Book 3. Chapter 13.
“The smell of death.” Part 1
As soon as Kalysto took a step inside the room on the top floor of the tower, the gigantic eye above the altar opened wide. Revealing the black pupil within, whose fixed gaze was set entirely on the only living person within the spacious but empty floor whose stone walls were stained with thick black ink decorated the walls.
The only light in the small room came from the circular crystal above the altar, above which floated the eye.
The portal at the entrance closed behind the saintess at the same instant as several tentacles of black mana shot out of the eye and a wave of dark energy swept across the room, knocking her backward.
But Kalysto resisted the attack, putting her forearms in front of her to reduce the impact, unfortunately, the strong breeze that came with the energy wave made her close her eyes for a second, time that the tentacles of darkness took the opportunity to surround her arms, legs, and waist. Moving almost as fast as the shockwave without giving her time to react.
[Warning! The passive skill Mental Defense has been deactivated by an unknown entity!]
“What the fuck?” she muttered at the same second as her whole world was filled with pure darkness.
“...It’s a pleasure to meet you again, little Persephone!” The sinister male voice echoed in the middle of the total darkness, raising all the hairs on her body while a shiver ran down her back.
And Kalysto lost total control of her body.
****
Natasha checked her phone while ignoring another reporter’s call on Kalysto’s cell phone.
“What annoying people! I don’t understand how they can’t take no for an answer!” complained the teenager, as she checked a news website with the latest articles about the hunters and portals. “Can you believe it?”
“...” Katia blinked, a little nervous about not knowing what answer Natasha was looking for her to give her, and for a few seconds she didn’t know what to answer to the kind young woman who had stayed taking care of her while the others returned while she felt the enormous pressure to give an answer that was satisfactory. “Uh... Maybe it would be a good idea for Mrs. Kalysto to change her number? Maybe... Maybe they’ll stop bothering her," she answered, but seeing the frown on Natasha’s face as she sat at the table right in front of her inside the Starbucks, her nerves increased. “Ehh...I..." Not knowing what else to say, she ducked her head, embarrassed to make a fool of herself again by giving her opinion, as her mother had always reproached her.
“I was referring to the news that just came out, but that’s a good idea! We should tell her when she gets back!” She said, passing her phone to her to see the official notice just released by the government after creating the hunters’ association two days ago. “From now on, all people who wake up a system are obliged to register in the association! Besides, it is now considered mandatory for every hunter to participate in the hunt for monsters! Are they crazy? Don’t you think it’s unfair?”
“... Do they give us two weeks to register or else it will be considered a crime?” She was surprised. “Does that mean that if I don’t register, I’ll go to jail?” She panicked. “But I don’t want to go to jail!” At that moment, Kalysto’s cell phone rang again, but both girls ignored it.
“Neither do I! But neither do I intend to offer myself as a sacrificial lamb for the government!” Natasha muttered. “...I think I’ll tell Mom that we’d better stay with our grandparents in Mexico. There are a lot of hunters there and although they give a month to register, it is not mandatory to stay active. They even helped with the problem in San Diego when the monsters that came out of the tower in Los Angeles invaded the city.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Do you have family there too?” The little blonde was surprised, she was just learning about what had happened in the last few weeks, not quite understanding how she had lived there for two months, while on Earth it had only been a couple of weeks. “My paternal grandparents live in Mexico.”
“Yes, my grandmother on my mother’s side lives in Guadalajara!” answered. “Then you should tell your father to move, too. I don’t think it’s safe for us to stay here," she whispered, leaning closer to her. “No, if the government plans to force us to fight those things, and with Kalysto having to go back to you-know-where... it’s not safe for us to come out alive if we face them on our own,” the face of both lost all color as they looked worriedly at the screen, frightened by the news. At that moment, Kalysto’s cell phone rang again. “But what the fuck is the problem with these people? Can’t they stop calling at once?” Natasha complained, and when she was about to turn off the phone, she saw that the name of the number that was calling said ‘Katia’s Dad’. “Hello?” She answered immediately, trying to hide her anger.
“Is this the number of the person who have my daughter?” A male voice answered, but Natasha was annoyed by his comment.
“Hey, saying it like that makes it sound like Kalysto kidnapped her! Don’t you know how many times she had to save your daughter’s life from those perverted monsters?”
“Nat? Is everything all right?! the girl questioned, frowning as she saw the young woman pounding the table in anger.
“Here! Talk to your father! Can you believe he’s insinuating that Kalysto kidnapped you after all she did for you!” Natasha shouted as she handed the phone to the blonde, who received it in bewilderment. Katia looked at her father’s cell phone number on the screen. Her eyes watered immediately and her hands began to tremble at the sight of it. She couldn’t believe she could finally hear her father’s kind voice again, after all she had been through.
“Daddy?” Her voice broke with emotion and the longing to see him again and hug him choked her heart.
“My little princess! Is that you?” sobbed the masculine voice on the other end of the line.
***
All was darkness.
Kalysto’s consciousness wandered in the middle of nowhere. She could barely see a soft white glow around her body as she felt as if she was floating on water and the cold was seeping into her bones.
Where am I? she wondered, but there was nothing but shadows around her.
“... Master! ...” Tsuki’s voice echoed in the middle of the infinite space. But Kalysto’s body was heavy, as heavy as or heavier than her eyelids. Even so, she struggled to open them again before the constant cries of her pet, which were repeated again and again. “....Master! Can you hear me?”
Tsuki? She thought, but her mind felt even heavier than her body, as if a thick fog enveloped every one of her senses, preventing her from thinking clearly.
“... Master! Can you hear me?...” Not getting an answer, the fenrir projected his voice with more force. “Master! I’m in front of the entrance to the top floor, but I can’t get in! Master! Wake up!” He despaired.
Communication with the sacred beasts! Tsuki! Can you hear me? She asked, and suddenly, all was no longer darkness. A thick fog became visible in front of her as a rippling ground appeared before her feet, and the world spun.
As soon as her feet touched the ground, the floor rippled as if it were made of water. And the ripples spread out for several meters before being lost in the infinite darkness.
Where are you?
“Master, now you are trapped inside your mind! You should take advantage of it and look for the seal!” Tsuki encouraged. “I’ll try to help you any way I can!”
But after almost half an hour of walking through the mist and the sea of darkness, Kalysto found nothing.
There’s nothing here but darkness! Kalysto complained.
“Master, turn left!”
So Kalysto did, and there at the bottom of the immense darkness, surrounded by fog and a different kind of darkness than the one that covered everything around Kalysto, was a large circle covered with another kind of darkness.
Creeper-like lines of darkness ran across the cracked surface of the seal, which glowed in the midst of the black sea.
I found it! She thought in disbelief. Recognizing the snaking tendrils of darkness that escaped from the seal.
...Is that Persephone?