The water is rising far too high. It's up to their thighs. Baseboards have busted inwards, there's a busted window in the room, and the wind is screeching something fierce. All of them have gone silent as they listen to the combat happening down in the dojo below.
Ander isn't doing too well. He's shivering and the medication is wearing off. He sits on the wood of what would be considered a bed but there's no mattress, no pillows, and no blanket. People who trained under the wrathful teachings of Pai Mei would maybe get two to three hours of sleep here at best. He's not here for sleeping. He's here because his friend is murdering people and possesses god-like power.
Sun and Logan discuss plans of escape in the corner closest to the door as the rumbling continues down below. There's a fury in Jo's eyes now, momentary grief now turned to rage as she contemplates what took place when she went into shock and Ander feels a little afraid of her for she sits next to him. Guzman has his back against a dresser where simple tasteless clothing was kept for those who chose the years long path of becoming a warrior and he's got his eyes trained on Ander in concern.
"This is absurd." Says Valerio who looks over a plant in a pot in the window sill which seems to be reaching it's petals towards the rain droplets, "It's lucerifin. I didn't think there were any in this region."
Sun crosses the boards sloshing through the nearly knee high water, "Pai Mei was notorious for collecting things that held considerably magical properties so long as they were also deemable as simple."
"That woman said a word." Says Jo, "Suijin... what does that mean?"
Sun sits down in a wooden chair across from her. He fold his hands to prepare what he's about to say and the others gather around.
"Suijin is the ancient God of water for our culture. He's been mostly folklore for the last few generation but Gods can be very jealous creatures. Even in christian religeon you'll find that that bible states very plainly other people were here before the God of the hebrews placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. Who created them? All these different Gods existed and still do. A lot of them go to sleep when no ones praying to them, when no one believes anymore. Even Santa Claus possesses God-like qualities and could be considered one of the higher beings. Suijin takes his domain in the lake we were at today and I suppose something dark already existed in your friend for this to be happening. She would have had to have killed Carla or someone else for Suijin to choose her." Sun explains and all the while he just looks at the water beneath him.
Jo runs her hands along her pants and asks, "Chose her for what?"
"To remind the world he's still here." A cold chill runs down his spine as the words come out, "A troop of friends over from Spain, a family from America. It's almost perfect. She won't kill us all. She'll leave someone alive so that the fear can spread throughout the world and who ever that is will be so traumatized they cannot help but utter his name. She will slaughter the rest of us and use the blood to turn this whole forest into her domain. Ancient magical creatures will dwell here and the world will start to pray again out of fear that he might come for their people or dry up their crops, destroy the ecosystem, or send in monsters to riddle fear into the spirits of those who refuse him."
Camille turns from the door she'd just been staring at to ask, "Monsters?"
Then she screams as she falls into the water. Just barely they see them; the things that are attacking her. Slithery, slimy, serpents have sank their teeth into her flesh and she thrashes as hard as she can to get them off but it's to no avail. Those are black mamba's and just a single bite can paralyze the body in fifteen minutes. There's at least six biting her over and over and that amount of poison will have her dead before Logan can get to her. He tries though and Sun is quick to snatch him back and they all climb up on top of the bed top to avoid the creatures in the water below.
"Those monsters." Says Sun as Camille's body rolls over in the deluge.
She's dead.
Electricity runs through the darkness below them. Night has fallen recently and the sounds of combat below have stopped. Something has happened.
It's Valerio who steadies Ander this time. His strong confident hands around his midsection to keep him from falling into the water. Suddenly, like the strobes at a techno party, hundreds of flourishing neon lights spin through the water sending the serpents scurrying. Jellyfish, and plant blossoms of the same bio-luminescence as the plant in the window. The window Valerio is close enough to to look down at the garden below. It's a long drop. One Ander definitely couldn't make.
"You hear that?" Says Jo with a furrow in her brow, "That bitch is coming up the stairs."
Silence falls over them. They barely breath. All eyes go to the door. Something small spins in the water and then the door busts in on it's self with the metal spike ball on the chain. Chunks of wood shoot every which way and there she stands with a maddening look about her. Even the skin on her head looks strained as all that power can barely fit in human flesh. Her fingers have grown long and curl into sharp claw like tips. She's pale and her eye lids are stretched far enough away from her eyes to where they look sunk into her skull.
"Please!" She whispers harshly, "It hurts. Help me."
A heavy tear falls down Ander's face and then the floor gives way. All seven of them get whirl pooled into the the whole with the water and they flop down on the stone floor of the cellar two floors beneath them. The temple's old wood is no match for the cold sharp water and the rough winds. A newly formed creek runs through the cellar and out through a hole in the wall where vines block the view to whatever is behind the temple.
Ander scurries away from Lucrecia who looks up at him and screams with her arms twisted in ways that look broken around her head and her leg curled up over her hips. He backs up onto Logan's body who's neck snapped in the fall and he too screams. Their voices echo down through the long tunnel like chambers and then all but the rushing water goes quiet.
Slowly, eerily, and a little unhinged, Lucrecia begins to laugh. It's soft at first and then it grows into this overwhelming unbearable high shrill. She's unraveling her body and crawling on all fours. Ander eyes widen as he continues to crawl backwards to get away from this creature that is no longer his friend. She lunges for him and he slips falling into the water.
Then Valerio comes up behind her and slings a stone hard enough against her skull to knock her into the stream where she's pulled down the current and through the hole in the wall. Her pained cry reaching them until it's a faint whisper that fades into nothing.