“What exactly are you Ah’Lehi?” Upir asked again, the black orbs she had for eyes boring into his eyes.
Lehi searched for what to say. He was caught completely off guard by the question. Many people had asked him that same question but he had never really had a solid answer for them.
“I… I honestly don’t know,” he started, “all I know is that I was born with these powers. I made a vampire turn me to a vampire because I wanted to live long enough to become powerful.”
“But you are already powerful.” Upir said.
“Not powerful enough to stop fate.” He replied, sighing.
Upir was confused.
“What fate?” She asked.
Lehi looked at her for a moment, should he tell her? Well she as a powerful vampire and witch, she might be able to help.
“You see, my family, though I never met them, are said to have been cursed,” he started, “we have never really been together. I have learnt that we all have the same power I have. But I think one of us – an ancestor of mine –angered a powerful sorcerer who cursed us.”
“What was the curse?” Upir asked.
Lehi opened his mouth to speak but he held his head and yelled in pain.
Upir knew instantly that whoever was using abyssal magic had started using it again.
She knelt beside Lehi and started chanting.
“Ah Fie gsie riem.” She chanted again and again.
Lehi tried to control himself but it felt like there was fire in his head.
Back in Kenneth’s house, Nella held hands with Tony and chanted the same spell Upir was chanting. Kenneth stood a safe distance away from them, watching.
In front of them lay a sealed book and a dagger, both of which were placed on a table.
Tony raised a hand and signalled Nella to stop chanting.
Nella’s head felt like it was on fire. The raw energy seemed to course through her veins, filling her with a strength she had never felt before.
Both Tony and Nella stood still, waiting.
Upir continued chanting and stretched her hands towards Lehi.
He was not screaming anymore, just holding his head. Upir grabbed his hands and placed them in hers.
That was the moment Tony and Nella were waiting for. They felt Upir through their link, Lehi.
“Riem!” They screamed out a single word from the spell they had been chanting, releasing the fire and raw power that had been running through them.
Upir felt the blow of the spell that had just been cast against her. She was thrown against a tree by an unseen force.
As she tried to get up, her vision blurred. Lehi was slumped on the ground, his body was turning and turning.
She staggered to her feet, but the whole forest was looking funny, just turning and turning…
Upir fell flat on her face, losing consciousness as she did so.
“Abe san thi biti.” Tony breathed, feeling himself being transported to his native realm. He was calm and meditative.
Nella also felt herself losing her grip on the world. Her eyes were spinning and her brain began to make little sense of what was going on around her.
Someone called her name, they were going to the abyss, the voice said.
Nella stole one quick look at Kenneth who looked like he was trying to catch her.
She fell into his arms , unconscious.
The abyssal realm is a bad place to be on a Tuesday night. It’s even worse when you were trapped there for two thousand years and only just managed to escape a few days ago.
Upir got up startled, her surprise soon gave way to fear as soon as she realized that she was back in the abyss.
Tony and Nella walked towards her. The Guardian had a menancing look on his face. He was back in his home now and so exuded more power than ever. The middle aged man disguise was gone now. The Guardian was really a humanoid being with coal black skin and red, fiery eyes. He looked humanoid to Nella and not really human because he had four eyes. Two in their normal place and one on the back of each of his two palms. He was coal black all over and his normal clothes had changed to a black robe and a long black cape that was on fire but did not burn.
Upir stood her ground, terrified but not willing to show it.
“What have you done Upir?” The Guardian boomed in a terrifying voice, he streched a long black rod he held towards Upir in accusation.
“I have done nothing wrong!” Upir shouted back, her voice shaking.
Nella was too awed by all that she was seeing to focus her attention fully on anything.
The place they were standing in looked like a stretch of desert land to Nella. Afar off she could hear screams, though she could not really tell where they were coming from. The agonized screams were quite faint but Nella could still hear them distinctly.
She wondered what was so special about the abyssal realm if that was all to it.
She was wrong about the desert being all there was to the abyssal realm, she would realize that later.
“You will have to tell that to the judges!” The Guardian cried, and then went on to call in a strange language what seemed like names.
“They will never come to judge me!” Upir shouted, quite desperate to take hold of herself.
“Oh they will come,” The Guardian seethed, “but I will keep you entertained before then.”
A wicked smile spread across The Guardian’s face. Upir walked back, shaking her head and saying “No” repeatedly as if it was going through save her from the coming horror.
“Brace yourself.” The Guardian whispered to Nella.
Before Nella could ask what it was that she had to brace herself for, she noticed that the desert grounds had begun to roll up like a carpet. A new carpet – a new floor actually spread throughout the desert.
Nella saw the desert change to a room, a dark room. The room rolled out before her very eyes.
In the room she could see the late members of Lighthood coven, her mother inclusive.
Her brother Theo was also there. They were chanting and Nella was standing in the middle of their circle.
“No… you’re dead.” Nella said, the illusion messing with her head.
The chanting continued, but this time, she saw her mother , brother, and the entire coven bleeding profusely.
“Join us Nella. ” They said in one voice.
Nella tried to run out of the circle but she couldn’t, it was like there was an invisible barrier.
“Join us Nella.” They continued chanting.
Nella heard their voices loudly, when she covered her ears she found that the voices were in her head.
“No…” she shouted, running in circles within the circle of witches.
The mental torture was worse than she had ever felt.
“Nellllaa” the witches called, stressing her name and calling it for as long as possible.
Nella fell down in the middle of circle and held her head.
“Leave me alone!” She screamed out in anguish.
Suddenly there was silence.
A hand was tapping Nella, she opened her eyes slowly and saw The Guardian. He helped her up from the ground.
Nella looked around, it was the same desert as before.
“What happened?” She asked weakly, tears still pouring down her face.
“The abyssal realm has no true form,” The Guardian explained, “it takes the form of your darkest fears and regrets.”
“But, the … the screaming hasn’t stopped.” Nella stammered, still quite shaken.
“Those are the screams of the … err… permanent residents of this torture ground called the abyssal realm.” The Guardian said and smiled, trying to put Nella at ease.
Nella wasn’t at ease.
“I’m sorry for letting you suffer that. It just took a while for me to exempt you from her punishment.”
The Guardian pointed at Upir who although she was not even tied up, stood like she had chains on her hands and feet.
Occasionally, she would scream and most of the time, she cried and begged her illusions to let her live.
Nella felt a shiver for down her spine, the place was not called the abyssal realm for nothing.
Suddenly, Upir stopped, The Guardian had released her. The entire atmosphere had an aura of fear and expectation.
“You better get your argument ready”, The Guardian told a shaken Upir. They could hear a distant rumbling and the ground below the seemed to move.
“The judges are coming.” The Guardian announced.