Death Portals

Beatrice became depressed as layers of unsettling emotions began to stir up inside her. "We lost her," the doctor added.

Pastor Alfred felt a great pain grip him, and in that split second between what to do and what to think, his legs became weak and he sat back down on the chair, the Doctor's words still hanged in their throat.

A great sense of restlessness engulfs Beatrice, sucking her energy with it, and in that tragic moment, an ache pushed against her heart, and she fell, but Pastor Alfred and the doctor rushed to her side before she hit the ground.

“Mum.”

Kendrid speaks up from behind, his bottle of water falling from his grasp, his face balled up like a used tissue, turning him grey.

**********************************

At Sahamaradan

John landed with a loud bang on the ground, his vision blurred for a second, but he managed to get up and wait for his brain to figure out where he was and what had just happened.

Seconds passed before his vision became clearer, his mind raced, and he quickly realized he was in the field, exactly where they were before entering the portal to Sahamaradan.

He looked around, only to see prophet Silas getting up a few steps from where he was. He looked around again, hoping to see Charles, but when he couldn't, he returned his gaze to prophet Silas, who was now heading towards him.

"Charles, he isn't with us?" "Yes!" said Prophet Silas as he walked past him. As the words registered in his mind, John exclaimed in astonishment and dragged prophet Silas back, turning his face towards him.

"What do you mean he isn't here with us?" "Unfortunately, those mermaids caught him before he could jump."

"So, emphatically, he's still out there?" "Yes," Prophet Silas replied, turning around quickly to walk away, but John stopped him before he could take two steps.

"Are you serious? You're going to leave Charles there? we must go back" "I attempted to save him." He yelled angrily.

"You said you'd protect us." "We have to go back, we can't just leave him out there," John enraged.

"Do you have any idea what those mermaids are capable of?" "All the more reason for us to return."

Charles is my friend, and I'm not going to abandon him to the hands of those heartless monsters."

"There isn't anything we can do." “Nothing!” Angrily, John repeats himself. "You promised to get us back safely." "You two were aware of the dangers."

"We put our lives on the line to get these ashes," he raged, wincing at the box of jars.

"We were shot, we could have died, and then you abandoned him at the last minute, this wasn't the plan."

"You have to accept it; there's nothing we can do for Charles; if I were you, I'd be thinking of myself." He spun around and walked away from him with those words.

John glared at him, but in between returning to save Charles and figuring out why Prophet Silas wouldn't help, he noticed something.

Prophet Silas was holding the ashes as if he needed them more than they needed it. What if Charles was correct, and Prophet Silas only used them to collect the ashes?

He didn't hesitate before running towards him, grabbing his hand and forcing him to look at him before snatching the box from his grasp and John became surprised when Prophet Silas made a move to reclaim the ashes.

“Don't.” "Don't come near me," John yelled. "What are you doing, hand it over?" "Is this what you wanted?" "The only thing that can change your cursed fate is the ashes, so don't do anything stupid." "Is it.?" "John inquired."

"Because it appears that you require it more than we do." "Just give me the ashes." Prophet Silas said as he stretched his hand.

"On one option." “What?” "We return to save Charles." "That would be suicidal, Charles can't be saved, he could be dead by now," Prophet Silas chuckles.

"He might be dead because you abandoned him," John retorted. Prophet exhales, and in an instant, he extends his wand towards John.

As an electrical voltage current traveled through John's muscles, he felt a burning sensation, and his muscles shook uncontrollably.

When Prophet Silas came to a halt, the box fell from John's grasp before he collapsed unconscious on the ground. Prophet Silas quickly picked up the box and looked at John before leaving.

*****************************

Charles looked up, hands and legs tied, in regret and fear of what would happen to him as lightning cracked the sky in the storm.

The storms grew in size, rising like a spring melt river, the air bouncing in tight turbulence, its playful vibrations unaware of their own power.

And at that moment, Charles felt nothing but fear; with three heartless mermaids and women, all dressed up, standing before him, he knew all hell was about to break loose.

If Prophet Silas can abandon him to the mercy of the mermaids, he fears for John's safety, and this adventure to get out of his current situation is a fool's errand.

As the lightning increased, the storm at the river picks up speed in an instant, losing all sense of sequence and alignment. The river rises as great mountains, anger in the form of water, intense and harsh, making Charles shiver.

He knew things were going to go wrong for him because they didn't listen to him when he tried to explain his relationship with Mamila.

All hope was lost, and all he could do was watch as the river's waves rose angrily until he saw something peep its head out of the water, restoring calm to the river, and more heads peeped out.

Charles couldn't help but stare as five more mermaids emerged from the river, beautiful and naked, with the most beautiful female bodies he had ever seen.

But he quickly looks away when the three mermaids with him walked up to them and put clothes on them. "What's so critical about this meeting that it couldn't wait?" Avira, one of the mermaids who had recently joined them, inquired.

The three mermaids, Norashe, Damsa, and Killi, who had been waiting for their sisters, Avira, Dove, beget, ingrid, and Lovina, all cast their gaze on Charles before returning it to their sisters.

"We have urgent problems that cannot be delayed." Damsa replied.

"Where are the rest?"   Norashe inquired.

"No one told me we were bringing the entire community here."

Ingrid sighed as she stared at Charles, "Human." "We're inviting humans now," Lovina says. "He had not been invited." Killi takes a step back.

"But, he's here."

Begret arrived.

"You know how much I despise humans." "Does he have breakfast?" Dove inquired of Charles. "We don't eat people." Damsa retorted

"I'm still waiting to understand the reason for this unexpected meeting." "I was having my rest after an adventure to the other clan," Avira interjected. "The ashes has been stolen," Norashe explained.

"The ashes!" Begret and Ingrid both responded, "How is that possible?" "That isn't the question," Avira inquired. "The question is, why was it stolen?" Damsa said.

"Mamila saw it coming," Killi says. "Calypso was awakened." "That's not possible." Avira stated. "Calypso has been dead for a long time." "You understand the importance of the ashes." Damsa stated.

"And we suspect she's awakened because we saw him." added Norashe.  "Who?" Dove inquired.  "The human husband, the one Calypso had enchanted into doing her biddings?" "Silas," Ingrid said.

"Is that fool still attached to her?" Avira said this with total contempt. "Well, that fool, as you call him, is about to bring back one of the sea's most feared adversaries." Killi adds her voice.

Avira furrowed her brows.

"We have to put a stop to him. "Where is he?" "We'll need the elders' assistance." "We cannot tell the elders," Damsa stated. "You know what happened the last time we reported a situation like this," Avira responds.

"We have no chance against Calypo." Norashe chided.

"We did then,"  "We still do," Avira replied shakily.

Charles lowered his head as they argued, thinking of all the possible consequences that could help him escape but everything he thought of always came up short, perplexed, completely exhausted, and angry, he adjusts his gaze towards them.

"We had the assistance of the elders."

Damsa came back. "And whose idea was it to leave the ashes in the care of humans?" Damsa locked her gaze on her without saying anything.

"Speaking of humans," Ingrid says, cringing at Charles.

"Have you seen how this one looks at us?" Charles swallows a dry lump in his throat as they turn their attention to him.

"And what exactly is his purpose for being here?" Avira inquired as she approached Charles. "Do you not recognize him?" Norashe joins in. "You know how much I despise these humans, why should I recognize him?" nipped Avira.

"He was once brought to the sea."

Norashe stated "Mamila's stupidity." Dove rebuked. "The same one who shot her with salt," Norashe added. "And assisted in the theft of the ashes."

Avira's gaze shifted from Charles to Norashe, then back to Charles.

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's kill him now." "Take a look at the scars on his stomach." Damsa joins in.

Charles tried to inhale but no air entered his lungs. Desperate for air, he focused his attention on the markings on his stomach, making him reflect on the second time whatever is inside him had tried to escape.

"He has the seed inside of him."

Damsa added, "Behemoth," which shocked Avira as she shifted her gaze from Damsa to Charles.

Charles returned his gaze to them, unsure what they meant, the shock expression on Avira's face is sending chills down his spine.

"Take a look at his lower abdomen injury." "He said a monster attacked him before he came down here, and from the wound, anyone could guess it was a Botis," Damsa continued.

"What exactly is a Botis?" Charles mustered the courage to inquire, "Botis is a demon who rules over 60 demon legions and resembles a horned and fanged human." Damsa responded, "

He's a fallen angel, but why would a botis attack you when what lives inside you is a descendant of Behemoth, the fallen angel who has lived since the beginning of time?"

"I don't understand, why would Mamila do this to me, she put a demon inside me," Charles said, his face flushed. "This hasn't happened in 100 years." Killi retorted angrily.

"We thought a human-mermaid union would never produce a demon after the last one was slain a hundred years ago." "Why me." Infuriated, Charles inquires. "Why me?" As he struggled against the rope, he yelled angrily.

"If you had controlled your dick, you wouldn't be asking these questions," Ingrid retorted.

"A wise man knows how to control his penis, a fool follows its lead, you were a fool, you've always been a fool, and you'll die a fool's death."

"I didn't sign up for this." Charles screamed.

"This was done to me by Mamila." "She warned you to stay away from her scent," Damsa responded, "but a fool will always be a fool."

"We can't let that monster out," Avira said. "We need to destroy him." Charles' heart pounded against his chest as Avira's words reverberated in his ears: "Destroy him, I don't understand."

"Behemoth is afraid of fire." Damsa responded to him. "We have to burn your body to kill him."

As Charles tried to process the words, every thought in his mind came to a stop.

The horrifying reality of their plans then hit him.

"You're going to burn me alive, isn't that going to kill me?" "Are you waiting to know?" Avira spoke first. "Didn't they teach you that fire produces ashes in your world?"

"In your next life" "If you see a pretty thing on a skirt, run as fast as your leg can carry you," Ingrid says. "Your love of women and sex led you here." "I'm sorry, but this will be the end of you," Damsa says.

******************************

"Your power grows in the darkness beyond twilight, the crimson beyond the blood that flows, buried in the stream of time."

"Hear me now, thou who art darker than dusk, listen that which is more red than blood," Prophet Silas chanted as he moved around the corspe in the wooden casket.

I summon thee in the name of that which has been buried in the bottomless abyss of eternal time, Master of the ultimate darkness, have no mercy on the fools who stand in our way, absorb me with power; let your strength become mine."

He paused to examine the corpse, then opened the ashes and began sprinkling the ashes on the corpse.

Patting the corpse with a strange circular motion of his fingers, a motion that always returned the fingers to their starting position.

His voice sank even lower as he whispered dark names and grisly incantations long forgotten except in the grim hinterlands of dark Stygia, where monstrous shapes move in the tomb dusk.

"Oh, dear Dedamlia."

Prophet Silas kept repeating dark incantations. "With this ashes, grant the power to shape this wretched creature in order for it to be reborn."

As Prophet Silas continued in strange chants, a powerful force in the form of a wind surrounded him, causing every object in its path to crash, followed by the roof wooden planks as they flew out of the room at high speed.

A screeching sound filled the room before separated bones began to join together, and Calypso rose from the wooden coffin in her skeleton form.

Tool marks were gauged into her bones, and there was a round hole in her skull. Her head had been sliced open at the back with a sharp knife and was now hollow.

Her skeleton head begins to rotate as if assessing the scene with its coal black sockets and hearing with only the ghost of its ears. As she climbs down from the coffin and walks, it was like the sound of bone hitting asphalt.

Her skinless arm points in the direction of Prophet Silas, who smiled before kneeling as he heard the gnashing of skeleton teeth and the picking up of its stride.

"My love, welcome back." said Prophet Silas.

"Jesus,"  From the door came a terrified voice.

Prophet Silas and Calypso quickly shifted their gaze to the door, and Prophet Silas' anger grew as he realized it was John who had screamed.

Angered, he picked up his wand, but John managed to rise above his fears and, before Prophet Silas could strike him, he took to his heels. Prophet Silas was about going after him, but the skeleton stopped him.

"Leave him alone." Calypso said, her voice dreadful and almost rigid. "We have bigger issues." Prophet Silas came to a stop and spun around to face her.

"Are you still in possession of the mystic mirror?" "Yes," Prophet Silas said, shifting his weight backwards before spinning around and dragging a cloth down to reveal a mirror on the wall.