CHAPTER 23: THE ABOMINATION

The Abomination. Never in his worst nightmare, Allerick imagined that he would be seeing The Abomination in the flesh. In front of his eyes. 

Seeing the body of the creature, as big as a full grown wolf, covered in faces. Not just any faces. Human faces. Babies' faces. Allerick could feel his blood go cold from the sight. The faces were riddled with wrinkles. Frowning and crying. The sight alone could make someone lose their minds.

"How could they," Mavi was choking on his emotion as he stared at the creature. His body was shaking as he tried to contain his anger and pain. "How could they make that creature," he said almost to himself.

Allerick shared Mavi's anger. He never could have imagined there was someone vile enough to sacrifice hundreds of unborn children to create such a creature. The creature that he only read in books, even before the separation of the realms, was now standing in front of them.

"Why would they need such a creature?"Allerick was also wondering. All it did was devour souls, why would anyone go to such lengths to create it? Mavi and Allerick looked at each other and they could see the horror on each other's faces.

"If they weren't collecting souls…" Allerick mumbled, trying not to lash out at his own thoughts.

"They could be sacrificing souls…" Mavi added and he, too, was almost as white as a sheet of paper at that thought. "How many villagers died?" Mavi asked, crouching further and softly erected a barrier around them to ward off any medium level attack from those two creatures.

"183," Allerick told Mavi who then cursed softly. "Never mind that for now. What should we do with those two?" Allerick was now the one asking Mavi. They had never encountered The Abomination before, but Mavi should at least have some knowledge on how to kill it.

Mavi was silent for a few seconds and Allerick couldn't help but to stare at his lover. Mavi felt slightly bad. It was not that he didn't know. He had read it somewhere before. A long, long, long time ago. Back when all the realms were still one realm. Back when wars were less rampant and when Amaya hadn't even been born. He never thought he would have the need for such knowledge during those peaceful times.

"Best we regroup first," Mavi said thoughtfully. Allerick also had the same thought, but then, how were they going to escape from these two creatures. One was a literal nightmare, the other one was a maniac.

"Text them to meet us at the temple. It is farthest from here but I can use the pure earth magic there to create a barrier that could last us a while while we figure the next step," Mavi said after thinking for some time. "How do we get away from them, though?" he added, turning to Allerick with a worried look.

"Give some of the lightning beads and iron vine beads," Allerick said after giving it some thought. They really couldn't stay here any longer. The barrier was getting weaker by each attack. And keeping it up would only drain Mavi's magic. "I'll handle them," he told Mavi as he gathered all the beads in his hand and put some in his breast pockets.

Mavi nodded and got up from crouching. Dusting his pants, he gathered his magic and strengthened the protective spell on both of them. After he made sure the spell had taken effect, he looked at Allerick who nodded his head. After taking a deep breath, Mavi bolted out of the thick branches of the tree they were hiding in. Using his magic, he called for help from the wind and glided away as Allerick, a strep behind him, threw a series of beads towards the two creatures below them.

The person, although Mavi couldn't see their face, was probably gleefully counterattacking the lightning beads Allerick threw their way. Mavi shuddered at the thought and he couldn't help but to look back.

True enough. The person was smiling as they chased behind the two, followed by the horrendous beast on their feet. Mavi sped up and leapt from tree to tree as he made his way towards the temple under the guide of the moonlight.

The beast, that Abomination, was running on its four legs, with the faces crying and wallowing, making Mavi and Allerick's body cold and their heart tightened. The beast, as horrendous as it was, could only devour souls after it came into contact with its target physically, preferably while they were sleeping. So for now, Mavi and Allerick were safe. However, that didn't stop Mavi and Allerick to go on full alert as they made their way to the temple. But even so, between the beast and the person, they were even more worried about the person, somehow.

"I really want to wipe that smile off of that crazy asshole," Allerick said between gritted teeth as he threw another iron vine bead to the two creatures. 

The bead exploded and from the smoke, emerged iron-like vines as thick as an adult's calf, intertwining with whatever it could get its body on, including humans. However, the person dodged it with ease. Still with a smile on their face.

That person, as they chased after Mavi and Allerick, kept throwing a bunch of fireballs. Of course, Mavi and Allerick managed to dodge them. However, that only made them feel like they were being played. Oftentimes, the fire didn't even land anywhere near them. It really felt like they weren't trying to injure the two at all.

"What is that bastard playing at?" Allerick gritted his teeth as he threw another series of beads while Mavi took out his communication device and contacted his other team members. The two of them almost reached the temple ground. But that person and beast were still hot on their tails. They really needed to keep those two creatures away from the temple.

"Any magic users at the temple, answer!" Mavi roared to the mouthpiece instinctively as he tried to dodge the fireball left and right and cast various spells to at least weaken those two creatures.

"Jana reperoting!" Jana, on the other side of the line, answered firmly.

"Listen to me, when I tell you, erect a first level fire barrier. Make it as big as you can surrounding the temple, and have another magic user erect a wind barrier on top of it," Mavi said quickly yet clearly. He turned around and saw Allerick had yet thrown another series of beads that were dodged by the two creatures. Mavi gestured towards Allerick who nodded in answer.

Allerick, having thrown the last beads, jumped over the high gate of the temple and stood behind Mavi. They were both facing the person and the beast outside of the temple ground who were approaching closer.

Mavi gritted his teeth and shouted towards his communicator, "Now!" He flew up at the same time as the first barrier of fire was erected and he threw a series of white lightning towards the person and the beast, hitting both of them squarely. However, after the smoke dissipated and the second barrier was erected, Mavi could see that both the stranger and the Abomination still stood perfectly straight in front of them.

The stranger, now standing closer to the both of them, showed his perfectly sculpted face. A set of eyebrows and small eyes that seemed to always smile, a perfectly high nose bridge and a pair of thin crimson lips which arched into a smile as they stared at Mavi.

Ignoring the smile, Mavi erected the rest of the barrier and strengthened it to maximum while Allerick stood guard beside him.

"Why are you two no fun?" the stranger said with a soft and almost child-like voice that was giving goosebumps to Allerick and Mavi. He walked closer to the barrier and stopped short in front of it, nose almost touching it.

Looking at the person from up close, Mavi could see even clearer how beautiful they are. Although, something about their smile felt utterly creepy to Mavi. However, Mavi didn't avert his eyes and stared straight into the other's scarlet eyes. The person took off his hood and a head full of beautiful silver hair danced in the wind, giving the stranger an ethereal feeling. They truly didn't look human.

"What is your purpose for doing these? Were you the one who created that foul beast?" instead of Mavi who had been staring at the person, it was Allerick who opened his mouth first and asked the question they had been meaning to ask since they encountered this creature.

"Oh, this baby here?" they asked, patting the Abomination on its side like it was a common house pet. Mavi and Allerick had been avoiding looking at the creature in fear of retching from the grotesque appearance. The sound alone gave them a headache.

The person looked at Allerick, their smile widened. "Maybe if you're lucky and survive this, you'd meet him," the person said, not actually giving them anything, which irritated the two even more, especially that mocking smile.

However, before they could say anything else, they saw the person holding up his left hand to the sky. With a whisper, he recited a spell and a moment later, the entire vicinity of the temple was bathed in light.

But what made Mavi and Allerick alarmed and almost shocked was that as soon as the light came on upon them, they saw countless dark figures surrounding the temple. All clad in a dark robe. Along with them were the owls and spiders they met back in the forest. Countless of them. Surrounding the temple.