Barth moans in pain, gasping for air. His wheezes are loud, he reaches for my face as Garth and I kneel beside him. Barth’s sad eyes welled with tears, on the brink of crying. His body shivers in the cold.
“Brother, am I going to see Mama and Papa?” His voice shudders.
I smiled and put my hand on his cheek, “No,” I said as I prepared my fist to hit him in the stomach.
“Huh?”
It connected and he screamed, “Arys! Don’t you have any sympathy!?”
“Shut up! You’re fine, we’ve been telling you for fifteen minutes!”
Garth offers his hand to Barth, “Come, we have to find Hearth,”
While still nursing his stomach, Barth stands up. He plucked a piece of gem on his shirt’s chest, “I have to find a new brooch, I guess I will take another trip to the city…”
I shook my head, his priorities were distorted, “Did you also commission our parents’ painting in the city?” I thought.
“Yes, what of it?”
“Get down!” Before I could answer, Garth jumped on us and dragged us down, shielding us from an explosion.
A fireball blast demolished the room. The captain’s unconscious body flew out of the building. There is fire and debris everywhere.
As the smoke attempts to clear up, in front of our vision is another fireball coming straight to us.
“G-Garth!” I whimpered as I pointed at the incoming projectile.
Garth turns around, arms stretched, and hands ready to catch the fireball. As he turned his back to us, it showed his ripped upper garments exposing his bare skin.
He inflicted burns, his skin melting, and along with it, blood dripping down. Garth breathes heavily and struggles to stand but he completely cancels the incoming fireball, it dissipates, and saved only is its smokey trail.
We quickly try to support Garth, he is at his limit. I look around to follow where the fireball came from.
The trail leads outside, to the courtyard of the Daggerhand estate. There, I see a row of robed men casting another fireball, beside them is Ansel who looks agitated by Garth’s prowess. With them is also a group of young women tied to a pole, encircling a magical tome printed on the ground. Among them are Hearth and Amelia.
“Hearth!” I shouted but she didn’t respond. They must be all unconscious.
Barth points to where they are tied, “Look, there’s the baron’s daughter, too!”
“Brothers, you must escape.” Garth sighed in pain, “Get help, quickly!”
But I only shook my head, “No! We’re never going to leave you here!”
Barth gestures to walk away from the burning room as another fireball is going straight at us. Adrenaline rushed through our veins, trying to carry Garth out of the way. We hurriedly dragged him behind another room when his legs gave out. In our desperation, we barely shielded ourselves from the blast.
The segment of the building collapsed and we descended amidst a rain of fiery debris. I thought it was the end. I tried grabbing onto anything I could get my hands on but there was no helping us, we lost our balance when the platform beneath us plummeted. We went with the motions of the falling materials.
Everything happened so fast, the floor above threatened to crush us. I closed my eyes as I tried to avoid feeling the end of my dive. I don’t want it to hurt me although I am aware it is going to be painful. Maybe death will be blissful. It was fun while it lasted.
Suddenly, I felt an arm tugging us tightly. Bringing me close to their body, sensing their rough and muscular visage. There were a few more agile movements before I opened my eyes to see that Garth caught us mid-fall. I found us safe on the ground, spared from the fiery descent, yet the toll was evident—our older brother's legs did not endure the impact. I realized he cast a barrier shielding us from the cascading pile.
Garth must be at his wit’s end. I turn to get a better look at him, his mouth froths with blood. Barth released himself from Garth’s grip, I followed suit before our older brother finally fainted. As his body lay on the floor, the barrier he made burned out, and it allowed a few bricks and dust to slide through.
But, alas, we are on the courtyard grounds. I would say it saved us the trip at the expense of our dear protector. I see Barth tremble as we see our horizon, and the robed men approach us along with Ansel.
I try to stall, maybe Garth will wake up once more, “Y-you stay back!”
“You saved us the trouble,” Ansel removes his hood, “Good. We were looking for you,”
As an older sibling, Barth felt the need to stand up, I tried to pull him away, he doesn’t have to do this, “You! D-don’t you know what they will do to you and your family!? W-we will stand on top of this after we’re done with you!”
As Ansel got near us, he slapped the living hell out of Barth, “Don’t you speak to me like that again!” he stomped at my poor brother, “Know your place!”
I watched, helplessly. My body never felt so tensed before, “P-please…”
Ansel smirks at me. A robed man behind him took his attention, “Ansel, let’s proceed.”
“We should. Since we got the prisoners maybe I should rescind my payment with those useless mercs. Why do we even need them anyway?”
The robed man removes his hood, he has a disfigured face, “We need someone to take the blame for the kidnappings.”
“Right.” Ansel raised his brow as he scratched his chin, “What should we do about them then?” he pointed at us.
“Leave them, we’ll deal with them after the ritual.” the disfigured man said as he walked away from us.
“Right,” Ansel grabbed me by the hair, “Just to be sure, let’s not let this squirt run around.”
“Fine.”
Ansel dragged me towards the poles where my sister and the rest of the women were tied, “Stop! Please!” I struggled.
“Stop squirming!” Ansel kicked me in my stomach, I lay motionless in pain, “Are you sure this will bring my parents back?” he said to the disfigured man.
“Yes.”
“Good, let’s get this over with.”
I jumped to his legs and tried to swing a few punches, “Let us go!”
“Get off of me!” Ansel shakes off his leg to get rid of me but I continue to hold on.
A few other robed men approached and lined up in front of the disfigured man who was now holding a large grimoire that looked old and scrappy. I stopped for a moment and watched them.
Ansel took notice of my pause, “Hmm?” he glanced at the robed men doing their thing, “Ah, you must be curious about our plans here, little shit.”
They started to chant. The magical circle emanates a faint haze of fluctuating crimson. The air around us became heavy as their voices built up to a synchronous melody. Ansel grabbed me by the back of my head, carrying me to have a better look at the happening in front of us.
“This is a resurrection ritual,” he threw me on the ground, “These pure and innocent ladies are the sacrifice,”
Resurrect? Are they going to resurrect his parents?
“I’m sure my parents would do the same for me,” Ansel gently steps on my shoulder, “You’ll see, little shit! We’ll take back what you stole from us… from them!”
As the chant grew louder, an apparition of a man formed in the center. The energy that the magic circle synchronously emits swirls, materializing the more appalling features of the figure. The only thing missing from its transparent form is blood. For now, it is a ghost, terrifyingly growing ever so mobile from its fetal state.
It was too late when I realized the apparition drew the life force of the women encircling it. One by one, their skin became melted saggy sacks of flesh and their natural color faded into pale sickly hue. Horrifyingly, the realization that Hearth and Amelia might get consumed sinks in.
“Behold!” The leader of the robed men shouted, “Daggerhand!”
Suddenly, a fiery blaze bursts and threw everybody off the ground. I rolled a few distance away, the apparition ceased from its siphoning of life forces, and a bright haze slowly built up. From the smoke emerged a figure carrying a magical staff.
Although it has stopped manifesting flesh, the apparition wiggles as it drops itself from levitating. It squirms uncannily, its unfinished form is disgustingly bizarre.
“Who are you!?” Ansel stood up from the ground and shouted, still stumbling.
The disfigured man casts a fireball and shoots it off to the figure in the haze. His actions were imitated by his fellow robed men who followed after him.
But before the fireballs could reach their target, they evaporated, along with the foggy obstacle that covered the identity of this mystery figure.
“Lord Ansel, this is such an inconvenience,” Her voice sounded familiar.
Then Hearth emerged, who escaped from captivity, but the chain used to tie her hands still clings to her wrist like bracelets.
