Chapter 16: Bloodline (2)

Hearing the creature's savage roars coming from downstairs, Lance charged like a bouncing lion toward the last apartment in the corridor.

He had realized that there was no time to return back to the apartment in the second floor, as these two creatures had probably heard the commotion from the earlier confrontation. Right now, chances were that these two things were coming here through the stairs.

Lance didn't want to go back using the stairs, fearing that they might come across these things on the way.

Thus, he decided that they should hide here in one of the apartments, and pray that this ordeal passes by peacefully.

Standing before the door, Lance posed his open palm at the door lock!

He then circulated his life energy through his body to boast his muscles output.

Bam!

He pushed with all of his power at the lock, and the door swung open as the door lock was flung to the inside of the apartment with a small chunk of wood from the wooden door frame still attached to it!

Seeing this action of Lance, Ramie wanted to stand up and run to the apartment, but found it very difficult, as he was feeling very weak right now.

"This damn artifact…."

At the moment, he was feeling betrayed by his artifact!

As unlike Neil's extraordinary spell, which had saved their lives, and finished off that seemingly unbeatable creature, his spell on the other hand was about to cost him his life, as his strength was continuously seeping away from his body, even at this moment.

Gritting his teeth, he used the wall to support himself up.

Lance was standing at the entrance of the apartment while waving him to come over in an urgent and somewhat pleading look on his face, wanting him to get up quickly and follow him inside the apartment.

Neil was already half way through to Lance.

Ramie felt a great urgency in his heart, as he tried to push himself to his limits, to at least just stand up.

When Ramie casted his spell, nothing happened. So, neither Lance nor Neil knew what was happening with him, as there was no outer manifestation, or an indicator for what was happening inside him, thus, Lance mistaken him for being sloppy due to the shock from the earlier confrontation.

All what Lance saw; was Ramie not getting up and wasting a precious time.

Roar!!

Roar!

The two different roars boomed again, coming from the stairs, much closer this time.

Apparently, the two creatures were coming up!

Hearing so, Ramie felt a deep sense of crisis booms in his heart, Feeling that if he doesn't get up right away, then in the incoming few seconds, he'd be torn apart alive and perish in a fashion similar to the people that he had seen yesterday in the streets.

Ramie wanted to scream out his frustration, but he didn't dare to. He wanted to cry, but there was no time for tears.

Knowing that the very same artifact that was supposed to give him a fighting chance; was going to become the reason for his demise, a volcanic fury was ignited in his heart.

"MOOOOOOOOOVE!!!!!"

Howling inwardly with all of his might, the madness of his anger slowed down the pace at which he was losing his strength, giving him space to move.

He supported himself up using the wall, and charged toward Lance with everything he got.

Sensing the escalating urgency of the situation, he summoned every bit of strength in his body to move forward.

Unfortunately… his all didn't amount to much… and it only enabled him to move in a small child's walking speed…

Seeing this sight, it was only now did Lance realized that there was something wrong with him. Thus, he immediately ran over to him, picked him up like a small child, and then ran back to the apartment.

As fast as lightening, the moment they got inside, Neil closed the door, trying not to make loud a noise.

Putting him down on the ground, Lance gestured to Neil to follow him. Then both of them carried the couch in the living room and quietly placed it behind the apartment door, which had no lock on it at the moment.

Roar! Roar!

Roar!

The two creatures roared loudly outside as they stepped into this floor, and noticed the humanoid's creatures corpse.

Ramie, Lance and Neil fell in utter silence inside the apartment, not daring to even breathe, as they listened quietly to any sound that might indicates the two creature's intention of attacking this apartment.

They were sitting and listening in the locked up bedroom, as they didn't dare to stay in the living room, since there was no lock on the apartment door.

Seconds ticked by very slowly…

Roar! Roar!

The two creatures kept roaring occasionally outside!

An agonizing seconds ticked by slowly…

After a while, and seeing that the creatures were yet to smash their way in… the three finally started breathing, as the hope in their hearts started shining.

As Ramie sat on the ground, Lance and Neil were standing and facing the door in preparation to the possible attack, while he on the other hand was struggling to keep up his consciousness, as the feeling of weakness was growing inside him unceasingly.

The weird sense was still brimming in his body.

Meanwhile, Lance spoke to Neil in a low, hushed voice: "can you use that attack again in case these things come inside?"

Neil replied in the same quiet manner: "no! When I tried to use that attack on snake headed creature for the third time, it said insufficient magic energy, and then nothing happened."

"Right now, I have one magic energy unit left, and apparently to cast that attack, I need two!"

As Lance and Neil talked in suppressed voices with each other, Lance was on the ground, in awful situation.

"This…?"

"What is happening to me exactly…?"

Scanning his body, Ramie saw the veins in his arms and legs were turning darker and darker in color!

In no time, a spider web pattern was spreading on his skin at a visible rate!

He was terrified!

His body was starting to look like a map!

And worse, his conscious was fading away…

'Am I dying…? Or this is the spell taking effect…?'

He stared at his skin, dazed…

Getting a disappointing answer from Neil, Lance turned to look at Ramie, to ask him about what was happening with him, and also to ask him to see if he was willing to use his spell if things come to worse.

However, as Lance's gaze fell on him, he was startled by the visible changes that were happening to him. At the moment, Ramie was looking like a living map!

It wasn't only his skin… Lance saw the whiteness in Ramie's eyes turn to black, and his irises changing their color…

Opening his mouth, Lance wanted to say something, but…

At this moment, Ramie felt his conscious slips away… as the darkness crawled to his vision…

The last thing he saw…

Was the flustered face of Lance, as he was opening his mouth, trying to say something to him…

…

Opening his eyes, there was still light in the room, which meant that it wasn't night time just yet.

He felt muddle headed, and his thoughts were disarrayed. Even his memories were in chaos.

Looking around, he located Lance whom was standing beside the window, looking outside, down at the street below, from the corner of the window frame.

Lance was obviously trying to avoid being seen by any creature from outside.

As for Neil, he was lying on the bed, in a deep sleep, judging by the snorting.

As Ramie sat up, Lance turned his head and looking at him. A complicated, and somewhat flustered look could be seen on his face.

Lance then walked over, and sat beside him, a look of hesitation could be easily discerned on his eyes. After a long sigh, Lance finally spoke, saying: "Ramie… there is something you should know…"

Hearing the manner in which Lance spoke his words, Ramie felt unease creeps to him. But since Lance had that kind of look at his face, whatever he was going to say, was apparently very important. So, Ramie listened…

…

As the sun fell behind the horizon, the last ray of light retracted itself from the world, allowing the night to claim everything, swallowing everything within its ethereal body.

Luckily, the moon rose up, shining its rays, and alleviating some of the darkness outside.

In a certain building, and inside a specific apartment in the fourth floor, sat three men together.

A meager amount of moon light was shining through the window into the room, dispelling some of the darkness, and partially lighting up the bedroom, where three men were sitting.

With a mere glance, one could tell that there was something amiss about their situation.

Two of them were having a complicated looks on their faces, as they stole an occasional glances at the third one, whom was sitting a bit further from the two.

These two men were precisely Lance and Neil, with the third one being Ramie.

Right now, he had no idea what to exactly feel…

Few hours ago, he had regained his consciousness to a certain reality… a one that he had never ever considered before.

His spell… like Neil's spell, was working!

His artifact wasn't defective, and was working fine. And also, the two creatures outside went their way while he was unconscious, which meant that they weren't in any immediate danger…

So, according to these facts; he should be feeling relieved by now.

But in reality, relieved could in no way be used to describe what he was feeling right now…

'Am I…am I going to look like this my entire remaining lifetime…?'

'After all… the spell description did say permanent…'

Letting out a heavy, burdened sigh, Ramie closed his eyes, trying to recollect his scattered, chaotic thoughts.

Ever since he had woke up, the feeling of hunger in his stomach was so overwhelming that it had turned into pain. It was like there was a black hole in his body that was demanding to be filled with anything or else it might start devour him from the inside.

But even despite that, the need to fill his stomach was currently occupying less than 1% of his thoughts, even despite the crazy signals that his stomach was sending in frenzy to his mind the entire time.

The sheer shock of what the spell had done to him – was so overwhelming, that it had even overshadowed the seemingly bleak situation outside.

Recalling the reflection he had seen in the mirror, he felt terribly miserable again.

And how could he not…?

Not even bothering to imagine the intense reaction that people would have to his current appearance, he himself still couldn't process the fact that from now onward, that is how he is going to look like for the rest of his miserable life…

Following this line of thought, for the hundredth time, he fell in a crippling dejection again.

As for Lance and Neil, whom were sitting beside him, they really felt sorry for him.

The change that his spell has induced in him, was something they wouldn't even wish to their enemies, not to mention Ramie.

But what was there to be done…

Just like that, time went on, as the silent persisted…

…