House of the Serpent Bearer (On Hold)

Chapter 3: Nikolaos

A flash of light and a screech enveloped the whole space around us. The force from the loud crash destroyed some of the trees and shook the ground in the process. I fell off my feet and felt dizzy. My whole body was aching from the tremors.

I looked for Archi and Damon and they were in their original positions but the difference is Archi held tight to his scythe that he stabbed through the ground while Damon's injury worsen.

"Archi are you okay?" I coughed and saw half of the forest were destroyed. "What was that? I've never seen something like that before. A life weapon can't possibly create something like this." I searched for his face but all I could make out was his intense gaze in the runes that were drawn in the ground.

"Hey-" but before I could reach to his side he slashed and slashed through the barrier. Even though he's one of the most powerful Ariesian here his life weapon is really scathed. I could see the repercussions of his actions on his skin- large wounds with intense bleeding. After his futile actions, all of a sudden he was pushed back by the energy of the barrier.

"What are you doing?! You almost killed yourself!" I reached for him and tried to get off the blood from his wounds but he just shrugged my hands. "Do you have a death wish?!" I screamed at him even louder.

Urge to kill even if he's injured. Rising.

He coughed "You... You don't understand. We.. Must get through the barrier. He can help us." he said in between panting and coughing blood.

In a matter of seconds, he read my face that says that I have no idea what you're talking about

"Nikolaos... He's there behind the barrier." he watched me like I should know something about him.

"Wait... You don't mean-"

"Yes. The person who's in the legend."

"But that's my point! He IS a legend. It shouldn't be real. Nikolaos is just a fictional character that the elders created in order to create organization in society. The gates... are not real. They can't be." I tried to measure his reaction to see if he's joking but unfortunately my actions were for naught. He just gave me his cold stare.

"So you're saying that there are other keys... Out there? Or is there even a 'there'?"

"He's the only one who could help us about those kind of things. Especially for Damon's situation."

We just stared at each other and I feel like everything's turning awkward.

"Ooo-kay.. So let me see these runes that you're talking about"

"No! You must not touch that you'll-"

"Sssh! These runes are really Ancient. But I could make up few words from it-" before I could talk further I unconsciously read the runes in an unknown language even for my tongue.

After the incantation, I just stared the barrier disappearing and saw that the cabin earlier was just an illusion. Somewhere not too far I could make out the shape of a huge house. Maybe a mansion.

I looked at Archi and realized what I had done.

"What.... How did you do that?" he looked at the place with awe then turned to me suspiciously. "Did you know Nikolaos?"

"Seriously Archi, don't ask me pointless questions. I told you I didn't know he if he was real. Maybe I just read too much Ancient linguistics that's all."

He still looked at me with those black eyes. So dark that even light cannot pierce through.

"What? Do you plan to stand there all day?"