Baptized with fire!!
***Lukas’s Pov***
*Lair of Burning witch*
“Oh God,” I breathed, upon witnessing the witches’ bodies strewn across the floor in unnatural positions. A terrible smell filled my nose, and I saw something move quickly in the shadows of the cave. A bizarre horned creature with red, rubbery skin appeared before me. The creature lacked a nose, but its wide mouth displayed three rows of razor-sharp teeth poised to attack. Upon seeing me, it hissed. I gasped in shock as Damon unexpectedly materialized behind the beast, plunging a knife into its abdomen. From the left, another creature charged, but I managed to kick one of its legs, making it kneel. I swiftly attacked him, seizing his head, snapping his neck with a sickening sound, and finishing him with stalagmite stabs to the face, before he could react.
I briefly saw Damon kill the third creature by snapping its neck after a quick look back, and then I continued to fight more creatures.
Damon was a cold-blooded killing machine. Six sword-wielding creatures encircled him, poised to strike. With his back arched, he deflected three swords aimed at his body. With a flick of his wrist, he slashed, slitting the throats of the three creatures behind him, then repeated the action on the three in front. Calmly stepping over the sinking, dead bodies, he walked away from the six creatures he’d dispatched in under ten seconds.
“Show off! I told him before striking one of the creatures in the face up close and slashing down another with the sword in my other hand.
“Thanks bro,” he said, then spun, his dual swords slashing down four more creatures.
“Will you please stop killing loads at once? Pretty soon there won’t be anything left for me to play with!“ I said, causing Damon to roll his eyes.
“A gift for you, bro,” Damon shouted, flinging a gift at me as he battled a creature. I dealt with him by slicing through his gut.
“You have got to be joking? That traitor said assassins didn’t mention the fucking army of assassins!” Damon muttered as the hundreds of assassins flooded through the cave. Resembling dark phantoms, they were completely covered in ominous black cloth that seemed to float like a deathly essence.
Side by side, Damon and I braced ourselves for the oncoming horde.
“Ready!?” I muttered to Damon.
“Oh Hell, yeah!” he replied rolling his neck and squaring his shoulders.
“Now!” I shouted as we both launched straight into the air towards the incoming horde.
“Gods,” I muttered because they were too fast and attacking in a team of three. All three of them simultaneously swung out their swords towards me, making me step back to defend three blows in succession. I had to be faster.
I rolled out of the way of one and slashed through the legs of the other but it was of no use because they could heal quicker, move faster, and see the enemy’s movements before damage could be inflicted. How long they could hold this up for, I didn’t know but I did know it was certainly a hell of a lot longer than I could. Yet, when another one penetrated my defences, I lifted my blade defensively, averting its attack. I was hit three times, the last blow forcing me to my knees, my own blade dangerously close to my face. I intentionally fell back to get a better angle to kick the other one. Again and again, I swung my blade, desperately trying to hold back the never-ending horde. Like a frenzied killer, Damon swung his sword, piercing, slicing, and impaling everything in his path. We relentlessly struck the hordes, blow after blow.
However, this soon proved to be useless because these bastards kept coming. We were significantly outnumbered and in a dire predicament. Our energy levels were dropping, making it almost impossible to win against them.
“Damon!” I shouted before an incoming group caved in on me. I was grabbed by the throat by one of them, my windpipe compressed, leaving me unable to breathe. Damon experienced the same thing. Under the weight of the assassins, he was becoming lost in the darkness.
Then a tremor ran through the walls, accompanied by the cracking of stalactites. Damon and the hordes looked all around the cave, as like me, they didn’t know what was happening. Then, a tremendous crash echoed, as stalactites plummeted, impaling many assassins.
That’s when something appeared at a tremendous speed. A spectral figure, ablaze, stood before us, its flames flickering in the air. Crimson and gold embers, like fireflies, spiral around her. A fiery glow coursed through her veins. Her eyes blazed like an inferno.
The fire witch!!
Her chants reverberated throughout the vast space. Streams of flame erupted from her hands, incinerating the assassins. As the flames burned, the air was thick with the cries of the suffering. In mere seconds, the assassins were reduced to ashes.
“Have no fear boys, they all are dead.” The fire witch’s eyes were still red with the swirls of yellow ochre at the centre like flames.
“We have come for Warp Crux,” Damon told her.
“I know. This is our only opportunity. The darkness is encroaching on Morrighan,” she stated, gesturing toward the distant corner housing the third Warp Crux.
We raced to the third ‘Warp Crux’, the mythical mirror that creates portals between timelines. The tall structure had a stone frame. Ancient, vine-like carvings were etched all over the stone frame. The mirror’s glass wasn’t solid; it was a gravity-defying layer of black liquid. The moment our reflection fell on it, the symbols started glowing as if sensing our presence. The black liquid part rippled in the waves creating a disturbance as if breaking through the surface tension of the liquid.
“This is the moment! Make haste!” The fire witch’s powerful voice resonated throughout.
“We need to take it back to Artena for our armies,” I retorted back.
“Oh! Don’t worry about it, my boy. We’re here to assist you on your mission. Once you’ve both gone through it, we’ll take the mirror to Artena. The Witches’ League has pledged its support to Morrighan,” she stated.
I glanced at Damon, questioning whether we should trust her. He nodded in agreement.
“Gentlemen, we have no time to waste; move fast.”
I retrieved Rhaegar’s blood sample and placed a few drops on the mirror. As blood landed on the symbol, it illuminated, seeming to come alive. Whispering incantations, the fire witch produced a light beam showing our path. The black liquid of the mirror rippled and started diffusing, creating a transparent surface like a plain mirror.
“You are good to go; just step inside,” the fire witch spoke.
I peered into the mirror, and it seemed to pull me into its shadowy depths. Once I entered it my soul left my body for a brief moment. I watched my body float before reuniting with my soul. A wave of pain washed over me, making it hard to open my eyes. I gasped for air once I landed.
“Are you okay?” Damon asked, panting.
“Yeah! Kind of,” I groaned in pain.
We looked around to find ourselves in the Northern realm, where nightmares were real and when the hellish creatures roamed the human realm. But fuck them, because they are all going to meet their end this time.