章 4: Chapter 4
The cries of a baby could be heard across the ethereal realm, a dark place covered in nothing but an aura of pain and despair. It looked almost like the human world but with a demonic twist to it where the air was thick and the sky was dark. There was no sun in the sky rather a dark purple ball of fire which was forshadowed by a dark citadel guarded by large dark figures.
"Tell Helgart that it is a boy." Commanded a hazy voice. It was that of a grotesque looking ghoul holding a child in two of its eight arms. It had just delivered the baby ghoul from its mother who looked like she was lifeless as her body was carried away by two other ghouls to be disposed of. The grotesque ghoul looked down at the child, it was humanoid still covered in the dark blood of its mother.
"Helgart puts much faith in you offspring," The ghoul said as he smiled and dipped the child in a bowl of water to wash the blood off.
"The first of its kind, the bringer of our glory and vindicator of the ethereal plane," Another feminine voice spoke from behind the ghoul.
"Lady Koraq!" Exclaimed the ghoul in shock.
"At ease Zenroe, I have not come for your life... yet." The feminine ghoul came and took the baby from the ghoul. She had long black hair which she tied into a bun showing her four eyes adorned in black make up complementing her brown shin. She had red lipstick on the bottom of her lips and black on the top lip, covering her sharp rows of teeth. She craddled the child into a peaceful slumber against her silk white robe adorned in red sashes.
"The fate of our existence rests on the frail hands of this little child, the heir to the ethereal plane and new vessel of HIM." Said Koraq as she put her finger in the palm of the new born who held on to it.
She then clothed the baby in a red cloth and took him out of the room into the hallway that was lit by red candles that burnt red flames. She slowly walked toward the bigger doors at the end of the hallway passing each room and from them could be heard screams of pain and agony, a joyous tone to the habitant of the citadel.
Soon she came to the doors of the main room of the citadel which were guarded by two fully covered dark figures holding spears made from bones and mini skulls. The guards bowed to Lady Koraq as the doors to the room opened up revealing a dim lit room surrounded by fire. The floor was covered with a red rug and the walls had curtains that were embroidered with the crests of demon heads. In the centre of it all was a bed which looked like an altar and on it lay erotic looking humanoid ghouls which stared at Lady Koraq as she entered into the room holding the baby.
"It seems you are busy brother," Said Lady Koraq in a sarcastic manner.
A figure arose from the pile of ladies, it was a tall, handsome chisel bodied man well above six feet. He had long white hair which fell down to his feet. He had a broad chest covered in fits of white hair to match his broad shoulders. He wore a smile and had a calm aura which emitted form his diamond like eyes to the way he moved he walked with elegance.
"Sister, you do love to interrupt my play times," He said with a cute smile to which the ladies aorund him swooned over. They appeared to worship him like he was some sort of god.
"Well, I only came to inform you of the birth of your son." Lady Koraq said as she unfolded the red cloth to reveal the sleeping child.
The man walked slowly toward his sister and took the child from her which he craddled deeply in his arms.
"Finally, an offspring of my own." He said with a smile. The baby then yawned and opened its eyes to reveal that it also had diamond like eyes as it looked at its father. The ladies then gathered behind Helgart in awe of the babies cuteness.
"We have to make preparations for the next phase of our assignment." Lady Koraq said.
"Oh my Koraq, you take these things too literal, learn to live a little." Helgart said.
"I've been living for six hundred years." She replied.
"Really? Well you don't look a day over a hundred." He said to which the ladies giggled.
"Make preparationd for my child and also for a feast to be celebrated for our savior is born." He said and the room was filled with joy as Lady Koraq left.
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"NO!" Will said as he sat up on the bed in shock. He looked around, the room was bright and smelt antiseptic. There was a cabinet with some cotton wool and drugs on it beside a beeping machine, he was in a hospital ward.
"Woah, you're up." John said. He was beside him but his leg was in a cast hanging above him.
"What... what happened." Will said as he held his head trying to remember what had occured that put them in such situation.
"The store got attacked last night." Said John.
"By the reverend!" Said Will.
"Uhm no, by a gang." Said John in confusion.
"Why would the reverend attack us, he's not even in town." He continued.
"I don't know, maybe it was a dream or something." Will said as he relaxed into his bed.
"Mr. Woo!" Will exclaimed again. John then went silent in sadness.
"Oh, Will, you're awake." Said a voice at the door. It was the doctor in charge of the boys.
"You boys are real lucky to have escaped the ordeal like that with your lives, its not every day a gang attacks a shop and leave anyone alive." Said the doctor.
"But what about Mr. Woo?" Will asked.
The doctor paused and sat closer to Will by his bed side,
"Mr. Woo died of shock and his heart was missing." The doctor said in a sad tone.
Will slumped back into his bed in shock, he reminisced all the times Mr Woo had been there for him and how he would no longer be there for them.
"So, we lost another loved one." Will stated.
"Will, stop." John tried to console him.
"Stop what?! Stating facts that we just give off a bad omen to whoever we meet?" Will said with a louder voice
"Calm down Will, you really shouldn't stress your body like this." Adviced the doctor.
"Don't you say anything about this! You can't understand anything thats going on in our lives." Will snapped at the doctor.
"Will you better calm down for your own good." John said to Will.
As Will tried to rant on, the doctor brought in a nurse who tried to calm Will down with a sedative injected into his I.V. tube and slowly but surely Will began to fade into slumber.
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The doors of the mansion opened and in came Alexander holding a sack in hand. He had a satisfied look on his face as he made his way to the council hall to attend the scheduled council meeting. He was about to walk in when he was interrupted by Tisha.
"Did you find what you were looking for?" She asked.
"I found a lead and it's in this sack." Alexander said as he pointed to the bag that was making muffles sounds.
They both walked into the council room where a meeting was underway. The house heads looked in shock as they saw Alexander walk into the room with so much confidence.
"What is the meaning of this Alexander?" The head of the Serpent House exclaimed.
"This is the lead we need to uncover what exactly is going on within the ethereal realm." Said Alexander as put the sack on the table and revealed the still talking head of the ghoul. All the house heads reeled in shock at what lay before them.
"I see you have brought me to the council to be executed." The ghoul said as he looked around.
"Listen here ghoul, we could do this easy and preserve you so you can tell us exactly why you took the form of a Reverend in the human world and what exactly you were harvesting those childrens' essences for." Alexander demanded from the ghoul.
The council members began to murmur but none could speak out, except the head of the House of the Serpent.
"I do not know what you hope to achieve Alexander but you do not expect a ghoul to give away the plans of his kind, especially one that has been ordained by the ghoul lord himself." Said the Head of the House of Serpent.
"Well I didn't see you get up from that chair and do anything to solve whatever is going on." Alexander snapped back at the female council member.
"Be careful how you speak to me Alexander." She adviced as her aura began to glow a bright orange.
"Both of you stop this at once." said the Head of the House of the Beaver.
There was silence in the room which was interrupted by laughter from the ghoul still on the table.
"You all are very delusional if you think you can even get a clue of what is coming" He began.
"I will actually tell you what is going on, but not in hopes of getting redemption. No, we are far from that... I am telling you because no matter what you do, the ethereal plane will surely fall into the hands of the ghoul king" He said as he laughed again.
"What do you mean" Asked the head of the House of the Beaver.
"What's coming is bigger than the council or even the human race combined, this world is about to burn and the match to light it has been created, I advice you to prepare yourself for your downfall because it will come sooner than expected" The ghoul said again with another laugh.
The head of the House of the Beaver gnashed his teeth at the site of the laughing ghoul, stood up and used his hands which he had lit up with aura to burst the head of th ghoul which disintegrated into thin air.
"So, what now?", asked one of the council members.
"Now, we fight back to restore order to the ethereal balance, we can't be phased by the words of a talking head" Said the head of the House of the Beaver.
"I recommend we strengthen all our houses and let them know of the imminient danger ahead of us" Another council member suggested.
"A tournament" Said Alexander.
"What?" Said the council members in unison.
"Hear me out, why don't we host a tournament between houses as a means of reassessing the strengths and as a source of training for what is to come" Alexander suggested with a bright look on his face.
"Is this another one of your ploys to try to prove that the your house is the stronger one?" Asked the head of the House of Serpent.
"I doubt Alexander has the time for such play judging from how serious he was by going through all the trouble to get the head of a ghoul to us" Stated the Head of the House of the Beaver to which the female council member rolled her eyes.
"I personally think it's a good idea for us. It will be a means to prepare our house members for real battle and with the recurring idea that such stakes are on the line we would produce stronger mages from each house to keep the ethereal planes safe from further attacks from these outworldy beings" Said the head of the House of the Beaver.
"I guess its settled then, All in favor?" Alexander asked as he looked around the council room.
"The house of the Black Beaver agrees",
"The house of the Grey Leviathan agrees",
"The house of the Blue Tiger agrees",
"The house of the Green Robin agrees",
"The house of the Red Turtle agrees",
Alexander was proud and happy that his notion was respected by all the council members.
"What about the house of the White Serpent" Said the head of the House of the Beaver in a sarcastic manner.
"We agree" She said.
"It is settled then" Alexander proclaimed.
"Let the games begin".
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