The others waited, all silent and in their thoughts, as they watched Sarai whisper words, inaudibly.
She stepped forward, ahead of them as the blue magic circle on her hands vanished and the exact type appeared beneath her feets.
An invisible wave of energy poured outward, with Sarai as the core.
Her voice got even louder and the wind blew around very hard, flapping her dress.
After about thirty minutes, she finally stopped, heaving heavily.
"Hey, how is it?" Hector asked.
The others had their eyes on her too as she struggled to steady her breathing.
"I think she's done it guys." Benzo's voice reached them and they all turned to see the waters.
It's no longer just a water body, it's now a lake. And standing erect in the middle of it, towering in it's black form, was an old castle that looked like a thousand years old house.
The sinister aura that emanated from the building alone sent chills down the spine of the group as they gazed at it.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" Kylian smiled, wryly and said over his shoulder, "I know you guys are determined to help me, but you can still go back now."
"Cut the shit, vampire, we are no longer here for you, we are here for ourselves." Mei Li cursed with menacing lokk, shutting Kylian up.
"What do we do now?" Benzo asked.
"We move inside and stop whatever sacrifice the old vampire is doing and rescue the girl. Simple." Mei Li mumbled.
"Yea, simple." Hector nodded.
"There's one thing we are not considering here." Kylian turned to face them, a grave expression was on his face.
"And what's that?" Benzo asked.
"The fact that we are going in there, blind. We don't have any information about the place looks or what we should expect in there."
The others went silent. Of course it's true.
They know nothing of what they are to encounter in there except that a Primordial vampire is inside.
"That isn't necessary, all we have to do is get in there and do what we are here for." Heald said. His eyes turned red and his fangs and claws sprouted, signalling his readiness.
The others, who has doubt in their minds previously all braced up and showed their readiness too.
The vampires, Heald, Kylian, Hector, all activated their claws and fangs while the others like Benzo, Mei Li and Sarai got ready too.
Benzo litted up his palms with flames, Sarai activated a magic circle in her palms and Mei Li unsheathed her runes engraved sword.
"We can't get in there. It's all surrounded by water." Hector reasoned.
"We can swim," Benzo said rubbing his flaming palms together with a grin.
"Something might be in that water." Kylian expressed with a ugly look. "Considering we are in an environment inhabited by a Primordial."
"Sarai can't activate a portal because it can't work without enough visual of the other side. So portal teleportation is out of question." Mei Li reasoned.
"I can get you in. I can open activate a teleportation field that will get you into the building." Sarai suddenly said.
Relief washed through them all when they heard this. Finally a solution.
But all of the sudden, Mei Li shrieked. "Are you insane?! That could kill you."
"We don't have much choice here. I have to do it." Sarai said with pleading gaze and turned to the others, as she continued. "The teleportation field will get you in but, there's a disadvantage."
Their faces all contorted in various expressions.
"What's it?" Benzo asked.
"Since I have no knowledge of how the interior of the castle looked, the location won't be specific." Sarai said.
"Which means?" Hector asked, trying to get Sarai to be more specific with her words.
"It means I can get you in but I may not be able to get you to the place you need to be. So you will have to find your way around the castle."
They went into thoughts for a while.
Then Kylian said. "That's good. We can find our way… if we don't land in a dungeon underneath the castle."
"Then let's do this." Heald muttered and they all stepped closer to Sarai but sheput her palms up, stopping them.
"Wait!"
They all halted with confused gazes.
"What is it again?" Hector asked.
"It can only move two people at a time. And by the time I'm done with it, I'll be out for a few minutes because my energy will have been exhausted by then." Sarai's expression was serious as she said. "I'll need someone to protect me through out that time."
Displeasure shone in their eyes for a while before they accepted.
"Okay. I will stay with you." Mei Li said and clutched the hilt of her sword as she added. "I'll protect you."
"Perfect." Sarai grinned and turned away from them.
"Magic sucks many times." Heald cursed.
Sarai shook her head. "No, it doesn't. It only has its limits."
Then she closed her eyes as she began to mutter some words, inaudibly.
Wind began to blow fiercely and the sky rumbled around.
The others had to dab their faces as substances flew around, along with the heavy winds.
Sarai pointed her palms forth and an orange magic circle appeared on the ground, a few meters away.
"Heald! Benzo!! Now!!!" Sarai shrieked at the top her voice, over the winds.
The two rushed and quickly stepped onto the magic circle.
The circle glowed more and more bright to an extent that the others had to squint their eyes.
Then,
Bam!
The glowing stopped.
The other opened their eyes to see that Heald and Benzo were gone, and now are somewhere inside the castle.
Awe shone in their eyes, with a hint of disbelief inside it.
Sarai looked over shoulder, the gleam in her eye had reduced considerably and one could tell that she's got weaker.
Her lips, which were slightly dry and pale, parted as she muttered. "Who's next?"
********
However,
Benzo and Heald appeared in a large hallway in the castle. The place was dark and silent.
The duo looked around in confusion, trying to get an idea of what the new environment is like.
However, all they could see was darkness.
"What do we do now?" Benzo asked, with ceased breath.
"Lit this place up." Heald responded.
"Uh?!" Benzo's eyes flashed with disbelief.
"I said lit this place up."
Benzo gulped and lifted his palms. Flames erupted from it and brightened the place a little bit.
With a fling to the right, bright yellow flames that burned fiercely illuminated the area.
There is nothing there.
Heald sighed as he saw this. He nodded at Benzo, signalling him to continue.
The latter nodded back and did the same to the left side and the back.
Still nothing.
Benzo took a deep breath as he threw a ball of flames toward their front.
The flames landed on the ground, about twenty meters away. It burned brighter like something that has a mind of its own.
A staircase was revealed.
"Phew!" Heald loosened up his tight posture and nudged Benzo. "Let's go."
The latter grinned and followed and they advanced towards the stairs.
All of the sudden, Heald heard a sound and he stopped. Beonxo stopped too, a deep frown on his face as he inquired. "What is it?"
"I think I heard something." He whispered, unsure.
His ears twitched and peaked as he listened to the lowest sound in the hallway.
Suddenly, his eyes went wide as he shrieked. "Step back!"
But it was too late.
Benzo was sent flying across the hallway and-
Bang!
His back slammed hard against the wall.
The bang echoed in his ears as he landed on the ground, grunting in pains as he spited out blood.
His face contorted in pains as he clutched his chest.
A growl that's etched with agony resonated in the hallway and a few seconds later, a low fleshy thud sounded.
Benzo opened his eyes, which were tightly closed as he grimaced in pain.
What he saw made shiver run down his spine.
Right before him, Heald was on the ground. A pool of blood was accumulated beneath him.
Heald's right arm was slash clean under the armpit so much that it's barely hanging in. Heald wanted to scream but the flesh that held his right cheekbone and his jaws together had been slashed, making talking impossible for him.
Benzo's eyes began to reflect with fear when after a few seconds, Heald has not healed from the slash.
Foot thuds reached him and he paused with a trembling eyes.
His face slowly moved from Heald and up to the figure that's approaching.
All he could see was a pair of crimson ball, at first. But after the figure took more steps, it got to where one of Benzo's fireball had landed.
Then Benzo saw the figure clearly.
Deep brown skin that seemed to be so thick that he feared no blade can cut into the flesh. A pair of deep set eyes that shone crimson, in a way that it sent shivers down his spine. Claws that is the length of a normal humans fingers, razor sharp and thick. And finally the towering masculine figure, unclad making the rippling muscles visible.
The figure is a vampire, turned by Akotal when he's in his prime, and so when his venom and blood are in their prime. Turning a human with it gave birth to this figure.
To this vampire.
Terrifying.
That's all Benzo could think of as he stared at the figure.
The vampire growled very loud that Benzo felt his ears dripping with hot liquid, blood.
The vampire stopped growling and lunged at the pain stricken Benzo, stumping the fireball in the process and sending it off.
"Oh, shit!" Benzo cursed as he sprung to his feets.
This night is never going to be great.
********