Portals & Realms

Chapter 15 - Ruins

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ONE WEEK LATER...
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    "What else could we try doing? Any spells?"
"No spells can break the hold of a demon. The only ones I've studied are how to hold the demon back, not to purposefully bring him closer and closer towards us. Though I haven't put any of it to use, it was the only sort of defensive magic against demonic forces I learned."
"He's already coming our way, there is nothing we can do to change that right now. The cracks in the sky are already beginning to widen."
Dante looked at Xolo as he was sticking a small needle into Mae's wrist, pumping in some strange liquid as a new scratch appeared on her cheek. He bent down and placed a cloth and absorbed the spilling blood, throwing it into the trash can beside him as the wound was scarring. She had so many scabs on the first day, and none of them knew what it could've been from or what she was doing down there. Eventually, the wounds slowed, but the ones that came recently scarred instead of scabbed, like they were deeper. All they could speculate was that there was a ton of paper due to all the scabs that often appeared on her hands all at once, and then faded.
"What time is it Lucinda?"
"Not yet."
"Damn it," Ein cursed and crossed his legs on the floor, holding Mae's hand in his, whispering under his breath. Xolo stood up, stretching out his wings, and looked at the exit of the cave, the rain still continuing, which was.. strange to say the least. It was only one in the afternoon, yet it seemed like the sky was darkening even from here. It rained the past two days, so perhaps more rain's coming? It's the middle of summer, why on Earth would it be raining so often?
"Is there any way we can know if Portal got Mae out and to safety?" Dante asked, looking at Xolo as he began walking away and towards where the tree line started. "Uh.. Xolo?"
"Where are you goin?" Ein questioned, looking at him from where he was sitting, all while making no effort to move and follow him. The sound of distant thunder echoed in the cave as the storm continued, making him flinch,
"I just, I need to go check on something real quick."
"You can tell us what it is bud."
Xolo turned back towards the four people in the cave, his eyes glowing white and he sported a blank stare and expression. Dante grabbed the knife at his side and hid it, ready to try and strike if he went crazy. He didn't know if he could, but it easily could be something Ghost was doing to try and take over people of importance. Is that even possible? Can he even do that?
"The purple eyes of a killer can only stare down at the blood they spill," He chanted out in a deep voice, his wings spreading. "The green eyes of someone who is dying, blood spilling into the pond, two friends clashing as one is no longer in the body in which presents itself, an inhuman creation tricking the scientist to trust his smile, bodies on a dock."
Lucinda stood there, staring, not moving to grab anything or to possibly contain what he was saying. Dante starred as well, frightened. Over the past few days, he had these "visions" where he apparently saw things that happened in the future or in the canon universe (or was it host world now?) that everyone else, but him, belonged in. According to him and Ein, they were all living in not an alternate universe, but a universe alternation. Xolo fleeing to this world and Ein snapping out of the mind control changed everything that happened in the world, and thanks to Portal's imput, Ein learned that this world was completely separate of the one in which all the base ground was laid down. All the weird nonsense changed. There were enough differences to make it an accessible free-world.
The worst part was that Xolo could have these at any time, and around anyone. When he did have them first, he was terrified and was around everyone else. Not wanting to blow anyone's cover, he had lied and said it must've been a hallucination from lack of sleep.
"Flowers blooming around a pink blossom tree, and snow on the ground along with a body. Zane with a knife, two bodies floating in the water. Blood surrounding our hands and hearts, and the woman of many many years holding her head as she hallucinates her past and floods a river of guilt, invisible to everyone else. Two men of brown hair from different times, understanding, yet scared, of different enemies. A redhead staring with rage in their eyes and knives in their hands. A yellow eye piercing the darkness with a strange unfamiliar light."
He continued to ramble on, his body faltering in stance, meaning it was almost over. Ein was closing his eyes, rambling to himself. As Xolo finally returned back to normal, he put his hand on the wall, with his wings covering his body, as if he was ashamed.
"Xolo," Lucinda started, stepping closer, "what did you see exactly?"
"Well, I know one part I think, though the rest of it is unknown," Redhead? Could Xolo have been talking about Elvadoer? But why would she be angry at us with knives? Or have knives in a scenario in general? A scientist? Could the yellow eye have been the man Asra saw? But Xolo only said one eye, which means it cannot be the same one. Is this other individual like Julian? Two men of brown hair? Bodies on a dock? A woman of... like a grandma having a panic attack? Dante started, looking down at Mae, "and you're not going to like it."
Everyone looked over at him with different expressions. One was curious, one was confused, and one was near anger.
He cleared his throat and then looked down at his unconscious partner in crime. "Mae is the only one that has purple eyes. So, based on what would make sense for who belonged to what, she has the 'purple eyes of a killer'. I don't know why she would have this title, but I'm scared to know."
"I think it was. I couldn't see who it was clearly though. U-uh to return the favor of info that you might not like, the people Zane killed were um.. you and Ein."
Ein and Dante both looked at him in shock, "What?!"
He nodded. "But I didn't see anything else about the future we are heading towards besides an odd looking man. He was one of the only faces I saw clearly."
    "Which one? You mentioned a few in your visions?"
    Xolo put a hand to his chin and tapped his foot. His brow narrowed and he looked at the floor, confused as he thought, "the man with the yellow eye. He wore an eyepatch and had a nasty scar on his face, like he was in a war perhaps... a high-stakes battle? Odd colored hair too, blue and white, I don't know if it was longer than his shoulders or perhaps hidden in the robe he adorned..." he paused and then looked at Dante, "say, you mentioned someone with an eyepatch right? When you got here? I was filled in on the people to see if I recognized any."
    Dante nodded, "Yeah, Julian! One of the... friends that I've met has an eyepatch, but he doesn't have any big scar, nor a yellow eye. His visible one is normal colored, yet the one under his eyepatch is red. There's no yellow to be seen."
    "Odd-colored hair?"
    "Nope."
    Xolo snapped his fingers, "drats... well maybe-" he paused.
Lucinda looked towards the entrance of the cave, noises coming from outside. She hung closer to the wall while Xolo stood near her, looking outside too. Loud steps were being made, like someone was running towards them. Two someone's. Three maybe. As they began to get louder and louder, Xolo sprung up off the ground and extended his hands, picking Dante right up and off the ground, making him panic and try to break free.
"I'm trying to hide you!" He snapped down at him and ducked inside of a small crevice near the top of the wall, placing down Dante on the flooring and swooping back down, using his claw-like feet to grab Ein, reluctantly, by the shoulders and toss him into another crevice. Lucinda stayed down there, ducking by Mae and pretending to hold a book in her hand.
"Why is she still down there?" Ein snapped at Xolo, who was perched in one of the larger sections that sported very little cover, using his wings to try and camouflage against the wall.
"No one is suspicious of her and where she goes right now," Dante commented. "They wouldn't be worried about her missing since her record isn't unknown, like ours."
"And you cannot be down there right now especially. Everyone's made that clear," Xolo started, "Plus, I think it would be wise to avoid one of my visions from coming true today. We do not need one of Mae's friends and significant others to go down in a battle. And any other futures or events I saw that are plausible could have happened here too."
Ein's heart stopped for a moment and he glanced over at Xolo with daggers in his eyes. "Significant others?"
He nodded, Dante sharing the exact same questioning look. Significant other made some sense, being that from what he knew, Ein and Mae were very close. Not Mae, but Ghost and him were close before Mae came along. The real one. If the situation between her and Ein had gone better than when she told Julian, then what Xolo saw could be true. But others.. Why others? Who else was close to her at the moment? Why did multiple people like her? Why on Earth did so many individuals have a chance with her even though she's said that she has never felt love in her life? Nothing was adding up.
The footsteps finally entered the cave and everyone's eyes were drawn to the person who entered. Lucinda froze in place, frozen in fear as the person who just ran in stood right in front of her, staring past her.
"A-"
"That's not Aaron," Ein scoffed. "His hair would never be in such a fray. Plus he has white spots on his ears now."
"Ein... what's that?" Dante's eyes went wide as a cackling laugh broke nearly all the silence, everyone looking up in horror at the person standing on the rock Ein called home. It was Ein.. and he had a knife to Aph's throat.
"They're... projections of some kind. Hallucinations. They aren't real." Lucinda observed, waving her hand through the eerily realistic projection of Aaron that was not even a foot away from her
"That's.. That's me killing her. I avoided this! I avoided this future I know I did. This is all IMPOSSIBLE! I cleaned the blood off my hands before this. I drowned this out of possible outcomes more than two years ago! This can't be HAPPENING." He had no cares in the world for staying safe and jumped down out of his hiding place, rolling to a stop on the ground. He got up, a knife in hand and leaped onto the rock, fire seemingly coming from his pores. He slashed it through himself, but it did nothing but phase through harmlessly. He stabbed it through a few more times, as if there was going to be a different outcome.
Xolo urgently grabbed Dante by the shoulders again and set him down carefully. "Ein Shalasaka you will stand down at once!"
"Do NOT call me Sylvanna's last name. She is not my mother," he snapped, stepping down from his cave and still holding the knife, facing Xolo from a few feet away.
"You and Aphmau are related. It is only right to call you by a last name that you are able to affiliate with rather than nothing at all. That is at least how I was raised."
He stepped forward, staring Xolo eye-to-eye at the moment. Lucinda put a hand on Dante and retreated with him back by Mae, conscious of her waking to see a possible massacre. She wrapped the bandana back around her eyes and noticed that this time.. She wasn't bleeding at all. She put her hand on her heartbeat and looked at Dante, eyes wide. It was speeding up. She was alive. Lucinda grabbed her hand and suddenly, a yell erupted through everyone's ears.
Everyone's eyes looked to the dead body of the hallucination that was Aphmau, right in front of the real Ein's feet. Xolo stared at him, not even looking at the body. "And that is the importance of a last name. That body right there."
"She's.. Ein. Ein now is the time to go. It's time right now."
He ran over to her, attention suddenly averted from the tense, and possibly deadly argument he nearly just had with the much-more deadly harpy. "Damn well it's time. Give me the bug."
"We need to get everyone. Fast. Get everyone who can see what's happening outside. Xolo and Dante, head to the house. Go to where our friends are and bring them here."
Dante stood up, grabbing his open journal and stashing it into his sash strapped around him. Over the days he had begun to prepare an attire similar to what a knight would wear as armor, besides the entire "armor" part of it. "E-everyone? But that means everyone will see him. They'll lose trust in us."
"Please, did you really think we didn't know from the start?" Garroth and Zane came up from behind the group, the blonde werewolf holding a dagger in his hand, plus he had three more strapped to his waist. "It's been obvious from the start. We just hoped you would've told us sooner Dante."
He looked at Lucinda and Xolo with a broken glance, feeling betrayed. "They all knew and none of you told me? There was so much time you could've-"
"It would have made your demon friend notice us sooner. I've sensed that he's been keeping an eye on you specifically, not us. Not even Ein. he only considered you a threat. Now, we all are threats, but we also have tons of strength in numbers. Plus, if you did before WE could, that would be horrible for you. We only told them first because if you did, all chaos would reign loose. Zane would've killed you and Ein."
"Which don't get me wrong, I am still debating on doing," he responded bluntly, getting a threatening glance from his older, yet shorter brother, "but if you two are the keys to making sure I don't lose the good in my life, then I have to help. Even if I don't want to."
Garroth stepped in, strapping the throwing knife that he had held back into one of the holders he was carrying. "What he is TRYING to say is that we are at your service. I don't want to see this world come to and end, and with the sky breaking every single day? It seems to be getting closer. None of us here want to die."
Ein came to the front lines, looking at Garroth. He was a bit taller than him, but not by much. The two shook hands, as if an alliance was slowly, yet surely, being tied together and created step by step. This was not what Dante had envisioned, nor what Xolo must've either. He saw Ein and Dante dead in the pond not even ten feet away from them. So what did they do wrong? Or right?
"Ein.. can't believe I'm about to say this, but I'm glad you're alive," Zane commented, shaking his hand with no crushing grip or anything. "I have no weapon experience like Garroth has had, but I hope I can help in some way possible."
"Thank you Zane."
"Don't mention it. Besides, you owe us. A lot."
Xolo stepped into the conversation and grabbed Dante's hand, looking up at Zane. "We need to get everyone from the house this instant. The world is beginning it's collapse and we have to flee. Get everyone who can see what's happening."
"But.. so soon? Already? Our parents are-"
"I'm so sorry Garroth, but our only hope is to go and get out of here as fast as possible. We can get this place back, like every other realm and world he has already destroyed. Like Darkstalkers. We can get them all back," Lucinda pleaded with them, Zane looking desperate and upset, while Garroth stared blankly at her. He didn't contemplate the costs of this war. The costs of volunteering to take part in this. "Xolo. Dante. Get to the house as fast as possible and grab everyone who is there."
"And we will plan a strategy in the short amount of time we have. Lucinda, can you increase the power of this device so it can carry more people there and back?"
"I can try Ein."
"Garroth and I will serve as lookouts. We've already seen things that point towards an attack on us here, not just involving this realms destruction."
Dante nodded and Xolo grabbed him under his shoulders and lifted him up, soaring out of the top of the cave and into the rain that they had expected. What Dante hadn't expected was how yellow everything now was. Some trees were starting to seem more yellow than usual, and the dark clouds and sky had nothing on the glowing cracks, expanding across the world.
Xolo soared above everyone below, the flight towards the house not expecting to take forever. Below them, people were walking and talking, most of them in the shelter of the rain under umbrellas or canopies.
"This is going to be worse than what Michael did, or was going to do for that matter. Everyone is going to see their death without any chance to stop it."
"What did Micheal do exactly?"
"He fired a weapon capable of taking the souls of everyone on the island, stealing them to awaken the Demon Warlock inside of him. At least then it was painless and the people weren't scared. Here.. they are going to see themselves disappear."
   Dante's mind immediately was set on fixing this, not getting home. He couldn't see innocent people hurt anymore, not after how badly he was hurt. His pain was his, not theirs. And that was something he and Mae finally had in common, the regret of inflicting pain.
Xolo dropped Dante onto the ground as low as possible before he landed beside him, running inside to see a group of people already standing there, waiting. Like they had been for a while. Aaron stepped forward, staring down at Xolo. He had to be almost as tall as Zane, but it was already made clear that Zane was the tallest out of everyone. "Where's Zane and- you," He glared down at Dante, but Aph grabbed his shoulder, stopping him.
"He's on our side Aaron. Calm down."
"Right right.. You're right," he sighed, taking in a deep breath. "Alright. I'm ok."
Travis stepped forward, hugging Xolo nervously. Over the days Dante found out that the two were dating, despite Xolo being from a completely different universe that he no longer remembered. He couldn't remember if he had a family or someone else he was close too, his memory had been completely wiped. "What do we do?"
Dante looked at Aph, who was significantly more sad than usual. "Listen. We are getting you all out of here. You're crucial to solving this and defeating the demon who's breaking into this world."
"Ghost?"
"Yes... Ghost. He's already destroying part of the world, so we need to get you all out by traveling through his world and then into mine. There, we can formulate a plan and hopefully get everyone safe. We can stop him in our world."
Katelyn nodded. "I agree with this plan. In comparison to everything we've been through, this should be a piece of cake. We can easily get out. Besides, I am assuming your world is as modern as ours, right?"
"Yes. We have everything."
"Right then. We need to get to the cave then...?"
Xolo nodded and began walking out of the room, Aaron following right on his heels. Everyone slowly followed, and the only person left inside was someone taller than Dante, but she was visibly shaking. "Are you coming?"
"I.. I can't. I can't leave my family like this. I can't leave everyone."
Dante felt his heart sink. This was going to be the first person he was going to fail at saving, well, failed to help them save themselves. He felt the need to yell at them and drag them along, but with the limited time they had left, there was nothing he could do.
"Try and stay safe.. Please. For them."
"I will. You promise everything will turn out ok?"
"Of course KC. I swear."
She smiled lightly, sitting back down on the couch as the front door shut behind Dante, pulling out her phone. She opened up her contact information, and texted her blue haired boyfriend who was probably scared out of his mind back at home without anyone to talk to. She wanted to make sure at least he was alright.