The portal opened.
The place was dark. But one could see a female figure stepping out. The light from the large circle that made up the portal did a little illumination after all.
After the female figure. A male figure fell out too. He wasn't on his feets, he literally fell outta the portal.
The circle began to close up. The light began to gather at one point.
The female hurriedly held up the male figure and supported him.
Her face flashed around, the light from the closing portal shone on her face.
It's none other than Sarai.
And the male she's supporting is Kylian, who's apparently not in good shape right now.
He's unconscious. Barely holding to life.
Sarai looked around. A building should be here.
Her eyes flashed up, a slum was at the extreme end, on the elevated side of the street.
She could see the dim lighting on the little windows on the building from where she stood. So she's right. As in, she's at the right place.
But nothing is here.
Just a stale air, seemingly stagnated. Rather bounded, not let go by something invisible like the air itself.
It's a cloaking spell. A very powerful one at that. She could tell.
Sarai groaned. Her breathing is getting more erratic as time passes. Putting aside the physical strength she's expending here to support Kylian's weight, she's spent a lot of energy to get them across thousands of miles to get here through a portal.
It could be said right now that she's almost at her breaking point. But she can't give up now.
The book of Malmon is at stake here. She can't possibly give up now.
Her other free hand lit up as she murmured spells in an unclear language.
The little light began to expand. Slowly. And after a few seconds, during which Sarai strained and breathed out words with great difficulty, the light became a purple magic circle that had a lock in the middle.
She turned her wrists with yet a greater difficulty and the magic lock began to turn, following her movement.
The air seemed to twist and the space seemed to fluctuate. But then the purple magic circle flickered and went off.
Sarai groaned in frustration and almost collapsed, exhaustion glinting in her eyes.
Then she lifted her face and screamed into the empty air, "El que ha vivido! (the one that has lived!). Please!! I need your help!!!"
Silence. Five seconds passed without a sound then a reply came.
"What do you want, witch?" A hoarse voice asked.
Sarai exhaled and tried her best to calm herself. "I just need your help. Please."
The space twisted and reality changed right before Sarai's eyes and she staggered. She felt lightheaded. But she was quick to regain her stance.
She looked around. She was inside a building. It had a large dome above. It's concrete. Several spells and magical rites were chiseled on the surface.
Most of it, Sarai has never seen in her thirty five years of age and so little of it, she has read before in books. They were all ancient.
Dizziness flooded her senses and she lowered her gaze to the ground quickly. She's getting tired and she has to do something soon.
She glanced at Kylian, beside her, with her tight grip around his waist. His head was slung downward. And he looked…. Lifeless.
A vampire is an undead creature. A creature that has died but still lives. They don't have a spirit anymore but they still have a little of their soul swinging from the thin thread that acts as life for them.
So they die too. Kill the little soul and they are dead. A decapitation or a stab in the heart, their soul leaves them and they become dead.
Kylian hasn't experienced any of this but Sarai could feel that his soul is faraway. He seems so dead.
However, Sarai shook off the thought. He can't possibly be dead.
The book of Malmon. And wait! He's Heald's friend. Oh no! He can't possibly be dead.
Sarai became frantic. She glanced around, panickedly.
Her voice was loud as she shrieked out. "El que la vivido, please help. He mustn't die."
She was before a stone altar, pentagonal. An ancient aura danced around it in swirls and coils.
It made Sarai's skin crawl.
Candles were lit on the walls. The candles were black in color and their flames were bright blue.
Never in Sarai's life had she seen that kind of candle before. She hasn't even been here before. She just read about it. In one of the scrolls owned by her mother.
And only the location was there. Nothing more. And now she was inside the very place.
"Place him in the altar."
Sarai frowned. Why the altar? Of all places.
Makes her feel like Kylian's some sort of ritual thing.
However, she moved closer to the altar.
When she got closer to it, it was high to the middle of her abdomen.
She grunted as she placed Kylian's upper body on the altar, then with great difficulty, pushed his lower body onto the altar.
She breathed heavily as she leaned her back against the altar's body.
A man appeared from thin air. The entire hairs on his head were white. He had no beards and his face looked sinken, with his long pointy ears making look more like an old elf than an old man.
He wore a purple robe with golden embroidery that formed veins on it. From it, Sarai could sense a great deal of energy.
But she's less concerned about that now because she's currently stunned by the appearance of the building and that of the man actually.
"How do you know me?" The man asked.
"Katrina Armadi. I'm her daughter," Sarai replied.
"You're the new Ello almadi?" The man asked, his face was expressionless despite the surprise in his voice.
"Yes. Ello armadi Sarai."
"Hmm." He nodded. His yellow eyes deep in its sunken sockets, glanced at Kylian's body on the altar.
"He's wounded but he's not healing. He's a vampire. An afflicted one. He goes rogue and attacks everything in sight. That had made him quite a dark past," Sarai slowly began to explain as she saw the man's gaze fall on Kylian's sprawled body.
The man sidled to the altar, his eyes scrutinizing the body like it's trying to find something on it.
Sarai continued. "The trigger was unknown but according to what he said, it was anger at first. But over time it was immense blood. He feels heat rising from his abdomen and black veins begin to appear on his body."
The man raised an index finger. "Shush!!!!"
Sarai went silent.
The man's eyes ran over Kylian's skin, over the dark veins, over the cracks forming on his body. His eyes narrowed, then a deep frown surfaced on his impassive features.
He swiveled his body to Sarai.
She's getting a lot better now. At least her sweaty forehead was now dry and she looked more energized. If one looked at her now, one would never have thought she went through a lot of stress a few minutes ago.
The man's face turned serious as he stalked Sarai.
"Don't tell me you don't know what this is?" He began with a question. "Being the daughter of Katrina Armadi. The only Ello almadi witch still alive."
Sarai's lips parted, but nothing came out, then it closed up again. Her eyes gazed at the man's sunken ones and she lowered her eyes involuntarily.
She shook her head and said, "No. But it's only associated with a clan of vampires."
"It's an Ostagian curse. The dark veins, it will kill him slowly."
"I don't know what that is, but he admitted to me that he saw the red skull and the pair of bat wings. That's why I came here."
"He could see the Lead Skull?" The man tilted his head with a quizzical look.
Sarai lifted her eyes to look into the man's eyes, her heart raced and she lowered her eyes again. But then she nodded to the question.
"No wonder," the man soliloquized. Then he said with so much confidence, "Skull. He's a skull vampire."
"What is a Skull vampire?" Sarai, asked, confusedly.
The man's eyelids fluttered. He moved his gaze from Sarai. His eyes stared at the empty space as he recounted.
"The Skull Vampires are a clan of Primordial vampires. More powerful and more dangerous than every other Primordial.
"The Fangoras, the Urbanas, the Tribunals, the Skulls and many other less powerful clans. But among them all, the Skulls were feared. They are almost invincible. And their leader was the Lead Skull. He's called the 'Son Of Dracula'
"They reigned for centuries. But at one period, striving for more dominance began among the vampires. War raged and balance was nowhere to be found. No one could face the Skulls despite the lust for their immense dominance. Not until a Tribunal rose against them.
"There was a war. It was bloody. But the Tribunal vampire Lord had them cursed and they were wiped out. Now it's been nine centuries and there's been no sign of any other Skull."
Sarai gulped. Goosebumps were rising on her spine. The words, Primordial and Tribunal, included in the story are enough to send chills down her spine.
"How come he's a Skull?" Sarai asked, despite the fear in her heart.
The man frowned deeply. Then his hoarse voice came. "I don't know."
"Please can you do anything to help him?" Sarai asked.
His eyes turned back to Kylian's cracking fleshing. His eyes were thoughtful as he said. "It seems his body is fighting something."
"Yes. I gave him a potion of the blood of seven gods."
"Hmph, giving a vampire such a powerful potion without knowing what he trully is? That's a true definition of a naive Armadi witch."
Sarai shrugged. "He wasn't healing and I had to do something."
"And now, you have just worsened his situation. I can't do anything to save him now." The man turned and began to walk away the way he came.
Sarai jerked up. "El que ha vivido. Ple-"
The man spunned. The air around him seemed to be compressed as a very powerful aura poured outwards.
Sarai gagged, finding it hard to breathe properly. Her eyes were wide with shock and her heart trembled.
"You call my name again and Katrina will be welcoming you into the Armadi shed in the afterlife." The man warned, his voice echoed like the voice of a legendary beast.
Sarai fell on her knees. Her hands were on her chest as she breathed heavily, fear evident in her eyes.
The man turned to leave.
"Please. Old man. Help. Me."
The man halted.
Sarai paused, still on her knees.
The man turned and behold, a pair of void black eyes, weak yet fierce, were staring back at him.
His eyes trembled deep within the sunken sockets. He recounted the image of the eyes. It was legendary. Probably a myth to many now.
But then he waved off the thoughts. It can't possibly be. It can't.
He exhaled. His sunken yellow eyes looked away from Kylian's void black ones and stared into the empty space.
"There's a rite, done by the followers of the Skulls today in the Market Street. Go there and find a place called Macarba. Only they can know a way to save him."
Then the man turned and his body dematerialized from sight.
Sarai stood up with great effort and leaned against the altar.
Kylian's weak void black eyes stared back at her strangely colorless eyes.
As the dome building slowly dematerialized from sight, Sarai muttered to herself. "Macarba. Market Street."
Soon they were back in the dark street.
And now they must go to Macarba in Market Street.
****************