8 Chapter 07

I rushed back up to the site where the voices were guiding me. I felt tingly all over and paranoid, looking in all directions.

Could there be another necromancer?

I didn't have a lot of time. I snapped my fingers, and with the same hand, I balled it into a fist. Then, I opened it up to have a black-fiery orb hovering above my palm.

I tipped my palm down to drop the orb onto the ground. When it did, it dissolved into a ripple and set off blue fire veins back to the rose's base. I didn't realize it, but the peddles of the rose were covering the bottom.

I walked over to the base and got on all fours to break off a peddle or two. The bottom was littered with necro locking symbols. The rose was blocking a possible entrance.

"They have to be down there?" I told myself, standing up.

The voices beckoned to be once again. No, just a single voice talking over itself. Was it warning me? Then, the sound turned my head to the forest.

Were the dead drawn to this place?

I needed to see if there was a cemetery nearby. If the Dead were trying to warn me, they might know more about what was going on.

I clasped my hands together and blew black air inside. Opening them up and launching a jet-black cow into the air, I mentally commanded it to search the forest. I pricked my index finger having three droplets of black blood drop to the ground.

The droplets twitched and morphed into cute little black widows. They scurried off, knowing that I needed them to venture into the forest to help the crow.

I made a 360-degree spin. Fitzy hadn't arrived yet. That's when I noticed that the voices were gone.

Do they come and go as they please?

I was going to push my luck.

"Into the veil of the dead I see," I spoke in ancient necro.

My eyes turned brilliant green, the area around me turned negative, and to my surprise, there were no spirits.

SNAP.

I blinked reverting back to my usual self and state. I peered back to the entrance to find Fitzy hurrying up.

"I am sorry I took so long. I need to place a charm to prevent sickness. Hey, did you see that raven that flew out of here?" Fitzy called over to me.

"Oh, yeah," I answer, playing it off as a joke, "I think I startled it, and it shot off into the forest."

"Weird, it's the only bird I have seen all day that has been near the site," Fitzy stated.

"Yeah, odd," I replied, heading to the rose.

"So, how bad is this?" Fitzy asked.

"I don't know yet, but what I do know is that this rose-looking thing," I pointed to the rose, "this is a lock. It is covered with necromancer locking spells."

"Can we break them?"

"I don't know."

"Show we have more people up here?"

"If you can unlock, this nine time out of ten there's a booby trap triggered afterward," I looked back at Fitzy.

"It's usually pretty devastating to the first victims," I continued.

"I am glad that I volunteered."

I'm glad that you did. You're a pretty strong Paladin, and if I am right, and there is a trap triggered, then it'll most likely come after you," I replied.

"Gee, thanks," Fitzy scoffed.

"Even if the trap is powerful, you should be strong enough to repel it," I encouraged.

"You think?"

"Only one way to find out," I suggested.

Fitzy drew his sword and prepared himself. His body glowed white and gold, and his sword hardened. He gave me a nod, and I snapped my finger.

A bolt of electricity zapped the rose, lighting it on fire.

The rose groaned out snapping, popping, and withering. Then came a lock Ka-boom! I tremble and locked up from the sudden noise. I closed my eyes and winced awaiting for the booby trap.

After several minutes of silence, I cautiously opened my eyes to find a hole in the ground. Fitzy burst out laughing that scared the crap out of me.

"All that build up and nothing to show for it. I'm a little disappointed," Fitzy howled.

I peeked down the hole. There was nothing but black abyss. I turned back to Fitzy and began to chuckle, feeling the same.

I took one step, and the ground shifted. Fitzy and I wobbled trying to regain our balance. Next, the ground cracked and gave way. There was no time for anything, no calls for help, no grasping for anything, and the last thought was that the light was quickly fading away.

~~~

I awoke with a jolt. Coughing and grunting, my eyes fluttered open. I glanced to the right then to the left; my vision was blurry at best. If it weren't for the large hole in the ceiling that we had fallen through, I wouldn't have known that we had about ten or fifteen feet into a ritual chamber.

The stench was a little overwhelming, even for me. I blinked to try and clear my sight. I wished that it hadn't. Far to my left, were bodies posed in a circle, on their knees, arms being helped as in prayer, and they were nude.

I got to my feet, shaky at first, but my balance came to me quickly.

Each body was bloodstained, and something was helping pose each person. I examined a body closet to me. Sadly, I found a spike had been driven into her bottom and stopped just outside her open mouth.

It was the same for each of the bodies, and the light revealed that their eyes were burnt out. There was a spot open in the circle for the thirteenth victim. A symbol was splatted on the floor. It meant "the willing soul."

"They came here by choice?" I whispered, glancing at each person.

My eyes drifted into the center of the circle. A statue was erected, primarily featureless other than it was clearly a demon with horns, a tail, and a female.

"Who are you?" I airily asked the statue.

I glanced about the middle, making sure that I would be safe to enter. Once I determined that it was, I drew closer to the statue. She didn't have a face or any markings of any kind.

"Odd. If they were trying to summon you," I looked from the posed girls to the statue, "then why aren't there any symbols on you?"

I glided my hand on the smooth surface of the stone figure.

"Ugh."

My head snapped back to where I had landed. I had forgotten that Fitzy had fallen down here too. As I let my hand slide down, it caught the only sharp spot.

"Ouch!"

I snapped my hand sharply away from the statue. A red line donated from my finger was left. I instinctively place the bleeding finger into my mouth.

The statue, like the rose, dissolved into a pile of dust.

I don't think that was a good thing.

I didn't place too much thought into the crumbling statue as I made my way over to Fitzy. He had sat up covering his mouth. I helped him to his feet.

"Oh, what is that smell?"

I pointed over to the circle. Fitzy dropped to one knee swallowing hard.

"Are they?"

"Mhmm"

"Did they complete the summoning?"

"Ah, no there wasn't a thirteenth person here to complete the ritual," I said, unsure myself.

"You don't sound like it's a for sure?" Fitzy questioned.

"There was a statue in the middle, but when I touched it."

"You went into the summoning circle?"

"I made sure that it was safe before going in," I retorted.

"Anyways, if whoever was trying to make the statue come to life it didn't work," I said.

I hope.

"Lieutenant Fitzgerald, Corporal Dupeux?"

Emma's voice echoed from above.

"We're down here!" Fitzy called back.

"What in the hell happened?" Abby shouted.

Both girls and Wallow poked their heads down into the chamber.

~~~

"Are you sure that nothing was summoned or that there wasn't anybody down there with you?" Emma questioned us.

"I am positive," I answered for the hundredth time, wrapping a Band-Aid around my finger.

"Okay, walk me through what happened again," Emma ordered.

"We went up there, unlocked the seal, the floor gave way, I woke up found the bodies," I paused for a minute.

We had placed the bodies in black bodies bags and laid them a neat as possible in one of the tents.

"Uh," I cleared my throat, "I examined the bodies, then a statue in the center of the circle. I touched it, it turned to dust, and the rest you know."

There came a swift smack on the backside of my head.

"Ow, what was that for?"

At first, I thought it was Emma, but Abby came up standing next to Emma.

"That was stupid, Eugene," she merely stated before turning and walking away.

Emma stare followed Abby for a brief moment, making sure that Abby was out of earshot before returning to me.

"You had us both worried," she admitted.

My ears felt hot, and the tip of my lip curled upwards.

"Sorry, not my intent."

"I'm going to ask this one more time."

"No, nothing was summoned," I interrupted.

"If something was summoned from the Hells that we would have clearly known about it. This ritual was off too, all the bodies were drained of blood, their life essence was gone, and," I thought.

"And what?"

I gave a concerned stare at Emma.

"And there weren't any signs of someone performing, creating, taking care of, protecting, going out to get the other victim."

"Hue, I get it."

"Sorry, there isn't any sign of someone else. So, how did that," I motioned to the site, "get there?"

"Maybe we caught them when they left?"

"This summoning is a twenty-four hour, take care of, thing," I smirked.

"Is it possible it was created itself?"

I hadn't thought of that. It could be plausible.

I bounce my head up and down.

"But nothing came of it, so job well done," Emma smiled.

I smirked, scoffing a little.

"How about we call it a day?"

I looked up at Emma. She was smiling from ear to ear. Just then, Fitzy walked up. I saluted, and this time he returned it.

"Well, I suppose that we should have called you sooner Hue."

"Oh?"

"We have been trying to clear this site and haven't been able to; you show up and poof," he chuckled.

I sheepishly smiled.

"Yeah, poof. I'm glad that we were able to help and that this is getting cleaned up. And that we could find the bodies of those missing people to give back to their families."

"I think that's cause to celebrate. We have accommodations at a hotel, there's a bar, first round on me?" Fitzy offered.

"Sure," Emma replied.

"Okay," I submitted.

"Ma'am, Sir."

A low ranked paladin came up to us.

"We have some things for you to look over."

Both Emma and Fitzy nodded and left with the paladin. I whipped my phone out and dialed Mimiku.

"Hey, what's up?" Mimiku chirped.

"I'm not sure, but we might have a problem."

"What do you mean?"

"To your knowledge, are there any other necromancers living today?"

"No, they all died, except for your dad. Once he died, you are the only living necromancer."

"I was afraid of that," I whispered.

"Why?" Mimiku lowered her voice.

"Well, I just stumbled onto a summoning ritual to bring a demon into our world, and it was littered with necromancer symbols fused with demon's."

"That's impossible!"

"Yeah, well I know what I saw."

"Corporal!"

I shot a glance over to who called me. It was Wallow.

"Hey, I gotta go, call you later."

I clicked my phone off and walked over to Wallow.

"We're leaving," he noted.

I took one last look up at the site and left with an uneasy feeling.