Part 2
Luan and Derick are on vacation from school, only for 10 days, and are packing their backpacks with some belongings, they are taking their cape suits and the demon masks, as soon as they arrive at the Gate of Hell, they will have to go to a Palace where a Ritual will take place among the demons, and they need to be infiltrated among them, hence the need for the mask, It's a two-day boat trip, there's a magician accompanying them and a demon responsible for intermediating between the real world and the world of hell, it's a tiring and very boring trip, Luan spends most of his time nauseous on the boat, while Derick seems calm, Luan turns to Derick and speaks in a low voice:
"There seems to be no end to this, if I'd opened a Portal we'd already be there, I can't stand this nausea any longer."
Derick agrees with what Luan says, in fact it would be simpler, but they need to know the way to the Portal and how it works, but he likes to annoy Luan so he says:
"I don't feel anything, I'm calm."
Luan looks at his face and shakes his head, what else could he expect Derick to say, if he didn't give the counter, it wouldn't be him.
Finally they reach the Portal, they get off the boat and see a rocky place, with a large magic circle in the middle there is a crack of red light, it is a portal, which does not close so there are 4 magicians in the 4 positions of elements, wind, water, earth and fire, these are responsible for maintaining the security of the Portal, There is a large shelter next to this place, where they rest, eat and train. On their way back, Luan and Derick got to know this place, but now they need to cross the Portal in order to reach the Palace for the Ritual, They'll have to do it all by walking through long sand dunes. If they can get a cart, they'll be able to save time. They'll also have equipment with points in their ears, because Luan and Derick need to communicate with the DSO, but there will be times when this won't be possible because there's no 4G signal here, the only way would be for Luan to use his watch to communicate, they walk a long way and are still getting used to their long clothes and the mask, since they started the trip they haven't taken off their clothes, Luan stops for a moment and says:
"Good thing I brought deodorant!"
To the surprise of both of them, there is a village just ahead, with several demons, small, tall, in male and female form, and children, it's like an ordinary village just like the one on Earth, everything is accessed with lamps, candles, the houses are built of wood, there is like a sale of products that they sell, Luan had already read about these villages, so he knew that demons also have their own consciousness, and communicate with each other, as is common in these rituals, they are used to seeing someone in costumes and masks, they look at Derick and Luan, they comment on something among themselves but nothing unusual, Luan then speaks:
"There's a language of their own, but in the books we only know the basics, we'd have to spend some time here to be able to understand them better."
Derick gets curious and asks:
"Do you know how to communicate with them?"
Luan replies:
"I know how to ask for water, and food, we won't die of hunger! hehe"
Derick rolls his eyes at Luan and jokes.
Luan continues:
"But there are those who communicate in our language, it depends on which District we're in, and the families of our ancestors are here, there we can be without the costumes and walk more calmly among them."
They stop for a while and take something to eat from their backpacks, as they still have a bit more to walk to the Palace, Derick finds a well with water, he leaves a coin, which is used for exchanges and purchases, so he won't have any problems filling the bottles they brought, as instructed by the DSO, and they continue on their way, they are close to the Palace, Luan has an invitation to the Ritual and needs to deliver the Letter of Authorization given by the DSO, he hands the invitation and the Letter of Authorization to the demon guards who are at the entrance to the palace, everyone is dressed in long robes that cover the whole body like a cassock, and masks of all different kinds, there are countless demons of all sizes, a very large room with a central circle and 2 long staircases on each side, and each group stands at one end, It seems very crowded, they play a lot of drums, and continue with a ritual of fights and dances, it would be more like a Welcome Celebration Ritual, Luan and Derick just watch and copy what the others do, clap their hands, sing, and finally a human woman appears, but she seems to be quite young, wearing a black dress and a mask, her hair - black and long. The two of them have no idea who she is then she sang a song and the two witness her beautiful lyrical voice, very beautiful, and then the Ritua ends. Luan has a strange feeling, then he has a new memory, again in the playground, again a child, it's a girl now she's in front of him talking to him, but he has no idea what exactly she's talking about, and her face is visible and it seems to be the girl he sees in his dreams, but he doesn't remember who it might be, he decides to talk to someone in thought, because he deduces that this someone is behind these episodes of memories:
(And you who are messing with my memories? )
His answer then came to mind:
"Of course, you're welcome..."
Luan is curious who this girl in question might be, and why he had a sudden memory of her. He sees the girl going up the stairs and speaks quietly to Derick to follow him:
"Derick, I need you to accompany me, discreetly.
He is a little reluctant and speaks quietly:
"Luan, let's not get sidetracked, come back here!
Luan notices a movement among the masked men, the ritual is already over, so they could go unnoticed, he goes up the stairs, Derick doesn't see any other way to go after him and accompany him, they are near a hidden door, the woman seemed to have entered there, one of the demons who seems to be a guard stops at the door and calls her, Luan takes advantage of this moment to enter the door in question, when the two enter they notice that it is a large room, with a clothes closet on the right, a bed in the middle, next to the bed there is a balcony, and a desk on the left, he then enters, Derick still trying to understand what he is doing:
"What are you doing Luan, you're going into other people's rooms!"
Luan comes out of his trance and replies:
"It looks like her room, I need one of her personal items."
Derick retorts:
"Are you crazy, have you become a kleptomaniac now?"
While Derick watches the door, Luan looks up from the desk and quickly looks at what's on the desk, he sees some Authorization Cards, he quickly spreads them out and starts taking pictures, she puts them back together and sees a Chinese-style decorated hairpin in the middle of the desk and thinks:
(It has to be a personal item, this must be for a spell, I need to find out who she is).
Luan picks it up and puts it in his cassock. They hear voices, Derick tells them that someone is coming:
"Someone's coming, let's hide in the closet."
The two quickly go into the closet and hide behind the clothes, the woman seems to have come to get something, and again goes out the door, they wait a few moments, look through the crack in the door, and there are some demons outside, Luan points to the balcony, Derick looks to see if there is any way they can get down without being seen, Luan finds it easier to open a portal to the village, so he touches his watch, pausing the time, then signals with his hands to open a portal, takes Derick's arm and they enter the portal, and return safely to the village, Derick looks very angry:
"Luan, what the hell, everything was going fine, why go after a hairpin?!"
Luan replies:
"Sorry, I had a memory, so I need to find out what it meant, it was something with that woman, so I needed her personal item, and make a spell."
Derick retorts:
"Next time don't change the plan out of the blue, just stick to it."
Luan understands Derick's irritation and says:
"All right, think on the bright side, at least we don't have to walk back to the village, I can't take any more walking for today!"
"I'll let DSO know that we've completed the delivery of the Letter and finished the Ritual, so we can get back."
Luan turns on his watch and notices:
"DSO, mission completed, we're heading back to the Hell Gate."
Luan thinks about opening another portal, but sees a cart passing by, he notices that it doesn't appear to be a demon, it seems to be human, a very old man, who stops next to them and says:
"Good evening, do you want a lift?"
Luan doesn't feel any danger in the offer, he's actually curious to know who it would be, and replies:
"All right, we need to stop near Hell's Gate, is that all right?"
Derick looks incredulously at Luan and says quietly:
"You've never heard of not talking to strangers, and you still want to hitch a ride?"
Luan reassures him by answering in a low voice too:
"Relax, he's human, he couldn't do anything to us."
They climb into the wagon, Luan feels tired in fact, and his stomach is still not good, he sits down next to the gentleman and chats with him all the way, Derick prefers to keep an eye out in case something happens, but to Derick's surprise everything goes well, he leaves them near the Portal, Derick pays him with some coins and thanks him, and they head towards the Portal of Hell, which is opened again for them to return, they go back to where the boats are and before they go they pass by the Shelter to get to know it and rest a bit.
At the same time...
We return to the Palace, whose Ritual has been performed, the woman is actually a teenage girl, she is looking for something on her desk, when someone with platinum white hair who seems to be quite young, enters her room and asks:
"Do you have the Letters of Authorization?"
She hands them over, while continuing to look for something, he asks her while looking at the Authorization Cards:
"What are you looking for?"
She replies:
"The hairpin you gave me, I can't find it."
He finally finds what he's looking for, Luan and Derick's Letter of Authorization, these letters are only issued when they need to authorize passage to the Hell Gate, allowing them to be authorized to pass freely through the Hell Gate, he finishes by saying:
"Hm, I found what I wanted, they really came, let's get on with our plan now."
"It must be somewhere else, come on, time to pack your things and go home."
....
