Clary
'Simon, hurry!' Clary shouted as Simon slashed at the flesh demon. Her heart raced with panic as Jace hung limply from her side; she did her best to hold him up. He felt like dead weight, barely breathing but he felt so warm. They never should have come.
It was the smell that hit them first.
'What died in here?' Simon choked. It was a stench of burning plastic and dark magic; it settled in the atmosphere with a heavy humidity.
''I've smelled worse,' Jace said with a narrowed look.
They had portaled to a bleak looking forest that felt wrong. The trees had blackened leaves and twisted, protruding roots, like long, bony arms reaching up through coffins. It was late evening and the moon was their only light. The witch lights would not work and Clary's hands felt cold; something was happening.'What could possibly be worse than this?' Isabelle asked, shoving dead twigs to the side with her high heel.
'Your casserole does come to mind,' he smirked wickedly. Isabelle then proceeded to flip him an obscene gesture that would have made Maryse red.
'What is this place ? It's making my spidey senses tingle', Simon shuddered.
'Please refrain from referring to your shadow hunter senses as 'spidey senses' at all times,' Jace warned humourlessly. Did something just dart in the corner of his eye?
'Give me your stele,' he turned to Clary. His liquid gold eyes hardened and alert.
Clary reached for her leather backpack, the stele slipped into a secret, concealed pouch...
CRACK
Suddenly, Jace was knocked to the side with a powerful swoop and landed hard with a sickening crunch. Everything was quick.
Isabelle gasped but Clary barely had time react.
A horrid beast stood over them. It was an eyeless lizard thing with a human looking skull, it's body covered in stretched dewy white flesh. It stood like a pray mantis, with large protruding claws. Something straight out of a Guillermo del toro nightmare.
Clary reached for her seraph blade, about to react when...
No not now, any time but now . She knew it would happen. Her cold hands became numb, as if all the nerves had been chopped off. A thick gold burst in front of her eyes, as if someone was violently splattering a camera lens with acrylic. She couldn't see the demon any more, she glimpsed someone running to Jace, her parabatai ruin stinging.
This had happened before. But she could feel it; this was going to be much worse.
The gold light rose to fill her senses. She could feel it pour out of her ears, rush in her blood, as if she screamed gold. She could see, no feel the rune. It's shape, curves, lines. It grew warm in her skin. Hotter, hotter, hotter, searing in her brain. It was agony, ringing in her ears, suffocating her. She felt an uncomfortable weightlessness, as if she was free falling uncontrollably. The ruin screamed in her mind as if to say 'I AM HERE, USE ME FIND MY PURPOSE, ACKNOWLEDGE ME' It grew hotter and hotter, she could feel her skin burn like lava ran under her veins, she tasted the bitterness of charcoal in her mouth and the inhaled unbearable smoke; she couldn't breath...
It stopped. As if someone had snapped their fingers to blind the sun.
She was on her knees, clutching so hard at dead twigs and leaves she saw drops of blood on her palm. She still felt a lingering warmth under her skin.
'Jace, Simon, Isabelle' she thought in a rush. As if he could hear her thoughts, Simon appeared beside her.
'By the Angel, Clary what was that?
He asked worriedly. His arm was cut and blood dripped to his wrist but he didn't seem to notice.
He lifted her to her feet. When had he become so strong?
'Are you okay? Where's Jace?' She managed to ask.
'That... thing hit him pretty bad,' he brought her to were he was lying. Isabelle sat beside him, a swollen bruise on her cheek. She looked too concerned to notice.
'Are you ok, my God Clary what was that?' She grabbed Clary in a tight embrace, her brow creased in deep worry. She looked like Maryse, albeit a slightly busted up Maryse.
'Yeah you looked like you were about to fight but then you started floating and... fricking glowing," Simon gestured.
Clary had been able to hide it before,she definitely didn't need the others to know. She cursed the damn place for turning her secret into an extravaganza.
Simon's stare was humourless. His usual optimistic brown eyes were now grave and hardened, like a real shadowhunter's; he had felt something. She cursed the damn place again.
'Jace...we need to get him home,' she distracted, pulling from Isabelle's touch.
She knelt down to Jace. He was breathing but ragedly, and he was so motionless. She swallowed down her panic.
'I don't now if the portal will work from within,' she admitted, subtly knitting her fingers with his limp ones. He responded, weakly curling his finders around hers. 'I can try and make one.
'But what about that thing?" Simon questioned. Without her, Simon and Isabelle had done pretty good. The thing was sprawled lifeless in a distant clearing. She could see sharp, brutal cuts in its body, oozing scarlet blood.
'Let the Clave handle it,' Isabelle rose. A violent gash was carved into her thigh.
'If there's one, there can be more. And we're way out of our territory.
I'm calling Magnus just in case Clary can't make the portal. This place freaks me out,' Isabelle said wearily, slightly limping away with her phone.
Simon walked over to Clary, sitting on a stump beside Jace. He'd changed so much. With his black gear and loose short curls, he looked like Anakin Skywalker. He ran his hand through his hair, staring back at the creature. He smiled slightly.
'What?' Clary asked, needing a distraction.
'That thing looks like Jabba the Hutt, well, if he used lighting creams and got a personal trainer.'
'Jabba the stunning,' Clary chimed in.
'Jabba the frickin' ripped, did you see it's stomach? Totes jelly,' he joked with mock frustration. Clary couldn't help but crack a small smile as she started on a portal rune nearby. A huge monster thing slain not too far from them, Jace weak on the ground and Simon's jealousy of said demon's work out routine. Maybe Magnus could bring it back to life and ask where it got such a rocking bod...
It's body. It was still here. Demons were suppose to return to their realms after death...Why was this one still here?
Clary looked up wearily beyond Simon's shoulder.
It was dead.
'Clary?' Simon asked, the humour cast out by that dark look.
'What happened to you? What was all that glowing and floating business?'
'Please, please don't ask me this now' she thought.
'Simon, it's not that import-'
'Not that important? You were levitating, your eyes had rolled back... you were shooting gold out of your hands and mouth,'
'Seriously, fuck this place' Clary thought.
'Simon I don't want to talk about it,' she tried her best to sound stern but it felt flat, she sounded weak in her own ears.
'Clary, is there something I should know? When you started doing what ever that was, I felt my parabatai ruin burn. I felt my blood warm up and something move in my mind, I could barely concentrate.'
Clary whipped to Simon in surprise.
'You did feel something' She thought alarmed.
It was affecting Simon too. It was travelling along their parabatai bond.
'It's getting stronger,' she blurted out loud.
'Clary, what is? What is it?' Simon pushed.
She looked up to him, she wanted to-'Simon. Where's the body?'