Under the silver radiance of the dual moon, Adam writhed along the wet ground, his listless eyes scanning what lay ahead. A few minutes had gone by since he lost his arms, and yet he had only traveled a fair distance. His body constantly trembled as he wriggled along the wet surface, and his shrieks and groans filled the air. Although he felt exhausted, Adam did not dare to rest. If he did, who knew what part of his body would disappear next? Moreover, he did not want to experience the pain of having his limb or any other part of his body disintegrate.
"Pl-Please, someone, help m-me…"
Adam's words trailed off as he lay before a massive tomb. Unlike the ones before, neither wild vines nor flowers decorated its surface. In fact, part of its silver walls gave off a luster under the radiance of the moon.
Laying in front of the tomb, Adam's eyes roamed the tomb and its surroundings, his eyes falling on the entrance to the mausoleum, "Are these footsteps?" Adam muttered.
He could see footprints etched into the surface of the wet ground, with mud gathered at the entrance of the mausoleum.
'Doesn't this mean that someone is in there?' For the first time in a long while, Adam felt hopeful. If someone was really in there, then there was a possibility he would be saved.
Wasting no time, he wiggled into the entrance of the dark mausoleum. Due to his low position and hasty movements, he couldn't see the words 'Temple of Jolran' etched on the top of the tomb. Just as Adam disappeared into the darkness, an oddly shaped shadow was cast on the walls of the tomb.
"Some-Somebody help me! Pl-Please!" Adam's screams echoed as he wiggled down a flight of stairs. Surrounded by darkness, he had no idea where he was headed or if anyone heard his words; however, he had no intention of stopping. Although in immense pain, he screamed while rolling down the stairs, only stopping when his body slammed against a cold surface.
His new location was equally as dark as the stairs earlier. However, as he lay on the floor, he could see a flickering light at the far end of the room.
"Is that a shadow?" Adam muttered, his voice hoarse. The scar on his neck had worsened, his left leg and stomach showed signs of disintegrating, and the vision from his left eye had turned blurry. Coupled with the fact that he was still in immense pain. The fact that he was still alive was a mystery to him, and the only thing keeping him alive was his determination to live.
Although Adam knew where to go next, his body felt like an immovable rock. However, the fear of death—and an excruciating one at that—forced him to move his body.
As he inched closer to the end of the room, jumbled whispers reached him. It grew as he got closer to the end of the room.
'There are people there. God, please let me find someone who can help me.' As Adam silently prayed, only two meters separated him from the exit. He could see different shadows projected on the walls, and the voices were clearer than ever, but he didn't know what they said. It sounded Celtic to him. Not bothered with the details, he used all his strength to roll into the room.
Just as he entered the room, his left leg gave a muffled explosion before disintegrating into nothingness. Adam's screams echoed; his body trembled. His stomach caved in, and his left eye shattered.
"Kill me! I can't take this anymore. Please, someone, kill me. Just make it stop!"
Adam's words reverberated. However, no one put him out of his misery; neither did anyone acknowledge his presence.
With the sight of his right eye gradually getting blurry, Adam observed his new surroundings. As he lay on the terracotta-tiled floor, he could see seven cloaked figures who stood at strategic positions on a septegram. They each uttered strange words Adam couldn't comprehend. At their center, Adam could see the naked body of a young boy, with his limbs tied and his eyes blindfolded. Surrounded by red and black candles, Adam could see the young boy trembling, with tears streaking down his cheeks from underneath the gray blindfold. At the extreme end of the bland room, Adam could see seven opened coffins, an adult male and female occupying two. Two teenagers, male and female, occupied another. Then, a young girl occupied the seventh. Beside it was the eighth coffin. One didn't need to tell Adam who would occupy it.
As he lay on the floor—petrified and unable to comprehend the sickening sight, he saw two children hanging from the ceiling of the room, male and female, both naked.
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'What the hell is this? How could they do this to kids?'
Just as this thought filled Adam's mind, his right leg shattered; and he screamed in agony. Twisting and turning, he smashed his body against the walls, rolling towards the sacrificial scene.
'Oh, no, this is not good,' Adam thought, with only a few inches separating him from one of the cloaked figures. Instinctively—closing his eye, Adam anticipated the pain that would follow from the impact.
However, that pain would never come. Opening his eye, Adam saw the cloaked figure sitting on the ground as if he had tripped on something, with the others trying to help him back to his feet.
"What's going on? How did—?"
"Help me… please… help me." A feeble voice interjected from behind.
Turning slightly, Adam's eye widened as he realized the owner of the voice and his new location. He lay at the center of the septegram, facing the young boy.
However, what left him wide-eyed was the ethereal projection floating above the body of the young boy. It resembled the young boy, but he seemed to be in agony. It was his soul.
"Don't let… them kill my sister and brother… please… help me…"
"What do you want me to do?" Adam asked. Although he couldn't even help himself, he could not ignore the pitiful plight of the young boy.
"Don't let… them kill my sister and brother… please… help me…"
"Tell me? How can I help—ah!"
Before Adam could finish his statement, a hole opened in his stomach. The cracks around its edges gradually spread towards his chest, and the scar on his neck worsened, too. The vision in Adam's right eye went dark as it slowly disintegrated.
'Finally! I can rest. I'm sorry I was able to help your brother and sister. Mom, I'm sorry for everything.'
At that same moment, the chants of the seven figures echoed in the room; and the soul and body of the young trembled violently. Like Adam, the soul disintegrated and at a speed faster than Adam's.
Five seconds later, the young boy's soul had disintegrated into Oblivion; and his body breathed no more. At that same moment, the chants of the hooded figures stopped. Meanwhile, Adam slowly faded out of existence like a charred wood being broken to dust.
One cloaked figure lifted the corpse of the young boy. Before the corpse could rest on his arms, it slipped… falling back on the ground while knocking down some candles in the process.
"Be careful! That's Lord Jolran's food. Treat it with respect!" A cloaked figure chided.
"Forgive me, Priest. It won't happen again."
With that said, he picked up the corpse once more before placing it in the vacant eighth coffin. Wasting no time, he sealed all eight coffins before returning to his position in the septegram.
"Priest, what do we do next?" A melodic voice echoed.
Loud laughter followed as the body of the priest trembled, "What next you say? With the food prepared—of course, we'll have to give Lord Jolran the finest of wine. He only drinks that of children below the ages of ten."
"Bring them down," the priest said, pointing at the children hanging from the ceiling. "Drain them of everything!"
Just as he finished his declaration, one cloaked figure approached a lever hidden behind the vertical coffins. Pulling it, the unconscious children slowly descended.
"Remember not to damage any of their organs we need it for—huh?"
The priest paused, his eyes focused on the vertical coffins. Just like him, the others also stared in silence. Apart from the burning wick, a low rumble filled the room.
"What's that? You"—the priest pointed at the closest person to the coffins—"go check it out."
With a nod, the figure cautiously approached the coffins. With each step he took, the rumble lessened. By the time he stood before the coffins, the rumbling had disappeared.
"Anything?" the priest asked.
"Noth—"
Before the man could finish his statement, the doors leading to the room slammed shut, alarming the cloaked figures. Wasting no time, they all ran to the sealed entrance.
"How is this possible? Only I can open and seal this entrance. Who did this?" the priest muttered.
Silence greeted his words. Just like him, the others had no idea what happened.
A few seconds later, one hooded figure said, "Priest, could it have—?"
Before he could finish his statement, a deafening explosion rocked the room, shaking it to its very core. All the candles had died but one. The priest and several of the followers staggered to their knees.
"What happened? Who is doing this?" the priest said under his breath, blocking the dust assaulting his nose.
The moment he raised his head, he noticed that his followers stared at the wall behind him, their eyes quivering.
'What's making them so sacred?' the priest thought as he instinctively turned his head. A split-second later, his brown eyes quivered; and his mouth dropped.
A coffin slab buried more than two feet into the wall dissected a follower in two. The soiled lower half assumed a kneeling position with blood, fluid, and guts spilling out. From where they stood, they couldn't see the upper half of the follower.
While they stared in incredulity, the sound of light footsteps reached them, sending chills to the very fiber of their beings. Subconsciously turning, the naked body of a young boy greeted their eyes. He had pale skin complexion which matched his snow-white hair. His mouth leaked drool while several bone-cracking noises echoed from his body. As they stared at this young boy, he equally stared back. The whites in his eyes had turned pitch black with his irises blue.
"Dem-Demonification?"
As the words of the priest echoed, the last flame in the room extinguished. A split-second later, hellish screams echoed within the room.