The villagers were not dancing. Instead, the ground was littered with corpses. Bodies lay strewn about, impaled on large sticks, blood pooling around them. Flies buzzed over the scene, their incessant hum adding to the horror. The smell of death and decay filled the air, making Nigel gag.
In the middle of the carnage stood the true form of the Sharma, now revealed as a twisted, grotesque figure. Her skin was a sickly gray, covered in open sores and writhing maggots. Her eyes, all three of them, glowed with a malevolent red light. Blood dripped from her claws, and her mouth was a grotesque maw filled with razor-sharp teeth.
The illusion had been broken and the Sharma noticed it too, because Nigel's gaze seemed to pierce straight through her, pausing a bit she murmured "Another Stormweaver?" Nigel heard her but he did not understand what she said, looking at aldrian his eyes seemed to be much calmer now but the look of horror was still present on his face, trying to think of a possible escape plan the Sharma spoke loudly this time
" it must be my lucky day, an undeveloped stormweaver stumbled upon my hunting grounds, I would like to eat you I wonder how much powerful I can get but at the same time I can capture you alive and bring you to my master. What do you suggest we do ?" The sharma's voice was slight high pitched and irritating, she stared at the trio seemingly unsure of what to do, Nigel could see the greed in her eyes. But then it started to rain, the Sharma stared at him with worry in her gaze.
Nigel looked at the sky, the raining sky seemed to resonate with him, he could feel all his emotions being washed away with rain, from the corner of his eye he caught aldrian's small movements, the man quietly took put his dagger and took a fighting stance, from behind him a muffled scream it was hope who seemed to have woken up. The inscriptions on his face faded and so did the black lightning arcs, his eye returned to its normal appearance but he could still feel the connection to the rain.
"What do we do aldrian?" He asked slowly, aldrian still staring at the real scene infront him shook his head a bit " we fight." He answered with looking at Nigel, Nigel nodded and brought his cane forward
"Hope, stay back." Hope nodded and took several steps back creating a small distance between her and Nigel. The Sharma quietly looked on without saying a word studying everyone of them silently her eye seemed to linger on aldrian a bit longer before she grinned in a horrific manner "you are such an odd group. If I fight with you my chances of wing are quiet low so for now I will retreat but I will leave you with a little trouble." The Sharma spoke moving towards the river but she first stopped and looked at the direction of Venus for a bit before looking back at Nigel's group
"They are coming." With that she took a step into the river and her body disintegrated right infront them, still on alert Nigel and aldrian scanned their surroundings but then low growls could be heard coming from the spot where the sharma's body disintegrated from.
From the water many figures emerged looking exactly just like the transformed villagers from the sharma's illusion one eyed horrifying creatures covered in bloody hairs, with claws for hands. Stepping onto the riverbank their gazes fell on the trio, without time to blink the creatures made a dash towards them, their speed surprising both Nigel end aldrian within a blink of an eye the first hand arrived Infront of them with its maw opened wide in preparation to chomp down Nigel, luckily he had raised his cane up in time blocking the maw from biting his head of and almost immediately aldrian acted with fine precision his dagger slashed the creature's head off making a fountain of blood spray out from the headless corpses that was falling towards Nigel who shifted out of the way to let the creature fall, Nigel and Aldrian then stood back to back as the monstrous creatures emerged from the river, their growls mixing with the falling rain. Every advancement from the beasts was met with Aldrian's swift strikes and Nigel's desperate attempts to block.
Aldrian moved gracefully, his dagger cutting through the creatures with precise, deadly swings. His movements were smooth and fluid. One creature lunged at him, but he dodged and stabbed it, spraying blood.
Nigel struggled to keep up. His cane was clumsy compared to Aldrian's dagger. He swung it desperately, knocking back one creature but getting hit by another. A beast slashed his chest, and pain shot through him. He stumbled back, gasping, trying to fend off another attack with his broken hand. The creature's maw closed in, but Aldrian was there, decapitating it with a swift strike.
"Focus, Nigel!" Aldrian shouted, his voice calm despite the chaos.
Nigel nodded, gritting his teeth against the pain. He raised his cane again, swinging it with renewed effort. He managed to hit another creature, but its claws raked his arm, breaking the bone. He screamed and fell to his knees.
Aldrian stepped in front of him, his dagger flashing as he cut down more creatures. Blood splattered on his face, but he didn't waver. He fought with skill and determination, protecting Nigel.
A creature slipped past them, charging at Hope. She screamed, but before it could reach her, Aldrian threw his dagger. The blade struck the creature's eye, and it fell at Hope's feet.
Nigel, barely conscious, looked up at Aldrian. The man was unscathed, moving with sharp precision. He fought with fierce resolve, determined to protect them all.
With the last creature defeated, Aldrian rushed to Nigel's side. He knelt, checking Nigel's wounds. "You'll be okay," he said, his voice steady. "We need to get you out of here."
Nigel nodded weakly, his vision fading. Hope's small hands supported his back, her voice comforting.
The rain washed away the blood. The battle was over, but the danger wasn't gone.
A few moments after they left four young men dressed like clergymen appeared, the youngest who seemed to be in his early twenties was wearing short rimmed glasses with raven black hair and a black eyes he was the most handsome out of the four, and the second one was a middle-aged man with a bald head and a goatee, while the other two middle-aged men were twins with the same set of green eyes and dusty brown hair. The men with the gate spoke first after a round of observation
"It seems like we are a little bit late." He spoke in a deep voice, the twins both nodded and one of them added "Yes, and from the looks of it the fallen retreated back to the mirror world just before we arrived, from the residual energy it seems like it was not of a high rank, a blasphemer?" He asked, looking at the young man with the glasses
The young man's eyes were on a certain object hidden underneath the bodies of the monsters, moving forward quietly he bent down to retrieve the object, a cane made if darkwood. After inspecting it for a while he turned to the twin that had asked him a question
"No, a demon of the second rank,her aspect is of illusions." His voice was soft almost feminine, the other three all stared at him with envy.
"And there seemed to be a stormweaver present here and two other interesting people." He added shocking other three, the man with the goatee trembled
"Are you certain Keith?" The young man named Keith nodded, the twins exchanged glances with fear evident in their eyes
"Do not worry he is still wet behind the ears, I believe that soon enough we will cross paths with him ." Keith spoke with a lazy smile on his face
"You are truly blessed by the seven Keith to be able to deduce such information in less than a few minutes, I believe in a few years you will hold a strong position within the Church." One of the twins who was quiet added with admiration
Keith smiled and circled the symbol on his chest twice saying Praise the seven."
"Steve and Steven, I want you to not reveal this information to anyone else, let us try to first catch this stormweaver and bring him in."The man with the goatee instructed, the two twins nodded
"Of course lord Darrel." They spoke in unison, lord Darrel turned to Keith "Do you mind purifying this land for us?" Keith shook his head his smile still on his face
"Not at all." Keith placed the cane down and opened both his palms slowly raising them high in the air before quickly bringing them down again in a quick motion,
"Let the sun shine down and eradicate the darkness."