The Whisperer

Untitled Part 11

Prologue

His sharp features were set on a terse frame. Those pale green eyes looked intense against the deathly blue light. It reflected from a two feet tall golden stand with intricate designs of dreadful war scenes and pestilence. It, too, almost made his sandy blonde hair, now goofily messed up, a little lighter than it actually was. His left hand clenched his slightly glowing silver sword more rigidly.

"Iana," his velvety voice called her out from her somewhat dark reverie, "don't over think it, just close it."

Automatically, her head flipped towards his line of sight. I can't do it, Dennis. You trust me too much. Between her too sweaty palms was a golden staff with a red gem. At its center was an oval shaped head, and it was faintly tugging towards Iana's front, where the doors to the Abyss were closely situated.

The doors, Vanessa, open the doors. You cannot detain us here forever.

Iana's hair stood on end. It was the vile, slithery voices again, almost like snakes wrapping each other in a tight bundle, but the tone hollow and echoing hauntingly. If before it was distant and barely audible, the ancient voices were now louder and more alluring. She had an overwhelming need to retch. Following the hypnotizing voices were just getting harder and harder to resist. Iana turned to look at Dennis. "Why should I be the one to destroy it?" Her voice sounded desperate, miserable even. I can't do it...I just can't do it.

Of course you can't do it. The voices venomously spat back. You are capable of so little, Iana Grey.

"Don't listen to them." Dennis sternly countered. "You have to fight them." His free hand grabbed her by the arm, as if to stable her trembling body. His strong gaze locked with hers. "Iana, you must destroy the doors."

She flinched, unnerved with what Dennis had to say. "You can hear them, too?"

He shook his head slowly. "No, I can't. But that does not mean I do not have my own voices to battle."

"Guys," a girl with chestnut brown hair called. Her voice was laced with exhaustion even if she was standing ever so still with her back turned towards them. "I can't hold this up any longer."

Momentarily, Iana was perplexed with what the girl was holding up, but that was only until she caught sight of what was looming above them, or rather, around them. A transparent like sphere was what the alien thing looked like, it enclosed its subjects within a protective sheet, not allowing any outsider's attack to hit them and cause destruction. Then it dawned upon Iana, the girl over there was projecting this magnificent expansion.

But not for long. The icy voices whispered.

"Bryson!" The girl called as she now took a tentative step backwards. "Help me project this."

Another boy, whom Iana was sure she saw before, ran quickly towards chestnut girl. He had jet black hair with chinky dark brown eyes. In his hand, was a sleek wooden rod, but he gracefully slipped it behind his back for safe keeping— now concealing that curious thing from Iana's sight.

"Exclusion, okay?" She reminded, sarcasm lined with her tone of voice.

Iana had a weird feeling he rolled his eyes. He was standing a few meters away from her when he drew in a deep breath. Now, Bryson was just as still as she was.

The effect was instantaneous. The protective blanket became thicker, bigger even. For that short while, Iana felt like she was floating on air even if her feet were still standing on firm ground. "Do you feel that, Dennis?"

"Yes." He said flatly as his eyes traveled with great reverence on the newly improved force field.

But that little good feeling of security was tampered with, when what seemed like a large, hairy humanoid stepped out from the shadows. It was almost twenty feet tall and bulky, its face distorted and crumpled up to the point it wasn't so agreeable to look at anymore. And as if it could read Iana's thoughts, it smirked. Without further delay, it raised its hands up in the air.

"The Earth Guardian." Dennis whispered.

From the ground rose a huge earthly clenched hand, rocks, soil and all. Iana drew in a sharp intake of breath, still finding it hard to believe what her eyes were seeing.

It raised its other arm higher, and what consequently came out was another bulky fist from the once lifeless soil. It smiled in a gleefully evil way, and then it pummeled the sphere with all its furious might.

All around them, the deafening sound of cracks filled the once deathly silence, but it was only to know that it came from the ground below them and the cave's ceiling above them.

"You know what to do, Iana." Dennis finally said as he left her and charged towards where Bryson and chestnut girl were.

Iana let out the breath she was apparently holding. With another loud bang from the two fists that were trying to destroy the only defense that they had, she faced the golden stand once more, choosing not to entertain herself with the show that was taking place behind her.

She looked at the doors in front of her and then at the trembling golden staff within her hands. Oddly, a strong desire swept from inside of her. It was wholly dark, selfish, and it wanted Iana to open that little barrier to their realm. How painful it was for her to take a closer step towards the doors—not to free them, but to destroy it forever.

They will die, you will die. You cannot reverse their fates unless you surrender to us, Iana and Vanessa.

Fortunately, there was a loud collision of forces taking place that seemed to temporarily distract Iana from the perplexing names those voices called her, but even if the defenses seemed to triple, the sphere was now like a flickering, dying flame, already about to lose its very own life.

"Iana!" An angry voice called, funny how that sounded like an impatient Bryson. "Just destroy the doors already!"

The ground below her finally gave way. The earth shook at an intensity that made Iana lose her foothold. The floor beneath her separated, revealing extremely hot molten rocks and magma. Even within the distance she was at, the heat made her eyes hurt.

Her heart seemed to stop beating as she managed to get up and evade an untimely death during that little, fateful nanosecond. Gladly, despite the fact that the floor beneath them was cracked and beyond repair, the golden stand, along with the doors stayed intact with the ground Iana's feet were on. Her knees unintentionally shook, she knew the impending consequences if she was to give in to what they wanted, but if Iana did, it wouldn't be a sweet surrender, nor would it be a life worth living anymore. If they would all die this very minute, then at least they'd die honorably.

I'm sorry. She told herself, but for what, she wasn't sure.

With an angry yell, she plunged the golden staff into the empty slot within the stand. Suddenly, a flash of red light came from the crevices and cracks of the now damaged doors, blinding her and causing her to lose her foothold again. But eventually, also her hold on what was left of the cracked ground.

"Iana!" Was the last thing she heard before waking up.