Five: Rise of Malevolence

Chapter 3: Revival and Sacrifice

    Although our sleep was in fact quite long it seemed like it was only a few hours before the loud echo of the Purification Bell was ringing indicating that the time of the ceremony was near.
    "What the hell?! It's only an hour until 12:00?!" Melissa sprung out of her bed getting her supplies and getting dressed. My eyes widened at the fact that we slept for literally the longest time and we didn't even practice once for the ceremony. I mean we thought we should wing it, but in reality I was thinking we should give it a run through at 9:00.
    "Well I guess just giving it everything we've got is all we can do!" I yelled as Melissa finished getting ready and was waiting impatiently for me to finish.
    "We can't fail it, they do in fact go through with the directions, and most of it is common sense and prior knowledge, due to the fact that we have witnessed a lot of ceremonies." Melissa looked at me with positivity, although deep down she was probably more nervous than me. I finished getting my white cloak on and got my staff as I started walking to the door where Melissa was waiting ever so eager to just blindly do this.
   "Let's go we still have some rehearsal time." I started to swiftly walk to the stairs and eventually realized the most genius thing. "Melissa use your magic to take us there!"
"You mean the teleporting spell?" Melissa replied looking confused. "That's probably not going to be a good time if we teleport randomly somewhere we don't even know." I took her hands and looked her straight in the eye.
"You can do this." I smiled. Melissa's eyes lit up like a rekindled fire, so she took out her wand and tome and casted her spell with deep concentration. "Bring us, who will be enveloped by your benevolent veil and bring us to a place that exists in the mind! Telecyna!" Melissa casted the spell, and nothing happened until letter started to be summoned creating a sentence.
"Who is requiring of this spell?" I read the shining letters floating in the air.
"Melissa and Marissa Ivenron!" Melissa said very clearly and forcefully. "Where is your destination?!" Melissa recited the floating sentence with excitement.
"The Temple of Purification!" I excitedly yelled. Soon glowing sparks surround our bodies and we dissipated from thin air and next thing we know we are in the plaza connecting to the Temple.
    "That! Was! Amazing!!!" Melissa yelled.
    "You did it! You used that spell correctly!" I congratulated her for accomplishing such an incredible feat.
    "We should probably go into the temple, Damien is probably waiting for us." Melissa started to walk to the doors to the temple.
I don't feel like Mr. Freewind/Damien, or Liza have been acting normal, they've been either secretive or just unnaturally foreboding at times. I hope that we don't mess this up, everyone in the city will be inside the temple awaiting for us to perform this ceremony, there's no room for mess-ups we need to do this perfectly that's the Ivenron way! I gave myself a pep talk before following Melissa into the temple. It was packed, everyone was sitting in chairs some standing and most of them were actually in front of the door which required some shoving, which got me some glares. We made it to the altar where we will begin the Purification process.
    "Marissa, Melissa, so nice of you to come late." Liza sarcastically said.
    "We were practicing." Melissa lied.
    "Well, get over to the altar! Mr. Freewind will give you the instructions, since I know you didn't actually practice." Liza angrily gestured to us, which in return caused Melissa to take out her wand discreetly.
    "Bewildering incantation show us your most enchanting ways of trickery, Jestim Livaro." Melissa whispered the spell as we looked back to see Liza being attacked by books that seemed to be summoned out of thin air. Melissa was smiling to me as I tried to hold back laughing.
    "Over here we will begin momentarily." Mr. Freewind stated. We moved to the altar where we began the ceremony.
"You should take out your magic equipment." Mr. Freewind pointed to my staff and Melissa's wand and tome. We did as he asked which was pretty straightforward, we needed to cast our spells onto the altar a few times and then perform the ancient acts of purification. We casted and casted and casted, our magic was waning in power by the second, but finally we got the notes that I assumed had what we were supposed to say to the "infected" outsider.
"Bring in our vessel!" Mr. Freewind yelled to a guard who went out of the Temple and then came back in, but with a woman.
"Ms. Morgan!?" Melissa yelled in disbelief.
    "Oh if it isn't the two prodigious mages, well let's hope you don't fail, it really would be a shame if that were to happen." Ms. Morgan walked up looking at us smugly. Mr. Freewind glanced towards the noted we got, hinting that we should begin reciting it. There were parts marked with sigils and other magical characters, but the one thing that stuck out was that there was no indication of who would read and if we both read it or if we had to alternate.
    "Melissa, Marissa you two may begin,  also you both should alternate while reading it." Liza looked to us with books in her hands from the spell Melissa casted. I began to recite the note.
    "Vessel, give us your body so it may be the holding for all the light here and may it disperse to seal all darkness away."
    "From this incantation we shall purge all darkness from your body and hereby let you live in tranquility and without any impurities." Melissa read as she gave me a look that said, "end this already" which didn't make me feel much better.
    "Break the seal and release your power unto our vessel, oh mighty Entity!" I read with trying to act like I'm not scared of the numerous people that are staring at us. Melissa looked confused for some reason, but she continued.
    "Lend us your hand in purifying our lost individual, oh benevolent goddess." Melissa recited with a quiet voice. I gave Melissa a "you got this" look thinking that she was nervous from the crowd, but I'll later realize that I was wrong.
    "Our vessel, Ms. Morgan take her and show us your greatness!" The moment those words left my lips I realized what scared Melissa, and what confused her, our notes aren't the same. We saw Ms. Morgan rise up in the air which was what normally happens to an about-to-be purified person; however what wasn't part of the normal was the swords that summoned out of the air and stabbed through her and stabbed her to down onto the altar.
    "Umm uhhh, uhhhhh." Melissa muttered in disbelief. We were all shocked, all mortified, but for me I felt as though my entire world just blew to the heavens.
    "My lady! It's about time you show us your power!" Liza chuckled. After Liza's command the altar started spewing dark flames and some even erupted from the ground around us. Soon it ended, but now there was a woman kneeling on the altar.
    "My how long was it, since I stepped foot out of my prison." The woman spoke.
    "W-who are you?" I asked shaken up from what just happened.
    "Charlotte McRallen, and I assume that you are one of the people who freed me."
    "Yeah, the other is across from me." I said.
    "Thank you, my sweet child, now what you two are about to see might seem scary, but if you freed me you probably know of what's going to happen." Charlotte summoned a scythe and swung it in front of her, I looked towards the crowd, but all I saw was an empty room.
    "These souls should keep me alive for quite some time." Charlotte said while putting her grotesque scythe away.
    "What did you just do!!" Melissa yelled while taking her wand out to fight.
    "What have we done?" I said falling onto my knees in despair. My head was in pain, was it the fact that the souls and lives of the town just were taken or was it the malevolent energy that swirled around in the air.
"So dark surrogates? You will give me your names, or I'll have to kill you!"
"D-dark surrogates?" I stuttered in fear. I glanced around the now empty temple grounds and it seems that Liza and Mr. Freewind were spared.
"Is there a reason we weren't taken?" Melissa said pointing to me, Liza and Mr. Freewind who were now making there way up to the altar.
"You two are my surrogates, Liza is my most talented killer, and Mr. Freewind or Damien since this city won't need a mayor now, is my leverage in taking over this city and building a new one." Charlotte chuckled as, Liza and Damien made there way up to us.
"Melissa, Marissa so happy you two survived the ritual." Liza said.
"Well it's to be expected Liza, and Damien did choose the best of the best to revive me." Charlotte signaled to me as I poignantly looked over to her.
"Isn't this the universal signal for 'come here'? I don't like to be kept waiting!" Charlotte billowed as I glanced toward Melissa who was walking toward Charlotte with fear in her eyes.
"See one of you gets it, now Marissa come here." I complied there was no beneficial gain to resist especially knowing what power this Charlotte individual holds.
"Now let's raise some hell! Starting with burning this pathetic town of magic to dust!" Charlotte yelled as Liza and Damien joined in on the deathly scream of this malevolent creature. Melissa nudged my staff it was still strapped on my back.
"Let's raise some 'hell' of our own for them I mean." Melissa gave me a grin that was similar to the one she gave me when we assaulted Liza with books from the sky. We followed them out of the Temple of Purification, well now it's not pure anymore more like Temple of Malevolence, since the dark secret of Freewind was uncovered to be the revival of this sinister being called Charlotte.
"Hey! You two why don't you do the honors of setting this city ablaze!" Damien yelled. This is where we made enemies with the most dangerous person on Lucia.
"Yeah! Let's go, Marissa." Melissa emphasized the "go" which meant we were going to try running.
"Burning angels, come down and-
"Now!" I yelled. Melissa stopped casting and We booked straight towards the entrance to the city, as the snow falls to the ground so does our home because when I glanced back hell was let loose.
"Don't huff feel bad, huff we won't stand a chance against her anyway." I mustered an exhausted response, as we approached a cliffside on the outskirts of the city, and that's when it happened. Charlotte jumped from over our heads.
"Yeah, like I was going to let you two escape!" Charlotte replied with a smirk and spin of her scythe. "I've analyzed your magic and to be honest your potential is abysmal."
"I thought you said we were the best of the best?" Melissa replied with an unwavering look of cockiness.
"The potential to be the best of the best, did I emphasize potential enough for you two?" Charlotte explained as though we were infants. Melissa deftly took her wand from her back pocket and began casting a spell behind her back, as she signaled to me to stall for time.
"Y-yeah we totally get it, I mean we are no match for you or of use to you for that matter, so I think we should just go, I mean you said it yourself we are 'abysmal', right?" I conjured up a fast statement almost like the fact that Melissa is about to conjure a spell onto the woman who single-handedly wiped out the population of Freewind.
"No, I need your souls but my scythe alone won't be able to shatter the souls of a dark surrogate, I need your malevolence!" Charlotte lunged at me.
"Angry storm clouds show us the judgement that shall come those who are unworthy! Calamity Bolt! Melissa casted a volley of lightning from the sky at Charlotte shooting her into the ground.
"Melissa?! What more can you possibly have in your arsenal of spells?!" I replied in shock.
"I'll tell you later! Meanwhile let's get out of here!" Melissa stated beginning to run towards the trail that leads into the frozen wasteland below the mountains of purity.
"Wait! Just use Telecyna!" I yelled to Melissa.
"I haven't mastered it yet!" Melissa replied.
"Just try we don't have much more options, Charlotte will just jump down and or out-run us anyways so just do it!" I panicked as I saw Liza and Damien quickly approaching.
    "I'll purposely fail it so we teleport to a random place!" Melissa grabbed my hand and began to cast.
"Bring us, who will be enveloped by your benevolent veil to a place in the great world of Lucia! Telecyna!" Words appeared in the air just like before, but now they said something different.
    "Error too much possibilities, too vague, teleporting where too?" The words were jumbled and messed up.
    "Anywhere but here!" Melissa yelled as Damien and Liza were now approximately 20 feet away. The spell whisked us away into a ball of light where we flew off into the sky and in our ascent we saw the carnage and ruins of the city, our house in shambles and ashes, the mayor's house relatively untouched, the temple completely remodeled in a new coat of ash and the blood of those who were not present at the ceremony of despair. Truly we were the cause of such destruction, the deaths of so many only because I failed to differentiate realize that maybe this isn't the Purification chant, but how could anyone expect such a ludicrous and unfeasible plan to resurrect that thing, Charlotte on the day of such a normal, annual event? Ultimately this is where my journey begins, to undo my mistakes and stop that demon of a woman Charlotte once and for all...