MATURE CONTENT - LANGUAGE AND GORE
“Something isn’t right.” I examined the blood a bit closer.
“You mean besides all the dead people hanging from the ceiling?” Arion said, his eyes till locked to the bodies.
“Fuck you. I mean… The blood. Look at it.”
Everything was frozen and covered in miniscule ice particles.
“Its… frozen?” He said.
“No, you simpleton.” I bent closer to a frozen puddle of blood a few inches from my boot. “Just as I thought.”
“Are you going to keep me in the dark?”
“There are traces of a spell in this blood.”
“Ah… How did you figure that out?”
“Magic is consisted of millions of threads, they all shine different shades, colors and tones. Light magic is consistent of light colors and shades. Dark magic…”
“Dark shades, dark colors… yea yea.”
“When we use magic we’re threading it together to make our spell a lot like sewing or using a loom. A spell for fire, for example, is weaved with bright red and yellow threads. You can tell something is made from magic, or a spell has been activated by looking for those threads. I wouldn’t expect a magically disinclined birdbrain like yourself to know what you’re looking for…”
“Hey! I find that offensive.” He said as his arms crossed. I ignored him
“But if you get really close,” Arion leaned into the blood puddle that I pointed at, “You can see the threads of magic weaved together almost as if you were staring at your own clothes.”
Deep in the darkest shades of the frozen blood was a pattern, almost a cross stitching. It took Arion a minute or two to see it but eventually did.
“So, what spell was made from this?”
“I can’t tell.”
“But I thought you said that weaves of magic make up a spell, so if you know what thread is what, then can’t you find out?”
“I also said that there were millions of them. Besides, unless I have the spell book to study how they were weaved, and what threads did what then I could. Only a high level sorcerer would be able to tell without a spell book and even then they can only guess. One thread could determine the difference between a fire spell and a love spell.”
“Wow, I never grew up with magic… This is all so new to me.” Arion said.
“It takes many years to master, and even though I know a few things I still only know the basics. Which is why I use a giant axe, and not a staff.”
“Well, do the… missing pieces have anything to do with the spell.” He surveyed the corpses with a painful wince.
“I’m not sure.”
The feathers on Arions neck stood up. “This place gives me the heebie jeebies.”
“There is definitely something wrong with this place besides it being a sacrificing center. I’ve been around millions of dead bodies in my lifetime… Nothing gave me a feeling that someone is standing right behind me.” I had to glance behind me as a shiver crawled through every muscle in my back.
I studied the blood a bit closer hoping I could identify a thread of magic that would give me all the answers. What I saw had nothing to do with blood but underneath the dense line of feet that dangled in the air was a set of feet still standing. But I could see a faint trace of wood grain behind the transparent legs.
I jumped upward and peered through a gap between the dense curtain of bodies and saw a face in the crevice. It quickly flashed to the side. I bent back down and tried to find the feet but they were gone. I jumped back up and looked at Arion.
“Did you see that?”
“Um, no?”
“Fuck, somebody was there. Behind the bodies.” I pointed between two people.
“There was? Want to check it out?”
“Yes… and no.” I sighed. Crawling underneath dead bodies and slinking around frozen bowels on the floor made my skin crawl. “Let’s get this over with.”
I took my helmet off, it clinked when it touched the floor then crouched on my hands and knees and breathed in deep. Thank the goddess of mercy that everything was encased in ice. A few inches away was a stomach intestine with other bits spread across the floor.
“The next person that says our job is exciting get’s a saints fist to their face.” I said. Arion chuckled but his voice shook.
“Your crazy fans would still find that enjoyable.” I wanted to believe Arion was joking, but he wasn't. People scared me more than fighting demons.
My leather gloves protected my hands from the ice, but the cold crept in anyway. My fingers went numb and my lip began to shiver. My titanium knee pads did well to keep the warmth in, but it made it difficult to crawl. My knees slipped and scratched against the bloodied ice and I had to rely on my hands for grip.
“If you just kind of slide your knees forward and pull with your hands it makes it a lot easier. Like a dog wiping his ass against the floor.” Arion said.
“Good idea.” We wiped our asses across the floor, hunched over until my armor couldn’t let me bend anymore. I could feel the victim’s toes grazing against the top of my head. I tried to bend more but my chest plate limited my contortions.
We continued forward slowly – there were more people than I thought. A rotten stench wafted into my nostrils, it was so foul it caused me to almost throw up.
“Goddess of mercy, Arion! Brush your damn teeth!” I heard shuffling behind me and assumed it was him.
“It wasn’t me.” I turned at the sound of his voice, instead of being behind me as I thought, he was on the other side of the room.
“What the fuck are you doing! The feet were over here!”
“I thought I saw something over here.” He pointed closer to the staircase.
“Then who breathed into my helmet!”
“It wasn’t me!”
I shivered but warmth trickled my neck. Something hot was emanating from the corpses and the shuffling continued but it wasn’t behind me… It was above me.
I didn’t want to look up, but my neck acted on its own accord. A burly man dangled above me, his toes an inch from my face. At first glance he was not as mutilated as the other corpses but I could see up his large shirt. It was too dark to make out details, but the fabric moved and something white peered through the darkness.
The sound of hooves trampled around outside.
“Shi! The demons are still in the village!” Amy screamed.
Hissing rang throughout the building, the stomachs of people burst open and creatures jumped out from within. The door slammed shut and I was consumed in darkness.
Arion screamed, and a heavy body landed on my chest and thick nails screeched against my breast plate. The stench of hell breathed into my helmet as a red devils large nose stuck in my face.
“You’re too late!” He hissed.
The chain that held up the human corpse broke. The devil jumped away in time as it crushed me. One after another, body after body they were being stacked on top of me. I was stuck.
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