As the tremors in the portal chamber persisted and the grinding of gears filled the air, a sudden transformation overtook the room.
Thin lines of red began etching themselves across the floor, creeping up the walls, and stretching towards the ceiling. The markings extended gradually, each one slithering towards the dormant portal frames like veins seeking connection.
The moment the first line reached its designated portal, a violent crack split the air. A surge of crimson particles converged at a single point, swirling together before expanding into a shimmering red sheet within the portal's boundaries.
'Look!' someone cried. 'The portals are activating!'
One by one, the rest followed, a web of glowing crimson gateways flickering to life. But just as excitement spread, an overwhelming stench polluted the air.
Riniock's nostrils flared. 'Blood…'
Niann recoiled, gagging as he pinched his nose. 'You mean…those vats are filled with blood?'
'They are.' Riniock's expression darkened. 'And that's a lot of blood.'
Many of the students looked shaken by the grim revelation. The confidence they once carried upon crossing the threshold had all but vanished. Yet, they knew there was no turning back – the doors behind them remained sealed.
It was becoming disturbingly clear that the cult that once inhabited this place was neither ordinary nor weak. The sheer complexity of the metallic doors, the corridors inscribed with ancient languages, and now these portals – powered by blood – spoke of something far more sinister than they had anticipated.
'Just how much blood would it take to activate all these gates…'
'That's not the real question, Pidd,' Irgod interrupted. 'The real question is – how many had to die for this?'
Piddruin paled at the thought, his breath catching in his throat as the horrifying realisation set in.
Siegmun stepped closer to one of the glowing red portals. As he approached, faint whispers and unsettling murmurs slithered into his ears from beyond the veil.
'This cult is far more dangerous than we imagined. We need to proceed with caution,' he warned. Without hesitation, he extended his hand into the portal, then withdrew it – unharmed. 'We're not wasting time. Choose a portal and go through. Groups of two, at most three. No one enters alone.'
'But Master Eglenn said –'
A sharp unidentified projectile whizzed past the speaker's head, grazing his cheek and drawing blood.
'I don't care what your master said,' Siegmun snapped, his voice laced with authority. 'Inside here, I give the orders. Not you. Not even your strongest,' he gestured towards Irgod, eyes cold. 'Now move.'
Irgod shrugged, unwilling to stir conflict in a place like this. Siegmun was formidable, but it wasn't his strength that made Irgod back down.
Both Riniock and Linry – seasoned killers in their own right – could easily side with Siegmun if a fight broke out.
He let out a sharp hiss and gestured for Piddruin to follow. Without another word, he strode towards one of the portals and stepped through. 'Do as he says,' he muttered before vanishing into the crimson veil.
Piddruin scratched his head before reluctantly following, his form swallowed entirely by the occult gateway.
The student who had protested stood frozen in disbelief. If even Irgod had yielded, what choice did he have? With clear reluctance, he and two others exchanged uneasy glances before stepping through a portal together.
Siegmun's sharp gaze swept over the remaining students.
One by one, they complied, each pairing with at least one other before disappearing into the glowing portals.
As the last few groups made their selections, Siegmun turned to Niann and Riniock.
'You two, with me,' he ordered.
Riniock's eyes flicked to Linry, who stood beside an Ikshari girl. She made no protest – perhaps expecting this division. As she and her partner stepped into their portal, Riniock caught a glimpse of her hand, half-clenched, concealing a readied fire spell.
Satisfied, he turned back to his own group.
'Are you both ready?' Siegmun asked.
Niann and Riniock exchanged a final glance before nodding. Together, they stepped forward, vanishing into the same blood-drenched portal their leader had tested moments before.
Within, a blurred corridor stretched endlessly before them, bathed in an eerie haze of red. The air itself churned, thick with shifting crimson mist, as if they had stepped into the heart of a living bloodstorm.
Tiny droplets clung to their skin, accumulating the longer they lingered within this nightmarish interstice. Siegmun led at the front, Niann followed closely behind, and Riniock took up the rear.
Though Siegmun turned back to speak, his lips moving in silent urgency, not a single word reached them.
Niann and Riniock exchanged a confused glance.
With an irritated roll of his eyes, Siegmun gestured for them to follow, jabbing a finger towards a distant entrance barely visible through the swirling red fog.
Step by step, they trudged forward, the storm pressing against them like a living force.
Once more, Siegmun attempted to communicate, momentarily forgetting the soundless void that surrounded them. When his efforts proved futile, he resorted to his previous gestures.
Riniock gave a silent nod and pressed on. Blood streaked down his face in thin, glistening trails, his vision clouded by the oppressive haze.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he saw it…
His breath hitched.
A shape loomed in the distance, vast beyond reckoning. A suffocating presence that coiled through the storm, an overwhelming mass of darkness and despair. The entity was colossal, a living void woven from the fabric of nightmares, its form an ever-shifting tangle of writhing tendrils and sinewy black filaments.
Skeletal faces clawed their way to the surface of its abyssal flesh – countless, tormented visages with hollow sockets that devoured all light. Their frozen expressions twisted in eternal anguish, mouths locked in silent screams.
Riniock's pulse thundered in his ears as his gaze lifted, meeting the creature's own.
Empty, fathomless eyes stared back, deep wells of oblivion, glaring with a formless malice.
At the core of its monstrous visage stretched a towering, vertical maw – an endless abyss from which no sound escaped. It radiated nothingness, a chasm of pure hunger that devoured both light and hope alike. Its countless appendages extended in all directions, clawing at the storm, their sharpened, talon-like tips raking against the very fabric of reality.
The entity loomed over a crumbling, desolate expanse, a monolith of entropy, a harbinger of devastation incarnate.
In that moment, the world itself seemed to warp beneath its presence – an existence beyond mortal comprehension.
Riniock stumbled forward, his eyes locked onto the monstrous entity. He moved blindly, his mind drowning in its abyssal presence – until he collided with Niann's back.
Startled, Niann turned, his gaze following Riniock's. The moment he laid eyes upon the horror before them, his breath caught in his throat. Siegmun, noticing their frozen expressions, turned as well.
Terror seized them all.
Without warning, the entity's massive limb rose high into the air. Then, with a force that warped the very air around it, the appendage came crashing down, its descent shattering the ground below. The sheer impact carved a path of devastation, obliterating everything in its wake.
The three bolted, adrenaline seizing their limbs as they sprinted for their lives. The world quaked behind them as the monstrous strike barely missed, annihilating the spot where they had stood mere moments before.
Their eyes locked onto the distant exit – the opening barely visible through the storm. They pushed forward with every shred of strength, lungs burning, hearts pounding.
With a final desperate leap, they crossed through.
The moment the last of them passed, the blood portal flickered and died, its crimson glow fading into nothingness.
They stood there, gasping for breath, drenched in sweat, and streaked with blood.
'What in bloody Murat was that?!' Siegmun bellowed, his voice cracking under the weight of his terror.
Him and Riniock turned to Niann, who shrank under their expectant gazes.
'I–I don't know…' Niann stammered, his heart hammering against his ribs. His hands trembled, his entire body still quaking in the aftermath of what they had seen.
Riniock exhaled sharply, trying to steady himself. He flexed his fingers, noting the residual tremor in them.
'Where are we?' he asked, scanning their surroundings with cautious eyes.
Darkness pressed in from all sides, but the damp air and uneven ground beneath them made one thing clear – they were in some kind of underground cavern.
'I'm not sure,' Niann admitted, his voice still unsteady. 'We'll have to go deeper to find out.'