Two Worlds: Clash of the Guardians (Completed)

XXIII - The Blind Witch

October 9, in the year of 8845, Reminis Calendar (RC) 

The layout of the city was like a tree with four branches sticking out of the trunk. Going in was easy, as it had only one entry; but once they were in it, tension slowly clasped its wings around their hearts. The entire place looked like a cave, with ancient painting and sculptures on the wall. As they ventured deeper, they could hear moans of pain and howls of fear echoed from the tunnel in front of them.

The mouth of the cave yawned open, wider with each step they took, as if it wanted to engulf them. Elli had watched too many movies that took place in caves. Blood-sucking bats, flesh eating zombies, and vampires. Vampires... Elli shook her head, shrugging off her kinky imagination, and quickened her pace. She was falling behind. The shadows of her friends looked like the claws of demons, couldn't wait for their chances to feast on her. She yelped, drew her sword close to her, and hurried up. 

After walking for five minutes, a lane that could move on its own accord appeared before them. They stepped on it. So far, they didn't come across any debris of collapsed structures along the tunnel. Their shoulders began to relax when all of a sudden, a steely laughter echoed from behind them. They spun around and saw a platoon of poltergeists running towards them. The poltergeists marched past them, right through their bodies. Elli soon realised they were only memories of the dead.

It was a close encounter, though; and she nearly fell off the moving lane. Roxy sniggered at her clumsiness. Elli harrumphed, but felt relieved there were no other passengers aboard besides them. When she steadied herself on the moving lane, she heard another steely sound, forlorn and lay behind. She dared glance back and saw the sole Skeletonoid running towards her. Skeletonoid… It reminded her of Vadiraj.

Her fear morphed to fury and back to a tinge of… demure. The Skeletonoid was holding something. As it struggled to compete with the speed of the moving lane, Elli could see the item clearer. A rose! Her heart blossomed, and when the Skeletonoid laid the rose in her palm before disbanding into a whiff of white mist, her heart blossomed healthier than the rose.

Roxy had stopped sniggering. She looked at Elli with a nod. She snarled a grin. In that malicious grin, Elli could feel a hint of sincerity, covered by layers of great effort. What’s that for? She prepared to ask Sourpuss but she was whisked with mischievous laughter. The men were teasing her for the rose, except Marko. He was thinking of something which Elli wished she wouldn’t find out. She didn’t want to. 

The lane passed through an open space with a toilet bowl. A bleached-white skeleton sat on it, reading an upside down Voyager magazine. Lukas stretched out a hand to toy with the skeleton, and it let out a gagging laughter. After what seemed like fifteen minutes, the belt made a U-turn and halted suddenly. It then launched them into a room with broken peach colour slabs.

The mumbling voice became stronger. A purifying jet sprayed onto the visitors, as if cleansing away the germs and dirt they brought from the outside world. The fusion of sweat odour and essential fragrance made their heads spin. The benches in the Hall of Healing had all been taken up, so the octet squeezed into the back of the room.

Elli gasped as she saw Samsonian. She had long black hair that fell to her chest, shiny and soft. Her face looked as glossy as the surface of a boiled egg and it ejected a forlorn beauty. Emotions filled her fair countenance as she healed the patients. The only thing that flawed her young beauty was her eyes. They were shut tightly, like clams sealing the pearls that could never release their gleams. She wore turquoise robes. Her silver serpent tattoo perched in between her cleavage.

Sitting next to her was a plump witch with ruby shoulder-length hair, which Vortex introduced as Bibyon. She looked like a secretary to the blind witch, doing all the registration of the patients’ records, and ensuring the patients didn't leave without paying. A fragile monster with a bony face of a meerkat and a short round body of a bee approached the healing table. Its body was twitching in fear.