Blood Pact

Chapter 11 - Portal

"Could we possibly stop by a clothing store in town?" He asks.

"It's not a weekday today so I don't have anything better to do." Irillium says. "Transform for now and when we get to town it should be safe for you to change into your usual form." She says. "Do you by any chance have your own money though?" She adds.

"No, I was planning on killing whoever owns the clothing shop and stealing their items..." He says blankly. Irillium scowls. "Of course I have money my dear. The mages didn't exactly have time to loot me before they sealed me away in that box and put me in the dungeons." He says sarcastically.

"Alright then, though I don't know how I was supposed to know that." Irillium says tiredly.

...

Victor is sitting on his office chair with his head in his hands. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do with them. Lucith is always so kind to everyone but then when it comes to Irillium he becomes spiteful and snarky." He says to himself. He lifts his head and looks at the papers on his desk.

"And now I've also got an escaped demon from the dungeons running rampant. I don't even know how I'm going to explain the death of that student. I'll have to arrange a memorial for him." He picks up a paper with a photo of a student named Christopher Lew.

*This is absolute chaos. I can only pray we find it before it kills more people.*  He thinks.

...

"So how are we going to get to town exactly?" Yosen asks Irillium. "We're on an island." He adds.

Irillium and him are walking along a small path in the woods. "If there wasn't a way do you really think I'd be walking through this forest saying we're going to town?" She says.

"Speaking of which, where exactly are you taking us my dear?" He asks while balancing himself in his 'familiar' form on Irillium's shoulder.

"To the teleportation gate." She says. *It feels nice to get out.* She thinks while enjoying the smell of pine.

"So we're being teleported to town? I really need to learn more about the mortal world." He says. *Teleportation isn't something new to me, though I never expected the mortals would be capable of using it.* He thinks.

"Only the mages of Emoria can use teleportation." She says, as if she was reading his mind. "It looks like we've arrived." Irillium and Yosen squeeze through overgrown plants that cover the path. She ducks under a willow tree's branch and walks underneath the gigantic tree.

Yosen looks up at the roof of the tree. The small flickers of light fall through the hanging leaves and onto their faces. *This is... Stunning.* He thinks.

"Alright, this is it. You'll have to climb off and go through after me." Irillium says while brushing aside a curtain of leaves to reveal a large and deep hole in the stump of the tree.

"Seperately? Is there a reason?" He asks. Irillium dusts off her hands and slides her hair out of her eyes.

"The portal can only handle one person at a time. The last time two people went in at the same time, they ended up merging together. True that they went on to be extremely successful but that won't always be the case. It just happened to be two very talented mages that jumped into the portal together. But that's besides the point, I don't particularly want to merge with you." She says while readying herself to jump through.

"That was a lot of unecessary information for one simple question. So I take it you'll be going first?" He says while peering down into the pitch black hole from behind Irillium.

"Correct. When I jump through there will be a strange song, if I can call it that, coming from inside the stump. Once it stops, that's when you can follow after. Just a warning, the first time going through is always... Bizarre. This tree is one of the oldest artifacts around and it has the same effects as taking hallucinatory narcotics. Make sure you transform while you're falling so you don't come out as my familiar on the other side." She says.

"Narcotics? Wait what's bizarre about it and how do I know I'll come out safely on the other end?" He asks with a worried undertone.

"You don't." With this, Irillium drops straight down into the dark hole, disappearing from sight. *Of course you'll come out safely.* She thinks as she falls through.

"Hold on what do you mean?!" Yosen shouts down to her, but no reply comes back. Suddenly a strange sound starts emanating from inside the tree. It sounds like a cello being played on a continuous note. The leaves start swaying in the wind and the entire forest goes silent.

*What on Argathia is this?* Yosen thinks to himself. The music stops after a few seconds, the wind ceases and the background noises of the forest continue as if nothing happened. "It would appear that it's my turn now." He says as he peers over the edge. *I don't need to be afraid. I've overcome much more terrifying obstacles, it can't be worse than the box.*  He thinks as he drops down into the hole just as Irillium did.

...

Irillium steps out of a wall of bushes in the forest just outside of town. She brushes herself off and steps forward. She slowly blinks and double checks to see if her surrounding are real. "Holy shit I'll never be able to get used to that..." She mumbles to herself.

*I wonder where Yosen is. Maybe he didn't jump? Did I scare him too much?* She thinks. A hand reaches through the wall of leaves and Yosen climbs out with a blank stare.

"Oh, you made it. How was it?" Irillium asks. *It looks like his first time was just as bad as mine.* She thinks.

Yosen brings his hands up to his face and rubs his eyes. He lets out a deep breath. "This tree is pure evil..." He says softly. He moves his hands away and walks up to Irillium.

"You gonna be ok?" She asks akwardly.

"Ok? Will I be ok? My dear, I just witnessed mushrooms grow out of my grandmother's teeth, which had eyes and mouths of their own, while she played the flute, which wasn't a actually a flute but a purple carrot that also had a face, and then her cat walked in backwards, only it wasn't backwards because its head was just on its backside and its tail was where its head was and its legs were facing the ceiling but it was still managing to walk and then the neighbour came over for dinner but she had eyes on her eyes on her eyes and her hair like a beam stuck to the ceiling and everything was rotating constantly. I DONT EVEN HAVE A GRANDMOTHER?!" He says in one continuous breath.

"That tree really went all out on you... It's ok, the first time is always the worst one, after this it's smooth sailing, other than the occassional fish with wings or talking fruit." She says while patting Yosen on the shoulder.

End of chapter 11