Rise of the Dead!!…

*She was just a beautiful dream that ended as my brutal reality began!!...*

**Vlad**
I closed my eyes, and all I could see was her face. The face that had the power to tame the heart of the Vampire prince. But then, as I opened my eyes, she faded away. I was trying too hard not to let her fade away. I was constantly lapping my wings, trying to reach her with every ounce of power, but she just vanished as before. And this time, I feared that I may never see her again.
Either way, I knew that I screwed it up because of this girl, as those corpses were overpowering me, using me as a pole to climb on top of me. I was trying with all the power I had to unfold my wings, but it was impossible with more and more fugglies climbing up on me. One of the dead was scraping its talon on my left wing, almost about to tear through it. That was when I heard a massive crash, throwing many of the dead back into the hole from where they slithered out. A hooded figure moved swiftly, chopping off the heads of the remaining corpses and sending them back once again to their resting place.
My eyes widened in surprise when I realized who that hooded figure was.
"Hades!!??" I was utterly shocked. But soon, more of the corpses rose from the dead, spreading out their limbs to get us.
"Well, that's a mess you've got us into," Hades replied, looking at those rotten limbs climbing our feet and trying to drag us down.
"Don't blame me; it was that girl I followed," I muttered.
"A girl? Are you for real? Vampire Prince needs his ass to be rescued because of a girl! WoW, I would love to remind you for the rest of our eternal life." Hades' response had me biting.
"We are even as I had already saved your ass once before when that crazy Aleera and Estrella's brother tried to bite you!"
"Yeah, that bastard thought he would abduct me and use my life as leverage to bargain with our parents!"
"I can't even remember the dude's name, but that bastard was totally clueless on the shit his feet were getting into."
"Alcazar or something, but I hate to admit that guy had nothing on these corpses," Hades responded, trying to free himself by stabbing through the hearts of the dead.
"Yeah, they take the prize for being deadlier, stinkier and out of control," I replied, catching the blade Hades threw at me and slashing through the elbow of the dead who was trying to slash my wings.
"And I have to admit that doesn't sound like much fun," Hades said, looking down at the big horde of corpses emerging from the shithole and climbing on each other to get us.
"Same here," I spoke as now the talons of the corpses were slicing our skin like a fork tearing through the meat.
"Not if we could figure out how to make this a great escape story. Then we would have a real doozy story to tell our grandkids one day," Hades said, slicing through the heads of as many as he could.
"I am done once my wings are gone," I sneered, crushing the skull of the one in between my thighs.
"What the hell is this?" Hades said as one of the dead climbed up his body and faced him. It has a blade sticking out of its broken ribcage. Its burnt red skin was broken in some places, with some sticky pieces of flesh and stinky mucus spitting out when it snarled like a demonic anaconda. He pulled back as the corpse tried to stab him, and instead, he grabbed his bony arm and turned it on the wrong side, breaking it into two pieces.
"This looks pretty!" I said, looking at the one that faced me. It had black, charred skin with murky fluid oozing through cracked skin. Its slacked jaw and a blade jutting out of its head hinted that the poor person must be impaled while still breathing. It twisted my head and pressed it between its arms. I pulled the blade from his head and stabbed it inside its neck, killing it instantly, provided it was not dead before.
Another horde of the dead started attacking us from above. One of the daring corpses dangled inside the space with its body suspended upside down into the air. It gritted its razor-sharp teeth and slurped its bulky tongue over them, reminding me of Marvel's Venom.
"Get ready!" Hades growled as his bones cracked, his muscles grew, his skin sprouted fur, and his teeth sharpened, taking in the semi-form of his wolf, Cerberus. He stepped over the hordes of the dead army, gripping the Venom's head by his talons and, with a quick jerk, pushed his body upwards. He dug his talons inside Venom's body for the momentum he needed to jump on the surface.
"Vlad!" Hades shouted once he was on the surface, giving me his hand and pulling me out of that hole. We rushed through the tunnels.
"Fuck!" Hades shouted as the walls all around started to explode in great pockets, throwing debris and large chunks at us.
"Hades, get down!" I shouted, doing the same when I noticed the movements coming out of the holes in the walls. The remains of the dead buried beneath the walls slithered their way towards us. They looked like stone demons. Their faces were twisted features, with wide, thin mouths, black fangs and slitted eyes attached to elongated noses. We both rushed just before their rotten limbs could reach us.
"LOOK OUT!" Hades warned, but it was too late as I felt something tighten on my ankle. It started pulling, and I looked down to see a rotten talon had coiled itself around me and moving up my leg, anchoring me to the ground, locking me in place. I tore through its limbs to release me from its clutches. Hades flung aside his black tunic and released his blades, spinning them in his hands before charging through and killing many of them in seconds.
We continued along the series of makeshift steps through the secret network of caves, cutting and slicing through the dead army.
"Not the best place for someone without wings," Hades muttered as we came across the network of broken bridges that had a sheer drop on both sides, covered by a cloud of fog.
"Hades!" I gave him a look. He instantly understood as he also heard a strange sound echoing through the tunnels. I spread my wingspan, ready for a flight with Hades holding onto my feet. We flew across one of the bridges.
"Watch out, Vlad!" He shouted at me as a horde of flying things approached us.
"Holy shit, you've got to be kidding me...seriously, Harpies!!??" I cried as they came snarling in our direction.
"Weren't they extinct?" Hades shouted.
"Don't be so surprised, for this cursed place seems to give life to the dead," I muttered sarcastically as three of them hit us at the same time. I lost my balance, falling off the bridge towards the abyss, but my arms fell on a dangling rope. The harpies started attacking me. Hades released my feet and sprinted towards another branch hanging from the bridge. He jumped and grabbed it, clawing his way by tearing through the stone and the metal to climb the bridge. Then came the clash of weapons as Hades slashed his sword on all sides to ward off the corpses who had cornered him.
I gained my balance, with my razor wings slashing through the head of the two harpies, while I snapped the neck of the third one, breaking it off from its torso. In three swift moves, all three were down and falling into the endless canyon.
"Vlad, you take care of the harpies, and I will take care of the dead!" Hades shouted, swinging his sword, mowing the corpses down, flinging them off the side of the bridge like they were just annoying pests. He moved, jumping from one bridge to another, taking huge leaps, soaring over the cave walls by scaling his way through jagged rocks.
I hit a harpy square in the face. It screamed a high-pitched wail before falling back on one of the corpses. Then I watched as Hades kicked that corpse, sending both the corpse and the harpy into the endless pit.
Seconds later, we heard the grinding of stone against stone. A sound so loud, like an earthquake beneath us.
"Oh no!" I muttered, and Hades gave me a panicked look as another set of Harpies and corpses rushed through the other tunnel. I attacked head-on with my wings slicing through the harpies' body parts while my blade poked through their wings. On the other hand, Hades cut off a few ropes, collapsing the bridge to prevent more corpses from reaching us. However, this didn't stop them; it slowed them as the corpses jumped and leapt over the small gaps. He swung up his sword, cutting through the chest of a few at a time.
"Up ahead, we cross over there!" I shouted, looking over at Phlethgon, a river of blood that would prevent these corpses from following us. I flew, slicing through the harpies, while Hades ran faster, cutting through the incoming hordes of corpses.
"Vlad, help me over that bridge," Hades shouted, taking a massive leap over the sizeable broken section to reach me. I lowered further and gave him a hand. Once on the other side, Hades pushed a large black rock towards the bridge.
"Help me swing this," Hades said, motioning to me. We both pushed it and sent it rolling on the beam that held the bridge together, crashing it on the other side of the bridge. The rock fell into the endless abyss along with the whole horde of the corpses and the remnants of the bridge. Its sound was almost like a haunting roar, making many harpies crash into the walls. Hades had successfully prevented the corpses from following us, but still, five harpies were behind us, so now it was my turn.
I flew above one of the harpies, holding her neck, making her flight uneven. I sliced through her wings and then released her neck, making it go down the pit. I grabbed the wings of three harpies at a time and rotated them in all directions before throwing them into the jagged walls of the cave. I tossed the blade, catching the wing of the last harpy and pinning her to the ground, making her hiss at me. She removed the blade and flew back towards me. I spun sideways before hitting her jaw, cracking her spine and tearing through the left wing. Her body lopsided when one wing gave away wholly. I reached her, grabbed her other wing and threw her hard, crushing her head on the pointed rock.
Hades cut off all the bridges to prevent the corpses from reaching us, and I killed all the harpies. Now, our main concern was to cross Phlegethon. There are only two means to cross it; one is the boat made up from the bones of the giants. The acidic waters of the river can melt through even the most robust metal or wood, but the bones of the giants are the only substance to resist it. The other is a severely damaged, old, rusty bridge with large chunks missing. I can't fly over it as it was cursed. If anyone dares to fly over it, their wings catch fire.
"Vlad, are you ready?" Hades asked, looking over at the bridge since no boat was in sight. Being a wolf, Hades had it easier to leap over huge distances, whereas I, a vampire, was not evolved for this task.
I nodded, and then we both ran as fast as possible, gathering speed and mentally calculating the distance over a gap on the bridge. I hoped that the bridge won't collapse under our weight. We jumped, flying through the air, stretched our arms and legs, reaching for the opposite side, feeling the metal creek and bridge sway. The first gap was easier as we landed on the other side. I sprint towards the next gap.
"Vlad! Move your ass fast!" Hades screamed. I looked back to find the corpses crawling their way back up the sides of the gorges, and a few of them had reached the bridge. One of the harpies must have survived and made the mistake of flying over the cursed river. Her wings caught fire, and she fell on the bridge. Soon, the bridge caught fire, and the blaze travelled towards us quickly. I knew that we would either be burned alive or the bridge would soon give out, and we would plummet to our deaths anyway.
The flames were getting closer towards us, and just before they could reach the other side, the bridge fell into the abyss, along with the burned harpy, the silly corpses and us. However, Hades was quick enough to let Cerberus take over. His strong paws gripped the gap between the jagged rock. He swung us both before quickly flipping my body, giving me the momentum to stretch my arms and legs and jump on the other side. Then, he hoisted himself up the rest of the way and joined me.
We moved through the tunnels and labyrinths of caves to reach the surface, climbing to the highest point of the Kingdom of Ruins to capture a cursed-
Witch!!...

*The past beats inside me like a second heart!!...*