Pryer's Ridge, Dellone, Under Realm
Wednesday, 21st December
10:30am
The four teenagers: Angelina, Corey, Sean and Vixen fell out of a portaled mirror fixed into a tree's trunk, all hitting the ground with a hard thud, enough to knock the air out of their lungs.
Angelina slowly sat up, painfully choking on dry air whilst looking around at their surroundings.
The grass was completely dead, its soil bone dry as old horrid trees stood tall, their wrinkled branches harshly pointing towards the teenagers.
The sky was a harsh reddish-black, air rotted with dust and smoke, making it much harder to gain back the breath knocked out of the kids' lungs. Even the new environment's smell was enough to make the kids gag and want to vomit.
...this isn't Dark Nation.
Angelina whipped her head back to the to boys, watching Vixen and Corey slowly sit up as Sean laid on the ground in slight pain "Everyone alright?" the girl asked, still trying to gather her breath back "If all my fucking bones are supposed to feel broken, then yes... I'm okay" Sean laughed a little, Vixen laughing along as well as Corey's brows frowned. "Holly's awake" he said, gaining everyone's attention as Corey turned his head to Vixen "What was Holly saying when we went through the mirror?" he questioned Vixen "It was something about you?" "Probably a last second attempt at stopping her boyfriend from putting himself in danger like last night" Sean joked. Vixen turned his head back to Corey, shrugging his shoulders "I know she yelled something, but I don't know what" he answered Corey who sighed "Well I guess whatever it is, it's everyone else's problem back home" he said, standing up then helping Vixen up to his own feet whilst Angelina and Sean slowly got up.
"Any idea where we are?" Sean questioned as Angelina stepped forward, lifting her eyes up to the sky again "...another realm" she quietly answered as Corey's eyes narrowed "What do you mean another realm?" "Mr Colin talked about it briefly in class when you were possessed by shadow- there are five physical realms and a spirit realm" Angelina stated. "The Human Realm, Mid, Hell, Heaven and the Under Realm..." she continued as Corey stepped over, joining her side "This is diffidently not the Human Realm" he stated "And it doesn't feel anything like Mid-" "Can't be Heaven or Hell either, I feel no connection to this place" Angelina added to Corey's comment before a loud shatter broke the tiny sliver of silence.
All the kids looked back at the mirror as it shattered, falling to the ground and turning into dust. Corey immediately ran over to the tree "No no no!" he hissed in panic yet all the mirror was gone... their only way back home was gone.
After the group calmed down by the sudden awful 'surprise', they decided that they needed to start moving.
"We stick together no matter what, got it?" Angelina said, the other three nodding their heads in agreement "So which way?" Vixen asked as Angelina turned her head, squinting her eyes a little as she saw a tiny little dot of light "This way" she answered, pointing to the group's right before starting to lead them, her friends following and sticking close behind her.
Drift Warden House, Perible, England, Mid
Faith kept overlooking the now shattered mirror, trying to figure out if she could fix it whilst the others stood motionless from the blurted news that had just been yelled a minute ago.
"Holy fucking shit-" "Jacob, calm down" Blake snapped at the teenager "Calm down? our 'friend' is the reason why we all fucking died!" Jacob snapped back before Lilly stepped toward him and slapped him across the face, shutting him up, tears falling down her face "He said 'calm down', s-so just shut up... please" she said in a quiet voice as Jacob stayed quiet. Blake's head hung low as he pulled out his phone and started up the basement stairs "Where are you going?" Chloe called after him, the man looked back at the kids and the broken mirror "...I'm calling the council and armies" he told them "Then I'm taking Holly to see Euanthe" he stated before continuing up the stairs, and once stepping out of the basement, Blake closed his eyes, trying to keep his emotions under control as he dialled Joseph's phone number.
Rihn Warden House, Ashmaine, England, Mid
Edd lightly knocked on the locked bedroom door "Tom... you okay in there?" he asked, Matt standing a couple feet behind Edd with a hand covering his mouth, a worried expression painted across his face "Tom, please answer, we're worried about you-" both Edd and Matt flinched as something harshly hit the other side of the door.
When Edd and Matt finally got home last night, they immediately noticed that Tord had sent them a text each apologising for not saying goodbye, explaining that he had gotten orders from the current Red Leader to leave for Norway- orders he couldn't ignore, and that he'll come home soon. After reading the texts, Edd and Matt found Tom stepping out of Tord's old room, tears still rolling down his face, before rushing into his own room and slamming the door behind himself.
Edd sighed "Okay... when you're ready to come out, me and Matt will be right here" he told his friend through the door whilst Matt nodded his head yet still no answer came from beyond the door.
So they didn't push.
They stepped back and walked away from the door and headed into the living room.
Tom sat on the other side of his bedroom door, his hand un-blackening and unballing from a fist as he moved it away from the part of the door he hit, rewrapping his arms around his legs as he stared ahead, tired tear-stained face burying itself into his love's old and forgotten hoodie.
Pryer's Ridge, Dellone, Under Realm
They had been walking a while and still, no sign of a town or anything.
Just more dead forest.
"The longer we're here, the more sketched out I feel" Sean quietly said "We just have to find a town or the realm gate-" "It's been a couple hours, Angelina" Vixen cut her off "We're following a dirt road to nowhere-" a growl cut the boy off, immediately making all the kids stiff and frozen as something stepped out of the trees behind them. They slowly turned their heads, eyes meeting the sight of a full-grown shadow walker stuck in it's demon form, glaring and snarling at them, baring its sharp teeth at the poor teenagers as its eyes burning an awful blackened green, pitch black skin and fur reeking of smoke and death. It slowly stalked closer, tail dragging behind it "U-um, Corey? thing you can ask your 'friend' to go away?" Vixen quietly asked "Or tell them that we aren't a threat-" "No" Corey cut the other boy off as his soulstone pendant glowed in unison with his eyes before they widened and he shook his head "They're not our friend- RUN!" Corey yelled.
All the teenagers immediately turned around and ran as fast as they could whilst the feral shadow walker chased after them, its feet hammering the ground, growling and hissing as it did. "I thought shadow walkers were peaceful celestials!" Sean yelled over the noise pounding behind them as they ran "They are-" "That's not a shadow walker- something happened to them!" Corey stated, cutting off Angelina "He's right, that thing's in fucking pain!" Vixen backed up Corey. "That fucker tricked us into coming to the wrong realm" Corey swore as Angelina grew light headed and short of breath 'Fuck... no' her mind screamed, worry causing tears to threaten her eyes.
Chest tight.
Wheezing.
No air, can't breathe.
Angelina stumbled, unable to run anymore, buckling over and trying to calm and breathe properly. Seeing this, both Corey and Vixen quickly doubled back, Corey ran over to the girl as Vixen rushed between them and the rogue demon, holding his hands up and creating a huge flash of light that managed to temporarily blind and scare off the shadow walker.
As it ran away, Vixen turned back to the others "Is she okay?" he called as Corey shook his head "She can't breathe" he told the other boy. The girl felt like clawing at her own throat yet Corey gently caressed her face, making her look him in the eyes as his own glowed a faint green "It's okay... copy me" he told Angelina, hesitantly, she mimicked his slow-paced breathing as she held onto him.
She still has no idea how, but whatever Corey was doing to help her, it worked.
After a good several minutes, her breathing slowly returned to normal, a slight headache plaguing her yet at least she could breath again. "Th-thanks" Angelina breathed as Corey helped her up right, giving her a small smile before it immediately faded "I thought your curse got rid of your asthma" "Me too..." she agreed as she slowly let go of him.
All it took was a mere second.... a mere second for all hell to break loose again.
"Hey-" Sean half shouted as someone grabbed him from behind, the other three kids snapping their heads back at him to see a Grey Army soldier holding Sean, gun to the eldest teenager's head as he struggled in the grasp of the soldier, Vixen stepped forward, glare on his face as he summoned his staff "No, Vix don't-" yet Corey's voice went ignored as the other boy ran at the soldier "Let him go!" he snapped, swinging his staff to take a shot at the soldier right before another soldier came out of nowhere and pulled out a rod. The soldier hit Vixen in the back with the rod, it electrocuting the poor boy who instantly fell to the ground, dropping the staff as well before it faded away. Vixen breathed and gagged in pain before the soldier zapped him again, this time the teenager's eyes rolling to the back of his head and completely falling to the ground "RUN!" Sean yelled to the other two teens before the other soldier put this shock collar on him and zapped him too.
Corey grabbed Angelina's hand and ran the opposite direction, dragging the poor girl behind him "Cor-" "Keep running" he cut her off.
Once a good couple of feet away from the chaos behind them, Angelina desperately tried ripping her hand out of Corey's grasp "We can't leave them!" she told him "The whole fucking thing was a trap, Angie, just to get you in the hands of the Grey Army" Corey harshly told her, still forcing her to run "You're the top priority at the moment".
At least another ten minutes of running went by "I don't fucking care, we have to go back" Angelina nearly begged this time "They'll be fine, just keep running-" Corey's voice was cut off by loud gunfire ringing throughout both of the teenagers' ears before he fell to the ground, gunshot to the back, and as he went down, Angelina fell down with him after the gunshot scared her to the ground. She tightly held onto Corey's hand, trying to help him up yet he pushed her away "Corey-" "You have to keep running" he told her, continuing to push her away from him as the girl's body shook "No, I can't-" "You're what the army's after, the only person who can kill me and Vixen" Corey reminded her. "You need to get yourself as far away as possible, don't stop running even if it's a dead end" Corey told her, a few soldiers running towards them from behind "No! I'm not leaving you-" he cut Angelina off, kissing the top of her head "Go" he told her one last time, pushing her away once again "We'll be okay, just run... please" Corey begged.
Angelina slowly let go of Corey's hand, finally scrambling up onto her feet and breaking out into a run.
Corey breathed in relief as he sat himself up a little, turning his body around to face the soldiers. His hands blackened, black flame-like smoke dancing around his hands, he then swung them, a large ring of dark green shadowed-flames circled around him, stopping the approaching soldiers in their tracks... yet one of them still managed to shoot Corey in the head, the boy's body going completely limp.
Angelina did as she was told, she ran no matter what.
Even if her reappearing asthma gave her breathing problems again.
Even when she started coughing up black liquid, indicating one of her hypnotic friends had been temporarily 'killed' again.
Even if she could no longer see through her tears.
She ran.
Eventually, she ran into a large metal gate standing as tall as the bricked portaled wall of Mid Point Park.
The realm's gate.... a locked realm's gate.
Angelina looked around, finding an old crumpled piece of paper and crayon, quickly drawing the 'unlocking' rune Euanthe had taught her for 'just in case' emergencies, then slamming it against the metal of the gate yet instead of unlocking it like the rune should've, the paper burned up and turned into ash. The girl desperately thought for a moment then picked up a random shard of metal laying about and used it to cut open her hand.
The kids got out of Blake's car, all heading towards the front door, dodging the small dead grass area on the lawn where Katida died days go along the way....
Blood leaking out, the girl thought of whatever negative thoughts she could as she placed her hand on the gate, immediately jumping back and hissing in pain, stepping away from the gate as she looked down at her hand, along with the cut, it was now a little red 'It burned me?' she silently questioned herself.
She collapsed onto the ground, coughing up the rest of the black liquid before curling up into a ball, more tears rolling down her face "...the fuck am I supposed to do now?" she choked through a sob, as if waiting for someone to tell her the answer, an answer that never came.
"I'm a shit leader" Angelina stated "I lead my friends through a portal into another realm and ambush" she cried "I couldn't protect or save at least one of them... I can't even unlock a stupid gate" she said, giving the realm gate a heavy yet painful kick.
"You pathetic piece of shit!" her father yelled whilst her mother grabbed her by the wrist...
"They were right... I really am that pathetic and useless" she sobbed, burying her head into her arms, tightly hugging herself as tears continued to run down her face and now stain her clothes "I always fuck everything up..." she cried.
(Continued in next chp due to word limit...)
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