Well, this is more of a filler chapter that will set up everything else for the rest of the storyline. Be ready for the last 5 to be pretty fast and furious, so take a deep breath, and again take the plunge into Silent Hill.

And for getting me back on track, this chapter dedicated to Tipps.

Aedian Grendle

Walter Sullivan sat on the throne of The Master of The Order. He'd both seen and been involved in hundreds of rituals, but none matched the importance of what he now did. Stripped to the waist, he sat staring at the line of jars along the left wall.

Over two hundred varying containers lined a series of shelves along the wall, each seemingly randomly place. Some were crafted of the finest gold and silvers while others were of black iron and a few even were crafted of polished human bone. They held the various liquids and powders that would be used in every ritual possible in Silent Hill.

He stood and strode over to them, holding the Ronin Blade easily in his left hand. From the top of the throne, Paul watched him in the bird form that he could easily change to. It kept him easily concealed from any of the creatures in the city that were still not fully under Walter's control, and allowed him to spy on Richard and Sarah without being noticed.

Now though, with Walter up and moving, he flew down to the floor and changed into the only form he truly liked. That of his previous form as Paul before the city had claimed him. He'd blamed Sarah and Alex for years after he'd been kept in the city, and that had been the main reason he'd helped Walter. Sullivan was a master at playing people's emotions, and this had been no different.

"I've done what you wanted me to. Isn't it time to release me from your service?" He asked Walter once he'd fully transformed back.

The Master of The Order ignored him, lost in his thoughts of how to next fulfill his plans. Only a few people would have made it this far, but he wasn't happy with that. He wanted a way to fully restore Silent Hill to what it had been before the fools had ruined the city by trying to summon Sammael.

"Walter, I did everything you asked." Paul stated a little louder. "Now why haven't you let me get the peace you promised me?" When Walter gave no sign of having heard him again, Paul angrily walked over and reached to grab his shoulder. "Damnit Walter, let me go!"

A blur of motion sent him stumbling backwards, holding his cheek in pain. The Ronin blade now only inches from his face and dripping a thin line of blood from the tip.

"It's been a while since you've felt pain, hasn't it?" Walter asked coldly from his position only a few feet away. "Now that Richard has broken our bond, I've also severed ours. If I'm going to be mortal, then you will be also."

"Does that mean I'm free!" Paul asked incredulously.

Walter slid the blade down to Paul's shirt and wiped the blood onto it. "As free as you can ever be from Silent Hill." The blade went back into the sheath in his left hand. "Any creature can now kill you, so if you try to leave you'll die. But yes, you're 'free'."

He watched as the hope that had so suddenly sprung to Paul's eyes disappeared. "So you're saying that no matter what I still need you to protect me?"

"I won't protect you." Walter said laughing. "At least not unless you agree to keep serving my cause. Once I've restored Silent Hill, you'll be judged by me. If you're found lacking then you die. If you've served well...I'll let you go."

Knowing that he'd served Walter's ends as easily as Sarah and Richard had, Paul hung his head and walked to the jars containing the supplies. "What should I get for you?" He asked quietly.

"I'll need sulphur, powdered bone, gold dust, and several other things that you'll be getting me as the ritual continues." Walter said, walking to the throne again. "Also, you will be forbidden to hold any of the ceremonial daggers. Forgive my rudeness, but I don't trust you."

Then he motioned for Paul to spread the powders in a circle before moving down into the center of the floor and dictating how the designs should go. After it was finished, he ordered Paul away and drew his sword. "It's time for me to take back my city." He said solemnly before slashing his own hand and adding the blood of The Master of The Order to the ritual.

Instantly the mixture began to smoke and sputter. The demons had heard, and were responding. Above it all, Walter began to smile. It was almost time.

After completing the ritual to heal Richard, both he and Sarah crept their way back down to the hospital lobby. He was still weak, and it would take up to an hour for him to heal fully, but he'd stopped bleeding and the color was coming back to his skin.

Even with his gradual healing Sarah didn't trust him to be in the thick of any combat, and so she gave him the pistol while she took the shotgun. Given half a chance she would have kept both, but in Silent Hill Richard needed some form of defense against the creatures they would most likely fight on the streets.

When the two finally left the broken and decrepit Brookhaven behind, Sarah immediately took the lead and the two moved as fast as possible to the sidewalks, ignoring the deep cracks in the street and the constant screams of the Chupa creatures.

Their path would lead them past where an old gunshop had once been and if their luck held, which she desperately hoped it did, they would be able to find some badly needed ammunition. Richard had only a few other clips to reload his pistol, and her shotgun was nearly out.

Around them, fog suddenly began to swirl past their legs, and the cries of the Chupas doubled...then tripled. Only now the cries weren't of hunger or even of rage. These were cries of pain, of an agony beyond anything that could be imagined. And they were growing louder.

"Can you run yet?" Sarah yelled back at Richard, trying to be heard over the tumult of the city. As if to add insult to her question the siren began to blow again, signifying that yet another change was happening in Silent Hill, and that it was falling deeper under its demonic possession.

"I don't think I have a choice!" He shouted up to Sarah before he saw shapes beginning to take form in the mists around them, now noticeably thicker than before. "You go first, I'll follow!"

She needed no more prompting, breaking into a sprint that left Richard jogging after her. Every motion made him wince, the constant run pulling at his recently closed side wound. Yet for every few feet he moved, Sarah lengthened the gap between them, and the creatures behind him closed it.

Wheeling around, he fired two shots into the fog, both missing their targets. At the moment he'd tried to fire, the ground itself had begun to buck and shatter. Asphalt and concrete screeched and gave away to fall into swirling pits of fire blocked only by rusted metal grates.

While most of the city had turned to rot and decay during the last change, Walter's growing power now lent it the power to transform completely. Buildings were gutted and left as smoldering ruins that reached towards the blackened sky as if in a plea to stop their own destruction. The few chunks of road left formed only a series of small paths that led to a building on their left, and another far in the distance ahead of them.

Richard looked around himself again seeing a stunned and frightened Sarah a hundred feet in front of him, and creatures directly from one of the nine hells behind him.

It was impossible to tell how tall the creatures were, due to how badly shrunken and misshapen they were, yet it could still be seen how they had once been the Chupa creatures that had roamed the city.

The lanky white hair still hung down over their faces, but now stopped when it came to their shoulders. Their lower jaws were missing, having been ripped from their faces and leaving bloody trails down their scaly chests. As if to make up for the lack of a lower jaw, their upper now protruded over a foot from their mouths, torn and twisted from the sheer speed of the mutation and growth. Row after row of razor-sharp teeth lined their upper jaws, all yellowed with decay and some still dripping the creature's blood.

The transformation would have been horribly painful, proven by the crazed look in their glowing red eyes. Bloody scales protruded from their now fully grown arms, and provided protection down to their now mutilated hands. Bones and hooks protruded from below its elbows, and for a moment Richard was unsure of what they were for. As weapons they would be impractical, causing wounds to even the creatures that used them.

His question was answered then they dove underneath the grates and used the bones protruding from their bodies to swing towards him at an amazing speed. The scales on their bodies protected them from the flames that licked at their feet and legs, instead spurring them on faster.

Richard would have stood where he was watching them, but suddenly he was being pulled towards the building on their left. Sarah had run up while he was watching and now they ran towards the building.

Bursts of fire and blasts of steaming air assaulted the two of them as they ran. Nearly half-way to the building, the creatures skittered underneath them and continued their jittery crawl to whatever goal they were after.

A goal that became evident as they swung themselves up onto the concrete slabs that Sarah and Richard ran on. The creatures landed with a thud and let out a warbling screech that filled the air around them, causing Richard to open fire on them. The bullets slapped against the scales on their arms, sending small spurts of crimson into the air, but failing to do any real damage to them.

Four of the creatures immediately broke for the Sarah and Richard, but were met by the incredible blast of the shotgun. Incredibly the pellets did little but spur the creatures on, bringing moans of pleasure from their mouths, and letting Richard know exactly what they were.

'Sarah!" He yelled to her. "They're creatures brought by Asmodean! Run through them before they can hit you!"

Only a slight nod met his words, but suddenly she was charging forward into the group and swinging the shotgun back and forth, knocking the creatures into the flames below. Many weren't killed by her attack, they simply hooked onto the gratings, but within seconds a path was open for Richard to follow her through the path.

"A Remington pump-action, pistol grip shotgun with all the bells and whistles…and I'd give the damn thing up for a solid steel pipe right now." She muttered under her breath, angry with herself for having left the weapon behind in the hospital. Richard, wisely, said nothing.

The creatures swung after them, some being engulfed by the blasts of fire yet still moving when the heat dissipated. Every few dozen feet, Richard would turn and fire two shots, slowing the lead creatures and sometimes hitting them with minor wounds. Each new blood-letting brought accompanying shrieks of joy that worried him more than he'd thought possible.

They ran, the creatures followed, and the fires continued to burn.