The Lost Soul

3. Buying the supplies/The ritual

Cover of chapter is the appearance of Asuka, her surname is unknown.

Victoria gestures for Asuka to follow her, they both make their way to the shopping centre, on the way they both converse.

"So.. what exactly are you going to do?" Asuka asks.

Victoria explains what she was told by the man and what she saw and read online, Asuka stops her bike and stares at her.

"Victoria, you're crazy. if this works you realize we probably cant get back, right?" Asuka agrees to go along with Victorias plan, believing it would fail.

"Yes, You don't have to come, you know that right?"

"Oh i know that, say this plan works, you'll need someone to protect you right?" Asuka replies.

They both continue to ride to the mall, once they arrive they walk towards the shop which says "Candles galore" They enter, for a candle shop it sure smells pretty bland, Victoria looks around and there isnt a candle in sight, only lighters.

"Hey, sir. Where are the candles?" Victoria asks the cashier.

"We ran out just this morning, you are quite late. Though you can buy a lighter if you want." The cashier pulls out a lighter waving it around.

"Ill take two, thanks." Asuka steps in purchasing the two lighters. "Victoria, you owe me about 2 dollars now."

Victoria chuckles and walks out the store, there is only one other candle store in Culmel.

"Aw man, we have to go that store? Isnt it run by Thalias father? He sure as hell hated me." Asuka said.

"Yes Asuka, you can stay outside if you want." Victoria replied.

They each continued to walk, leaving the mall and walking to Thalias fathers store.

"How do you think he is anyway? Doubt the store is even open." Asuka said while walking, she was walking on the ledge of a pathway balancing, next to the road.

"He's probably sad, after all his daughter's soul is lost." Victoria answered.

Once they reached the candle store, they looked at the sign and sadly it said it was closed. Asuka looked at Victoria and then the door, she proceeded to grab a nearby rock and hit it through the glass, Unlocking the door.
"no alarms? sweet!" She said.

"Asuka what the hell? we can go to jail for that?" Victoria whispered.

"It's fine. wait here." Asuka runs into the shop and grabs 6 candles. she runs out and puts them in her bag. "ok, let's go!" Asuka jumps onto her bike.

Hesitantly, Victoria gets on her bike and they both head home, once they arrive home Victoria decides to set it up in the garage, when her mother leaves as there will be a lot of space. about 20 minutes later after the girls talk about how they will set it up, they hear Victorias name being called.

"Victoria! come down here!" Yelled Victorias mom.

"Oh, is that Penelope? How has she been?" Asuka asked.

"Coming mom! and Asuka, she is fine." Victoria Replied, She then walked downstairs and her mother waved gave Victoria a hug and then left. they were both now home alone. "Okay, let's do this."

Victoria and Asuka to the garage, setting up the candles and taking knives from the kitchen, they memorise the chant. 

"Are you ready Asuka?" Victoria says "You can still go back home."

"i am fine. don't worry." Asuka replies.

The two of them light their own candles and sit in the middle, on their knees. Once the candles are lit they start chanting 'Iter ad mortem' while they chant this they cut their palm, drawing blood and cupping their hands to make sure none of it escapes. They continue to chant around 10 times before almost giving up, maybe it was fake. we just hurt ourselves for nothing, Asuka stood up and just as she was about to walk away a large hole formed in the wall, pushing everything around it towards the hole, including the girls. They didn't hold onto anything, they walked in themselves.

By the time the two opened their eyes they were on a different land, the sky was no longer blue, it was grey. the ground was no longer concrete or green grass, instead it was dead grey grass, the trees were all dead. it was hard to breathe but the two adapted within a little while of standing there. All of a sudden there was a loud roaring sound coming from behind them, the two glance behind them and all that is heard is the loud screaming and roaring. 

"its a... its a.." Asuka struggles to let out a word, she is terrified.

"is that a fucking dinosaur, what the hell." Victoria looks around for her backpack, she finds it and pulls out a knife, she was terrified but she knows that there is know escaping this creature, it was a humanoid figure, except it had the head of a T-rex and the body of a man. its eyes were gone, was it blind? This gave Victoria an advantage, hopefully. Asuka was cowering in fear and so Victoria slapped her. yes, slapped her. 

"Grow the fuck up? what did you expect Asuka?" Victoria said sternly

"I mean you're right but seriously Victoria, i thought it wasn't going to be real, i came along just to prove that to you." Asuka said, Victoria reacted with a look of disgust. All this time she thought Asuka had really believed in her. 

The beast roars once more, attacking Victoria, scratching her arm with its long claws as it seems to have T-rex hands. Victoria approaches the beast slowly and pulls out the knife, the monster runs at her, obviously having good hearing knows where she is. before the creature does anything Victoria throws the knife into the neck of it, it collapses onto the floor, dying.
"i'm naming that the T-man" She says.

"What do you think Asuka? Asuka?" Victoria looks behind her only for no one to be there, Asuka was gone.

Victoria really wanted to find Thalias soul and quick, but now she has to find Asuka? its just too hard, Victoria runs around the place for a long time looking for Asuka. She stops for a moment and pulls out her mirror to check her scratch on her arm, while checking it she realised something, her pupils were disappearing. a quarter of it had become white, meaning she didn't have long. Did the T-mans scratch kill her soul? is it killing her soul? what happens without a soul? Will she die? what she did notice is she felt less... emotion, was she losing her emotions? she stood there for a good 5 minutes, contemplating about what was happening. She needed to find Thalia, and fast. She left Asuka behind promising herself to find her later.

Victoria saw a shiny flicker in the distance, she ran towards it, once she reached it she realised she had just found a sword, in perfect condition, this is perfect. she can use this, she picks up the sword and holds it for a good few seconds, she then continues to run off into the distance, yet to face her next obstacle. 

This is when she REALLY realized, she was in Mortem, she is so close to finding Thalia, or is she? 

Will she survive this journey? or an even better question, will Asuka?

Authors msg:

Hey! sorry for the chapters being short! i'm keeping them short to extend the amount of chapters, and i don't have much time in a day to write, if you have any questions or anything is confusing please comment it! i promise to answer. no spoilers tho<3

Id also like to say that you guys are in for a surprise.