'Crash!' Was all Chris heard before he opened his eyes. Adjusting to the dim light the plane set in order to let the passengers rest easier he noticed a figure at the end of the cabin near the cockpit. Getting a better view in the dim light revealed that the figure stood over at least seven feet tall with the muscles to impose even the most confident man. A quick flicker of the lights revealed the figure was covered head to toe in some kind of body suit; a patchwork yellow suit with matching boots and gloves to it. Chris couldn't tell if the dark yellow areas on the arms and what was visible of its legs were skin or part of another suit. Something was off though as he didn't notice anyone of said statue enter the plane and the suit was stained with what looked like blood and viscera. Curious and concerned Chris moved past Devin's sleeping body after disengaging his seatbelt.
'Where's the attendants?' Chris thought as he neared the figure as it entered the cockpit. That's when he looked down to see one of the two flight attendants, a young blonde female of about twenty years of age, butchered with what seemed like a rather large blade. That's when his heart sank and he rushed into the cockpit to see the figure raise a large cleaver like blade, so large you might consider it an ax in the hands of a normal person, cleave the second attendant, male, in half at the waist before embedding the 'ax' into the skull of both pilots before turning to Chris. There was no face; this was not anything human, nor any demon he had ever encountered.
"What are you?" Chris sputtered in fear as he tried digging his heels into the ground, only to be greeted with the creature smashing the controls with the 'ax' before hobbling towards him in an instant, grabbing his throat, and throwing him out of the cockpit. Chris got up and ran to Devin to wake him only to realize that the rest of the plane had been killed. 'When? How?' He frantically thought before the same weapon that killed everyone dug itself into his back.
Too shocked to do or say anything, Chris felt as the 'ax' was ripped out of him and then...nothing. That's when he woke up in a cold sweat, being shaken by Devin. "What the hell man get up! The plane's going down!"
"What?!" He replied as he noticed that he was still strapped to his chair.
"Yeah the controls are malfunctioning and everyone except us fell unconscious and won't get up." Devin said, rushing towards the cockpit as Chris unbuckled himself.
"You know how to fly a plane?" Chris asked frantically.
"Do you think I know how to fly?!" Devin snapped as they looked for anything to save them.
"Fair point, but how did this...the figure!" Chris said scanning all the flight controls to find them unresponsive.
"Figure?" Devin asked as he tried pulling up on the flight stick to no avail.
"I think something demonic...OH SHIT!" Chris started before they were met with the sudden impact of landing in some crater, their only saving grace being Devin suddenly making a magic barrier to protect them. Regardless of what happened in that moment the two realized where they were at. "This is..."
"This is the crater site where the Kunikai family disappeared." Devin said before adding. "But that was six years ago and it's still smoldering."
"Do you think there's enough residual energy to pull us into Hell?" Chris asked, scrapping the ash on the ground before smelling the ash. "Plenty of Brimstone stench to it. Whatever demon did this wasn't fucking around, but also seems to wants to be found."
"We're not going in before we meet with The Order." Devin said before a dark red hexagonal portal formed before them.
"That's not from The Order is it?" Chris asked as they walked around the anomaly.
"I'm not sure...but there's no way to head over to them without some kind of intervention." Devin said, slightly reaching to the portal before the shrill cry of a woman came from it.
"That answers our question." Chris replied, slightly shaken by the cries. "Now as members of The Order of the Exalted Blade are we going to just stand here while someone is suffering on the other end?"
Gritting his teeth Devin rushed in the red portal with his partner. Both of them being greeted by darkness that eventually brightened to reveal a dimly lit, green-ish gray room with no exit, the floor a lighter tone of gray stained with splotches of blood here and there. The walls were cold, much unlike the Hell they knew, this was not a Hell of fire and Brimstone but of true, cold, suffering.
"Umm...hi?" The sound of a young female's voice sounded in the room and upon scanning the room they saw the source of the greeting, a woman in her early twenties stood before them. Her reddish brown hair looked matted from stress and lack of self care, a pair of red hair clips parted her bangs towards the right. Her dark blue eyes told a story of unfathomable pain, and she looked like she was dressed in standard high school attire. A white button up shirt, now slightly untucked from her blue skirt, with a thin red bow tied around the collar. Her knee high socks were still a pristine white color and led to a pair of black standard dress shoes.
Chris naturally waved to the girl, but Devin decided to get right into the questioning. "So...who are you exactly and how did you end up here?"
She hesitated, but after a moment spoke softly. "My name is Kunikai Sakuri."
"Okay well we found our girl." Devin said as he outstretched his palm to get them back to their base only for nothing to appear. "...and we can't leave. We're stuck here with no way home and nothing to defend ourselves with."
"There's a way out...I'm sure what Ritz told me could work for you guys too." Sakuri said, almost uncertain of herself. "Wait, you're looking for me?"
Chris butted in finally. "We're from The Order of the Exalted Blade, we kinda kill demons and save humanity blah blah blah. Who's this Ritz person?"
"He's..."Sakuri looked around as if her answer could get her in trouble. "Like my guide of sorts."
"Demon got it." Devin said nonchalantly as he looked around the room. "So Sakuri do you know 'how' we can at least start getting out?"
"I think there's a button around here somewhere." Sakuri said before clenching her stomach in pain before collapsing.
"Sakuri!" Chris ran to her, kneeling to her side. "What's wrong?"
Taking a few deep breaths, Sakuri looked up at the man that now overlooked her. "I'm okay...I think I died recently, but I don't exactly know how I did."
Chris watched before slowly outstretching a hand to help her sit up at the very least. "We're here to help, honest. If there's anything you can tell us to get you and, hopefully, your family out of here safely please do so."
"The back corner. There should be a button I think." She replied, her hand shaking as she pointed to a small opening.
Without another word Chris found the small orange button within and pressed it, causing the wall behind it to open with the sound of stone scraping on stone. A hall made of the same gray material appeared before them with a single door off to the right, and a single creature resembling a crow with its guts pouring out of its beak and a braid of organs where the tail would usually be, patrolling it.
"Whelp, guess it's a start." Devin sighed as the group looked into the next room.
YOU ARE READING
Demonophobia
Horor'Six years ago there was an incident in the Kyoto region of Japan. A book used for demonic worship called 'The Dark Grimoire' was discovered to have been stolen, but the perpetrator was never found. Such a book was told to have the ability to summon...
