"Something is happening in there." Khay yelled amidst the brunt of the burning winds of the fire tornado.
"But we can't get close." Lilith screamed.
Then a girl came out of nowhere. She was amongst those who had just regained consciousness and she went walking, step by step, the necklace she wore that bore a cross swung as she walked, pushing through the hot resistant winds.
"Theodora!" Lilith exclaimed calling out to her as she walked past them.
"Theodora. Get back. It's not safe for you." Trilith tried breaking through. But she fiercely walked on past them and was a few meters ahead.
"I don't know…" she softly let out. "But… something about all this just doesn't feel right."
She turned around to look at Khay and the others, struggling to push through and yet to no avail and looked back at the source of all the commotion.
"I can do all things. Through Him who strengthens me. I don't really know what is going on with Kaina, but my God has me. I had this dream, Kaina was stuck in this place and there was a very black snake around his neck, trying to suffocate him and it was winning. Kaina needs help." She said her attention was turned to the trio.
Khay and the others looked on at her in disbelief, yet somehow, they were assured of her.
"In the name of the one true living God, fire pillar; be calm."
"What is she doing?" the trio shielded themselves from the intensifying wind current.
"Theodora, step back." Lilith yelled.
Yet, she didn't heed to their warnings. "In the name of Jesus Christ, pillar of fire, be still"
"The wind is dying down!" Khay exclaimed.
"Theodora, whatever you're doing; it's working." Lilith encouraged from behind her.
She smiled and stretched forth her hand. And closed her eyes. "You pillar of fire, if my God could calm the storms on the sea, so can I gain dominion over a pillar of fire. Be gone!" she said with much conviction. Then as if the pillar of fire had been slapped away, it dispersed and there was utter silence.
"She did it." Trilith exclaimed. "Khay." He further signaled.
Just as Khay regained his footing and began to head for Kaina, a circle manifested out of thin air and ripped open space.
"Dark Knight." The voice echoed from the portal and a pressure unlike any other they've felt before came at them and knocked them down, the awakened student behind them fell down seemingly lifeless and were out of it. It froze Khay, Trilith, Lilith and Theodora in place. Their eyes widened and their environs shook heavily under the weight of the voice. Sweat trickled down their faces.
"What… is… that….?" Khay forced the words out of his mouth with his face planted into the ground.
The trio's limbs staggered under the weight of the unknown presence, movement was futile.
"It's like… an incredibly old heavy turtle." Trilith replied forcefully.
"No." Theodora lifted her head and began to push herself up.
"Theodora" Lilith cried out. "Guys… she's …in trouble."
The trio grunted as their battle cry resounded across.
"Look at that them. Don't they look cute? Noi?" the voice called out yet there was no response. Someone had come from the tear in space and his physique was that of a male. Noi was his name.
"Noi?" the voice called out to him.
"This is unusual… for Vavel."
"What is it?"
He looked on from afar.
"This girl… she's able to stand in my presence."
"She's one of them, let's get rid of her before she grows to become a nuisance!" the voice echoed.
Then, the figure standing beside Kaina's unconscious body kneeling on the floor turned to them, and raised his hands towards their direction to Theodora.
"THEODORA!!" Lilith cried out.
"You're just a baby… but" He sighed. "Babies can grow to become quite bothersome you know? Bye bye!" the ground quaked and quivered beneath him then a sudden tunneled pulse of visible air leapt from him. It rumbled meters away from her and she stared on in shock, unable to react. He smirked. Then, his eyes widened in shock. "There's four of them." In his eyes, he could see three greater lights glimmering towards a much smaller light.
Trilith sprung affront and took the brunt of the attack; it tore his shirt and knocked him back; shattering the heavy turtle armor he had underneath. He went screeching backwards, then Lilith immediately jumped behind her brother and caught him, breaking his travel backwards, regardless, it continued to push them backwards to Theodora, and she braced herself from the immediate impact. Khay quickly jumped behind her and caught her, supporting her, regardless of their efforts, the attack sent them backwards and into the walls of Hoffer's mansion leaving a trail of destruction.
"Is everyone okay?" Khay caught his breath.
"I think so." Lilith responded in kind.
"Yeah, it'll take more than that to keep us out of the game."
"Theodora?" Khay called out.
"I'm okay." She exhaled. "Thank you… guys. That came out of nowhere, I don't know how I'd have survived without your help."
"Don't sweat it." Trilith responded.
"More importantly…"
"Kaina!" they all said in unison upon realization. Immediately, they sprung up from the floor and rushed out of the smokescreen.
"They're gone." Theodora whispered. "I can't sense them anywhere."
And behold, the place Kaina knelt, seemingly lifeless, bore no one, the tear in space that had appeared besides him had also vanished and so had the suffocating presence.
"We… failed…" Khay loosely let out. His head gazed to the floor.
"Damn it." Trilith dropped to the floor and punched it.
"You guys…"
"You didn't fail." Theodora said with much confidence. "I have a feeling this isn't the last we've seen."
"Theodora is right, there's something really strange about all of this, who were those guys?"
"Don't worry about that."
"Kobby!" the trio said in unison.
"Are you guys okay?"
"Yeah."
"There seems to some sort of illusionary barrier that was interfering with the outside, it suddenly just came down on its own. What happened here?"
He looked around, beholding the destruction that had occurred all around Hoffers mansion. Then, he saw the subtle look of defeat on their faces.
"Don't worry about the details. Right now, what is important is the rest of the students." He reached out his hands into his pocket and pulled out a green gem. "This is Kobby, we have a situation at the Hoffers mansion, it seems disaster occurred without our notice. Send in the medics."
After his call, he went around analyzing the damage and not too long, a handful of people arrived at the scene. They rushed in, up and about tending to the injured students; to those that were close with immediate effect and rescuing and retrieving those that were buried under rubbles and hanging in unthinkable places. The eventful night had been turned to one that every student present would remember. For some it would end up changing the course of their destiny forever.
The night had settled, all the students present at the incident had been attended to and returned to their homes. Meanwhile, as all had slumbered into the night under the comforting and soothing embrace of rumbling thunder claps and lightning flashes across the cloudy sky, the palace laid in view, built at the highest point of Dolrea, it stood out like a sore thumb.