Chapter 33: Chapter 31: Cult

Something was afoot. The streets were deserted, barren of life. Even the sparse handful of townspeople were nowhere to be seen. He turned back to question the old lady, but her sharp presence had faded. Jasmine was creeped out as she retreated, "Je... Je... Jered..." he grabbed her wrist, and without looking back, he dragged her back towards their car. Just to be sure, he readied his mana, "Did you see? W-What the hell is going on?" she locked the door, rolling the window up. 

"Shh... let me think," Jered breathed in, then out. He twisted the car key. The engine sputtered ominously, but didn't start. He tried again, and again, and again. The car, however, was seemingly dead. He pursed his lips inward, and cast 'Repair'. He expected it to work, since the sub-spell was made specifically to fix anything. This time, it didn't work. He could only reason that the problem was magical in nature.

"Why is it not starting? Jered, I'm getting scared..."

"Relax, everything's alright," he stated calmly, then he drew out his smartphone, unlocked the screen, and...

...no signal.

He chuckled, a glint of mana flashing past his eyes. His sister also checked her phone, but the result was the same. She trembled, clutching it against her chest as she stared at Jered. His expression was stoic, but his muscles were stiff. Then a smile broke loose on his face, "It's kinda unfair," he said emotionlessly, "Looks like you're about to enter my world, while I didn't even get the chance to glimpse at yours."

She couldn't understand him. His cryptic speech made her feel more disturbed, as if he knew what was going on.

A man dressed in a black tunic, with a hood covering his face, ghosted in from the corner of a building. A candle was in his gloved hand, smoke billowing up. He walked very slowly, each step an intimidating thump in Jasmine's heart. She gasped, "W-What is that?" Jered was unfazed. He could distinctly recognize the mana cloaking the unknown entity. 

He couldn't afford to let it approach them any further.

"Stay here," he said, making his sister's eyes tear wide open. 

"You must be kidding!!"

He wasn't. 

"Don't let me repeat myself. Stay here. Nothing is going to happen to you."

Jasmine felt a slight pressure coming off him, off his words. It settled on her chest, and she had to overwork her lungs to breathe properly. Jered got out of the car, one hand tucked inside his pocket, the other dangling freely by his side, a globe of mana swirling within it. He strode towards the black figure, stopping mid-way. He didn't want to reveal the existence of magic to his sister, not yet. But if the situation called for it, he wouldn't hesitate.

The entity trundled along the cobblestone path, muttering biblical verses in a distorted voice. He didn't stop, neither accelerating nor slowing down. The smoke burst skyward, unrolling across the whole town, "The ritual shan't be interfered by strays," the hooded head tilted up, and Jered descried two eyeless sockets, a haggard, ashen face, and cracked lips—that twisted into an innocent smile. Jasmine, who was tucked away in the car, paled, her eyes watering up, her breathing short and uneven. 

Yes, it looked like he didn't have to hesitate. The rippling veil of smoke screened the sun, considerably dimming the morning light. Jered's Mana Beam reached its zenith in his hand, so he flung it forward at the undead-like man. It seared through the air, leaving a trail of light behind. The man was slightly surprised by the intensity behind the attack; nonetheless, with his free hand, he upreared a wall of darkness. Jered's Mana Beam was swallowed by that hungry abyss.

"Not too shoddy," the man whispered, "An overcharged Mana Beam. Strong, but lacks substance. You must be a newbie. Let me show you how it's done," and he did. He twirled his wrist around, flicking a vortex of dark energy towards Jered. It cracked the concrete with the sheer inertia of its kinetic pressure. Most importantly, it was extremely fast, leaving Jered with barely any time to defend himself. The world spun around as he sailed in the air, blood caking the inside of his mouth. He crash-landed against the windshield of his car, shattering it. 

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"JERED!" Jasmine went into a panic fit, "Oh my God! Jered!" she was scared to touch him, lest she worsened his injury. But it looked so bad that she couldn't standstill. She had to do something. She clasped her hands around his arms, and dragged him inside through the broken glass. He was not dead, but dangerously close to it. A good portion of his chest was sunk in. Blood dripped copiously from his mouth, and from the various cuts that riddled his body. It was her first time seeing someone on the verge of death, and that someone just so happened to be her brother. 

A blinding sheet of pain hammered his senses. If it were not for his mana, his body would have shut down. Jered fluttered his eyes open, just in time to see tears running down his sister's face. It was his fault. He had started the fight with the wrong move. There was no strategy involved, just plain stupidity on his part. The worst thing was that the black-robed man was an Adept Magician too. With his two unlocked veins, he displayed a staggering mastery over his spells. 

"Oh, you're alive..." the man nodded, "So young, yet so resilient. Are you from a powerful family? An influential organization perhaps?"

Jered coughed blood, struggling to prop himself up. 

"D-Don't move!" Jasmine cautioned, her hands a trembling mess. She stared at the approaching man, and felt a primal fear that almost suffocated her. Still, she mustered the courage to threaten him, "S-S-STAY AWAY! I-ILL' CALL THE POLICE!"

"The police?" he chuckled, "You mean those guys in uniforms with toys on their waists? Ah, yes, now I recall them," he snapped his fingers, and the dome of mana covering the town retreated, revealing the true situation behind the illusion. Jasmine instantly covered her mouth. A slew of corpses littered the sidewalks. Men. Women. Kids. Infants. They were all maimed, beheaded, and ripped apart. The buildings around them were all adorned in carmine brushes of blood, like the painting of a macabre artist. 

She gagged, lurching down to retch her breakfast.

"The policemen you're looking for should be among the pile. A bit hard to recognize, yes, but you shouldn't have a hard time putting them back together. If I weren't running on a tight schedule, I would have offered my help."

Jered held his chest, "You're part of a cult, aren't you?"

"Hmm, so you're not an ignorant, fledgling magician..."

Magician. The word turned Jasmine's world upside down, especially when it was used to label her brother. Then again, everything she just saw couldn't have been anything else but magic. 

"Alright, I don't have time for this. I really need to stop with my mid-fight monologues..." the man reached a hand out, his fingers dipped in ink-like swirls of darkness, "I apologize, young lady, for you're innocent, and this is my job. Hope you find solace among the dead."

Jasmine was petrified under the onset of vile mana inching closer and closer. Her survival drive pumped as much adrenaline as it could through her veins, but with her brother in her arms, she couldn't upbring the thought of running away. However, a bloodied hand snapped up to grab the man's, stopping it a few breaths away from her face. She gulped and looked down at Jered, at the grim determination rippling on his eyes. His pupils dilated in barbaric delight, and it was then that she heard the man's yelp of surprise. 

An ethereal blue flame had capped his wrist, devouring its way up to his forearm. The glove burnt, shrinking, melting, and dripping with chunks of charred skin. Jered channeled waves upon waves of mana into the spell. However, he underestimated the man's decisiveness. He whipped his other hand down, summoning a blade of darkness that sliced his forearm off. It was a clean cut. He watched as his severed appendage was consumed by the flames, even the residual wisps of his black mana were not spared.

The sharp pain on his burnt stump was a cold wake-up call. The man thrust his remaining arm forward, and a burst of powerful telekinesis rammed the car rolling up in the air. It bounced off the ground a few times, leaving a trail of mangled metal in its wake.