A rubble was all that's left. Iron rods that served as the lintel of the building which had been forced out of the concrete slabs by Akotal's telekinesis, littered the ground.
The place was a mess.
And amidst the mess, the group all sat, revelling in the aftermath of the devastation brought upon them by the Primordial they had thought was dead but wasn't, Akotal.
Sarai sat down on the ground. Her face was held in her palms.
Everyone else found a place to sit too, amidst the rubbles.
Kylian and Christa were beside each other as normal.
Caius, Mei Li, Heald, and Hector all settled amidst the ruins of the building. Benzo, yet to awake from the coma he's in, was laid right beside Heald.
Sadness raged in their souls and coursed through the air around them as the sun arose from the East.
It's morning and the people in the street have woken up to make the day.
Some passed by and stared at the devastated building and the group sitting in the ruins, confusion rising up their faces.
They should be.
But the group didn't mind being stared at by the street residents. What's coming for them is far larger than being stared at by some humans going to work or having their early morning workouts.
Silence was all that brewed amid the group, not until Hector talked. "So now, we are just gonna sit here in silence, attracting attention while our time runs out."
"Pfft! Just say that you don't like the way those humans look at you." Heald scoffed. "If you were a human, you would be a fashionista. I'm the first to notice that."
"Do you realize that this is no time for jokes, boys?" Caius muttered, staring at the empty space.
"I know. I just have to chill, you know." Heald shrugged his shoulders.
"Em! You can chill since you have nothing to lose." Caius bent over his head.
Heald's face turned ugly, "I have nothing to lose? Do you ever know how that sounds? I have nothing to lose?" He spring up from his butt and lashed out at Caius. "I became a vampire in the late 1700s, my life was sour. I had no family, no friends, nobody but this young man came by and became my friend even though he keeps secrets. I understand why he's like that. And apart from that, old man, I've always managed to survive for over 250 years now, and one big bad vampire lord is after my life because of you and you are here saying I have nothing to lose."
Caius scoffed. "You can now call me an old man now?" A bitter smile crossed his lips. "Of course, you might have forgotten that I can fry up your brain without touching you."
"Will you two please stop!" Hector shrieked.
"Perhaps, he has lost his manners." Caius turns his head towards Heald, his eyes brimming with rage. "Perhaps you have forgotten who I am."
"Do you realize that there's still a Primordial vampire out there setting a countdown for our death? Haven't you realized that yet, we are doomed!" Hector shrieked, his eyes bloodshot.
Caius stopped.
Heald stopped too and fell back on his butt.
The others, Mei Li, Kylian and Christa were just staring without saying a word.
Sarai too, had her gaze at the empty air and the distant look in her eyes showed how deep within her thoughts she is.
"Sarai, I think a cloaking spell will work for now. Attracting eyes is the last thing we might want right now." Mei Li muttered.
Sarai didn't blink, neither did she make any response.
But the response was evident when after about ten minutes, no passer-by turned to look at them again.
The cloaking spell is on.
"So what do we do now?" Hector asked.
"What you will all do is evident." Kylian replied. Every head turned to him. His eyes were expressionless as he muttered. "Run. Run for your lives. Go to a faraway place."
"What the hell are you saying?" Mei Li snapped. "Ain't you in your right senses at all? Run, where do you think we can all go? Uh?!"
Kylian kept his head down. "I'm sorry, but Lead Skull started this and it should end with me too."
"That's where you are mistaken, skull." Caius pursed his lips, his fingers were intertwined as he began. "Akotal has been like this from his early age. Think about it, Akotal is the youngest amongst the Tribunals and when the war between the Primordials began, they sought to form an alliance with the Skulls by marrying off Ava, but due to his obsession, he jeopardized that by going on a life mission of annihilating all the Skulls.
"He didn't even wait to think about what it could mean for his family and his clan if he failed. The near-invincible Skulls will descend on the Tribunals and yet another bloody war would break out. But he didn't think about it that way, he went on to execute his mission at the risk of the deaths of his very own family. Secondly, after doing everything for the person who doesn't even love him, he wanted her to reciprocate his feelings but she ran away, and finding her centuries later with me, he killed her himself, he cursed her and she died while birthing. Akotal is not just evil, he's devilish and malicious. Nothing started with Lead Skull, it all started with Akotal himself."
They all went quiet.
"Knowing that isn't gonna take away our impending deaths. What do we do now?" Mei Li asked again, this time with a bit of impatience.
"What are going to do, apparently, Akotal's is back to his former dreadful self. He's back to his full strength." Caius said.
"How is that possible? He should still be weak since the sacrifice isn't done yet, right?" Hector's face was ugly as he asked.
"Yes. But I can seem to have any explanation for what's going on." Caius lowered his head and an exasperated sigh left his lips. "If we are going to fight Akotal and live, we need hands. We need power."
"He still wants the girl, right?" Hector asked.
Like a baby clutching to its father for protection, Christa edged closer to Kylian as she stared at Hector with wary eyes.
Hector, on seeing this, lifted his hands in the air and quickly said, "I don't mean anything malicious. Just asking."
Christa glanced at Kylian, whose eyes were already on hers. He nodded and she reciprocated too then her racing heartbeat calmed.
Caius' eyes were all on the two as they conversed with their eyes. But then, he lowered his gaze back to the ground.
"Yes," Sarai replied to Hector's question. "He wants her."
"Then that means that he hasn't completed the sacrifice and needs to do it. And the way I see things, he doesn't have too much time."
"So you are saying we should…" Caius' voice trailed off as he lifted his head. "You are as dumb as your face looks. If we stay in here because Akotal can't get in, then we are dead because he won't stop until he has gotten what he wants. Eventually, we will be out of strength and we will… die. Even the protection on this place will collapse under much pressure."
"We need to gather all the powers we can muster." Kylian said.
"I have my coven. They will fight." Caius muttered.
"I have no friends except Kylian and my beautiful Armadi witch." Heald shrugged his shoulders.
Every head turned to Hector.
His eyes widened and his lips trembled. "I am not an option if it comes to getting acquaintances." He shook his head, vehemently, "definitely not an option."
"I'm here because Sarai called me." Mei Li said.
Kylian smiled bitterly, "as we all know, my past hasn't been so good and I have a lot of enemies. It's already a wonder that I'm not haunted by their faces. So I'm not an option either."
"Even if we have the whole city behind us, we only have a slim chance of defeating Akotal." Kylian muttered, his eyes glittering with dread as he reminisced the powerful aura Akotal exuded when he growled at Adrian back at the altar room. Chills ran down his spine as he whispered. "He's a Primordial."
Caius' face coursed with sadness at the thought of this bitter truth. His shoulders dropped and his eyes flashed with sadness. "We have to give our shot."
The others all had a downcasted look too as they all ruminate what Kylian said.
Especially those that were present when Akotal released all his aura, Mei Li, Hector and Heald.
And that was the weak Akotal.
Their bones seemed to weaken at the mere thought of fighting Akotal who's now in his prime.
However,
"I think we have a chance."
They all turned their heads to Sarai.
All they could see was firmness that immediately held up their hopes.
"When I met with the ancient wizard, The one that has lived, I asked him if a Primordial can be killed. He told me…"
.
.
Flashback..
"Is Akotal alive?" Sarai asked.
The one that has lived paused when he heard Sarai's question.
"That is already answered by the nature of his existence. He's a Primordial and apparently your friends didn't handle his body and his head rightly."
"So is he alive."
"Yes he is."
Sarai was downcasted as when she heard this.
"So disgusting for a powerful witch like you."
"How am I powerful if I couldn't even help my friends against that vampire." Sarai broke down in tears. Her lips were trembling as she thought of what Akotal could do now that it's clear that he's alive.
"You are an Armadi. There are a lot of things that you can do."
Sarai sniffled and exhaled heavily. "Like what?"
"Think about it."
"Please help me, how can we kill a Primordial?" Sarai asked, her face drenched in tears.
"Do you have any idea what that question of yours could bring upon you? Asking how to kill a Primordial, you are courting death, Armadi witch. You will be bringing several Primordials after you with that question of your. Ask in a less direct way."
Sarai wiped tears off her face with a hand and sniffled as she asked again. "How do I help my friends. We will die if Akotal comes at us."
"You nailed it this time. Even though there's a wide spectrum of power rangers and levels in the universe, nature always finds a way to give balance to it all. Vampire are fast and invincible, but vervain is their demise. Werewolves are strong and powerful, but wolfbane is their Achilles heel. Witches and wizard are almost invincible, we can do a lot. We can bind and unbind, but the crucifix and many other things reduces us to nothing.
There was a pause. It was eternal, not until the ancient wizard talked again, "find the balance to the peakness of the Primordial Vampire and you will defeat him."
After that, Sarai felt the essense of the wizard wither away.
Now she's let again, in the dark cold empty street, alone.
.
.
End of flashback.
"After giving it much thought, I realized that there might be a way." Sarai stood from the pile of blocks she sat on before. Her eyes burned with vigor as she placed her index finger on her nose and the rest of her fingers beneath her jaw.
"So what does that mean?" Kylian asked.
"I think I found a balance to Akotal. We can defeat him."
************