A piercing pain shot from his shoulder. Eiden thought his hand was taken off from the socket. Unbearable pain together with the heavy hot, and foul air around him, slowly suffocated him. The blade which he unknowingly had drawn, fell, and he felt his legs give away.

Eiden landed on his side, letting out a sob and a loud scream. A long minute passed, and someone conjured a floating globe of light.

“My hand," he gasped, trying to focus his magic, to alleviate the pain.

"Eiden?"

Blinking through tears, as they fell like a curtain covering his vision, he felt that initial pain was slowly dissipating as his magic worked. He made an effort to sit and was helped.

"Evan, Jake, you okay?" he asked through his teeth, battling with pain.

"What happened? I thought I was fighting with you, Eiden. Somewhere," Evan said in a confused tone. Eiden saw Evan put his blade back.

"I got a hell of a bruise. You jumped on my back," he groaned.

"Where are we?" Jake sounded shaken.

"We came to the dimension in a place that looked like a valley. I just thought about that place when I teleported. I'm not sure it's the same now. The sea is a bit far from that place," Eiden explained, as methodically using his magic to analyze the damage.

"You said about the illusions. We were fighting due to the influence of dark magic, right?" Evan asked.

"I think so, I had my blade out." Eiden replied putting his blade back in the belt.

They didn't talk much again after they realized that they were very close to killing each other. With the help of others, Eiden took his top clothes off to see the injury. The tendons were torn in his shoulder, which must have happened due to his sudden teleportation with a large weight.

He downed a healing potion and a strengthening potion and used his magic to heal the damage little by little. But, his arm was going to be extremely sore. He bandaged it and put on his shirt and mail shirt again. Even though it was a bit heavy, Eiden felt safer with the mail shirt.

The ash started to rain on them, they made a small impervious dome around them. But, it was obvious they needed to get away from here. Eiden hadn't forgotten the terrible modification of the portal; he had dropped the notes when the explosion happened. Even though they didn't mention it, Eiden found it was hard to meet Evan's eyes, and felt he was also avoiding Eiden's direct gaze.

To refresh themselves, they made tea and ate some chocolate snacks found in Evan's pack.

He was even more vulnerable now, with a hand injury, he was also feeling sluggish and sleepy, yet knew there was no way he could sleep here. Eiden struggled to keep his eyes open, should he just go somewhere else? But separating was another issue after they had a very realistic illusion. Being alone here was as dangerous as staying with them.

Eiden woke up groggily, must've fallen asleep. He can't move. A long silent moment made him realize his magic was blocked and he was bound with magic-resistant rope. He was lying on his back. He tried to relax his body, and his arm was still painful, however, the sleep and unconscious state must have helped his body to recover a little, and he felt less tired. He was not gagged at least. They might have worried that he would be choked.

He was sad. He brought them along, got them out of illusion, and got hurt. Is this the repayment? So, this is the end. He wished to see his parents and friends for one last time. Probably, this was supposed to happen. He remembered the prophecy. To give up something precious. Since it applied to both his mother and him, Eiden dying made sense. Because he's precious to his mother, they are all precious to him.

He sighed, stopped his monologue, opened his eyes, and saw Jake was preparing the runic circle. Where was Evan?

"Jake," Eiden called him. Jake turned around and smiled. A fake charming smile. Eiden at once knew he was under the influence of shadows.

"Jake, please, don't do this, man. You're influenced by dark magic." Eiden hated begging. Anyway, trying won't hurt.

Jake came to him and bent down. Eiden flinched; he didn't want to get beaten. Slicing his neck or getting a blade in his heart was one thing, but getting beaten, no thank you. But, Jake didn't. He touched Eiden's tear-stained cheeks with his fingertips.

"I'd have preferred to take you. But, I can't leave evidence, can I?"

He stroked Eiden's messy hair, which he felt clean, they must have cleaned him while he was unconscious. Eiden stayed perfectly still because those fingers were like something eek was crawling on him.

"Besides, you will be a perfect sacrifice. Better than your cousin." Jake looked at the other side of Eiden. Eiden heard a muffled grunt. Oh. Jake's working alone. But, how?

"How do you know the modification? Only Evan knows." If he's going to die, then he has to know.

Jake stood up.

"I picked up the notes. Imagine my surprise that two arch-enemies didn't bother to do a simple blood sacrifice," he chuckled to himself and a shiver ran through Eiden's body. He should have thrown the modified sequence to the fire.

To overrule the opening sequence, which required the key, Evan had tried different runes, and the note he last made was a blood sacrifice. But the problem with this was the intensity, it wouldn't simply work for usual methods of blood sacrifice such as writing runes with blood or adding a few drops. It needed lifeblood, a life drained to the circle slowly and deliberately.

Eiden couldn't understand why Evan was bound. Aren't they on the same side? Eiden wiggled to turn and see Evan. Oops. Evan was in worse shape than him, bound and gagged, and there was already a cut in his arm. Jake must have used Evan's blood to write the runes. His eyes were closed.

"Jake, please. We can find another way," Eiden tried again. Jake didn't reply.

"Why don't you take Evan? You're on the same side." Jake laughed, a maniac laugh. He turned to Eiden, his face decorated with an evil sneer.

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"You are really clueless, aren't you, little prince? Ever heard people say blood is thicker than water? I don't have ten times my weight in gold like you. But, I can bet every tasi of my fortune, young master Evan was planning to get me.

In the burning city, he tried to kill me first, I ran and then you managed to get in the middle. Killing you back at home is another matter. But choose a lowly guard over the precious little cousin?"

If Jake was going to use Eiden for blood sacrifice, then he needed to unblock his magic, because the lifeblood wouldn't work with magic blocks. For a second, Eiden thought. For a second, he'd have a chance to fight back, before Jake pierced his heart. Eiden tried to mentally map the course of events.

He thought he heard a strange sound, like a swish. His head movements were extremely limited, but when he looked around, he saw the outside of the dome was completely ash-covered and a seemingly muddy area.

He was startled when he noticed Jake's looming form standing beside him. He heard Evan's grunts and muffled unintelligible words. Jake only glanced at him, smiling.

"Why, young master Evan, are you upset that you didn't get me first? You should thank me for helping you by killing the pest. Isn't that what you called this thing?"

Jake scooped Eiden into his arms. Eiden wanted to scream and bite and cry and run away, but he stayed just frozen. He realized why Jake didn't drag him, the runic circle was complex, and neatly drawn, dragging him in the middle would mess it up. But he detested the feeling of Jake's touch. Jake dumped the blanket that was covering his body, and the chilly air hit Eiden's naked chest. He was carefully deposited in the middle.

"Jake, please," He wasn't sure if the cause was cold or fear, but he was shivering.

"Shh..it's ok. Not going to hurt, only a little cut," Jake murmured soothingly while writing the runes over Eiden's heart. The smell of the blood was overpowering. Get ready to defend, he yelled in his head, a battle cry. His senses were hyper-alert, he again heard the swish and caught a whiff of a different smell, like rotten meat.

A different magic. Something, something that was not Eiden, not Evan, or not Jake was lurking around them. Sitting inside a lighted little dome under the ash rain, nothing could be seen far into the pitch-black night. Anything could sneak behind.

Jake's fingers over his heart continued writing and he was unaware of the surroundings. Eiden was taken out of his thoughts, as Jake used the dagger to slice Eiden's palm. He whimpered in pain and realized Jake was almost done.

The last rune needed to be written in Eiden's blood. Jake dipped the blood-covered fingers into the palm wound, which Eiden watched in horror, and felt the new dark magic contamination. He was going to go mad like Jake. Eiden recognized the last rune.

Jake wiped his bloody hand on his clothes and bent down to kiss his forehead. Lifeblood sacrifices had been very rare and now they were a thing of the past. But he had heard that the subjects used were treated reverently and with much care. He thought he was going to throw up with his killer kissing him like a parent saying good night.

"There, all done,"

Eiden looked at him with tearful eyes, one last effort to discourage him. Jake patted Eiden's cheek and moved out of the circle to get in the position.

The dagger shone in the magical light. Now. Unblock my magic you filthy little ungrateful vermin. Eiden was ready to fight or die or fight to kill and die.

Then, he heard the swish louder, and a filthy rotten stench came with a rush of wind. The magic block disappeared, but for a split second Jake was distracted, probably by smell, and his dagger clashed with a hard shield of ice, which Eiden created by sheer willpower because he was still tied.

Jake screamed in frustration, but it cut in half as a huge dark shape descended with a swish, opening its mouth and biting Jake's head. The large beast descended so low that it swooped over Eiden, with Jake clutched between its jaws, and crashed a few yards behind him. Jake was dead. The bindings fell off and he scrambled to stand up, and dove to the floor to pick up his mail shirt. But he wasn't fast enough for Evan.

As he felt Evan on him, Eiden dropped to the ground with a shield covering him, and Evan clashed with the shield. Eiden rolled over to avoid a hard blow. Evan wanted him alive and kicking for sacrifice, he was not using lethal magic. The cut on Evan's hand had infected him too.

"Evan, no, fight the shadows," Eiden shouted.

Evan's eyes were wide and his face was marred with malice. In the background, they heard the beast crunching on Jake's bones. Then, came whispers. The runic circle was already completed, and here's your enemy. Evan is going to kill him right? Then there's nothing wrong with killing Evan. Evan was in the conspiracy. Evan was the reason he lost his wings. Evan laughed at him. Called him Earthworm. Yes, Earthworm. Nothing better than a Craig.

Evan jumped again, Eiden slipped hard on mud, tangling with Evan's legs, and bringing him down with a crash. He managed to draw his dagger in the commotion. They were at each other's throats in a second.

But, as Eiden curled his fingers around the hilt of his dagger, he had a clear thought. His dagger killed the corrupted dragons. That thought passed as he kicked Evan and Evan's punch grazed his injured shoulder making him cry in pain. Someone is going to die and that's not him.

They were disturbed by the beastly thing that jumped at them after finishing its meal. Its huge mouth was coated and dripping blood. It made a small growling sound, baring the bloody fangs. Eiden and Evan were a few feet apart from the beast's head and it started crawling in between them.

[https://i.imgur.com/o7FyLOy.jpg]

The beast lunged at them, dripping blood from its rotten mouth

Whispers were reverberating around him, Eiden was not sure if they were loud and everyone could hear, because they were chanting to kill for revenge. Eiden was fighting with his urge to kill, as a tiny voice of reason distracted him. The three opponents were moving slowly, towards each other.

Eiden who was covered in blood and his open torso must have been a more preferable sight, the beast lunged at him. Eiden's magic was held back by the dark magic, and he was unable to summon a powerful magical attack, but he managed to unleash a small wave of fire, not bigger than a torch. The fire was the ultimate bane of the dark creatures, and the beast stopped, screeched, and scurried back.

Evan had taken advantage of the situation and had gotten closer to him. His punch on Eiden's unprotected stomach made him momentarily blacked out as Evan threw him to the ground. Eiden got over it fast. Evan was trying to get him to the circle, yet, Eiden felt both his and Evan's reaction time was low, and he knew when he saw Evan's eyes that he was battling with dark whispers.

The beast had seen its chance. It pounced on them, and Evan pushed Eiden out of its way. Its fanged open jaws clamped hard on Evan's arm. Evan was still wearing the mail shirt, the fangs didn't pierce the arm, yet Eiden felt Evan's pain intensifying through his magic. It was a moment of clarity for Eiden.

The beast was so close to him, and Eiden, with one swift stroke, focused all his severely limited magic on his flaming dagger, burying it to the hilt into the beating heart of the corrupted shadow beast. The diamond tip of his dagger pierced the scales and thick hide, like cutting through metal.

The creature opened its mouth to screech, dropping Evan's hand, and thrashed, but Eiden held on to the hilt. In the periphery he saw, Evan picked up his weapon again. Still, Eiden didn't let go of the dagger, he pushed more with all his might, the animal let out another piercing cry and Eiden felt its weakening. A flash of metal and his thin shield of ice broke, sliding Evan's dagger over to his exposed arm, slicing the flesh.

Evan froze and dropped the weapon, the thrashing tail hit him in the torso making him slide to the floor. The animal too was stilled and its lifeless body fell to the ground. There was enough lifeblood, Eiden thought, as the black blood dripped through his fingers when he yanked back the dagger.

"Evan, portal," he yelled. With his body weakening due to blood loss, Eiden crumpled onto the ground.

Evan was struggling to stay awake. Eiden saw Evan, with a huge effort focus his magic, activating the runes, and one by one runes lit up. He crawled and put his hand on the circle, which was now covered with blood and ash and mud, slowly draining his magic to share the power requirement of the circle with Evan. His injured left hand was almost feeling useless, but he clutched Evan with that, the whispers telling him, he had a dagger in the other hand. How convenient. Kill..kill…

The circle completed, and they felt the disturbance in the air, Eiden wanted to kill. Why shouldn't he? Finish Evan looking into his eyes, one stroke through the heart...As the portal opened, his dagger burst into flames again. His fire burned the black blood from the beast on the dagger, and his hand. The pain flared and Eiden thrust his hand and flaming dagger to the portal.