Back from Hell's Portal.
Luan and Derick are sent to the Portal of Hell, they walk to the palace where there will be a Ritual to deliver the Letter of Authorization given by the DSO, they deliver the Letter of Authorization to the demon guards who are at the entrance of the palace, all are dressed in long robes that cover the whole body like a cassock, and masks of the most different types, to countless demons of all sizes, to a very large room that has a central circle and 2 long stairs one on each side, and each group stands at one end, it seems very crowded, they play a lot of drums, and continue with a ritual of fights, and dances, it would be more like a Welcome Celebration Ritual, Luan and Derick just watch and copy what the others do, clap their hands, sing, and finally a human woman appears, but she looks very young, she's wearing a black dress and a mask, her hair is black and long, the two of them have no idea who she is, she sings a song and has a beautiful lyrical voice, very beautiful by the way, and the Ritual ends. Luan has a strange feeling, then he has a new memory, again in the playground, again a child, it's a girl now she's in front of him talking to him, but he has no idea what exactly she's talking about, and her face is visible and it seems to be the child who always appears in his dreams, but he doesn't remember who it might be, he deduces that his host who has partial possession of his body and mind (Bone Breaker Demon) and, he certainly controls his memories.
Luan is curious, who this girl in question might be, and why she had a sudden memory of a child, he sees the girl going up the stairs and speaks in a low voice to Derick disguisedly to accompany him, they notice a movement narrow the masked, the ritual is over, so they could go unnoticed, he goes up the stairs, Derick sees no other way to go after and accompany him, they are near a hidden door, the woman seemed to have entered there, one of the demons, who seems to be a guard, stops at the door and calls out to her, so she leaves and goes downstairs, Luan takes advantage of this moment to enter the door in question, when they both enter they notice that it is a large room, with a clothes closet on the right, a bed in the middle, next to the bed there is a balcony, and a desk on the left, he then enters, Derick already seems to be irritated and still trying to understand what he is doing, and why he is suddenly changing plans.
While Derick watches the door against his will, Luan looks up from the desk. He quickly looks at what's on the desk, he sees some Letters of Authorization, he spreads them out quickly and starts taking pictures, he puts them back together and sees an oriental-style decorated hairpin in the middle of the desk and thinks:
(It has to be a personal item, this must be for a spell, I need to find out who she is).
They hear voices, and the two of them quickly go into the closet, and hide behind the clothes. The girl seems to have come to get something, and again goes out the door, they wait a few moments, look through the crack in the door, and there are some demons outside, Luan points to the balcony, Derick looks to see if there's any way they can get down without being seen, Luan thinks it would be easier to open a portal to the village, so he does, touches his watch to pause the time, then signals with his hands to open a portal, takes Derick's arm and they enter the portal, and they return safely to the village, Derick looks very angry now and says:
"Luan,what a hell, everything was going fine, why go after a hairpin?!"
Luan replies:
"Sorry, I had a memory, so I need to find out what it meant, it was something with that girl, so I needed her personal item, and make a spell."
Derick retorts:
"Next time don't change the plan out of the blue, just stick to it."
Luan consents, he plugs his dot into his ear, fiddles with his watch and says:
"DSO, mission complete, we're heading back to Hell's Portal."
Luan thinks about opening another portal, but he sees a cart passing by, he notices that it doesn't appear to be a demon, it seems to be human, a very old man, who stops next to them and asks if they want a ride, Luan doesn't feel any danger in the offer, he is actually curious to know who it would be, and replies:
"All right, we need to stop near the Portal of Hell, is that all right?"
Derick looks incredulously at Luan and says quietly:
"You've never heard of not talking to strangers, and you still want to hitch a ride?"
Luan reassures him by answering in a low voice too:
"Relax, he's human too, he couldn't do anything to us."
They climb into the wagon, Luan feels tired in fact, and his stomach is still not good, he sits down next to the gentleman and talks to him all the way, Derick prefers to keep an eye out in case something happens, but to his surprise everything goes well, the gentleman leaves them near the Portal, Luan repays him with a few coins and thanks him, and they head towards the Portal of Hell, which is again opened for them to return, they return to the Pier where the boats and ferries are, but before they leave they go to the Shelter to meet other wizards and rest a little.
Luan has never spent the end of the year away from his mother, but there is a specific reason why they celebrate Christmas, because it is something that keeps them together, whether they like it or not, his maternal family were magicians, they used to keep some traditions, in memory of his maternal grandfathers, he will make an effort to arrive on time, after all in Hell time runs much slower than normal.
...But is everything all right at home, Luan?