XXV

Behind the 'wall' was a structure that it was supposed to hide, prohibiting anyone to see or reach no matter what. It was also known to ancient mankind as a doorway of the gods – a dolmen gate.

"What's that?"

"A portal to another dimension", Fury replied. "Although I prefer to use that demon merchant's Serpent Holes. And don't ask who that demon was." She quickly added, she becoming irritated to the young angel's constant inquiries.

Castiel kept his mouth shut and asked no more, instead went back to studying the gate. It was made of a horizontal slab of rock being supported by two parallel slabs and standing several feet high, covered in strange symbols of unknown origin. It looked very old, ancient or even predated the advent of man on the face of the Earth. And so, his silent question was, how can these standing stones be a portal? Who built it and why in all places was it built in here?

"Each dimensions or realms had their own spaces of influence, had boundaries of their own. Portals, contrary to beliefs however, were not exactly termed as doors, but more of a stabilizer. Portals, created whether through pure magic or some arcane technology, do connect two realms together and serves as anchors while creating a rift through both of the realms' borders. A stable passage between worlds is created and then it will make solid matters pass through one dimension to the other without risking an inter-dimensional collision." Fury explained further. Throughout her long existence, she had taken interest in learning things and how they operate in between missions, as the knowledge may become invaluable an asset in a situation.

Both angels went silent for a while as they stared at her. They never thought the Rider could speak logical or philosophical matters at all, until now. So astonished were they that they only blinked at each other as she continued to explain. Fury looked at them, curious why the usually antagonistic caster hadn't said anything.

"What?"

"Nothing…" Marion replied. "It's just that… how come you knew so much all about portals? Had anyone taught that knowledge to you?"

"Hmm… let's see… I just know from personal experience, no one taught me so I just observed."

"Anything else about portals then?"

Fury gritted her teeth, jaws clenching. "My mother…" She said reluctantly, narrowing her eyes. And her next words spelled pure hatred. "That witch first came to us through one…"

"But… who's your mother?" Castiel couldn't help himself and asked.

He stiffened when the Rider's bright yellow eyes drew onto him, which seemed to grow brighter each second. The longer he stared back at them, the more fear he felt creeping unto his body, especially when she strode towards him purposefully. He felt himself unconsciously backing away until he felt the wall on his back, and the Rider coming closer with that same intense gaze. She grabbed him by the throat and slammed him back against the wall, then leaned forward.

She spoke venomously threatening. "Don't make me speak that name… Ever!" He nodded in understanding and was released.

Marion quickly got to him and glared at the Rider. "You didn't have to do that!" She snarled.

"I just did, didn't I?" She relied flatly before facing the portal.

She just stood there. But deep inside her head was a maelstrom of thoughts, swirling wildly that she had to steel her mental endurance. There were voices in her head that kept speaking, shouting, begging, and ordering her ever since she entered through the golden doorway. But one dominated over the rest, mocking her, taunting her and provoking her. The voices rose in intensity, bombarding her mind with frustration; she knew she could ignore some of them but the constant pressure is putting her sanity in the brink. She had to find a way to stop this mental torture as soon as possible. And then, a solution presented itself.

The symbols on the stones suddenly lit up red and crackled with eldritch energy. Fury quickly jumped back into a defensive stance and a hand on her weapon. The other two also backed off to a safe distance, ready for what's to happen. Red lightning jumped from one stone to the other as it hummed with power, until it created two straight and horizontal lines of pure energy at the center, which then expanded upward and downward simultaneously; just like the opening of a scroll in a vertical manner. The space in between showed only a red swirling curtain which produces a pricking sensation to the touch – the boundary of this world at its thinnest, still with some resistance against solid objects. It stayed undisturbed for a few minutes, until a ripple announced the arrival of someone, or something. A gigantic silhouette was seen at the other side and then it crossed over, miniscule electricity crackling softly against its skin. The curtain returned to its current smooth form after the creature disembarked from it, as if it had never been breached.

The creature was another one of those giants, but this one was twisted from its original form by some dark power; it hunched a little with his scarred body, grew his teeth longer that it protruded from his mouth like a pair of tusk, and only one eye in the forehead. He held in hand a bloody piece of bone; a long thighbone having its other end tied with other bone fragments, and producing a makeshift club – his weapon of choice. He looked at them and instantly bellowed a challenge as he repeatedly struck the ground with the bony club.

Marion quickly readied a spell and looked at the Rider. She was not surprised that she was just standing there and staring at the abomination with weapon not yet activated. The giant stopped striking the ground, and then attacked the Rider – the obvious and first target the creature laid his eyes on. Marion saw the look on her face; eyes narrow, glowing even brighter, and- is that a smirk on her lips? The bony club crashed down where she stood and caused a cloud of dust to form as he struck again and again. He roared victoriously, and lifted the club to inspect his kill, but found no Rider. He looked around, like a foolish boy lost in a crowd. And even the angels were mystified. Is this another one of her tricks?

"Do you have any idea?" They heard her disemboweled voice, and looked around.

"There!" The angels looked up and there she is, standing on the club's spiked end as it sits on the giant's shoulder.

The giant spotted her and roared in frustration, twisting the club sharply to shake her off. Instead of jumping off, she sprinted along the weapon's length towards the hideous face, jumping to the thick arm when she was flipped off. The giant then tossed her high enough and tried to grab her with his other hand as she fell, but she only spun away from it, digging her talons into the creature's arm. With a kick, she propelled herself towards the face as she reactivated her weapon then lashed at him. He howled in pain and cupped his face wound, automatically dropping the club. She grabbed the opportunity; she dropped to the ground and grabbed the discarded club, heaving it onto her shoulder. With a grunt, she swung the club and struck the giant on his kneecap. He screamed again and clasped at his broken knee, a piece of bone jutting out of the skin. She swung again and it hit him directly in the head, snapping the club in to with the force. He fell hard after that with a loud thud.

"Do you know how it feels to be betrayed?" She continued as she strode towards him. "To be betrayed by the one you trusted the most, and used for her personal gain?" The giant slowly sat upright shaking his bloody head, a little wobbly in his movements as he glared at her still blurry form. "Do you?!"

The giant shifted his sight onto the broken club and tried to reach out for it. His large hand neared the weapon when a red arc flashed across his arm, and causing the forearm to drop, severed at the elbow. Fury landed on the ground, then leapt again, executing a jumping high front kick and hitting the chin hard enough to knock his head back. Still in mid-air, she used her weapon as a grappling hook, pulling herself towards the creature's head and following through with a flying kick to the throat. The other hand swept at her, which she avoided by somersaulting over it, and grappling it before landing. She pulled back then met it with a stepping side kick, feeling the bones in the arm break under the sole of her boot and the arm going limp. She jumped onto the chest and started to pummel his face with her fists.

Castiel stared dumbfounded as he watched the brutality. Is this her true self? He remembered the things she said to him, then realized something, that he was the trigger of this side of her and yet could not do anything about it. He started to feel guilty, when a hand landed on his shoulder. Looking behind him, he saw the caster's eyes narrowed as she watched – a tell-tale sign that she noticed something. Something about the Rider.

"Stop feeling guilty over something trivial or you'll just get yourself killed. Ready yourself." She instructed, not peeling her eyes off the ruthless treatment ahead.

"I know I caused this!"

Marion ignored him, instead pointing at something near the Rider. "See that dark aura about her?"

Castiel looked closer and indeed, there's this dark presence all over her. It seemed to feed her mind dark thoughts, which can be reflected through her viciousness. Her eyes glowed even brighter, with a tinge of red, and a wide grin on her lips showing her fangs.

"Is that-?"

"Yes," Marion affirmed. "She's on the verge of madness."

"But how are we not affected by it?"

"I think it's because of our radiance. And that's probably why those black things needed to latch onto us, angels, in order to corrupt. She however, had no such aura, and so were the giants. We're safe for now, but not for long."

"But can we do something about her?"

"No, not yet. We'll just have to wait and see…"

Fury gladly faced the giant, a release at last. But over time of the one-sided fight, she felt herself losing control over her actions. She felt the pleasure, as her fists connecting with the giant's flesh, the cracking of bones, and the cries of agony; she's in a state of euphoria, taking joy in crushing her foe till nothing remains. This is…

Madness!

She stopped, with her arm still reared up in the air. The fog clouding her mind started to clear away, leaving her fully in control and her vision not a blur. What was that? She brought down her hand, unclenched it and stared at it as she stood up. She saw red, and not just the color – it is blood. That's odd; it was usually black, not crimson. She looked at the giant's corpse before her, past the now caved-in face and the eyeball lolling out of its eye socket, and took note on everything, especially the skin. It was pale, untainted flesh, not even hardened into a carapace-like state like the others; and also not 'marked' as the rest either. A conclusion formed in her head.

"This one is not a puppet," she announced in a casual voice, loud enough to be heard.

"What are you saying, Rider?" Marion asked from a distance.

She turned to face them before explaining. "This one was not like those things who introduced themselves to us earlier. Those were just zombies; husks of their dead that were being controlled by the dark liquids from within. And, this one was driven mad while still drawing breath. The physical alterations may be from evolution or mutation of some sorts, either by cannibalism, or…" She paused as she thought about the possibility.

"Or what?"

"Or that someone was deliberately modifying their forms for their own satisfaction; someone man enough and too delusional to play god."

Both angels looked closely at the corpse, and instantly saw what she was talking about. This one looked more like a mutated monstrous human than anything of demonic nature. One more thing of note was the behavior – especially the behavior - in comparison with the beings earlier. Those who had ambushed the caster and her friends were coordinated and obviously had a central brain that governed their overall strategy; this one had nothing but pure savagery and no tactical mind or anything else - just the urge to crush anyone who stood before him.

"And this meant we are nearing our objective," Fury continued. With a wave of her hand, her blood-spattered body was enshrouded by a cloak of shadow and with another sharp wave, the cloak ripped into shreds like cloth, before dissipating back to the shadows and leaving her body clean of the blood.

"Is she alright?" Castiel whispered.

"Seems like," Marion replied. "As I can see, the aura had disappeared without any trace. We can only assume that she had lifted it from her mind completely."

"It's all good then?"

"No, not yet. Just keep you guard up." She then looked him directly in the eyes and he could see she is dead serious. "Even Riders can be corrupted…"

The three passed through the gate without any more disruptions or ambushes. And soon after, it spat them out into another realm. They were not in the reaches of the ThirdKingdom anymore, that's for sure. The angels strode ahead of the Rider, inspecting the surrounding vast lands for any sign of the creatures. Fury stepped out last; and what met her gave the shock of her life.

"No… It can't be…" She muttered, wide-eyed as she scanned everything in sight.

Before her was the vast and bleak realm known to all as the place where all the trash, the unfit, the broken and the undesirables were thrown and left to rot for all eternity. But to her and her brothers, it's the place they first called their home and the place of their birth.

The Neph'l realm.