Chapter 9

Yuri was seen clenching her hand really hard, while Yonuro was heading to the apartment.

It was around 7:00 a.m in the morning. The sun was about to rise, as were Yonuro's optimism levels. The path was the same and she knew what her objective was. Despite her physical strength being really low, she found the courage to use her powers in order to arrive to her destination faster.

So fast was she, actually that she didn't care about being seen and thus wore Ramael as a cloak. She was just focused on achieving her goal.

Yonuro- Left. Right. A slight turn here. Diagonally of the square and lastly... Here we are Ramael! oof that was quite exhausting...

In her field of view, there was an old dustful building that was apparently abandoned for a long time.

At that moment, her bracelet made a peculiar sound. Drrrrn* Drrn*

Yonuro- Oh? what the fuck?

Ah, it is my bracelet. Samei must be worrying...

Hologram Samei- Hey Yonuro. Where have you been? Why didn't you say something all this time? Have you found any clue about the ritual?

Yonuro- (whispering to Ramael) We should not worry her with the appearance of Aniik...

Yonuro- Not yet, actually... I was feeling a bit exhausted, so we called the mission off. As we speak, I'm about to go inside.

Samei- Ah... Ok then. Well, I've got quite the news to report. That is why I called...

Ramael- Hm? what happened?

Samei- The news has gone crazy about a few incindents throughout the world. The people witnessing those occurances, in England, the United States, Egypt and France, have all stated that they saw peculiar otherworldy explosions of some sort.

Ramael- Oh no... It seems that quite a few Rifts have taken place in different parts of the Overworld, that violently connect it with the Underworld or the Lingering world...

Samei- Yes, but they had all disappeared when the police started their investigations... A few TV reporters didn't believe their claims, as the rifts were probably of smaller scale.

Yonuro- O' well,  they are getting more and more by the day. Everyone will notice them, as time goes by... Anyway, thanks for the information Samei. I'll fill you in on any ritual related incidents in the future. See ya.

Samei- Okay, later!

The Hologram disappeared. Then, Yonuro took her first step inside the apartment.

It was almost pitch black, with the only light source being the few rays of light that the sun emitted due to it being too early in the morning. As a result, Yonuro could not make out the details of the room easily.

However, she found some candles that were placed on the floor, grabbed one, and decided to light it up with some matches.

clink clink* BOBOUZA*

The match lit up and flame began to blaze. It was then used on the candle's tip and the room was much brighter than before.

It was an old styled, poorly decorated apartment with a bunch of portraits hanging on the walls.
The room was full of bookcases laying around the corners and a huge mess was apparent in the middle of the salon.

Obscure drawings of circles and numerous candles that werent lit could be seen on the floor. Yonuro touched the edge of the demonic circle and it seemed that it was made of some kind of old chalk.

She continued her exploration as she examined carefully numerous books on the selves of the bookcases. While reading meticulously, Ramael noticed something.

Ramael- Yonuro, look at those portraits. They depict the previous owners of the apartment.

That lady must be Aria, the person who killed her husband on the right, Aldrich...

Yonuro- Oh, I see...

Ramael- But..? What's this rushed drawing in the middle?

Yonuro- It seems like a little girl..? Could she be their child?

Ramael- Well.. We don't really know. It's just an assumption, but what baffles me the most is that there is only a drawing of the girl. Could it be that the girl died in some way? Or they just wanted a child that they couldn't raise or weren't meant to have ? It is really weird...

Yonuro- Also, what's this? There are lots of boxes in here filled with..? Huh? Baby toys...? And why are they that well-hidden?

Ramael- I don't know... Well, let's not get sidetracked.

Yonuro- Alright we should get back to reading the books.

One and a half hours later

Yonuro- Oh! I think I found it. Come Ramael!!!

Ramael- Wait, I'm coming!

Yonuro- Let's call Samei.

Yonuro pressed the button on her bracelet.

Yonuro- Well, Samei. I found some information regarding the ritual.

Samei- Oh. I'll save the info on my laptop. Go on. I'm all cat ears. (meow)

Yonuro- Apparently, the ritual that Aria and Aldrich performed 10 years ago is different from what we're looking for.

The circle indicates the conjuring of a Demonic Lord to the Overworld, whereas the Pentagon
symbolizes the way. Therefore, what we need is the Pendagon. It says it right here.

"Performing this ritual requires magnificent skill and descipline"

"Draw the pentagon on any floor, using some chalk. (preferably on marble)"

"Carefully copy the exact same symbols as the ones seen in page 420"

"Then place 5 candles on each of the pentagon's edges"

"Fill these holes with black sand"

"Afterwards, place this book in the middle so that you can recite the key phrases of the ritual"

"If you've done everything correctly, concentrate and wait for the right moment to recite the diabolic words and then blow out the candles"

"That moment should be when you notice something supernatural, like the sand floating"

"This step is really important and must be done perfectly should you not seek failure"

"The reciting words are in page 69"

P.S. "Do note that it is extremely rare to perform this ritual and succeed and in each and every time a portal was opened, those that attempted it died in the proccess."

Upon reading that last warning, Yonuro gulped and her whole body started trembling.

Ramael- There's no going back now. Troublesome or not, we must do it.

Yonuro then said she would go out and search for the sand. She used a long spoon she found inside a drawer in the kitchen to extract the sand from the playground outside the building. Afterwards, she tried to replicate the pentagon with a piece of chalk. However, upon holding the chalk in her hand, she realized that she sucks at drawing...

Yonuro- Ehm... Can you help me out, Ramael? I don't think I can draw the Pentagon... Haha!

Ramael looked at her in a irritated yet funny way.

"You know I can't either! " She said.

Yonuro- Well, here goes nothing!

She closed her eyes and perfectly copied the same Pentagon and the symbols as seen in that book.

Ramael- How did you? Anyway, well done Yonuro. Now let's procede with the next step. Slowly drop some sand on each end of the Pentagon.

Yonuro- Uhm... Okay done!

Ramael- Now the candles. Carefully place them in the middle of the layer of sand.

Yonuro- Oone.... Two...  Three... Four... Ah! I almost dropped it. And Five!

Kshhhh* She lit up all of the candles.

Yonuro- Now the book. Page 69 was it?

Ramael- Yeah, I think so.

Yonuro- Alright. Get ready!

They concentrated and then waited patiently for something supernatural to happen before continuing with the next step.

Nevertheless, regardless of how hard they concentrated or how much time had passed, they just would not witness anything unusual...

Yonuro- Did we do something wrong? Why didn't it work?

Ramael thought that everything was done correctly, too. She tried to read the instructions one more time.

Ramael- Let's read the instructions again. Mhm, Yeah, the chalk, the candles, hm yes, yes, we did that, ehm, the sand---

Wait. It does mention black sand, not just ordinary sand.

Yonuro- Hm? Does black sand even exist? Doesn't that only appear in volcano created islands or something? It'd be impossible to get our hands on that!

Ramael- That's a possibility, but not the only one.

Yonuro- What do you mean?

Ramael- It could very well be some kind of secret code the author used to conceal the true way of recreating the portal. That's reasonable if you take into account the fact that anyone would be able to recreate it, if it was as simple as that.

"Black sand" both of them told themselves over and over again."What could it mean?",
they wondered.

Ramael- Let's analyze the rituals. As we know, these rituals result in the creation of Portals that can lead to anywhere. The rituals that were successful were made by the Demonic Lords to move a good number of Demons, to somewhere else, the Overworld.

So, all of the Demonic Lords, who have the ability to teleport, must have used their powers, to try and create a portal to the Overworld. And Demonic Lords use their Dark Essence in order to use their powers and teleport. Therefore, this "black sand" term that the author is using, must be some sort of code refering to the Dark Essence.

Yonuro made a sound indicating her being puzzled.

Yonuro- Wha..? So, Did Aria and Aldrich get their hands on Dark Essence?

Ramael- It's a theory but I think yes. The dark essence that was left in the Overworld must have been preserved by the humans who first witnessed the disappearance of the portals.

But that dark essence must be really old. Like around 300 years old. So, Aria and Aldrich must have used that 300-year-old dark essence that was refered to as "black sand" by the author. Who that author may be, I don't have a clue. They say I'm sharp minded but even I have my limits. He he...

Yonuro- Hm... So we need to find that old Dark Essence for the ritual to work.

Let's tell samei about what we've found.

Yonuro pressed her bracelet's button and told Samaei about everything they uncovered.

Hologram Samei- Okay. Hm... As we saw from that website though, the police don't have the slightest idea about the dark essence and whatnot. So if remnants of dark essence particles are somewhere in this apartment, they must be concealed well.

Yonuro- Okay, Let's look around.

Yonuro and Ramael walked steadily and slowly around the apartment. Anything that looked out of place was examined thoroughly. But they were out of ideas. They had searched everything, looked everywhere. Just one place that hadn't crossed Yonuro's mind. The fireplace.

Yonuro looked around the fireplace, wiped off the ashes, she even looked inside the fireplace like a complete morron. But she found nothing. She was really disappointed, put her hands on her head and shouted  "DAMN IT!" before looking down on floor right next to the fireplace.

At that moment though, she found a jar which had tape around it and the word "Charcoal" was printed on the front. She screamed " AH HA!", leaned forward and grabbed the jar.

Yonuro- I THINK THAT'S IT RAMAEL. IT'S REALLY SUSPICIOUS.

Ramael- Nice, open it!

Yonuro looked away while trying to open the jar. It seemed like it was tightly sealed. But that wasn't the case. It was just tough to open. It was a really tough one to open apparently...

Yonuro- COME ON!!! NOT NOW!

But she opened it. She widened her eyes. Sweat dropped down from her forehead. But that was a bit redundant.  ------------It was just some charcoal.

Yonuro- WHAT? are you kidding me?!

Ramael- Oh my god...

But it didn't end there. When Yonuro stopped crying from her anger, disappointment and sense of defeat, she saw yet another jar behind the first one with the label "More Charcoal"on it this time. She made a "Woo" sound before opening that other jar. And it was as she had suspected...

Really old particles of Dark Essence that had taken a shape similar to sand with the passage of time were inside. Even though the jar was almost empy, it was still enough to execute the ritual.

"SAMEI! WE FOUND IT!" Yonuro said in a voice filled with excitement and relief.

Hologram Samei- That's Great! Good job and Good luck, Yonuro!

Yonuro grinned and said "Thanks!"

Yonuro- Alright, let's try once more.

As the circle and the symbols had already be drawn, she continued with the next step, the "black sand"...

Yonuro picked up the remaining dark essence that had taken a solid form and sprinkled it over the Pendagon's edges. She then lit up the candles and followed the same order of events as last time. However, this time, when they concentrated, the Dark essence began floating. It was as said in the book. A supernatural event. It was time to act swiftly.

Yonuro started reciting the entirety of the book's 69 page, which was filled with latin, ancient english, greek and japanese diabolic words...

Yonuro- Themistokleos da Poleis da hornet. Arios sasageyo, herecy of the Pale king... Thine power is what we seeketh... Atua et Pharaoh, anata wa deban de suvan. Shidou. Hoshika. Apofasisomen dia ton aionon Masta Origami ga daisuki desu. Que riposte you are toast, min eidomen the Titan who was bigger than the Walls. Princessou Histroria ekanon praka prin. And lastly we gladly welcum the Demonic Defenda Pepen julian Onzima to help us with our journey. May our calls kick them in the balls.

Ramael- Now Yonuro!

phoo* phew* phs* Yonuro quickly blew out all of the candles.

And then, the Pentagon transformed into a small black portal. A sinister gateway to the Underworld. History was about to change yet again. Yonuro said farewell to Samei and decided to march toward the uncertain future that awaited her...

Yonuro- Let's go, Ramael!!!