I could feel the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end. Every nerve in my body was tensed and apprehending a great evil I could already feel crawling its way through the walls. I took a hesitant step backward, my hand trained steadily on the hilt of my sword, while my other fanned out in a protective swoop over Nera, who was now cowering closer to the back wall. My eyes stayed locked on the door at the other end of the foyer where strange noises began to whisper.
A loud, piercing scream in the distance.
Weston jumped and sucked in a breath, stepping back beside me. The library was at a dead silence - a too quiet that put my entire body and mind on edge. My fingers were trembling; palms already sweating. Maker, my heart was ready to burst from my chest.
"C-Cullen.." Nera whispered from behind me, now hovering under the space of my arm with her small hands clutching my cape. I wrapped my arm around her head and pulled her close, eyes never leaving the door. I could feel Weston tensing beside me, his breath shallowing to a ragged tremble.
"We must do something!" he hissed at me under his breath. I couldn't speak; my entire breath relied entirely on what would happen next, what the darkness lurking behind that door brought forth. It began shake - slowly, quietly - then build to a frightening rumble. I could hear the hissing and growling and scratching just under the cracks of the frame. Nera whimpered and clung closer to me.
A great crack sounded against the door, and we all jumped. Nera squeaked and began to whimper again.
I could sense the presence, but I felt I could not locate where exactly. My grip clutched tightly around my belt, eyes latching hungrily onto the door, watching as smoke and black liquid began to seep under the frame. I took a step back, further towards the south entrance, with Nera pressed closely against the crook of my left arm. She was trembling.
"Do not leave from this spot, Nera," I ordered, still not looking down. She said nothing. I, assuming she nodded, released her from my grip and stepped forward while gesturing to Weston to take over. He stepped into the space I had occupied, his body now hovering protectively beside her.
I stepped carefully up to the shuddering door, drawing my sword out of the hilt and brandishing it tightly in both, curled fists. As I stepped within a foot of the monstrous thing, I could audibly hear the creatures lurking just behind the surface. Unnatural, sickening noises burbled from behind. I pulled my lips into a detested snarl, raising my sword above my head. I used my right hand to reach for the handle, fingertips hovering gingerly over the surface in fear. I was trembling.
Maker give me strength-
"CULLEN! Look out!"
The warning was drowned out by a piercing, shrill screech as I felt myself thrown back against the bookcase and pinned there. The door exploded into pieces, snapping off from its hinges and crashing just below my feet on the floor. I couldn't breathe - I couldn't move. I coughed and tried to bring back into focus the figure in the doorway. A woman I knew from the tower - Adessa - stood in the doorway with both hands raised, covered in blood.
A terrified scream of a child echoed behind me, but I could not respond. Adessa's sightless eyes surrounded me, and captivated me. I was powerless to do anything under her command, though in the backs of my mind I knew I was screaming to be released from her blood magic.
"Release him!"
Weston charged in front of her, breaking the visual contact and concentration. I felt a great weight lifted off my chest as I dropped down from the bookcase and slammed against the floor. I only took a moment to cough and take my breath back in before scrambling to my feet, sword at the ready.
"Adessa stop this!" I yelled while dodging to the side from a spell just nicking my robes. "You are not yourself!" I planted my feet firmly on the floor behind her, with Weston stalking around the front. She stood between us, feet hovering slightly off the ground with both hands still raised, her blood suspended between them. She laughed - an unearthly, horrifying sound - and turned her sightless, sickened gaze on Weston.
"All shall know his power soon enough!" she spoke with the voice another much darker and more sinister than her own. I could hear the demon hiding just beyond the veil, and gripped my sword in my hand.
"Release her, demon, or this fight shall be your last!" I ordered, my sword at the ready. Another suspended laugh that unnerved me to the core, and she slowly turned to face me. Her eyes pierced me through once more, but I knew better this time. My guard was up, a grit determination written on my face.
"You shall know suffering most of all," she laughed, then abruptly turned and spread her hands wide at the other side of the foyer. My eyes immediately found Nera, who was frozen in terror, curled up in the corner on the opposite side of the room.
"Nera, no!" I yelled, but it was too late. I heard the fateful scream as she was lifted off the ground, the blood surrounding her in a circling haze. I stumbled forward, my heart thrashing out of my chest, head screaming to stop her before it was too late.
Then the sickening, crunching rip of bones and flesh broke my desperation mid-run. The air, the very life left my chest as I watched Nera tear in half with one, petrified, agonizing scream, then silence as her torn corpse was dropped to the floor with a sickening, wet slap.
I stumbled and crashed to my knees, the tears springing to my eyes in horror. I choked on my sob, unable to make myself stand. I tried to crawl forward, and stumbled again.
Maker why, WHY! WHY!?
"NERA!" I cried, feeling the words stutter in my throat in another wave of sobs. I felt myself dragged from the ground, now eye-level with the south wing door as I stumbled around in a half-choke and found Weston's wide eyes locking with my own.
"Stand up; get yourself together! I need you, Cullen!" he ordered, though the words themselves sounded hazy and far-off. My body responded to the order, sword swinging back into motion as I propelled myself forward at the horde of demons flooding in through the north entrance. My mind was broken and shut - my body a puppet for repelling the forces against us.
Over and over they came - in waves of creatures I had never witnessed and in the form of comrades and friends that I knew. A third wave, finally conquered, as Weston sliced his blade through the heart of a bewitched templar - a friend of ours, Gerard - and let his body drop with a wet thud onto the ground. I could see the pain written on Weston's face as he drew his blade back and turned to me, and then suddenly my mind snapped back into place.
"We cannot stay here," I said, my eyes only just recognizing the mounds of bodies littering the floor and staining the carpets with blood.
I cannot stay here..
The smell and sight was unbearable. I would not force us for one more moment to stay in that wretched place to die under the hands of those we trusted and fought alongside. We had to stop - we had to find Greagoir and purge the source before any more innocent lives were slaughtered.
"I will not let them die in vain," I said while gritting my teeth and breaking into a run through the south entrance. Weston broke mid-step behind me and fell to a halt with one hand nervously touching his belt.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
I turned to find him stepping back towards the north entrance and jutting one thumb. "The stairs are that way, mate," he nodded. I gritted my jaw together and frowned at him, redrawing my sword from the hilt once more.
"I know," I answered honestly with a nod, "but there could be more still trapped on the third floor. We must save them." I was determined to save any innocent life still in the tower; I would be damned if I let Greagoir offer another child up as bait to these.. creatures.
"I will not leave them behind." This was not a suggestion, but an order. I was not giving Weston the option to turn and run; we would fight our way through a dozen more hordes of demons if it meant saving anyone else. I stared him down long and hard, waiting to see the decision flicker in his eyes. After a hesitant pause, he knitted his brow together and stepped forward, though petrified.
"I'm with you Cullen - until the end," he nodded. I nodded back briefly, placing my hand on his shoulder and squeezing it.
"Thank you, my friend," I said, "I could not have done this otherwise without you."
He smiled, weakly, and with that - we both glanced once more back to the north entrance before turning and making our way to the third floor staircase, swords brandished and hearts stone-set.