Two in the morning slowly rolled around. As the clock struck such a time, a sickening feeling descended over the entire town, and all those who inhabited it. Babies woke from their slumbers, dogs began barking, watchmen started to shiver in the warm summer air. Something bad was coming.
Just outside the gates of the town, the ground erupted in strategic points, lava bursting forth from seemingly nowhere and landing where magic placed them. After two minutes of this thunderous noise, all eased and the flow of the magma stopped. The crashes had sent rumbles through the earth and straight to the temple. The magma had landed in the shape of a circle, with a skull in the middle of it. Coming from this molten skull was ten swords, all piercing their way through the cranium and jaw.
Four in the morning: The lava of the sign had cooled significantly, but it still glowed with an unearthly magic. By this time the symbol glowed with the blackest of auras, one even darker than the aura that the blade Nightingale had summoned had. Like a mist, this black aura seeped from the sign, slowly drifting into town and sickening all those who inhabited the first six inches of the land. Ants, snakes, spiders, mice and even sleeping dogs all perished at its evil might.
Five in the morning: Dawn. As the sun broke over the mountains in the distance, the black aura receded back into the symbol like an implosion. The symbol once more became molten hot and this time it began to move. Cracks developed in the earth, and suddenly, from those cracks, massive black spires rose from them, shooting fifteen feet into the sky. Not that big, but big enough to scare those of meager will. The obsidian colored spires glowed with black and red runes: They too held a black aura.
Six in the morning: The spires glowed their brightest, and suddenly between the two spires a gate was created. It stood as if it were a portal straight to the darkest pits of Hell.
~
Risa felt the disturbance, making her prick her finger. Throughout the next hours, she sat, eyes closed in a deep meditation. Her hands folded in her lap, fingers twined together in the shape of a bird's wings. The great voice of Mother, Goddess, and Beast shouted in her head.
"He Is Here! Do Not Let The Darkness Enter My Temple! Be Rid Of Him!"
With the sound warning, Risa snapped from her daze. Her eyes Glowed a fierce Golden, and as the sun rose, she dashed to Gideon's Rooms to wake up Nightingale and Gideon Both. Down the corridor, to the Apprentice wing, and Into his room where they slept.
"Wake up, Both of You. Gideon, Up Now. You Must Go See to the other apprentices, Make sure None of them worry. Nightingale. Up. You will come with me. I'm afraid your father is by no means very far from the front doors of this temple, and he is NOT permitted to Enter." She said, Barking orders like a Military Commander. A warrior rushed to Gideon's Apartment just as Risa exited his bedroom.
"M'lady, reports of a demonic circle outside the gates of town. Black spires and dead pets. Everything has vacated the area. The spire's have created some sort of gate, and the aura of the place... Ma'am, It's pitch black. The people are beginning to panic."
Risa nodded. "Move everyone out of the lower parts of the town. No strike that. Move everyone to the far side. Opposite end of town. No one, not even the warriors are to go near there. From what I know, we have much to fear. Keep everyone as calm as possible."
The warrior hooked his hand over his heart, and bowed in a sign of respect, then left the room. Risa turned her furious eyes to the bedroom door.
"GET UP YOU TWO OR I'LL BURN THE BED!"
Nightingale's eyes sprang open and she jumped up, still having at least half her own clothing on, and a pair of Gideon's boxers. "Lady Risa!" She squeaked, instantly snapping her fingers and magically changing into her normal day clothing. This time it was decked out in a dark armor though. "He's here?" She gasped, her eyes widening.
