In a remote and rundown town in Egypt, an old man was slowly walking looking at the now empty houses that surrounds him, the sound of his cane echoed on the dusty and war-torn walls.
The old man frowned, he could still smell the scent of death permeating the whole town even though no bodies or remains can be seen in plain sight.
He proceeded to walk and entered a building located in the center of the now-abandoned town. Waiting for him inside was a girl with red hair, she was wearing a white jacket and sportswear underneath.
"You're here old man. I have been waiting for you for hours."
"Cathie? Is it only you? Where's Ruth and Kaoru?"
"Not here. Ruth said that she will be useless if she comes here by herself. Although she stated we can use any of her children though. While Kaoru needs to stay in his domain this time, something about the shackles weakening since his great old man's disappearance."
"That's fine then. Have you found any clues yet?"
Cathie nods.
"Yes, a couple of them."
Cathie unfurls a map of the town and pointed at its outer perimeters.
"Surrounding the town in its cardinal four directions in the outer perimeters are bodies of people. 10 each to be exact, no particular age though."
The old man Howard frowned at the number of casualties.
"All civilian?"
Cathie nodded. Howard clenched his fist as a deathly aura slowly permeates out of him.
"That's not all, starting here, here, and here. Bodies of different people, they complete "His" sign."
Cathie points on the map and connected them to draw a symbol.
"And here in the center is where the main sacrificial altar is located."
"Take me there."
Howard commanded as rage seethed out of him, even Cathie who was strong can feel the threat coming out of the old man. Cathie sighed and lead the old man to a building, it was newly built and took on the shape of an Aztec sacrificial altar. The duo entered the main room and saw a horrendous scene.
A boy 12 - 13 years of age was lying on a stone table with weird runic carvings located in the center of the room. His stomach burst and some of his entrails decorated the room. The expression on the boy's face suggests that he died in immense pain, his face was drenched in blood as he was bleeding in all of his orifices, and his blood flowed to the stone table and seeped in the weird runic carvings.
The old man walked closer to the boy and tried to close his eyes but rigor mortis prevented him from doing that, he took a handkerchief in his pocket and covered the boy's face with it, he then took two silver coin from his other pocket and gently put it in the boy's eyes.
"When did this ritual take place."
"Signs suggest it took place 5 days ago during a new moon. The bodies found on the cardinal directions is an old spell to drench and birth a blood moon, while the sign was for 'his' calling, and finally, the sacrifice is for 'his' birth."
"So, he did return."
The old man reminisced of things in the past, he raised his cane and slammed it hard. The altar collapsed leaving only Howard, Cathie, and the body of the deceased boy.
"Any clues on who his devotees are?"
"Yes, most of them are in higher places while some are descendants of ancient families. It seems that they are going full force this time."
"Any trace on where 'He' might be?"
"No, he erased all traces of his minions and his from this location."
"So he only left a declaration that he has returned."
Cathie nodded at Howard's summary.
Howard closed his eyes and slammed his cane again, this time the vicinity become very quiet and void of any activity.
"Cathie, burn everything here, the buildings, the bodies, everything. Let it all return to nature."
Cathie nodded and walk two steps forward, fire slowly appeared all over her body as she turned to an avatar of flame.
"Purify."
She uttered. A red flash blinded the desert but only in a split second. The buildings were still standing and the bodies were still there.
"It' is done."
She slowly changed back to his normal appearance and told Howard. Howard nodded as the desert wind blew.
The town slowly disintegrated into dust and was carried by the wind, in the end, all that was left was another patch of desert.
"Let's go to Ruth first, we need to borrow some of her children. And notify Kaoru we might need to go to his domain and borrow some of his pets as well."
Cathie nodded and followed the old man's arrangement. They both then slowly vanished from their places and peace returned from the desert.
Phil was struggling with his headache as he tried to look away from the mirror, he struggled but he could not do it.
The chanting of the madman almost overwhelmed him. As he was about to scream a hand yanked him and turned him to face a mad Seth.
"What are you doing here Mr. Craft!?"
Phil was dumbfounded, he felt the pain in his head was just a mere illusion as it hurt no longer, the chanting vanished only the sounds of teenagers playing outside during the morning and Seth's angry breathing can be heard.
"I...I... Yes the mirror, I saw a rune in it and a strange vision."
Phil pointed at the mirror but when he looked at it he was surprised since it was just a normal mirror reflecting the room.
"What about the mirror Mr. Craft?"
"I'm positive I saw it, teacher, it was some kind of sacrifice and a terrifying thing came out of it."
Seth sighed as he touch Phil's forehead.
"Your temperature is normal and it seems nothing is wrong."
Phil wanted to cry as he was positive about what he had seen.
"Phil the mirror might be old but it is just a normal mirror. And may I ask, what are you doing in my office anyway?"
Phil recovered from his dejection and rummaged his bag.
"I wanted to ask if you recognize some of these symbols."
Seth looked at the paper in the hands of Phil as he tried to remember if he had seen it before.
"Yes, I do recognize them. This is the language of a Paganic Cult in the long bygone era predating even the Greeks, some historians even say that this language is the root of all current language systems. Although I know its origin, I for one could not read it almost no one could read it anymore."
Phil felt sad as his hope crumbled down, was he destined to not know what was written in these papers.
Then he remembered about Samantha.
"Yes, Samantha can decipher it, teacher."
"Miss Strange? Perhaps so, since his father was once a great linguist when he was young. Perhaps she inherited the gift maybe."
Seth was lost in his thought as he reminisced about Samantha's father.
"Hmmm if Miss Strange can decipher it then I will tell you which books are best to use for reference, Mr. Craft. Please write it down and if Miss Strange does decipher the language please give me a copy on how to decode it, that's all."
Seth proceeded to dictate the titles of numerous books and Phil started to write frantically trying to catch up with Seth's dictation.
After that Phil bid farewell to Seth and rushed to his classroom since he might be late.
Minutes passed after Phil walked out of his room, Seth stood up and walked towards the mirror.
He cut his palms open and smeared his blood on the mirror's surface, he clenched his wounded hand and when he opened it the wound has mysteriously vanished.
He stared at the mirror now smeared with his blood as he chanted a deep and mysterious spell.
The mirror rippled like water as he saw the revival of a certain figure. Seth watched the whole process emotionlessly and saw the figure come out of the boy's stomach.
"It seems that bastard of an uncle of mine has returned. Father should be busy hunting him down."
He then sighed as he thought that family problems can rather be problematic and a huge pain in the ass.
Phil attended his class normally this time. During lunch, he went back to the clinic and completed his vital sign check-up which ended up normal.
Phil wanted to go to the library and meet with Samantha but he stopped himself since there would be no time to discuss or he will be late for his afternoon classes.
After the school day was over, Eric had hurried to go home and told his friend that he had a family emergency, while Sonja had a club activity to go to. Phil was happy since it allowed him to ask Samantha about her findings.
At the library Phil opened the main entrance and saw Samantha with her head down concentrating on the book she's reading, she sometimes looks at other papers which were scattered all over the table.
"Uhmm Sam?"
"Ahh! Phil just in time, I deciphered some of the symbols but only a small amount, I'm having trouble looking for books to reference most of the symbols."
Samantha said as he scratched her head.
"Here I consulted teacher Seth for books that can be used for reference."
Phil handed Samantha the list of books Seth gave to him.
"This can speed up the progress, thank you. Here have a look on the page I translated."
Phil read the page that Samantha had translated.
"It talks about a godlike being that is imprisoned on the deepest parts of the plains and the powers it contains."
"That's it?"
Samantha blushed.
"Yeah, that's it for now. Sorry."
"No, no, don't be sorry. I know it's hard deciphering this so don't be sad and I won't blame you either. I'm just a little excited and the information just ended in a cliffhanger."
After looking at Samantha's progress and thinking it might need a lot of time Phil went home and thought that he might as well try and dive in the 'plains of sleep' to look at that godlike being for himself.