"Hurry!" Chi called back at Cara, her voice barely holding through the chaos around her. The air was speckled with tiny droplets of the blood that was spraying out from the dark miasma all around and above them. A metallic aroma was heavy in the air.
They rushed onward, their feet carrying them towards a tower that was still, quite a long way to go.
"Careful! The miasma will taint you!" Soma cut down the wisp of miasma that had shot out to grab at Chi. it dissipated into black dust and disappeared.
"Close call, that." Cara flashed a mischievous smile at Chi. "the miasma is particularly nasty around here." Cara said, referring to the aggressive wisps that reached to trap them every now and then.
The land was littered with puddles of red. Their feet splashing through them as they forged on. "What is this stuff?"
Kami scrunched her nose, "I really hope it is'nt what I think it is."
"It is exactly that," Cara said running toe to toe with her.
A chill ran through Kami, she wrapped her arms around herself, "that's not funny!"
"I'm not laughing."
"It is Blood. More specifically, 'blood of the innocent' it's what makes the demons stronger."
"Blood of the innocent?"
"Let's Move it guys" Soma shouted at them as he ran past, "Vara and Ska need backup."
Vara and Ska were facing off against a particularly nasty looking demon that was sporting six glowing red eyes and wrinkly skin that looked like a mangled knot of rotting roots. 'Foul' couldn't even begin to describe the stench it was emitting. It stood there on all fours, its sharp teeth bared and spiked tail swishing from side to side.
The demon let out a feral roar, its jaw snapping at Vara, who ducked behind his giant shield.
Soma tried to charge at the demon running past Ska, who dragged him back by the collar of his tunic.
"It'll shred you," Ska smacked him on the back of his head, "moron"
"We are out of time Ska, a portal's opening." Soma pointed at the ground and sure enough, there were lines appearing seemingly etched on the ground.
"Perfect," Ska rolled his eyes "explains the dizziness."
A deep hissy voice spoke from somewhere inside the miasma, "the priestess will die"
"Sure, ugly" Ska said, batting some of the Miasma tendrils away with his sword. "We unfortunately just stopped taking murder requests. Maybe next time, k?"
Ska's snarky remark earned them a feral roar from the beast in front of them, now standing tall on its hind legs.
"You just had to piss it off." Soma punched Ska.
"No, I had to piss it's boss off." Ska said, "I have standards."
Chi had picked up her pace. Kami was lagging way back. "Come on Kami!" she said pointing at the rest who were engaging the demon blocking their way to the tower.
Kami, Chi and Cara came to a skidding stop, reaching into their bellies to pull out their swords. Kami was still fascinated by the fact that she could even do such a thing.
"Welcome!" Soma grinned at them.
"Ska!" Chi ran in closer to him pulling Kami along. She slashed through a thick tendril of miasma that tried to reach for Kami," We need to get to that tower. The core can't take a hit"
Ska looked at Vara "Get them to the tower we will cover you guys."
Vara gave him a stiff nod and moved to run alongside Chi, and Kami, his shield deflecting a hit from the demon's tail.
Soma, Cara and Ska ran right at the creature with their swords drawn. Soma jumped up high, those 'boots of flight' coming in handy yet again. The creature looked at him reaching out to try and catch him, Soma easily dodged its attempt.
Soma had not believed Ska when he had walked into the tavern in Shishun city and declared to him that he had managed to get his hands on some celestial artifacts, but to his pleasant surprise, for once, Ska had not been bullshitting him.
He could see the entire field from the height he was at now. What he saw was troubling. The portal circle was almost complete, at the center an tall altar of stone was flickering in and out as if trying to decide what realm it wanted to be in.
Ska and Cara, took the opportunity and skid under the demon slashing at its legs while it was still distracted by Soma. Its wounds instantly bubbled, spewing dark blood. It lost its balance and went down, the miasma engulfed it before it could hit the ground, when it dissipated, the creature was gone.
Something invisible slashed at Ska from inside the miasma cutting him deep on the side of his torso. He clutched at the wound and dropped to his knees. "Ska, hey, you good?" Cara hurried over to look at him, concern written all over her face.
Ska flipped off whoever was hiding inside the miasma like a coward, "bastard!" he spat.
Soma nimbly landed beside the tow of them. "We need to move," his voice urgent. "The portal is huge and its almost complete.!"
"Ok let's go." Ska stood up, hunched over in pain and started walking.
"Um, the other way, Ska", Soma said pointing behind them at the tower.
"We need to Get rid of that handler. The bastard is here because of the portal , I'm sure of it. we can try and stop whatever sick shit they have planned. "
"Yes, I agree." Cara said supporting some of Ska's weight.
Vara had let Kami and Chi inside the tower before getting in himself. his shield still at the ready to deflect any attack that may come flying their way. They entered the crumbling structure of the stone tower that somehow seemed to hold itself together. Small glowing butterflies with translucent wings were flying inside the tower giving it a soft blue ethereal glow. There was a sense of peace inside the tower, a stark contrast to the chaos outside. the blood rain did not enter the tower even though there were wide gaping holes in the ceiling.
The three started ascending the large stone steps spiraling along the inside of the structure, the sound of a loose stone hitting he floor broke the silence.
"Honestly, maybe outside would have been safer than in here I guess," Kami looked around at the crumbling place.
"You think so? "Chi came to a stop close to a small window. "Be my guest," she gestured for Kami to look outside.
The scene was one of pure chaos. The blood was completely flooding the ground, the place looked like a sea of blood. the faint glow of some kind of a ritual circle was visible ubder the blood sea. purple Lightning ripped through the miasma as figures cloaked in black appeared standing on the outer edge of the ritual circle. They were translucent and some flickered slightly. Corpses of animals and people alike littered the ground. There was a circular stone altar in the centre with what looked like ritual symbols and patterns carved into it. In the middle the altar was something swaddled in an old looking cloth drenched in red with something sticking out of it. At a distance she noticed Ska, Soma and Cara disappearing into the thick miasma.
"The hell!"
"There are people out there." Chi came rushing to look through the window.
"They have opened a portal. it's how we can see them here. "I wonder how many poor beings they sacrificed" she said as she noticed the animal carcasses that littered the ground.
Chi's eyes shot wide as she scanned the scene in front of her. That swaddled bundle on the altar had moved. "No! These people are going too far!"
"What happened?"
Chi's face had gone white. "Hey, are you ok? what's happening?"
Vara came running to take a peek out through the window. Immediately averting his eyes from the mindless sacrifices.
"something big is afoot,"
Chi started walking down the stairs, a purpose in her stride. Vara followed and blocked her way.
"Let me pass, Vara" Chi was fuming.
"You know you can't go out there Chi" Vara tried to reason with her.
"That's a baby there on the altar and its alive!" she said, her voice unsteady.
"You don't know that"
"I'm not an idiot Vara, I saw that bundle move"
"It could just be a trick to lure us out. Please Chi, think. And In any case, even if you go out there you won't be able to do anything."
"It's a portal made by demons, it will obliterate your soul before you can even reach the altar." Vara seemed to have got his point across. Chi had stopped, turned around and walked back up.
Kami looked confused. Vara noticed and gave her the short explanation.
"Humans have opened a portal. The veil is thin. Demonic portals use the energy of souls as fuel to stay open, you can bother Soma later for the long version."
"How do you know its demonic?"
"Blood sacrifices." He said, matter-of-factly.
"They are so close to the tower how come we are still alive?" kami asked.
"Because towers area protected spaces. Watched over by higher beings. "
"Higher beings? As in, Angels?" Kami inquired.
"Yes," Vara looked exhausted.
"Well, they aren't taking great care of the place. It's a disaster."
"They do the best they can Kami, just like the rest of us. "Chi let out a tired sigh and sat down at the top of the stairwell. She looked down at her hands holding them out in front of her, palms facing each other and focusing her gaze at them. Noises and chatter faded into the back of her mind as she concentrated, pouring all of her remaining energy into the task at hand.
Kami sat down close by, watching her with fascination. "Oh! You are making that energy egg thing", she said excitedly, a faint glow of a sphere started forming in the space between her palms. It looked like a thin shell of light. The sphere grew in size and something golden started appearing inside the energy shell. It was an object with many rings. One inside the other. Chi's lips were moving soundlessly.
Kami had watched Chi conjure this device effortlessly many times before. But it seemed to be a particularly difficult task for her at the moment. Her face crumpled like she was in pain. Sweat beading on her forehead. Chi grit her teeth and let out a pained sigh. The energy shell flashed bright and dissipate. "It's no good" she panted. "There is way too much of this miasma around and to add to it there is now a portal out there. My energy level is way too low."