Skylar took a deep breath before walking to the other end of the area. At every step that she took, the blood on the ground gave a clearer path as if it were afraid of her. She kept walking until she was standing in front of a crystalized coffin. She wiped the frozen glass and saw a very pale Sophia. She might be a vampire, but instead of showing a slow decaying body, Sophia's corpse was preserved.
"Did my mother turned your body into an immortal by sealing you here?" Skylar wondered as she studied the body, perfectly the same. There was no trace of decaying process aside from the super-pale skin tone - it was almost white.
She looked one more time around the area to check if the magical security that had been put around here had an effect on Sophia's body. With curiosity kicking in, Skylar squinted her eyes as she faintly saw a spark passing beneath her feet. She let her eyes follow where it came from and where it was leading, which was coming from the area around the torture chair. She sighed because she finally understood what made her body not look like any corpse.
"If this cell was made for me...then it means my blood made you look like this..." She guessed because from what she recalled, the isolated cell was hers alone. Nobody has been using her cell ever since it was made, and when she was imprisoned. "No wonder I could easily connect with you."
Skylar smiled genuinely before she placed her hand above the frozen coffin. However, before she could even attempt to touch it, it opened. She jolted and gasped from what creepiness just happened, then freezing air came out of it. The air might be below zero, but Skylar felt some faint warmth, which sent goosebumps down her body. She knew exactly what it meant and what to do.
"Let's get you home." She muttered, and just like what she had prepared for Rudolf, a crystal orb suddenly appeared above the frozen coffin.
The crystal orb was made from the energies around the area, but it was made only for Sophia's soul and was prepared by her mother. Skylar smiled, shaking her head because her mother knew that she would come to collect her best friend's soul.
"You prepared well, Mom." She chuckled, but she made a little adjustment to the crystal orb. "But let's twitch something to help Sophia's soul during the cultivating process."
She made some hand gestures, releasing a few of her energies as a Souls' Mutualist. The crystal orb softened and moved as if it were being remodeled. It took Skylar a few minutes to remold the crystal orb before it started absorbing the energy coming out from the coffin. The energy flowed out with serenity, making the orb glow, but something ticked over Skylar's sensitivity. It was a warning, a malicious threat that Sophia's soul didn't need anymore for a new life. It might be faint and harmless, but Skylar doesn't want to risk it.
Skylar halted the collecting process and turned her crystallized blood into thorns, draping protectively around the orb. She knew that it was a foul energy from Sophia's memories, but it was a memory that had been tainted with darkness and negativity. She knew that Sophia didn't need that anymore in another life, but instead of getting rid of that dark energy, she separated it.
"Hm, you're an obscure..." Skylar muttered as the separated energy shaped into a dark flame and smoke-like, staying in one space. "Let's secure you and check you later."
She resumed collecting Sophia's energy soul into the crystalized orb and finished it smoothly. When it was done, Sophia's soul was already inside the glowing orb, Skylar let it shrink and vanished on her palm. And when she looked over Sophia's body, it started decaying, melting before turning to ash and vanished.
"Is it done?" Vincencio asked.
"Yeah..." Skylar replied, nodding with relief on her face, but suddenly jolted when the area began crumbling. "WHAT THE FUCK, MOM!"
"LET'S GO!" He shouted, pulling his wife out of the area that magically started being swallowed by the earth. "I TOLD YOU! IT'S A TRAP!"
"I know, but I didn't expect my mother could pull something life-threatening after getting Sophia's soul." She replied as they sprinted out of the crumbling space.
"Well, you shouldn't expect anything less from your mother because you're her daughter." He countered like he already knew it was coming. Skylar frowned.
"What do you mean by that?" She asked as she dodged the crystallized spikes from the crumbling upper corner of the wall and ceiling.
"Well, you're her daughter, so expect the worst." He answered, running and smashing the spike shooting from both sides.
"You're making it sound like I'm being difficult." She groaned, frowning as she acrobatically jumped off the shoot spike and broke the others coming from behind Vincencio.
"Aren't you?" He deadpanned questionably.
"HUBBY!" She whined as she stopped on her tracks and pouted like a kid, forgetting the magical chaos crumbling around them. Vincencio sensed it and glanced over his shoulder, chuckling.
"Just think how you and Fredric came up with a weird, deadly game by yourself?" He clarified what he meant as he approached his wife before dragging her out of the area, continuing, "You two didn't just create a Squid Game for security measures; it was also an escape room without an escape route unless you beg."
"Oh, that kind of thing." She finally understood what they were talking about before the strong wave of blood kicked them out of the area.
As they were out, the wave stopped and the door shut before vanishing like it was not even there in the first place. They were coughing, looking in awe at the clear wall, but they were drenched with blood, totally indicating it was not a dream - it did happen.
"So, what now?" Vincencio asked after a heavy sigh, tugging a few strands of hair away from his wife's bloody face.
"We clean up," Skylar replied, giggling at how disgusting they looked at the moment.
"We'll start with a nice, relaxing bath." He agreed, but when they stood up and attempted to get out of the cell, the entire wall from the ceiling to the ground began glowing in a wave motion before the cell's main door shifted. "Did you know that would happen?"
"No...but let's find out." She replied and curiously walked toward the door before opening it.
When they opened the door, a strong gushing wind blinded them, and when they looked where they were, they gasped. They were surprised as they stood on the lawn of an abandoned house.
"Is this?" Skylar wondered as they magically stood in front of Rudolf and Sophia's old abandoned house.
"Yeah, this was their house..." Vincencio clarified that he was already familiar with it, but looked surprised at his wife. "Wifey, you're clean."
"Huh? Clean?" She asked confusedly.
"I mean, literally clean and dry like fresh from the bath." He answered, clarifying what he mentioned, making Skylar look at herself.
"Now that you mentioned it, you too." She said, looking at Vincencio from head to toe, smirking before adding, "I think Mom prepared this when she prepared that kind of bloody trap for us."
"I bet she does." He agreed, chuckling before they walked closer to the house and wondered, "What should we do here now?"
"We need to find the mausoleum here." She answered and looked around for any sign of a trace where it was located, but sadly, there was none. "I think we need to get inside the house first. We might find where it was once we get inside."
"I think it's at the back like the usual." He said as they walked past the living room that had been covered with white clothes and was still filled with dust and dirt. It was screaming untouched.
"Have you seen it when you tracked him down before?" she wondered as she checked the hall they were walking through, which was filled with old pictures of the couple and paintings decorated on the wall.
"No, but from their bedroom, I think I saw a full view of a small house covered with vines and an angel statue." He replied, recalling the moment he noticed it from the couple's bedroom.
"Lead the way, Hubby." She said, letting Vincencio take her hand, and walked past the filthy kitchen before walking through the backyard.
The backyard was lonely and dry for years, which saddened Skylar a little until something passed her chest. There was a little squeeze, making her tug Vincencio, that has been holding her. He paused and glanced at her. Skylar paused, sensing her surroundings, and there she saw a faint flow illuminating a path, making her take the lead.
The tracks weren't that long, but the tall bushes and the uneven pavement made it difficult to pass until they made it. It almost made them stumble if Vincencio hadn't supported himself with the rusty old gate of the mausoleum they were looking for.
"I think we're here," Skylar muttered under her breath while staring at the mausoleum's carvings. She carefully traced it before saying, "Fear might have taken the place, but love always conquers in its due time."
After saying it, the gate magically unlocked, making the torch inside the mausoleum light up. It illuminates the space where two empty graves await the owners. Skylar approached the grave, and before she could even get close, it crumbled like it was opening for her, and the two orbs came out, floating, swirling around each other before lying above their stones.
"Welcome home, you two." Skylar greeted the two souls that had finally reunited after a century of being away from each other.
The orbs glowed like answering her, but Skylar didn't stop there. She placed her hand above their stones, and the entire mausoleum began to be filled with blood. Her power was spreading, covering the entire space, and a crystallized jade that she made came out between Rudolf and Sophia's souls.
"It's time to cultivate you into your new fate." She said sternly as if she had been possessed by something magical and god-like entity, making the orbs and the jade glow bright.
As it released a blinding light, the torches' flame wavered, and the entire wall seemed to be moving as if it were being rearranged and alive. The ground crumbled, the wall breached, and the air dropped and froze, pushing Vincencio out of the mausoleum but still guarding. However, Skylar remained steady and did some hand gestures, changing the two souls' fates with protection coming from her bloody, crystalized jade.
"Love conquers in its due time." She whispered, making the orbs glow at the same time, agreeing to her words.
She smiled at the orb's response, and with a pulling-away hand gesture, the remaining binding connection between their souls began snapping away from each other. Their old bond was breaking until there was nothing left but them.
"Whatever lies in your new lives, always find a way to make yourself happy this time." She whispered a promise, a wish that their souls might take into another life.
With a clap from her hands, the bloody crystalized jade sparked and vanished together with the two souls, collapsing Skylar in the process. Luckily, Vincencio caught her before she hit the ground.
"Whoa, that's close." Vincencio said in relief, grateful that he caught his wife in time before adding, "I've got you, Wifey. You're safe."
"Thank you..." Skylar whispered and was tired, but something else happened.
"Dammit, what now?" He clicked his tongue and pulled his wife into his arms before getting up. Then there was a wave on the ground. "SERIOUSLY!"
"Balance yourself, Hubby." She instructed, giggling as she wrapped her arms around his neck before adding, amusingly, "I think my mother loves us having a hard time at the end."
"I can see that." He groaned as he kept his balance on a moving ground while carrying his wife in his arms.