#OC: A'graeth

[stuck-in-this-mortal-form]

Children Of The Prophecy - pt. 4

Tw: mild Swearing, mild suffocating, stealing?

Summary: Jesse and her father visit a church

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-

Jesse followed the man through the castle's gloomy hallways. The ceiling was high, and so far away, she could barely make out its blurry outline.

The hallway in itself was about five meters wide and reminded her of a maze in its seemingly never-ending eternity. 

Every few meters, there seemed to be yet another tunnel-like corridor, branching out from the main one like a horribly tall tree.

The man was silent, unnaturally so, but then again, every single thing about him seemed strange and, for a lack of a better word, artificial. Jesse had already figured out that he wasn't human, but presumably demonic in nature. Despite being a demonology student, she couldn't figure out what exactly he was. Possibly an Upiór?

"Hey uh," Jesse picked up her pace, noticing she had stayed behind "what are you, exactly?"

If the man was surprised by how straightforward she was, he didn't show it. He didn't even turn around to look at her.

"The name's A'graeth" he said flatly, as if he was waiting for her to ask "Welcome to my castle"

There was something eerily familiar to the man, like he was an old friend of Jesse's. She, however, doubted that.

They finally stopped in front of a huge mahogany door with a golden handle. A'graeth unceremoniously opened it and entered the room. Jesse followed.

It looked like a nursery. The walls were covered in some nice, flower print wallpaper, with a giant window on the wall in front of them. Silky red curtains framed it nicely, cascading down à la  waterfall of blood. In front of the window was a rug, and on top of it stood a crib with a mobile hanging above it. It was made of five little birds, and some feathers. It looked handmade.

It was a pleasant surprise, considering she expected either a torture chamber or a dungeon.

"Come" he said, his voice still monotone

There was a rocking horse on the left, and some shelves on the right, which Jesse deemed unimportant.

She headed straight for the crib, and without hesitation slid her hand across its wooden frame. She blinked, and when she opened her eyes again she saw three people in the room with her. 

A man, dressed in a black dress shirt tucked into leather pants,  with a burgundy-ish camisole from the earlier mentioned material. He had knee-high boots, and a belt with a sword attached to it. His shoulders were covered by a dark cape that reached his ankles. His hair was black, shoulder length, and wavy, his eyes — dark, like the sky before a storm.

Next to him was a woman, with hair that reached her waist in a majestic cascade of fiery red curls. Her skin was the color of honey, and covered in hundreds of freckles. A tiara made of thin wire and pearls sat on the top of her head. 

Her small frame was encased in the emerald green silk dress she wore. It was floor length, with an off-shoulder neckline. Her arms were covered by see-through bell sleeves. Her slim neck was decorated by a delicate gold choker. She—just like the man—had a cape, but hers was made of gold-white fur.

She was holding something in her arms, and after a while Jesse realized it was a small child, probably a few months old, swaddled in a blanket made of a fabric in a similar color to her dress.

The woman was looking at the little child lovingly with her furiously green eyes, and humming quietly.

The man leaned over her shoulder, and, putting his arms around her, whispered: "She's beautiful, love" 

The woman smiled, keeping her eyes fixed on the  infant. "Yes, she is," she said "Our lī jen" 

The woman approached the crib, and gently placed the child in it, covering her with another blanket.

She turned to the man, still smiling 

"Hello?" Said Jesse, unsure if she wanted someone to answer her

The man abruptly turned his head in her direction, his face full of something she couldn't quite place. It was unsettling. 

For a second the whole room seemed to flicker out of existence. Then it reappeared for a short second, only to disappear yet again.

Jesse jumped, looking around, startled.

Everything was consumed by darkness so thick you could slice it with a knife. Jesse however did not have that privilege.

She turned around, scanning her surroundings. Soon she realized she could see a faint red glow, coming from a figure standing still. She slowly approached it, making sure to be as quiet as possible.

After further investigation the figure turned out to be the black-haired man. He was staring at her, his eyes suddenly looking empty, like he had no soul.

And that's when she realized who he was. A'graeth. Does that mean he had a family? She thought, What happened to them?

She felt a shiver creep up her spine. None of the people earlier seemed  to notice her, and the whole thing appeared to be just a projection of some sort. Up until A'graeth turned to her, looking as if he knew she was there, staring at them.

She stopped, dead in her tracks. This didn't seem like a good idea anymore. Not like she had any others.

Luckily—or, more likely, unluckily—for her, A'graeth reached out with his hand, and placed it on her forearm.

She felt the world disappear, all she could sense was cold, and the fact the air around her seemed to shake. 

It all lasted for less than a second, and then she was back in the nursery.

This time it looked awful. 

The wallpaper was torn, the curtains lay on the floor, ripped to shreds. The crib was scorched, the wood burned down almost completely. The rocking horse was thrown haphazardly across the floor, its insides torn out and laying in a heap next to it. 

The only thing that seemed relatively untouched was the mobile above the crib. 

Jesse approached it, and took one of the birds in her hand. Sure, the feathers started melting at the edges, but the rest looked fine.

She heard a noise behind her, and turned abruptly.

In the doorway, on the stained rug, stood A'graeth.

------

Hello, welcome to the land of shitty WiFi and broken Google docs.

Anyway, my school had started and I'll have to focus more on learning cuz it's the final year and tbh I'm not really happy with it.

Taglist: @heathenwhump (ask to be added/removed)

[stuck-in-this-mortal-form]

Children Of The Prophecy - pt 9

Tw: Mention of Hell (as in a place), a cult & cultists

Summary: Jesse and Vi go where they shouldn't; attempt #2 at summoning the demon

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Soooo" said Vi over the phone "You want to summon your father?"

"Exactly" was Jesse's reply and the sound of a pen scribing "I have to ask him something"

Vi was quiet for a second. "Maybe I know the answer?" she suggested

"Believe me, you don't. You wouldn't even believe me. Will and Allie didn't"

"'Kay. Ya have the candles?"

Jesse nodded, but of course her friend couldn't see her now. "They're probably under the couch"

"What about something that belonged to him?"

"A scroll from his altar will suffice?"

"Yeah. You sure that's his, tho?"

"Positive"

"Then I hope you're not wrong"

☆☆☆

They met up in an abandoned factory nearby. The entry should've been restricted—the building was standing only 'cause it didn't know on which side to collapse. It was big, made of bricks and its roof collapsed a long time ago.

They had snuck there through a hole in the metal fence, following the path paved by many who went there before. The factory had a reputation for being an attractor to anything paranormal and cultists.

Basically, according to the legend, there's a portal to Hell in here, and that's where all those creepy things come from.

Vi and Jesse were both wearing dark hoodies, with the hoods on 'not to draw attention'. (Because people wearing all black and sneaking to cultists' place with backpacks filled with candles weren't suspicious at all)

Jesse walked up to the factory's rusty door and grabbed the handle. It won't just open, will it? She thought. That only happens in movies

And—as usually when it came to those kinds of things—she was right. The door was rusted shut.

"Dammit!" she said, returning to her friend "Now what?"

Vi pointed at a fire escape "Here"

They climbed up the metal ladder, at some point almost dropping their things, and found another door. Or rather an empty door frame.

The door laid inside, half eaten by the rust and looked as if it was kicked in.

"Is that where the cultists enter?" whispered Jesse

"Yeah"

They snuck inside, and standing on some sort of a platform, glanced down. There was no-one there, or at least they weren't visible.

"It's clear" murmured Vi, getting up from her crouched down position and quietly heading in the direction of a staircase.

"Don't leave me here!" hissed Jesse, following her friend

They slowly got down, paying attention not to step on any of the weaker, rusty steps.

Once they stood in the center of the room, Vi unceremoniously dropped her things on the ground. Jesse was more careful.

"Why are we here?" she asked

"The 'Portal To Hell'" the other girl replied

"What about it?"

"It's an actual portal to Hell." Vi started sketching something on the ground with a chalk "Or rather to Cræyan, but it's basically the same thing— place. Whatever"

They both went silent, the only thing making noise being the chalk

"What about the Otherworld?" Jesse finally said

"A minor dimension, I think. Not sure tho, since one of the six Greater Demons practically owns it"

Vi finished the drawing, which turned out to be a five-arm star in a circle. A pentacle.

"Wait, so you really use those for summonings?"

"No, you dumbass" Vi took out the candles "It's for protection"

"And the candles?"

"Lighting"

After placing the candles around them, in random places, Vi stood in the center and murmured something.

Nothing happened

"And?" whispered Jesse, after a while

"You could've just called, you know?" A'graeth said, walking up to them from a dark corner

"Oh shit" murmured Vi, slowly backing away. The protective circle was gone

"I know I don't look like it, but I do own a goddamn phone" he took out a small device out of his pocket "Anyway, what's up, kid?"

"Are there any demons that can Uhhh, change time, I guess?" Jesse said quickly

If A'graeth was surprised by the question, he didn't show it "Llixovins. The time changers. There are also Malleas,—they move between realities—and Gravese—the tricksters of the demon aristocracy. Basically a combination of the two former. Though there are very little of those"

"Hey, Jesse?" Vi asked

"What?"

"Who are you talking to?"

Jesse glanced at her father "Why can't she see you?"

"She's just a mortal and I'm cloaking myself." he replied "I technically could let her see me, but why would I?" he glanced at the scroll lying where the protection circle was "I believe this belongs to me"

Vi glanced at her, confused. Then, as if understanding what's going on she climbed up the stairs to guard the entrance.

"You can read that?" Jesse asked, pointing at the scroll

"'Course I can. It's in Imüni, a demonic dialect.

" Since you wanted me to teach you, here's the first lesson" he said, putting his hand into a pocket of his black trenchcoat

A'graeth took something from his pocket. It was hidden in a dark red silk, yet he didn't unfold the cloth.

"Take off your necklace"

She gripped the little pendant on a silver chain she always wore. She got it from Élaine, when she was ten. It was in the shape of a propeller— A triquetra, she corrected herself, remembering what her mom told her. She took it off, careful not to rip the fragile chain and put it in the pocket of her hoodie.

"Put your hand on it" he reached out with the thing he was holding

She did so. Nothing happened.

"I doesn't wor—" she started "Ohhh shit—" she glanced around, surprised "Why are there shadows everywhere?"

"Ghosts" her father put the thing back in his pocket "Don't act so surprised—you've seen them plenty. You just don't remember"

She stood frozen in place, watching the shadows appear at the south wall and wander in every direction, only to disappear when they got too close to them.

"Why can't they reach us?" Jesse asked

"I'm currently shielding us, since the lost souls are usually pretty violent" he grabbed the scroll "Try now"

She glanced at it. The previously unreadable scribbles were now words.

"'Shadowland Cemetery'" she read "What does it even mean?"

A'graeth just shrugged "It's the first riddle. Find Shadowland Cemetery and find Glenn"

And with that, he disappeared.

Jesse stood there, dumbfounded. Who in the hell is Glenn?

She heard quick footsteps, a loud crash and saw Vi grab her by her arm.

"What's going on?" the former asked

"Come on, no time to explain"

They ducked behind the staircase, and soon enough, there were people climbing down.

They were wearing black cloaks, with pentacles drawn on them in something red.

They stood in a circle, chanting quietly, while one of them drew a giant pentacle on the floor using a brush and whatever was in the bucket next to them.

They didn't have their hood up, like others did. Their head was completely bald, with scars littering it. They were light pink, cutting through the shining skin. The person had some sort of a sigil on their forehead, drawn in blood.

Goddammit bodily fluids again, Jesse thought. That surely is going to be an interesting evening.

-----

Look, guys, I'm productive. I'm actually writing a second chapter this week. And it's long.

"Yeah, but why is she frozen?" she grabbed Vi's hand

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[stuck-in-this-mortal-form]

Children Of The Prophecy - pt. 3

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Tw: Very casual mention of death, Hell as a place (mentioned), my awful describing of architecture

-

Jesse took a careful step out of the elevator as if testing the ground. She looked around, eyes scanning her surroundings, but finding nothing alarming.

Just a simple gravel path, leading to god knows where.

The tiny stones crunched under her boots as she made her way across the forest. The trees surrounded the path, like a steel wall.

With no way to break through.

And so she kept walking and walking until she somehow found herself facing an entrance to a cave.

It was deep, and by that I mean there was absolutely no way to see its other side.

Jesse took out her phone and turned the flashlight on. 

A faint glow illuminated the void in front of her. It wasn’t a lot, but it’d have to suffice.

She crossed the metaphorical threshold, behind which the darkness began, and stumbled on the uneven floor.

She steadied herself, and carefully descended further.

Jesse pointed her phone at the wall closest to her and saw ‘The Church OF–’ with the last word being scratched out by something with huge claws, that apparently wasn’t happy with whatever being the religion was dedicated to.

Well, one thing was for sure, and it was the fact that–judging from all the stuff that was lined up next to the wall, including an altar–the entity was greatly cherished by many.

On the wall on the right of the room cave was a tapestry.

It hung about two, no, three meters up and reached the ground. On its surface, there was a depiction of a sunrise over the mountains, and a silvery river that wound around the hills like a ribbon made of stardust.

Jesse approached it, and hastily slid her index finger across its rough surface.

She retracted her hand as soon as the unnaturally loud 'click' echoed through the chamber.

Huh, strange, she thought

She carefully pushed the fabric aside, revealing a small door made of red wood.

That wasn't here before— wait, 'before'?

She just shrugged, and cautiously grabbed the handle. Having caused no reaction, she pressed on it, opening the door.

The tunnel behind it was nothing like what she expected; it was tiny, and despite her being 5'4" she'd have to crawl to fit through.

Eh, raz kozie śmierć, she said to herself

Jesse got on her knees, and slowly crawled into the small opening.

No matter how far she went, the tunnel seemed to never end, and it was getting more and more claustrophobic with every second she spent there.

"Fuck you and your tunnels" she snarled, coughing from the dust

Then, she heard a loud creak, like something old was opened.

She stilled.

The noise didn't continue.

She took a few more 'steps' and realized she was staring into a deep, endless pit, just inches from falling into it.

Jesse narrowed her eyes, trying to make out anything down there.

Nothing,

Well, at least not that she could see.

She heard a crack, felt the ground beneath her shift, and suddenly found herself falling down the hole.

Her mind was screaming at her, to grab something, anything, but there was no use. The walls were unnaturally smooth and barren, providing no help in her situation.

She could of course spread her arms and legs out, in hopes of stopping the fall, but the most probable income was that she would—in the best case scenario—scrape her skin off, or—in the worst—break something.

Suddenly, the air around her seemed to shake—ha, ironic, isn't it?—and soon after she found herself lying on some uneven surface, unscathed.

"What the hell…" she whispered

Jesse shakily got up to her legs. There were no walls around her, at least not that she could see. The whole place was coated in darkness so dense you could cut it with a butter knife and put it on your sandwich. Not that it would taste like anything, except maybe dust.

There was nothing around her, sans the flat stone ground she stood on. 

She felt something unexplainable, like a force pulling her forward, which soon led her to a dilapidated stone arch that appeared to be glowing. 

Jesse slowly edged closer to it and examined the weird structure. It was made of stone blocks, stacked one on top of another, and was about three meters tall. She carefully placed her hand on its coarse surface and flinched at the cold that seemed to go through her. 

The arch came to life, a bright white flame igniting in the center of it. 

Jesse reached out with her hand to touch the flame, and to her surprise, it didn’t burn. It wasn't even hot.

She ignored the slight tingling in her hand and mechanically came closer to the flame. The nearer she was, the bigger the flame got.

As soon as she entered it, the archway exploded in white light, engulfing her, and the surroundings completely. 

⛧

Jesse woke up in a spacious room. The walls were made of black bricks, just like the floor, and there were ripped red curtains covering the pane-less windows,

She tried to move from the uncomfortable position she was in but quickly found herself unable due to the fact that she was tied to a chair. 

And not just any chair, one of those fancy castle ones. It was painted black, with red cushions, the shade matching the curtains and the rug beneath it.

She tugged at the rope binding her hands, but to no avail. Perfect, just perfect, she thought 

She grabbed her necklace with her teeth and pulled. 

The delicate chain ripped almost immediately, nevertheless leaving a reddened, painful line on her neck. Something to worry about later. She leaned forward, the pendant still in her mouth, pressing its sharp edge to the rope. Slowly but surely, it gave in, freeing her right hand.

She grabbed the pendant, but in her hurry, it slipped from her sweaty fingers and landed on the floor with a quiet metal clank.

“Fuck” she murmured, trying and failing to reach it. Both of her legs, her left hand, and her torso were still bound.

She put all of her weight on one side of the chair, slipping her foot with the rope still on from its leg. She did the same on the other side, leaned to try and reach the pendant again.

She had however miscalculated how much force she needed and ended up falling to the right with a squeak of surprise, still attached to the chair.

Jesse grabbed what was left of her necklace, and started rubbing it at the rope binding her left hand. 

“Well, well, I see you've woken up” a loud voice boomed through the chamber

She didn’t reply. The rope snapped. One more.

A figure, covered by shadows slowly entered her eyeshot.

The shadows slowly dissipated, revealing an unnaturally tall figure slowly approaching her.

It stopped about a meter and a half in front of her, and now she could make out its features

It was a man, with shoulder-length raven-black hair, a ghostly pale face, and unnaturally looking eyes. She wasn’t sure what exactly was wrong with him, but it made her experience an uncanny valley.

He was really tall, definitely more than two meters, and wore a formerly white linen shirt, hemp pants tucked into leather boots, and a woolen cloak, all in various shades of black-ish green and brown. He looked ancient.

“Hello, child,” he said, not looking at her

Jesse kept trying to cut the rope “Who are you?” she asked, her voice steady despite the fear she felt

The man grinned, but the emotion stopped at his mouth, not reaching his eyes which remained cold, untouched. “‘Who am I?’...” he said, “That’s a spot-on question, Jesse Valerie Shadewalker”

Jesse glanced at him, surprised, “That’s… Not my name”

“Oh, yeah, ‘Blackwood’. How could I’ve forgotten,” he said, his voice colder than the stone walls “we don’t use that surname anymore”

And at that moment, the pendant went through the last binding.

-------

Hello, I am back from the dead and I've come with the next part.

Basically, I'm having some technical difficulties and I'm not sure when I'll be able to post the next part. Sorry

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