United Against Hate: Chapter 9

The sun was setting as Emeralda landed in a massive clearing and Blaze slowed to a stop. Alison slid off the horse’s back and they stood together. The city of Isal was massive, a proper city. Massive stone walls surrounded the city with red armored guards on the walls. An iron gate served as the main entrance. There were tall buildings within that went far above the walls and a castle even further than that.

Even from as far away as they were, they could sense something was wrong. A magical energy that Alison knew intimately but something her younger companions couldn’t really place. But she could tell neither of them was comfortable with the way things were going on.

“So that’s Isal. We haven’t been here before but we’ve heard rumors about it,” Alison said folding her arms. “It’s as unsettling as we imagined.”

“Our sister is in there, right?” Sofie asked.

“That’s our guess.”

“Let’s check,” Sefirin said and pulled the pocket watch out. Sofie did the same but realized they had never really used them before. “So one hit for time and a second to locate us.”

“And a third to call for the headmaster,” Sofie nodded.

“You’ve never used them?” Alison asked and they shook their heads. “We mean. Use them but be careful.”

“Let’s try it,” Sefirin said holding the black watch in front of him. He hit it once and it popped open showing a simple clock face with two ticking hands going across. He was able to see that it was about seven or eight in the evening. He glanced at his sister who was doing the same thing.

And then they hit it the second time and both of their eyes glowed. For a short moment they didn’t see the empty plains and massive city before them. They saw a reeking dungeon, they saw a pair of people a man and a woman, and they felt their sister. They felt her pain and they felt her fear. They looked at one another, eyes concerned and confused. They both looked back toward the city and nodded individually.

Alison looked at them both and nodded her head, “We guess that means she’s there?”

“Yeah,” Sefirin said. “Silva’s there.”

Sofie shivered and Sefirin squeezed her shoulder lightly as Emeralda pressed her head against her back. She wiped her eyes quickly and glared at the city. “How do we get her out of there?”

Folding her arms Alison scrunched up her face as she tried to work through it. “The hard part is getting into the city. They’ve cracked down on the people that can come and go these days. Without the proper papers we’re not going to be allowed entry. Well we guess we could cause a fuss though that would more likely get us killed than arrested.”

“So you need to find a way to sneak in then?” Emeralda asked.

“Yes. We don’t take it any of you know a way to turn us invisible, do you?” Sefirin shook his head and Sofie frowned. Alison sighed but nodded back, “That’s fine. We can figure something else out.”

“What if we teleported in?” Penny asked internally.

“That’s just asking for trouble,” Alison shook her head.

“What about dropping in from the air?” Sefirin asked manifesting his wings for a second. “We could just swoop in.”

“And not be seen? If you could pull that off we’d pay you,” Alison smiled. “But it’s an idea.”

“What if we give up,” Sofie asked her eyebrows furrowed.

Sefirin glanced at his sister and scratched his head, “Uh sis isn’t that kinda the opposite of what we’re doing?”

“I know but hear me out,” she said. “You and me are spellcasters. That’s almost obvious. And Alison you used to be Norian right?”

“Technically still am but we definitely claim no allegiance to our home country.”

“What I mean is, would someone see you and think you were Norian?”

She paused and thought for a moment, “Not immediately. We’ve lost part of the accent but we could bring it back if we needed to. What are you getting at?”

“You come and turn us in. Trade us for some sort of reward or something,” she said. “They seem like the people who would do that.”

“But then that would mean you two are in their custody and that doesn’t give us the freedom of movement to find your sister.”

Sofie deflated a little and nodded, “Right. We’d just be in a worse spot.”

“Perhaps you are on the right track hatchling.”

They turned toward the dragon who was laying down behind them. “What do you mean?” Sefirin asked.

“You are all magically gifted. And these people seem to value that. What if you were to pretend to join them?”

“Join the cult?” Sefirin asked and she nodded. “I mean. That’s thinking outside the box for sure.”

“That might work,” Alison said. “They’re always clamoring for converts and believers. Especially mages.”

“So we pretend to be one of them and get into the city and then once we’re there we can find Silva and then escape,” Sefirin hit his fist into his hand. “Sounds good to me.”

“It’s risky,” Alison frowned. “But it’s the best option we have at the moment.”

Sofie nodded slowly, “It might be our only shot.” She looked at Emeralda and touched her face. “And you’ll be ready to move at a moment’s notice, right?”

“Of course,” she replied and pressed her face against her chest. “Be careful Sofie. All of you.”

Alison nodded and then glanced at Blaze as he stepped closer to her and chuffed. Alison smiled and shook her head. “Sorry boy. But this one’s just going to be the three of us.” He stamped angrily and she made a face. “We know. But this is going to be a special kind of dangerous. We think we’re going to need you ready when we’re running out of here. Plus we can leave you with someone.”

Blaze blinked and then looked at Emeralda. The dragon rumbled slightly and though the air shifted around Blaze, the horse wasn’t fazed. “Will you look after him?”

“I will protect him if trouble comes our way,” she replied and shook herself slowly standing up a little taller. Blaze bristled at this and looked at Alison again.

“Be nice she said. Please.” He stepped forward and pressed his face against her and she hugged him smiling. “We’ll be back and hopefully nothing bad happens.”

She stepped back and then looked at her two young companions, “You guys ready?”

They both nodded and Alison nodded back before starting to walk. To keep sightings of Emeralda down they were decently far away from the city and by the time they got there the sun had set properly and many torches were lit at the city. But to sell themselves they each carried an orb of light.

As they arrived at the edge of the gates though they were stopped by a voice, “Halt! Who goes there?”

Alison raised her arm letting the light grow brighter around her and saw the guard atop it, “We are travelers. Travelers seeking the word of the prophet. The prophet Daze.”

“What do you know of the master’s teachings,” the soldier said sharply.

“We have seen firsthand the miracles that he has created. And we wish to give ourselves to his vision. We each are mages,” she said and Sefirin raised his orb changing it to a bright star of a beacon while Sofie’s was the weakest of them all but she managed to spin it around her.

“Mages,” another soldier came forward raising his helmet and revealing a normal face with pale skin. “The magus has been searching for talented mages.”

“The magus?” Alison said. “Someone who serves the prophet directly? How can we talk to them?”

“Open the gate. I’ll take them to the magus. Finally, some good news for her. She won’t be ready to take kill another one of us,” he mumbled leaving quickly.

As he walked the three of them could hear the doors opening. They creaked as they slid open and they looked at one another. “Well that was easy,” Sefirin said softly.

Sofie nodded, “I thought they would be more hesitant.”

“They’re always taking in members. And it seems the Magus is desperate.” Alison looked up slowly and watched as two soldiers came down from their station on the wall. She smiled brightly and lowered her head. “Thank you.”

“The miracles and prowess of Daze touch all. You came at a good time.”

“Whys that?”

“A ritual is being performed. To connect with the other side like master Daze has instructed. The veil will be lifted and our worlds will connect with that of the other,” he said enthusiastically.

It was hard for the three of them to keep their faces blank and even harder to smile at it. But they managed it. “A ritual? Can we see it? Is it too late?”

“No it’s not. If we hurry we can see it,”

“Then let’s hurry,” Sofie said quickly.

“This way,” the soldier turned and broke into a quick jog. The three of them dismissed the orbs of light and ran after him. The interior of the city was the same as any other. They had people milling around, talking, laughing. Buildings stood, some loud with music. Some people were hanging around in the streets or at the large fountain they passed in the square.

Nothing looked like it belonged to a cult.

“Where did you come from?”

Alison blinked and then shook her head, “We’ve traveled together from all over Noria. But we met in a small village in the east. We saw the sky open and we saw the being that stared back at us from beyond the veil. And we knew everything in our lives had changed permanently.”

“Oh you saw the great awakening firsthand. I wish I was that lucky,” the soldier shook his head. “I saw smaller miracles but that was truly the one that started it all.”

“Is the prophet here?” Sofie asked hesitantly.

“Unfortunately not. We haven’t seen him in about a month or so. But his heralds are here to oversee things. It’s why we are doing the ritual today. It’s an exciting day.”

“His heralds? The ones who act and speak as his mouth?” Alison asked.

“The very same. They said they were coming anyway but we recently got a new batch of potential hosts and sacrifices. Things are looking to be very good for us all.”

“Indeed,” Alison said doing her best to sound gleeful. But internally she was having a mild panic attack. This entire situation was not in her predictions nor in any of their meager calculations.

But as they walked forward the trio of mages felt a ripple on the air. They all started and looked around tense but their eyes widened as they looked toward the faint glow from within the courtyard walls. “It’s begun?” Alison asked.

“Yes. Let’s hurry,” the soldier said and they started running.

They traveled the streets and came up to the castle. The closer that they got to the castle the fewer and fewer people were around. It was like the streets were emptying. Following one of the winding paths and then up the stairs to the high walls that surrounded the courtyard they saw where the people had gone. The walls were covered in people, soldiers, and cultists.

They managed to shuffle their way forward and become a part of the crowd that had circled around the entirety of the courtyard. The three of them immediately looked around to absorb as much information as they could.

 There were six people on their knees and tied down against the ground. They were equally spaced from one another on the ground from hooded figures behind them. But the thing that got Alison’s gaze was the group of four standing in front of the castle. The hooded figure that stood closest to the summoning circle that she guessed was the magus.

But the pair that stood just away from things were the ones that caught her attention. They stood calmly, wearing black suits, and looking board. But more than that she saw the beings that resided in them. Just shadows that hovered behind them but Penny saw what they really were.

“Those are my kind,” Penny said quickly. “And they’re like we are.”

“Demons bonded to mages?” Alison whispered.

“Yes but not like we are. I can’t place how they’re different from us. But they’re different. Dangerous. Be careful.”

“I will,” she said. She blinked quickly and then glanced down at the siblings. They both had their eyes glued to the same location in the courtyard. She followed their gaze and saw the last person of the group. A girl with silver hair stood behind them, her arms bound by restraints but no chains. The way she watched she was not a simple prisoner.

“Silva,” Sofie said first.

“That’s her?” Alison asked.

“Yeah,” Sefirin nodded. “She looks like hell. What did they do to her?”

Alison put her hand on his shoulder and felt him vibrating with anger. “We’re going to help her. But we need to take our chance when it’s right.”

As if to emphasize light suddenly began to glow in the center of the courtyard. The magus had stepped forward and through the collective chanting of her and others the ritual began. A circle of color and light appeared around them. The lines started to appear from each of the assembled people connecting them together like some bizarre shape.

The glow illuminated them better but somehow sucked the light out of the area. It was subtle at first, the wind, the coolness on the air, the silence that seemed to settle out of nowhere. The soft murmur of the crowds had disappeared like the flip of a switch. The only noise that remained was the chanting of the members in the courtyard.

And then they stopped chanting. They stopped speaking. They stopped casting the spell on their end because the door had been created. And they had knocked. Now they were silent waiting for an answer. Even the wind had dulled afraid to break the stillness.

The first scream was sudden. It was so sharp and they all jumped. It came from one of the six in the circle. They suddenly tilted their head back and screamed in anguish and ecstasy that it was hard to find the end of one and the beginning of the other. Just one constant sound that was unsettling, there was no other word for it.

The second scream was an inevitability. The rest were a chorus. One by one the purple light of the circle light jumped into their mouths and made its home inside their bodies. But it grew too big for them and one by one the light filled them to the brim and then exploded. Showering the courtyard with lights bright enough to be fireworks.

The noises they made began to be drowned out by the fact that the magic in the air was thick enough to strangle anyone not used to it. Like a pair of hands suddenly appearing and grabbing them each by the throat. It wanted to harvest every breath they had left in their longs. And in many ways that was exactly what was going on.

Alison put her hand on Sofie’s shoulder and squeezed Sefirin’s harder because she could feel the tension. She saw the magic that was being wrought around them and knew neither of them knew what was happening. Knew that they would be vulnerable to this and wanted to shield them from the worst of it.

 She turned her gaze onto the magic circle. She watched as the bodies of the captured disintegrated into pure magic and turned to dust. She watched as it circled around them like powder on the air.

The magus and her mages stood up suddenly and threw their hands into the air. The dust followed suit and Alison knew the feeling of what was going on before it started. She cast her eyes to the sky and saw the sky that had been clear suddenly filled with clouds. Roiling clumps of dark shapes that didn’t belong.

The roiling clouds were like a funnel and the center of it was this courtyard. It swirled, continuing to herald something dangerous. It was a primal energy, ancient beyond her years and even beyond Penny’s. She shook with fear and anticipation as the cloud expanded and crashed down with thunder.

Sefirin and Sofie both looked to the sky above them and they gasped. Sefirin’s eyes turned draconic and Sofie’s turned to a yellow so sharp she might have been sick because of the fear. In the middle of the funnel cloud above their heads the sky tore open like it had been purposely ripped open by hands bigger than them and the very fabric between the pieces was just darkness.

Through that darkness was an intelligence looking for something to interact with. Looking down at them from the sky above were a pair of eyes. They were a deep green and segmented into three pairs. Each pair was slit down the middle and somehow, they looked at everything and them specifically.

Staring at the eyes gave the siblings an intense headache, as if punishing them for laying eyes on it. And for all intents and purposes, they shouldn’t have but they were.

Alison on instinct reached forward and wrapped her hands around both their eyes and pulled them back. She forced them to look away or because Penny forcibly took control away from Alison. As the black veins sprouted around Alison’s eyes, her pupils bled to black.

Penny watched the demon focus itself and become aware of where it was and what it was doing. And then they watched it do something that they didn’t think was even remotely possible. They watched the demon come through the portal in the sky. A portal that Penny had seen before through Alison’s very eyes.

The Calamity.

They watched it reach through not hand first but foot first. A huge foot more like the talon of a bird that didn’t exist in this world. Following it was a leg followed by another and very quickly Penny was realizing that demons from their own realm of existence had long since found a way to manifest themselves in this physical plane. But this was different. Its skin was made of velvet and filled with the swirling vortex of stars as if the night sky had been given form.

Grinding their teeth together Penny shook their head, “The Calamity. Bringing it down to call one of my kind here. We may be very in over our heads this time Alison.”