Chapter Five: An Unknown Town Day one; 1:05 p.m.
Father Aryus emerges from the tunnel into, what appears to be a drainage hole. There is very little water flowing from the ditch and down into another tunnel. Aryus leaps across the opening, landing in the ditch. Cautiously, he lifts his head above the edge of the ditch, looking around. He realizes that he is in some kind of town. On the corner of two residential streets. The roads seem vacant of life and vehicles. Suddenly he notices a back yard gate swing open and a person come through. It's a man. A man wearing a torn up, beige shirt with dried blood characterizing it, and torn up jeans which have blood on them as well. On his head, is placed a baseball cap. In one hand, the man is carrying a handgun of some kind, in the other, is a bucket filled with an eerie red liquid. The man looks in Aryus' direction and the father ducks down into the ditch, hoping he wasn't seen. He closes his eyes, with "Please don't see me." Repeating in his head over and over.
Suddenly, a vision comes to him. It's almost as if he is seeing through the demon's eyes. He can see everything around the demon man. It continues walking around to the front door, and heads inside. The house has been rummaged through quite a bit. The rug is torn up, couch over-turned, kitchen utensils scattered about, and the wallpaper has several tears. The demon man walks over to the counter in the kitchen and puts the bucket on it. Looking in the bucket, the liquid seems red, almost like blood, but somehow different. The demon's hand reaches into the bucket, scooping up some of the strange liquid and raises it to it's mouth.
Father Aryus shakes his head and blinks rapidly, coming out of the vision. He is confused as to how he could do such a thing, but takes advantage of the situation and runs across the street, to another house where the demon man won't be able to see him. He quietly walks around the house, towards the door. Approaching the door, Aryus pushes it open and closes it, quietly, and slowly. A hand suddenly falls on Aryus' shoulder. His eyes widen and he takes a gasp. The hand pulls him around. Aryus is relieved to see a normal human standing there.
It's a young woman, in her late teens to early twenties of age. She's wearing a pale grey trench coat over a black shirt, and jeans. Around her neck hangs a necklace with a peculiar looking symbol on it, of a triangle with an empty eye in the centre, and three shapes which appear to be like tears. Her long blonde hair sprawled out over the top of her coat, and her bright blue eyes shine in the light.
"You scared me. Do you know what's going on around here?" Aryus blurts out.
"This is a place called Aery Waters. It is a place which is not unknown, but it is not known to truly exist. This is a place where no one can die. People who are brought here are all normal people, but they have been chosen as sacrifices." She pauses a moment and raises her hand to Aryus, "I know. Yes, Sacrifices. Sacrifices for the god of this place. There will be three people who are chosen to commit themselves to the ritual. Two will be of warrior type, and another of religious type. You must be the religious one that has been chosen. The people here will try to kill you, and if they do, they will take your body to a ceremonial island and commence the ritual. The ritual grants these people eternal life and power, and must take place once every year." The woman explains.
"Is there any way that I..." The woman interrupts Aryus before he completes his sentence.
"Yes, there is a way for you to survive, and avoid being sacrificed. You must find the other two people and commit a ritual to banish the spell upon this town. To do this, you will need to get to the ritual island and commit it there. The island has a cemetery and a church on it. This church's bells are to be feared. When they ring, it means that the ritual will commence soon. It will call an extreme amount of the demons to the island." She pauses for a moment. "You're wondering about that vision you had earlier. When people come here, they become blessed. They are blessed with a certain ability. You have divinitive abilities. These abilities let you see through other people's eyes. Soon it will advance and you will be able to hear and feel what that person hears and feels. To advance this ability, you will have to find an altar and commit a ceremony, which will take
power from the god and place it in you. You will have to find these altars in order to become powerful enough to defeat the demons in this town. After advancing enough, you will even gain the capability of taking complete control over others."
Aryus shakes his head, taking all this information in at once. "How do you know all this? How did you know that I had that vision?"
The woman seems a bit agitated to the question as if she has been asked the same one several times before. "I have my own kind of divinitive abilities which allow me to know things like that. As well, I know all this, because I have been here for a long time, perhaps too long. You might also get some other abilities too, by the way." She suddenly ducks down, staring at the window. The demon man looks inside, grins then heads to the door. "Hurry, get away from the door and windows. That demon knows we're in here!" Aryus runs over to the wall, waiting, in hope that the woman can defend them from the demon.
The door slams open, the demon man standing there, lifting the gun to shoot the woman. The forearm of the demon suddenly falls off, blood spattering on the wall behind it. The woman stands there, wielding a wakizashi in a ready stance. The blade passed through so quickly, that it remains cleaned and spotless. The demon looks down at his missing arm, blood pouring into a puddle on the floor. The sword swings again, decapitating the demon. Blood paints the door and the head drops to the ground, with the body following it. The woman turns, sheathing the deadly blade. She bends over and grabs the magnum from the detached arm of the demon and holds it out to Aryus.
"Take this, you ought to need it. In case you're wondering, by the way, when you kill these demons, they won't stay dead. Smoke will rise from them, signifying that they're regenerating. They'll get up within about three minutes of you killing them, so just watch yourself."
Aryus reaches out, takes the gun and holds it at his side, "Thank you."
"Well, Father, I wish you the best of luck, but I have to go now. I have to go find the others and tell them what they must do. You have to try and find the island, and any altars that you can." Without another word, the woman runs out the door, and down the street. Aryus stands there, a bit confused. He looks down at the body on the floor, just inside the door. The strange smoke begins to rise from the corpse.
Father Aryus, exits the house, the woman is already scarce from sight. Aryus think to himself, "Didn't even catch who she was..." Aryus begins jogging down the street, eventually coming to an alleyway. Up ahead, a demon man, carrying a shovel walks around the corner. Afraid, Aryus, runs into the alley. Passing a fence, a dog in a back yard jumps at the fence, barking with a hellish tone. The dog has a hole through one ear, several cuts all over it's body, and a ferocious set of teeth. It's eyes lack pupils, and are of a bloodshot yellow colour. Hearing the noise, a demon man comes charging out of the house with a rifle. Seeing Aryus, it runs to the gate and lets out the dog to chase him. Aryus turns, just in time to catch the dog lunging at him, tackling him to the ground. Aryus lets out an agonized scream as the dog bites down on his arm. He can hear the demon man cheering the dog on, from past it. Struggling with the canine, Aryus manages to throw it off of him. The dog quickly scrambles to get up and attack again. The air cracks loudly. The dog drops instantly, a bullet hole freshly buried in it's head. Aryus turns to the demon man, standing there, who is now surprised. The demon raises the rifle, but the air cracks again from a second gun shot, and a hole appears in the demon's throat. It's eyes start pulsing, blood pours out of the wound, and it drops to the ground.
"Have to get out of here!" Aryus yells to himself as he turns and runs through the alleyway. He keeps running, ignoring the pain in his arm. He eventually comes through another alley to a library. On a sign it reads: Tellek Library. Below the writing is a symbol drawn in blood. The symbol is the same as the woman's necklace, a triangle with an empty eye, and tears. Aryus walks up to the large wooden doors, and pulls them out.
Entering the large library, Aryus looks around. It's rather dark inside, with no lights on. Before him, is the check-out desk. To his left is stairs, and to the right, leads to the shelves. The doors slam behind Aryus, and send a loud bang throughout the entire library. Aryus turns and discovers that the doors have locked themselves, as if there's a deadbolt on the other side. Not being strong enough to break through the big wooden doors, Aryus turns towards the bookshelves. A shadow appears around the corner of the desk.
First comes a massive, tri-toed foot. Following the foot, a large, muscular leg, linking to a massive body. A great big mouth, open wide, with drool falling to the ground before it. Three tentacle protrude out from just above the mouth, two with eyes on them, and the third with a whole head on it's end. The beast has smooth, crimson to gray skin, reaching over it's body and three legs, and an arm which ejects from the demon's back.
Aryus stands there, in shock at the sight of the beast. He quickly looks around for some alternative to fighting the demon. At the other side of the reception desk, is stairs. Aryus breaks out in a run to the stairs, the giant assailant quickly pursues, growling at Aryus. He slams his hands on the doors, which appear to be locked. Aryus turns around just in time, to notice the beast jumping at him. Aryus dodges quickly to the side, the beast flying past him, smashing the doors as well as the stairs beyond them. He instantly starts running across the library. The beast gets up from the crash and starts after him. Aryus hides in amongst the book shelves. The demon hurries over, and starts searching the rows. Suddenly, one of the bookshelves tips over and falls right on top of the monster. Aryus runs past it, just as it throws the shelf off of it. Aryus starts climbing the wreckage of the stairs. A clawed hand grabs hold of Aryus' leg and throws him away from the stairs. The demon comes over to Aryus, on the ground. The beast towers over him, immensely. It's maws open wider, and saliva pours out even more. Aryus instinctively starts firing the handgun. A bullet flies into the monster's mouth, and backs it away. Aryus gets up and dashes away, heading past the shelves. He fires the gun again, shattering a window, and jumps out. The demon recovers, instantly and pursues after Aryus, leaping out the window. The beast lands and looks around, confused. Aryus, pulls himself back into the library, through the broken window. The demon turns around to see Aryus making a break for the stairs.
Aryus climbs up the stairs and runs to the second floor. The beast jumps back into the building, and heads to the stairs. Just as it starts up the steps, a shelving unit, then a desk fly over the railing of the second floor, landing on top of the demon. Aryus continues running, heading for the roof access.
The roof door, flies open and cracks loudly, when it hits the wall around it. Aryus runs through, and up to the edge. He looks over, seeing that he's about three stories high. Glancing back, Aryus notices the demon, rampaging through the stairs, and smashing the door right off. Aryus eliminates any second thought and jumps off the edge, falling to the ground, with a painful thud. He instantly hurries towards the houses, seeking refuge. Adrenaline pulsing vastly through his body. The giant monster, leaps off the roof of the library and starts after Aryus. He runs to a house, and barges through the door.
The beast comes smashing through the doorway, searching for the priest. It slowly paces across the room, heading towards the kitchen. The demon stops a moment, glancing around. Two feet plant themselves on the monster's back. The eyes and the head whip around, just before seeing Aryus chop the back arm right off, with a shovel. Aryus then grasps the shovel tightly, and drives it into the body of the beast. He retracts it, and continues attacking it with the garden tool, several times, before it falls over and dies.
Aryus stands there, gasping for air, wielding the shovel tightly in his hands. He catches his breath, and drops the weapon. Looking around, Aryus notices that, there's a fireplace, with a particularly large mantle, which has several candles placed on it, as well as a goblet, a painting, and two unlit torches. On a shelf beside the mantle, lays several fire-starting equipment.
"This must be what that woman was referring to." Aryus thinks to himself, walking over to the
altar. He reaches over to the shelf, grabbing a lighter, and lights the candles. He reaches up to one of the torches, but flames rise up inside of it, before he touches it. He looks down at the goblet, and watches as dark blood begins rising inside of it. He stares at it, as if in a trance. The goblet fills to near the lip, before the liquid ceases increasing itself. Aryus' hand takes hold of the handle and lifts it to his lips, drinking a sip of the blood, which has a wine-like taste, but is excessively strong. He quivers and drops the goblet, spilling the liquid all over, due to it's strength. Aryus, feels faint, and waves around a little bit, getting a head spin.
The wind shoves through the bushes outside, and the earth vibrates for an instant. Everything calms, then the priest lifts his head to the air, and bellows out a horrendous shriek. The ground rumbles, glass shatter, and a light sprays forth from the altar, just before flames grow out of it, and burn the sacred placing. The altar burns, then the flames put themselves out.
Aryus walks out the door, unsure of what has just happened. He raises his hand, feeling the light breeze across his fingertips. He returns his hand to his side, and walks off, down the street...