Eternally Yours

The Circle Of Death And The Hands Of Time

Salem's Hearth was a lot bigger on the inside than either Hannah or Garin had thought. The interior of it wasn't like Hell or Heaven based on the fact that it was neither bright nor dark. There were no fires and there were no clouds, no angelic vocalizations and no demonic screeches, no joy in the wind and no sorrow on the ground. It was very quiet and it looked and felt uninhabited.

Cleo had used her powers to give Hannah and Garin a marking on their bodies so they would be able to see each other despite being cloaked by the granulated concealer. She moved in front of them as they quietly made their way to the top of the highest room.

They reached the top and as they were about to turn the corner, Cleo heard some progressing footsteps and gestured at the Celestials to remain quiet and lean beside the wall. They waited until two Nephalems walked past them and as they did, they didn't see or sense them.

"Let's keep moving," Cleo whispered after they were gone.

They climbed even higher and it seemed like the stairs were never going to end until...they finally did.

The three of them arrived at the highest point in Salem's Hearth and there was nowhere left to go but forward to a huge door that stood at the end of the hall.

"That's it! That's where she has them locked up," Cleo said happily.

"Let's get them," Garin whispered back.

Together, the three of them made their way to the door. It was quite huge and there was no keyhole to open it.

"How do we open it?" Hannah asked.

"There are two ways to open this door. The first way is by having Summum open it herself because he is the only key," Cleo said.

"Well, what's the second way to open the door?" Hannah asked.

"By breaking it down," Cleo said.

"Isn't that going to cause a lot of noise and blow our cover?" Garin asked.

"It sure is," Cleo said with a smile, "Let's break down this fucking door!"

There was no other way; the door had to come down and they would all have to fight their way out.

Cleo, Garin and Hannah stood before the door and activated their celestial powers. Garin's hands glowed with demonic energy, Hannah's with angelic bliss and Cleo's with a mix of both.

They unleashed the full intensity of their powers upon the door and for what seemed like a long time, the door didn't even budge a little.

"Ramp it up, guys," Cleo screamed at them.

They used the full force of their powers and finally, the frame around the door began to crack and it slowly began to give way.

"It's working! It's working," Cleo shouted.

They kept blasting and finally, the massive door fell out of its frame and slammed into the floor.

"Yelena! Jasmine!"

Cleo screamed and ran inside to free her sisters but when she got in, what she saw was devastatingly not what she was expecting!

"No! It can't be," Cleo said and dropped to her knees in defeat.

Hannah and Garin were still standing behind her and they hadn't seen what made Cleo so disheartened...and then, they did.

Inside the room, two full skeletons had chains and shackles around their necks, legs and arms. They looked like they had been dead for decades because of how dry they were. These skeletons were none other than Yelena and Jasmine.