"Done," Mephistopheles stood up, dusting his pants.
Mephistopheles touched the doorknob, and the door slowly creaked as he opened it with a small crack. Before opening the door completely, he turned to the duo - in their own world - and whistled, causing one to frown and the other to look at the door with the necessary attention.
"Mr. Mephistopheles, how are the things outside?" Mine asked, approaching the demon.
Mephistopheles frowned as he peeped outside, and he paused. "We're not in the mansion anymore," he looked at Mine. "Kiddo, stay sharp because we're inside Agarath's domain."
"Wait, wasn't the mansion his domain?" Addai frowned.
"Also, but here…" Mephistopheles voiced low. "Here is flooded with miasma. His miasma. It's barely holding into Human's dimension."
"An instability rift…" Mine muttered, rubbing his chin.
Instability rifts were areas that housed more than one dominant energy, be it Miasma, Neutral, Divine, or Vitae. Vitae is the dominant energy in the human world, which also houses other energies, and that's why there are users of the most diverse branches of the main types of mana – pure and impure.
If a region rich in Vitae – such as the world of humans – was imbued with Divine energy, for example, the place would immediately enter the Rift classification of instability that ranges on a scale of one to ten. If not treated and repaired in time, the Rift would become an Instability Zone that could cover entire cities or trains, for example. Instability Rifts were easier to deal with because they were very heterogeneous; on the other hand, Instability Zones were equalized only with an invading energy user or a Chronos Being.
Mine's eyes began to shine as soon as Mephistopheles opened the door, and they were faced with the darkness outside. He could identify miasma particles in the air and Vitae being gradually consumed by the miasma.
Addai covered his mouth as he also felt the change and grunted. Mine turned to see his situation and saw some physical changes in his friend. His eyes were still heterochromatic, but the pupils were constricted like a cat's and had a red line. Not only that, but the canines were also a little more prominent and visible, so much so that Mine couldn't take his eyes off them.
"Reacting to the miasma, Your Grace?" Mephistopheles approached Addai. "Don't worry, it's a temporary sickness," he patted Addai's shoulder, who growled at the touch.
"Don't growl at someone who wants to help you!" Mine interrupted Addai's growling with a sound slap on his forehead. "Don't show your fangs at me either," he slapped Addai's forehead again.
Mephistopheles muffled a wheeze and coughed when Addai looked at him. "We need to go, kiddo," he offered a hand and helped Mine step outside the room.
The corridors were damp and cold, with a background smell of stone with touches of wet earth. However, no source of light reached the trio's eyes, and they faced a suffocating darkness beyond the miasma dispersed in the air.
Mephistopheles lit a mana candle and lifted it on their heads, illuminating the small space they were in. Besides being dark, the corridors were narrow and suffocating as the darkness ahead and behind them. Mine tried making his hair glow, but the burning sensation from earlier flared again, so he stayed the way he was.
The floor was no longer made of white, smooth porcelain. Now, the floor was uneven in texture and was rough like the stone walls. Curtains? There wasn't a sign of a single refinement in those corridors, and windows seemed to have never been built there. Carpets, frames, statues... everything seemed like a mirage Mine had seen in his dreams.
Where there had once been large chandeliers, there were now cobwebs and sturdy chains hanging. In some places, it was possible to see skeletons hanging with traces of ancient miasma.
Every now and then, Mine found himself trying not to be scared by what he saw. Not that he hadn't seen worse in the morgue or in exorcism sessions, but in those conditions... he felt much more than in a session at the university or in specific missions that Soleil assigned him.
Mephistopheles was calmly walking until he signaled Mine and Addai to stop.
"We reached a gallery," Mephistopheles voiced, and his voice echoed in that room. "Stay sharp, Your Grace and kiddo," he looked at the duo, who nodded.
They walked about five cautious steps forward and stopped when mana candles illuminated their surroundings.
Corpses. Many corpses.
They were wrapped in white sheets, some stained with red liquid and others clean. Some were placed in drawers dug into the stone walls, and others were lined up on the floor. The smell of rot was not yet noticeable, but the stench of blood was very present.
"The bodies are fresh," Mine stammered, looking around.
His eyes roamed all the "exposed drawers." When Mine looked at the body in the drawer next to him, he noticed certain aspects he had seen elsewhere. His throat immediately tightened, as did his stomach. His hands became colder and colder, and he gradually lost the color of his face.
She was one of the prostitutes at Younri's Pub.
He recognized the lace fabric and standard accessories that peeked through the veil that covered her body.
"It's an improvised mortuary," Mephistopheles voiced, examining one of the bodies ahead. "They're no longer here in this realm," he bowed to the body and covered it again.
"That's why it's fetid here," Addai fanned himself, trying to get rid of the blood stench when he noticed the space between him and Mine had vanished. "Mine?! Where are you?!"
"Kiddo?!" Mephistopheles looked at Addai's direction.
Mine was right in front of the body he identified. Not too far from Addai and Mephistopheles, the mana candle above his head swayed irregularly as a diamond-shaped symbol appeared on his naked back.
His fingers slid on the sheets, revealing the body's pale and purple face.
"This is... Talia," Mine stammered, his voice somehow flat.
Her once vivid eyes were closed shut and sewed. Her mouth was dry and purple, like the skin stains all over her neck and cheeks. The clothing Younri gave her with a beaming face was in a terrible state, dirty from head to toe with wine, dirt, and blood. Talia was a strong and capable woman, but witnessing her defeat stirred his heart and surroundings.
"She..." Mine clenched his fists, and everything turned oddly mute.
"... Mine?" Addai touched Mine's shoulder.
Mine's breathing was erratic as if he was building up a very, ugly cry... but it wasn't a cry from sorrow... no... it was a cry from anger.
"AGARATH!!!!!!" Mine screeched.
What happened from then on was all at breakneck speeds.
All around Mine, bright, neon colors slid through the air like paint in zero gravity. Although this phenomenon looked similar to paint, something said it couldn't touch the skin in any way.
His hair, once ashy green, became irregular like floating dyes. He touched Talia's inert body, causing her, now deceased, to shudder.
Suddenly, the colors began to separate. What used to be a neon blue "touching" a violet tone, some palettes became very distant from each other. The paints separated until only yellow, light blue, white, and orange remained.
"... what...?" Addai breathed, his knees hesitating to move for some foreign reason.
Mephistopheles tripped on the nearest body and quickly reached for Addai, grabbing him by the shoulders. He yanked the boy far away from Mine right before the leftover colors hit the flooring where Addai was.
The demon panted, looking at Mine with a terrible expression.
"Shit! He's sorting the essences!!!" Mephistopheles voiced, still shielding Addai. "Stay away from him, Your Grace!!"
"Why?" Addai urged.
"We're in danger of being fucking exorcised to dust- I can't explain now!" Mephistopheles shouted back. "We need Younri immediately!"
"But how about him?! I won't leave him that way!" Addai refused to move.
Mephistopheles rubbed his eyebrows and gasped when the colors fused. "Listen, this is not a lovey-dovey shit about loyalty and stuff. This, You Grace, is a life or death moment! You're not immortal like him, so... we'll run away now!"
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