The Demon Realms

Chapter 20 - Opposites Attract

Lyzabeth Aurora Occulus

The air surrounding us started to cloud up with a fusion of black and white smoke. The black smoke was absolute darkness. Pitch black. The white smoke was illuminating. Bright White.

Our Sandman dissolved into the hurricane until in its eye were the Crystal of Light and Sword of Shadows. The tornado caused by the two extremely powerful objects was only growing stronger with the passing of time. And the whispering too.

And then out of the storm two bodies started to form. One pure of Light in the shape of a woman floated atop the Crystal. And one pure of Darkness in the shape of a Man floated atop the Sword. Both wearing armor and clothes of Noble Kings and Queens.

They smiled at each other. How could two complete opposites smile upon each other like old friends? What was that saying or rather law? Opposites attract? And then they both inched forward toward the other. And there hands were outstretched. When their fingers touched, the whole tornado went on slow motion. Then they stood side by side and glanced down at us. Still smiling. Then they spoke. Individually to each of us.

"Jake Vandrago. Best of the Demowards. You have much to learn about yourself. Truth concealed in lies. And lies concealed upon more lies. Do not dwell in the past and feed the Darkness that will tempt you." They told Jake.

"Clark Cardvigan. Hero of the Demowards. You cannot live by two lives. Your future is yours to determine. Don't let yourself be controlled." Their eerie voices directed at Clark.

"Lyzabeth Aurora Occulus. Outsider to the Demowards. You are special. And you need to remember that. And when the time comes, do not hesitate. Do what must be done. Your grief however is only the cause of confusion and twisted tales." They told me.

"Mike Grandeal. Sorcerer of the Demowards. All your life you have thought of yourself second to all. But you are rather the strongest and fearful. But we sense something big coming your way. Trust your instincts." Was what they told Mike. And that was the first time I've heard his last name.

And just like that, it started to swirl anti-clockwise in the blink of and eye. And along with the two embodiments of Light and Darkness the whole thing vanished. However, it didn't stop there. Immediately after the figures from the objects disappeared along with the storm, a strong pulling force made us stumble.

"Uh-oh" Mike said.

As I tried to get on my feet, I noticed what he meant. There was a miniature black hole seemed to have opened in the middle of the tomb.

"What do we do? It's dragging us into it!" Jake shouted.

"It's some sort of portal that's for sure!" Clark exclaimed.

"Do we go through it?" I asked.

"We don't have any other choice" Clark replied.

We were all on the floor trying to grab onto the sand that lay there. But obviously that didn't do anything. So we slowly rose up into the air toward the portal. And as we went through it, there was only darkness.

***

I don't remember falling down. But as my eyes opened, I was on the floor. The ground was wet and mossy. The air felt humid and the smelt of fresh soil and rain. Trees grew all around us. We were in a rainforest. I could see Jake, Mike and Clark nearby trying to get up and find their bearings as well. The Sword and Crystal were also on the floor beside Mike, who picked them and put them into separate satchels. Two down one to go.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"We just got here with you. How on Earth are we supposed to know?" Jake replied.

"We'll just have to walk until we find a source of water. Like a stream or river. Then we follow that to the nearest village." Clark suggested.

As soon as we were able to walk without stumbling, we followed Clark. And sure enough after a while we did hear running water in the distance. We followed the sound of the lapping of water which was still faint.

What I found odd was that this forest was dead silent. No birds. No crickets. Not a single moving thing in sight. The others too seemed to have found that rather odd.

"Are rainforests normally this quiet?" Jake asked.

"No. Something has happened here." Clark replied.

That's when we say splashes of blood on trees and the soil around us looked torn apart.

"Is that human blood?" I asked terrified. But Mike walked over to the trunk of a tree and examined it.

"That's deer blood." He replied and I breathed.

"So something is killing the wildlife here?" Jake asked.

"It looks like it. So stay on the guard. Something that can kill deers can kill humans like us too. Weapons out people."

With our weapons out of our sheaths, and our armor bracelets activated, we continued toward the sound of the flowing water. We passed more trees with blood on them. Mike confirmed them to be Deer, and some of other animals like beavers and other rodents.

After perhaps half an hour we reached a river. It was shallow but murky so we couldn't see the river bed.

"We should cross and see if there are animals on the other side. Most predators don't cross water." Clark said.

"But watch your step since it's so murky." Clark added.

So we slowly stepped into the water which barely came to our knees. Clark was up front and we followed him single file. Mike was behind me and Jake in front. Though it was shallow, the current was strong, so we had to make our way slowly across the river.

Half way there we felt a tremor. Earthquake? I don't know. We all paused and looked at each other. After a while since nothing happened we continued our way again. And after a few steps, there was a tremor again.

"What's going on?" I asked aloud. But they all shrugged. We waited longer this time before walking again.

Again there was a tremor. But this time, a hesitant moment after the tremor, the river split, along with the ground beneath it. We fell down hard onto a rock floor. That's going to leave bruises. But that wasn't the worst of it. We have fallen into a sort of cave.

That's when we saw their glowing red eyes. That's when we heard their snarling that made the hair on my necks and arms stand. That's when we heard a blood curling howl.