A red mist begins to roll down the stairs and seep from the walls. In that moment, we know that we are not alone. Whispering threats begin lightly bouncing off the walls around us as the mist grows thicker. You could almost say that you could smell death in the air.

“Is everyone alright so far?” I say just loud enough for those in our immediate surroundings to hear. Something seemed off and after what has happened thus far, that is not a good thing for me to say.

“Yeah, I think that I am good,” Aria whispers. “Samuel…are you still with us as well?” Aria’s voice begins to shake.

“Yeah…I am alright…” Samuel says as he lets out a few short coughs. “My throat is on fire though and it is getting hard for me to breathe.” His coughs grow worse and it was in that moment that I knew that the mist was somehow poisoning us with every breath that we took.

“Alright.” I take a deep and calming breath. “I want you both to listen to me and listen very carefully because we do not have the time for me to repeat myself. This mist is slowly poisoning us. Now, I am not sure how and I am not sure how to stop it either, but we can slow down the process by breathing as little as possible and blindly trying to find our way out of this castle. Keep your senses on high alert to the best of your abilities. Who knows what is out there waiting for us.”

Slowly and carefully, we started to run our hands along the walls, feeling our ways around to find the true south entrance to the castle, not the blown-out piece of wall. The closer each of us became to the true entrance, the harder it was for any of us to breathe. Almost as if whatever is trying to poison us with this mist is also trying to make sure that neither of us making it out of this castle alive.

I had no choice but to call upon the essence of air or we were going to die before we made it out of this death trap.

“Hail the Guardians of the East! We are summoning the powers of Air once more. Air, we ask that you fill our lungs with breathable oxygen as we try to find our ways out of this mess. Relieve us from this slow and painful agony. We invoke you!”

Aria gasps. “Oh my…” she nearly moans.

“C-can you guys feel that, too?” Samuel said breathlessly.

It was like taking in a nice deep breath of pure energy. As we drank in the essence of air, we could feel our dead cells coming back from the brink of death. Air was not only providing us with safe breathing air, but it was healing the damage that the poison had done to us. My body began to tingle all over, sensitive to any type of touch. It was almost erotic.

“Mmm…yes, and it does feel utterly amazing, but now is not the time to pause and fully soak up the emotions that are flooding through us. Now let’s hurry up and get the hell out of here.”

Finally, the true entrance to the south side of the castle. I open the doors which cause a commotion as the red mist is expelled from the castle.

“What the hell?” exclaims Samuel. “It is almost as if opening the doors broke some kind of spell. Before we are caught off guard again, we need to combine our powers and set a protective barrier and have it cover as much land as possible. We do not need any more deaths right now.” Samuel says stepping towards me, a gleam in his eye. A gleam that more than shows that he feels triumphant, as he should.

The three of us come together outside, forming a triangle under the moonlight and we being to chant, “By the dragon’s light, on this night and those to follow, I call to thee to give us your might, by the power of three, I conjure thee to protect all that surrounds me. So, mote it be, so mote it be!”

A bright beam of pure white light bursts up from the middle of our triangle and into the sky. The light began to form lines that started connecting and as each line connects, the space in between and around those lines began to fill in with a translucent purple fog. Within a matter of seconds, everything within eyes sight and beyond is surrounded by a protection barrier, a dome if you will.

Aria begins to cry and falls to her knees. Samuel quickly aids to her and helps her to her feet.

“Aria, what is the matter?” I say urgently. After what just happened, I have learned to expect the unexpected.

“Derek…” she says between sobs. “He just…vanished. Is he okay? Are we going to see him again? Is he in pain?” Her sob turns into a full-blown meltdown causing her to drop to her knees yet again.

“Spirit, it is your turn. I ask that you stay with Aria tonight to aid in her comfort. Ease her worries and allow for a peaceful night of sleep.” As I place my hand on Aria shoulder, both of us can feel spirits essence slowly flow from me to her. “I think that we all need to get a good night’s rest before we set out on a search for Derek. We all would be useless with so little energy left in us.”

Samuel assists Aria to her room after saying our goodnights. I return to my room and throw myself onto my four-poster bed. “Oh hell! Can we not catch a break for just a little while?” I mutter to the Goddess. I sigh and strip down to get ready for bed. “Derek, wherever you are, I hope that you are not in any pain. We will find you tomorrow, brother.” As I drift to sleep, the beginnings of a nightmare begin to play through my mind.

“Ahhhh!” Derek screams, blood dripping from his limbs. “Someone…help!” Blood sprays all around him. “Blaze! Please, help!”

To be continued…