Shorty was dead.
His whole being was crushed and buried under the full weight of piles and piles of rubbles, a massive one crushing his head finally. His left hand alone potruded out the rock pile, unmoving and still.
The blood trickled out like a stream, spreading and ebbing into a thick pool.
Reo felt lightheaded at the sight. The empty contents of his tummy involuntarily getting riled up, just to be suppressed by the excruciating pain he felt burning at his side.
Reo got away from the sight, fighting against his broken body, he took his first step towards the strangely enticing altar, the weight of the little girl on his back
Reo dragged his feet across the ground with each weak step as he cut through the available path forming an aisle leading straight to the altar.
The aisle was unpaved and littered with pieces of rocks and crevices big enough to cause him to slip. But Reo paid no attention to any of this, and as if in a trance, proceeded to the altar with dull eyes and a weak expression.
The little girl continued to shiver feverishly, even more so than earlier. Feeling the dangerous increase in her body temperature, Reo could tell her condition had gotten worse throughout the whole ordeal.
But he couldn't do anything about it. Her fever had caused her to pass out, even through the whole time they fell.
But Reo felt...Reo felt that if he could at least get her to the altar, maybe it would improve her situation a little?
It was strange, very strange.
Reo's slow mind was simply drawn to untainted altar. If he got there, then what? Even he didn't know.
Eventually, Reo reached the altar, the platform raised a few meters over the ground. Standing before the stone carved altar, suddenly it felt much larger.
Reo climbed unto the altar with stumbling steps and approached the massive slab or white rock placed in the middle of the altar, close to the front edge. The white altar table seemed to have been cut from fine, smooth alabaster which reflected the translucent light, giving it a strange ghostly shimmer to its surface.
Reo placed the little girl on the slab, strangely he felt like that was the right thing to do? Then after that his legs gave out, the knees buckling weakly under his weight and he slowly slumped to the ground, sitting against his cold altar ground with his back leaning against the slab.
At this point, he struggled just to keep his eyes opened. His thoughts became much slower, his breathing trembled as with each time, it proved harder to get the oxygen in and out.
His broken ribs pierced into his lungs, flooding his air track with blood that slowly clotted. Each time he huffed, each time he puffed, Reo was met with pain that seemed no much different than hell. His breath trembled with pain with each inhale.
Reo touched his side and quickly winced his hand back from the pain. Then slowly, he lifted his tattered shirt, exposing his bare skin. There were shallow cuts and small gashes. The most noticeable, however, was the ugly bruise with a sickening pale color swelling on his left side.
The bruise had an ugly tint of a black reddish color, a giveaway sign of internal bleeding, it would throb everytime Reo's chest pumped for air.
Reo feeling increasingly light headed let his eyes wander from the bruise.
His broken shoulder throbbed and hung loosely on his right side. The mash of pain against his whole body overwhelmed his senses passed the threshold, it became hard to tell where exactly hurt and which hurt the most.
As his consciousness slowly slithered from his weakening grasp, Reo finally thought back to his friends.
'...Don...'
But even that was too tiring.
His eyes quickly dimmed, his vision still died in red from the blood over his face.
For the last remaining seconds, Reo listened to his breathing and rhythmic heart beat slowly fade and weaken. He felt cold and unbothered, instinctively, however, he could tell his condition was bad.
Turns out he wasn't as lucky as he thought. He was only spared for a few more minutes. In a situation like this, his body broken, his mind numb and his senses overwhelmed with pain...
His dreary mind pulled down at his consciousness, and then finally...Reo's light began to dim.
...
"I was wondering what all the blasted ruckus was about."
Reo felt a small gust of chilling wind.
A black shadowy mist swept past him and swirled just before the last remaining light in his dimming eyes.
A hoarse low voice reverberated in an exasperated bellow, echoing off the ruined walls of the underground chapel.
Reo shifted his heavy head towards the direction of the voice, a black haze like fog of grim shadows spiraled and swirled like a vortex before the space in front of him.
"...But it seems those fools messed up again." The black fog swirled and dispersed like a gust of wind, revealing a dark figure hovering lightly in midair, just above the altar.
The edges of his black ragged cloak fluttering like scattered ashes. His deep dark hood was still draped over his head, drowning it deep shadows.
There was no way Reo could have forgotten these unsettling features of this person.
The robed man had finally appeared.
Reo shifted his gaze.
But there was something about the cloaked man's sudden appearance that made the dimming light in Reo's eyes flicker in alert, his lids slowly widened in response.
The black robed man held the feverish little girl by the collar in one of his hands, a black obsidian dagger swirled into existence in the other.
"No...more... interferences..." The man's voice shook with barely restrained anger, Reo shuddered just hearing him speak.
The hovering man straightened his back as much as anyone with a potruding hump could. A strange darkness permeated the surrounding space from his draped body.
He declared in a low voice.
"...Let the ritual begin."
The obsidian dagger in his hand cut a path of darkness, the black blade suddenly ran through the heart of the little girl.
Reo cried.
"NOOO!!"
***
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