Tangled Lives

CHAPTER 9

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                                                                                                ~*~

As the first raindrops splattered against my face, I felt the weight of the situation pressing down on me with an almost physical force. The storm had broken overhead, and the dark figures surrounding us seemed to multiply in the flashes of lightning. My breath quickened, my pulse pounding in my ears as I realized the severity of my position. I was caught in a web far larger than anything I had ever imagined, tangled in forces I barely understood.

The woman, standing eerily calm amid the chaos, stared at me with a gaze that felt like it pierced through to my soul. Her cryptic words echoed in my mind: "You are part of this now."

"What do you mean I have to help you protect it?" I asked, raising my voice to be heard over the howling wind. Fear and confusion laced my words, but I needed answers.

"You must survive first," she said, her tone maddeningly calm, as though the figures closing in were of no concern.

I turned to face the approaching figures—shadowy, indistinct forms that moved with unnerving silence despite the raging storm. There were more of them now, and they were closing in fast. I could feel their malevolence like a physical presence, a dark energy that threatened to swallow me whole.

I crouched down quickly, snatching up my gun from the ground where it had fallen, the cold metal slick with rain. I raised it, hands trembling, unsure if bullets could even stop whatever these things were. But I had no other choice.

"Who are they?" I shouted at the woman, keeping my gun trained on the nearest figure, my finger hovering over the trigger.

"They are the ones who failed to protect the old ways," she replied, her voice suddenly sharp with bitterness. "And now, they come to stop those who still can. They seek the power that was meant for Druvan. But they will not have it."

Her words barely registered before the nearest figure lunged at me, its movements quick and unnatural, like something out of a nightmare. I fired instinctively, the sharp crack of the gunshot swallowed by the storm. The figure jerked back, stumbling, but didn't fall. It kept coming.

Another shot, this time aimed squarely at its chest. It staggered but kept moving, its eyes glowing with an unholy light.

Panic surged in me. Whatever these creatures were, they weren't human.

"Bullets won't stop them," the woman said, almost wearily. "Not on their own."

Before I could respond, she raised her arms, and the air around her seemed to ripple with energy. Her lips moved quickly, chanting something in a language I couldn't understand. The storm intensified, and suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck the ground just feet away from us, sending sparks and dirt flying. The figures hesitated, their movements faltering as though they were unsure of how to proceed.

The woman took a step forward, her eyes glowing with the same strange light I had seen earlier. She extended her hand toward the sky, and with a roar of thunder, a blinding flash of light erupted from her palm. It surged outward, crashing into the shadowy figures with a force that sent them sprawling.

I stood frozen, watching in disbelief as the figures writhed in the mud, their forms disintegrating like smoke in the wind. One by one, they vanished, leaving behind only the faintest trace of their dark presence. The air around us suddenly felt lighter, though the storm still raged.

I turned to the woman, my heart hammering in my chest. "What... what was that? What are they?"

"They are those bound to this power long ago," she said, her voice hollow. "Once, they were protectors of the rituals, of Narbali. But greed, ambition... it changed them. Now, they hunt those who seek to fulfill the true purpose of the old ways."

I struggled to catch my breath, trying to piece together the fragments of what I had just witnessed. The woman's calm was unnerving, as though she had done this countless times before. As though this was all part of a plan.

"And what is this 'true purpose'?" I demanded, lowering my gun but still holding it tightly. "What does Druvan's death have to do with all of this?"

She fixed me with a look that chilled me to my core. "Druvan was the last. The final sacrifice required for the rituals to be complete. His death—an offering of blood bound by family—was meant to unlock the ancient power of Narbali. A power hidden for centuries."

"And you..." I hesitated. "You wanted to open that door?"

She didn't answer immediately. Her gaze drifted toward the river, as though lost in thought. "Not at first," she said quietly. "But things changed. Druvan was not just a sacrifice; he was my son. And those who killed him knew what they were doing. They knew they had to stop him before the ritual was completed."

My blood ran cold. "You... you were his mother?"

She nodded slowly. "Yes. And I failed him." Her voice broke slightly, though her expression remained cold. "But I will not fail now."

A sudden movement from the edge of the trees caught my eye. More figures—at least a dozen—emerged from the shadows, their forms even darker and more twisted than the ones before. I raised my gun again, though I knew it was useless.

"More are coming," I said, my voice hoarse. "What do we do now?"

The woman turned toward me, her face hardened with resolve. "We fight. And you will help me, detective. Whether you believe in these old powers or not, you are bound to them now. The ritual must be completed, or the darkness will consume us all."

I wanted to protest, to argue, but deep down, I knew she was right. I had crossed a line the moment I started digging into Druvan's death. I had entered a world I could no longer escape from.

With a deep breath, I squared my shoulders and looked at the advancing figures.

"I'm in," I said. "What do we do?"

The woman's lips curled into a small, satisfied smile, though it was tinged with sadness. "First, we survive. Then, we finish what Druvan started."

And with that, she turned toward the oncoming horde, her hands once again glowing with that strange, otherworldly energy. I steadied my grip on the gun, ready for whatever came next.

The storm was just beginning.

~*~

Greetings Dear Readers! Thank you for reading this chapter. A concern I might want to raise is that my fellow readers, is you are although reading my chapters, but are not voting on it. I would be very grateful if you would vote upon it. Let's start keeping some targets so that this humble trail of a novel would reach a wider audience. 

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