Chapter 19: Disguise

Chapter 19: Disguise

His gaze ablaze as he opened them, he looked straight ahead, saying, "Take her to safety."

The moment Lucifer's words left his lips, a cool breeze blew past him following which appeared a man, wearing a black cloak and a mask that hid his face. With a gentle and soft voice filled with respect, he said, "As you wish, master."

He was a little taller than Lucifer and had brown hair. Combined with that, the black mask covering his face had nothing but a letter engraved: C.

Following Lucifer's orders, he lifted Maya and carried her in his arms, vanishing into thin air right after that.

Lucifer then pivoted around, raising his right hand slowly and placing it right in front of him, the palm facing his face. A red cloud erupted from his palm which blew past his head. It didn't take long to fade away right after which, appeared a mask that now hid his face.

The mask was similar to the person that had appeared previously, completely black. Yet, it had just one small difference – the letter engraved was not C. It was L.

Right after wearing the mask, the red cloud that had disappeared, appeared again, this time covering his entire body. It did not take long for Lucifer's outfit to change.

While he did wear a fancy outfit earlier thanks to Vineca's shopping, now what covered his body was a red shirt and pants which had continuous black lines adorning all over. A pair of black gloves appeared which fitted tightly around his hands.

His eyes aglow with red light, especially his pupils which turned red like that of a Devil, made him look cold and menacing. Adding to that, the appearance of a top hat that sat above his head, made him resemble a Street Magician who perfect tricks.

Raising his hand for a final time, he uttered, "Stynom.", without the usage of any wand and vanished into the emptiness of the area.

.

.

.

Zwoop!

Noah and Daniel appeared at a rather peculiar place: Hancer's market.

Hancer, being one of the central cities, was populated by a lot of wizards, and witches. Having one of the biggest markets of the Magic realm, it was filled with buyers and sellers day long! Even night-time demanded customers!

It was right here that Noah and Daniel warped to, not exactly in the middle of the crowd, but close to a shop.

"The market… and…"

"That's the temple…", Daniel took an entire 180-degree turn, pivoting to look at the gigantic building that was visible from the place.

It was more than a kilometre far, and despite the presence of many other buildings in between, it was still visible. Its topmost part bore a flag: A wheel with 24 spears pointing out of it from the rim.

"So, what is the plan, lad?", Noah asked.

Daniel shaking his head, said, "Yes. We will disguise ourselves as priests and enter the temple."

"There you can use your search magic."

After mentioning this, Noah nodded for it was indeed a good plan – the first step being disguising.

"Let's get some clothes then.", Noah muttered.

It was a marketplace place and right in front of them were stalls with tons of clothes, but where could they get the ones that would perfectly make them look like the priests and priestesses? – That was the real question.

Noah and Daniel walked close to a shop where traditional clothes remained hanging, mostly that matched the believers.

The followers and believers of Diablos Temple wore pristine white clothing along with a black robe and a shawl that hung over their necks. They wore a necklace with the headpiece being shaped like the emblem on the flag – the Speared Wheel.

As for the priests, rather their black robes had a few golden lines intricately woven. Also, they had a tattoo or emblem of the speared wheel engraved on their chests or wrists which would glow with faint red light upon shown for proofs. Followers were allowed to have the same emblem on their bodies, but it wouldn't glow in such a manner unless blessed by Diablos.

"Tsk, where are they?", Daniel asked in frustration, for it had already been five minutes but Maya and Lucifer were nowhere to be found.

"I think they have warped to a different place. We should have decided on a common point beforehand.", Noah said as he shook his head.

"Should have just brought them with us.", Noah further added.

"Sigh, it's fine sir. It was not your fault."

"We can find them later."

"Let's just go and get the clothes…", saying this, Daniel and Noah went to a shop that sold clothes.

"Pardon me for asking, but good sir, what are these for?", a middle-aged man with a rather long curly moustache, the vendor of the store from where Noah and Daniel purchased the items, asked. His name: Narim.

"You don't seem to be from here. Tourists?", he asked further as he saw them merely exchanging glances.

"Indeed. We are.", Noah said, intervening.

"Hmm, are you planning on visiting the temple by chance?"

"Ah, of course not.", Noah almost instantly denied, for he didn't want the man to be suspicious or hold any thoughts regarding the matter.

"Haha. Smart. If I were you, I too wouldn't visit it during this time of the month.", Narim added.

"Wait, this time of the month? Why do you say that?", Daniel asked, curious.

Noah wanted to get away, but Daniel questioned away.

"Huh? Aren't you followers of Temple of Diablos?", he asked instead of answering.

"Why, of course we are.", Daniel's voice was a bit wavy, but he managed to deliver it.

"Weird, then why did you ask the question? It's the week of Sacrifice.", he said while glancing at Daniel and Noah with a gaze of confusion.

"All the sinners would be used to offer blood to the God Diablos for our protection." – The moment the Narim mentioned this, Daniel's eyes went bloodshot – red due to anger.

The fact that Vineca was taken away during this time could only mean that she was picked up for the sacrifice.

Daniel could waste no more time.

He, after paying some gold coins to Narim, immediately turned back.

"What happened?", Narim asked, confused as Daniel left abruptly.

"Ah, he is scared of such talks. Don't mind him.", saying this, Noah turned back and walked away as well.

Narim was left alone, tapping his chin as he saw both of them go away.

"Feels like I've seen them somewhere…", he thought about it for a moment or two after which he just let it go, saying, "Meh, I see lots of people. Can't remember all."

Meanwhile, Noah and Daniel rushed away from the scene, as if running towards the temple. Daniel showed urgency by how he collided with people, yet didn't stop in his path even for a second.

As for Noah, he carried all the clothing with him which they had yet to change into.

"Lad, wait.", Noah called out but Daniel didn't show any signs of stopping.

He was closing on the temple.

Noah increased the length of his strides and caught up with Daniel.

"Kid! Wait, calm down.", he successfully grabbed Daniel's left wrist and paused him.

Daniel tried not to be disrespectful, yet a strong and cold voice erupted from him, "Let go."

The voice was engulfed with anger which was born due to the fear of losing Vineca. But Noah calmed Daniel down.

"Listen, lad, it's the sixth day of the week. This means the day of sacrifice is tomorrow."

"What?", Daniel pivoted abruptly and asked with a confused gaze sitting on his face.

"We have ample time to save her.", Noah continued, successfully calming him down.

Daniel's gaze fell on the ground and then on the clothes that Noah held. He pushed his hands forward, grabbing the clothes that fit him and took for himself.

"Let's get changed first."

They were away from the marketplace and now head towards the streets that would lead them to the temple. Finding an alley, they squeezed themselves through the small pathway where they changed what they wore.

Walking out, both of them exchanged glances for they looked like the followers of the temple. The same outfit that adorned the followers sat covering their bodies, but that was not what they wanted.

Noah pulled out his wand and then pointed at Daniel's wrist, making an emblem appear – it was fake of course. He did the same for himself, not on his arms since one of them was cursed, but used his chest instead. Also, he added the details to the robes.

Seconds after that, they marched away towards the temple which was half a kilometre away from them. They had decided to not stop before reaching the place, but weirdly enough, their legs would halt midway for the surroundings seemed weirdly uncanny.

The marketplace was filled with tons of people, but the area they came to now, was rather quiet. It was so quiet that they could hear their own footsteps.

The clouds covered the sky, making the place dark and scarier. Daniel and Noah cautiously took their steps forward arriving within a few minutes, in front of the Grand Temple of Diablos, the largest of all temples!

Its gates were large, made out of iron which were closed tight. There were many magical spears attached to the gates whose heads were visible. They had the task of creating barrier immediately in case of an accident.

The building was large made up of white bricks that had many sculptures on them, most of them having wings on their backs. Noah and Daniel, having seen the temple closely for the first time, merely stared at it for a few seconds when they heard a weird chalky voice!

"Kha-Kha, what brings you here?"

Startling them was a man who was a humpback, with barely any hair sitting on his head, his teeth disoriented and a large mole right above his lips. He wore a brown shawl and a ragged robe.

"Khack! Speak will you? Kha-Kha. Why are you here?"