Gateway to hell

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She turned away and walked farther into the narrow and dark alley. He went after her, moving as fast as he could despite the dizziness and staggering, All he wanted right now was to embrace her.

"Wait, where are you going?" Xavier called after her. He reached the dead end of the dark alley, but she was nowhere to be found. He looked around and then he heard a swirling sound behind him, he turned to where the sound was coming from and he saw a...Portal?

Xavier was awestruck by the sight. He stepped back but ended up on the cold ground of the dark alley. What was a portal doing in a place like this? He heard that portals were transportations for witches or devilish beings from another realm.

The portal was dark, but he heard some noises, like screams and gnashing of teeth. The portal looked like a gateway to hell. He was frightened and staggered backward. The dizziness he felt was completely obliterated.The swirling got bigger. and a figure was shown in the dark portal. It was Athena.

"Xavier!" Athena called, banging on the portal, and it looked like she was trapped in there.

"Xavier, help me!" Athena said as she banged the portal as hard as she could, with tears glistening in her eyes. She looked so scared.

Xavier stood up and ran to the portal. He put his hands through the portal, and shockingly, it went through with ease, he almost fell into the portal cause he did not expect something Athena was banging so hard to let his hand go through with ease. He pulled his hand back, and it was wet, like putting your hand into an icy cold water. He put his hand back in again, and this time, hoping to get through to Athena.

Athena grabbed his hand, and a smirk appeared on her lips, a devilish one. Her eyes turned pitch black, and dark purple hues came out of her body, forming a dark purple wisps of smoke-like tentacles. It passed through the portal while he tried to remove his hands, but whatsoever that was, it was shockingly strong that it wouldn't budge. He knew it was not Athena. It was an illusion, and he could see right through it.

The dark wisps of smoke wrapped around Xavier like snakes and entered the holes on his face, his mouth, nose, and ears, his eyes turned pitch black and he floated in the air with the demon still holding onto him. His body turned pale, and his skin got ice-cold. He became immobile, and an ear-piercing scream escaped his lips. He dropped to the ground unconscious, and the portal vanished without a trace.

Back at Stones Kingdom

"What happened to him?" King Epirius asked the royal physician who examined the unconscious general.

"He suffered from shock, Whatever he heard or saw must be really frightening to give a shock like this, He will soon recover." The royal physician said while removing his tools and putting it back into the case.

"Shock? But this is General Sam. He is always well composed," King Epirius said in disbelief. He knew Samuel. He was the type of man who never showed fear.

There were a lot of things going on in Epirius's mind. What happened to his soldiers who chased after the slaves? Why did Samuel come back injured, and were they attacked by a wild animal?

that must be it. It's the only logical explanation for what happened. All he had to do was wait for Samuel to wake up.

A few hours later, the king and his daughter, Princess Evie, dined in the royal diner when the doors flew open, General Samuel walked into the hall, leaping and in pain. King Epirius immediately stood up and walked to him, helping him to one of the vacant seats.

"What are you doing here? You should be resting in bed," Epirius said.

"He should've died along with the others!" Evie said nonchalantly as she continued eating her breakfast.

"Evielyn !!" The King called, and she rolled her eyes.

"I am fine, your majesty." General Samuel said.

Epirius took his seat, and with a wave of his hand, the maid's who served the food left, including Evielyn, whom he ordered to leave.

She was curious to know what happened and if her friends were safe.

"Can you recall what happened?" Epirius asked, and as if all the memories rushed to him that moment, Sam froze,his hands trembled, and the spoon fell from his hand.

"Witch." He said, staring at an empty blank space.

"What do you mean, Witch?" Epirius asked, looking at the empty space he was staring at.

FLASHBACK

The red-haired girl cried over her dead sister's body, and then the weirdest thing happened. His evil smile faded when he saw lights, golden, and silvery hues emanate from Athena's body and as if she was possessed by something.

"No!"

He heard an ear-piercing scream, which nearly made his ears bleed. He watched as she floated in the air, and his Jaws dropped. Her short red hair turned longer, and the strands changed silvery-white.

'Was this really happening, or am i imagining things?' He asked himself inwardly.

Her eyes, when she opened them, was the most scary thing he had ever seen. It was blank, glowing with golden flames burning inside them.

His soldiers started to panic, and after her transformation was complete, she floated down to the ground, her hair floating and dancing behind her as she looked at her dead sister's body again. The soldiers shot arrows at her in panic and fear, but then right in front of his eyes, the arrows stopped in mid-air, Other weapons on the ground, including the ones hidden on their body also floated in the air.

He looked around and saw that the swords, crossbows, spears, and all the weapons they brought along pointed directly at them. The torches went out,and heavy wind blew, shaking the forest trees.

She was staring directly at him, she outstretched her right hand and then clenched her fist. He began hearing screams and pained gasps coming from his soldiers. He watched as the weapons she made to float pierced their skull and sliced their necks, beheading them until all of them were on the ground, dead and in their own pool of blood. It was all so surreal, like the awakening of a powerful witch.

He staggered backward as his soldiers fell to their deaths. He glanced at the girl. Her hands were still outstretched, pointing at him, blood flowed, rolling underneath his feet as the last soldier who stood beside him was split into two.

Why wasn't she doing anything to him, like killing him yet, was she saving the best for last, or was she going to perhaps spare him? What the hell has he gotten himself into?!

There was an awkward yet frightening silence between Athena and The general, the soldiers were all dead and the weapons dropped to the ground, he watched as she passed by a tree and the tree withered like a dead grass, He has never been so scared in his entire life. Athena was the last person he could think of, capable of doing something bad, but she turned out to be a devil in disguise, slaughtering soldiers with just a wave of her hand.

She took slow strides towards him while her hair and clothes that were now tainted red with blood danced with a step.

"Please...please do not kill me, I was only following orders, Athena." He said as she walked to him while the moonlight shone its light on her. Her beauty seemed to have increased a hundred percent, but the beautiful ones were the devilish ones, even lucifer, The devil was once beautiful.

"Do you remember when i was about to be beheaded , and Epirius ordered the Soldier to stop but you took the sword from him and decided to proceed...You didn't look like you were following orders then." She said in a distorted voice that echoed in the darkness of the forest, but he noticed something, Her lips were not moving, but he could still hear her. How is that possible?

She was now standing right in front of him as he looked into her burning eyes.

He suddenly floated in the air, but he was being strangled.

"Who...who are you?" He asked, swinging his legs listlessly in the air.

"That should be the least of your concern, General," the distorted voice said again. She was right, all what he was thinking should be the least of his worries. He should focus on surviving.

How could a man like him be brought down to his knees by this puny witch, but also, who was he against magic.

"I can hear your thoughts,child."

What! She could read my mind, and who was she calling child? Even a bad man would know he was old enough to be her father.

(CRACK)

"Aah." He groaned in pain when his ankle twisted to the back, another groan escaped his lips when his wrist dislocated.

"Please, spare me," He pleaded with tears, now streaming down his eyes. with a snap of her fingers,his bones were joined back, but she made sure it was still painful as hell.

"Tell your King what you saw and brace yourselves for what is to come. No sin goes unpunished." She said then with a wave of her hand. He was sent flying and crashing into a tree, then fell down, unconscious.