitted Crazy Terry in awe. "You're never right."
"Actually, most of the time you just don't listen to…"
"Stuff it!" said Crazy Terry hearing voices outside the doorway. "We aren't done just yet."
The mercenaries were making their way into the corridor. Crazy Terry's blade glinted with the light of the fireplace. He hurried outside to face them.