Hidden Hallows

When I smell the pungent smell of sulfur, I feel my heart skip a beat. A demon? It has to be a lower demon or else I wouldn"t be able to smell it like this... as the cool breeze picks up again, I find myself straining not to gag.

That"s not just sulfur... it smells like... death! I just can"t take it anymore and immediately stop humming to cover my mouth and nose. I come to a stop and turn around to look for the offending source but nothing but an empty street greets me.

The streetlight above my head starts to flicker again as I hear something move. I strain to see into the dark shadows but all I can see are flickers of movement. Suddenly, I see something in the middle of the street but it looks... odd.

I strain even harder to see but soon it"s made all too clear... something is on all fours and approaching at an alarming speed. No, not something... it"s someone!! It looks like a woman who"s missing part of her left arm and part of her right leg and she"s crawling towards me!

I actually take a step back when I see the nightmarish woman gaining on me in a matter of seconds. I can even hear the clacking of her exposed elbow bone and knee bone on the concrete as she crawls at me like a mangled spider!

"What kind of nightmarish bulls.h.i.+t is this!?" I say as I take another step back. When she pa.s.ses under the streetlight a few feet away, I finally see her face. She"s missing her lower jaw!! And I"m pretty sure one eye is hanging!! What the h.e.l.l!!!??

When I hear something else, I look past her to see something else galloping. When I see it"s a man missing half of his upper body, I curse out loud and summon my magic. Demons possessing dead people!? It looks like some kind of nightmarish zombie movie!

But what makes this so much worse is that these zombies will be faster and stronger than any other zombie because they"re possessed by demons!! I snap my umbrella closed and flip it around. I point it at the galloping man and say "Ignis!"

The galloping man screeches out in pain as blue flames engulf him. His running slows as the woman crawling at me picks up speed. This is going to give me nightmares... I flip the umbrella once again and tap it down on the ground as I say " Alliges duplicia!"

Dark roots break through the concrete and wrap around the woman, effectively holding her still. I lightly kick the end of the umbrella and flip it back over my shoulder. As I make my way over to the woman, I watch as the man on fire continues to run around in circles.

He runs to the side of a building and tries to rub the fire off but it"s a magical flame, it won"t catch anything else on fire and it won"t stop burning until they"re either ashes or until I call it off. I stop in front of the struggling woman and sneer down at her.

The skin on her face is nearly gone but she still manages to snarl at me and say "Relea.s.sse me!!" Once again, because she"s being possessed, she doesn"t actually need a working jaw to be able to speak. The burning man runs past her, still screeching as I smirk at her and say "Sure, right after you tell me why you came after me. Who hired you?"

"You"d have to be stupid to think that I would tell you of my employer. Release me, halfbreed!!" She snarls again and strains against the bindings again but I just sigh with irritation as I say "Tell me the name of your employer or I will send you back in the most painful way possible."

She cackles at me and says "You think that me, a demon, is afraid of a little pain!? Hahaha!! Stupid!" The man collapses on the ground behind her, his cries growing weaker and weaker as I slowly squat down in front of her.

"Do you want to know a little secret? You see that blue flame?" I lean in a little closer and say "It will never stop burning. Even when he goes back to h.e.l.l, it will continue to burn him for all eternity. Do you like it? I can gift it to you as well if you"d like."

Her snarl freezes on her face as her one good eye turns to look at her fallen comrade still withering in pain as the blue flame continues to burn. "The name!" I demand and watch when she flinches. You can see her struggling internally before mumbling "They call him Enzo... the destroyer."

I try to keep from laughing at the name but my lip twitches from the effort. Enzo, the destroyer? I slowly stand back up and ask "What does he want from me?" The woman struggles against the roots again as she says "Does it look like I know!? He offered power in exchange for you but he never said why he wants you! I couldn"t care less about what he wanted with you! I just want the power!!"

I tut at her and slowly turn around, walking a few steps away as I say "That"s unfortunate for you then... I am a woman of my word though. I won"t send you back in blue flames but I will send you back with a few words for Enzo."

I come to a stop and turn around to face her as I say "Tell him he can go f.u.c.k himself." I then say "Lacero!" She screeches out in anger as the roots rip her apart without mercy. Once I know the two of them are truly dead this time, I send a magical flame to get rid of the bodies.

The roots recede back into the ground as the concrete fixes itself but when I feel someone watching me, I turn and look up to find a dark figure leaning over the ledge of the roof.