The Siblings Who Swallowed The Moon Ch.8

 

Chapter 8 - Hiding Inside The Cronus Chamber

 

“Come with me quickly!” Tiffaun kept her tight grasp around Silvia and Amich’s hands while she ran with them towards their area of interest.  “We have to get to the Cronus chamber before those wicked men catch us.”

Looking behind them as they dashed ahead, they noticed the menacing crusaders wreaking havoc on everything in their path as a thorough means of eradicating evil. One crusader, in particular, had his unwavering sight set on Tiffaun.

Commander Dreylude was forcing his way through the main infantry to get within proximity of his fleeing target where he could better sever her head. However, though he was toiling really hard, his advance was continually being impeded by the many traps and defence magical attributes set in place.

“Curse these bloody dark arts!” Commander Dreylude became veritably frustrated when he lost track of his target. Seeing the number of casualties his troops were incurring due to the various amounts of traps that they were proudly rushing into, he told them to decrease the pace of their advance so they could better avoid getting caught in any surprising element.

“Commanding Knights! A message has arrived from below the mountain!” Someone shared a vital piece of information with all of the squad leaders who were still alive after invading the witches’ sanctuary.

“Could you repeat that?” When Commander Dreylude heard the message, his face adopted an ambivalent attitude of reverence and displeasure. “The Grand Inquisitor is on his way and he wants us to show these evil bastards mercy?” He wasn’t pleased with the idea of sparing the witches' lives.

“What will you do, Commander Dreylude?” Inquired a fellow Commanding Knight.

Thinking silently for a while, Commander Dreylude answered, “I can’t disregard a direct order from his holiness. We will carry out his wishes but…” His countenance became a sinister quality of hatred. “If any of those devil spawns tries to resist we will not hesitate to reciprocate their resistance with an equal amount of force!”

“March on crusaders! Scour this place until those scourges are all captured!”

Receiving the order from their Commanding Knights, the crusaders forced their way further into the witches’ sanctuary feeling as if they have already won the war against the forces of darkness.

“This way! Everyone get inside!”

Tiffaun, Silvia and Amich followed by a small group of witches barged into the Cronus chamber where they observed an ongoing ritual taking place with the support of the remaining members of the colony. Their numbers weren’t that high; roughly 16 of them. They bolted the huge doors shut to prevent any further interruption.

“Oh, there you guys are. We were beginning to worry that you wouldn’t make it.” Alicia came over and observe Tiffaun and the siblings for any major signs of injury.

“We’re fine. We escaped the crusaders' clutches in time. But now that the sanctuary has been breached it is only a matter of time before they reach us here.”

“Then we better hurry. The Supreme Magus is waiting for you 2.” Alicia led Silvia and Amich to the centre of the chamber where the Supreme Magus was poised in front of the dark monolith. “Supreme Magus I’ve brought the Vaud siblings.”

“Good.” The Supreme Magus rested Amich and Silvia’s heads in her arms. A motherly appeal was about her which eased the troubled minds of the siblings. “Go get those ready.” She gestured to Alicia to fetch a leather bag of supplies. It was stored with grimoires and some magical trinkets.

The Supreme Magus helped strapped the bag around Silvia’s shoulder. “Take this child. You’ll need it for where you and your brother will be going.”

“Where are we going?” Silvia didn’t have a clue about the destination the Supreme Magus had in mind nor was she yet aware of how they were going to go there.

“Get inside and no matter what, don’t step outside.” The Supreme Magus directed Amich and Silvia into a magic circle where the dark monolith was poised.

“Sister I’m scared.” Amich grabbed onto her sister’s thighs for emotional support.

Silvia placed her hand on her brother’s back and shared, “I’m scared too, Amich. I don’t know what is about to happen but we should trust the Supreme Magus.”

“Ok.” Amich reluctantly agreed.

“Magicians! Lend me your strength!” The Supreme Magus called upon the support of all the witches who were present within the Cronus chamber to channel their powers through her as she commenced the final phase of the ongoing ritual.

The chamber’s atmosphere changed drastically to a darker ambience. All the flames from the lit candles stationed all around began flowing into the dim magical circle where the Vaud siblings were standing inside of.

The circular spell diagram started producing a fiery glow which twisted into a vertical stream of inferno around the siblings that was gradually getting absorbed into the upper face of the dark monolith.

Amich and Silvia were shivering in fright as they observed the spectacular elements swerving around them. They heeded the Supreme Magus’s warning and remained in the magic circle no matter how frightened they become.

Visible cracks started appearing across the surface of the dark monolith. At first, they seem random, however, with keen observance, they were forming a symmetrical pattern on all 4 longest faces. From these cracked patterns an emerald radiance began to shine so brightly that it illuminated the dark corners of the chamber.