The sky rumbled with thunder and lightening, and the earth echoed in response to its ferocity.
The clouds were dark and gave the subtle impression that it was about to rain, but the weather was neither cool nor could anyone feel the chill wind that usually accompanied rain.
Instead, the subtle impression that the sky was going to touch the ground permeated all hearts, and many were understandably prepared for the foreseeable end.
Ella had not been joking when she said that everything was ready for this fight.
Long before Lenny had woken up, she had already contacted the other town that had not yet fallen like Father Black's and even made contact with the six families hidden in the wild.
These people were not called families because of their blood connection, but because of their population strength.
This was a battle that would determine how or where their lives would go from this point onward.
After all, the Ciri that was performing the ritual was not the Ciri that initially made this safe abode.
Vehicles of different sizes—vans, trucks, and desert honkers—carrying men and women all geared with weapons to fight the unholy set out in a very unruly formation.
They sped through the dry deserts, all being led by Ella to Ciri's Cottage.
The domain was not so big that it would take them a long time to reach their destination.
In only under 30 minutes, they could already see the very high mountain in the distance.
At the peak of the mountain, the lightning was heavy and sparked in all directions with a rumble that threatened to break apart the fabric of space.
High up in the sky, one could see the slow rise of the blood moon.
A very significant event that happened once every fifty years.
It was a very rare occurrence for a cosmic body to give out the deep secret, strength, and profanities of its light to anyone who was willing to enjoy this generous gift.
Naturally, such an event, if used for good, could see great changes in the world, but rarely was such a thing ever used for anything other than an improvement to self power.
As they got closer, the dark clouds above seemed to suddenly descend on the earth, making even finding the right direction to move a hassle.
Lenny turned to Ella. Both of them were in the same vehicle.
"Any ideas?" he asked.
"It's Ciri! She knows we are coming and is trying to stop us. You see that mountain?"
She pointed at the mountain in the far distance, their obvious goal for this trip.
"I see it!" Lenny nodded.
This mountain gave one the subtle impression that it was moving away from them.
A fact Lenny conveyed to Ella.
"Don't worry, the moment the spell truly starts, she will not be able to move it's location again. However..." She paused.
"However... What!?" Lenny asked.
"That's an entirely different case for the surrounding landing."
Ella had barely finished talking when the earth seemed to get a life of its own and a forest region from afar seemed to shift towards them.
"It's the unbounded forest of discarded suffering. We have to make sure it does not catch up to us."
Instantly, the vehicles added more speed to their movements.
However, they were not fast enough, landing right in the middle of the forest.
Ciri had shifted the location of the forest that outlined her territory in order to use it in defense against them.
It was indeed an ingenious plan.
After all, the Forest of Discarded Suffering was not for the weak minded.
Navigating the forest region with vehicles was both impossible and foolish.
They had no choice but to quickly alight from the vehicles and continue on foot.
This would mean living behind most of their weapons.
However, Lenny was not willing to lose out because of low fighting strength.
Before their eyes, he patted their vehicles, sending them into his storage unit.
None knew what had happened, and they even suspected that he had destroyed it because he did not want the enemy to get their hands on it.
Nevertheless, it did not matter.
After all, they were now facing their first obstacle, and that was not even the forest.
No, the obstacle they faced was the keepers of the forest.
Yes, the negative spirits.
Without sunlight, these floating liquid masses of darkness could roam the land and do as they wished, and in this case, as their mistress, Ciri, intended.
This battle was not going to be an easy one. Then again, it was not destined to be.
Aside from the ballistic and heavy weapons Lenny had transferred into the storage unit, the individuals still had an assortment of their own individual weapons.
Guns, RPGs, swords, cutlass, axes, stakes, and basically anything that Ella had thought would be worthy of being used as a weapon.
The moment the evil spirits attacked, the battle was on.
Fortunately, these beings, although not possessing a physical form, could be harmed by the weapons these men and women had.
In no time, guns blast in the air, echoing off in all directions, as the Negative Spirits were the object of everybody's target.
However, these freaks of nature did not just stay and wait to be slaughtered.
They, too, engaged in swift battles.
When Lenny had met them before, they had simply captured Insect-B.
However, he now realized that they were capable of so much more.
The first unlucky soul was an old man with two pistols running in front and shooting everything he considered a foe in sight.
He did take a good number of them down, but when a negative spirit came from underneath his feet, he had not reacted fast enough.
The beast passed through him, and he instantly bursted him as if he were watermelon that had been thrown out a very high window to the hard ground.
The first death jolted the realization in these people that here and now, on this battlefield, they could truly die...
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m