Olivia Green: Envy's Child [COMPLETED]

Chapter 32: Sigils

Thud.

The base touches down into a dark, barren space where the walls are hidden in the inky blackness. It is unusually dingy, almost purposefully so, the tendrils of ink sweeping in with a chilling breeze. I'm almost too afraid to peer deeper into the epitome of this midnight nightmare, as if I'll see something I'm not supposed to. I feel a presence, something sinister and menacing that raises the very hairs scattering on my arms. 

"Hey," Brent says softly, grasping my arm. "Come on, let's go."

He tugs me to the only lit part of this room; the tall, towering double doors. The beige stone stands twenty feet tall, sigils carved deep into the material radiating an archaic magic that I've never felt before. It is simply a door. No walls or anything supporting it, just this door in the darkness, perfectly balanced and equally intimidating. 

Zac is the first one to approach it, looking up at the spectacle in annoyance; he presses his hands onto one of doors and goes to push, only it doesn't budge immediately. He doesn't ask for help, rather he tries slightly harder, his muscles straining as he puts more force against the door. 

"Need a hand there, Son of Wrath?" Brent jests, voice light as he jogs over the rest of the way to help his friend, putting his hands against the doors too and pushing slightly. "Huh, that's weird."

I feel eyes on me. Inspecting me, as if trying to figure out my weaknesses. My nerves are on edge, my heart begins to race and instinctively I reach for my short sword and shield, slowly tightening the straps onto my left arm and readjusting the grip on my sword handle. Within the dark as my eyes adjust, I notice a slight shift; unnoticeable with just a glance.

"You guys might want to get that door open," I say after a pause, hearing their grunts in the echoing space. I peer around, noticing even more shifts and movements against the ink, small reflections from the lit doorway evading it's light. I backtrack, feet moving behind one another, closing the distance with my two peers hastily.

My foot lands on something, it crunches beneath my weight and my confidence fractures with it. I let out a shaky breath as I force myself to look down at the base of my boot, off-white ceramic shards litter the floor where I stood, initially obscured from the tendrils yet now clear. As I further inspect the floor, I notice skeletons and remains littering the surface under the cover of this strange darkness.

"Guys," I whisper. "We aren't alone."

As I speak my breath catches. A creature lunges at me out of it's cover; a scaled, thin black monstrosity with four legs and claws, long tentacles running from the base of it's skull with sharp tips. I bash my shield into the side of it's head, the creature rolls and lands, releasing an aggravated hiss on it's assault. 

"What the fuck is that?!" Exclaims Brent, causing an identical creature to rush out and attack, aiming towards my classmate with the intent to kill. 

The other one circles me, body posed to lunge, large nostrils sniffing the air in curiosity. Only now do I realize that the fiend doesn't have eyes, relying on smell and sound to stalk it's prey. 

Brent ducks in time, landing on his arse as the creature hits the door. It scrambles out of the way and releases a growl, bearing it's teeth just as it's friend blindly stabs and swipes at the air using it's tentacles, hoping to land a blow at me. 

I slice my sword through the air, the blade cutting through one of the four appendages, it spurts a sickening ooze; releasing an ear-piercing screech, it's entire body tensing before it's other three tentacles rapidly stab at me. I slice, block and bash it's onslaught, striding closer and closer to the monster. I close in and knee it's slobbering chin upwards, tossing him onto his back as I plunge my short sword downwards, stabbing the monster in it's chest. 

It falls limp.

A figure barrels into my side, causing me to fly onto the floor, rolling before landing on my back. I don't have time to react as it pounces onto my figure, teeth bared and going for my throat. I use my shield as defence, wedging it between us just in time for it's head to crash into the spike. It releases a confused whine, instantly backing off and shaking it's head wildly, ooze dripping from the attack, yet not enough to kill it.

Yet that's not the point of this particular weapon. It whimpers, head pushing into the ground as if to try and stop the antagonizing pain erupting in it's skull. The toxin quickly works, eating it's way through the target as the monster begins to shake and whine louder. Silence. The thing falls limp, head lolling to the side, dead. 

"Wha-"

I press my finger to my lips, casting Brent a harsh look as I get up, brushing myself off before carefully walking towards them. I point at the dead creatures before covering my eyes, indicating they're blind. Then I point to my nose and my ears, do a thumbs up; they nod in understanding. Listening, I hear distant screeches causing shivers to run down my spine. A couple of them run into view and dive towards their fallen 'family', yet instead of retrieving them they dig in. Teeth gnashing and tearing at the scales, exposing flesh for their feast. As more ooze pours out of the two deceased monsters, more of them appear, some getting dangerously close to the three of us. 

Not wanting to waste anymore time, I stare at the sigils on the door, understanding that they're more pictures if anything, trying to tell us something. As if they're instructions. I try and make sense of them, biting at my lip as Brent and Zac shuffle closer to me, uncomfortably so. I look behind me to see them closer, their numbers significantly grown by the second hence the area they cover larger.

I look back at the door, noticing two rectangles next to each other that look eerily like the door. Two hands, then next to it fire. Only now do I understand that underneath this particular sequence, is the same sequence, only instead of fire it is replaced with different emblems. Seven different emblems. I ignore the rest of the sigils, finding no use of them as I look to Zac, indicating his hands.

He looks confused, but them I grab them and force them onto the doors. He raises his brows in a 'what the fuck' manner, simply keeping them there in annoyance. I assume he thinks I'm stupid, however it's the only fucking thing I can think about at the moment.

I mouth 'fire' to him. The closest monster's ears perk up as he looks around curiously, sniffing and cocking it's head to the side. He shakes his head, worried it would aggravate the things behind us, yet I point at the pictures in with abandon, looking at him in fury. This might be our way through, I'm not sure myself however I am sure we don't have a chose.

The hoard becomes larger.

He sighs and closes his eyes, muttering a curse before channeling his powers. His hands become lit with red, angry flames. Wild, wispy, wroth, the flames curl and lash out towards the door in a strong attempt to open it. Zac pushes forward and miraculously, the door begins to open with a long groan.

The creatures jump at a start and instantly lunges towards us. Brent shoves me through the doors as he lashes his arm out, icicles shooting from his sharp movements embedding themselves into a wave of them things, slaughtering the curious one. With that, Zac slips through, tugging Amber and stumbling onto the ground, the ajar doors closing swiftly after losing it's source of power. A hand claws through the waning gap, pushing through before the door slams shut.

With that, the hand crunches and snaps off, landing onto the floor with a sickening thud. We breath a sigh of relief, Brent even having the audacity to laugh in surprise. However, all I can think about is the fact that this was only the entrance. How the Heaven are we supposed to survive the entirety of the labyrinth?