Chapter 176 - Hecate's Gate

A miasma reached her nostrils, and Lex looked towards the bedroom door. Her hand throbbed unbearably, and she knew it was more than stubborn and spiteful Shades.

Had Ludovica summoned more hell hounds? The Demonic Nun really wasn't kidding, and considering the method, the witch had also decided to completely ignore caution. Did Ludovica think of promoting another massacre like that of the villa, impromptu? With no preparation? Or had they come to Ashgraufelsen planning to kill Alexander, Alexa, or both?

An alarm bell rang insistently, and they heard screams warning of danger at the gates.

"Please! Please! I don't want to be part of this anymore, help me! Help me…!" Cordelia pleaded, kneeling as abundant tears streamed down her face.

"Whoever is doing it, she's very good at what she does," Lex murmured to himself, pulling Cordelia by the hand and walking toward Alexander's room at a quick pace. The wound on his side protested, but Lex held on, "What exactly is going on?"

"Many things, but mostly… You and Alexa are disrupting her plans! And therefore you must stay out of her way! '... The Second must fall before the rise of the Queen!' That was the message of the oracle! OH…! I don't want to be part of this anymore! I've never wanted!"

Lex barely stepped into the Prince's room when he felt the air shift and took a step back. The creature that narrowly missed the target was dark and misshapen, with bright red orbs for eyes. The Lightbearer had never seen that before, and could only think this was one Wraith, Shades that in eras lost in the darkness of death, turned to evil and chaos, becoming devouring demons of life.

"Back!" This was not the time to hide the Lightbearer's gifts for the sake of her true identity. Lex murmured the prayers and her hand emitted light gradually. That alone was enough for the creature to retreat. Lex could see its disembodied, blackish form waver, moving away from the light that emanated from the Prince's hand.

At that moment a guarding knight abruptly opened the door of the room, shouting for the Prince, spear in hand. The creature spun and advanced directly towards the knight.

Lex shouted,

"WATCH OUT! Get away from the door!" She didn't know if the soldier was able to see the wraith as she was. But the knight could, and instead of listening to the Prince, with a bold attack, he pierced the creature in what would be the belly ...

But his spear passed through the wraith as if it had pierced a puddle, with no effect.

Confused, the knight glanced at the Prince near the other door, and at that moment the wraith grabbed him. Slender, black fingers that looked more like tentacles clung to the face of the man. The knight tried to free himself, but the creature had much more strength than he did.

The knight's hair lost its color, making it like the hair of an old man in seconds! The touch of the summoned demon consumed life!

Lex couldn't passively watch it, and coming back into the room, the Lightbearer summoned the Torch as fast as she could.

The wraith moved away from the man, fleeing into the shadows, and the knight fell to his knees, bending over himself breathlessly and weakened. The Prince instinctively bent to help him to his feet, and his wound seemed to rip open again, leaving Lex literally blinded by pain for a few seconds. The Prince bit his lip to keep from shrieking in pain.

"Come on! Fast!"

The knight, with some effort, stood up resolutely, putting himself in front of his Prince again. Lex shouted,

"No use, weapons won't hit this creature! Protect the princess! Take her away!"

"NO! NO! I want to be with you! Please! I don't want to be alone with these things again!!!" Cordelia shouted, in turn, behind the Prince. The creature seemed to wait for an opportunity to attack, but it did not dare to reach into the Lightbearer's light.

The Lightbearer's mind sought a solution to the impasse, while thinking about what else was going on inside the mansion. He heard screams of horror and cries of warriors, and all kinds of sounds imaginable into the chaos ensuing.

"Get away, I'll try to kick it out! Prepare withdrawal!" Lex knew the wraith would not follow the light as a Shade would. At least the Lightbearer would try to ban the demon from this place, but he wasn't sure if it would work.

The knight guarded Cordelia to begin the retreat, realizing that all his bravery was not enough to deal with the supernatural creature. Lex stayed in place, extending his arms and palm extended towards the wraith.

Useless.

Even though the wraith screeched frighteningly and shrank in fear of the Light, Lex didn't know how to drive it out of the world of men.

Locked doors or walls wouldn't restrict the ethereal creature, and Lex could not keep cornering the demon forever. The Lightbearer's hands were already dripping with blood, and sweat was streaming from his forehead with this brief effort.

'Ehhh damn! I didn't get to those lessons…! ' although Lex could not know if there were really lessons on how to get rid of a wraith, it would have been enlightening to know some more mysteries of death and rebirth, as an initiate Lazarite. At least it would give the Lightbearer some ideas to what to do next.

Trying to remember all the formulas, Lex's mind went white when his feet were taken off the ground quickly, and again a searing pain hit his body from the pressure on the wound.

It was Kamal the Moor, throwing Lex over his shoulder like a bag of onions, and throwing him out of the room at full speed.

"By. God's. Sake. You. Will. Kill me. Before. Them. Get to do it!" Each step downstairs the African descended quickly was a new type of pain in the Prince's bouncing body.

The man didn't answer, just dodging people trying to escape as they could.

Lex caught a glimpse of Cordelia's mother desperately asking people about her daughter, and going against the flow. But he couldn't answer for passing by so quickly. Kamal went through a door and stopped, placing the prince on the floor. Lex quickly realized that it was a watchtower, where two crossbowmen were carrying their arrows on their weapons. Lex approached the central window, unoccupied, and looked outside.

The entrance bridge to Ashgraufelsen, suspended over the precipice, was taken over by the guard of the house. They seemed to defend the entrance to the mansion against something hidden from Lex's view by the fog that surrounded only the gate in front of the bridge.

It was difficult to see in the darkness, and Lex could only see a few red dots, which the Prince thought were the eyes of creatures like the ones he found in the room. The men, who, despite being brave, couldn't fight the vicious and relentless attack of beings who stole the strength of their victims, were falling too fast.

"Prince, they have cursed your home's gate, and the bridge has become a gateway to these infernal creatures! We have to bring down the bridge!" Kamal explained.

Lex remembered the harmless Egbert, going out for air, he said, on a cold night. 'What an idiot I was!' No doubt Egbert had prepared everything for Ludovica to take action.

Destroying the bridge would mean isolating Ashgraufelsen and it was a drastic and risky decision. But Lex had to do something.

"Where's my uncle?"

"He told me to stay with you," said Kamal, looking at the scene outside with a worried expression. Turning, Lex saw Cordelia again at his side. With her, the white-haired knight who, despite being visibly drained of his vitality, remained willing to do his duty. Although something in his heart told Lex that Cordelia was still hiding something, it was not the time for confrontation. That could wait, but not the problem ahead,

"You talked about an oracle ..."

"There's a reason, to revive Prince Gutard's first wife, the High Priestess! But yesterday the oracle received these words in her dream ... 'The second must fall for the queen to rise again.' They suspected the letter was possibly a trap. And then…"

"You came here to kill me."

"I didn't want any of it! They are forcing me to live it all! I wanted to talk to Alexa, tell her everything! I was afraid that you would have arrested her as a witch too! She's not a witch, she's not bad! You know that, don't you?! You are capable of the same things as her, you…" Cordelia fell silent, seeming to come to shocking conclusions.

Lex just turned around, trying to ignore his feelings and find the strength to do what needed to be done.

"We shall bring down the bridge ... if killing the caster doesn't solve the problem."

The Lightbearer must close the Hecate's Gate that Ludovica had conjured. Lex always thought things like that only existed in the bizarre writings his brother Iacintho collected. And with which he liked to frighten his younger sibling. But if those women had the knowledge and the power to open such a hell's gate, what could they do with Holstein?

Another thought came up, as Lex walked on his own legs towards the entrance gate.

'What if Alexander is not the 'second' of the oracle's dream?'

So it would be ... Duke Kurt, Gutard's younger brother?

Arriving at the main door, Lex looked at the scene outside, feeling a shiver take over his body, and wondering if they would survive it.