A Means To Escape Doom's Clutches

In a distance, a jackdaw soared the sky in the dark moonless night, it had witnessed their turn of events between the adjudicators and the demons. Through it eyes, another eyes observed

"Hmm! My hunch was spot-on." Vermillion mouthed. "They do possess great power, greater than I anticipated, and they knew we were watching."

"So that was your reason for us vacating the rooftop." Emerald realized.

_____

In a dark and mysterious cave, illuminated only by the flickering flame of a few candles scattered throughout the space. The walls were adorned with a wide array of animal bones, feathers, and strange-looking objects, including mysterious amulets and talismans.

In the center of the room, there was a large wooden altar, intricately carved with strange symbols and covered with a thick layer of ash. The altar was surrounded by piles of herbs, roots, and powders, arranged in an organized chaos.

On one side of the room, there was a collection of old books and scrolls, filled with ancient incantations and rituals. The books were bound in dried animal skins and looked as if they were centuries old.

In the dim light, it was possible to see the silhouette of several hand-made dolls hanging from the ceiling, each one adorned with unique pieces of cloth and small objects, and believed to represent different spirits or ancestors.

A pungent smell of burning incense filled the air, and the sound of distant drums and chanting could be heard, adding to the eerie ambiance of the room. It was clear that this was a sacred space, a place where powerful magic was practiced, and where the malevolent spirits were invoked.

"Aargh! Those imbeciles." Balthazar cussed. "Everything I've prepared for has being washed down the drain just like that. "

As the summoner of those hellish amalgams, it was for certain, that he would be updated about their defeat. Moments like this brought him great anger and sentiment. He was ridden with a mixture of rage and worry, for he owed a certain demon, but couldn't fulfill his end of the bargain. This was most definitely the least fatality rate ever recorded in a demonic rampage since the dawn of times. And Balthazar was drenched in paranoia as to what to do to satisfy Amon who had lost seven underlings at the cost of nothing.

Balthazar knew that at any moment hellish forces will be sent after his soul, and he couldn't just stand still and watch that happen.

"Dhambala" Balthazar called on one of his disciples, who rushed in with trembling reverence.

"Your wish is my command master." Dhambala rendered absolute submission to his masters will. "What shall I, your humble servant Dhambala, do for you...?"

"Fetch me the kids." Balthazar ordered "I wish to link them to me with a connective spell."

Dhambala's eyes widened at the sound of bond magic. It was a powerful dark art that was forbidden by the witch coven: a council of witches practicing a wide range of magic, spread throughout the realm.

Bond magic was a form of ancient sorcery that permits a warlock to create a semi-permanent bond between themselves and supernatural beings. It allowed them to tap into the power source of these beings, a method greatly practiced back in the days, by witches who had reached their limits, to gain more power.

It doesn't only work as a boost, but also a means to siphon another sorcerer's power and immortality while also augmenting it in the same way used by that sorcerer and to attain true immortality. Though, killing said supernatural being would similarly affect the witch.

However, there was a trick to this. And Balthazar, an ancient voodoo priest of a high realm knew it well. When the spell is reverse engineered the right way, a warlock can bind themselves with a lot of soul to serve as a life count. This deed brought about great loss, many millennia ago. The souls of lot of orphans were woven to that of warlocks. And during battles, any fatality attained by these warlocks affected those said orphans. They termed it as multiple life count, a contingency plan to survive in a war... Hence, the more souls a sorcerer had tied to his soul, show how many lives he had to spare.

____

In a darkest column of the cave. Sobbing could be heard from a little girl who had just woken up and could see nothing but sounds. She wondered what has gone wrong. Of course, she knew she was in darkness, a pitch black one at that, nothing like the slave pens or the mines.

But honestly, she wished it was all a dream and that by the time she woke up, all that would have whooshed away.

There were screams, that made her freak out all the time and even more so, when she felt a movement in the cave behind her. However, she was quickly assured that she was with friends!

"What gives, Marionette!" Another voice cracked at her. "You sobbing is making it hard for others to get some good rest. What's it now?"

"Watuusi, I just want all this to stop." She complained between the sob. "I can't take it anymore."

"Stop chirping, little birdy, and let us rest." A more harsher voice uttered a few feets from them. "You must learn to give up on your sight and embrace your new sight : echolocation, because we might only see light again when the darkness had finally driven us insane."

"Wahahaha!!!" Another voice chortled uncontrollably. "You got that right, Balor. Worst case scenario, the screams we keep hearing will drive as mad before the darkness does."

"Hahaha!!" The voice knows as Balor laughed back.

"Shut up guys!!" Watuusi reprimanded. "You guys are scaring Marionette, her trauma is already at it's worst, saying all this wouldn't help in any way."

"Let's face the reality Watuu, we are doomed in this bottomless pit of a wicked sor--"

A thunderous noise got them all sitter upright, it was the sound of the giant slab being rolled from the entrance. As it was, bright light found it way into the dark haven, shining onto the faces of a total of ten kids. Men in veil matched in a straight file, entering the enclosure. And immediately, they went to grab the kids one by one, tossing them over their shoulders... Marion's screaming echoed of the walls

"What is it that you want to do with us? " Watuusi asked as he kicked and shoved, but couldn't free himself. However, as he thought, they didn't give him an answer.

They were brought into the inner chambers, before Houngan Balthazar.

"Master, your request for the kids have been completed." said Dhambala "Here they are..."

*****