Chapter 4 - THE GATE OF GUARDIANS
Alaric turned away from the altar and faced the solid black stone wall behind them.
He raised his clawed left hand and slashed it through the empty air. Dark, crackling magic burst from his fingertips, striking the obsidian wall. With a deafening groan, the solid stone split down the middle, pulling back to reveal a hidden passage.
Evelyn stepped around the altar, drawn by a cold, unnatural draft that smelled of ancient iron and ozone.
Beyond the doorway lay no grand bedchamber, no luxurious quarters, no bridal suite.
There was only a massive circular chamber made of jagged iron, dominated by a towering, ancient gate covered in thick, pulsing iron chains.
And on the other side of the gate, something incomprehensibly massive was breathing.
HHUUUHH. SSHHHUUUHH.
With every deep, guttural breath of the unseen beast, the dust shook free from the chapel ceiling.
Evelyn approached the threshold, her eyes scanning the heavy iron links binding the gate shut. Carved into every single link were hundreds of names, glowed with a faint, dying blue light.
"Those women outside..." Evelyn realized, her heart dropping into her stomach. "The stone statues..."
"They were never my brides, Evelyn," Alaric said, standing beside her, his tall form shielding her from the cold draft. "They were guardians. For three hundred years, the women of the surrounding valleys sacrificed a portion of their life force to keep the demon locked behind this gate. The magic petrified their physical bodies to stone, turning them into eternal anchors for the seal."
A deep, reverberating voice suddenly echoed from behind the dark gate, rattling the bones in Evelyn's chest.
"EVEEELYYYYN..."
Evelyn stumbled back in absolute horror. "It... it knows my name!"
Suddenly, a searing, white-hot burning sensation erupted across her left collarbone. Evelyn gasped, gripping her gown and pulling aside the heavy black lace. Glowing bright gold beneath her skin was an ancient, intricate sigil—a blood-mark matching the rune carved into the center of the iron gate.
Alaric grabbed her wrist, pulling her back into the chapel.
"Your family didn't send you here so I could marry you, Evelyn," Alaric said, his grey eye flashing with desperate urgency.
SNAP!
One of the thickest iron chains on the gate suddenly shattered, sending shards of metal flying across the stone floor.
"They sent you here because your father made a deal with what lies behind that gate," Alaric revealed. "Only the blood of his true firstborn can break the final seal and unleash it upon this realm!"
Before Evelyn could digest the terror of his words, a slow, mocking sound rang out from the chapel entrance behind them.
Clap... clap... clap.
Evelyn turned around.
Standing at the chapel doors, illuminated by the dying candle flames, was Clara.
May you like
She was no longer crying. She was no longer trembling. Her soft, innocent demeanor had completely vanished, replaced by a cold, calculating smirk.
And gripped tightly in her right hand was a silver ritual knife, its blade glowing with black runes.
