“Huh.” The large man looked at his wand and tapped the side of his mask. “I didn’t mean to do it so fast. This is a powerful little accessory, isn’t it?” He looked at the emotionless ghoul and sighed. “Why am I asking you? Let us go and find our real prey.” He turned to the gate and burned the runes off before he blasted the shield until it shattered. The darkness held within spilled past him and enveloped the area.
Salvo began to shiver in anticipation. Even amongst all this strange magic, he could feel them not too far off. He heard himself laugh which was uncharacteristic of him, but he didn’t bother to stop. Single-minded and determined, he marched into the dome and the ghouls followed. A voice in his head repeated only two words—kill them.
Chapter Twenty-Six
The group raced through the abyss, now in an area that brought to mind a crop field in the midst of decay. Above them, the clouds began to disperse but didn’t fade away for some reason and instead, thickened and expanded to blanket the whole sky.
Devol could feel the magic that powered everything. Different types of magic felt different, but none were truly anything other than slight variations—a pressure, a small heat, a haze similar to walking into fog or smoke, all things that typically, only those with considerable experience would notice as peculiar or a sign.
But this was different. A feeling of heaviness permeated the entire area, not only his body. As he ran, he felt he not only had to run with extra weight attached to him but also as if he had to push through something that tried to keep him away.
Both Asla and Jazai’s breathing began to labor like his did. Was this merely an effect of the abyssal magic now that they were closer to the center? Or was it caused by the presence of something else within? This was more tangible than anything he had fought or witnessed before.
As they drew closer to the center of the field, Devol pushed himself to go faster and so was the first to break through. A massive pit yawned in front of him, at least a quarter of a mile wide but incredibly deep. Obelisks floated around a large, swirling abyss in the center of the clearing and purple and red runes glowed before their color began to dim.
“What is this?”
Wulfsun’s jaw clenched as he shook his head. “It is what I suspected, lad—a rift or a tear between dimensions. Those obelisks must be a part of some type of ritual they used to cause it.”
“So if we destroy the obelisks the tear will close?” Farah asked and unsheathed her blade. She rolled the sleeves of her jacket up and lunged at one of the obelisks as the others finally joined them. The bright glow of her light magic swirled around her hands and into her blade as she tried to pierce one of the stones.
“Farah, don’t!” the Templar shouted but she already had. The runes flared, turned white, and something struck her chest. She was catapulted back and thankfully, was caught by Jazai and Devol before she could make impact with the earth.
Her blade flared as she stood. She held it aloft and readied herself for another attempt to destroy one of the obelisks, but Wulfsun ran in front and blocked her path.
“Stop it, woman!” he shouted. Even at full volume, his words were barely audible above the roar of the wind and the unnatural howl that issued from the portal. “Destroying the obelisks won’t do anything right now. If we had destroyed them before the rift was opened, that might have been useful but at this point, they are what is holding it together.”
“Then what would happen if we destroyed them? Wouldn’t that close the tear?” Asla asked.
“Not necessarily. It’s hard to tell but the tear may be sustaining itself. If anything, destroying the obelisks will cause the rift to grow wild. It might slow it temporarily but could also cause it to tear even more,” he explained.
Farah pursed her lips but nodded and lowered her blade. Devol steadied himself and they peered at the scene below. The rift Wulfsun spoke of appeared to be similar to a portal, but the edges were jagged and the form twisted. Something was visible inside. “Wulfsun, what is that?!” he asked and pointed below. “Something is in there. Is that normal?”
“Ah, hells!” The Templar growled and thumped his gauntlets together. “There should be more of the magic pouring through. I had hoped it was dying down but something is blocking it. Something is coming through.”
“And what is that?” Farah demanded.
They did not have to wait long to find out. A large hand was the first thing to emerge from the rift. It pushed against it as if it was some kind of muck and the earth simply wrapped around it. A second arm followed, then pointed horns on a head with no clean features. The being was the ebon shade of the portal.
Finally, the creature uttered a snarl and bellowed as it forced the rest of itself through. Jazai fell and placed his hands on the ground, and an earthen wall arose around them. Wulfsun added his barrier to it. A burst of magic was unleashed that shattered the wall and hurled them into the fields.
Devol landed and tumbled for a few moments before he turned and froze when a stream of purple lightning seared toward him. Asla leapt forward, snatched the back of his jacket, and flung them both away from the deadly assault. Remnants of the energy crackled on the soil and shifted between shades of purple and blue. He stared at it, both mesmerized and unnerved, before he moved his hand cautiously closer to it. Even without touching it, he knew there was something wrong about it. It burned, but when he jerked his hand back and ran the other one over it, his palm felt chilled.
The swordsman stood, shook the pain off, and helped Asla up. “Thanks for that,” he said gratefully as they ran to the clearing. Wulfsun and Farah were already there and Jazai blinked in behind them. As they gazed at the being, the darkness faded and was replaced by a dark-blue skin. White eyes formed with slits for irises.
What had first appeared to be a pair of horns were two—one pair that pointed to the sky and one each on either side that curved around its head. A vertical mouth had rectangular husks around its lips that peeled back to reveal long, spear-like teeth. It stood on four legs and two long, spindly arms were coated in the abyssal energy it had fired at them and that traced through its chest and up to its shoulders.
The odd eyes finally cleared and it lowered its head and focused on the group. Devol could see nothing that might indicate fury, confusion, glee, or anything of that nature. This being seemed to be as mindless as the beast he and Wulfsun had slain but he was not sure if he could even read the emotions of this one. It arched its back and stretched its legs and standing at full height, it was at least ten feet tall. As they stared at it in stupefaction, it leaned away from the group and several small holes beneath its eyes flared. Was it smelling them? Could these abyssal creatures even do that?
Finally, it uttered a gurgled hiss, snapped its mouth closed, and extended both arms. Wulfsun and Farah were the first to react. The Templar battered the large hand away with a solid punch while Farah sliced through the other arm. Her light magic drew another hiss from the creature. It stepped back and its large legs shook the ground when it stumbled.
“I don’t know if you guys are standing around thinking of a clever plan!” Wulfsun shouted at Devol and his friends. “But now isn’t the time for that. Kill this bastard!” He condensed his mana into one of his gauntlets and released a blast. The demonic creature swiped a hand and a surge of abyssal magic swallowed the attack. The man cursed as he prepared to charge before the demon leaned forward, planted its hands on the ground, and shrieked at the group.
Asla curled into a ball to block the sound and it almost deafened Devol. He looked at Jazai, who tried to fire a spell from one of his rings, but whatever it was simply vanished before it could form properly. The Templar stood tall, pounded his hands together, and released a large blast of mana that seemed to counter the demon’s wail. He then responded with a roar of his own as he lunged forward and struck it in the chest with sufficient force to thrust it back by several feet.
The young diviner was finally able to fire a volley of mana bolts that pierce
d the creature as it tried to reengage. Asla shook her head and staggered to her feet but seemed to have recovered. Devol drew Achroma and joined Farah and they both raced toward the demon and struck. This turned out to be quite effective, as each of their attacks claimed one of its arms. The limb he’d severed began to disintegrate, only for the remnants of the magic to streak past him and back onto the demon. Farah’s did the same and they shook their heads in disbelief as the creature’s arms grew back. It turned toward them and lightning formed in its hands.
As Wulfsun ran forward for another blow, the being lifted its two back legs and kicked at him. The Templar caught the legs but was dragged to the ground. The demon fired a large chain of lightning at Devol and Farah. She drove her blade into the earth and erected a shield in front of them. The lightning bounced off and struck the soil around them, which erupted in geysers of the abyssal magic.
Asla had finally recovered enough to join the brawl. She bounded high and dove toward the demon’s head with her claws extended. It evaded her but she was able to use her majestic to tear a chunk out of its neck and shoulder, which quickly reformed as it attempted to snatch her. The reaching arm was trapped in a mana chain held by Jazai. “Pulse!” he cried and sent a pulse of magic through the chain that blew the demon’s arm off, albeit with the same results as before.
“Well, damn,” the magi protested as he blinked next to Devol. “I should have gone for the head.
“I’m hoping that will work,” his friend replied and Achroma flared in his hands.
“This beast is persistent!” Farah shouted and yanked her blade out of the ground.
Something caught Devol’s eye and he turned quickly. Several smaller creatures pushed through the rift below.
“Wulfsun, more are coming,” he shouted as the Templar finally recovered and forced the demon’s leg out from under it. “You have to close the portal!”
“I doubt this damned thing will leave us be!” the man responded as he prepared to face the regenerating creature again. “I need to be able to focus when I work on the rift.”
Devol turned to Jazai and Asla, who immediately understood and nodded as their animas strengthened. “We’ll take care of it. You and Farah close that tear before we are overwhelmed.”
“Are you sure, lad?” The Templar held his barrier against a blast from the beast before he grasped its arm and hurled it several feet away. “Can you handle it?”
“Of course,” the swordsman assured him and he and Asla charged into the fray before the creature could recover.
“It’s probably better than what you two have to deal with.” Jazai joked morbidly as he fired a missile at the head of the demon. Wulfsun and Farah looked into the pit, where at least a dozen fiends pushed through with more behind them.
“Can we still seal it at this point?” she asked and looked somewhat dubiously from her sword to the enemy below.
“Aye, we can. It will take some doing, though.” He adjusted his left gauntlet and nodded to her. “You got my back?”
Farah rested her blade on her shoulder and nodded. “I am ready, Captain.”
“Ha!” The Templar chortled and bent at the knees as he prepared to leap. “That’s good to hear, Captain.” The two of them jumped into the pit to face the horde that now had their complete attention.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Wulfsun swung a powerful single punch smash into the face of one of the oncoming fiends, which released a ripple of magic that surged through a group behind it. Farah quickly began her attack. She sliced through two in one swing before she spun and drove her blade into the head of the next, then used her light magic to extend the tip of her blade and skewer another behind it.
“They are hardly a challenge.” She growled and kicked the being off her blade as she readied herself for another wave of them.
“These are small fry,” the Templar replied and stamped a boot onto a fallen fiend. “They are probably pouring in because of all the ruckus the big guy made getting here.”
She held her sword back, charged it with her light magic, and sliced deftly at her new targets. Her blade was now a glowing saber that cleaved through five of the creatures before they had time to even get within range to attack.
Wulfsun chuckled as he caught the hand of an attacker and thunked it into the earth before he hurled it at another to thrust both back into the rift. “You’re exactly like the lad,” he told her and climbed quickly over some unsteady terrain as he approached the tear. “If you were a Templar, you would make a good mentor for him as well.”
“That blade of his…he doesn’t use holy magic, does he?” she inquired as she kicked the feet out from under another fiend before she smoothly beheaded one that tried to attack her from behind.
“Not exactly,” Wulfsun admitted, checked his satchels, and shook his head. “Damn. Ah well, Plan B then.”
The guard captain noticed two of the fiends sliding down the sides of the pits from above. She pointed her blade at them, funneled her magic through it, and unleashed a bolt of light magic that erupted beside them. Both were soon covered in the glowing, ethereal magic before their forms collapsed into the dark fog. “Is something the matter?”
“I forgot a reagent,” he admitted as he sidled closer to the rift. His anima strengthened to protect him against the disruptive abyssal magic. “There’s no need to worry, though. I have a better plan.” He held his gauntlets up. Both glowed brightly, almost blindingly so. “You’ve got my back, right, Captain?!”
Farah leapt beside him and struck a fiend down on landing. “Of course.”
The Templar nodded, positioned his gauntlets over the rift, and extended them to either side. Two mana constructs that took the form of his gauntlets appeared on the edges of the rift. He began to pull inward and although he wasn’t holding anything in his arms, he struggled as he drew his hands together. Farah watched as the rift was forced closed by the magical gauntlets.
“What do you intend to do? Hold it closed forever?”
“I only need to shut it,” Wulfsun shouted in response. “After that, I can set a ward up to keep it shut and you can destroy the obelisks.”
“So I wasn’t completely wrong then,” she muttered and scowled at several fiends being reborn from the abyss. She held her sword up and checked her surroundings to make sure no others were sneaking around them or coming in from above. They were numerous but easy prey and she wondered how the young ones above were faring.
“This bastard is the worst!” Jazai shouted before he blinked away as the abyssal demon attempted to crush him underfoot.
“It heals itself too quickly,” Asla added but continued to rip and tear pieces of the creature apart with little success. The wounds she inflicted were healed almost as soon as she made them. “We can knock it down but I do not believe it feels real pain.”
“It keeps making those gurgles and hisses,” Devol pointed out. “It has to feel something.”
“I think it only does that because it can’t swear at us,” the young diviner responded. He checked his tome but grunted in annoyance when he found nothing useful. “It doesn’t even register.”
“I think we’ll simply have to hit it with enough force for it to not have a chance to regenerate,” the swordsman said.
Jazai nodded and wiped his brow. “I hate it when brute force is the correct choice.” He took a deep breath and regulated his anima. “I have a plan.”
“You do?” he asked. Asla yelled at them to move and they realized that the demon had begun to charge another blast of magic. Devol prepared to defend but noticed something odd. A bright spot appeared on its torso and grew larger, and its chest began to protrude. He felt oddly hot and wondered if this was some new magic the beast possessed.
It turned but its chest erupted in flames before it could finish. They spread quickly to cover its whole frame. It attempted to repair itself but the fire simply continued to grow larger and hotter and soon, the creature couldn’t keep up. The three friends wat
ched as the abyssal demon fell and even the fog could not escape the flames.
Devol looked at his comrade, who noticed this and shrugged. “That wasn’t me. I have no idea what—”
“Someone is approaching,” Asla warned as she stepped beside them. Four figures in dark robes like those he’d seen at the station moved steadily toward them. They were ghouls, he realized, surprised to see them there. He grasped his majestic and stepped forward, but Jazai caught his shoulder and held him back.
“Devol…it’s him—the fire magi from Rouxwoods,” he stated with a grimace. “I recognize the mana but something is different. It's erratic and…darker.”
“Darker?” Devol turned as a fifth figure emerged from the field. He recognized the wand immediately—the one Vaust called Kapre—and he recognized something else too that made his eyes widen.
“That’s the mask,” Asla whispered and crouched beside them. “The mask the monster wore.”
“The demon mask.” Jazai nodded. “It’s a malefic. I guess this all went to a real bad place.”
Salvo folded his arms and tilted his head as he regarded the group in silence for a moment. “Well, I finally caught up with you brats,” he mused. The mask was doing something to his voice. Devol had only heard the man talk briefly before and his voice had been arrogant and a little shrill. He could still hear that but it was like another voice overlapped with his, this one monotone and almost grave.
“I had hoped to find that mori here but guess he thought this wasn’t worth his time, huh?” He pointed his wand at the pit. “But I guess he doesn’t have to watch over you. You have that big fella with you—down there I’m guessing? It sure looks like he would be a fun match.”
Bloodflowers Bloom (The Astral Wanderer Book 2) Page 15