The Summoning

V - Dark Signs

Eyeing the masked man in front of me, I stood and pushed the hair out of my face. Pain shot through my leg and my eyes flew to my calf that was wrapped up in thick bandages.

In the light of day, I could see him better - now that I knew the masked men from the night before weren't a figment of my imagination. I recognized him as the one that stood off to the side when I was pulled up from the ground. 

He wore a black leather jacket with various red sigils adorning the entirety of it, the roman numeral IV was stitched onto the lapel and chains were hooked to the sleeves and collars. He had black jeans and black boots that were covered in the mud slowly evaporating with the heat of the sun around us. The strangest part of his attire was the black paint covering any visible skin. Even his hands were painted.

Even though he was a good ten feet away from me, I flinched when he raised his arm in invitation to the path. 

"Please," He spoke almost cordially and with a slight accent, voice only slightly muffled by the mask. "No harm will come to you."

I considered for a brief moment if I trusted this man enough to follow, then realized I didn't really have a choice. The wound on my leg made sure of that. In any case, they hadn't hurt me yet and I was inclined to trust him on that alone. 

Taking in a breath when I realized I hadn't breathed in a moment, I felt the blood rush to my head and the dizzying pain in my cheek. I couldn't help but to reach up and prod the tender flesh that was beginning to bruise as I took a wary step in his direction. 

When I stumbled, he shot a hand out and took a step in my direction. I flinched back and he drew his hand away just as quickly. Curling his fingers into a fist, he dropped his hand as we both stood frozen. After a moment, I took another step and glanced down the path. It was a winding dirt path that curved down the hill and cut to the right toward the cabin. 

I glanced up to find he had taken a step back, patiently waiting. The thought of the stranger behind me made me nervous. 

"After you." I gestured, pursing my lips and standing as tall as I could. He was certainly taller than me, though not as tall as the one who had spoken to me last night. 

I couldn't see any expressions through his mask, but he tilted his head minutely at the audacity of my demand before taking a slow step toward the path.

I was shocked to find his bright blue eyes following me as he tilted his head to watch me right up until the trees and bushes descending the hill covered him from view. He meandered down to the cabin, and I took small steps to watch him go before deciding to follow, glad that he wouldn't see me limping down the path. 

The air was warm and thick with humidity, the branches of the bushes catching on my jeans as I struggled to follow him. I was panting within a minute and realized I was starving. Remembering the last time I had eaten felt like trying to remember something that had happened years ago. I had gotten a sandwich at the college cafeteria after Humanities class. Was that yesterday?

Approaching the front doors to what looked like an old church, the man pushed them both open and the sound of some sort of argument spilled out.

"Oh yeah? What about Ontario, eh?" The tall lanky one was throwing his arms about, sitting on the back of a pew in the old church as he crossed his  arms. This one had red paint adorning his skin down to his fingertips and bright red, wavy hair that fell to the sides of his gold mask. Like the man that escorted me, he had a symbol on the top of the mask obscured only by the eyeholes. He wore pinstripe dress pants and a black dress shirt with the wrist cuffs unbuttoned and rolled up only slightly.

"Oh, here we go." A shorter man I didn't remember seeing before threw his arms out to the side and I caught sight of even more black paint trailing down his arms. The sleeves of a black jacket was rolled up to his elbows and the wide hood was nearly covering the sides of his mask. The symbol I now barely recognized was etched over the nose, mouth and cheeks of the mask. The three of them seemed to have similar English accents.