Taking hold of the small onyx black stone with a ruby red center that glowed, I could not help but be reminded of the Hells of the demons and Devils. My muscles tensed the moment the stone came into contact with my skin. Goosebumps prickled my flesh as the sensation of lightning dancing along my flesh sprang over me.
What was this stone?
I turned to Ezra in hopes that the Princess of Hell would somehow perceive something that would cause the Ring of Bael to react in such a manner. But my expression soured, noticing the intrigue. She knew jack shit. Shifting my gaze to Avar and…Damn it. Glaring at Freya bent over in the bushes, spewing my sauce, a bit of pride and annoyance sprang through my chest.
"Avar?" I decided to say, but she only shook her head.
"It's not in our archives. I already ran a few scans, but aside from the resonance between your ring, and that bloodstone, I sense nothing." She said, startling me for a moment. Very few had been able to sense, much less see, the Ring of Bael.
A cool gust of wind fluttered through my cloak, and a deep frown slipped over my lips. Eyeing the ring pulsing like a heart, an urge to crush that beating pulse rose within me. There was no denying I was extremely wary of the Ring of Bael. I had to be. Bael, the Orginal Bael, was a master of the Dark Artes. If there was one thing, I feared facing. It was a caster from the Hells. Lilith and Baphomet had shown me the terror of that.
"Have you picked up on your comrades?" I said to Avar.
She shook her head, " Nothing. Something must have happened. I suspected an ambush, but with Veruim's cybernetics, there shouldn't have been an issue in sending out a distress signal. With the level of technology I have seen, none of the eleven other realms should be able to compare. There shouldn't have been an issue so unless they died instantly. Something darker must have happened.
"It could have been a soul attack," Rey Nala chimed in, lifting her head towards the twin suns. "I should have said something earlier, but there has been a lingering sensation of astral force lingering in the air. It's unrefined and close to nature, so it's not from my realm. We don't leave clues."
Shooting at Ty and Arkanos, I stirred the two little dragons awake. Watching their large eyes tremble and open with a hint of blame, the unease within me began to awaken.
"Papa? What—"
"Do you two smell anything?" I hastily asked. They were two dragons, so their senses were definitely higher than most. And Ty was a shadow dragon, while Arkanos was an abyssal dragon. I was sure their senses were at a stage only other dragons could understand.
Blinking away, the two sisters pursed their lips in sync and stood up. They glanced at Lilith, more specifically the bun they had been overly affectionate to, going as far as to rest upon Lilith's stomach, pretending my wife's belly was an egg. The two girls had developed a strange bond. One that made them even wary of me at times. It was so weird since they literally would die for me.
The two of them sniffed the air and frowned, slipping closer to Lilith, their eyes slowly turning cold.
"Ty smells blood."
"Lots of blood," Arkanos added, pointing in the direction of where Ren came out from.
I closed my eyes, and with the whisper of the Path of Abyssal Night as a catalyst, I pushed out my senses. Fusing my mind with the darkness of the Abyss, a river of blood spilling like rivers flashed over my mind.
"Nin-Nin!!"
I opened my eyes, and a frown skimmed over my lips." What the hell?"
"Arsene?" Avar said. "What did you see?"
"Blood," I answered before hesitantly continuing. "And…umm, a voice." shaking my head, dismissing what I could be, I turned to everyone. "I want to visit this Bloodstone cave. Something killed everyone there, but I suspect it could be related to Avar's people."
"And your ring," Ezra remarked, her lips curling up with a mocking smile.
"Well, that is obvious." Rolling my eyes, I lifted Lilith under the watchful eyes of the two mini dragons, glaring at me like I had stolen their egg.
"You two are lucky you are cute. Hop on. "
Leaping on my left and right shoulder respectfully, Ty and Arknaos's eyes glimmered as they stared down at Lilith. Their protectiveness stirred my heart, causing a cheeky grin to appear.
"You two better protect my wife," I uttered.
"Of course." They said in unison.
Shifting my gaze to Ren, who nodded, he turned around, taking off without another word. I was about to follow when I recalled Freya.
Clitting my tongue, I waved towards her, transferring her body into the ring of bael, and dashed after Ren and the others who followed.
Whipping through the trees for a few kilometers and till the twin suns rose fully into the skies, the heavy stench finally reached my nose. Slowly my step, I narrowed my eyes when Arkanos softly whispered in my ear.
"Papa, we are being watched.
I nodded, also sensing a few eyes upon me. Drawing close till my eyes landed over the dozen or so limbs sprawled over the forest floor, organs hung like decoration, over the trees and bushes, leaving only a heavy scent of blood.
Unease rooted itself in me, but with the pulse of the ring of bael, I licked my lips, feeling curious about what may lay ahead.
"Ty, Arkanos," I said, and the two dragons hopped off my shoulders, but to my shock, Arkanos eyes glowed with a foreboding light. Wings of black and scarlet flared from her back with a deadly glint; I knew to be Into The Abyss. a large sigil flashed over the skies of a serpent eating its own tail. The hairs upon my neck stood on end, and in a moment, I felt the very hells whisper of a name, of an eternal Fallen Lord.
"Mephisto," I uttered grimly, and in but a moment, I felt waves of necrotic qi rippled over the skies, turning the trees to rot and the bodies that lay cold and bloody to withered paste.
With her hands upon Arkano's back, Ty poured her divinity, fueling her little sister's spell.
"Nin-Nin!!"