“Skala, have you given any thought to how these occult groups work?”
Danny thought about it for a second. “No. Not really.”
“Unlike Elementalism, where you focus on building individual power through mastery of spells, occult practices tend to focus on shared or borrowed power. Usually, this power comes from demons, given in exchange for sacrifices, servitude, or other agreements. What jumps out to you so far?”
“Uhh group power? People together strong?” Danny clutched at straws.
“Close,” sarcasm dripped through the man’s voice. “These groups rely on rituals to exchange for power. If four distinct groups all used demonic mana at the same time, that means it was likely connected. A larger ritual.”
“Bigger ritual, more power?”
“Now you’re getting it. We have no idea how big these groups are, or what they’ve sacrificed. We’ll hang back until Tamm and the team have some more info for us, but we need to be prepared.”
Not long after, Smith’s phone rang and he put it through the car’s speakers. “Talk to me Tamm.”
A feminine voice replied, with a distinct European accent. “Four groups. Thirteen members each. This has been planned for months. I think there might be kids involved.”
“Fuck,” Smith cursed. Danny’s stomach dropped.
“They didn’t talk much over anything accessible. It’s definitely something big. I’m getting Madley involved. This is going to be bigger than anything before.” Her choppy way of speaking was distracting, but the information was clear.
“Get the Security Force involved, move any wizards capable of combat,” Smith commanded. Tamm didn’t reply. “Do we have a main location or is it entirely decentralised?”
Danny could hear Tamm clicking away on a keyboard. “9 Crescent Terrace. We’re getting a far stronger read of demonic mana there. Likely the central stage of the ritual.”
Smith dropped the accelerator to the floor, the car roaring to life. The vehicle tore through the quiet streets of the suburbs, cutting straight toward an address that appeared on his head unit. “Thanks Tamm, I’ll be there shortly. I’ll get in contact when we clear the location.”
“Good luck. Be careful.” The call ended.
“There might be kids involved?” Danny asked, scared of the answer.
“Demons love kids Danny. No clue why, I think it’s purely just to mess with us. Either way, if Tamm says there might be kids, we need to be careful. Either they’re already dead, or they’re about to be. I hope we get there before they’re sacrificed.”
“Yeah, it would be good to save them.” Danny didn’t want to let any kids get sacrificed for demonic purposes, or sacrificed at all.
“It’ll be more of a problem for us if they’ve already been sacrificed, that’s a serious offering. The amount of power that can be given in return will be a problem.” There was a callousness in Smith’s voice that made Danny’s stomach turn. He could tell the man didn’t value the human lives at stake.
Danny took a deep breath and tried to focus. If he could save the kids then he needed to be focused. “What’s the plan, Smith?”
“No mercy, Skala. If it moves, kill it on sight. The amount of demonic mana that a ritual like this is going to generate is too big to take any risks with.”
“What about the kids?”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“Skala, Danny,” Smith took a second to look away from the road and at him. “I know you can’t possibly understand this, but a ritual like this could lead to thousands dying. Demons don’t care about human lives, they are beings of pure evil. A ritual of this size hasn’t been done in Madley, ever. It happens in other places, more primitive places, but not here. These rituals lead to the death of entire towns.”
The man then turned back to focus on the road, darting between cars and traffic, closing in on their destination. “No mercy Danny. We can’t risk it.”
Danny took the remaining duration of the drive to focus on his breathing and to try and get his head right. Smith’s taking this seriously, this has to be important. Danny fought down his ethical squabbling. He had encountered one of these demons directly, he had felt its otherworldly presence. Smith wasn’t pulling his leg, at least Danny didn’t believe he had a reason to. The man had shown a disregard for human life, but Danny didn’t get the feeling he was a psycho.
If Smith was telling him that this was serious, that they couldn’t afford to show mercy, then he meant it. Thousands of people could die if we don’t stop whatever is going on. He realised that Smith had been monitoring the group he had taken out last night for a while, whereas this had called for immediate action. There was clearly something more pressing going on here.
All of this helped Danny steel his mind as they pulled up in the middle of a narrow street, in front of a normal suburban house. There were a number of cars parked in the street and driveway, making it obvious that some sort of gathering was taking place. Smith’s car plus the parked cars meant that the narrow road was blocked.
“Skala, can you blow up the front of the building?” Smith asked.
“Yeah, I guess I could. Should I?”
“Do it.” The man took out his rifle and aimed it at the building. He took a measured stance, bracing the stock against his shoulder, looking ready to kill.
Danny took a calming breath and focused on his mana. He wasn’t entirely sure why his mana projectiles exploded but hoped it would do the same thing it had up until now again. He called on his mana, aiming to summon as large a portion as he could. As he went to move the mana he suddenly felt a sickening feeling spread across his body.
It was the curse he didn’t realise he had forgotten about. It rapidly spread across his mana pool, by extension his body. The mana he attempted to call upon fumbled and spluttered. Danny felt dizzy, the world spun and he dropped to the ground without realising. His body began to burn up. He felt his mana rage against the alien presence that had been hiding within it.
“Skala!” Smith shouted.
Danny couldn’t muster a response to the man. His body was wracked by the odd feeling, it immediately made him think of the time he had been hospitalised. His entire mana pool was being assaulted by something, something he innately realised to be demonic. “Demon…” Danny choked out.
Smith immediately swivelled back toward the house, just as the front door burst open. A fireball tore through the air and hit Smith’s car. Smith cursed and immediately opened fire on the doorway. There was a pained cry, telling Smith he had hit someone.
Suddenly doors and windows from the surrounding houses all opened. Figures emerged, some of them carrying firearms. Danny was still writhing on the floor, in pain, Smith cursed and summoned two walls of fire that hid the two of them from the view on either side of the street. He grabbed Danny by the collar and dragged him toward the car. “Skala, talk to me. What’s going on?”
Smith inspected his car and found that the front half had been melted by the fireball. They wouldn’t be driving out of here. He grabbed his phone and immediately called Tamm. “What’s-”
Smith cut the woman off. “Ambushed. The kid’s been hexed or something. Need immediate backup. Not sure what we’re dealing with here but it was definitely targeted.”
“Okay. I’m coming personally. Everyone else has been sent to the other locations. Hold for five minutes.” The phone call was hung up.
“Ah yeah, five minutes. Fuck it, why not.” Smith cursed before turning his attention back to Danny. “I need you with me here, Skala.”
Danny was focused on his internal world right now. His mana was burning hot, he could feel his skin becoming drenched in sweat. He was focused on whatever it was that was assaulting his mana. It felt like the curse that the demon had placed on him, but a thousand times stronger. His mana was eating through it though, and quickly. Something was feeding the curse and it was attempting to hold out against the ravenous force of his mana. Danny felt like his mana was winning out, that it was only a matter of time until the curse was eaten through. Whatever had cursed him would be realising that as well.
“My children, you must move now! The sacrifice is weak, but not for long!” A sultry voice cried out. It seemed to come from nowhere, but everywhere at the same time. There were a series of rallying cries and the sound of footsteps could be heard from behind the walls of fire.
“What the fuck have I been dragged into?” Smith cursed.
Danny got up to his feet. He was groggy and could feel that his wasn’t going to be able to use his mana for a while, but Danny had done just fine for himself without mana for 24 years.