Chapter 12: Chapter 12
Before she could even finish the first phrase, a blast of hot air hit her, sending her careening into the small space beneath the overhang. Her head connected with the rock, hard, and she felt a warm trickle of blood streaming down her face.
She turned to see Raven approaching, fast, a triumphant look on her face. Her hair hadn’t recovered from the shock of earlier, and her outfit was also set askew, but her eyes were wild.
Ru jumped to her feet. “I don’t have time for this shit,” she mumbled.
“That’s right, Ruin. Payback is hell!” Raven raised her hands again, as if she was about to send Ru reeling into the rocks once more.
With a sigh, Ru quickly opened both palms, sending a quick blast of blue light at Raven. For some reason, this shot seemed power packed, and Raven went flying backward again. This time, she was sucked up into one of Lyric’s twisters, which, though thin, was several stories high. Ru imagined she might come shooting out the top at some point, but for now, the Reaper was out of her hair. She gave a quick nod of thanks to Lyric, for the warning and her assistance, and then returned her attention to the portal.
The rocks she’d recently become intimate with were right next to the opening, and as Ru regrouped, she sensed a disturbance in the portal. Ru shifted her position so that she was looking at the portal head on. While she felt something approaching, she couldn’t see anything. Taking a step forward, she leaned in, wondering what it might be as she’d never felt anything like this before.
“Ru! Get out of the way!” This warning cry was unlike any she’d heard before, and as a blast of warm air hit her from behind, she realized that was because it had come from Nat. Rather than sending her into the wall as his associate had, he lifted her off of her feet and placed her down on the edge of the top of the ravine so that she was staring down at the spot where she had been standing. Less than five seconds later, the opening to the portal began to shift and expand, and Ru watched in horror as a massive black bull sprang forth, charging right through the spot where she’d been standing. It rushed through the ravine, tearing up the ground as it sprinted past Lyric and almost collided with Ivy who jumped back just in time. Its tail swung around, catching the Keeper in the side, and Ru realized there were barbs on the end of it. Blood spurted out of Ivy’s side as she fell to the ground. Clearly, this was no ordinary bull.
“Ivy!” Lyric yelled, abandoning the fight she was engaged in and rushing over to her friend.
“I’m okay,” Ivy shouted back, somehow managing to regain her footing even though she was still bleeding.
“What the hell is that thing?” Ru asked as the bull continued to charge through the ravine. But there was no time for an answer because the portal began to shift again. This time, Ru readied her hands, and as another black shape began to crawl out, she illuminated the monster with blue light.
The beast slowed but didn’t stop, so Ru increased her concentration. She couldn’t quite make out what it was but it looked like some sort of a bird’s head on a very large body. It struggled against the energy she was pouring into it, gaining entrance into their world one inch at a time.
“The incantation!” Rider yelled as he attempted to fight off one of the Reapers and evade the bull. “It’s a demon, Ru! Send it back to Hell!”
So focused on preventing it from gaining entrance was she that it took her a moment to realize what he was talking about. Rather than closing the portal right away, she’d need to take care of this monster first. Her mind was blank, however. She’d been practicing the incantation for closing the portal and couldn’t remember the one for damnation.
She glanced out across the battlefield, trying to see if there was anyone who could help. Cutter was tangling with Nat, whose eyes flickered back to her as she turned her head, and she wondered why he’d moved her. Why not let the bull flatten her? Ivy was still bleeding and engaged with two Reapers, though she still seemed to have the upper hand, and Lyric was doing everything she could to keep her tornados spinning as Rider closed in on the bull. There were only about four other Reapers besides Nat in some position or another to be of any use to him. The rest were laid out on the ground or in the sky, spinning around uselessly in Lyric’s cyclones.
“Come on, Ru!” Rider shouted. “Say it!”
Suddenly, she could hear Cutter’s voice in her head and looked over to see him glance in her direction. He was telling her the incantation, and even though she couldn’t make out all of the words, she remembered enough, and it came flooding back to her. “Mitto ego te ad vidisse igneos puteos horrendam daemonium de inferno!” Ru shouted with every ounce of conviction she could muster.
There had been a small doubt in her mind that the incantation would work, despite the fact that the blue light emanating from her hands should’ve been enough evidence that the tales she’d been told were true. Nevertheless, she was more than a little shocked when the beast let out a roar and dissolved right in front of her, leaving her staring at an empty portal again.
“Ha! It worked!” Ru laughed, looking around to see if anyone else was as excited as she was.
No one else had time for amusement. “That’s great,” Rider shouted. “Now close the damn portal!”
While Ru had every intention of doing just that, she had a few other matters to attend to first. She turned so that she had a better angle and shot her blue light at the bull. Rider already had it somewhat contained, but between the two of them, it began to slow. “Mitto ego te ad vidisse igneos puteos horrendam daemonium de inferno!” Once again, the demon shrieked before disappearing right in front of her eyes, and Ru giggled with glee, setting her sights on her next victim. She had no idea why the other Keepers didn’t just send these Reapers back to Hell instead of blasting them back and forth.
Settling in on one of the Reapers Ivy was fighting, Ru hit him with a beam of light. This time, however, there was resistance, and he shot a ray of blackness back in her direction. She ducked just in time for it to hit a tree behind her, igniting it into flames.
“Damn it, Ru! We’ve got this. Will you please close the goddamn portal?” Rider shouted.
Ru realized that, for some reason, it had been easier to contain the demons than the Reapers, though she had no idea why that would be. Deciding it was time to stop experimenting, she turned back to the portal just as Lyric put the fire out behind her with a gust of wind.
She’d never levitated before, but she felt like she could walk on air right now. Ru stepped off of the edge of the ravine and was overjoyed when her foot caught and she was able to control her descent into the hollow. If anyone else noticed, they didn’t let on, and she figured she’d tell them later, after they defeated the enemy.
Ru positioned herself back in front of the portal, resolved this time not to let anything distract her. However, as she raised her hands, another form materialized in front of her. It was a human, a man, and he was on the other side of the portal opening, still in the tunnel. If Ru acted quickly, she thought she could prevent this one from coming through at all. She gathered her strength and prepared to strike.
A voice called to her from inside the portal. “Rune! Wait! Don’t close it! Not yet!”
Puzzled, Ru paused. How did this person know her name? As he drew closer, a flicker of recognition flittered across her mind. She’d seen that face before. “Larkin?” she called, unable to believe her eyes. What were the chances her father would be trying to flee the underworld through the very portal she was trying to close just as she was about to begin the incantation?
“Ru! Let me out first, please! It’s been so long. I need to see you!”
“Ru!” Rider’s voice cut through her father’s pleas. “That’s not Larkin! It’s a trick. Close it!”
“Close it, Ru!” Cutter shouted. “I can’t hold Nat off much longer.”
Ru turned her head to see Cutter looked exhausted. Nat seemed to be gaining the upper hand. Even as she watched, Cutter began to crumple, and Nat increased the stream of blackness headed toward her friend. Without releasing Cutter, Nat began to walk in her direction. “Let your father through, Ru!”
Standing in the ravine, her hands ready to fire, the incantation on the tip of her tongue, the conflict within Ru rivaled the war going on around her. Her friends were begging her to close the portal while the unfamiliar eyes of her father beseeched her to let him out first. If her mother were here, what would she tell her to do? Ru closed her eyes and reached out, hoping for guidance.
The answer came almost immediately, and even without words, she knew exactly what the message was, what her mother wanted her to do. With a deep breath, Ru looked the being claiming to be her father in the eyes, and calmly said, “In nomine domini, ut claudere infernum est effi- cimur, omnium aeternum!” as a burst of blue light poured out of her hands, surrounding the portal.
As the energy from her palms and the conviction in her words made contact with the portal opening, Ru saw the look of shock and then pain on her father’s face. Upon impact, the light exploded into the portal, causing a shockwave which sent Ru reeling backward. Her head hit the ground hard as the blast of scorching air washed over her. Ru held her breath, waiting for the pain to come. She squeezed her eyes shut and slowly slipped into oblivion.